(Snuggling in bed with my 3.5 year old son)

Me: Who's your favorite mommy in the whole world??

Alex: Daddy!!

Now, I know he loves me. He really does. But he is such a Daddy's boy! He is right at that age where life is all about Dad. And in many ways, I love that. I delight in the fact that they are close and that he admires his Daddy more than anything. It is precious to watch him look up to his Dad, follow him around and want to be just like, "Daddy." Everything from wanting to grow up to be big and strong "like Dad" (the only way I can convince him to eat his vegetables) to wanting his hair to be "just like Daddy's." He is a true Daddy's boy through and through. And, even though I'm not his favorite "mommy" in the world... right now Daddy is... I wouldn't have it any other way.

i love thursday's...

thursday makes me smile...

thursday is the day I get to pick up our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box

nothing better than fresh organic vegetables picked straight out of the ground Thursday morning, to our table Thursday afternoon...

Yum!

and tonight's benediction shall conclude with a blessing of the superhero's...

Grace: "Dear Jesus... (lengthy prayer)....AhhhMen.

Or is it, Amen?

Hmm.

X-Men???"



Perhaps you had to be there. But, for me, that was an entirely laugh out loud moment! She was so serious!

twinkle, twinkle, little mommy...

Ariana loves to sing. She is loves to "play" piano. She loves to make music however she can.

And tonight, she sat at the dinner table and out of the blue started humming (to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle), "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy... Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy"

It just melted my heart and I never wanted to forget that moment. So I pulled out my camera and snapped a few pictures of my little singer...

This little peanut- as crazy adventurous as she is - brings more joy and laughter to our home. There is never a dull moment in this house!

our ballerina...

Grace put in so much hard work throughout the year at her new ballet school, and it was so fun to watch her up on stage with the other little ballerinas performing. She was so proud to have everyone there to watch her! Of course, I'm her mother, so I'm biased, but I really think she's a natural. So graceful!



The pictures taken on stage were taken during the dress rehearsal the night before, as no photos or video were allowed during the actual performance. But I was able to get a few cute ones of the girls on stage.











On the big night of her actual performance, we were all there to watch (except Ariana - THANK YOU, JENA!! - who likely would have added too much "audience participation).

Even her little brother was so proud to watch his big sister...




Mommy and her girl...




And, of course, Daddy and his Princess. She was so excited to get a bouquet of flowers from Dad!



But, just maybe, the best part of the night for her was picking out a few treats from the dessert table afterward ;)

in true "princess fashion"

Let me start by saying, here is just a handful of things that I did today...

1. Washed
2. Folded
3. And put away 6 load of laundry
4. Changed the sheets on 4 of our 5 beds
5. Baked a loaf of bread
6. Fixed Breakfast
7. Lunch
8. And a fairly time consuming dinner
9. Cleaned the kitchen...
10. Three
11. Times
12. Changed 3 diapers
13. Wiped one butt (besides my own)... twice
14. Vacuumed the entire first level of carpet
15. Swept the entire first level of hardwood (no small task)
16. MOPPED the floors
17. Cleaned a few windows
18. Cleaned my piano
19. Worked for 3.5 hours on Finances for the company I work for
20. Worked for 1 hour on putting together our next "years" (which really starts next week) home school plan
21. Baked a pan of cookie bars

And as the day was wrapping up, and I was putting away the last loads of folded laundry, Grace happened to walk up to where I was at...

Me: "Oh. Hey! Grace, can you put this (small) pile in Ariana's room and this (even smaller) pile in Alex's room?

She cocked her head to one side and with her big beautiful eyes asked- in all honesty and seriousness- in true princess fashion...

Grace: "Mommy? Why am I Cinderella?"

.... All I could do was laugh... more like cackle. That hushed, deep, sinister cackle - like the evil witch I was about to turn into... "Oh, honey- if you only knew..."

just what he wanted...

... the best things come in small packages

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

*Disclaimer.... for those who are wondering, I did not wrap up my baby girl and hand her over in a bag for Father's Day. She did that all on her own device.... as usual.

possible geography/cultural sensitivity lesson needed...

Grace (very excitedly): Hey, Mom! Look- this says, "Made in China"

Me: "Hm.... So, do you know what 'China' is?

Grace: Yeah! It's a restaurant!

