I'm starting to wonder if we can afford to keep having kids...

Bo's youth soccer registration and jersey: $76
Seeing the look on his face as he clutched that jersey on our way back to the car: priceless

Ella's ballet registration, leotard, tights, and ballet shoes: $85
Watching her expression when the ballet shoe fit just right: priceless

New diaper for Jack: $.020
Making him laugh so hard that he gave himself the hiccups as I cleaned up a super stinky poo: at least he wasn't screaming :)

Sometimes it's just worth saving...

I got one of the best voicemails ever yesterday. It was my sister and in a moment of pregnancy hormone induced emotion she left me a seriously fabulous message. I wish I could record it and play it for you here, but that would probably violate some sort of sister code or at least some pregnancy code of ethics.

You can read about it on her blog.

I also posted some pics on my sewing blog.

I can't wait to meet little Brooks and Reese, and I'm also getting super pumped about the baby gender reveal from my brother and his wife in a few short weeks.

Woo-hoo...lots of cousins for my little ones!

Road Trip-Worth every minute!

It was almost exactly this time last year that my dear friend Carrie found out her husband got an out of town job, and began making plans to move oh, so far away.

It was the beginning of a tough year for me, if I'm honest. I've seen so many things be stripped away. It brings me to a place where I can't help but realize that Jesus is the only thing that truly satisifies both now and for all of eternity. A true lesson and so, so valuable, but certainly not the easiest road to walk for the last 11 months.

I have missed her fiercely over the past [almost] year. In addition to saying goodbye to a good friend, Bo said goodbye to his best little bud.

I was absolutely over the moon when she called last week to tell me she would be a mere two hours away visiting some family this week and wondered if we could arrange a get together. Not a hard decision at all!

I loaded the kids up and we drove a little over two hours to meet our friends at an indoor exploration museum for the day yesterday.

Two hours in the car was just enough time to catch up on some phone calls and let the kids stare out the window. It was tears, hugs, and pure excitement when we finally got there.

Even Jack snuggled right into Carrie's arms like not a day had passed...

And then there were the bugs...

Bo and M quickly bonded over love of all things spidey and hairy.

All of the kids enjoyed the water station in the toddler area. Jack was especially interested in splashing and ended up soaking wet. I actually ended up taking off his pants because they were so soaked, so he looked like quite the ragamuffin for the rest of the day.

The see-saw actually had some balls that hit windpipes and made music as it moved up and down. Very cool.

Ella made sure to exfoliate her hands with the recycled plastic "sand."

The Tornado wind tunnel was perhaps the biggest hit of the day. The boys kept going in, but Ella opted for the one time experience. With wind gusts around 70 miles an hour, I can't say I blame her!

Here are the girls. MC is almost exactly a year behind Ella and I met Carrie the day before she went into labor. Hard to believe it's been almost two years!

The kids all enjoyed pretending they were doctors. Notice the pantsless wonder?

Jack had quite a bit of fun running into any open space he could find. Have I mentioned that he is going to keep me on my toes?

We managed to get this group photo just before we got back in the car and called it a day. Still no pants on Jack; I think I'm slowly becoming that crazy mom who has more kids than sense!
What a day it was!

But I need to ask you a question...

I'm summoned to Bo's room during naptime by the sound of a twisting doorknob.

Before I can get there, he hears me in the entryway and rushes back to his bed.

"Oh, mom, I'm so glad you're here. I have a really important question for you. What can go in your ears?"

"Bo, the only thing that should go in your ears are sounds buddy."

"No mom, that's not the right answer. You forgot about the earlights!"

Oh, of course, the earlights!

It's been THAT day

Yep, it's officially been one of those days:

You know, the one where a sleepy little girl starts trying to wake up her brother at 6:27 AM [a full hour before she typically wakes up/gets up] because she needs a drink of water.

The full glass of milk I try to hand to Bo for breakfast spills and covers the entire table, and floor.

