joie de vivre

Monday, Monday

2012-02-06T10:04:00.002-06:00

Oh, weekend how sad I am to see you go! Thankfully, I get to spend my Monday morning with these sweeties.

Here they are, as usual, snuggled up in the chair together eating their breakfast and watching Dora. This is our typical morning routine now. I love it! They are so sweet together!

Pinterest Projects

2012-02-02T13:26:00.000-06:00

Pinterest is a dangerous thing. Not only can it keep me up all hours of the night while I look at all the amazing things that other people do, but in that sleep-deprived state it also makes me think that I'm crafty, which I am so NOT. But, I have done a few projects in the past few weeks that turned out pretty good.

I made this sign -- we write on it in dry erase and leave little loves notes for each other. Cuteness!
I made this for valentine's day. The best part is that neither of these projects actually cost me and money -- I used frames and paper I already had. Woohoo! This "love you" turned out so cute I'm thinking it might go to Charlotte's room after valentine's day is over.

This is not actually a pinterest project, since I kinda just did it on my own. Madeleine is the craft queen at our house and she just loves to tack her crafts up in her room, leaving lots of tiny little holes in her walls. So, I made this cork board for her and she can pin to her little hearts content. When the paper gets all hole-y, we'll just replace it. I used my new favorite craft accessory permanent double sided tape to attach it. That stuff is like glue, but much better for us non-crafty people. :)

I also framed this "M" that was in her nursery, but just never fit in her new room for her desk.

I have a couple more projects in the works and one that I'm really excited to try! If it works out, I'll post pics.

Move Over Donna Reed

2012-02-01T13:06:00.003-06:00

With Matt's schedule being what it is right now -- he's gone almost every night during the week and works Sunday afternoons as well -- we are trying to make Sunday evenings a family night. He gets home from work (studying) around 6 and I've been cooking a big Sunday supper where we can all sit down and relax and talk. The kids have started to look forward to this and it's been so good for our family to have some time together before the rush of the week hits us.

I took some pictures recently during one of our Sunday nights. Harrison and Charlotte are ready and excited about dinner!

This night I'd made pot roast with all the trimmings. It was quite a hit -- all the kids had second helping and Charlotte polished off almost 3 pieces of roast! The amount of food that girl puts away is insane and as I found out today, she's gained a whopping 1/2 pound in the past 7 months. Wish I had her metabolism. :)

Sunday night dinners often include dessert. :) Always a hit! This night was chocolate ooey-gooey cake. Yum-O.

There is usually some after dinner entertainment provided by Madeleine and Harrison. They work on their "show" most Sunday afternoons.

This night, after bathing Charlotte I put a pair of Madeleine's old undies on her. They were Madeleine's favorite pair (as in, I washed them almost daily) and Charlotte was a hoot running around in them! She kept pulling them up and down and up and down. She thought she was hot stuff in her big girl undies!

She couldn't quite get the rear up though and this is how she spent most of the evening.

We usually end our night with a Wii tournament before spending some extra time reading with them at bedtime.

I know that one day we'll again be involved in a LifeGroup on Sunday nights. I miss that fellowship time, but right now our kids just need to spend some time with their Daddy. It won't last forever, this season of our life, but right now we are making the adjustments as best we can.

The Light at the End of the Ph.D. School Tunnel

2012-01-26T08:42:00.000-06:00

For the first time, we're starting to see that there will be an end to the road we've been on for so long. (And, yes, I said "we" since I'm the one that's logging all those extra parenting hours while Matt's in school!). It's starting to get exciting & I'm hoping that excitement will carry us through the next 16 weeks as Matt completes his suicide mission to finish up the coursework.

We've been gearing up for this semester the past few weeks. Matt started back in full swing this week. We're only 3 days in and already I'm exhausted. Ha! I always forget how tiring it is to not have him home at night until after the kids are in bed. Trying to get 3 kids fed, bathed, homework done, teeth brushed, bedtime stories read -- it's nuts! By the time I tuck the last one in bed, pick up the house and Matt gets home, we just fall into bed exhausted only to get up and do it again the next day. And, somehow we do it thanks to a lot of caffine & prayer. :) But, I know that when it's all over it will have been worth all of it!

It finally feels like there will be an end to this crazy life we've led the past 5 years. Matt started his master's degree when Harrison was just 3 weeks old, with the intent of going straight through to the doctorate. And, that's what he's done. It's been tough and there certainly were times we talked about quitting, but now that the end is in sight, I'm so thankfult that we stuck it out. Last week, Matt was filling out a form that lists all the classes required and he had to fill in when he took them, etc. It's mostly for the purpose of making sure that a class hasn't been forgotten along the way. He was finishing it up and I made him stop and look at it -- it was FULL. I remember not so long ago, when there were just 2 classes filled in and now there are 19. What an amazing feeling that was to see it all there, almost completed.

Next fall he'll start writing his dissertation and hopefully be finished sometime in the spring, with a graduation date of May '13. It will be here before we know it.

The options after all of this are limitless. He has an amazing resume -- 10 years of classroom teaching, instructional facilitator, adjuncting at a local university. We'd always planned to move and have him join the faculty at a college. But, then we fell in love with Fayetteville, and our church, and Madeleine's school, all of it. It's such a great place to raise a family and it's getting harder and harder to move all the time. I think we've come to the decision that we'll just finish up the degree and see what doors are open -- and pray that we make the right decisions at that time.

So, that's it. Where we are right now. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, however small, and it's growing brighter by the day.

Reason # 5,142 Why I love Harrison

2012-01-25T07:39:00.002-06:00

When I checked on Harrison last night, this is how I found him...
He'd been wearing his PJ pants on his head earlier and told me they were his "bedcap," guess he decided to sleep in them. I love that boy -- he never fails to surprise me or make me laugh!

Charlotte is 2!!

2012-01-20T23:25:00.000-06:00

My sweet little girl is 2 years old! This has been a year full of changes for her -- when I think back to this time last year, it's amazing to see how much she has changed!

We started her birthday the night before and let her have one gift. :) She got a new riding toy thats more girl-y than the firetruck she's been using!

We didn't have any big plans for her big day -- just spending time together. Our first outting of the day was to get this balloon she's been gushing over every time we go to Walmart. She was quite a sight carrying that thing around all day.

I took a few pictures that morning of her -- I'm waiting till after her doctor appt next week to do a big post about all the things she's into, I mean upto, right now. :) She starting to look so big with those curls and longer hair!

We had a fun lunch at ChickFilA and Mimi & Grandad met us there to start the celebrating! Then it was home for a nap and to wait to Daddy & Madeleine to get home. While we were waiting for them, we did some FaceTime with Sugar & Stewart so they could watch her open her gift they'd sent -- isn't technology wonderful!

We'd decided to go eat mexican food that night since one of Charlotte's favorite things right now is chips and queso. We usually end up having mexican if we go out these days since she's perfectly happy to sit through an entire meal just dipping chips and eating them. She's also discovered tortillas and likes fajitas sometimes too. So, off we went to our favorite mexican restaurant for dinner. Yum!

Next it was time for presents! She knew exactly what to do after Christmas. :)

She got lots of great new toys, but the look on her fact when she put on her Dora sunglasses and took off holding her new Dora purse was priceless. :)

She thought she was hot stuff!

Finally, it was time for cake! We did an elmo cake which Charlotte was pretty excited about.

This girl isn't afraid to dive into some cake either!

By the time we finished cake and had a bath, this girl was done. It didn't take her long to fall asleep. We had a great day celebrating sweet Charlotte. Still can't believe my baby is TWO!

The Letter C and the Number 2

2012-01-18T14:05:00.005-06:00

Today we celebrated Charlotte's second birthday a couple of days early with our playgroup. We hosted them in our home for a Sesame Street themed breakfast. I have to say this was the perfect way, in my opinion, for us to celebrate our sweet girl. Since it was just my group of "mommy friends" and their kids that we spend so much time with it lessened the stress of having everything perfect. The kids are used to playing together and all know each other well, and we mommies got a chance to visit too. :)

We started out with breakfast and then ended up with cupcakes just before everyone went home. We had quite a crew of 10 kiddos (6 of them 1 year olds!) and their mommies. Just like with Harrison, these are Charlotte friends -- the kids we play and worship with. They will grow and be a part of her "family" and it makes it all so wonderful for her to get to spend those special days with them.

I'd planned to do a Ladybug theme for her birthday (FYI -- if you're wanting a ladybug party, just check my Pinterest page, it's all laid out for you!). But, in just the past couple of weeks, she's fallen in love with Sesame Street, especially Elmo. In fact, if we ask her "Who loves you?" She'll immediately answer "ELMO" which she pronounces "yello."

Elmo cookies

Elmo cupcakes
Goldfish in cups

Early pic of the table

Goodie bags I made ~ filled with playdoh, bubbles, Elmo stickers and C's favorite fruit snacks.

I really wanted to do something simple for her birthday. I wanted us to be able to enjoy having our friends here and spend time talking and playing with them.

I only got a few pics of the kiddos because, ummmm, these kids are busy! It was a wild and fun morning. I thought at one point, how happy it makes me to have our home filled with friends and laughter and noise.

A huge thanks to my friend, AJ, for taking these pics. Charlotte didn't quite know what to do with those candles, but after I blew them out, she figured it out. Then she kept yelling "mommy!" and pretend blowing on her cupcake. I think she'll be ready when it's time for her birthday cake on friday!

Drew and Harrison were there to make sure that candle got blown out! She loves her bubba and that Drew too! And I think he loves Charlotte just a wee bit back. :)

Charlotte was quick to dive into her HUGE cupcake. Those were the most massive cupcakes and all that sugar sure made for a hyper girl later on, but it was oh so good!

I'm so thankful for our sweet friends that came to celebrate our sweet girl today! It was the most wonderful morning!

Super Saturday

2012-01-16T12:30:00.001-06:00

Saturday was a fun-filled day for all of us! First up was Harrison's (belated) birthday party. While his actual birthday was back in December, it just seemed best to let the holidays get behind us and all our friends get back to town and then celebrate. It worked out great!

We had the party at Boingo Bounce which was perfect for this age of kiddos! :)

I tried to get some pics of the kids that came, but some of them were just too busy jumping to pose for me! I did get a few though.

Harrison was thrilled when his friend Drew ended up being able to come at the last minute! These boys love each other so much & I heard Drew say more than once "I love you Harrison!" Sweet boys. They are so two peas in a pod! :)

Since Harrison's new obsession is Cars, we did a cars theme. I was able to find just about anything we'd want in Cars -- juiceboxes, cheese-its, pretzels, the works! Made the party so easy for me!

We did get a group picture -- 1.Bella, Brooklyn 2. Madeleine, Drew, Reid, Grace, Taylor, Olivia, Jackson 3.Cooper, Harrison, Peyton, Bennett.

At one point, on of the moms (Kim) remarked to me how neat it was that all these kids are like each other's family. It's Harrison's own church family -- what a wonderful thing to have that at only 5 years old! I can't wait to watch these bonds continue to grow through the years.

After jumping and playing and getting good and hot & sweaty, it was time for cake & snacks. And, then presents! Harrison was completely spoiled by all of his sweet friends. He was also so so excited to hand out his goodie bags. He'd help get the stuff for them and could not wait to give them to his friends.

We had our friends Grace & Cooper come over for the afternoon to play. The boys had a big time playing with Harrison's new toys and Madeleine and Grace played dolls, house and Barbie for most of the afternoon. It's the quietest our house has been in awhile. :)

After a fun couple of hours, we packed back up and headed to the church to drop off the crew so Matt & I could go to date night. Woo hoo!

The kids always look forward to date night -- except Charlotte -- because they get to play at the church with their friends for 4 wonderful hours. And, Matt & I get to have a quiet dinner.

It was such a fun day! We were all exhausted at the end, but it's that good kind of tired that happens after a fun-filled day.

Wilson Family Baseball

2012-01-13T13:45:00.000-06:00

The days after Christmas brought some bea-u-ti-ful weather our way. We made the most of these unusually warm winter days and played outside -- the kids were ready to try out the new baseball gloves they got and we added a new bat so we were ready to play ball!!

Charlotte wasn't part of the game, but she sure was happy about being outside and running around!

Matt set up the kids outdoor chalkboard as a backboard to keep balls from heading toward the water.

When they got a hit, they had to run around the house, usually with me chasing them.

Future umpire??

I'm so thankful that Matt is athletic -- if it was up to me, our kids would never learn to throw a ball. Ha! He's awesome at pitching to them right where they can hit it. And, Madeleine is pretty good and likes it so I think she's going to play softball this spring for the first time.

Charlotte was up and down on the slide over and over while they played ball. She also had a big time chasing balls down for us. :)

The kids enjoyed our family baseball game so much that we played several more times that week. It made me ready for spring when we can get outside more -- especially after this arctic blast we've had this week!!

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-12T16:26:00.010-06:00

Christmas Day arrived bright and early at our house. In the past we've had to actually wake up the kids or make a lot of noise to get them moving, but this year was completely different. Harrison came running into our room at 6:30, turned the overhead light on and yelled out "Santa Came!!!" It scared me and Matt enough that we jumped up and out of bed and scrambled for our cameras, while trying to contain the kids in our room.

Finally, they raced out to see what Santa had left them. Harrison had one big request this year -- A Batman Castle. He also got his own Leapster (no more fussing over sharing Madeleine's which kind of made it a gift for me too) and a few other fun toys.
This year Madeleine didn't really have any big requests. She wanted a pretend puppy and a real church bag of her own. The funniest part is that Santa had already put in the order for the church bag, long before she actually asked for it -- guess he really knows the kids well, huh?? Her big gift ended up being an Easy Bake Oven, which she loved!

We let Charlotte sleep for a bit longer and enjoyed watching the big kids explore their new gifts. Then we got the little one up and had such fun watching her get SO excited about what Santa brought her!

That Ball Pit has brought her so much joy -- she loves to get as far away from it as possible, then run crazy fast and dive into it.

Charlotte was also thrilled with her new baby and stroller. She loves her baby dolls! She rocks them and sings to them and carries them around all day long. She has to have one in her crib when she goes to sleep, too. Such a little mommy!

After playing with all that Santa had left and checking out their stockings, we took a break and had some breakfast -- cinnamon rolls (homemade, of course, since they are my new fav thing to make), eggs, bacon and fruit. Then it was time to tackle the presents under the tree. We tried to take our time with this because I really wanted to see the kids reactions to what they got.

One of Madeleine's gifts was a new nightgown, something I actually had picked up during the summer and forgotten about until just before Christmas. She immediately put it on, and kept it on for the next 5 days. :) I had to sneak and wash it during one of her marathon baths.

I think Charlotte was completely confused by the mess. Ha!

We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon playing with all the new stuff. It's funny how that after they've seen all their own new toys, they have to go and check out/play with the others new toys.

See....Madeleine with Charlotte's stroller, and Charlotte with Harrison's Leapster. :)

We finally sat down for Christmas dinner around 4pm. We feasted on ham, sweet potato casserole, green bean bundles, corn casserole, and strawberry pretzel salad and rolls. It was sooo yummy!

