Happy Birthday Mama!

Today is my mama's birthday. She is incredible - I am a lucky girl to have her as my mom. Hope your day was a great one!
Love you mama!

My mom with Nora last summer...

A funny boy & a RAINY day!

Miles was laughing so hard at me peeking at him through the door and pulling funny faces.... and a few days ago we had SO much rain that we had our own personal pond. Some of it ended up in our basement later that night - luckily it dried quickly and nothing was damaged! Please excuse my narration on the rain video. I need to remember to just keep quiet sometimes. :)

Update..

The kids are changing so much and doing such funny things I thought I would try to post them all in a "quick" update. I don't want to forget all the things I think won't!
So here is an update on the three kids we adore:

Sophie is in her last two weeks of kindergarten and we can hardly believe it. She has done so well in school and has really loved it for the most part. She has always been so darn funny and continues to be so. A few funny things from the past month...

Sophie walked past me in our laundry room on her way to the backyard one Sunday afternoon carrying a blanket and pillow. Curious, I asked, "Where are you going?" She looked over her shoulder at me and with a toss of her head said, "Oh, just laying out." It totally cracked me up. Where did she learn that? I can guarantee it was not from me (or Brian)!

I squished a bug on our front porch and she got mad at me for doing so and said, "MOM! Whenever you kill one of God's creatures it is killing part of His nature."

For some unknown reason Sophie has labeled the right side of her body her "girl side" and the left side of her body her "boy side". I don't know that I should guess why this is so.... but I think it's because she is right-handed so her right side is her good side and thus labeled the "girl side". While her left side is inferior - obviously the boy side. :) When we snuggle she likes me to be next to her "girl side". Silly Soph.

She likes to make dog-like faces with her hands (you know how you touch the two middle fingers to your thumb...) She has named these two "Bounce". So naturally she has a "girl Bounce" on her right hand, and a "boy Bounce" on her left hand. The two "Bounce's" are often having conversations at night while she is trying to sleep.
This all seems so much weirder as I'm writing it than it really is...

She has always had a hard time falling asleep (or maybe we trained her that way!) But she is in bed at 8pm and rarely falls asleep before 930. We tried bumping back bedtime but she is just awake even later. She just takes a while to wind down. Just like her mom!
She's a sweetheart.

Nora will be 4 this summer and I think 4 is the age where kids start to seem so much older. Three year olds are still little to me - but 4 is official big kid age. Nora's imagination is still running wild and she now has an imaginary friend named "Cotton Candy" who lives in Colorado by Naunie. In case you were wondering; Cotton Candy has blue hair, is 23 years old and is hosting a "concert" at her house where Nora will be the star of the show. Unfortunately, Nora was so convinced that this past Sunday was the day of the big concert that she insisted we needed to miss church and drive to Colorado so she wouldn't be late for her big debut! I somewhat convinced her that Cotton Candy would definitely hold off on the concert until we are there in July. Is it her wild imagination or just a ploy to get to Naunie's house quicker??

Last month Nora accomplished a major goal: She got her own library card! Ever since Sophie got her own library card every trip to the library afterwards ended in major tears and drama from Nora because she wanted one as well. It was not pretty. But she had to be able to write her name to get one. So she practiced writing her name a lot and finally accomplished her goal of having her very own library card!

Nora loves making up songs and using familiar tunes but changing the words. She is often using the tune to "Jolly old St. Nicholas" and making up a new song to that tune.

Nora still likes to be treated babyish and I often remind her to talk like a big girl. I'm not much help because to be honest I kind of like to baby her!

Nora is still very sensitive. She is teaching me more patience because the second I raise my voice at her, big tears well up in her eyes and she hides under her bed and cries. And it breaks my heart! She also loves making funny duck sounding noises and usually starts making them when someone is commenting on Sophie's hair or Miles' mischievious face - in a "look at me!" kind of way.
She's a doll and we love her!

Miles is just hilarious to us. He has started throwing some great tantrums where he lowers his head and bangs one of his feet on the ground. And if that doesn't get him what he wants he wastes no time in throwing himself completely to the ground and letting loose with a fit that can rival the ones Sophie used to throw at his age. (Nora's were quickly stifled with a binky...)

He recently had his 15 month check up and weighs in at 19 pounds 1 oz. Which means I prematurely turned him around in his car seat last month... turns out my scale was wrong. Oops. So he is turned facing back again until we can get the boy to break 20 pounds. He is still dropping off his growth curve but the doctor I saw this last time didn't seem as worried about it. She said he has slowly started dropping since his 5 month mark and since all his other development is normal it's probably not cause for concern. He's just super active, and he's a picky eater. So those two combined make it hard for the kid to gain weight.