The stack of cups I'd been neatly stacking as I emptied the dishwasher gets scattered like bowling pins as another cup slips from my hands. "Why are you throwing things?" the kids ask.

Bo announces [yet again] that he plans to exchange his little sister for a brother when she gets here because, "we have enough girls already, mom!"

During our visit to the library, I put the wrong tag on our computer during Bo's time online [kid's computer + wrong tag = not too happy librarian]. "I'm sorry," I explain, "he really wanted the one with the B on it." During that same visit, Jack pitches a big old 15 month sized fit when I strap him back in the stroller so we can check out our books. As the entire room turns to stare, I realize my shirt is on inside out. The quick trip into the bathroom to turn the shirt the right way results in Bo pitching a fit at the doorway because it wasn't the bathroom he wanted to go into.

Our final destination was the shoe store because the only pair of shoes that Jack can really wear are black and leather winter dress shoes. It was time for the boy to have a proper pair of shoes.
Found the shoes.
Jack loves them and he's off-retrieve Jack.
Grab the box and ready to pay.
I decide I want Ella to try on a quick pair.
Jack is off-and I'm off to get him.
Bo, will you hold the shoe box?
Bo decides the box needs to go back on the shelf, and actually pushes it through to the middle section of the rack.
Bo is relegated to the chair stool to sit-don't move-sit with my purse.
I'm on my knees trying to find the box.
Jack is off.
Bo starts crying, "Jack is running away. I have to go get him."
Bo stay.
Mom retrieves Jack.
Ella can you take your shoes off?
Sales lady ends up on all fours digging the box out from between the rows and then goes to check on the right size shoe for Ella.
Ella has a meltdown because she doesn't want to take her shoes off and is screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Can I get off this chair now, Mommy?"
No, Bo, you may not.
Jack is off.
I'm off after him.
Don't worry about the shoes for Ella-let's just check out.
Ella takes some deep breaths and calms down.
We pay.
Back in the car.

Home.

I can laugh about it now. Sort of. Now that the kids are all napping [or at least in their beds] and I have a moment to stop, take a breath, and pray for patience and wisdom.

Just keeping it real here guys!

Adventures in following a pattern...

One of the things I have really enjoyed doing over the past four years is sewing. There's something about the hum of the machine during naptime that takes me back to sanity.

Most of my sewing adventures are posted on my other blog, but this one was too good to resist posting here!

I love picking out fabrics and matching different patterns and textures. I also love creating something out of simple panels of fabric, BUT I must say that I am completely self taught when it comes to my sewing skills. I've created some patterns of my own that I know can follow with relative ease, but the thought of purchasing a pattern and just figuring it out has been too overwhelming.

I mentioned to Jill, before she got here, that I had almost purchased a pattern and some fabric for her to teach me while she was here. She sprang into action, and loaded her serger, patterns, and fabric into the van for her 8 hour drive.

And so, during naptime and after kids were snuggled in bed for the night, we headed into the study to work on a cute little tiered shirt for Ella. Thanks for being patient with me Jill!

Figuring out the pattern...

Geting pieces lined up to pin and sew together.

And the finished top!

It's one of those shirts that are long enough to wear with leggins in the fall, but it's still a little big for Ella, so she can do it as a dress right now.

Can you tell she loved it?

If you're just learning to sew, or even if you already know what you're doing, you MUST visit Portabellopixie [http://portabellopixie.typepad.com/]. The designs are delightful, the fabric is delicious, and the patterns are so clear and easy to follow.

So much fun!

Like a Mama Bird

Apparently, this is what nesting looks like...


This is every toy we currently own [minus all the dolls in Ella's room] in one big heap on the den floor so I can sort into piles for trash, goodwill, and organize.

Not pictured: the love seat wedged in the hall at an angle that was not looking too favorable. Fortunately, I was able to force it into our bedroom [which was the goal] with no damage to wall or child of any age. I hope J likes it in our room because I'm pretty sure it's stuck there until we move :)

Friends

I love women who know me, get me, and like me in spite of all those things. I've been blessed with some girlfriends who encourage and energize me in ways that I never anticipated. Unfortunately, because we have lived a bit like nomads for the past seven years, some of my favorite women on earth are in many places other than our hometown.

