Molly 6 months

It just keeps flying! It's so hard to believe that 6 months have come and gone already. This sweet little girl is so very much fun! She giggles at just about anything, wakes up with a smile and is the most easy going little lady. She LOVES the pool, which is lucky for her since we are there almost every day! Not so much into eating yet however she actually ate an entire banana in one setting after which I discovered that wasn't conducive to her staying "regular", so we have replaced the banana this week with a little apple and prune juice... still waiting for the desired result:) But seriously, it is hard to remember what life was like 6 months ago without her.

I absolutely love these pictures our dear friend and talented photographer Molly took for us!

Thunderstorms

For some reason Olivia continues to be so sensitive to noises... for a while she would wake up crying when she heard the train go by. It seems that she finally got used to that and is now just crazily afraid of thunder. Even the smallest rumble and she clamps her hands down on her ears and just cries and shakes. These pictures were taken during one of our recent thunderstorms. She is only smiling here because she was allowed to get up and be with the "big people" at 11 pm until the storm quieted. Even though the crying stopped, she still would not take her hands off her ears. We finally did figure out that we could distract her with princess games on the computer and that seemed to make the experience so much less traumatic! We owe that very important discovery to her smart daddy!

Dedication

On June 14th, we dedicated all three of our children back to the Lord. We have been so blessed with these wonderful lives. Our desire is to raise them up showing them the right way to live and entrusting them to His care. It is such a scary and sometimes overwhelming job, I am so thankful there is Someone bigger in control. Pastor Phil married Ora and I 12 years ago! It meant a lot to have him dedicate our children.

Birthday Cake and Party Masks

Ora turned the BIG 38 last month so the kids and I made him his favorite.... chocolate cake! They love frosting the cake the most. I should say they love licking the knife after frosting the cake the most! The masks were made by their Aunt TT. She is so creative and has such patience. They were very cool! Ora and I celebrated his birthday by spending 3 hours at Dave and Barry's playing arcade games like a couple of kids. Contrary to what he may think... I did enjoy it.

Not the pool

So what does a 6 year old and a 3 year old do on one of the few days they can't spend the afternoon at the pool? Why, paint pine cones of course. The things little minds are entertained by never ceases to amaze me. This little project was self directed and used up at least 1 hour of the long afternoon of indoor activities. They were so proud of their "masterpieces". And I'm sure you are wondering what I did with these "trophies".... I admired them for all of that afternoon and then deposited them for safe keeping in the T-R-A-S-H when they weren't looking. When I first became a mom I thought I would save absolutely everything until I started getting fun little gifts like these and dandylions and rocks.... If your'e a mom, you know quite well my predicament. It's funny how they don't even miss them.

The flavors of summer

There are so many things to love about summer but one of my favorite things is all the fresh produce! I personally love the tomatoes, summer squash, watermelon, strawberries, cucumbers and corn on the cob... but my kids most favorite is the corn on the cob! I'd have to say that we enjoy an ear or two at least once a week during the summer. Nothing beats a hot juicy ear of corn rolled in butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper. I remember as a kid growing up we would go to grandma and grandpa's for corn harvest and for lunch we would have corn on the cob and home grown tomatoes... that's it and that was enough! :) Those were the days....

the ants go marching.....

So we have been dealing with a problem i'm sure many of you have faced at some time or another..... ANTS!! We hate them and have been battling them for weeks! But nobody hates them more than miss princess Olivia. On multiple occasions after Olivia has finished her bathroom business she will get up on the little potty (to escaped the little creepy crawlies) and howler for me to come get her. She would not put her pants back on let alone try to walk out of the bathroom through their path! Now you may be thinking, wow they must really have a major infestation... not so much... it only takes one for her! The other day I had come inside for a minute while the kids were in the driveway playing and I heard Olivia scream and start crying hysterically... as I raced out to survey the damage, assuming that her "loving" brother had gotten a little too "loving".... what I found was Olivia screaming because a single solitary ant had crawled upon her foot!!! Well after about a week of potty accidents and balancing acts on the potty, I decided to park the potty in the middle of the kitchen floor! Guess what?? No more accidents! I guess the ants like the bathroom better. Luckily that didn't last long and we finally got her desensitized to the problem we have yet to conquer:) The ants go marching one by one....

