Sisters

My mom found this picture. I immediately thought of my girls and what a precious gift they have: each other.

(I take no credit for this painting. Just thought it was beautiful and needed to be shared)

First Day of School 2010

A new year is officially here. I have resumed my Lunch Coordinator duties and K, L, and H have started school. I don't really know what to do with myself in the afternoons while H rests in after school care and the girls finish their day. Here are my three babies on their first day of school!

Not Done Yet

So, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth although it does seem that way. Here's a brief recap of what's happened in the days since February 13:

• H turned 3. I could do a whole post about how difficult May 1 is, the day before his birthday is always very hard for me. I always cry when I put him to bed. I guess it's a reminder of God's grace and provision that either of us are here right now. I usually don't think about the night he was born but on May 1, it all comes back to me.
• We finished yet another year of school. K finished 2nd grade which is somewhat unbelievable. What's more unbelievable is that L finished Kindergarten and is reading like crazy. Growing way too fast.
• I finished my first year of working outside the home. I was so ready to be done with that mess it wasn't even funny. I am going to do the same thing this fall and will even have a whole day to myself when H is in school. K3 here we come!
• K turned 8. She is now a young lady, not a little girl. So sweet, such a helper, and has a very giving spirit.
• L turned 6. She is as spunky as ever and is way too young to be into dangly earrings. Yet she is. She still has her L-isms that keep me cracking up. I wish I could remember all of the ones she has come up with over the last 5 months. Alas, I cannot, as I cannot remember yesterday all that well. How am I supposed to remember 5 months ago?
• I got to spend a fabulous girls' weekend with a dear friend on a trip to my hometown. I also spent some much-needed one-on-one time with my mother. We have never spent that much time together since I got married. It was a definite blessing.
• We spend our very first Easter with Nana. We've always stayed home for that holiday as trying to get on the road after a big Easter dinner is almost impossible. However, this year the Easter holiday was the beginning of our spring break so we spent a couple of extra days with the grandparents.
• The kids, all of them, spent two weeks at a day camp at our school, focusing on cooking and art. We came home with some really cool art projects which I hope to share at some point.
• We have conquered potty training. No more diapers at this house!

Now that you're all caught up, I hope to continue to post blogs more regularly. My goal is to post once a week but that's a lofty expectation at this point. I pray all of you have been well!

Bystanders

Two of my three favorite photographic subjects waiting for the tree to crash

Seven

I truly can't believe seven years have passed since K was born. While she wasn't exactly the tiny baby I had envisioned (9lbs, 12oz isn't a newborn; it's a three-month-old), she was this perfect little being for whom I was responsible. I remember picking her up out of the bassinet at the hospital. I was all alone with this precious baby, tears in my eyes experiencing a love I'd never known before (and only slightly scared).

The very first thing I noticed about K were the dimples on both cheeks just under her eyes. Those are not very common and were a completely unexpected surprise. She still has them and they make me melt every time I see them. She knows it, too.

I have watched her grow and change over this last year. She's physically much taller than she was at six, almost up to my shoulder. She has gone from looking like a little girl to looking like a young lady.

She has a very tender heart, always one to reach out to those in need. She loves to read, is quiet at school and loud at home. She looks out for H and has a lifelong friend in L. And she still finds comfort in her mother's and father's arms. May it always be that way.

It's scary in a way. We still have the 'tween and teen years to look forward to so I'm going to cherish the time I have when she still wants to hold my hand, sit in my lap, and will let me kiss her goodbye at school. She's growing up too fast but she'll always be my baby.

Changes

Well, it just about killed me to change the "About Me" paragraph to the right to reflect the girls' changes in age. I got teary watching K open her presents last week and laughed watching L open her presents at her birthday party. I have so much to say about each one of them. I have enjoyed getting to watch them grow and change over the last year, watching personalities blossom. Not only do the look different, they have very different personalities. They are currently happily playing with each other in their room, enjoying one of L's prizes from her party. I'll post all about the birthdays when I can access my big computer that has all the pictures on it. Hope all is well!

The Case of the Delinquent Blogger

Oh, I've been so neglectful of this blog as of late. It's getting to be that season around our house where things kick into high gear. VBS was this week and I was very involved in that, mostly behind-the-scenes. I'm no teacher but organizing registration I can do. We had a great turn out even though lots of families were on vacation for the 4th of July.

Speaking of July, it is a big birthday month around here with K's one week and L's the next. Usually it isn't so stressful but this year is L's 5th birthday and that means she gets a big party with all her friends and balloons and cake and the rest of the works that come with child's birthday party. We do big parties at 5, 10, and 16 and family celebrations for the others. I got that idea from S's brother so kudos to him and his wife for sharing that with me. It seems to make the parties that much more special and is a lot less work for me.