Jill is one of those women who I was fortunate enough to meet and get to know long before either of us had children. This foundation of friendship [and a history of uninterrupted conversations] is something we've been able to maintain despite living 8 hours apart for the past 4 years.

The cherry on top of our friendship is that our husbands were in medical school together, and they like each other and were friends independent of us. Couple friends that are truly couple friends are like gold!

So with my hubby gone for a bit and Jill's hubby gone for a bit, Jill bit the bullet and made the lonely drive with her three kiddos for a short visit. Gold, I'm telling you, she's like gold!

The boys. Bo and E are about six months apart.

Ella and S are more like 10 months apart, but I can't even tell you how much Ella enjoyed having a girlfriend around!

Jack and A are about four months apart, and while they were a little young to really play with each other, Jack seemed to enjoy having someone that hung with him for most of the visit. Not so easy to get a shot of them together at their ages though!

Jack

Baby A

So what exactly do you do with six kids under the age of five for three days?

Not to worry, there was a fair amount of eating. Here the boys are waiting very patiently for the girls to finish getting ready for dinner...

We did some clay art...Bo is getting some creative direction here from Jill for his "rainbow zebra."

And here's Ella checking out the final zebra product.

The girls played many variations of "mothering." Here they are with S as Ella's mommy. Ella was a puppy in this particular scenario and S was the mama dog. Not real sure how they came up with that idea...





And there was much outside fun had as well. Including a brief visit to the "water park."

Ella did the slide a few times, but she was also a big help pushing Jack on the swings!

It was a refreshing visit-a long drink of cool water for sure!

I hope I didn't talk to much, Jill! And somewhere I've made a mental list of the half a dozen or so conversations that we never got to finish. We'll have to pick up on those where we left off last time!

Jill and I also had some adventures while the kids were sleeping. I will post about those soon, but right now the kiddos are calling!

VBS Celebration

Posting was a little sparse last week because my mornings were full of Vacation Bible School activities at our church. I was in the craft room once again and had a great time. I love the opportunity to interact with all of the kids and get to know them as they work on their crafts.

The only day I remembered my camera was the last day. We were working on stuffed turtles for friends and family members who might need a reminder that God cares for them. Big fun!

Even Ella [who was technically with the "nursery" group] got to stuff a turtle with a few cotton balls.

This morning in church the kids had the opportunity to do their songs [with motions] for the congregation. After our last VBS performance, I wasn't sure Bo would even know the songs or the motions, but he really got into it this week.

I ended up sitting next to both of them on the stage because they got a little nervous before the performance.

Ella only knew the first two songs, so once those were over she took a seat in my lap and watched.

Here's a little bit of "I will not be afraid."

The other big hit of the week was "God is always here with us." I love the fact that you can hear Ella's little squeal right after everyone else yells!

Graduation

Now that Bo has his big boy bike, Ella has officially "graduated" to the tricycle. She and Bo were sharing it for a while, and she's pretty excited that it's hers to ride from now on.

She got to pick out a new helmet as well.

The only real stipulation was that it be purple!

All ready to go...

Cheese!


It was a short session on the tricycle to say the least. I attempted to show her how to peddle, but she was much more interested in "going fast" while mommy pushed. She made it past the neighbor's house and then asked if she could get off and "push" the tricycle for the rest of our walk.

Baby steps, right?

Teaching a two year old to peddle is no easy task!

A big day!

Not too long ago, I got an email from a friend in my MOPS group about a gal who was looking for a new home for a "Rhino Racer" boy's bike. I immediately responded and was so excited when she said the bike was ours.

We had to wait until this weekend because they needed the bike until after her child's birthday on the 14th. OnSaturday morning, I told Bo that a big surprise was coming for him in a little while.

We sat down and worked on his thank you note while we waited until the new bike was here.