Kindergarten Graduation

May 2009

My "baby" graduated kindergarten! The funniest part of the morning was when I asked Joshua where his diploma was after the ceremony and he pulled a crumpled folded paper out of his pocket...(guess i'll have to iron it before it goes in the scrapbook), this is So Joshua as all year long each day when I would open his backpack to check out the day's work... all the paper would be wadded and crammed in the backpack... just as he had done with the diploma. I guess we will need to work on neatness and organization this summer... Yeah right! he's a boy.. ALL BOY!

Olivia's First Dance Recital

Olivia was absolutely ecstatic to dance in her first recital last month. She did two numbers... a tap dance to the song "Lollipop Lollipop" and a tear jerking ballet number to the song "Thank God for Kids" by Alabama. She did a great job, was even cute as can be when she so gracefully fell down trying to twirl around. Her aunt TT and brit finished the performance off as any professional dancer would expect.. by bring her some roses after the show... too bad this distracted mom forgot to actually take a picture of her in her dance costume. She was too cute for words!

Muffins for Mommies

I had a very special treat this morning! Joshua's kindergarten class invited their mommies to have muffins and juice with them to celebrate mother's day. It was an even sweeter treat because I was able to leave the girls at home with Aunt T T while Joshua and I had some one on one time. They played a slide show of pictures from throughout the year and I have to admit I got a little teary eyed.... boy has he grown up this year! He brought this picture home to me in a "frame" he had made with a very special saying from our favorite book on the back. If you have kids and you don't own this book... you have to get it! "Love you forever" by Robert Munsch. Joshua had it almost memorized at one point a couple years ago.

Happy Mother's day to you all and take an extra minute to give those babies a tight little squeeze! God has blessed us with these precious treasures... our job is an important one!

3 Months... already?!

I think she is definitely looking more like Joshua.... I can't believe how fast time goes when they are this young. We are definitely ready for this little girl to be sleeping through the night! Problem is that with her lovely reflux issue she eats such small amounts at a time that it takes her all 24 hours of the day to get enough calories consumed! soon....

Star Wars Birthday

Original post date Feb 14, 2009

Our friend Kevin (yes it's a man) from church made this very cool R2D2 cake for Joshua's Star Wars birthday party. The very top is the cake, the rest is cardboard and styrofoam. He made it all! Joshua so loved it.

We decided to make the party a little more exciting by inviting some of his friends, Aiden and Alden Michael and Nick and Alex Robinett. The boys had so much fun playing different Light Saber training games. One of them, they had to use their bubble filled swords to keep their balloon from touching the floor. They also enjoyed all the non candy treats from the Darth Vader pinnate . (i think)

I am having a very hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I now have a 6 year old who will be in school all day next year!! He has changed so much this year!

Potty where??

Original post date Jan 23, 2009

So we went to the store and this "Big Girl" got to pick out all kinds of "big girl panties", princess, elmo, hello kitty..... thought this would be motivation to get this very challenging job of potty training accomplished. I don't know if she just wasn't ready or she wanted to wear every single pair of new panties in one day.....

I guess she's not ready yet! :(

Separate Rooms?!

Original post date Jan 17, 2009

Well, since Aunt TT moved out and went back to college, it was time to move Olivia back into her own room in preparation for her to share it with her new little sister. The kids spent this Saturday hanging out together in each others rooms. You would think after sharing a room they would be ready to have their own space!

Here they are in their "close tent".

And Joshua's "movie theater". Now that the twin bed is out from under his loft, he decided to have his own personal theater, complete with a 7 inch movie screen, (yep we are high tech now)!

Not Me Mondays

Original post date Jan 8, 2009

I know, I am doing a horrible job at keeping up. I will be doing some catching up, so bear with me. 