I made a pie for dessert, but the kids prefered to have their christmas cookies from the day before. I think Charlotte enjoyed hers.

After dinner, we gave the Easy Bake Oven a try. Madeleine is at such a fun age for this. She still needs some help, but she can do a lot of it by herself. And, was she proud of the finished product! I have to say that I had a whole new love for my Dad after that night for the years he spent not only eating every bite I cooked from my Easy Bake Oven, but also requesting that I cook and raving over what I made. He made me think it was the best food he'd ever eaten, when in fact, as I learned that night, it tasted like cardboard. So, thanks Dad. Thankfully, somewhere along the way I actually did learn to cook. :) And, I ate every bite that Madeleine cooked for us and while, yes, it did taste like cardboard, it was still the best cupcake I've ever had because it was made by my sweet 7 year old.

Can you tell how proud she is of her work??

It was the perfect Christmas day. I'd do it over again and I'm already looking forward to next Christmas. I love the traditions we have and the memories we make each year. I love that the 5 of us haul up in our house and spend the entire day playing and having fun. And, this year, that fun day turned into a fun few days. We actually didn't leave our house until Wednesday night after Christmas. And that was only for a few hours. We spent most of that week playing with new toys, watching movies, playing Wii and just having fun together. I could do that week again too. I don't think I even turned on my computer the entire week. :) It was wonderful.

Christmas Eve

2012-01-10T20:19:00.008-06:00

Christmas Eve arrived this year with a BANG! The kids got up early and Matt and I laid in bed that morning and listened to their squeals and laughter as they discovered what Hermie had done on his last day at our house. He'd "decorated" the playroom with red and green streamers and the kids loved it! (notice Hermie hanging out on the curtain rod?)
Our Christmas Eve morning tradition has become letting the kids exchange their gifts to each other. It's something they look forward to each year and it's so fun to see their excitement not as much over getting to open a gift, but instead over getting to see the other open what they picked out. It's taught them a lot about the joy of giving.

They both put a lot of thought into what to give the other. I'd decided not to include Charlotte again this year -- but she had other ideas. :) As soon as Madeleine & Harrison pulled their gifts to each other out from under the tree, Charlotte went and helped herself to one as well. :) So, we let her open a gift too which ended up keeping her occupied most of the day -- her new Leapster Phone.

The rest of Christmas Eve is pretty laid back at our house. I'd chosen a menu for our Christmas Meal that allow me to do a lot of the cooking ahead of time (and freeze some) so the only big thing on our agenda that day was to make cookies for Santa. This has become a fun tradition as well and it's fun to see how much the kids enjoy it -- more every year. :)

This was the first year that Charlotte got to join in and I think she liked it.

Time to decorate! Madeleine's decorating skills are good -- she spent a lot of time this year working on making them just right.

Mommy did a few as well. :)

After our traditional Mexican food dinner, it was time to get ready for Santa. First, we sprinkled Magic Reindeer Food on the yard.

Then we set out Cookies and OJ for Santa.

We read The Night Before Christmas, but Charlotte didn't want to cooperate, so no pics. I did get it all on film though. We've had the same book that we read from since the first year we had Madeleine.

Lots of hugs and kisses then off to bed. Amazingly enough, they went right to sleep that night -- everyone was out before 9pm. Matt and I watched our usual Christmas Eve movie before getting to bed so Santa could come!

Harrison's Birthday

2012-01-06T22:04:00.003-06:00

In the midst of all the Christmas excitement, we stopped to take a break and have a day just to celebrate Harrison turning 5!! He's been looking forward to his birthday for a long time, so much that we decided that this year we were going to start celebrating his 1/2 birthday in June as well. After all, he gets all his excitement from Christmas & Birthday in just a 3 day span -- then it's a looooong 362 days until it comes around again. :)

He woke up that morning and headed straight to the gifts, of course! He'd only asked for 2 things from us for his birthday -- a big pirate ship & a big Lightening McQueen. That boy is easy to please.
I forgot to take a pic of his haul until we were a few gifts in, oopsie!

Grammy & Pops sent him the She-Ra action figure he wanted to go with his He-Man.

Opening his big pirate ship! I have to admit that this is a cool toy -- it even goes in the bathtub!

Opening his gift from Madeleine -- Angry Birds stuff. She chose it herself and he loved it! He also got a cars game, big cars book and Mimi & Grandad got him a Thomas Pirate Ship & Cars Memory which he loved as well. One thing I adore about Harrison is his sense of gratefulness -- he says "thank you" or "just what I always wanted" or "wow" after each gift and gives a hug without any prompting.

Mimi and Grandad arrived and we had breakfast. I made what Harrison requested -- Paris Puffins & Bacon, and ONLY that. He was one happy boy that morning.

We spent the rest of the day playing at home -- Harrison took a long bath with his Pirate ship and just enjoyed all of his new toys. Then after Charlotte's nap, we headed out to his pick for dinner, Red Robin (which is the spot of choice for most birthdays its seems). The funny part is that the kids want to go there and they always order pizza, when it's a burger place. But, it makes them happy and that's what counts, and I have to admit they do have good kids pizza. We actually had a very peaceful meal since Charlotte was very hungry and happy to just sit and eat throughout the meal.

After dinner, it was time to head home for cake! This year Harrison ventured away from the Thomas cake of the past couple of years and went for a Cars cake instead.

I think he had a great day! I still can't believe that he's 5 and how much he's changing every day -- I have a post coming all about Harrison at 5 after I finish up Christmas. I love that boy so much, more and more every day!

Tricky Elf

2012-01-06T21:08:00.002-06:00

One of the funniest things that our elf did this year was to make the kids look like rudolph. They woke up that morning to find this sign in their room.

And discovered that their noses had been painted red!
They thought it was hilarious!

We're hoping that Hermie plays that same trick again next year. ;)

Christmas with Mimi & Grandad

2012-01-05T14:12:00.004-06:00

Mimi and Grandad came up the day before Harrison's birthday to celebrate Christmas (and H's big day). The kids were so excited to see them and give them their gifts....as well as open what they brought. :)

This year, they got the kids each one gift and then a big gift for all of them to share -- a Wii!!!
Harrison got a tabletop air hockey table, Madeleine got a new book series, and Charlotte got some books as well.

Loving the air hockey...

They were pretty impatient about getting the Wii up and running. I knew the kids were going to love it, but what I didn't realize was how much ALL of us would enjoy playing on it! We've spent several evenings during our vacation (after Charlotte went to bed), just the 4 of us, in there playing on it! Those have been such fun evenings and some of the best memories for me!

That first night was hilarious as we learned how to navigate it! I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard!!

We had a fun night celebrating with them & gearing up for Harrison's birthday the next day!

Christmas with Sugar & Uncle Stewart

2012-01-01T06:53:00.000-06:00

The Monday before Christmas, Sugar and Stewart drove up to celebrate Christmas with us a bit early. The kids were so excited to see them! We got to spend most of the day visiting with them -- and they kids showed off for them nonstop. :)

The came bearing some cool gifts, of course. Madeleine got some sparkle Toms...

Harrison got some a Razorback hat (for his birthday)

and some cool Cars Crocs for Christmas -- he says they make his feet go fast...

and Charlotte got her very own backpack, which she loves!

We finished up the evening with dinner at Mellow Mushroom before they had to head back home. But, we are so so glad that they came up to spend the day with us! Such a fun treat!

Blog-cation

2011-12-31T20:37:00.002-06:00

This past week we've taken a vacation from the computer, email, etc. to spend some quality family time. :) We've slept in, had (several) jammie days, played Wii for hours, read books, laughed, tickled, watched movies, tried out all the new toys Santa left, snuggled and been silly. It's been an absolutely perfect week.

I have hundreds of pictures from Christmas and all our holiday fun that I'm hoping to get up this week -- maybe if I write that, then I'll actually do it! It's going to be tough to get back into the swing of things after a week like this!

More of Hermie's Antics

2011-12-21T09:52:00.004-06:00

Hermie has been busy the past few days, and I'm pretty sure he has some fun things planned for these last days before Christmas! But, here's what he's been up to lately...

We found him hanging out with the christmas cards one morning.

Playing Jenga with the gang.
He got into the scrabble game and spelled out the kids names.

Took Barbie for a midnight spin.

Fishing with the goldfish.

Gingerbread House 2011

2011-12-20T21:31:00.000-06:00

One afternoon while Charlotte took a late nap, the kids made our annual gingerbread house. I always let them make it themselves, and while it may not turn out looking like a traditional gingerbread house, they are very proud of their work. It's fun to see how their minds work as they decorate. :)

Notice their "attire" in these pictures. This is our typical day....Madeleine in her gown and Harrison in just his undies. Just how we role at our house!

The finished product.

Madeleine's half.

Harrison's half.

Sweet Miss

2011-12-17T06:03:00.000-06:00

I snapped this picture of Charlotte on Sunday morning before church. She's wearing Madeleine's Christmas dress (from 6 years ago!). She looked so sweet in it, and it just took me back to how Madeleine looked in it and reminded me how quickly the time goes by. It seems like no time at all since I was dressing Madeleine for church in this dress. Makes me slow down and cherish this time.

Madeleine's School Party

2011-12-16T16:33:00.002-06:00

Today was Madeleine's winter party at her school. Matt and I had planned awhile back that he would take off 1/2 a day so I could be up there without my two little "helpers." I really wanted to be able to focus on my big girl and making this day special for her. And, since I'm the co-homeroom mom in Madeleine's class (and the homeroom mom for another 2nd grade class where no moms volunteered to do it and I took it on), I needed to be able to move around and help out. It ended up working out better than we'd expected because all the IF's had their Christmas exchange/lunch and then their boss let them quit early for the day! So, Matt met me up there and picked up the little ones and Madeleine and I had some fun party time!

Our plan for both classes was to watch "The Polar Express," have a PJ day and nibble on party foods. We also did a hot chocolate bar, complete with mini & chocolate marshmellows, whip cream, and red/green sprinkles or mini chocolate chips for toppings. :) That was quite a hit!

It's amazing the difference in the kids from last year to this year. They are much more quite and focused. They sat and watched the entire movie and had a blast!

Mrs. L had tickets for them to color and fill out for the "Polar Express."
Then, at the same time as the movie -- she went around and punched their cards in the shape of their initial. Such a fun idea!

It was a fun day for both of us! I didn't take too many pictures because I was trying to help out in both classes, but there was some down time where I was able to sit and watch with her too. I'm so thankful for these one-on-one times with her!

The Countdown Begins

2011-12-15T21:05:00.002-06:00

Harrison asked me the other night to create a countdown for his birthday, which is next week. Poor guy waits a whole 362 days for gifts and then gets all of them in a 3 day period. I really try and make his birthday separate from Christmas, so in the midst of all the Christmas hub-bub we get a day to stop and celebrate our little guy!

Since it was later at night, I didn't have much on hand, but we made a countdown from what we had and it made him very happy! He takes off a sheet each day until the big day arrives. It's one of the highlights of his morning. Between finding Hermie, doing our countdown to Christmas calendar and this, he's happy to pop up out of bed each morning!

Not the best picture, but he wanted to be in it. While he's anticipating his birthday and it can't get here quickly enough, I'm the opposite. I can't believe my little guy will be 5....which mean that this year he'll be starting kindergarten. This is one of those birthdays that will make my heart soar and hurt all at the same time.

Seeing Santa

2011-12-12T14:51:00.000-06:00

This past weekend was our church's annual storytime and pictures with Santa. In the past, I think it's been at night or during the afternoon, but this year the gals in charge decided to do a breakfast with Santa. What a wonderful morning!

We started by feasting on a yummy breakfast that all the moms pitched in to help provide. Harrison was excited to see one of his best buds, Cooper, there and they started playing right away!

After filling our bellies, it storytime with Santa! I snapped this picture of Madeleine and Harrison from behind and it just melts my heart!

They had set up different stations for the kids to do activities and crafts. They grouped them by ages, so they got to spent this time with their friends. The first station was to get to make a Rudolph Craft.

The second station was Pin the Button on the Snowman. :) The little kids (Harrison's age) were laughing so hard while they watched each other try and get the buttons right! It made me laugh just to hear them!

The final station was getting to sit on Santa's lap and then get a small treat from him. Our Church actually has our own Santa -- with his very own Santa suit! He plays the part perfectly.

Checking out all those teeth she's lost this year -- 5 of them, soon to be 6. :)

We attempted to get a family picture, but this was all we got. My friend Ashley tried, but poor Charlotte was NOT having it! She was scared to death of Santa this time and avoided him all morning. :) You win some, you lose some.

And, this was a losing battle!

It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning! Our class had their annual Christmas party that night, but Matt and I had decided to have a family night at home. It seems like this time of year is so busy, and we know that next semester will be nuts, so we're trying to make the most of our family time right now. I'm the one that always feels like we need to do everything and be a part of everything and Matt is my (good) constant reminder that we can't do it all.

Christmas with Grammy and Pops

2011-12-11T20:27:00.005-06:00

Grammy and Pops came up to visit and have Christmas with us last weekend. We'd been looking forward to them coming and the kids were especially excited! They arrived Saturday morning just in time to have brunch with us. Since they were bringing presents the kids were so excited they could hardly eat! :)

After brunch, it was time to open presents! As usual, Grammy and Pops spoiled all of us! The kids loved everything they opened -- and me and matt too!

Here's Harrison with his new Thomas Lego set. We've already built it all the ways possible.

Charlotte opened one gift and was happy to play with that the entire time. :) She didn't care a thing about opening anything else! She insisted we put on her squeaker shoes RIGHT THEN and wore them the rest of the day!
Madeleine with her jewelry set. She also got some clothes for her American Girl doll which she's had a blast with -- changing her clothes each day and night.

The kids have had such fun this week playing with their new toys! They are also looking forward to this spring when we can break out the new fishing poles and do some fishing!

After naps and some snacks, it was time to load up and head over to the Christmas train. This was our first year to do the train and it did not disappoint! We were excited that Grammy and Pops could be there to share it with us -- and our good friends, the other "W" family too!

I think this is something that will get better and better as the kids get older. Madeleine LOVED it and Harrison enjoyed it too. Charlotte surprised us all by doing great on the entire ride!

Santa and Mrs. Clause were on the train too! They took quite a while stopping to visit with each family and getting the kids Christmas wishes.

Then it was time to sing some Christmas carols! There was an "elf" that lead the singing and took requests and let the kids lead the songs. Well, Madeleine lead 2 songs on the train! I still can't believe that my shy girl took the mic and belted out 2 Christmas carols! :) She had the best time of anyone, I think!

Harrison was happy to snuggle with me and look out the window.

Charlotte got some extra loving from Pops and Grammy on the train!

Of course, you can't have a train ride in Arkansas without calling the HOGS!

After the train, the kids were beat from all the excitement of the day! We headed home to bed, so we'd be fresh and ready to go on Sunday morning. Grammy and Pops went to church with us and then we came home for Sunday lunch. It was nice to have time to sit around our dining room table and just visit with them for awhile. We don't get to do that enough (hint, hint). :)

I snapped some pics while we were getting dinner ready and this was one of my favorites.

