He's Just 8

This is Calvin and one of his best buddies.

Calvin is a very tall 8 year old. Taller actually than all the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders in his school. He thinks it's great! We had our first experience with some disgruntled parents (from the opposing team) at his basketball game the other day. They were sitting behind us and complaining about the kid who "was probably 13 and his parents held him back so he'd be the tallest player on his team". I froze and didn't say anything at all. But if I could do it again I'd turn and politely say "nope, that's my sweet son and he's just 8. If you look closely you'll still see baby cheeks."  Maybe we'll need to start carrying his birth certificate with us. 

Twins

These two dressed alike the other day for school. They thought it was so funny when they came out for breakfast and realized they basically had the same outfit. Because they wear uniforms it's not unusual for the boys to do this. But pretty unusual for Charlotte who has a wider array of uniform clothes. 

Baby Wearing

Margo loves (loves!) her babies. She says to me frequently "I want to be a mom SO bad" or "when am I going to be a big sister?"  We found an easy way for her to wear her babies this morning. 

A Reason

The other night I was looking for a recipe that I knew I had made a couple years ago.  I couldn't find it in my recipe folder and that's when I remembered I had posted it on my blog.  That long lost blog of mine.  I hadn't even clicked on the link in well over a year.  I found the recipe (remember Lasagna Soup?) and then proceeded to spend the next 2 hours lost in a sea of memories.  I couldn't stop reading my own blog!  And that's when I remembered why I started blogging in the first place - I wanted a place to record all the memories.
When I started reading (and laughing and crying) I realized how much I had forgotten.  Funny stories, thoughts that I had when my children were younger, things I thought I'd never forget.  And guess what? I had forgotten.  So I'm going to try and do this again.
Somewhere along the line I got lost in thinking that my words needed to be more eloquent or that I should be posting serious thoughts.  And that's when blogging became pressure and stress.  So things will be short and sweet around here.  In fact I just downloaded an app on my phone that will hopefully make things even easier.
Put me back on your radar (or bookmark list). But I make no promises as to how often!

I'm coming back

Happy Friday

We're heading into a fun weekend. Today we're headed to the Marble Factory in the KC area with Calvin's class for a field trip. Charlotte gets to go too and is so excited to hang with the big kids. Tomorrow is Calvin's 7th birthday! We have some fun family things planned and he's been discussing all week where he wants to go to lunch because he gets to pick. He actually has a friends birthday party on his birthday. Fun for him but a little strange for me to have him away for a few hours on his birthday! He also gets to go to the KU basketball game on Saturday night with daddy. Fun!
We'll have his birthday party with a couple of friends on Monday since the boys don't have school on President's Day.

Hope you have a fun and/or relaxing weekend planned. I'll leave you with a picture. I'll never catch up on the months I didn't blog but here's a picture of us all from Christmas.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day! I saw this cute idea on a favorite blog of mine (http://www.designmom.com/) and I think they turned out so cute. It took about 5 minutes to upload the photos to Walgreens.com, add the border and message, and order them. I picked them up later that night. Assembly and adding messages on the back with the boys took about 15 minutes. Easy! That's my kind of project.
One of the reasons I love my boys small, Christian, school? Small class sizes!! In years past it was like I was running a sweat shop trying to get the boys to put together and add names to all their valentines. 60 valentines versus 20 valentines? I'll take it!





Our Valentines plans were foiled a bit but it was still a great day. Tyler and I had plans to go to my brother-in-law's fabulous restaurant in KC, but instead I ended up supporting a mom in labor. In my line of work when a baby decides to come everything else goes out the window. It's easy to keep things in perspective though when your job involves watching the miracle of birth.

34 Years

What not to do on your 34th birthday:
Do not drink a venti latte with an extra shot of espresso (thanks Starbucks for the free drink) and then work out for the first time in 6 months. 3 things will happen.
1. You will pee your pants (especially if you've birthed 4 children)
2. You will feel like throwing up and passing out at the same time.
3. You will feel very OLD.

I'm feeling very reflective today and hope to be back later with some much deeper thoughts.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

The scene: Kids building Legos. Brennan working on an semi-truck and Charlotte asking him a million questions.

Brennan: "Mom, isn't that right? You don't have to hold the steering wheel when you're driving at night and you need a nap or something?"

Me: "No way, you always have to hold the steering wheel. You don't ever sleep while driving."

Brennan: "Well why do semi-trucks have beds in the cab?"

Glad we got that one straightened out!

Just Because

What do you do when you've inadvertently taken a 6 week blogging break and you're not sure how to come back?

You post of a picture of your 19 (!) month old eating an apple. Margo's favorite food right now is an apple. She insists on eating it whole, skin and all. She takes it over to the fireplace hearth, climbs up, sits and proceeds to eat the entire thing. Literally. The other day I caught her too late and she had already consumed most of the seeds.