You can't see the letters real well in this shot, but it's certainly evident that Bo's had the most practice writing his name!

And the bike is here! We were so excited...

Our first stop was to get a helmet for Bo.

He decided on the Cars helmet [which also came with a set of knee pads :)] so that he could be as fast as Lightning McQueen.

All ready for our ride!

Cheese!

And, he's off.

Thanks to the practice sessions we had with the bike at Gigi and Papa's house, he got the hang of it pretty fast. He's already talking about doing half donuts [going around the corner at the end of our street] on his racer.

I can't believe he's such a big boy!

Still Sinking In

Today we were in the car headed back home from Vacation Bible School. It's our second week of VBS this summer; this time with our home church.

As we pulled out of the parking lot, Bo asks, "Mom, what do you think about the baby in your tummy? Do you want it to be a boy or a girl?"

I explained to him that when I found out I was pregnant I prayed that God would give us just the right fit for our family, and I told Bo that God decided the right fit was a little girl.

"Mommy is having a little girl," I reiterated.

"So then, what do you think it is?" he asked again.

"Bo, it's a little girl."

"Oh."

I think maybe he's hoping the answer will change if he can just wait it out!

Fear of the Unknown?

You have to understand that J and I love the idea of being surprised by the gender of the baby when he or she is born. It was something we agreed on within moments of our first positive pregnancy test.

I wish coming up with names had been that easy for us :)

Anyhow, my pregnancy with Jack was the first time that we actually considered finding out. I should rephrase that; J actually wanted to find out. He was a budding radiologist, and he was convinced that we couldn't keep it a secret, even if we tried.

Fortunately, with some well timed glances away from the screen and a relatively cooperative little boy, we left the ultrasound still wondering if Jack would be a he or a she.

J was ultimately convinced that it was a little girl. He felt that since he hadn't caught any glimpses of little boy parts that we would probably have another little girl. Add to that equation the fact that his instincts had been correct with Bo and Ella, and he was not to be swayed in his expectation of a little girl.

Despite the fact that I didn't really have a sense [and never really have for that matter], I jumped on his bandwagon and we spent the majority of our energies thinking of girl names!

It was certainly a shock when they said that Jack was a boy. So much so that I referred to him as "she" for most of the night. In retrospect, I can't even imagine that I ever expected him to be a girl. He immediately seemed to be the right fit for our family.

Fast forward to the discussions about the gender of this baby. J is now much more established in his ability to read ultrasounds, and desperately wanted to find out the gender. It was something "new" after three surprises, and he slowly talked me into the idea of finding out.

So...without further delay, here are the newest pictures of our little GIRL!

Her profile, and I'm pretty sure that's the placenta she's snuggled up to. J, can you verify that?

Another profile shot with her little hand. She was waving to us :)

This is a view of her face. I know it looks a little skeletal, but she kept turning towards the screen and it was cool to see the outline of her sweet face.

And this may be my favorite ultrasound picture of all time. Our little girl was all bunched up and suddenly shot her little legs out to a full stretch. She's certainly a mover! I just love the way that you can see her whole little body and even her little arms tucked down by her side.

I'm not going to lie; in a way, the whole discovery feels quite anticlimactic.

J and the other two techs in the room during the scan all saw the infamous "three lines" and didn't say anything. Then, when they saw them the second time they all started talking about how "there it was," and "we saw it before but didn't want to say anything."

Meanwhile, I'm laying on the table oblivious to the entire reveal. I figured it out soon enough and rejoiced that the Lord would bless us with another little girl. My prayer has always been that Ella would have a sister!

Ella was especially excited that it is a girl. She's been convinced all along that there was a girl in there, and I was relieved that we weren't going to have to tell her otherwise.

Bo seemed to take the news in stride, but later that evening as I was putting him in bed, he admitted that he was having some doubts.

"Mom, I think our family already has the right amount of girls. I'm not sure that we need any more sisters. I would be fine with another brother. Okay?"

Thankfully, he still has a while to warm up to the idea!