Springtime sunshine

Bright sunshine, blue skies.

Walking with friends.

Stopping to climb trees, roll down the hill in the spring grass.
(How would my kids survive without friends?  who would teach them how to climb trees?)

Sharing snacks and hugs as we say goodbye.

Kids napping after the exertion.

Pretty much the perfect way to spend a day.

MIA?

so, did anyone miss me?  :)  Life has happened, I'm afraid.  Just life, nothing exciting.

Let's see.  Baby E turned 2.  She's still a tiny little pipsqueak at about 22.5 pounds.   Much smaller than either of the other girls.  She's chattering and we're attempting to decipher.  She thinks she's pretty big stuff, though, and does her best to keep up with her sisters.

K thinks that she is ready to start Kindergarten.  Mommy is SO not ready, but that is another story for another day.  She's still a bit of a space-case, but very bright and sweet. 

First grade is going wonderfully for B.  She is a reading champ and soaks in just about every single bit of information that she comes across.  This has been her first year in girl scouts and she's really enjoying that.  Daddy helped her sell GS Cookies last month and Mommy is looking forward to them arriving.....mmmmm, thin mints....

I'm full hog into school right now.  In the next couple weeks I will be applying for two different nursing programs, both of which have a fall start.  We'll see where God wants me/us.  I have found it to be an incredible mixed blessing to have that decision out of my hands.  None of it is up to me, yet I continue to worry about it.  Crazy how we do that, no?

Hubby is in school, too.  Two semesters left - yahoo!!!!  He's also working as a warehouse manager for a chemical company, trying to keep busy.....because 3 kids and a crazy busy wife isn't enough.  :)

We're in the midst of trying to update a bedroom for the oldest and the youngest.  This involves painting furniture (2 beds and a dresser) and much junk disposal.  Unfortunately, the painting is the easier task.

Other than that, life is the same: busy, challenging, rewarding, crazy fun, and we are realizing how incredibly blessed we are.   You wonder why?  Look at this:

Sweet......Seven

My Beautiful B, I sure do love you!  I'm so incredibly proud of the sweet, young lady you are becoming.  Bright and caring and intelligent and curious and *mostly* happy and content.  :)  I love being your mommy and seeing you learn and grown and blossom.  I'm so impressed at how well you are reading and it melts my heart to hear you reading to your sisters every night before bed. 

They are so incredibly blessed to have you as their big sister.  Thank you for being so patient and kind with baby E.  She loves you so much and enjoys snuggling with you. 

You are a loved child of God, my darling daughter, and I am so grateful to have you in my live.  You are a joy and delight!  Happy 7th Birthday, baby girl!

the girls

13 days from now...

My beautiful B will be 6 years old. CRAZY! We have some rough plans for a birthday party. It will be her very first party where she invites friends rather than just expecting 30 of our closest family. :) Most likely we'll also have a small dinner party for her with the grandparents. Once again, our little princess is wanting a princess party. Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure was the request. Guess we should get used to pink and purple fluffy sorts of thinks.

7:30am

It's 7:30 on a Wednesday morning. i'm up. all three kids are sleeping. hallelujah!

Last night was my sister's wedding. it was beautiful. the flower girls (B, K and 3 other little girls cousins) were adorable running up the aisle barefoot yelling "the bride is coming!" as soon as K hit the runner on the way up, it looked like she was going to stop and pick up the flower petals that had already been dropped, but then off she went. k was the youngest by more than a year, so was obviously the last to get done. she got back to me with two handfuls of flower petal in hand and was very concerned about it. i was able to coax her to throw them on the floor right there in front of Rebekah without holding up the works too much. it was a definite highlight of the wedding. very sweet.

there was a scorching 'first kiss' which was quite unexpected from the groom. yummy food made by my parents, with some help from hubby. absolutely fantasticly wonderful wedding cake--almond sour cream. YUUUM! almonds left on all the tables as favors since the groom is an a-mond farmer. (those native to the region in cali apparently drop the 'l' in almond.) the happy couple exited under a shower of bubbles. we were all surprised as he hit the gas to make a hasty exit. his family says that they'd never seen him do that. he's quite reserved and thoughtful in all he does apparently. guess he was ready to get on with it. ;) it was a beautiful wedding. they're headed for a week-long trip back to california to start their life together as a-mond farmers.

