Thursday, June 13, 2013

Last day of School

The last week of school was a blur of fun activities and field trips. I was busy with collecting and putting together the girls' teacher gifts (note to self: start earlier next year!) It was a fun filled week, but we were so excited for the last day of school!
Nora's last day of 2nd grade! She had an awesome teacher, Mr. Fiedler, and a wonderful year!
Sophie called me at home on the last day of school and asked if she could bring home an injured bird. I said she could and so we took it home in a box. By that night he had flown off though so I guess he wasn't too hurt.
Miles and his friend Ben.
Sophie and her friends Acacia and Camille.
The school mascot is the Owl so Nora worked hard on making this collage of an owl for her teacher.

Hooray! School is out!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Hello Summer!


 

 Last day of School. Hello Summertime!  Sophie's hair has gotten longer, Nora still has impeccable style and apparently Miles' handwriting has gotten a little worse. It's been grand year.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a nice, but kind of cold, Memorial Day weekend! Our city has a huge parade (it lasts just under 2 hours) and we love that we can walk from our house to the parade route. The girls were asking if we had any one from our family who died in the military and were very interested in all things related to Memorial day. It was fun to fly our flag and think of all the people who have sacrificed for our country, and of course, those who still do it today. 
  Miles hiding in our side bushes. He was wearing a camo jacket and was pretty excited that I couldn't spot him in there since he was camoflaged :)

 Sophie loves to garden and often will go pull weeds without being asked.
 Nora likes to go all out for every holiday and wore red pants, a shirt with stars, painted her nails red, white and blue, made a red/white/blue necklace and had me paint a flag on her shirt.
 Happy Memorial Day! 

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

32

I turned 32 this month and it was fabulous. I had a pretty regular day at home and later that night a good friend watched our kids while Brian and I went out to dinner and then to some stores to just look around. We picked out a mirror for the house (my gift!) and picked up a few odds and ends at the hardware store and a few more odds and ends at the thrift store. It was great to just walk around together and not be chasing or hauling the kids around. On Sunday we had some friends over for cake and ice cream and I made two cakes, a white strawberry coconut and a chocolate. Sadly, I barely got a taste of the chocolate one because I was so full of the strawberry one. :) I pinned this list on pinterest a while ago called "30 things my kids should know about me", and even though I always feel weird posting things just about myself I think it is a fun list and I'm sure when my kids are grown up they will enjoy reading some of these things. Obviously tackling all 30 in one post would be ridiculous, so I chose 5 of them to write down this year. Happy 32 to me!

1. What are 10 things that make you happy right now:
Spending time with my husband and kids, watching my kids make good choices, having a clean house (or... mostly clean), running in the mornings, being outside, listening to the kids playing together, having conversations with Wesley, eating in the backyard, planning/decorating/fixing up our home and chocolate!

2. List your 5 greatest accomplishments:
1-When Brian finally asked me to marry him
2- Sophie
3- Nora
4- Miles
5- Wesley

3. What's your favorite quality in your spouse:
This is a hard one because he has so many amazing qualities; funny, kind, helpful, unselfish, a great father, patient, encouraging, dedicated, hard worker, honest, genuine, handsome, smart.... I feel like I hit the jackpot when I married Brian. He really is the most amazing man I know, which is why when I first met him at age thirteen I said to myself "I'm going to marry that boy!" But if I had to choose one favorite quality it would have to be his dedication to the gospel that I admire the most. Because I know without that, he wouldn't have a lot of the other qualities that I also admire.

4. List 5 things you would tell your 16 year old self if you could:
1- Don't worry too much, you'll marry Brian eventually!
2- Spend more time with your dad and take more pictures with him
3- Help your mom more
4- Be better at saving your money
5- Start thinking about what you want to do after graduation

