Organize, Purge, Plan, Clean

It is that time of year again to organize, purge, plan and clean up our house and lives.  Spring is always a period of rejuvenating for me and this year more then ever.  After having a rough Fall/Winter I am  ready clean house!

flying homemade kites in the mud pit backyard

I have started to slowly go through every closet, bin, basket and cupboard and get rid of everything that needs to go.  I plan to go back through everything and really organize and make it all pretty.  But for now I just need the junk stuff out of the house or at least in a huge pile in the basement waiting to head off to the garage sale!

The kids toys need organizing again.  The basement is now functioning as a playroom and they love it as do I!  It is so nice to have a separate room to house most of their toys and where they can go and play.  This task is just underway and I have a long ways to go but the pile in the basement is growing.  That is a good thing!


We are almost done with our school for the year. We all need a break and are looking forward to lazy summer days :)  I am busy planning Tommy's PreK curriculum for next year and hope to get it all done by May.  Charlie's curriculum comes at the end of June, beginning of July.  When it gets here I will go through all the lessons, worksheets, experiments etc and decide when and what we will be doing and what I need to supplement.  I just bought a new homeschooling mom's daily planner and I can't wait for it to come!

Charlie and Sammie

We were forced to clear our schedules all winter long trying to keep Penny healthy during flu season.  So far it has worked and we are beyond thankful for her health.  It has been a wonderful few months spending lots of time together as a family and focusing on what is really important.  We have really simplified our lives and it feels good.  With Spring right around the corner we will be getting out again.  We have signed the boys up for soccer and this summer they will go to VBS and take swim lessons.

On a personal note, I have begun to shed the baby weight.  I started off strong with WW (Weight Watchers) about 7 weeks ago and easily lost 11 pounds.  Then I got lazy and stopped counting my points and writing down everything I eat.  I haven't gained any, but I haven't lost any since either.  I am SO ready to have a body that slightly resembles my pre-baby body.  I am realistic in knowing it will never be quite the same and that is ok.  I have had three children.  I know some ladies can slim right back down to where they were, but that just isn't my reality.  I am trying to also look at this journey with a new perspective.  I want to focus more on being healthy then how much I weigh.  I know that very soon I will have a precious little girl looking up to me to be an example on many things.  I want to be able to give Penny a positive message when it comes to her body image.


The rain keeps coming but I know that sunny days lay ahead.  I can't wait!!

Tooth Fairy

See that sweet little crooked bottom left front tooth?

Well, he wiggled and I pulled.....

and he ate lots of apples and then he pulled and wiggled tonight after lights out and .....

now that sweet little bottom left front tooth is sitting in my hand .

and this kiddo couldn't be prouder and more excited!

and this Mama couldn't be more prouder or excited and a lot little sad at the same time.

And tomorrow night (he opted to hang on to his tooth for a full day, you know, so he could look at it and show it off!) we will place that sweet little bottom left front tooth in this little tooth fairy pillow I made for Charlie.  And in the morning I can only imagine that a very proud and excited little boy will be pleased as punch when he finds the loot that the tooth fairy has left him!

Our boy is growing up. Congratulations Charlie on losing your first tooth!  We love you!

Here and there...Penny is everywhere!

Someone has decided that she LOVEs to roll.  She is all over the place, a real rolling machine.  I put her down and literally 2.5 seconds later she is on the opposite side of the room.   Major baby proofing is underway!

 I know I am a biased, but seriously, could she be any cuter???!!!!

The only thing that is not so cute about all her rolling is that it has been waking her up at night.  She rolls over onto her tummy and then tries to continue rolling in the same direction but the side of the crib stops her.  And it makes her really mad! 

She is so proud of herself and loves that she can roll over to a toy that she is eying.  I can't believe that she is getting so big!!  I just love her to pieces!

Easter 2011

We  had a wonderful Easter.  We were able to go back to our lovely church (after months of not attending because it was flu season and we were trying to keep Penny healthy) and it was SO good to be back!  The boys were excited to see their teachers and went in their rooms without any hesitation.  Penny stayed with us in the sanctuary and did really well.  I did have to walk with her in the foyer for a bit but they have a tv broadcasting the sermon so I didn't miss out on much.  I was just thrilled to be there and could feel the Spirit.  Mom also joined us at church and I was happy for that too.  When church was over we headed home to see if the Easter Bunny had stopped by while we were gone.  Indeed he did!