We had a great weekend spending time with Grammy and Pops. I count myself truly blessed to have such a good relationship with my in-laws and that's because they are such wonderful people. I married well. :)

Lights and Letters

2011-12-10T19:23:00.002-06:00

This week we did our annual Christmas Lights and Ice Cream night. Matt and I started doing this before we ever had any kids and it's a tradition we've kept through the years. We started out listening to our favorite Christmas songs with all of us singing along while we headed to pick up our ice cream.

Then we stopped at Braums to fuel up for the drive. :) With everyone happy, we headed to east Fayetteville (where the big houses are!) to check out the Christmas lights. There are a few neighborhoods we've discovered there that go all out for Christmas!
We all like looking at the lights and picking out our favorite houses -- even Charlotte was enthralled with the lights and especially the big blow up Santas we saw!

When we got home that night, the kids wrote their letters to Santa. They both knew exactly what they wanted, but the sweetest part was that each of them included the other in their letter by asking Santa to bring their brother/sister something they knew the other wanted. Things like that just melt my heart. I'm pretty sure Santa will be keeping those letters forever. :)

They ran them out to the mailbox to be sure the mailcarrier would get them this morning!

A great way to spend a fun family evening!

Hermie's Antics

2011-12-09T11:57:00.005-06:00

When we first got our elf, 3 Christmas seasons ago, I thought it would be such fun for the kids. Well, I was right -- they anticipate Hermie's arrival each year with much excitement. But, it's also become one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

It seems that this year, Hermie has been up to his old tricks -- and some new ones!

He left a "merry, merry" message after his shower one night.

He got into the chocolate chips that we'd used for baking...

and apparently sampled some. :)

This landed him in "elf jail" the next night. Hehehe!

He made silly faces on the kids pictures.

And decorated the Christmas tree with candy canes,

before hiding himself inside the tree.

Apparently all his antics have gotten him in trouble with the toys. This morning, Sherrif Woody had him surrounded!

I love this tradition! The kids pop up out of bed each morning and run around the house trying to find Hermie. They've both told him places they want him to land after his trek to the North Pole each night and he's been listening to them! Can't wait to see what he's up to next!

Great-Grands

2011-12-04T17:31:00.002-06:00

I wanted to post this picture earlier, but it didn't want to let me. Here's my Granny with all 8 of her great-grandchildren.

Thanksgiving -- Part 2

2011-12-03T09:28:00.000-06:00

We arrived in Temple, TX late Tuesday afternoon to spend the rest of our Thanksgiving vacation with my dad's family. The kids were so excited to see their cousins and start playing with them!
I forgot and left my camera in the car until the next morning. Boo. It was a great relaxing evening on Tuesday. Soon after we got there, I went with my dad to see my granny and I'm so thankful that I had that extra chance to see her. Even though she won't remember it, and she was pretty tired that evening, I will remember that time and I'm thankful for it. We got back to my Aunt Kathy's house and had a yummy dinner, more kids playing, and then got everyone bedded down for the night (no small task). Our family of 5 stayed out in my cousin Dana's amazing camper. If we had something like that, I might actually consider going camping sometime. :) The kids thought that it was the coolest thing! They loved their bunks and slept great, all night long. Matt and I had our own room out there -- TV included! It was perfect for us and I'm so thankful that Dana let us use it!

We woke up Wednesday morning early and the kids piled in bed with us. We turned on the TV and happened upon the Curious George movie and we all had some good morning snuggles while we watched it together. By the time we finished the movie and were dressed, Uncle Ron was off to get some donuts for breakfast! He knew exactly what these kiddo liked -- sprinkle and rainbow donuts for all!

Madeleine was in cousin heaven that week! Emma is just a year older and Rhea is just a couple of months younger. They "talked" her into having her loose tooth pulled by Dana later that morning. That's the first tooth she's actually been awake while she lost it. It's amazing what peer pressure can do! I think she was pretty proud of herself too....just hope Dana doesn't mind coming to AR each time we need a tooth pulled. (Just kidding....kind of!)

Tooth #5 is gone. The rest of the morning was spent playing outside with the kids. The weather was absolutely gorgeous those days!

Harrison found the sand and spent a good part of the time there right at this spot!

Just before lunch we all headed over to see my Granny. It's been awhile since I've been down there and it was hard seeing how much she's changed. But, I'm thankful that I got to have Charlotte see her this time. We made quite a crew that day -- all 19 of us! Granny knew she was the center of attention this time and was handing out kisses to all of us. I'll always remember that. We took advantage of the gorgeous weather and our own professional photographers, get some family pictures with Granny.

The rest of our Wednesday was spent with more outside playing and talking. It was good to relax and have some fun! We ended the day by looking at some old pictures -- my Aunt Kathy had even found my Dad's old cowboy/indian/horses play figures which she's kept for Harrison. 50 years later and they're still great toys -- he's loved playing with them at home! Some things never change, I guess. That night was also a big first for Madeleine. She went and spent the night at Rhea's house -- her first sleepover! Dana texted me a picture of the girls all snuggled up in bed watching a movie that night. I'm so thankful that her first sleepover was at her cousin's house; it made it extra special!

Thursday was the big day! I love Thanksgiving more than any other holiday. We hung out more, watched Aunt Kathy cook (hehehee!) and got our appetites ready for the big meal!

I took this picture during the pray before we ate. I'm sad it didn't turn out great, but I still love looking at it -- they pray the same way.

Dana spent the week trying to win over Charlotte. By Thursday afternoon, Charlotte had taken to her and Dana rocked her to sleep....then they both napped together. Usually, Charlotte only will sleep about 30 minutes when she's being held, but on Dana she slept much much longer. I also have to add that earlier this week, when I was putting her to sleep and we were singing "Oh How I Love Jesus....Mommy, Daddy, etc. (she fills in the name each time), well, she said "Dana." I thought she was saying "dada" but she kept shaking her head "no" and saying it over and over, until finally I said, "Dana??" and she said "Yes!" :)

Harrison and Ben became fast friends while we were there. They spent most of the time sitting right here at the sandbox.

Cousins -- Emma, Madeleine and Rhea.

And, I seriously could have taken this little guy home with me! He's too adorable for words!

It was such a perfect week for us! I still can't believe that I didn't take a single picture of my mom and Charlotte, since Charlotte spent most of the week either being held by Mimi or asking to be held by Mimi. :) The kids are already asking to go back and see their cousins.

Matt and I decided to try driving at night and we packed up and left that night around 5. We actually had a wonderful trip home for the first 7 1/2 hours. The kids ate dinner and went to sleep and Matt and I had time to talk. Bliss! After we got north of Dallas we didn't even have any traffic. The last 30 minutes were rough because Charlotte started throwing up. Poor gal! When we pulled over to clean her up, the other kids woke up. I was afraid they'd be up all night after having that nice long nap in the car, but as soon as we got home, the all went right back to sleep and we all slept until after 9 the next morning! A great end to our week! Can't wait till next year!

North Pole News

2011-12-01T09:06:00.000-06:00

Hermie, our elf made his first appearance of the Christmas season this week. He arrived in style this year, bringing with him, the First Annual North Pole Breakfast. The night before we watched The Elf On the Shelf movie and re-read our book, so the kids knew he was coming.

The morning of his arrive, Matt and I stayed in bed until the kids were up and listened to them as the saw his surprises. We could hear Madeleine reading their letter from him and then they quickly ran into our room to "wake" us.
Hermie had left each of them a note, telling them that he'd been checking on them this past year and they'd been good, and reminding them to be sweet to each other and listen to mom and dad. :) He left them each some socks to keep their toesies warm on cold nights and they each also got a Christmas book to add to our collection. Madeleine got the Junie B. Jones book "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells (P.S. So Does May)" and Harrison got the Disney collection of Christmas Stories. They both loved their surprises from Hermie!

They also found "snow" donuts made into snowmen and hot chocolate -- a favorite winter breakfast. Hermie also reminded them in their letter not to forget to tell him what they want for Christmas so he can tell Santa. Later that morning, after breakfast, I rounded the corner into the empty kitchen to see Harrison, with his back to me, talking up to Hermie and telling him his Christmas lists. I stopped just out of his view and listened -- the last thing on his list was that Hermie would do this same thing next year. Oh how I loved that. You could just feel the magic of Christmas in that moment.

And our little elf had hidden himself in the light fixture above all the festivities.

Charlotte had her first "snow" donut that morning and they quite the hit with her! She kept gobbling them up, until we finally had to make her stop!

Harrison with his candy cane mouth. Hermie left curly-Q candy canes that they'd never seen before and could only have come from the North Pole!

It was such a fun morning and the perfect way to start our Christmas season. :) Oh the magic of Christmas when seen through the eyes of a child.

Thanksgiving -- Part One

2011-11-28T19:24:00.006-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week! I still can't believe that it's over and we're on our way to Christmas.

We'd been planning for months to go spend Thanksgiving in Texas with my family. Then awhile back, my Dad called and said that he was able to get some rooms at a really nice hotel in Dallas, using his points and would we be interested in stopping off there first?! What a wonderfully fun time and great way to start off our week! We got up super-early on Sunday morning and headed down to Dallas! The kids were so good on the trip and we made it to Dallas by lunchtime. :) Our first stop was the mall -- it was too early to check into our hotel and the kids need to run off some energy. We got met up with Mimi & Grandad, got some lunch, checked out the Lego Store and rode the carousel.

I loved watching all of them on the carousel, but I especially loved watching Charlotte. She was a bit unsure at first, but once it got going, she was soaking it up! She looked quite proud of herself up there!

I didn't take any more picture that day -- I forgot and left my camera at the hotel. But, after checking in and unloading our gear, we explored the hotel. Then, we headed out for some dinner at my favorite mexican food place -- El Fenix. I think Matt's now a big fan (we left with a bag of chips for the road home, which we're now rationing) and it's a good thing since it's a family favorite spot -- my parents have been eating there for 35+ years.

We got some good sleep that night and woke up the next morning bright and early. Since Matt had stayed up working on a paper the night before, we let him sleep in while the rest of us went downstairs for breakfast. I have to mention the breakfast -- it was the most expensive breakfast I've ever had at the point in time. We'd gotten an upgrade with my parents membership so we were on the executive level, which generally gives you breakfast there. Well, they were renovating the breakfast area up there, so we got free breakfast at the restaurant downstairs. Did I mention this was a really nice hotel (The Intercontinental)?? Well, that morning breakfast cost $80 -- and that was just for my parents and the kids since Matt was sleeping and I was still full from stuffing myself on mexican the night before. Thank goodness it was free! :)

Our next stop that day was the Galleria. Thankfully, we were staying just a mile down the road so it was a quick trip. The kids had been anticipating going ice skating, so that was our first stop. We were there early and it wasn't busy at all! Yay! Matt wanted to be the one to go with them, so Charlotte and I hung out and watched from the sidelines.

Harrison pretty much hated it from the first moment he set foot on the ice. He did not like falling or not having control over his feet! But, we'd shelled out some good money to do this, so we made him give it a try before quitting.

Madeleine, on the other hand, took to it right away. She was unsteady at first, but kept on going, determined to master it! And, she did!

After only about 15 minutes on the ice, they had to clean it and the kids had to sit out for a bit. Matt gave Harrison a pep-talk and he was ready to give it another try.

This time it was much better. I think he did a total of around 5 laps before calling it quits. I was pretty proud of him for giving it a try. Later, he told me that he "loved" ice skating, so we'll be doing it again soon.

And, Madeleine spent over 2 hours on the ice that day! She was a natural at it and gained confidence with each lap. I can't wait to take her back! By the time she was finished she was exhausted, but even exhaustion and blisters could not dampen her spirit.

After all that work it was time for lunch! We found a spot at another of my favorites -- La Madeleine's where Matt and I shared my favorite fat-free ceasar salad and a croque monsieur. Yummy! Seriously, this is one of my most favorite places to eat.

While Harrison ran out some energy at the play area, Matt and I took Madeleine and a sleeping Charlotte to The American Girl Store.

After weeks of pouring over the catalogue she had a good idea of which girl she wanted. I really wanted her to have at least an idea of what she would choose, because I had a feeling the store would be overwhelming. She'd chosen Kanani, the doll of the year, and was thrilled with her. I had my doubts about her choice (surf gear? hawaiian clothes?) but she's still very happy with her doll. I would have thought that she'd want one of the little blond-haired, blue-eyed dolls (or one that looks like her), but Matt brought up the interesting point: she's a product of the school that we've chosen to put her in and she's surrounded by diversity. She doesn't see color or ethnicity and she chose the doll because that's what she liked. That made my heart melt.

Madeleine and I could have spent hours in there looking around and I was just as enthralled with it as she was -- oh the things they make for dolls! We had such fun looking! While Matt took the kids back to the hotel, Madeleine and I had afternoon tea that the Bistro upstairs.

We must have chosen a really good time, or just gotten lucky, because it wasn't busy at all! It was very nice and casual and they took such good care of us. We ordered our tea -- hot chocolate for Madeleine -- and had the best time talking and laughing. They even brought her doll her own cup and saucer with real drink in it! They also gave us a craft to do while we waited for our goodies -- we made party hats for the doll.

This was our tea tray. It was yummy, although we didn't even eat half of it. We were to busy admiring all of the fun things around us.

It was the perfect afternoon. We add a few things to our American Girl collection before leaving and looked around even more. It was so wonderful to have a few hours to devote just to my Madeleine and make these special memories with her.

That evening, we explored the hotel more and ate (more food!) at Fuddruckers. Charlotte discovered that she like ice cream that night too! I think our Braums trips are about to get more interesting. :)

The next morning we headed down to breakfast at the hotel again. With Matt and I also eating, we topped the amount spent the morning before. Our breakfast total the morning was......$150. Yes, $150. Crazy!! And, it really wasn't that much food, it was just one of those super-expensive places, which we were only eating at because it was FREE. And, yes, the food was yummy!

After breakfast, Mimi & Grandad headed on down to Temple and Matt and I took the kids to the Dallas World Aquarium. We wanted to wait and travel while Charlotte was sleeping and this was a perfect place to spend the morning.

The kids got to feed the monkeys...

We saw an albino crocodile that was the biggest thing I've ever seen! Seriously HUGE! Harrison was mezmerized.

It was such a neat place. You start at the top and wander through a rainforest down towards the aquarium part. We saw lots of creepy spiders and snakes, monkeys and flamingos, gators and tropical birds up top.

The bottom part was filled with areas of fish from different parts of the world grouped in areas that look like their natural habitat. The jellyfish in the dark and seahorses were some of our favorites.

Then we found the shark tunnel. It was awesome! We sat in the tunnel and watch all kinds of sharks and stingrays swim over us. Harrison and Madeleine were quick to point out a hammerhead shark which we've only ever seen in books.

But, this guy was my personal favorite. It looks like he's smiling...

We found other wild animals on our way out and went outside to see the penguins.

By the time we left, the kids were exhausted and ready for a quick car nap before waking up to see cousins!!

