Hidden Camera

Yesterday was all about trying to find "balance"...My squirrelyness caught up with me and I had 4 activities planned in the span of 4 hrs...What in the world?!?!! My friends were very gracious to me as I had to bow out of playgroup in order to get the rest of the stuff done...God is constantly trying to teach me to "slow down"...why can't I learn??? :) I'm glad He is so patient with me...and my friends and family are too! Hopefully one of these days I will find "balance"!!!

My parents have the cutest tape of my sister Susan singing "Hey Diddle Diddle" when she was Mallory's age...and I'm desperate to capture her "talking and singing on film," but she is wise to the ways of Momma....so I have to hide the camera these days...hopefully soon I'll catch her singing! :)

I almost trick her...but then she "melts"...

Then when the camera is hidden we get a bit more footage....I love her language and know it won't be long before she doesn't have her "own" language anymore...

New and Old

It's so fun to break out Mal's old toys as Carter gets bigger! Both kids enjoy the "newness" of the toy when it is brought out for the first time. And it's good for working on sharing...(my videos aren't uploading like normal so it makes for a fuzzier pic...SAD!)

My Pack ack!

Watched the movie Once last night...very good...different type of "musical"...Now we are going to have to download some of that soundtrack! :) And today we drove to church for the 1st time as a fam in our van...it felt very much like we were "playing house"! :) You'd think I was driving a jeep the way I try to wave at other people driving Siennas now...I know they must think I'm crazy...but they're my people now! :)
I need to be better about writing down the things that Mallory says bc I love so much of what she says these days...here she is above with her beloved "pack ack"...aka backpack/diaper bag...it's so nice that she loves to carry it...we no longer have to! She feels like such a big girl with her backpack on heading to her Sunday School Class and MOPS class each week!

Senorita Squirrely

We have had quite the weekend and it's only Sat! Yay! That's the best feeling when you have more of the weekend left than you think you should! :)
Mike enjoyed a "Bachelor's Pad" Fri. and Sat. while I was at the Conference at Church...MiMi and PaPa called and asked to have the kids over for an overnight while Daddy was working on Friday so Mike came home to an empty house...He had lots of down time...which he loves! (Thanks MiMi and PaPa!) He really didn't know what to do at first! And Carter enjoyed his first overnight without his parents and Mallory didn't mind sharing the lime light with her brother...I know they both can't wait for Summer School to hang out with MiMi 4 mornings a week!

Love that dimple on my boy! And Aunt Susan came by for dinner and jumped right into feeding her nephew!
Oh and the top pic is from a B-Day party for one of our Playgroup Buddies today...we squeezed that in after naptime...Mal and I...Am I a squirrel-y or what...the last 2 weekends have been action packed...and I love it!!!!! But now it is time to veg and relax and watch a movie with Mike!

Fort Fun Remix!!!

I am really enjoying my special time with Mallory when Carter takes his morning nap each day. We made a cool fort today and had a blast playing in it! She said something funny and I laughed and she said, "I crackin you up Momma!"...she does crack me up....all the time! I love her so much! :)

She is my big helper and loves to wash dishes with me...and when Carter is sleeping she will say..."shhhhh (with her finger to her lips...) Carter SEEEPING!!!!" (with no volume control!)

Our cats enjoyed some time in the fort as well...

I'm gonna miss this girl 2 days a week next yr!!! She brings such JOY to my mornings!

Roly Poly Real Estate...

Mr. Roly Poly is all over the place in his crib nowadays! Both our kids didn't realize at first that when they roll and hit the rungs on one side they can "kick it in reverse" and head the other way...They think they have run out of "real estate" at that point...I think he got the hang of it during his a.m. nap though!

How fun is it to go in and get this little guy after a nap!!?!? And can you see his teeth on the bottom? (The rungs made it a shadow-y pic...kinda cool...)

And here he is pre-wake up...We love our little Roly Poly!

Planning and Cooking...

How cute are these books!??!? They are from the same illustrator as the Care Bears from the 80s....I love it! I'm breaking these out of the bin in the attic...wanted them down for the Mal Pal anyway...but it is so fun to look through my bin of books for kids about God! I bought these way back in college...and used them when I was a Camp Counselor, but bought them originally for my future children....and now they are here to listen to them...Yay! :) (I'm gonna use them this weekend for the Mission's Conference for church...I'm helping out with the childcare...)

I'm really feeling like I'm settling in to this whole "Stay-at-Home-Mom" thing...and I'm trying to be better about planning in the dinner dept...Anyone who knows me knows this is a big deal!!! I'm limiting myself to 1 trip a week to the grocery store (the workers there are my BFFs bc I go so much!) and I'm planning 3 real meals a week...This week is "Piper Shores Week" and I'm making recipes from GGMa and GGpa's retirement home cookbook. We had Jamaican Chicken Stew and Kielbasa & Homemade MacnCheese this week so far...these pics are from our easy "Manwich Night"...it looked too much like the commercials with it all over her face...had to take pics! Mallory loved her 1st Sloppy Joe!

Carter can't wait until he can chow down on real food...Love my boys!