My Lunch Bunch

Here's my "Lunch Bunch" after preschool and Carter's neighborhood playgroup! What a great morning for everyone! Little brother loves when M comes home bc there is always something interesting to watch!

She likes to drink her drinks "like a big girl" at meals now...without a top...and apparently big girls blow bubbles...she loves her new trick! (We have talked about how we only do this on special occasions though and only to the top of the cup!) You can see the "fruit of her labor" below... :)

After "the entertainer" left to use the potty... Mr. Man got to finish up in peace...

Here we are playing a little game of after lunch peek-a-boo!

And sign that girl up for "America's Got Talent"...I love lunchin' with my littles!

13 Months

Our "little joker" turned 13 months yesterday! He is a great shopping buddy and he let's mom have fun while at the grocery store! :)
He has really come a long way in the gross motor skills dept as of late...hands and knee crawling, cruising a ton, and climbing! He also has a few "words"...MaMa, DaDa, and "bahh" for ball...Wonder what he will learn next!

The Best

Saturday mornings are the best around here....nothing like a good morning tackle!

Life is Not a Fairy Tale

Little Miss saw this dress in her closet yesterday (another pass down) and thought it was Cinderella's ballgown...She was so excited she just had to put it on...complete with her glass slippers and of course a dance with the Prince (her Daddy)...Love this stage and all the wonder and excitement! But life isn't a fairy tale...it's messy, isn't it? :)

Just got back from my first MOPs Meeting of the year...Carter is in the "Galaxy Gigglers" class there (love the name!) and Mal is at Preschool...so nice to just have a time of encouragement for me with other moms.

We need the gospel everyday bc life is messy...and MOPs is one of the ways I can "be still" and reflect on that...Our kids are still having trouble sharing me when it's just the 3 of us...but we can pray for them and with them for this to get easier...and Carter even holds my hand now when we pray before dinner as a family...I love holding his tiny hand and seeing the rest of my family holding hands and knowing that

"where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
~Matt 18:20

1 Peter 5:7

Went for a walk on a bike trail and to find a playground yesterday (pretending to be residents of yet another neighborhood)...and found this cool tunnel to play in...

Love his expression...and "beast" I tell you...(check out below)!!! He didn't get too far up this one though!


A Rescue Squad and Fire Truck zoomed passed the playground as I snapped this pic...M is obsessed with them... "Where they going? They are going to help someone!!!" It always makes me pause and pray for the person bc here we are having a nice time playing and someone else is suffering...I've been thinking about that a lot lately...so many people we know are going through such hard times...I woke up and was praying for people the other night thinking of this...Did you know there are 38 defs for the verb "cast"?? I never knew til I looked here...I did a lot of "fishing" (or one of the other 37 defs) in my sleep...lots of casting!

The tunnel was the big hit of the day...Carter enjoyed watching his sister and having her run to us...

She enjoyed all the cool sounds she could make in there....and boy could she make some crazy ones!!! :) Momma liked the running hugs the best! :)

A Walking and A Waving!

When this guy isn't up under people's feet....(Our cute little "ankle biter"! Promise...he doesn't bite!) He is on the move! Here he is walking with his walker complete with commentary!

And here he is waving...love our little guy!

Just Goofin!

While waiting for the bus yesterday this is what I saw...All I can say is "God Bless America!!!"

And during Carter's morning naptime Mal and I played with enough scrunchies to outfit a small army...we are so grateful for all the pass downs! I love goofin' around with my Girly Boo!

Bottoms Up!

Finally got a pic of little man sleeping like this...so many times on vacation I had wished I had my camera to document, but didn't...but I caught him the other night when I went to check on him...Love when they sleep like that! :)

He started running a lowgrade fever on Sat...didn't know if it was teeth or fighting something...so I took him to the doctor yesterday...and everything was fine and his fever broke yesterday afternoon...so who knows...I'm just glad he feels better! :) We layed low this weekend to give him all of his naps and rest that he needed...But during afternoon naptime on Sat. Susan and I went out and got a new comforter (on sale!) for our bedroom...it has been needed for quite some time...I am so excited to finally have shams, etc for our bed! Yay! Then Mike, Susan, and I went "Anne Marrow Lindbergh" on our house for the rest of the afternoon...the kiddos were so good to play and help us out as we worked...it was miraculous that they let us get so much done! We felt so accomplished by the end of the day and had Sunday to relax and enjoy!