I've been busy making arrangements for said party, reserving a large water slide for our back yard, printing and mailing invites, and just generally organizing everything. It seems to be falling into place but this week is proving to be a crazy one. I am thankful that we can do this for L but I have a feeling I'm going to crash next Saturday night.

I plan to return to regular mundane blogging at some point just not this week. Happy 4th of July everyone!

Generation Gap

Nana is visiting and gave me a much-needed break from the kids. S has been gone for most of the month of June and I needed a few moments to myself. So she told me to go get a pedicure while she bathed the kids and put them in bed.

While the kids were still in the tub, K yelled to Nana that L had said a bad word. A really bad word. Here's how the rest of the conversation went:

K: Nana, L said a really bad word. She said the S-H word.
Nana (trying to figure out where in the world L heard the S-H word): L, why did you say that?
L: I wanted H to be quiet.
Nana (breathing a bit of a sigh of relief): Oh, you said Shhhhhhh.
K: No she said the whole thing. The whole S-H-U-T-U-P.
Nana (attempting to stifle laughter so that L would know that saying the whole S-H-U-T-U-P is not a good thing [but saying it in her sweetest voice]): Well, I bet that if I let you play in the tub a little longer that you won't say that to H again.
L: Yes ma'am.

Lazy Summer

Here's what I love about summer days when we have nothing on the schedule: sleeping in. I have still kept up my exercise routing, trying to go to the gym 4 days a week. I still really don't enjoy the gym but I know it's good for me and good for my kids to see me do it. And when there's a class I regularly attend, someone always asks where I was, why I missed the class. Accountability, it is a good friend.

So this morning, with all my good intentions of going to the gym for Spinning, I stayed in bed. The kids slept later than normal and all ended up in my bed, snuggling up nice and cozy. And I soaked up every minute of it knowing that one day, all too soon, they'll have no desire to do that.

I actually cooked a proper breakfast this morning, eggs in a hole (bird in the nest, whatever you want to call it) and it was delicious. After a week of cereal and Pop Tarts, this was a welcome reprieve.

We went to two birthday parties yesterday afternoon, one for L's friend H and one for K's friend N. H is L's little "boyfriend." They stuck by each other for most of the party. And when L cried at the end of the party because she wanted a balloon and I told her no, H, taking care of her, immediately went to his mom and secured a balloon for L. He was not going to have her leave his party unhappy. Ah, young love.

Then it was off to N's party. Fortunately I didn't have to stay for that one as a friend agreed to bring K home. She had a blast and was so worn out that by the time she got in her PJ's and put her head on her pillow, she was out. Didn't even stay awake for me to pray with her.

While that doesn't seem so lazy, it really is for us. And with the cloudy day we have today and nothing on our calendar, I'm taking the day to enjoy my kids. They are so special and growing up so fast!

L as Super Girl, dressed for H's super hero themed party. What you can't see is that she had on K's cowgirl boots.

Again, Mine

End of the School Year

While the last week of school is always a whirlwind, there are some really fun things that happen. L's end of the year party was rained out so we improvised and had it at the school rather than the pool party that was planned. It was still great fun and everyone had a good time, including H.

K's end of the year party was held at a local water park. The day started off cool and overcast but the clouds broke and the sun appeared for most of the morning. It started raining as we were on our way home. Did I mention that the entire elementary school went along? Since we go to such a small school, we were able to rent out the small water park and have just our kids there. It really was fun. L was able to go, too, since our school really is family-oriented. We were all exhausted when we got home.

K got two awards on the last day of school. One was for the Headmaster's Honor Roll with Distinction, which means that she never had anything less than an A on her report card. She also won the computer technology award for first grade. That one cracked me up because up until now we haven't let her play on the computer at home. I guess she's a computer whiz at school!

From the ballet recital last weekend

I know this isn't the best picture but I really like it for some strange reason...

Whirlwind

The last two weeks of school are exactly that: a whirlwind. We've been so busy that I've needed to go to bed earlier than normal just to keep up with the pace. With something special/out-of-the-ordinary-routine going on each day, we've had no time to just be. I'm truly looking forward to not driving to school every day!

We had the girls' ballet recital last weekend and they were beautiful. K did both ballet and tap and did such a good job. And L is definitely a performer. She knew the routine better than anyone (her ballet teacher even commented on how well she did). I'll post pictures when they get downloaded. That's not an easy feat these days as S's new home office is upstairs where the computer is. And when he's finally done for the day, I'm busy with dinner and bedtime routines and don't feel like going upstairs to download pictures. Go figure. (At this point we're just happy that he has a job and has work to do. Even though it's a lot, it's work he's getting paid for.)

