We love pudding!

Sorry I've been so absent. Jason worked all weekend and we had some computer issues. I'm back!

The kids really enjoyed their pudding after dinner the other night...

Fetch

When Ella isn't trying to be exactly like Bo and copy his every move, she's busy trying to help him or be as close to him as possible. This was the game that spontaneously began the other night after I'd gotten Ella up from the table. They had quite a time!

Unbelievable

Bo knows that the only reason he can even think about getting out of his bed is to go to the potty. I think we may have to reconsider how we approach that "escape clause" because he is starting to take advantage of it.

He's gotten out of bed 7 times in the past 11 minutes to use the potty. The unbelivable part is that he really has tinkled, every single time! Now that is impressive!

Look who put his own shorts on!

Yep, they're on backwards. But does it really matter?

The ABC's

Ella doesn't usually make it past E, but it is fun to hear her sing A-B-C-D-E over and over again!

Our favorite new plaything!

At the beach...

Six years ago today, I was driving to the beach for a honeymoon with my husband of 24 hours. It was exciting, overwhelming, wonderful, and a little scary all rolled into one! Some days I feel like Jason and I have only been married six minutes, and I feel like I teenager babysitting someone else's kids. Ha! Yesterday we remembered that it has, in fact, been six years and we celebrated and remembered our special day.

I'm not going to lie, I would have loved nothing more than to get in the car this morning and head off for a relaxing week at the beach. While we do have a family trip to the beach scheduled in a few weeks, I'm not sure it will be quite as relaxing as our honeymoon was six years ago!

I am so thankful for J and our marriage. He is a man who loves me and loves our kids in amazing ways. He's a man who can laugh after I've just crunched his car with the garage door. He's a man who loves to care for me by fixing things around the house, mowing the yard, changing the oil in the car, and checking things off the "honey do" lists that I often give him. He's a man who wrestles with Bo and fixes Ella's hair and makes Jack smile and giggle.

Neither of us is perfect, and there are certainly many imperfect moments in our marriage, but we have fun. We laugh a lot. And we are often in awe at the abundance of blessings poured out on our family!

Worth It

Delicious premium roast iced coffee at McDonald's: $2.14

Babysitter so that J and I could enjoy the iced coffee and get out of the house without our three little darlings for two blessed hours: $25

New garage door because J forgot his cell phone during a quick errand run this afternoon. When he came home to retrieve said cell phone and finish his errands, he didn't pull the car into the garage quite far enough. As I prepared to leave to finish his errands because he needed to stay home to help the on-call guy at work read a CT, I closed the garage door out of habit. We both stood their stunned as the door crunched down on the trunk of Jason's car. The car doesn't have a scratch, but the door doesn't look like it's going to make it: $100? $500? $1000?

An hour at Home Depot pricing garage doors and picking out sample tiles for the master bathroom shower that J and his dad will re-tile in a few days: $6

Extra energy bill costs to cool the garage as the kids played with the bell on Bo's tricycle and most of the backyard as the kids came in and out from playing this afternoon: around $3

Ella crawling up into my lap as I was nursing Jack and quietly saying, "I love you" to him: priceless

Summer is here!

Yesterday's solstice means that summer is officially here! We are enjoying staying cool with popsicles...

And Bo loves his shades!

This is why the bathroom smells like tee-tee!

As I was cleaning the bathroom the other day, I noticed that things got quiet, too quiet. This was the scene I discovered when I went to check on the kids.

Bo decided he was hungry and he thought a banana would make a good snack. Ella could not figure out how to get her hands on the banana, but she was working her way up there!

Cheese!

Neighborly Love

I have been convicted lately of my lack of relationship with our neighbors. We take goodies over for the holidays and wave and chat when we're outside, but I rarely initiate truly knowing those who live around us.

Today, the neighbors reached out to us, and it was great to feel like we're starting to know them a little bit. One neighbor heard us in the backyard playing and brought her dog over to run around with the kids. Jason was at work, so it was such a blessing to have 35 minutes of adult conversation while the kids were enthralled with the dog.

As we were eating dinner a little later, another set of neighbors came over and offered us a huge bag of green beans fresh from their garden. I was so excited! I would LOVE to have a flower/vegetable garden, but at this phase in my life, I feel like there are enough living things dependent on me!

I visited for a few minutes as I clutched my giant bag of green beans. This particular couple is elderly and while I've had many interactions with the man as he works in his immaculate yard, I've never met the wife. They were so precious, and the way the wife looked at her husband was amazing. Several times, she mentioned how smart he is and how much he knows about gardening. It was a blessing to see her love and honor him!