On Sunday we stayed home from church and let Carter nap and then headed to the park to take a hike in the woods...It was so neat to walk along and point things out to the kids in God's creation...we just couldn't help to think "what a MIGHTY God we serve" when looking at the intricate fern or seeing so many turtles sunning on logs in the lake...and when we were listening to our Scripture memory CD on the way home Mallory exclaimed at track #9..."This is Carter and my song!!!" It is what we clung to during our pregnancies...I love that she loves those verses and claims them! :)

And Friday we spent some time at MiMi and PaPa's hanging out with the kittens and going to a Preview Yard Sale for one of their neighbors...M got some new PJs and put them on right away when we got back...Then I mistakenly told her about the PJ Party we were invited to at Little Gym...Thanks so much for inviting us Trina and Riley...she had so much fun!!! (Can't believe I didn't take any pics!) 7 hrs was a long wait for the party! I usually tell her exciting things a few hrs before....It was all she could talk about all afternoon! :)

Aren't they "cquoot" as M would say?!!?! Anyone need a kitten?!?! :)

Spent some time rereading a good book...(thanks Sally!) And went on a date with my hubby! MiMi and PaPa kept the kids Fri. night...so nice to have a little time alone with my best friend! We went out on the town and didn't get back til 11pm! It was like old times! :)

Here is a tower M and a before friend made for Noah on Fri...It's like the leaning Tower of Pisa! Little C has been crawling more and more on his hands and knees this weekend (not the army crawl) and is chatting with us...I love the "diggle diggle stage of developement" where you have pretend convos....here is a clip of M a little older than C, but having a little convo with me...I love chatting with my little people!

Great is Thy Faithfulness...

This is how we roll :) on a daily basis to the bus stop...I was overwhelmed with gratefulness this afternoon...So grateful that God is allowing me to stay home with these little people each day...And so grateful for the kids who come here in the afternoon...Our kids love them...

M is now pulling up her socks to be just like one of the 2nd Graders...Hilarious bc they aren't knee socks...She def rocked this look today at PreSchool... :) And she wanted to take her Bible and Devotional to read on the stroller while she waited for her friends...

She is a girl on the go...

It was one of those days when I thought...I get paid to have kids love on my kids?

Mallory had to get her "pack ack" on when we got back...she wanted to be like the older kids...

And I love this...we call this the full body scribble! Notice the back pack is still on...I don't think it came off til dinner... :)
God is so good! I'm so grateful....This song has been running through my head tonight...

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

"He's Beast at That!!!"

After the Elem. kids left I started fixing dinner...turned on a DVD for "the littles" so I could actually get something done before Mike got home :)...and it was a little too quiet..and when I went in this is what I saw...He is such a little Wildman! He had pushed it across the floor and climbed up! It's hard to know whether it is being the 2nd child, his personality, or his "boyness" coming out...M was never a climber...Always pensive and methodical about everything...He just plows right on ahead without fear...At the park yesterday he held my hand going down a small slide...then flips over and crawled all the way back up (with me right there of course)...and all I could think was "He's beast at that!!!!" (Something the Elem. kids say all the time when they are good at something...We are down with the latest lingo around here)...He is so strong in his upper body...All that Army Crawling is paying off!

Other things he is doing lately:
*Leaning in for a hug...(no arms yet...Can't wait for that!) He's been open mouth kissing for a while now... :)
*Getting Time Outs (1 min) for being disobedient...Don't do that...Turn, smile, and does it...3 strikes you're in T.O...and he hates T.O.s...I think M is loving that she isn't the only one being punished anymore... :)
*We are trying to teach him signs...sometimes he will sign "more"...he is at the awkward age where they want to say things, but don't know how to get their point across except for screaming :)
*He has perfected the "back arch" when being put in the car seat...fun times!
*He will let go of something and stand for a few secs alone before falling over... :)
*He's ticklish just like his sister!
*He is still our little "Game Show Host" with a smile for everyone!

He is such a joy and I am so excited to have 2 days a week to really concentrate on him while M is at school...And the morning nap time for Mommy to relax thing isn't too bad either! :) Gotta run he's waking up! :)

One Busy Lady

It's been nice having "Abby Cadabs" around this morning...We did a lot while Carter slept this morning...She dressed up in 3 outfits, did puzzles, (here she is stopping her puzzlin' to do some munchin'), played school, danced, and built a bridge and a tower...She is one busy little lady!

When we were working on puzzles today she said (and she says this a lot)..."Momma you can go first...after my turn..." Trying to be gracious but totally missing the mark! :) And another thing she says a lot...She was putting on her socks today and asked if I wanted to try them on...I said, "Thanks, but they won't fit"...and she said, "It's okay Momma...You can get some when you get bigger!!!" I love how their little minds work!