So what else has been going on? Let's see. L told me that her little friend (of the male persuasion), H, thinks that she's "hot." (That was her word, not mine.) H, thanks to his father, now calls pigs "bacon." Any time he sees a picture of a pig he says, "bacon." Insert exaggerated roll of the eyes here. L got promoted to Kindergarten on Tuesday night and sang loud enough that I could hear her above everyone else in her class. This dream of hers to become a singing star might actually come true. H has decided that he wants to start going on the potty. He's only made it once to the potty but we're working on it. My prayer is that we'll be done with diapers this time next year. One can dream...

That's the story of the last two weeks. My goal for the weekend is to rest and to finally get my house in order. It's a mess!

Happy Mother's Day

Many years ago, when S and I first were dating, I just so happened to be graduating from Auburn. I was in DC and had to go to AU to graduate so I had a party just before I left to celebrate my achievements (really just the one). Several friends gave me Congrats cards but S's card was the most special for several reasons.

First, it was from him. Second, it was a very unexpected card: a Happy Bat Mitzvah card. See, it's really hard to find Graduation cards in December so he went with what he could find. Never mind that neither of us are Jewish. So he crossed out Bat Mitzvah and wrote "Graduation." The funny thing was that the words on the card were entirely appropriate for someone who was graduating. "You're growing up", "You're moving to the next stage" kinds of things.

Why am I telling you this in relation to Mother's Day? Well, yesterday when my sweet children and husband brought me breakfast in bed, I opened the card from the kids first. Guess what? It was a Happy Bat Mitzvah card! They picked it out with no help from S. I know why they picked it out, too. The picture on the front was a very cute cartoon girl with lots of girly colors surrounding it. It was not at all appropriate for Mother's Day but I still cherish it. I guess they're more like their father than I thought!

Easter and Beyond

I realize Easter was almost a month ago but I have just now downloaded the pics from my camera to my computer. We've had lots of fun over the last month and here is proof positive.

Coming Soon to a TV Near You

One of the benefits of living in a small town is that you get to know lots of connected people very quickly. A friend of ours sells ads for a local TV station and was filming a commercial for a new mattress company that just happens to be minutes from our house.

So when he called and asked if we had a large teddy bear that could be used for the commercial and did we have some PJ's for his daughter since his wife forgot to bring some and would K like to be in the commercial, too, I said yes. Oh, by the way, we'll be there in 10 minutes.

It turned out to be great. I happened to have two nightgowns that matched and the girls, K and her friend, N, were great little actresses. They really only had to pretend to sleep on this very large teddy bear. And they looked so sweet in their matching outfits. Of course, I forgot the camera in the haste to get out of the house!

(Consequently, we have said bear because it was a Christmas present for H. Only he's petrified of it since it's bigger than he is so the bear now lives with Gran.)

It's Delicious But Not So Nutritious

A few weeks ago, S was making his usual lunch, a PB&J (peach preserves, to be exact). As he reached for the bread he asked, "Since when do we eat white bread?" I replied, "Since it was on sale at the grocery store for 50 cents a loaf."

I realize that white bread isn't all that nutritious and I've honestly gotten used to whole grain breads even though a PB&J still doesn't taste quite right. But I really couldn't pass up a loaf of bread for 50 cents. I bought a couple of loaves and put them in the freezer.

So this morning when I made cinnamon toast for breakfast, K exclaimed, "Yea! We get white bread! It's so yummy!" I figure a few sandwiches made with white bread isn't going to kill the kids. Plus it's a good thing they consider it to be a treat!

Captured Through the Lens

Tom Becker Strikes Again

On Saturday, Tom Becker struck again and this time brought L her very own bike. That Tom, he sure is thoughtful. Only this one didn't have training wheels so Granddad had to put some on there for L. The girls spent most of Saturday riding around on the back porch. I'm thinking a trip to a large parking lot and/or a bike trail is in order.

Taking Pictures

I've decided that I need to be better about taking pictures of my children, of cool things I see around the house and, well, just about anything. I have a fantastic camera (Nikon D40x, not the highest end of the camera spectrum but still just as good) and it takes beautiful pictures. I wish I knew how to do more with it but that requires sitting down and actually reading the manual, something I don't really have time to do.

I'm not a collector of anything really but I found this camera at a flea market in Virginia about 7 years ago. According to a little research I did, I found that the Kodak Duaflex IV was manufactured by Kodak from 1947-1960. It takes 620 film (which isn't easy to come by) and is a fixed focus camera. That means that you'd better know what you're doing or your picture won't be clear. My grandfather had an old camera that I got when he died and this one, somehow, reminds me of him even though it's not the one he had.H's newest passion is books. What a great passion! He loves to bring me books and we read them and then look back through all the pictures. K loves to read and I think she's being a wonderful role model. At least she's teaching him something positive!

This has been a lazy morning, cold and quiet so I've enjoyed playing with H, savoring every minute of his toddler-hood. It won't last long.

Mine