My Madeleine Girl

2011-11-14T19:38:00.003-06:00

We recently had our fall parent/teacher conference at Madeleine's school. I always look forward to this time, because while I know that we have an amazing little girl, it's always nice to have someone else brag on her. :)

Second grade has been a bit of an eye-opener to us. For the first time, she has nightly homework. And, while most nights it's only a 2-5 minute math sheet, there have been nights that she's had almost an hour by the time we do a reading book/response (20ish minutes), math homework, (5 minutes) and then our spelling words (30 minutes). This is most often on Thursday nights since spelling tests are on Fridays. The spelling tests have gotten HARD this year with her having to both spell the word right and also put it in the right catagory. We get 20 words on Mondays and another 20 on Thursdays to learn. Yikes! The first couple of tests were tough for her, but she quickly found her stride and was back to her "A" game! Mrs. L said that this was normal for most kids.

We found out that Madeleine is in both the highest reading and math classes this year. They've been doing ability grouping in literacy since kindergarten, but this is the first year for math. She's excelling in both. We got to see her report card at the conference and I was so proud of her -- mostly "E's" and a few "V's." This year they get a letter grade -- E=Excellent (95-100%) and V=Very good (90-94%).

Mrs. L. told us that she'd given her reading class which is the highest literacy class their first reading/writing prompt a few weeks earlier. She said this was the first time that any of the kids had seen anything like this and they expect them to struggle with it. Well, our Madeleine got the ONLY "E" in the whole 2nd grade. Mrs. L said she did amazing on it! It's no surprise because she writes all the time and her teacher even commented on that. She'd brought her chapter book she's writing to show the class a few weeks earlier.

We didn't meet with her math teacher, Mrs. S, this time. But, we know she's doing great in there! She got a 97% on their end of quarter test. :)

Madeleine never has to "move her card" and her teacher said she's a model student, she wishes she had a class full of her, etc, etc. :) I love hearing all of it!

This year, Madeleine is doing "art club" again. She loves the days she gets to stay late and make all kinds of fun crafty things. It's fun to watch her grow and develop into her own person and see her talents coming out.

Madeleine is so well liked by everyone in her classes. I love the days when I get to take her to school -- all the kids run up and hug her. One day last week we were early and they were just lining up to go to class. She didn't want me to walk her up -- sniff, sniff-- but, as they were leaving, I saw her let another little girl in front of her in line. Then the little girl turned around and hugged Madeleine. Madeleine's school is full of diversity -- with a lot of the kids there being from lower-income/lower-class families. And, I love love love that Madeleine doesn't see any of that. She only sees her friends and who they are never what they have. I pray that she will forever be this way and I feel so convicted that we made the right choice to drive the extra distance to get her not only a stellar academic education, but also these experiences that will stay with her as she grows.

Preschool Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-10T21:01:00.006-06:00

Harrison's preschool class went to the pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago and Charlotte and I were able to tag along that day too! It was an awesome pumpkin patch/corn maze and one we'll definitely be visiting again! I'm so thankful that we were able to go to; it was so fun for me to see Harrison interacting with his friends and his teachers.
It was an absolutely bea-u-ti-ful day that day! It was at the end of their season (I think the owner said they had only 2 more days of being open) but there were still a lot of pumpkins and we had the place to ourselves, which was even more perfect. The kids were able to run around and play with the different pumpkins -- or gourds as Harrison pointed out.

After the corn maze.

Finishing the Hale Bale Tunnel.

I love this pic of some of the kids with the teachers. Harrison has been so blessed with the BEST teachers this year! In fact, I think Mrs. Julie is one of his top 5 favorite people these days (and I agree with him).

We did a fun tractor ride around the farm.

We had a picnic lunch and then they got to pick out a pumpkin to take home. It was such a wonderful day!

Thankful Thursday

2011-11-10T10:52:00.002-06:00

Today, I'm thankful for my girls.

They are each so different, not only because of their ages, but their personalities at this point are not at all the same. But, they love each other so much. Madeleine is like a little mommy to Charlotte, taking the time to read to her or teach her something new. And, Charlotte love her big sis -- I hear all day long "where sissy?" It's easy to tell that Charlotte's world is much better the moment her sissy gets home from school!

Let's Go Drive the Car

2011-11-08T17:07:00.003-06:00

One of Charlotte's favorite new things to do is "drive" the car. Every time I open the garage door, she make a bee-line for the car and tries to open the door. And as soon as that door is open she's in there pretending to drive. I've started to let her do this while I load up the car which makes her so happy! However, she has a complete meltdown every time she has to get back in her carseat.

More to Be Thankful For

2011-11-08T14:57:00.002-06:00

Today is one of those days that I'm feeling so very blessed. No real reason in particular, just one of those days that's reminded me of how good my life is right now:

Charlotte took a good nap today. The laundry is *almost* caught up. Matt will be home in time for dinner tonight. :) Harrison had a great day at preschool. I had a good chat with a good friend on the phone. There is a light at the end of the Ph.D school tunnel, a very dim light, but for the first time ever, a light. We've spend the day warm & cozy in our home while the rain has poured outside. And the list could go on and on. It's just one of those ordinary days where I'm reminded of how blessed I am.

Trick or Treat 2011

2011-11-02T09:52:00.004-05:00

We had a great Halloween this year! The kids have been counting down the days for weeks and were sooo excited when the big day arrived! I actually had to hide Harrison's costume to keep him from wearing it out before Halloween even arrived! :)

Harrison was SpiderMan this year -- but only as a "bad" version of SpiderMan. He did NOT want to be any kind of a "good guy."
Madeleine was a ladybug. We found the wings and then I made her a black and red tutu (which is all bunched up in this pic).

Charlotte wore the ol' Hershey Kiss costume. Each kiddo has worn this costume and it's one of my favorites!

We did a lot of houses this year. We walked across the course behind the house and then trick-or-treated our way home. We were about 4 houses from home and Harrison told me, "Wow, mommy, this is starting to get really fun!" Ha! I'm not sure what he thought those first 20 houses or so, but at least I know he enjoyed the last few. ;)

When we got home, they all broke in to the candy. And, Madeleine and Harrison had a great time handing out our candy to the other trick-or-treaters. The constantly ringing doorbell confused Charlotte, but as long as she was eating candy, she wasn't too bothered!!

We ended the evening with some skyping with Mimi & Grandad. This is the first time for Charlotte to skype with us and she was enthralled by it! She sat happily in my lap in front of the computer and babbled on and on. If anyone else even tried to get close, she shoved them out of the way and pulled the computer closer to her. When it was time to end, Matt had to carry her away kicking and screaming.

We had a great Halloween! But, I'm also thankful it's over and we can start looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas! Yay!

The Thankful Month

2011-11-01T21:39:00.002-05:00

Today is November 1st. I've been waiting on this day to get here for so long! I love the months of November and December. November means my favorite holiday -- Thanksgiving. I like that we focus an entire month on being thankful, and it's followed by a month that focuses on giving. Sometimes it's easier to give after remembering all that we've been given, right?

So, in honor of this month of Thanksgiving, I've decided to be thankful for one specific thing each day. Some days I may share them, others I'll keep to myself. I'm working on a fun project with the kids (and a little behind -- hoping to start tomorrow) that will help them to think about all that we've been blessed with this month, too.

So, today, I'm thankful that I'm able to live my dream of being a stay-at-home mommy. It means that I have a husband that not only supports, but encourages this choice. It means that I get to share in so many of my children's experiences. I'm thankful that this fulfills me in a way that I know that nothing else ever could. I wake up each morning excited about the day and I go to bed at night exhausted, knowing that I've given everything I have to taking care of my family.

October Wrap-Up

2011-10-31T13:49:00.008-05:00

We've had another fun and busy month around here!

We explored the "new" play area at the mall. It was all the same stuff, but in a storefront that off the beaten path in a corner of the mall, perfect for playing!

We went to our friend, Bennett's birthday party. It was a gorgeous October day and we played outside in the jumphouse and on the playground and worked up an appetite before enjoying some amazing homemade chocolate cupcakes!

Charlotte and Madeleine got in some extra snuggles before Madeleine left for school one morning.

Harrison and I made caramel corn to take on our trip. He tasted the air-popped popcorn and decided that caramel corn is "yucky;" he wouldn't even taste it after it had all the yummy caramel on it!

We made Halloween cookies and decorated them with icing -- then we took them on our trip to LR to share with our families. :)

Harrison being silly one day -- he had all sorts of "stuff" stuck in his undies and rigged them up to hold up a bucket. Not sure what the purpose was, but it made me laugh!

Charlotte found her a new spot to sit and eat in the kitchen. She loooves the lazy-susan and is constantly playing in it.

We painted and carved pumpkins. Madeleine chose a kitty face for her pumpkin which turned out adorable -- definitely doing it again! Harrison chose "angry birds" which turned out....interesting. But, he was happy with it and that's what counts. Matt better start working on his carving stamina because next year he'll probably have to carve 3 pumpkins!

We made cupcakes on Halloween, as if we needed more sweets. Next year, I'm thinking we'll try the "halloween fairy" to help rid us of our sweets.

Harrison made a silly spider had at preschool that he's worn until it just wore out!

That's most of our October fun not including Trick-or-Treating which is a post all of it's own.

Harrison's Halloween Party

2011-10-30T20:22:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday they celebrated Halloween at H's preschool. I debated back and forth about whether or not to go -- it would mean Charlotte would not get her nap until verrrry late in the day (after preschool, I had a "quick" meeting at M's school) and I'd be dragging a cranky, tired Charlotte with me on these errands. But, in the end, I just really wanted to be there so Miss Cranky-pants and I tagged along for the party and she actually did very well. Whew!

When we got there, Harrison had just finished getting his tattoo which he was quite proud of! They were getting ready to play some games before loading up on the goodies that the mamas had sent.

The first game was ghost bowling. Such a cute idea!

Then came beanbag spider toss. The first goal was to hit the middle of the spiderweb and then the next time, hit the "frogs" on the web. Another adorable idea! Their preschool director is amazing when it comes to cute ideas!

Finally, they played musical chairs. Harrison is one of the older ones in the class (which is 3-5 year olds) and he totally "got" this game!

He and Jackson tied at the end. :)

Instead of getting out being a bad thing, when you got out you got a silly face.

Finally, it was time for snacks! This is the only picture I got of the snacks, although they had some adorable "spider" snacks! We'll be making those at home ourselves sometime soon. :)

I'm so thankful for Harrison's little school! It was a hard decision since the school isn't exactly close to our house, but he's so so happy there and I know that he's learning a lot and spending those days with his best buds. He's gotten pretty attached to his teachers, too!

Family Weekend

2011-10-29T09:25:00.009-05:00

What a fun time we had last weekend! Matt had to go to a conference in Little Rock, so the kids and I tagged along and we all were able to enjoy spending some time with our families! While Matt was at his conference on Friday, the kids and I had planned to go to the zoo. We got a bit of a late start since Harrison decided to sleep until 9:30 that morning -- unheard of for that early-bird!
We loaded up and headed for the zoo once Harrison was up and at 'em. Mimi and Grandad went with us and Sugar and Stewart joined us there! It may not be the best zoo ever, but we had a great time and the kids were so happy to spend the day there!

They were all set up for Boo at the Zoo, and they had some fun decorations and things to do. Harrison's favorite thing was this hale bale maze.

Charlotte was enchanted by all of the animals, but I think the lions were her favorite. We actually saw them "playing" up close which was really neat!

And, these giraffe's were having some kind of a fight! It was funny to watch. :)

I think the penguins were Madeleine's favorite. They were so playful and we had such a good time watching them.

Our final stop was to feed the koi fish. This was a hit with everyone! They each had a handful of food and loved watching the fish scramble to eat it.

Harrison found himself a spot and fed them one piece at a time. :)

Even Charlotte got in on the action!

We ended our fun with some good eats at Purple Cow -- our favorite -- before meeting up with Matt and heading up to Searcy for the rest of the weekend.

One of the reasons the kids and I tagged along and we decided to make a weekend of it, was that this was the HU baseball reunion weekend. Every year we've heard about the alumni game too late and each year Matt's commented that he'd love to play in it. Well, when I saw it pop up on Facebook in September, Matt decided to go and signed up. It just worked out that he also had to be in Little Rock that friday for a conference. After spending Friday evening with Grammy and Pops and getting some good rest, we were all excited to get up and head to the baseball fields on Saturday morning!

While Matt got ready, the kids and I walked around and checked out the fields.

Poor Charlotte -- all she wanted to do the entire time was climb the stairs in the stands. The concrete, steep stairs. And she didn't want any help -- she was none to pleased when I put a quick stop to that and threw her biggest fit yet! Hard to believe moments later she was her sweet self again. That girl!!

The kids were SO excited when it was Matt's turn to bat and even more excited when he got a hit and got on base! Harrison was running around yelling, "that's my daddy! that's my daddy!" It was so sweet -- melted my heart! Matt told me later that it was so strange getting up to bat like he'd done so many times in the past, but this time hearing "daddy, daddy, daddy" in the background. It made it all the more fun for him.

Grammy and Pops joined us at the field that morning. Charlotte spent a good part of the time hanging out in Pop's lap. :)

And, Madeleine and Harrison were content to explore the stands and nearby. Since this was an alumni game, it was very family-oriented. Kids were coming and going from the duggouts and playing all over the place. :) Once Uncle Ryan, Aunt Jamie, Emery and Garner joined us, Madeleine and Harrison were quite happy playing with their cousins.

Here we are hanging out with Daddy in the duggout.

After the game there were lots of pictures taken. :)

They let the kids run the bases...

Madeleine took this picture. I have a similar one of us from Matt's last game....over 11 years ago. I have to say, it was so fun being back there that weekend for this. I know that we missed out on a lot of fun events back home, but this was such a fun thing for our family and especially for Matt. We did a lot of reminiscing that day -- I spent many hours out there when we were dating and it was fun to go back and remember that time.

I'm not sure that the last day Matt played -- April 2000 -- I'd ever have dreamed we'd be back with 3 kids and such a full life. I felt so very blessed that day!

After the game, we headed back to Grammy and Pops for some late lunch and to visit with everyone. The kids had such a fun time playing with Emery! I know they're already looking forward to being together again -- as are all of us!

Uncle Matt and Garner. He is the cuddliest baby!

Uncle Ben and Aunt Pat and Trish were able to come over and join us for awhile and it was so good to see all of them! I am so thankful that I married into such a great family! :)

All in all it was the perfect weekend! We came home tired, but happy, having made a lot of wonderful memories. It's a weekend that we're already planning to make an annual event.

Pizza Night -- Round 2

2011-10-26T11:29:00.002-05:00

After the fiasco of the last pizza night, I decided to give it another go. Last night Matt had to work late, so we tried out a new method of homemade pizza. This one was a hit! It was super-easy, yummy and the kids loved making their own pizzas.

We used a can of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits for the dough. The each had several biscuits and the pressed/rolled them to a crust-like thinness.

What kid doesn't like playing with dough???

Then we topped them with sauce (a squeeze bottle of sauce, Contadina Brand was super-easy) and topped them with cheese and pepperoni.