1st Day of School, Take 2

I'm not done with the back to school posts yet! Not to be outdone by her big brothers, Charlotte had her 1st day of preschool yesterday. She's going to The Giving Tree 3 afternoons a week. It's the same preschool Calvin went to so she's very familiar. She always went with us to drop off and pick up Calvin so the teachers already know her. She was so excited about having Ms. Kathy and Ms. Donna.

In an exuberant act of 4 year old independence she did NOT want to have her picture taken. This sweet girl can sure stand her ground!


Margo didn't mind having her picture taken!


I stole a shot at a stoplight on the way to school.


I also stole one during "circle time". Despite the very serious look on her face she was very excited for school. This may be her reaction to Ms. Kathy's "singing" :)


Charlotte seems so much older than the boys did when they started preschool. The differences in boys and girls astound me. When the boys went to preschool my highest hopes were that they would learn to sit in a circle and listen. But with Charlotte I think she might even learn letters and numbers! She will love the learning, the creating and the time with friends. As a third child, I'm really excited for her to experience her "own" thing.

1st Day of School

I know you'd think after a 2 month blog hiatus that I'd come back with some sort of wrap up of the summer. But nope, I'm jumping right to the first day of school. I'll do some summer catch up eventually, but today I'm feeling awfully proud of my boys on their first day of school.

Aren't they handsome?


We changed schools this year. It was a big decision. As in BIG decision. Maybe the hardest we've had to make so far in this parenting journey. I think it took us the better part of 6 months to come to this decision. But we're very happy, and the boys are too.

They did so great this morning! They were both a little nervous, but neither cried (I'll revisit this topic of crying in a moment). They were both just very quiet. Even though they are the "new kids" in school, they both know several kids in their class so that helps a ton. Oh and when there are only 8 or 11 other kids in your class it's definitely easier to get to know people! This won't be the first time you hear me singing the praises of small class sizes.

This is Calvin's first year of all day school (1st grade). Here he is getting fist bumps from daddy.


So yeah, the crying. I did a lot of it once I left the parking lot. Man I love those boys. I take on every feeling they could possibly be experiencing and probably a few they're not. It's so hard to put them into the hands of someone else for 7 hours a day. A great friend came over to stay with our sleeping girls so that Tyler and I could take the boys to school without looking like a circus. Afterwards we went to Munchers because, well, there's not much a chocolate croissant can't fix.


Do you see that group of people in the background of the picture above? There were about 15 of them and not one looked to be under 75 years old. I'm sure they were looking at us wondering what we were doing and why I was crying. But I looked at them and thought, in no time at all I'll be there. Sitting with my friends drinking coffee, children grown. Part of that seems like a myth, sometimes I don't believe my children will ever leave the house. I'm looking forward to those years but wanting to milk the years I'm in for all they're worth.

I'm incredibly grateful today. Grateful that God has paved a way for us to change schools and grateful that He, ultimately, holds my children in His hands. Grateful for healthy, growing kids who bring me to the cross daily. And grateful for a wonderful husband to walk this road with.

Happy Father's Day...

...to my daddy. I have so much in my life to be thankful for. You're definitely at the top of that list. I'm beyond blessed to have you as my daddy.
Unfortunately it seems we don't have very many recent pictures together (we'll fix this next week). But I found several of you and your grandkids. Which is fitting because you're also an amazing PaPa.
Thanks, Daddy, for everything and once again I'm sorry for all the eye rolling.

(Papa Jim and Margo)

(Papa with grandkids)

(reading to Brennan)

(With me and a little Calvin)

(with Grandma and Margo)

I love you daddy!

An Ode to My Children's Daddy

Tyler,

It stinks that you have to be gone on Father's Day! But we're celebrating you today and we'll celebrate more when you get home. Our kids have no idea how blessed they are to have you, but I do. You are an amazing father. I'd be completely sunk without you in this parenting gig.

You make "runny" eggs for breakfast, you mow the lawn with "helpers" even though it takes twice as long, you pick the boys up from school, you know their schedules (almost) as well as I do, you read books in funny voices but best of all you point them to Christ. Again and again and again. For that I am so very thankful.

I asked all the kiddos some questions about daddy today. Here are their answers, unedited.

What is your favorite thing about your dad?
Brennan: his hair
Calvin: he's funny
Charlotte: I like his shirt
margo: dadadada

What is your favorite thing to do with your dad?
Brennan: go to the driving range
Calvin: go to the driging range
Charlotte: play games
Margo: babababa

How old is your dad?
Brennan: 34
Calvin: 24
Charlotte: 8 25 30
Margo: mamamamama

What is your favorite thing that your dad does for you?
Brennan: takes us to the gas station for special drinks
Calvin: he says 'yes' when I want to play games
Charlotte: makes cookies and plays house
margo: dadadada

What is your dads favorite food?
Brennan: fish
Calvin: pasta
Charlotte: lasagna
Margo: babababa