b lost her first tooth during the reception last night. we wrapped it carefully and put it under her bed for the tooth fairy. the tooth fairy showed up last night and left her with a sweet little note and some quarters, which i'm sure she'll be absolutely thrilled to discover.

we've been sleeping in our new house for almost 2 weeks now. 95% of our stuff is still packed up. we finished getting everything moved in last sunday. we were home getting a bit settled for a couple days then headed up to church camp on wednesday. decided to come home a bit early from that on saturday, celebrated father's day with both dads, one on sat and one on sunday. then had rehearsal/dinner on monday and wedding on tuesday. it's been a busy couple weeks. i'm looking forward to getting settled and start living a 'normal' life again.

i've got truckloads of pictures. i just have to find the cord to load them onto the computer.

Happy Valentine's Day!

From B to you!

5 years old!

We celebrated B's birthday over the weekend. She's quite proud to be a big 5 year old, though she's sure she's now big enough for Kindergarten. Not so fast, little one! ;)

growing up

As we have prepared B to start preschool and K to become a big sister, I've found myself holding on tight to the precious little people that they are right now. Now wanting to look forward as to what will happen in the future. But just enjoying their sweet personalities, quirks and their absolute adorable-ness.

Today, K fell asleep nursing. It's been months since she's done that. If it weren't uncomfortable with a big belly between us, I would have been tempted to snuggle in and take a nap as well. As it was, I took a mental picture of that precious sight, drinking in every moment because who knows when it will be the last.

B started preschool last week and has been thoroughly enjoying herself.

She comes home telling K that "this is only for 4 year olds, 2 year olds can't do it." Then moments later the two of them are playing preschool together, packing backpacks and finding things to fill their 'lunch boxes.'

Most likely we'll have new little one in our home 8 weeks from now. Another sweet little person to get to know and enjoy watching and snuggling. Both the girls are thrilled at the prospect of baby E coming. We'll see how it is once she's here. ;) They both love to give her hugs and kisses, though, and B constantly talks about missing her. I hope that they love her as much after she's born.

heard at our house

Eating lunch today, B asks, "Mommy, why are you knocked up?"

hmmm...still not quite sure how to answer that one.

Hea

A B funny: "Daddy, that tickles my feelings. It makes my tummy laugh!"

Heard at our house

During our nightly reading of Bible stories tonight, we read the stories about Joseph's dreams. The dreams that involved his 11 brothers' bundles of grain bowing down to his bundle of grain and the sun, moon and 11 stars bowing down to him. All of this signifying, of course, that Joseph's parents and brothers would later on bow down to Joseph.

Anyway.....

B: what's that? (pointing to the picture of the bundles of grain bowing down.)

Me: That's grain. The smash it to make flour for bread.

B: Why don't they just go to the store?

Me: They didn't have stores back then, kiddo. Kinda silly, huh?

B: Yeah, it sure would have been easier if they would have just gone to the store.

I continued reading the story, then I hear: Or maybe they just didn't know which aisle to look in. They should have asked where the flour was.

We'll just get a new one

This morning I had to drag the kids with me to the social security office to obtain a new social security card. (Kinda scary not knowing where mine is...) After what seemed like an interminable wait (maybe 25 minutes) during which both of my girls charmed one and all around us, we were told that food and drinks were not allowed in the office.

Are you kidding me? What am I supposed to do to keep my children occupied? Other than the two crusty toys that they have there in the office and the flat screen TV that was showing wildlife shots, there was nothing to do.

They climbed on the chairs, moved the chairs, lay down on the chairs, OH and then they practiced 'lipsticking' each other with the Carmex in a tube that I dug out of my purse and have since thrown away since it landed on the floor countless times.

Soon, our number was called and we headed to window "B." I handed the man my paperwork, asked K to stay close and proceeded to listen to B completely and utterly charm the man behind the desk. She chattered about how I lost my card, so we had to come and get a new one; and this is her sister K. K needs to stay close by so that we don't lose her. Then she piped up, "Mommy, if we lose K, we'll need to get another baby for Christmas, right?" Like her little sister is completely replaceable. Like a social security card.