Popped them in the oven and -- voila! -- easy yummy dinner! Harrison actually ate 3 of these things and I added carrots & broccoli on the side to make it more healthy. :)

These will definitely be making another appearance at our house!

Corn Maze Craze

2011-10-25T19:55:00.006-05:00

I'm so behind on posting all of our fall fun, but I'm hoping to catch up this week!

A couple of Fridays ago, we met up with some of our "bestest" friends, the "other W" family at the Ozark Corn maze for an evening of fun. This is the same corn maze that we went to last year so the kids knew what to expect and were super excited about going and even more excited that we were going with some of our good friends!

Our first stop when we got there was the petting zoo, which was mostly goats. Harrison wasn't too sure about them, but Madeleine went right in and had herself a good ol' time!
See here -- you can see Harrison hiding behind Matt. :)

Little Miss Fearless was enthralled with the goats. I think she would have been happy if that had been all we did the entire evening.

Just off the entrance they had a HUGE pile of dirt/mulch for the kids to play in, which was a hit! I think I could just bring a chair sometime and sit and let Harrison play in that pile all day long. :)

Next up was the corn cannon. We didn't do this last year, but Madeleine was excited to try it. Harrison decided he didn't want to do it -- and Madeleine was happy to take his turn! Harrison was more than content to sit nearby and pick up corn kernals from the ground and stuff them in his pockets. I found several cupfulls of corn at the bottom of my dryer the next week -- thankfully they didn't "pop" in there!

This is my view from the cowtrain. :) I sat in a seat with Harrison and I think my knees are just now recovering.

Finally, it was time for the big maze! Last year we wondered in there for a good hour, but this year we actually finished it really quickly. We even split up at one point and then found each other again and finished it all together. More corn was collected here. :) My camera batteries died at this point, so this is the last picture I took.

We finished up the maze and headed over to DQ for some treats. The kids had a great time playing on the playground and were wiped out when we headed home! I'm so thankful for this sweet family!

Banana Pudding Mess

2011-10-22T20:42:00.001-05:00

One night we last week we had banana pudding for dessert. This was Charlotte's first time to try it and it was quite a hit! She cleaned her bowl -- some in her mouth and some in her hair. Matt's taught her to take her food and put it in her hair when she's done with it. This gets her a good laugh from Madeleine & Harrison, so of course, she does it all the time now!
Madeleine loves her some banana pudding too! Check out that toothless grin. :)

Since Matt taught her to use her food as hair gel, he gets to wash her hair on messy-food nights. This night we had some fun with her shampoo! She was laughing it up in the tub. This girl is such a HAM!

Beautification

2011-10-20T09:55:00.000-05:00

A few Saturdays ago, we spent the entire day working in the yard and getting out flowerbeds ready for winter. It was a gorgeous day and we all enjoyed being outside!

Matt was hauling the old mulch to the back and he found some helpers on the way! Charlotte thought she was such big stuff riding in there!

The kids pulled out their bikes and scooters and we got out Harrison's old firetruck riding toy for Charlotte. She loved that toy and I'm very sure that Santa is going to be bringing her a girlie one this year. :)

Of course, Harrison had to have a turn as well. Charlotte hitched a ride again, too.

It was the perfect way to spend a Saturday as a family! I love projects that we can all work on and have fun too!

The Truth About Today

2011-10-19T19:08:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I let myself think I have it all together. I smile and give myself a little pat on the back because I think I've got it all figured out.

I once had a friend tell me that she wanted to come to "Rachel Bootcamp" because I had a clean house, good kids and it all seemed so easy. At the time I laughed about it because I so do NOT have it all figured out. I don't have a clean house and my kids can be the biggest stinkers there are, trust me. And, those times I do let myself think I've got it all together, I'm always quickly reminded that I don't. Lest anyone should ever again think I have it all together, let me recap the past 2 days.

Harrison cried at preschool dropoff yesterday. I still don't know why, but he cried so long & hard that I had to get him and take him home. Put a big wrench in the stuff I was going to get done yesterday.

Matt's supposed to come home early-ish on Tuesdays, but it was bedtime before he got home last night (and the night before, and tonight). And, when he did get home, he excitedly told me that he was going to get to go to a conference soon. In Indianapolis. For 5 days. Yay.

We've eaten dinner on paper plates for the past 3 nights. Tonight they had pizza and cookies which is oh, so, nutritious. Last night they had hotdogs (ok, actually turkeydogs). This week's healthy cooking goal: F.A.I.L.

Charlotte screams 90% of the time that I'm not holding her. Not kidding at all. Bless her heart, I love her so much and someday when I have to have hip replacement (on my left hip, her favorite) I'm sure she'll come and wait on me hand and foot. Seriously, the crying is about to make me pull my hair out...or maybe it will just fall out again. I've never NEVER had one of the other kids cry this much unless being held. WHY????? My only consolation is that I know I'm not alone in this -- thank goodness for good friends that can empathize and sympathize. :)

Last night I let Charlotte cry in her bed for a good 15 minutes while I helped Madeleine with her homework. And, Miss Charlotte let us know she was not at all happy about that by screaming for most of the 15 minutes. I'd tried to hold her while Madeleine did her homework, but she kept grabbing at the paper & pencil and being a pill in general, so off she went to her bed. It was a tough 15 minutes on all of us, but I reminded myself that it's important to Madeleine to have that attention and thanks to the big district-wide literacy push, she actually needed my help (main idea, details...I've forgotten so much!). Thankfully, we all survived.

I let Charlotte eat an entire bag of yogurt melts yesterday afternoon because she was quiet for 10 whole minutes while she did it. Then I let her unpack her diaperbag and my purse because it bought me another 5 minutes -- enough time to fold/put away some laundry.

Tonight I ate my dinner sitting on the potty (lid down) while Charlotte had her bath because she cried every time I left the room, but was happy playing in the tub while I was there. Not the highlight of my week, but sometime you do whatever it takes.

After the past 2 days, I'm thinking the week can only look up. Thankfully, days like this are few and far between, usually. But, even on the bad days I wouldn't trade being home with my kids for anything....although I could occasionally use a few hours out of the house.

Sunday Conversations

2011-10-16T19:31:00.002-05:00

I want to remember this, so I'm writing it down...

This morning during communion at church, Harrison (who was sitting cuddled up next to me) looks up at the slide with a picture of the cross on it and asks me in his "whisper voice" so I'm sure everyone around us heard it too: "Mommy, did Jesus already die on the cross?"
Me: Yes, Harrison.
Harrison: Before I was born?
Me: Yes.
Harrison: Before you were born?
Me: Yes.
Harrison: Before grandad was born?
Me: Yes.
Harrison: That was a loooong time ago, huh?

And then he got quiet and pondered this for awhile before moving on to his next question.

Harrison: Mommy, I want to hold God's hand. If God is real, why can't I hold his hand?
Me: Because you can't see him.
Harrison: Hmmmp! Well, I want to. I reeeeealy reeeealy want to. Hmmmmp!

Thankfully by this time it was time for Children's Bible Hour. Having a theological discussion during the middle of communion wasn't quite what I'd planned. But, it reminded me that little ears are always listening and paying attention.

Sweetness!

2011-10-06T19:38:00.002-05:00

One morning this week the playroom was very quiet for a few minutes. I've learned that usually quiet for long = trouble. But, this time I peeked in there, very cautious of what I might find, and saw Harrison & Charlotte sitting side by side watching Dora. I stood there for several long minutes smiling to myself before I ran for my camera and snapped a quick fuzzy shot or two. Initially, Harrison had his arm around Charlotte, but I missed that shot. Such sweetness that Harrison got the 2 chairs and put them there for them to sit together.

A few minutes later, Harrison came running and asking if they could have a snack. He's such a good "bubba" and I'm pretty sure his little sister adores him.

1 On 1 Time

2011-10-04T10:06:00.000-05:00

While Harrison is at school 2 days a week, I've been enjoying every moment of my one on on time with Charlotte. I was telling a friend recently that it's amazing how easy having "just" one seems now since I'm so accustomed to doing everything with at least two or sometimes three kiddos in tow. I remember when Madeleine was a baby thinking to myselft how hard it was to go and do things now that I had a little one with me all the time. Now I look back on that time and smile and think how much my vision has changed. And that's not at all to say that having one is simple or easy, I think you just adjust to having two or three and your definition of "busy" changes. :)

So, I'm loving this time with my sweet girl. I had quite a bit of time with Harrison when Madeleine first went to school, but this is the first time that I've been able to spend some time with Charlotte, just the two of us! And, I think she's enjoying having all the attention too! I'm doing a lot of "hometraining" with her during this time -- it's amazing how smooth things go when I can focus all of my attention on her. We've met Matt for lunch and gone to the park and spend hours reading and re-reading her favorite books. I've rocked and rocked her and sung all her favorite songs. And, while she rarely rocks to sleep, there have been times I have rocked long enough she's gone to sleep and I've been able to enjoy those precious moments of holding my sleeping girl.

I took some pictures of our day recently. She helped my reshelve books...and added a few of her own.

We played babydolls. She loves babies -- thankfully we have more than enough to keep her happy. :)

She helped me do some laundry. Harrison is also a big help with this when he's home, but this day it was Charlotte's turn. And, we ended up with some outside playtime after lunch and before her nap. This girl loves to swing and we spend a lot of time outside on these pretty fall days. Charlotte usually naps for the last couple of hours that Harrison is at school. I can get so much done during this time! And, I have to admit that I do enjoy having a few hours each week of pure quite in the house. :) I wouldn't want it that way all the time, but few hours each week is almost perfect!

Standing Tall

2011-09-29T10:20:00.000-05:00

I came into the living room one day and found Charlotte like this....
After telling her to "get down" she compromised and sat IN the car....

And she was pretty proud of herself for it.

This girl love to climb! It seems like I spend most of my days lifing her down from the couch, chairs, the kitchen table (oh, yes) and anywhere else she can climb. She is so active and goes and goes when she's awake. Maybe that's why she's such an amazing sleeper.

Three Peas In a Pod

2011-09-28T10:01:00.003-05:00

These day it seems that wherever Madeleine & Harrison happen to be, you can be sure to find Charlotte not far behind them. Sometimes she's bugging the mess out of them, but sometimes, those blissful sometimes, they are all having fun together. One of the few places that they always seem to play well together is outside. We spend a lot of time outside these days. ;)

With all the rain we've had the sandbox has turned to a mud-box. They were happy to play in the water & mud for hours one afternoon. Charlotte was right there in the middle of it all. I love to listen in on what they are saying. They have some amazing imaginations.

Charlotte much prefers the water to the sand. I'm thinking a water table may be in our future. Can't get those hands too messy!

They were all just working away that afternoon. Madeleine was back and forth making the swingset into a "house" complete with "food" and water. They have really enjoyed playing in the treehouse this year. Some days Madeleine & Harrison will disappear up there for most of the afternoon, wrapped up in their own little world. It makes me smile to know that they are sharing those special moments and making memories together.

And, Daddy came home to join us and enjoy some time outside. Charlotte thought he needed to swing too.

This guys will play in the sandbox all day if I'll let him. He just never seems to tire of playing in the sand and dirt. Such a boy, I guess.

Diner Daze

2011-09-24T09:37:00.000-05:00

One of my biggest goals the past few months has been to work on the kids eating habits. It was actually very easy to eliminate most of the snacking by keeping them busy with other things. I also knew that if I got rid of the snacking they would eat better at mealtimes. Madeleine was easy. On school days she gets home late enough in the afternoon that we don't have time for a snack before dinner. And, she's so hungry that she'll pretty much eat whatever I put in front of her. :)

Harrison was a different story. There were nights that he ate almost nothing on his plate. I can't stand the thought of him going to be hungry (and getting up in the middle of the night wanting to eat) so he always had a big glass of milk with some fruit or yogurt before bed if needed. I know, I'm a softie! We kept encouraging him to try food on his plate and after awhile he did & realized that he likes a lot of new foods! His current favorites are grilled chicken, salad, and broccoli. I think he'd eat grilled chicken every night if I'd make it.

This has also made me wonder: All of the kids ate whatever we gave them as babies/toddlers. I mean, Charlotte will eat anything as long as we are eating it.....except green beans. :) Last night she picked every single one out of her vegetable soup before eating the rest! So, when did that change? Why did that change? Did they develop preferences or did I stop giving them food from our plates? Probably both, I think. So it was time for me to "man up" and undo some of these bad/picky habits.

And, while I wanted the kids to eat what Matt and I are eating, I also wanted to make them open to at least trying new foods. I think our experiment has been quite a success!

Dinnertime -- Grilled Chicken, Broccoli and Rolls.

Same for Madeleine, with carrots added.
Amost finished! I should have taken a pic of his plate at the end -- all clean!

Ten Things to Treasure About Fall

2011-09-23T06:33:00.000-05:00

Fall has finally arrived! After a long, hot summer we've been longing for some cool weather. Thankfully, the cool weather arrived a bit before the "official" start of fall this year. After the hottest August on record, I think we may have one of the coolest Septembers. I'm always ready for fall and the changes that season brings. Here's my top 10 list of fall favorites:

*Fires in the fireplace and the smell of fires burning in the cool air.
*Sweater weather.
*Warm soups on cold nights.
*The colors of fall: reds, oranges, greens and yellows.
*Pumpkins all around.
*The changing leaves....looking out our back windows and seeing the mountain full of color.
*Thanksgiving -- my second favorite holiday.
*The cool air, a refreshing break after the hot summer.
*Pumpkin bread and roasting pumpkin seeds.
*My kiddos in their warm snuggly jammies.

Happy Fall!!

A Day In Our Life: September Edition

2011-09-20T16:34:00.003-05:00

I've been wanting to do a post about a day in our life and I think I might make it a monthly thing. One day it will be fun to look back and get a snapshot of our days. I realize no one will probably read this, except maybe the grandparents, but I want to remember what our life is like on a "normal" day.

Monday, September 19th

5am...My alarm went off and I immediately hit the snooze. :) I always "build in" a snooze and that give me time to give myself a pep talk to get up and exercise. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Today, it worked. I got up, changed and hit the ground running. I love this time of day. I'm a total morning person and I love having some solitude before the day begins....I spend my treadmill time thinking about everything from what I'll wear that day, to what we'll have for dinner, to praying for each of my children and their day to letting my mind wake up and watching TV. This is my time. I need this.

6:15 -- 6:45am...Hope off the treadmill and start the coffee. I start a load of laundry and "refluff" the clothes in the dryer....for the 3rd time. I turn on Madeleine's light and snuggle with her to try and get her moving. I open Charlotte's door to let the noises start to wake her up. I make lunches and pack bags.

6:45am -- 7:15am...Harrison wakes up too. I make Madeleine & Matt breakfast. Charlotte gets up and scrounges for food until they leave and she can eat. :)

7:18am...Charlotte, Harrison and I give Madeleine & Matt their usual big send off. I think they get the best send off in the neighborhood. :) Charlotte yells "byebye" in her loudest baby voice and blows kisses. Harrison yells "see you later crocodile" to Matt. It's fun. I love this part of the day!

7:20-8:00am...I get Harrison and Charlotte some breakfast and refill my coffee while cleaning up the kitchen. We sit and eat and talk about our day. Then, I take a quick shower and get ready.