What does your dad like to do when he's by himself?
Brennan: read a book
Calvin: work on the computer
Charlotte: play games by himself
Margo: mamamamama

If you could say anything to dad right now, what would you say?
Brennan: hi dad
Calvin: how was your trip?
Charlotte: hi
Margo: dadadadada

If daddy was here for Father's Day what would you do for him?
Brennan: make him a card, wish him happy father's day and make him lunch
Calvin: give him 1 coin, $2, 1 nickel, 5 cents
Charlotte: make him a craft
Margo: babababab

What does your dad do for you that is special to you?
Brennan: he takes me to the church with him
Calvin: reads the bible to me
Charlotte: he makes me breakfast
Margo: mamamamama

Below is a picture of you with each of our children. They may seem random, but they're not. They are all moments that tell what a great dad you are. You'll remember the settings, I'll stop shy of telling the world about the moments.

(Daddy and Brennan)

(daddy with Calvin)

(daddy with Charlotte)

(daddy with Margo, her expression here is by no means a reflection of you)

Happy Father's Day to the best of the best!

The Weekend

I keep putting off writing about my weekend at the Pioneer Woman's Lodge because I'm having a hard time putting it into words (sign #1 that I'm not a very good blogger). Not because it was extravagant or mind blowing, but because it was so relaxing and homey.

The lodge is gorgeous. Ree's pictures on her blog are way better than mine! It's spacious, simple, rustic and very welcoming. The best part is the view. I know I'm a Kansas girl at heart when I see a view like this and find it more beautiful than mountains or oceans.

Ree made us dinner on Friday night. She and Marlboro Man (Ladd) and their kids brought the food up to the lodge and ate with us. We had beef tenderloin, garlic mashed potatoes, burgundy mushrooms (recipe in her cookbook), caesar salad, bread and for dessert Knock You Naked Brownies.

(Ree and her daughters in the kitchen)

(Ladd slicing the tenderloin)

(The cute couple)

(The mushrooms were AMAZING. But to show you how much butter is in them, here's what they looked like several hours later once they had come to room temperature!)

On Saturday we were spoiled rotten with massages, manicures and pedicures. We didn't even have to go anywhere, two women came out to the lodge and set up shop. We literally lounged around all day taking turns doing these things. Between treatments we would just sit and talk.

We were with such a fun group of people! I talked so much and laughed so hard my cheeks were aching on Sunday evening.

(Me and my sister Kellie)

(Clay and April - they took care of us all weekend)

(Ann and Heide)

(open your eyes, April!)

I've been asked many times this week "so what's she like?". Well, here's the deal. She's completely normal. No diva attitude, no scene stealing personality, and no third eye. She's just like she seems on her blog. She's kind and funny, very easy to talk to, laid back and incredibly generous. You get the feeling that she really is just a wife and a mom who does this whole blog/book thing on the side. Honestly it feels funny to write about her here, but I know you're going to ask {grin}.

Sneak Peak

It was a wonderful weekend! But you're going to have to wait on stories and pictures until I have safely re-entered life around here. Check out Ree's blog today for pictures of the skeet shooting we did. Yup, I shot guns with Ree.

(Ellen, Lou, Heidi, Ree, April, Me, Kellie, Ann)

So here's the BIG news....

So, you know the woman that wrote this cookbook (that I use over and over again)...

The one who makes amazing recipes like this one (and has taught me so much about cooking)...



The one who lives on a cattle ranch and takes amazing pictures like this one?



Well, I'm going to go hang out with her this weekend. That's right, 3 days at The Pioneer Woman's lodge. Can you believe it? I know, either can I. It feels a bit like a dream. I'm going with 7 other really neat people. Honestly as excited as I am about meeting her and seeing for my very own eyes all the things I've read about for years now, I'm also just as excited about a relaxing weekend in a beautiful place with fun people. Oh and really good food!

Yup, this is the kitchen I'll be hanging out in. I think I'll ask Ree if she wouldn't mind if I just took that sink home with me. She seems like such a nice person. I'm sure she'll say yes. And see that little bit of orange in the bottom corner there? I'm sure when she sees what a fun person I am she'll want to throw that little le creuset piece in with the sink.

I'll come back with lots of pictures and stories! Of course they'll be lame pictures compared to hers and boring stories compared to hers {grin}.

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter celebration. A celebration of our resurrected Christ. He is risen. He is risen indeed!
After worship in our church we went out to Grandma Janet and Papa Skips house.




One of the most exciting things we got to do (besides celebrate a risen Savior, of course :)) was meet our newest niece/cousin Piper! Tyler's "little" sister Marie and her husband Brian had their first baby just 2 days before Christmas. Brian is in the Navy and they are stationed in Kingsville, Tx. Because it's so stinkin' far away we hadn't been able to meet Piper yet. But we loved on her plenty over Easter weekend.




Margo loves to hang out at the sliding glass doors and watch the big kids outside. It's cute and makes for funny pictures.



Hope you had a wonderful Easter!