Apparently we need to work on teaching our girls that we have to take care of what we have. There isn't always a replacement able to be purchased--for example: a little sister.

for everything else, there's mastercard

B: Mommy, I'm SO BIG now that I'm 4, right?

Me: Yes, B, you sure are growing up.

B: Mommy, when I'm 5, will I be too big for our house?

Me: No, you won't be too big for our house, Kiddo.

B: But if I am, we will have to get a new house, right? Do we have the credit card for that?

(well, no, we don't. Thank you very much.) ;)

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B's also picked up a couple cute phrases like:

"here you go, my lady" and "my pleasure"

It's too cute!

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on a side note. I'm getting annoyed with the blogger templates....just so you know. ;)

Enjoying the sunshine

feeling sentimental

I feel like time is slipping through my fingers. My babies are growing up.

Tonight during dinner, B spilled her water and then promptly told me that she was "solving the problem" as she grabbed a towel and started cleaning it up.

The past couple night K has opted not to nurse before bed (which used to be a 1/2 hour feeding.) It seems she's now so excited to brush her teeth, she'd rather skip that portion of the bedtime routine. She also has been transitioning into going to sleep all by herself. We give hugs and kisses and plop her into bed. Then we *gasp* leave the room and let her go to sleep on her own. Shocking, I know. This just doesn't happen. ;) It's bittersweet, I have to say.

B is little miss independent. She gets dressed on her own, does her hair on her own, buckles herself into her seat on her own. She helps set the table and clean up after dinner. Tonight she helped me make chocolate pudding for dessert. She's certainly a little girl now. One who brings so much joy. OK, and a few headaches, but mostly joy.

Thank you, Lord, for my wonderful children!

Recipe for success!

Let's see. Here's what it took:

22 lbs of pork shoulder

20 hours cooking/preparing said pork shoulder

9 packages hamburger buns

4 lbs fresh veggies

12 cans beans

2 monster bags of potato chips

3 boxes cake mix

4 different cake/cupcake pans

2 tubs icing

assorted sprinkles

80 each: plates, cups, napkins, forks

8 hours spent making annual slideshow

36 of our closest family and friends

The Result: (A raging success)

for Christmas....

Over the weekend, we were at my aunt's house at a family baby shower for my cousin and his wife. My sisters helped B get her lunch, so she was sitting at a table with them. K and I were sitting at the other table when I heard some laughing. My sister filled me in on what was going on--B said that we were getting a baby at our house for Christmas. That she was thinking the baby should come on Christmas Eve. As my sister was telling me this, B was looking quite excited about it and then piped in, "yes, Mommy, a baby from your tummy!" As opposed to the doll variety of baby, you know. We must not be confused on what the princess B wants!

I felt obligated to reassure everyone that there was no news that B was trying to enlighten them on. NO, we are not pregnant. :)

more Heard at our House...

In the bathtub tonight:

(chattering away to her sister, her toys, or this time, to a bottle filled with water.)

B: Hello, I'm Dr. Phil. How are you?

*pause while she's nodding her head*

B: Yes, I'm fine, thank you. I'm Dr. Phil B*****.

*then more random chatter interspersed with Dr. Phil this and Dr. Phil that.

Mommy: B, where did you hear about Dr. Phil?

B: On Sesame Street. Remember, he was telling those people that it was his show?

(Maybe I should watch Sesame Street a little more often.) :)

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Then, while I was washing the girls' hair.

B: Mommy, do you like my new baby? (Talking about K.)

Mommy: Yes, B, I love your new baby.

B: I was borned with her at the hospital because she was breech and we can't have breech babies at the birthing center.

Mommy: OH, so can you tell me what breech means?

*long pause*

B: It's when a baby is confused. Yes, I think so.

Heard at our house tonight....

While sitting at the dinner table.

B: Daddy, I forgot to go potty before dinner.

Daddy: Do you need to go?

B: Yes, please.

D: OK, be quick.

(3-4 minutes later.)
D: B, come on, let's hustle.

B: I have some poops, it's gonna take a couple minutes like Daddy.