8:00-9:30am...I fold the laundry and start another load of the neverending laundry. I do a quick blog update and check email. I finish up the minutes from our recent PTO meeting start working on our directory forms. Harrison and I play cars and Charlotte plays her favorite grab n' go game with the cars. I really enjoy mornings when we don't have to be anywhere too early.

9:30-10:30...I get Harrison and Charlotte dressed and we head out to mail some letters and run by the bank. Some days, I just need to get out, even for a little bit. :) Harrison gets a sucker at the banks, so it's been a good morning in his eyes.

10:30...Home again. We play a little bit and I fold the next load and start yet another load of laundry (I said it was neverending).

11:00 -- 11:30am...I make lunches. Charlotte is napping much earlier these days, probably because I wake her up at the crack of dawn, so we eat lunch early. Harrison is always counting the minutes until her nap because that's when we build his traintrack. We eat lunch and talk about what kind of traintrack we'll build that day: grey traintrack with Sodor Company (which he pretends is the Dieselworks), Cranky the Crane, Tidmouth Sheds and Misty Island. I talk him out of the bridge because that thing is a nightmare to build around! After lunch, I read to Charlotte and put her down for her nap. She's such an awesome sleeper and goes right to sleep. It's not uncommon for me to check on her and find her in the same position that I layed her down in.

11:30-2:00pm...Harrison and I build our traintrack as well as the must-have trainyard. He plays with it while fold laundry again. :) Then I do my habitual Monday Morning Pickup. Basically, I just pick up the house then I run the vaccum and sweep. It make the house seem clean again and I like starting the week that way. When I'm done, Harrison and I snuggle on the couch and watch Caillou. Then we play trains and work on counting. He's doing great on his counting....I line up mini M&Ms and he can have as many as he can count. :) We also work on his "th" sound which is coming along great thanks to help from our good friend Allison!

2:00 --3:45pm...I hear Miss Charlotte babbling in her room and get her up. We cuddle and read some more. Then we all head outside to play for awhile. It's a nice day and Charlotte is pretty happy in her swing while Harrison alternates between me pushing him on the swing and playing in his muddy sand box. After awhile, we walk around the pond and look at the turtles. Then we head in for a quick drink and snack.

3:45-4:00pm...We head back out to the front yard to wait for Matt and Madeleine to get home. Charlotte and I play with bubbles while Harrison digs in the flowerbeds with his Thomas the Train. We're about to redo the flowerbeds for fall/winter, so he can dig to his heart's content. We see Matt's car and Charlotte helps him "drive" in.

4:00-4:35pm...Give my big girl a hug!!! I miss her like crazy while she's at school! Then I fix Matt a snack while the kids all play in the playroom. Madeleine likes to come home and veg out for the first 30 minutes or so. If I try and get her to do her homework then, she's quick to tell me "mommy, I've been working hard all day. My mind needs to rest!" Can't blame her. :) She usually watches Arthur on TiVo. Matt and I have a chance to catch up about our days.

4:35...Matt heads back out to Harding to teach a class that night. Let the fun begin!

4:35-6:00pm...The kids and I head back outside to play. We do another lap around the pond and see some BIG turtles as well as several baby ones. Charlotte and I come in so I can start dinner. She's very unhappy about this and lets me know it. It's funny how she can go from sweet and shy one minutes to sassy and fit-throwing the next! She stands at the door and cries "weeee" which is her word for swing (because she says "weee" while she's on it -- smart girl!). It's pitiful. Eventually, she gets in her highchair and plays with the measuring spoons and bowls. There were also Yogurt Melts involved in keeping her happy....they're like baby candy for her. :)

6:00pm...The kids come inside and get a bath. I let them take a bath in my tub, which I'm still regretting 2 days later since I can't seem to get all that sand out! But, nights Matt is gone I try and do that since it's easier to keep Charlotte out of the water. I get them both bathed and wash their hair. Madeleine goes first because she can get out and get dressed while I bath Harrison.

6:30pm...I feed Charlotte in the kitchen with me and let Madeleine and Harrison eat at their table in the playroom, which is an extra special treat. Even when Matt's gone I try and have us sit down at the table. They were so hungry and gobbled up their turkeydogs, corn, and applesauce! I managed to get Charlotte bathed while they were eating and the kitchen cleaned up as well.

7:10pm...The beginning of bedtime. They have some milk and I put Charlotte in her bed with some books while I tend to Madeleine & Harrison. I read a chapter to Madeleine from her newest Boxcar Children Book & we make some predictions and talk about the setting which is what they're working on at school now.

7:20pm...Then I brush Harrison's teeth and read 2 Arthur books to him.

7:30pm...He looks at a book while I go in and brush Charlotte's teeth and read a couple of books to her. I rock her and snuggle with her and put her to bed.

7:40pm...I tuck in Harrison, help him with his prayers and sing him a lullabye. This is our nightly ritual and he cannot begin to go to sleep without his lullaby and me rubbing his face. I hope he'll do this for a long time! I love that he needs that each night and I cherish those moments. I give him a kiss after this and he happily rolls over to go to sleep.

7:45pm...Madeleine brushes her teeth and I lay down and snuggle with her for a few moments. I tuck her in.

7:50pm... *sigh* They are all in bed! I finish up cleaning the kitchen and check on the kiddos -- Charlotte & Harrison are asleep already, as usual. Madeleine just takes longer to unwind.

8:00pm...I sit down and answer some more emails. I go over the stuff in Madeleine's Monday Folder and do a little prep work on lunches for Tuesday. I set out Harrison's backpack for preschool and line up lunchboxes on the counter.

8:30pm...So tired! I watch some TV and wait for Matt to call and let me know he's on his way home. I talk to my sister for awhile and check on Madeleine again....she's asleep!

9:45pm....Matt gets home. He fixes himself a bowl of cereal (kitchen's closed for the night!) and we talk about how his class went.

10pm...I head to bed and Matt relaxes and watches some TV. He deserves it after his long day. And, me? I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

Too Cool for School

2011-09-19T07:32:00.004-05:00

Need I say more??

Favorite Things

2011-09-15T08:33:00.009-05:00

A few things I'm loving these days....

*Sing Over Me: Worship Songs & Lullabies. While this is, technically, a children's CD, it's my current favorite. I find myself listening to it daily and as an added bonus the kids love it too. It's calm and sweet and great for tired children in the car. :)

*McDonalds Caramel Frappe. Just as good at Starbucks, but waaaay cheaper and much closer to our house, which might not be a good thing! I'm not a chocolate person, but I love caramel and this is my new fav.

*Yankee Candle -- Autumn Leaves. Makes my house smell yummy. I love having candles burning all the time to make our home smell good -- and cover up all the yucky smells that come with kids. :)

*Taste of The South Magazine. Since Southern Living went and changed their layout a few years ago, I've been searching for a new favorite magazine. My awesome MIL gave me a subscription to this magazine for Christmas last year and I look forward to getting it every month! It's full of great recipes and fun places in the South to go visit!

Harrison's First Day of Preschool

2011-09-13T13:31:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday Harrison started preschool -- in fact, it was his last first day of preschool. *sniff*

He'd been looking forward to this day knowing that he'd be at preschool with his best buds this year! I really debated over whether or not to send him to school this year at all. Having Madeleine is school full time has made this momma realize just how quickly the time passes and all too soon he'll be in school full time, too. I have enjoyed the past year immensly with him being home full time...we had no schedule and a limitless amount of playtime. But, I also think it's important for him to start to adjust to getting up and going somewhere and learn those basic school essentials: standing in a line, waiting his turn, etc. Although I don't think the getting up part will ever be hard for this little morning person (there are many morning that Harrison & I are up a good hour before anyone else!).I also debated a lot about where to put him this year. I looked at several preschools that are close to us as well as the preschool at our church which is a much farther drive. Ultimately the thought that he should be with his friends, in a place he loves, with teacher that I know and I know love him won out. It's definitely a farther drive, but the smile on his face when I picked him up the first day banished any doubts I might have had about the drive being worthwhile.

To say he had a great day would be an understatement! He had a wonderful, fantastic, marvelous day! The first question out of his mouth when we got in the car to go home was, "Do I get to go to preschool tomorrow, please, please, please?" Since we'd decided to only go one day a week for now, it was hard to tell him that he had to wait 6 whole days before going back. He's been asking me every day since how many more sleeps until preschool. :) I told Matt that I think we might have to start sending him 2 days each week because he wants to go so badly! I hope he feels the same about kindergarten next year!

The B-I-B-L-E

2011-09-12T09:33:00.004-05:00

I took this video recently of Charlotte singing her version of The B-I-B-L-E. I watch it at least once a day and it melts my heart every time. Lately she's taken to carrying her Bible around the house with her most of the day and often singing this song at the top of her little lungs. She only sings the "B-I" part over and over, but I still love it! She loves for me to open her Bible, take her finger and "read" to her "God loves Charlotte." We do this multiple times each day and it never gets old, for either of us.

"Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Our Week

2011-09-09T23:09:00.000-05:00

With the beginning of school and all of us getting back into the swing of things, we're once again busy busy at our house. I sometimes find myself thinking -- where did our summer go??? I'm behind on posting, but wanted to remember our week. Here's what we've been up to this week:

Monday: Labor day. We spent the day having fun with Mimi and Grandad, eating yummy food, and playing outside. It was the first day we've had where the weather was actually nice. We finally bought Charlotte a swing for outside and she spent a good part of the day with us pushing her.

Tuesday: Harrison's first day of preschool (post to come soon!). Madeleine stayed home that day and we went to the doctor where we found out she had both an ear infection and swimmers ear. Yuck! Since she'd had a few rough nights of sleep from earaches I let her have a day at home to rest -- only we really didn't rest. We went to the mall and worked more on getting their fall clothes bought (there's an end in sight) and did the grocery shopping for the week. I was so thankful to have Madeleine there to entertain Charlotte while I did some speed shopping! Matt had Parent Nite at school that night, so we picked up Harrison and the 4 of us played outside for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday: We had an impromptu playdate with our friends that morning. What would I do without my girls to talk to?? Especially when Matt's gone so much at night -- I need conversation some days. :) After covering The Other W Family's drive with sidewalk paint, we headed home to try and tackle the laundry. Matt had class that night and we stayed in to try and get Madeleine some rest since she was still a bit under the weather.

Thursday: Finally a day at home! I put out all my fall decor and cleaned the kids half of the house. Matt came home and we grilled out. It was one of those days where I didn't leave the house all day & while those days are rare, it was kinda nice. We played outside and built block towers for Charlotte to knock down. Harrison dug the biggest hole in our flowerbed while waiting for Matt & Madeleine to get home. Fun times!

Friday: A busy day. I had an 8am PTO meeting to talk about some upcoming stuff. Charlotte got her first skinned up knee as we left. Then we rushed from there to meet our friends Mandy & Mason for our monthly nursing home visit. This is our 2nd visit to see the same ladies and I'm already looking forward to next month! They were the highlight of my day and I love that my friends have a heart of servanthood to want to do this. We left there and after a quick stop at Walmart it was home for lunch and naps. I finished cleaning the rest of the house, build the daily traintrack, and started dinner. We played outside again while waiting for Matt and Madeleine to come home. After dinner and playtime, we made our weekly trip to Braums. :)

Saturday In the Park

2011-09-08T08:15:00.004-05:00

Our first Saturday of the new school year found us headed to one of our favorite parks to spend the morning. We were all excited about spending the morning outside enjoying some nice weather and were even more excited when we got there and ran into some good friends!

Our first stop was feeding the ducks. The kids love this part and, I'll admit, I think Matt and I might enjoy it just as much as they do!

Once we'd filled the duck's bellies, we headed over to the swings. Charlotte loves to swing, although it might not look like it from this picture. :)

The park has recently put in a new big sandbox, which kept Harrison and his good friend Bennett happy for well over an hour! I loved listening to them talk while they were playing.

And, this sweet girl was pretty happy in the sand too! I think we brought home half of the sandbox in their clothes and shoes!

While the boys played in the sand, Madeleine & I snuck off for a bit and walked over to the library to get some books. This girl is flying through books these days! And it makes me so happy to see her falling in love with reading.

After the library, we took Charlotte and got in some time on the playground. Madeleine was quick to show off her monkey bar skills.

I took Charlotte up and down the tunnel slide many, many times and I had the sore arms and back the next day to prove it!

It was a wonderful day! And, a wonderful way to end out first week of school!

Matchy-Matchy

2011-09-01T19:56:00.003-05:00

I had to share this picture of my girls in their outfits from Sunday. I love when they match! Not sure how much longer Madeleine's going to like this, but for now she's happy!

Our Afternoon Ritual

2011-08-31T13:23:00.000-05:00

Harrison and Charlotte have been getting along pretty well lately and starting to play together. But, there's one thing he does NOT want her playing with him: Trains. Each morning a little before we eat lunch, Harrison starts asking if it's time for Charlotte's nap. He anticipates her going to sleep because it's when we play trains. :) We do the same thing every. single. day.

While I put Charlotte down, Harrison decides what kind of train track he wants that day (wooden or grey) and what pieces he wants to be a part of it. Once Charlotte is down the fun begins! We work together to build the track and Harrison tells me all about the "story" he's going to do when it's finished. Building a traintrack seems like an easy thing, but it's so not easy. He's old enough now that not any ol' figure 8 track will do! We have bridges and tunnels and split pieces. Every day I think that I should have taken an engineering class or two -- would have come in handy. :)

I love to see his mind at work when he's playing. He can entertain himself for hours with his trains, although I usually get to sit in and watch his stories at some point. He uses the Thomas language and says things like "bust my buffers" and "Thomas was cross with Percy." He also narrates the stories which I think is too adorable!

And, no track is complete without a Train Yard.

I try and sneak in some learning while we do this with counting the trains and organizing them by color or size or type (steamie, diesel, etc.).

I've found that I really look forward to this time each day too. I love working on a project together and Harrison is much happier building trains than crafting, so that's what we do! My life is so much richer because of this little boy!

Madeleine & Charlotte

2011-08-30T16:08:00.000-05:00

Today I took Madeleine & Charlotte for their checkups -- Madeleine's 7 year & Charlotte's 18 month, so I thought I'd post an update on them. I've been putting off Charlotte's 18 month update until we'd done our dr. visit, so here goes!

First, my sweet boy checking out the Nemo fish at the Dr. office. It keeps him quite occupied!

Madeleine:

*She's slowed down in her growing a lot lately I think. She was still in the 50% for height & 75% for weight which is where she's been since she was a toddler. The dr. said this is just perfect.

*Her foot has only grown 1/2 of a size in an entire year! She can actually still wear some of the shoes we bought last year. Crazy!

*She's reading and writing up a storm these days! She's almost finished off the Magic TreeHouse series and Junie B. Jones. Now she's starting on The Boxcar Children. I'm so excited for her to discover these books since they were some of my favorites as a child!