Charlie got a bunch of cool LEGO stuff.  A game, 2 books, movie etc.  Tommy was pretty thrilled with his loot as well, 2 games, a Transformer coloring book, candy and money filled eggs.

The babies

Daddy and his boys

Mommy and her little lady

I love this picture of Nana and Penny!

Grandpa and Penny

We wanted to do our annual Easter egg hunt in the backyard but our yard is a HUGE mud pit.  So, Trent had the great idea to hide the eggs at the school playground that is 2 houses down.  So he and Uncle Greg ran down and hid the eggs and then called for all of us to come on down.  The kids had a great time, Charlie said it was his favorite part of the day :)

Tom hunting eggs on the playground

Charlie finding eggs

Next year Penny you will be hunting eggs too :)

Sunflower PEEPs Chocolate Cake (Thanks for the idea Susana!)

Then we headed back to the house to eat some cake and ice cream!

It was really a nice day. We had our new neighbors over for dinner as well and it was so good to fellowship with them a bit.  I was kind of bummed that we didn't get a full family picture or a picture of Trent and I.  So, after everyone left and Trent and I were hanging out we decided to take a few of our own photos.

I love that man!

Saved

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. 

It is 12:08am and I can not sleep.

Today is Easter.

We celebrate that our King, our Savior is ALIVE.

He has died for our sins and risen from the dead, so that we can have eternal life.

The boys and I read from their Bible tonight before bed.

It talked how Mary Magdalene and the other ladies 

celebrated and how their hearts leaped for joy

that the tomb was EMPTY and that Jesus

was ALIVE!

That is the feeling I have in my heart tonight.  I want to tell everyone how wonderful

Jesus' promise is.  How he died for all of us.  He took the beatings, the torture,

the pain and agony.  He could of stopped all of it, but he did not.  He endured

it all for me.  For  you.  For all of us.

He is RISEN!

Tonight after I put the boys to bed Charlie called me back in.

I went to him and told him the story of when I was Saved.

I was a little girl, close to his age.

My Granny and I knelt  in her family room and 

I said a simple prayer expressing my love for 

Jesus.  From that day forward He has lived 

in my heart.  I might have strayed from Him

over the years, but He remained faithful to me.

Charlie said he wanted to pray and ask Jesus into his heart.

I told him that he should pray about it and think about it for a few days.

I didn't want him to do it just because we had been talking about 

my experience.  I wanted him to come to that decision on his own.

He insisted, I pushed back again, he insisted and started to climb down of the bed to kneel.

I knew that this was something he wanted to do and I asked if he wanted Daddy to join us.

The three of us held hands there in our master bedroom on Easter Eve.

A young boy proclaiming his love for Jesus.

In that moment Charlie seemed so grown up to me.

He only said a few short meaningful sentences that 

will change his world and have a profound

effect on his life.

My biggest prayer in life is that all the members of our family

are led to the Cross.  That they will choose to experience

the love and peace that is Jesus Christ.

And that He will live forever in their hearts.

Jesus died for us.  He died for you.  He died for me.  He died for all of us.

Sleepover Party with Brandon

 

Brandon (our nephew) spent the night a few weeks ago.  It was part of his Christmas present and he got to choose what he wanted to do, eat etc.  We had a lot of fun together and it was good to spend some alone time with him!  He has really grown up a lot from the days of when we all lived together.  The boys loved having him here and asked when he could come back. 

Painting the volcano

 Brandon was a good sport too.  We had to run Tommy to the doctor because he had an ear infection and then he helped us paint our volcano....the never ending project ;(

making brownies!

This cracks me up!

They were all pleased as punch to sit and play video games together!  Glad they all have each other because I am not much of a video player kind of gal.

It was a great 2 days together and we can't wait for Brandon to come back!

He still has it

Yep, that is my man. 

and he can still rock it out.

or jazz it up.

just depends on the kind of groove you are in.
Love you baby!

Tommy's Family Birthday

He had Daddy relight the candles so that Charlie could blow them out as well :)

We always have a friends/family birthday party  and then a family only (Trent, the children and myself, sometimes Nana comes too) birthday dinner on their actual birthday.  We always serve Granny's chocolate cake with coffee chocolate icing...yum!

Tommy decided that he wanted McDonalds for his birthday dinner.  So that is what the boys had, Trent and I ate later in the evening.  And then we sang Happy Birthday and had some cake!