He is saying a few words now: anen (amen), dog, mama, nana (banana), and I think he says "thank you" but I'm not positive - it sounds like tay-too. He pulls the cutest face by pulling his bottom lip in and looking like he's trying not to smile. It's a very mischevious face and oh so cute! At the store the a few days ago someone looked at him and said, "You have trouble written all over you!" He is such a sweet boy and loves playing basketball, with toy animals (mostly horses) and cars. He also loves reading books and generally making messes wherever he goes!

Miles loves to head-bang when you least expect it and he has hurt all of us - himself included - more than a few times. Unfortunately it has turned into a game for him. I say "No Bonkers!" and he gets that smile on his face and whacks you with his noggin.

One of Miles' favorite things to do is "scare" us. He makes a sound like this - "dahhh" and we all pretend to be scared out of our minds - he thinks it's pretty great. He is such fun!

I know - this wasn't exactly a "quick" update! But I am so glad to have these things recorded!

What's up...

Here is a re-cap of what's been going on the past week or so:

I turned 28 on the 17th...

Brian cooked a wonderful meal on my birthday - he was quite proud because he found the recipe and bought the ingredients and fixed everything all by himself - his first time doing that.
My friend Ruth made the cake - so yummy!

Miles was sick (again!) and pretty grumpy most of last week. We went to the doctor but no ear infections or anything - just a virus that needed to run it's course. Sigh.

We both felt like this at times... (see above and below)

He was so sad/mad/sick/upset/grumpy that he just gave up and threw himself in the grass and cried and threw a huge fit. Don't worry, I didn't let him suffer alone for too long. Just enough to take a few deep breaths and count to 10... Poor boy (and me)!

We hung up a hammock that has been in the back of the storage closet and the kids are pretty much living on it!

One of our neighbors had an extra tire and rope so he hooked us up with a tire swing in the front yard. Which is where the kids are when they aren't on the hammock!

I discovered my new favorite flower. It's a double dutch tulip and it's so GORGEOUS!

And last but certainly not least my step-sister Angie celebrated her (23rd?? I think that's right?!) birthday on May 17th! I don't get to see her often enough but she is a great mom and fun to be around - even downright hilarious at times. I miss you Angie! Hope your (our) B-day was great!

Birthday girl

Happy Birthday JoAnna!

We love you and we miss you and we really hope there
are chocolate cakes in China!

Got WORMS?

Nora loves playing with worms and is always on the lookout for them. I remember loving to play with worms when I was little... except I would name all of mine and draw houses for them in the mud with a stick and divide them up into families. Now I think they are gross! Hopefully no one gets queasy looking at this picture. Everytime Nora shows me a handful of worms I remember singing this song in grade school:

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me
Guess I'll go eat worms
Big fat juicy ones, tiny little squirmy ones
Watch them wiggle and worm
Bite their heads off, suck their guts out
Throw their skins away
I don't see how birds can live on worms three times a day! Hey!

If you weren't queasy before, you probably are now! :)

Mother's Day!

I love Mother's Day (of course I do!) Not only do I get spoiled by my husband and kids but I also get to remember the mother's in my life who have taught me, loved me, given me advice or lent a shoulder to cry on, listened to me vent to them, supported me in my chocolate therapy or just cheered me up with a kind word or smile. We mother's are a lucky bunch. What a blessing to be trusted by the Lord to teach our children and help shape them into the people they become. And how daunting! It's a good thing I didn't have a clue about how hard parenting is before we decided to start our family. It is so hard. But I absolutely LOVE being a mother. I am not always patient. I raise my voice at my kids more often than I should. I am trying to bite my tongue more often... And not get caught up in arguments with my 5 year old like she's 16. But the truth is I ADORE my children. I love watching them learn new things and ask questions and feel complete joy with no worries or stresses outside of our home. Childhood doesn't last long. And I really want to remember every precious, and not so precious, moment that I have as a mother. So today I am thankful for ALL the mother's who have touched my life in some way.

THANK YOU! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

And a special Mother's Day shout out to:

My momma who raised me and loved me from day one!
My mother-in-law who raised a wonderful son for me to marry!

and the three yahoo's who make it possible for me to kick up my feet and boss everyone around today (and not feel guilty about it anyway!)