So now I've promised to bring the kids over at some point to look at the garden and get some tips, and I'm hoping that the backyard is open for visitors again whenever we're out there playing!

Sleeping Babes

It's 8:45 and all the babies are down for the night. I am enjoying the peace and the quiet. I am also exhausted. I'm loving my early morning workout routine, but when the day starts at 5:30 AM, I am one tired cookie by 9. Tired and lacking in witty and creative things to say about the day...

We did have Jack's two month check today...yikes, he's two months old already! Here are his latest stats:
Weight: 11 pounds, 5 ounces
Height: 23 1/4 inches
Head: 38.7 cm


He did not enjoy his shots and he's been a little mad at me all day for letting them do that! I could post a long one about vaccinations, but I'm a little too pooped to get into it right now!

Here's a shot of our growing boy...I love all those chins.

So close...

...to capturing the smiles on camera!

He's getting close to laughing, but I still can't seem to get that money shot!

Drowning

Growing up I always loved being in the water. We spent most of our summer at the pool, and it was so refreshing to float and splash around. I've never been a stellar swimmer, but I've never found keeping my head above water extremely difficult.

Until today.

I decided to swim a few laps at the gym this morning. No problem, right? It's been a few years, but anyone can do the freestyle.

Wrong.

Halfway through the first lap I found myself choking and gasping for air. The easy freestyle I remembered was not so easy. I was only a few mouthfuls of water away from real trouble. After a few laps of kicking and a not very technical breast stroke, I decided to give the freestyle another try.

I did manage to get my breathing down and avoid drinking chlorinated water for breakfast. It was a bit humbling though to be sucking wind in the pool!

These past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind, and I've been drowning a little bit in life. We've had lots of fun, but there have been many distractions from blogging!

The A/C in our house died three times in four days. Not fun. We had the new unit installed this morning. I joked with Jason that there are a lot of things I would like to spend $2000 on, and new air conditioning is not necessarily one of them. It is, however, something that I will enjoy and feel is worth every penny of that money.

We had wonderful friends come and visit for a few days. Thankfully the A/C was only out for a few hours while they were here. With five kids at three and under, it was nice to be in a cool house!

We had a great Father's Day with Jason. I got to run out to the mall. Alone. To shop for him. That might as well have made it Mother's Day! He enjoyed his new Reef flip flops and watch batteries! I am so thankful for the man and dad that he is.
Jason had his first weekend off in a month, and he had today off. Three whole days with him; I can hardly stand it!

I'm hoping to be a little more consistent with the posting this week. I have lots of fun pictures and stories. Hopefully, I can stay on top of everything!

Concrete

I love it that when Ella is having a meltdown and I comment that she's falling apart Bo hurries over to push a magical "button" somewhere on her body. He says, "there you go mom, I fixed her together again."

I love it that when Bo is being whiny and I tell him it's time to "get it together" he responds, "but mom, I don't have anything to get."

I love it that when I tell Bo we're going to listen to Laura Story, he asks, "what story is it?" And at the beginning of each song, he says, "ooh, are we going to listen to another story?"

I love it that when we can't find a toy and I tell Bo to look with his eyes, he says, "but I know where my eyes are. Where is my toy?"

I love it that when I tell Bo to be sure he "faces the toilet" to pee, he puts his face down in the toilet. Really. It's as gross as it sounds, but it sure is cute!

Ouch!

Ella was holding Jack happily and posed for a picture. I think I'm going to call this her scary smile because it doesn't quite look right! She was saying "cheese" when I snapped the shot.

I wish I'd had the video rolling because moments later Jack grabbed a fistful of hair, and Ella was not happy about it. I don't know if you've seen the "Charlie bit me" video, but it was definitely a lot like that situation!

Bo joined the gang a moment later...

I love this shot!

Vacation Bible School

Our church did their Vacation Bible School last week, and it was big fun. The actually did a 3 year old group this year for the kids of parents working. I was glad that Bo wasn't going to have to be in the nursery, but I wasn't sure how much of the experience he would truly understand. Let me just say, he had a blast!

He would not stop talking about it, and looked forward to going every day. He enjoyed it so much that we've actually starting looking into some preschool programs for him in the fall. I think a half-day once or twice a week would be really good for him next year. I'm just not sure I'm ready to give him up!

It was a beach theme for the week, and the kids played water games every evening.

Can you tell that Bo has inherited mine [and Jason's] extremely pale skin?! The sunlight isn't really helping in this picture, but he sure is not tan at all!

Here's Bo about to go through the "human car wash":



They had a big water slide set up for the last night, and Bo actually decided to go down. How priceless is that look on his face? He loved it!
Craft time was also big fun...he especially loved the sand!