*I think we've finally, after several years, discovered the secret to getting Madeleine to go to sleep easily. We start our bedtime early in the evening. She usually get in the bed, ready to sleep, around 7:15. Then, she can read for 30-40 minutes before she has to turn her light out and go to sleep. This works great! I think she just has a hard time turning her mind off from the events of the day & reading calms her down. When it's time to sleep, most nights she just rolls over and is out!

Charlotte:

Well, even though I haven't been posting them, I have taken her monthly pictures to mark her growth.

*Charlotte was 25 lbs (50%) and 31 inches (25%). Her weight is dropping off and she'd only gained a little from her last checkup. Her height has always been at the 25% and Dr. D said she's just going to be short and probably would end up being little. She's in great health & we actually haven't been to the doctor since her last well visit!

*She's busy busy busy these days! Her appetite is slowing down mostly because she's too busy to eat! I'll put her in her highchair and she'll eat for the first couple of minutes before wanting down. Then as soon as I go over to her to get her down, she'll stuff as much food in her mouth as she can and fill her hands with food. She wants to eat and play. She just can't be bothered to stop and eat! :)

*She's still not a milk drinker, so she eats a lot of yogurt and cheeses. She like fruit especially bananas, grapes, mandarin oranges, and apples. She's getting picky. But, she'll eat a lot of veggies: carrots, peas, corn, broccoli and potatos. She loves ham and turkey too. At dinner she's usually pretty happy to eat whatever we're eating as long as it's not hot or even warm. She prefers almost all of her food to be cold, but she doesn't like ice cream. Ha!

*At mealtimes, if I do give her something different from Madeleine & Harrison, she'll pitch a fit! She'll daintily pick up each piece of food off of her tray, one at a time, and drop it on the floor. This can be good or bad depending on what they're eating (yogurt = bad). She's had her share of poptarts because of it, although when I mentioned that to Dr. D she told me her daughter had a poptart for b'fast that morning so I'm not feeling too bad! It's also worked to get her to try a lot of new foods too!

*She's still the most amazing sleeper, which I know I so do not deserve! She naps from 2-3 hours each day and sleeps from 8-6:30ish each night. When it's time for bed we read some books and rock for a minute and then I lay her down, tuck her in and leave. She just goes on to sleep by herself. :) She still takes her paci at naptime/bedtime, but rarely asks for it during the day. She also has to sleep with one or two of her blankies. She takes the blanket and rubbs it up under her nose/top of her paci to get herself to sleep. It's so funny to watch!

*She loves books. Her current favorites are: Corderoy's Busy Street & Corderoy's Birthday Party, the Baby Words Book, God Made Me, and Baby Jesus Book. We read all of these several times each day.

*She is a bit obsessed with her shoe collection. She wears shoes almost all the time, even at home. She'll bring me her shoes and want me to put them on as soon as she's dressed. She even has a favorite pair -- her Keds Sandals. She's also big into wearing her bows! After we get dressed I'll tell her all pretty and then she points to the closet and says "bow!". After we put it in her hair, we have to look in the mirror and say "pretty." I love this morning ritual.

*Although she still babbles a lot, she's adding words daily, it seems. The other night I told Matt it was almost bedtime. Charlotte looked up and said, "bedtime" and went and got her paci/blanket. She'll often ask to go "night night." She can say: bubba, sissy, madeleine ("mada"), snack ("nack"), juice ("ju") and more than I can list.

*She knows a lot of animal sounds! She knows: cow, horse, pig, duck, kitten, puppy, lion, monkey, frog, bird, sheep. She knows most of her body parts and is kinda obsessed with her bellybutton.

*She loves to sing. Her favorites are "God Made the Big Round Sun, Jesus Loves the Little Ones, and Be Careful Little Hands/Feet/Mouth, etc.

*In the mornings when Matt & Madeleine leave she loves to wave to them and yell "bye-bye." Then we'll blow kisses. She makes a really LOUD mwaaaah sound when she blows kisses. During the day when I ask her "where's dada?" she'll tell me "work." So cute! I keep wanting Matt to hear it, but, of course, she's too smart to say it when he's home. :)

*She had a full round of shots today. When I picked her up from her nap, I said how are you feeling? She said "booboo." Her poor little legs are so red from the shots!

*She's is quite stubborn! She loves to crawl up on the furniture and I've caught her jumping on the couch several times. Her favorite thing to do is stand on the ottoman and jump. This scares me to death! I'll tell her to get down in my sternest voice, and she'll look at me and say "no." So, we've taken to spanking her every time she stands up. I hate this, but I'm hoping she'll learn soon. If I tell her she's going to get a spanking, she'll either pat her hand or her leg which is where we spank her. It's so hard not to laugh sometimes! She's also determined to try things for herself, especially those things she's seen her brother or sister do. She loves to swing and slide. I think she's an adrenaline junkie! :) She's pretty much fearless and not afraid of dark, fast movement, heights, falling. The only thing that's scary to her is thunder. She'll come running for me yelling "boom boom!" Thankfully, she'll sleep through storms still!

*Miss Charlotte keeps me on my toes. She drags dirty laundry all over the house. She likes to go into mine/matt's closets and get our shoes and try and put them on. Then she drops them wherever she happens to be. Sometimes I feel like my life is a continuous scavenger hunt!

*She LOVES babies. She usually has a baby with her. She feeds her baby and puts it in her stroller and goes all over the house. One day I found her with her baby covered by her blanket and she told me "shhhh." I think her play is more advanced than the other 2 at this age, but I also think she sees them playing and copies a lot of that.

*Every day is different and fun! This is the BEST age where she's learning something new almost daily and it's so fun to watch her personality come to life. :)

Buddies

2011-08-27T06:31:00.000-05:00

When Charlotte was a baby, Harrison was pretty indifferent to her. He'd love on her when prompted, but he basically went along about his business without giving her much thought. Well, recently that has changed a lot.

With Madeleine in school much of the day, Harrison & Charlotte have had lots of one on one playtime. Charlotte often annoys him by turning off the TV or taking one of his cars and running from him....this usually leaves Harrison screaming in her wake. But, lately, they have started playing together more and more. Harrison will chase her around the house and they'll both laugh and laugh. Charlotte will squeal with delight when he catches her! Harrison has this "baby talk" voice that he uses with her that always makes me smile. He'll sit down and say "Charlotte, come to bubba" and she almost always does.

One morning this week, Charlotte was up before Harrison (a true rarity since he's been getting up at -- gasp! -- 6-6:30am). She kept going into his room to try and wake him up. Since she's just about the same height as his bed, her face was close to his and she's yell "BUBBA!! BUBBA!!" to try and wake him. I'd try and get her out and close the door, but she was a sister on a mission and finally she woke him up.

As I was unloading the groceries today, I noticed that both of them were quiet and not underfoot. Hmmm. I found them cuddled in a chair and Harrison was "reading" to her. Since Harrison can't actually read, he was making up the words and she was listening to him so intently. I quickly snuck my camera and snapped some pictures! It melted my heart to see them like this!

They caught me with the camera!

Of all the things we're teaching out children -- or trying to teach them -- love for each other is right up at the top. I want them to have a bond that will last long after they've moved out of our home and have families of their own because no one will ever love you like your siblings. It's such a special kind of love.

Bento Friday

2011-08-26T11:20:00.003-05:00

Madeleine's teacher has some really fun rewards that the kids can earn this year. My favorite is that they get to have lunch in their room with her on Fridays if they haven't moved their stick off of green all week. So far, we're 2 for 2 with Friday lunches with Mrs. Lawson. When I told Madeleine this morning how proud I was of her for not moving her stick all week, she quickly informed me in her best know-it-all voice that "It's only the 2nd week of school. AND I didn't move my stick all year last year or in kindergarten (true!)." Well, I'm still proud of her and I love that she's getting a weekly reward for her good behavior.

What to pack for her lunch is something I actually think about a lot. It's hard to come up with healthy lunches and have variety. (Poor Matt on the other hand has a PB&J 90% of the time!) So, this year I ordered a bento box to try and make her lunch different sometimes. She loves when I use it! Here's her lunch for today -- not pictured are the 2 caprisuns & squeeze yogurt. (and if you haven't tried the fiberone brownies they are sooo yummy!)
Of course, her lunch is never complete without a note. :)

Happy Friday!!

Sippy Snatcher

2011-08-23T14:14:00.001-05:00

Charlotte loves anything that belongs to her brother and sister. She loves running from them. Put those together and you have her new favorite game. She grabs whatever they're playing with as soon as they put it down and takes off running, laughing with each step, squealing with delight! Harrison & Madeleine aren't quite as enthralled with her game, it's more of a pest to them. But, Charlotte continues to do it.

Earlier this week, I caught her just after she'd snatched their sippy cups. She was alternating drinking out of each one and loving every second.

One bad thing: She's FAST. It's hard to catch her and she puts up quite a fight to keep whatever is in her grasp. It sure makes for some fun days at our house!

Monday Madness

2011-08-22T19:13:00.003-05:00

Well, today was the first day that we were back on our "busy" schedule and I wanted to properly document it.

We had a great week last week with Daddy being home every night. I tried to really really enjoy it because I knew this week was coming. So tonight was the first night that I was back to being on my own on a regular basis. During the semester Matt is gone anywhere from 3-5 evenings during the week either in class, teaching a HU class or studying/working late.

Our day got off to a rough start. Harrison woke up around 4am having wet his bed. It's a rarity that this happens, but when it does it's not a little trickle--it's a tidalwave. Unfortunately by the time I'd taken him back to his bed and found this out, we'd woken up Madeleine. So, Harrison & I bedded down in Madeleine's bed and Madeleine took my spot in our bed. Another night, another round of musical beds. :) The whole ordeal had gotten Harrison good and awake. It was after 5am by the time he got back to sleep and I knew he was going to be one cranky boy tonight.

My first evening alone in awhile wasn't not my best. I think I'm just rusty and spoiled from the summer. We'll find our groove, but lest anyone out there think I have it all together, let me share a bit of our evening.

It was a little after 4pm when we got home from getting Madeleine. We'd planned to go to the pool, but it was drizzling so we ended up staying home. Boo. The kids were more than a little disappointed that we had to cancel the pool, although it's not like we haven't been to the pool much -- we've been every day except 1 for the past 2 weeks! This disappointment along with the crazy night added up to some cranky kiddos. They fussed and played off and on for the first hour at home. Then we started dinner. I'd planned for us to make pizza -- something fun for the evening. Wellllll, first Harrison grabbed the olive oil and slung it all over the kitchen. Not easy to clean up, that olive oil! Then Charlotte got ahold of Madeleine's chocolate milk and dumped it all over herself and the floor (that I'd just finished mopping up olive oil off of!). We were going downhill fast.

We quickly got the pizza in the oven, set the table, and got ready for dinner. Pizza is a favorite and they were hungry, so this had to be good. It wasn't. The kids didn't like our homemade pizza and I kind of have to agree with them. It was gross. So much for buying the "healthy" crust at the store. Next time, it's fat and grease all the way!

I had to try and end our evening on a good note. So, they had a good ol' bubble bath in our tub and then we all played legos until bedtime. They had milk and graham crackers before bed so no one went to bed hungry after the bad bad pizza. We ended our night with snuggles in bed.

And, just think. I get to do it all over again tomorrow. Good thing I love my job!

Hanging on to Summer

2011-08-20T21:07:00.000-05:00

Even though school has started we've been spending every afternoon at the pool. I'd thought we might go a few afternoons, but it's the kids first & only request each afternoon, which is fine with me! We've had the best summer at our pool and I'm sadly ticking off the days until the pool is closed.

We've been so spoiled living so close to our pool. It's so easy to come home in the afternoons and change and be at the pool in a matter of minutes! I think that Madeleine needs to burn off that extra energy from sitting so much of the day and they all play so hard when we're there! We started off the summer without anyone knowing how to swim and now Madeleine is swimming on her own and Harrison is almost there too! I'm so proud of them both!

Jumping in. This is one of their favorite things to do. I think Harrison has done approximately 3,000 jumps this summer. And, just this week he's started jumping in the "deep" end and then swimming to the side.

Charlotte is going to be our dare-devil, I think. She'll wade out into the water until it's up to her nose and even then she's still pushing my hands away. She's also started jumping in with help and will do this over and over and over. She's seen brother & sissy do it and so, of course, she has to do it too. I'm hoping she'll be more confident and comfortable in the water and be an early swimmer.

And, she's so cute in her swimsuit! I loooove those chubby legs!

Madeleine has become quite the little fish this summer. She still lacks confidence, but she's getting there and she's getting braver all the time. She's gotten really good at swimming underwater. It still sends me into a mild panic to look out over the pool and not see her. I have to remind myself that she's underwater and wait a minute for her to surface. :) But, I'm so proud of her.

I wanted to add this one last picture from last night. I haven't been putting Charlotte in a swim diaper lately because she won't teetee in the pool. She always waits till we get home and put a diaper back on her. Friday night she waited till we got out of the pool but couldn't make it home. :) Oopsie!

Sweet Second Grader

2011-08-19T21:36:00.000-05:00

Monday, August 15th....

Seems like I was just writing about the last day of school, and yet here we are again, back at school. Madeleine was very excited to be going back to school this year. She was excited to see her friends and get this school year started. Me? Not so much. I've really enjoyed summer and having all my babies home. However, the last couple of weeks I could tell Madeleine was ready to go back and start learning & having a schedule again.

The first morning of school went great. Harrison actually got up at 6am on his own and Charlotte was right behind him. I had to wake up Madeleine, but she popped right up and got dressed quickly. We left extra early that day because parking can be a bit of a nightmare on the first day & I had some things to deliver for the PTO breakfast before school started.

Here we are in the parking lot on that morning.
She'd lost a top tooth the night before so she was proudly showing off her gap-tooth smile! :)

Sitting at her desk. I'm planning to fully document each first day for as long as she'll let me. :)

Madeleine & her teacher Mrs. Lawson.

After helping to host the PTO kindergarten breakfast, and running several errands, Harrison, Charlotte & I headed home. When I asked Harrison on the way home if he missed Madeleine, his immediate response was "nope!" But, when we got home I could tell almost immediately that he was going to miss her a lot! They have played together constantly this summer and I'm just not quite the fun playmate as she is!

To pass the time, Harrison and I made our traditional first-day-of-school chocolate chip cookies for her. The whole time I kept thinking that this was the last year I'd do this with him and that this day is the start of my last year at home with him. I shed a few tears that day, not over Madeleine being gone, but over it being the start of the last year I'll have Harrison at home. Next year is going to be tough.

And, before I know it, this little girl will be heading off to school too.

Madeleine had a great first day and was quick to tell us that she LOVED 2nd grade! Yay! This year she's riding the bus to Matt's school so I had to wait even longer to hear about her day, but it was so worth the wait! She's had a great week and I'm so happy that she's loving school this year. :)

Back to School Night

2011-08-15T18:49:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday was the Back to School Picnic at Madeleine's school. It's the night we finally get to find out which teacher we'll have for the school year and then get to enjoy dinner and catching up with school friends.