You have to know that Mondays are "Zombie Mommie" day! I work all night Sunday nights and do my best to make it through Mondays. There are some Mondays that I would be quite embarrassed to admit how we get through the day. Lunch is usually quite interesting... some days the kids just get tired of waiting on me to "come alive" enough to make lunch. Many times they will just fend for themselves, poor children. However it can't be any worse than the way daddy feeds them on Friday and Sunday nights when I'm at work.... Popcorn, and that's it... every time!:) One day Olivia came in to show me she was eating a slice of cheese wrapped around a hotdog... protein and dairy, not bad. Other days are not so balanced, like the day they had a bowl of pretzels, that's all. Sometimes we are not healthy at all, like the day we all had ice cream for lunch. About every other week, we will pick Joshua up from school then go through the McD's drive through. I know that's their favorite! This day Joshua showed me just how grown up he is becoming when he decided to make PB&J for he and Olivia both, complete with paper plates and napkins. He even put everything away and cleaned up his mess!! I might just join the fun of my fellow bloggers and share with you some more Not Me Mondays in the future. Lunch is not the only Monday challenge......

"The Cold"

I guess having number 3 has slowed me down a bit on the blogging thing.... I can use that excuse right? Any way, will try to catch up a bit. A few weeks ago Olivia had the most horrific cold; we're talking high fever for days, constant runny nose and DRAMA!! This actually turned into an ear infection; first and only one so far this winter!:)

A good moment....

In between sleeping and crying spells she tried to entertain herself; sometimes with the strangest things... forks?? .

But nothing ever lasted for long..

Shortly after Olivia recovered, Ora got the same bug and was quite miserable for a weekend and then of course we had to finish it up by Molly getting it and spending 2 days at Children's Mercy with high fever while we waited for them to confirm it was indeed just the same ugly virus tormenting our house.  The kids and Ora made Molly and I this welcome home sign.

Thankfully we are all healthy and happy at the moment!:)

Christmas 2008

Christmas is always so special when you see it through the eyes of a child. I have enjoyed Christmas so much more since sharing it with my children.

Ora calls Olivia his "Little Princess"... and boy is she! 

Her uncle Brett was so generous in giving her this princess vanity.. she loves sitting in front of it combing her hair and smiling at herself in the mirror.

Joshua was very interested in spy equipment this year.

So we loaded him up with all sorts of spyware and then he and Olivia used it to hunt for lions in the kitchen, using the bathroom as their cave. They were quite creative and had lots of fun, however I am not sure that Joshua really understands the concept of spying.?

"Welcome to my World"

I thought "3rd time would be a charm".... first two kids had sucking issues and mom had milk production issues.... was hoping not to go down that road this time around; BUT.... 

here we are...

so i spend my days feeding (breastmilk then formula), pumping, measuring and recording...

washing bottles and pump parts

even through the night, every 3-4 hours i take my post on "my spot" at the end of the couch...

boppy, bottle of water, pump and....

sweet baby molly. 

we catch a couple hours of sleep, (maybe) and repeat the whole process again.

We are now taking molly to CST (cranial sacral therapy) in hopes of correcting the sucking issue.... we'll give it a couple more weeks. as much as i would like to breast feed, i would like to return to the rest of the world and leave my "post" for more than just an hour here and there!

Life with a new baby

no shortage of arms wanting to hold this sweet little one, help feed her, bathe her, change her (not)! she is very loved, literally! i think olivia probably kissed her about every 5 seconds those first few days.... at least they don't want me to "send her back"!

Olivia turns 3!!

Ok, so i'm posting a little out of order... somewhere between newborn pics and first bath, olivia had her 3rd birthday.... just like a middle child to get lost in the shuffle of another sibling... Anyway.... poor girls birthdays are only 1 week apart.. probably Olivia's last party of her own.. for a while...

still working on getting 3 fingers up....

my brilliant idea for getting olivia a baby doll that drinks and pees... and cries... and I wanted that craziness with a newborn too.....?? luckily, didn't turn out to be her favorite gift!

mostly loves dressing up and carrying around her purse right now. at least one of us can still do that..:)