Bubbles and digging for treasure = big fun!
He's already asking about going next week. I keep reminding him that it's over, but it doesn't seem to be sinking in! I guess he'll figure it out soon enough!

Exercise

Awesome

Yesterday, I spent most of the day with no TV, no telephone, no Internet, and no air conditioning.

Awesome.

And did I mention that Jason was working?

Even more awesome!

By 9:30 yesterday morning, I had fed and clothed four people, been to the grocery store and back, unloaded groceries, and cleaned the kitchen. While I understand that this is part of my job as a mom and really something that I do every day, I really wanted someone to tell me that was awesome.

Then, I started thinking about how many carseats my mom unbuckled, how many trips to the store she made with five kids, how many meals she made that someone complained about, how many loads of laundry she did in a week, and how all of these thankless tasks made up her days, weeks, months, years.

So I called her to tell her she is awesome. Because she is awesome, and we all need to hear it every now and then, even if it is just part of our daily routine!

THAT Mom & THAT Kid

I adore my children. I think they are the most amazing and wonderful and wonder-filled kids. They amaze me with the things they say and do (and sing)! They are not, however, perfect!

One of the things I think my parents did very well was view us [their children] very realistically. They were quick to praise us for our strengths, but they did not ignore or overlook our weaknesses. I hope I am able to maintain that sort of perspective with my own children.

I do often want my kid to be THAT kid. You know the one I'm talking about. The child who responds obediently and respectfully to me and to other adults. The child who asks for things politely and appropriately handles being told no. The one who all the nursery workers want to play with, read with, snuggle with. And the one who others enjoy as much as I do. I am realizing that this is pride, and I am overwhelmed at how much pride there is wrapped up in my heart. Not the good kind of heart-swelling-you-did-a-great-job-pride-focus-on-others, but the look-at-me-and-think-I'm-the-greatest-mom-ever-and-it's-all-about-me-pride.

Oooh, it is so wrong! I'm seeing the Lord slowly reveal this ugliness in my heart, and lately my children seem to be the primary teaching instruments.

I know I mentioned Bo's swimming lessons in an earlier post. During his session on Wednesday, Bo was THAT kid. Not the one mentioned above, but THAT kid that the teacher struggles with the entire lesson. The one that is so frustrating, but she has to pretend it isn't because there's a bleacher full of moms watching her teach swimming lessons to three year olds.

Yep, that was Bo on Wednesday.

He would not stay on the stairs as the teacher instructed. He kept pulling toys out of the basket and throwing them into the water just out of the teacher's immediate reach. He complained about the color of his kickboard and that fact that it didn't have letters on it. He told the teacher "no" several times. He was the one who caused the instructor to ask the head pool coordinator to get in the water and help her because he was making it too difficult for her to work with the other students. It was appalling!

And I, my friends, I became THAT mom. The one who spent the first 20 minutes of the lesson going back and forth from the bleachers to the pool and reminding Bo to stay in the pool, stay on the stairs, stay out of the toys, speak kindly to his teachers. The one who not so calmly had to suggest that the teacher grab my son because he'd stepped off the stairs while she was helping another student float and had been desperately attempting to swim back for the last 10 seconds.

After 20 minutes, I just decided that it was best for me to sit and watch and deal with Bo after the lesson. Fortunately, there were no more near drowning incidents.

And let me just say how proud I was of that instructor. I knew that she did not want to speak to me at the end of the lesson. I knew she feared that I would have some unkind words for her after watching her conduct her lesson. Even though she was hesitant, she came over to talk to me and to tell Bo he did a great job.

I hope I surprised her with my response.

I really wanted to apologize for Bo's behavior, but I didn't.

I made him do it.

Yep, her eyes got so wide when I made Bo tell her he was sorry for his behavior, and then I aplogized for being in her way as well. I told her I was sorry for stepping in at the beginning of her lesson. I told her that Bo would be more obedient and respectful at his next lesson, or she had my permission to send him out of the pool. I'm pretty sure she was not expecting that!

And today, Bo was an absolute delight. He had all the instructors cracking up as he was singing "Wheels on the Bus" while floating on his back. He sat on the stairs obediently and waited his turn, and he followed instructions. It was a joy to watch his obedient heart in action! And I was able to sit on the bleachers and watch and relax and thank God for working in his heart and in mine. It was a blessing!

Whew, I bet you didn't realize you were going to get all that when you decided to stop by the blog today! I hope I didn't wear you out. For those of you who just like looking at the pictures, here are a few!

Here he is about to take off on his own into deeper waters!

Couldn't you just eat him up?