We were so excited to find out that Madeleine will have Mrs. Lawson as her homeroom teacher this year! Matt has worked with her on the FPS Math Taskforce and we were hoping we'd have her for Madeleine's teacher this year! Yippee! When we got to the room, Madeleine found her desk and a little goodie bag Mrs. Lawson had made for each child. :) While Matt & I filled out some info (our expectations of the teacher and for our child), Madeleine dug through her goodie bag and read the letter Mrs. Lawson had written to each child. I still love watching Madeleine read! She could read the entire page-length typed letter all by herself!

The picnic that followed was great -- for the second year in a row we used Backyard Burgers and it was yum-my! After 3 days of rain and weeks of record-breaking temps we actually had a beautiful evening. Perfect for the kids to play outside.

It's amazing what a difference just 2 years can make! Two years ago, we went to the back to school picnic and knew NO ONE. Literally. Not one single person. We ate by ourselves and met a lot of people; we wound our way around the school looking for Madeleine's classroom and hoped that we'd made the right decision on a school. And, this night -- just 2 years later -- was completely opposite. I spent the evening helping to serve the meal, Madeleine was hugged over and over by kids that she knew, we helped other new parents find their child's classroom, we hugged and talked with our favorite teachers, we caught up on summer events with friends and we felt so at home. What a difference 2 years makes, huh?

The Big 1-0

2011-08-10T20:34:00.006-05:00

Last week, Matt and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. It's still amazing to me that it's been 10 years since that special day. In many ways it seems like just yesterday we were in collage & dating. But, mostly, it feels like we've always been together and I can't remember what it felt like not to have Matt in my life.

Since we don't have any family in our part of the state, we'd decided to just wait and celebrate our anniversary a couple of weeks late during our August Marriage Builder Date Night.

And then, sometime things just fall into place so perfectly. The Friday before Matt was to start his new job, my Dad called and offered to keep the kids and give us some of his points to stay 2 nights at the Crowne Plaza in LR. Matt and I had just spent the morning cleaning the house & I'd actually managed to finish all the laundry. We didn't have anything planned for the weekend. It was still early enough on Friday to let us pack, get down there and still have time to enjoy the evening. So we did.

Within 2 hours of the offer, we were packed and headed to Little Rock! Can you tell we were excited??? We had a great car trip without any stops which is a rare occurance even though it's just a 3 hour trip. We arrived a little before dinner and unpacked the kids. We stayed and had some yummy BBQ with my mom & dad and got the kids settled before heading out. We've been dying to see the last Harry Potter movie and had pretty much given up hope of getting to see it in the theater, so we were psyched to get to spend Friday night at the movies. While we were waiting for the movie to start Matt & I were trying to remember the last movie we'd seen together -- we decided it was the previous Harry Potter which has been awhile. After Harry Potter we headed to the hotel. My parents had checked us in earlier that day and after making a quick room switch because the potty wouldn't flush (bad bad bad!) we settled in for the night. I think we slept an amazing 11 hours uninterrupted!!! We slept past breakfast so we got up the next morning and headed to one of our favorite spots for a quiet lunch.

Then we headed back to Mimi & Grandads to see the kids. Charlotte was ready for her nap and I was happy to rock her to sleep -- I'd missed my baby! Then we packed up Madeleine & Harrison and took them to the hotel to swim. This hotel has an indoor/outdoor pool with a "tunnel" you swim under to get from one side to the other. The crazy part is that I had a birthday party at this same hotel when I was little! We pretty much had the pool to ourselves and the kids swam for almost 2 hours.

** On a side note -- in all the crazy packing we'd forgotten our swimsuits (not the kids) so Matt got some new swimtrunks and I sat this one out and watched.

Matt under the "tunnel"

We packed the kids back up and headed back to Mimi & Grandads to drop them off so Matt & I could go out to a nice dinner. Just after we got back, the sprinklers came on and they had such a fun time playing in them -- fully clothed, of course!

Matt and I decided to try Copelands for dinner. We had the best meal and ate so much. :) We had a great waitress that recommended some yummy foods! About 1/2 way through the meal, Matt told me he knew our waitress and she played basketball for UALR and blah, blah, blah. (I'm not that big into sports so most of it went over my head). But then he told me that she was from Cabot and her family actually lived 2 houses down from us when we lived there. Crazy small world. So, the next time she came over he started talking to her and told her where we'd lived and that he had taught there and asked about what she was doing now. She was so excited that someone had recognized her! She autographed our bill and took really good care of us. :)

Apparently that was also National Cheesecake Day so the cheesecakes were buy one get one free so of course we had to get 2! We got a white chocolate raspberry and a hot fudge sundae cheesecake. Both were amazing! I'm now trying to talk Matt into going back there for our August Date Nite because I'm still dreaming about that cheesecake!

It was so fun to get dressed up and have a nice night out! After dinner we headed back to Mimi & Grandads to pick up the kids and bring them to the hotel for the night with us. As much as our kids love staying in hotels, it seemed unfair to stay 2 nights without them. We got back to the hotel and Matt & the kids went swimming again before a late bedtime. They were so tired! And it was an early morning with church the next day.

One of the most wonderful parts about the weekend was it just happened to be a weekend where my dad was preaching! Such a treat! I would love for Harrison to follow in his footsteps one day -- which is post entirely on it's own because he truly has the makings of a preacher. :)

After church, my mom cooked a yummy lunch and we had a long visit with Sugar & Uncle Stewart.

I think Grandad may have found himself a new friend. :) Charlotte sat in his lap and finished off all his mashed potatos!

It was such a wonderful, unexpected weekend! I'm so thankful to my parents for not only giving us the nights in the hotel, but for watching our little brood so we could have some time to ourselves. I'm such a worrier, so babysitters are rare at our house (i.e. never) and it's always such a treat to have a meal, or in this case meals, where Matt & I can eat and enjoy talking and taking our time. Alone time is precious when you have 3 kids! We needed this weekend probably more than we realized and again I'm so so thankful that my parents gave it to us!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2011-08-08T22:13:00.000-05:00

Today is the "official" start to Matt's new job! I'm so proud of how hard he's worked and if you can get a promotion in education, this is it! After 10 years of teaching this is going to be quite a change! He's taken a job at his school as an Instructional Facilitator. It's not an easily defined roll, but he'll observe teachers and help/model instructional methods. He'll mentor new teachers and mentor National Board candidates. He'll be working on developing and implementing literacy cross-curriculum and be part of FPS literacy & math task forces. And, I think that's just the tip of it. He'll be working an extra 5 weeks a year -- more at christmas & spring break & summers since this is an administrative roll.

If you want to hear the long story on how this happened keep reading. I'm mostly writing it so I'll remember, but don't mind to share it with you.

Let me start at the beginning. Back in early May, we found out that the summer program that Matt's been working at up here had been cancelled. We were pretty bummed because it paid really well and gave us the freedom to do some extra stuff during the year. After talking about options for him teaching summer school, working other programs, etc. what we both decided was that we really just needed a break.

So, for the first time in 10 years, Matt was taking the summer off (or most of it -- he ended up doing a couple of weeks of extra professional development).

About this same time, Matt heard about a new position that was opening up in the district, one at his school. He talked to his principal about it and decided to apply. We waited to hear something. And, we waited. And waited. All this time we'd been praying that this would work out and had no reason to think it wouldn't. This job would be the perfect springboard for the type of job Matt would like someday. It would also come with a substantial pay raise that would allow us to do somethings we've been wanting to do. In our minds, it just seemed ideal.

I'll admit that as time went by and I kept praying for this "perfect" thing to happen, I just couldn't think WHY God wouldn't answer our prayers by letting this happen. By mid-July Matt had begun to prepare to teach next year.

Monday, July 18th -- I'd taken Madeleine to the library while Matt stayed home with the other 2 and started working on getting ready for his new prep (Algebra 2). I remember so well praying in the car on the way home and telling God I didn't know why He wouldn't answer our prayers. This was a perfect job for Matt. And, then, all of a sudden it hit me. He had answered it: His answer was NO. I realized that all this time, I'd been thinking He wasn't listening to me and instead he was patiently telling me "no" over and over. And, more importantly I realized that it's easy and tempting for me to think that a "NO" is a "I'm not listening."

So then and there, I changed my prayer. I started to pray for the strength to do this all again this year....the long hours grading/planning, the tight(er) budget, another year before we can explore a possible job-change into a leadership position. And, I quickly knew that we could do it and do it well!

But, I said Matt had a new job, right?

Well, we got home from the library. We had lunch and Matt kept on working/planning. After lunch, Matt gets a call from his principal. Not a big deal -- they talk often during the summer. But this call is different: the principal starts out by asking Matt if he still wants the Faciltator job? Matt says yes and he tells Matt to come on up to the school and they'll talk about it. What??!! Three hours later Matt returns home, having resigned from his current position and the paperwork being processed for his new one!

In hindsight, I can see how so much worked together perfectly for this to happen:
*The new job "unofficially" started asap, and yet we'd had a whole 6 weeks of family time. If Matt had taught summer school he wouldn't have even had 1 week off between jobs.

*Matt was worried about his teaching position being filled on such short notice. But, by shifting several teachers, it worked out perfectly -- with 2 teachers actually getting preps they'd been wanting for awhile.

*This job is actually going to give him more versatility than he'd imagined. He'll be working on literacy too and will have more than just math experience to bring to future jobs.

It's been a good summer. And, even if Matt hadn't gotten the job, it still would have been a good summer. That's what I needed to realize. And the lesson I've learned from all this will be with me forever.

July Wrap Up

2011-08-07T20:29:00.004-05:00

Our July was busy with celebrating Madeleine's birthday and 2 unplanned, last minute trips. But, mostly we had fun just the 5 of us being together and soaking up lots of family time! As usual, I have quite a few random pictures that aren't enough to blog about alone, but I wanted to remember them.

Rather than celebrate Matt's new job with dinner out which has become a lot of work these days, we opted instead for pizza from our favorite place and homemade ice cream sundaes. :) Charlotte was pretty excited about the pizza and just couldn't seem to get enough. It's rare for her to get to eat it and she certainly got her fill.

We've spend many mornings just chilling around the house to keep out of this heat.

Somewhere in all that inside time, Charlotte discovered how to climb into the playroom bins. She actually prefers the Cars Bin and will search it out and sit on all of Harrison's cars, which doesn't make him any too happy!

Often in the afternoon, the big kids will watch a movie while Charlotte naps. They get their snacks and we make them all cozy and they're pretty happy. :)

We've also been making a weekly visit to the splashpark. It's been a favorite place this summer and a good change from the pool. We've been with friends and by ourselves and I'll be sad when summer ends and it closes for the year. Such fun there!

I love this picture of Harrison trying to coax Charlotte into the sprinklers. He's become a lot more interested in her over the summer and I have a feeling they'll play together a lot this fall. At least, I hope they will!

Branson Bound

2011-08-06T13:51:00.009-05:00

The day after our lake adventure, we got up early and packed up and headed to Branson for the rest of the weekend. Matt & I had decided just a couple of days before to take advantage of his last weekend off and get out of town. It's so fun to just surprise the kids and tell them "we're going to Branson tomorrow for a weekend of all fun stuff!" They were pretty excited and off we went.

Charlotte has been having tough time in her carseat lately and is usually very unhappy in there after more than an hour. But, she did great on the trip and only got cranky at the very end because it was lunchtime -- don't mess with her meals!!

Our first stop was Mel's Hardluck Diner, somewhere we've never been but will definitely be going back! The food was pretty good -- nothing fancy -- but the best part is the waiters/waitresses sing! They're all aspiring singers and it made for a fun lunch! They kept Charlotte entertained and happy through the entire meal which is quite a feat these days! :)

We walked around the shops near the diner after lunch. I can't believe we've never been over there before during our Branson trips.

The best attempt at a picture with the kids. I'm not sure what Harrison is doing here. Silly boy!

Our next stop was the hotel to check in and drop off all of our stuff. The kids absolutely love staying in hotels. It really doesn't matter where, they're easy that way. They just like the hotel experience, I guess.

One of our "other" reasons for going was to try and upgrade Matt's wardrobe for his new job. The kids and I tried to help, but it quickly turned into craziness.

And, with it being well past Charlotte's naptime, we left Matt to do his own shopping and headed out to the Disney store for our own fun! We spent at least an hour in there and all 3 kids were happy and entertained.

Then it was time for the REAL fun! First stop? Bumper Boats. This was our first time to try them out and they were a hit! Madeleine was a pro at driving them and soaking all of us!

Charlotte and I watched from the sidelines and Madeleine even managed to get us wet too! Charlotte was so cute waving at them and kept saying "mada mada" which I finally realized was her attempt at saying "madeleine."

Next....on to go carts! This was another first for us. Madeleine is just a bit short to ride the big cars and so we settled on the kid carts. They were both loving this until Madeleine bumped Harrison and they got stuck! Then Harrison was just plain ol' unhappy with her. Ha!

The kids wanted to play some putt-putt next so we tried out the Dinosaur Putt-Putt. We must have picked a good time because it wasn't crowded at all and we had a great time!

Charlotte got her first ride on Matt's shoulders and I think this picture show's just how much she enjoyed it. It was perfect (except that it was HOT and I think Matt was dying heat!) and kept Charlotte from exploring the course too much. :)

All that fun work us up an appetite! We decided to try Joe's Crabshack for dinner at the Landing. We had a big wait for a table, but the kids were able to play on the playground nearby while we waited.

We had a late dinner which wasn't quite as yummy as we'd hoped -- oh well. By this time it was LATE and Harrison was sound asleep before we reached the hotel. Within minutes of getting back to the hotel, the rest of us were sound asleep and thankfully we all had a very needed, very good nights sleep.

The next morning Harrison and I got up and brought back breakfast for everyone. Another hotel perk for the kids: breakfast in bed.

Once their tummies were full they were ready to hit the pool. The pool was inside, but the water was cold. Very cold. Mostly we hung out in the hot tub and Charlotte & I didn't last too long. I ended up taking her back up to the room for a nice warm bath instead while Matt & the big kids swam.

After showers and packing up we wanted to play more putt-putt. But, it started raining so we headed back to the outlets for my turn to look for some new clothes. I totally hit the jackpot on sales and did some major shopping in record time. Before we knew it, the summer storm had passed and we were off to more putt-putt. This time we tried out Pirate's Cove and I think it's our new favorite spot.

This time the putt-putt course was busy -- we chose the "hard" course because it had more neat stuff to it -- and I passed the waiting time by taking pictures.

It was a hot day already, but we made it through the course. The kids got goodie bags at the end and quickly put on their pirate hats. :)

By the time we'd finished putt-putt we were all hungry and hot. We decided to go to Fuddruckers for burgers & shakes. Everytime we're in Branson, this is a must-do for us.

We had an absolutely lovely, quite meal. Charlotte was beside herself from tiredness when we got there and after rocking her for mere minutes, she was sound asleep and slept through the entire meal and for a couple of hours more.

We ended our trip with more bumper boats. Charlotte was still sleeping so Matt sat in the car with her, while I rode. We had the best time and my pants were completely soaked through when we were finished. The kids were so wet we just changed them back into their jammies for the ride home. :

This was such a fun last minute trip for us! I so enjoy the time we can get away, just the 5 of us and look forward to these times.