Now, to be fair to my daughter - I have to add that she did, after a few minutes, change her answer to what China is. After I laughed and said, 'It's not a restaurant :)" She clarified... "Oh! That's right. It's a place far away and Mommies and Daddies live with their children. I saw it on Sesame Street."

So, she is half right- afterall. It is a place, far away, where Mommy's & Daddy's live - with their child. So- she was close, afterall.

i wanna be a cowgirl (part 2)...

As you may remember, Ariana has a propensity for hats and horses...

Unfortunately, for her, the entire family went off to the live horse races this weekend without her.

However, that did not stop her from coming up with her own idea.

Let me see.... think, think, think...


I've got it!



No real horse race for me? No problem - I'll just have my own horsey race!



Where am I going, you ask?




Well, I'm riding off into the sunset - but of course..

I stand corrected!

They are a pair of Tree Swallows.... not blue birds! Wow, goes to show how much I know about birds. Thank the Lord I'm home schooling my kids (or maybe not?? yikes!)... but maybe I'll learn a thing or two that I missed the first time around ;)

If you build it, they will come...

I thought it would be neat to have some birds make a nest in our backyard. So, I bought the bird home and told my husband, "if you put it up, I think they'll come."



Now, the ultimate goal, of course, was to have a blue bird take up residence (rather than a nasty sparrow). However, we had never seen a blue bird in our yard. Ever.

But, wouldn't you know it - within 2 hours of him posting the new home in the backyard, a beautiful little blue friend and his wife came for a visit...




.... and they decided to stay and make a home.




And now, several times throughout the day, he perches on the nearby trellis, keeping watch over his lady...

... as she diligently builds her nest.

It is an amazing blessing to have these beautiful blue birds in our yard! We have SO much fun watching them. They are so persevering. It's amazing to watch as she works so hard just to carry piece by piece by piece into her home. Sometimes she struggles, but she never quits. God's creation is amazing.

Wordless Wednesday

Can you hear me now?

... Unfortunately, yes. I can.

This was the recurring thought I had going through my head from about dinner time on until about, while -until right about now, as I type this with my kids (finally) asleep in their cozy beds.

I am suffering from a nasty cold and along with it I've gotten the first ear infection I can remember having since I was a kid. Horrible! Ear splitting pain. As if that's not bad enough, I can't hear out of my right ear at all. This was starting to quite annoy me throughout the day, until I landed at the dinner table.... party of 6. And a rude, crude and down-right disgraceful group of darling disrespectful children surrounded my table.

I found this to be especially disappointing considering that it's my favorite night of the week. "Guacamole night." This is my self-created weekly "holiday" because, well, obviously- because I love Guacamole. So, once a week, I make myself an enormous bowl of guac and the rest of the family eats some other Mexican concoction. It's a down-right fiesta going on. Except tonight. My holiday was ruined by my ill-mannered children.

I have no idea what was going on. Is it a full moon tonight? I'd never know since it's cloudy and rainy outside. But, jeez! I sat there tonight in disgust as my beautiful "princess" daughter passed wind and laughed when I scolded her. I shook my head in dismay as my 3 year old son said the words, "poop nugget, fart, toot" more times than I care to remember. Now, of course you're thinking- didn't you just discipline them and stop it? Well, yes and no. I had one of those nights. I was tired. And it was my Guacamole night. And I just wanted to enjoy it. So, I shook my head harder and faster and sank my face deeper and deeper into my bowl of guacamole and thought to myself, I really wish I couldn't hear out of EITHER ear tonight. Wouldn't that be bliss? Just me, myself and my bowl of guacamole... un-attuned to the realities of a dysfunctional dinner table. Ignorance can be bliss.

But I could hear them and all of their nastiness. Even out of just one good ear that works.

Things improved slightly after dinner. We had a great night. Went for a walk, despite the sprinkling rain. I bathed each of the children. All fresh and clean. I snuggled in and gathered them in my arms to read our evening books. It was my turn to read. And as I opened up our Bible and started reading, my precious daughter informed me that my breath smelled "like diarrhea." Yes. Diarrhea. Those were her words. And I was right back where I was at dinner. Wishing for 2 ears that temporarily didn't hear.

Can whomever took my sweet, darling, loveable and POLITE children return them to me please? I don't know who these crazy strangers are.