5. List 10 random facts about yourself:
1- I am not an adventurous eater. Not exactly picky, but I'm not good at trying different cultures cuisines (well, besides Italian and Mexican). Brian will try anything so he finds this hilarious, especially if we eat with people who have made something for us that he knows I don't want to try!
2- I am an animal lover. I grew up having dogs, cats, hamsters, guineau pigs and gerbils (not all at the same time) No surprise that we now have a dog (and I'm his favorite).
3- I love being pregnant and giving birth. Probably 10 seconds after Wesley was born I said, "I want to do that again!" Looking back I'm sad I didn't try to deliver Nora naturally because, for me, the boys' natural births have been two of the most amazing experiences of my life. Of course, both of the girl's births were equally amazing in regards to the excitement of meeting a sweet new baby, but I can't deny that I loved the two natural birth experiences more than the c-section and epidural births.
4- Unless I'm pregnant I'm always trying to lose weight, lame but true. (Which is probably one reason why I love being pregnant! Haha!)
5- I love watching action movies.  Brian doesn't mind this at all :)
6- I love to swing. When I take the kids to the park I love taking a turn on the swing, if it's not busy. (I'd hate to plow a kid over who walks in front of me! Embarrassing!)
7- I am a "yes" mom. If my kids ask to do something and it fits my requirements (it's not dangerous, doesn't interfere with bedtime and they must play with it/do it longer than it takes to clean it up) -  I usually say yes. Can we bring abandoned duck eggs home from the park to see if they'll hatch? Can we bring a turtle home from the lake? Can we sleep together in the closet? Can we put make-up on to look like zombies? Can we turn the sandbox in to a mud pit? Can we bike to the park?  Can we paint? Build a fort? Bake bread? Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes. This probably explains why when I do say no they often find it hard to accept! 
8- I love any dessert that has peanut butter in it. Mmmmm.
9- I make my bed every single day. Occasionally on Sundays I won't because the mornings are hectic getting the kids ready by myself, and on the perfect Sunday afternoon I get to crawl back in bed after church and read while the kids watch Veggie Tales. That is blissful.
10- I can't go to bed unless the kitchen is clean. Everything else can wait, but if I wake up to a dirty kitchen it just starts my day off on the wrong foot.


6. Name a pet peeve you have: 
1- I think the phrase "OCD" is way overused. If someone tells me they are OCD about having their house clean, my first thought is that we probably can't be friends because then I'd have to make sure my house is super duper clean before they come over or they'll think I'm a slob. :)
Me on my 32nd birthday. Life is good.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Mothers Day

Mothers Day is the best! This year the girls set their alarm for 6am so they could make me breakfast in bed.....unfortunately this made them super tired the rest of the day! But it doesn't get much better for me than having my sweet kids bring me breakfast in bed with handmade cards and a cute song to go along with it (Mother Dear, we love you so....)
Good morning mom! Wesley was asleep and we didn't dare wake him and unleash the beast.
Both Nora and I still look a bit sleepy... and Miles gives great hugs!
 Miles colored a "wordle' that the kids made with Brian that had all the words the kids came up with to describe me (energetic, joyful, exquisite, cuddly, faithful, crafty and tick checker to name a few) It was very cute.
Here are the kids and I with one of the hanging baskets they got me.

Nora planned a game for us all to play called "mother dare", you had to pull a piece of streamer down and it had a dare on it (like sing a song, pull a funny face, etc) then you had to pop a balloon to see who had to do the dare (can you tell I'm the primary chorister... pretty sure this had something to do with Nora creating this game!)
Cute Batman Wesley. This was Sunday afternoon but Wesley insists on wearing his Batman jammies every day/all day. Getting him to change for church was tricky (and may have involved a sucker).
Daddy and Nora singing a song for their "dare" :)
Nora taking a turn


Silly Sophie doing a dance (and song?) for hers. She's quite the comedian lately.

I am often overwhelmed at how blessed I am to have these four amazing children to mother. Each one of them is so incredible in their own way. I love watching them learn and grow and helping them become the little people they are meant to become. Motherhood is definitely hard and I am learning and growing along with them. But even in the hardest or most frustrating moments I wouldn't trade what I am doing right now for anything. I love taking care of our home, planning our meals, doing the laundry, helping with homework, packing lunches, reading stories, playing games, going on walks to the park, drying tears, kissing owies, giving baths, fixing hair, brushing teeth, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, tickling bellies, getting hugs and kisses and everything else I get to do every day. I dread them growing up and leaving me and I dread not having little ones in the house. I am sure when the time comes I'll be ready (maybe?), but I know that these are the times I'll look back on and remember as the best of my life. So grateful I'm a mother.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Today.

 A softball thrower
 A dandelion picker
 A trouble maker
and a Batman lover.

Monday, May 6, 2013

A turtle for a day.

Sophie went to her friend Camille's house one afternoon last week. While there she called and said she found a painted turtle and wanted to bring him home. I thought it would be fun for the kids so I said she could bring him home for a few days and then we'd return him. 
After watching him sit in a  container for a day with water and rocks Sophie decided she felt bad for Maze (that's what they called him) and she wanted to return him. So we called up our friends and took Maze back to his home.
 Nora holding Maze.
 And the bottom of Maze. Such pretty colors (and an even prettier little girl!)
 I put Maze down at the top of the ramp and the kids had fun cheering Maze on as he went down the ramp into the lake.
 Almost there!
Nora, Quentin, Miles, Sophie & Camille watched Maze for as long as they could see him. What a fun experience to have a pet turtle for a few days.