Yesterday she wanted to play school after naptime and before going to the bus stop...She set all of her animals up and then said, "Okay Momma...Bye!! I'll close the door for you...." :)

Nice that she wants to have some alone playtime (she usually wants me to play everything with her), but a little bit sad....I snuck back in to take a little video of "the teacher"...

1st Day of PreSchool

Today was the big day...the first day of PreSchool! :) When we got back from the bus stop I tried to take some pics...but Mallory wanted to go snuggle in her bed with me...this is what she says nowadays if she wants some good alone time with one of her parents...I had to tell her we didn't have time bc we needed to get to school! We did, however, have time for a little game of peek-a-boo before we headed off...

That's our silly girl!

Peek-a-Boo!

Daddy left Mal a letter this morning and I got to read it to her while we waited in the car line for drop off (I dropped some water on it and couldn't read part of it...so Daddy will have to fill her in on what I missed when they have their Daddy Daughter Date after school)...She smiled and giggled at what he wrote...She looked so pensive (like a deer caught in headlights) right before it was her turn to get out...

We have been talking about this day for so long and praying with M about it...I thought I would bawl my head off pulling away...but I didn't...she took the teacher's hand and waved at me and I was on my way...I'm so happy for her...I had told her right before she got out that Mommy and Daddy loved school so much that we both became teachers...maybe my happiness for her outweighed my sadness of her growing up into another stage...hummm (I could analyze things forever!)

I got teary eyed again seeing her come out with her teacher for pickup...she was so happy and her teacher said she did great! Here she is reporting on the day before I buckled her in..."We sang, we read a book, we went to the play ground, ___ was crying...etc etc..." It is so fun to be on the opposite side of teaching now and hear what parents hear... When I tried to get more out of her when we stopped at the bank she said, "Hold on Mom...I doing something...I'm trying to fix this..." I love how intense she is in this shot...

Then I told her we were going to Chickfila for lunch bc I was so proud (Thanks for the coupons MiMi!) And she said, "Yay!! Chick-a-pah-lay!!!!!" I love that she calls it that and I love that she is such a Chatty Patty and can say such big words like "devotional," but still calls milk "nulk"...

Here she is helping Brother Bear...

And then time to play at "Chick-a-pah-lay"!!!!!

Rest for the Soul

"The problem is not entirely in finding the room of one's own, the time alone, difficult and necessary as that is. The problem is more how to still the soul in the midst of life's activities."
~Anne Marrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

Great sermon on Sunday about The Rhythm of Rest and Worship...and these quotes were our meditations in the bulletin...Something I have always struggled with: REST...and something God is constantly trying to teach me to do...so I am really meditating on the quotes and trying to find rest and allow moments of rest in the midst of our crazy fun filled life around here...God is good to give us the rest we need...we just need to recognize we need it! :)

Matt 11:28-30

"Perhaps you can judge the inner health of a land by the capacity of its people to do nothing, to lie abed musing, to amble about aimlessly, to sit (alone) having a cup of coffee-- because whoever can do nothing, letting his thoughts go where they may, must be at peace with himself."
~Sebastian de Grazia, 1962

A Big Day!

Mallory got to meet her PreK teacher today, see her classroom, and meet her classmates!!! MiMi came to watch Carter so that after the kids got on the bus we could scoot on over...just the 2 of us!! (It was a little earlier than school will be...so I couldn't get before pics...) But here she is doing a puzzle in her classroom! She was so shy, but learned several things even in the hr we were there today! She learned how to feed the monkey bananas from watching a classmate (see it? the next toy over?) And then we went outside and a little boy took her for a ride on the back of a tricycle...(They have these cool ones where you can take someone else for a ride!) I loved watching her learn and experience new things!

When we pulled out of the parking lot to leave she said, "My teacher. I miss her." I thought that was hilarious bc we just left! Her teachers are super nice...I know she is going to love it! :)

Aunt LuLu called when we got in our driveway so Mallory got to tell her all about it...and talk about the fun shoes Aunt Suzy got her for school...

Then I really wanted a pic...but somebody was a little too excited!

MiMi took us out to CiCi's to celebrate! Thanks for being here for such an important day MiMi!

And after lunch I tried again...

I'm gonna miss this little girl 2 days a week... :***(

Then I got to do a puzzle with my favorite little girl...(and cow even helped!)

I can't believe we are halfway to K...I am so excited for her learn and grow with others at school...it's just hard to let go! Tuesday she will go all by herself!!! Get ready for THE MOMMY WATERWORKS!!!

Here she is reading a story to me before naptime...What an exciting day!