I can't believe that my baby is 4.  For so long I really thought that he was going to be our last baby and treated him accordingly :)  He is such a lovely little soul.  He is our firecracker and has me completely wrapped around his little fingers....most of the time.  He is teaching me patience and unconditional love all at the same time.  I always give him "just one more hug?" each and every night.

Thomas, we love you so much.  You are such a sweet boy and we are so proud of you.  We can't wait to see what this year holds for you!

Love,
Daddy and Mama

This one is for you Grandpa!

Mud Hopscotch

Penelope Jane, 5 months

Penny is 5 months old.  Every day I marvel at how beautiful she is.  Sometimes I can't even believe that she is ours and that she is here.  My pregnancy with her seemed to last and eternity and I am just so grateful that she is with us now and healthy!

She is such a happy girl.  Her smile is contagious and her little laugh is so sweet.  She literally lights up when she sees her brothers or when I go in to get her from her crib in the morning or after a nap.  When she gets really happy she kicks her feet, grins from ear to ear and wrinkles up her nose....make my heart melt! I love that toothless smile!  She has started to show a bit of separation anxiety, but not much.  It usually happens if I try to hand her to someone without letting her warm up to them at first.

She loves to be held and I love to hold her :)  She is content to play in her excersaucer, on the floor or in her swing.  When she want some attention she will "yell", not cry, but yell.  I think it is kind of cute, even though I tell her not to yell at me.  Her favorite toys are her lovies and Tiny Love.  Tiny Love was also Charlie's favorite toy at this age.  I think he is a keeper. 

Just recently she realized that she had feet! It was in the middle of the night and I had just finished feeding her and was changing her diaper, in the dark on our bed.  I could barely see her but she was awake and making her raspberries and speaking softly to me.  Then all of a sudden she reached up and grabbed her foot.  She was so excited and started squealing and laughing.  It was such a sweet moment.

We also just started her on baby food.  I tried a few weeks ago and she had no interest at all so we backed off.  I always hold her on my lap at most meals and last week she was very interested in my pancakes!  I gave her a little nibble and she was hooked.  So now, if I don't feed her while we are eating she yells at us until we feed her.  You would think the poor thing was starving or something :)

In the last 2 weeks she has also started sleeping longer stretches.  She is down from 3 naps to 2 naps.  Usually around 9am and 1pm with her afternoon nap being about 2 hours.  She was doing 3-4 45minute naps a day.  She is still putting herself to sleep between 6-7pm and eating every 3-5 hours with longer stretches in the early evening and at night.  We also just started having her sleep more in her crib and less in our room.  Even though she still sleeps about 2-3 hours each night in her bassinet by our bed.  I am not ready to have her away from us for the whole evening yet :)

We are just crazy about this girl! She is such a sweet addition to our family and we love her dearly. 

Birthday Party: Knights and Dragons

Tommy turns 4 in a few days so we celebrated today with our family and friends.  The theme was Knights and Dragons.  It was CHAOTIC and busy but the kids had a ton of fun and that makes it all worth while.

The kids started off by decorating shields that Trent had made for them.  As well as crowns and wands.  They all looked so cute carrying their shields around and wearing their jeweled crowns!

Tommy growling like a dragon

Then is was off on a Quest to find the lost treasure.  We set up three small stations throughout the house and the kids were given clues to find the next station.  They had to go to the basement and cross the "Moat", the family room to crawl through the "Cave" and the big boys bedroom to the balloon swamp.  The last clue lead them back downstairs to the dining room table where the dragon cake was waiting with all the treasure.
It was crazy  busy in our small house, but the kids had so much fun.  Tommy and Charlie thought it was so cool and were excited to find the treasure. I just loved watching how excited they were!

When I was putting Tommy to bed tonight the last thing he said to me was "Thanks you Mama for makin me that dwagon cake."  Buddy, I would make you a "dwagon" cake any day!  You are so worth all the work and preparations.  To see your sweet face light up when you see your surprise cake or watch you hunt "dwagons" while looking for treasure...that is the kind of stuff I live for!

I just love home birthday parties.  We have lots of family and friends we love to celebrate with and even though we are all crammed in our house like sardines, it doesn't matter.  One day in the not to distant future the kids won't want parties like this, they won't want their Mama to make them fun cakes.  So, I am going to enjoy these moments while I can!

Tommy asked for two presents this year.  A Storm Trooper helmet and a chain saw.  Grandpa got him the chain saw and we got him  the helmet.  He was BEYOND happy!

CHAIN SAW!!!!!

Penny and the Nana