Unusual Days For These Parts

Cocoa
Saber
Picnic
Drawers
Rain

Wednesday - Details

Fetch
Boy, Maggie loves to fetch!
That is all.

Slumber

Up-cycle
Caleb has been attending Camp Invention this week.
He's been creating new things from miscellaneous recyclables and office supplies.
He's taken apart a VCR to explore the components and later build something new.
He's been learning about atoms.
He's been in little boy heaven.
(Not that girls can't participate; there's about a 50/50 split between boys and girls attending.)

Normal

Hearing the Wii Fit tell me "That's overweight," is less than desirable.

Rude is more like it.

Today, victory was mine!

That condescending little voice said, "That's normal."

Organic
I usually pass up on organic produce.
It's not that I don't see the value.
It's just that my priorities place cost above quality in some cases.
I took a double take at the store today when I was looking for strawberries.
Of course, I noticed the 300% price difference between organic and non-organic.
But the starkest difference was in the color and smell of organic versus non-organic strawberries.
Organic wins hands down!

Lazy Sunday - Details

Waffles
It's sad to say, but I think Eggo waffles win out over homemade at our house!
What pre-packaged item wins out over homemade at your house?

Reading
Sarah loves "reading" her Leap Books.
Here, she's singing the ABCs with Ozzie and Mack.

There's something interesting on this page...

Charcoal
Jadie grilled ribeye steaks tonight!
I wish I'd taken a picture, but who can resist diving right in!


Counting
I'm still on track with my calorie counting.
Let me just say that keeping things under 1200 calories is tough.
You can pretty much forget dessert.
Unless you want to skip a meal.
Or two.Salad really is your friend.
Down 5 pounds, 10 more to go!


Neighbors
Like so many things in life, you have to experience time with your neighbors to truly enjoy and appreciate them.
I enjoyed a short visit with the couple next door and I was reminded of just how sweet relationships can be!

Full Friday - Details

Naked

We started off the morning with Norah trying to take her clothes off. 

This is not a new thing.

I'm sure she's getting mixed messages:  We tell her no while we laugh hysterically.

Temple

We drove to Temple today to have lunch with the hubby.

We used to do this often, but today was the first time in a year or so.

Chick-fil-A.

Target.

Michael's.

Ridiculous stop and go traffic on the way home.

Art

We found a few great deals on Crayola products at Michael's in Temple.

These Pip Squeaks marker sets with stickers and sketch pads were only $5 each.

I'm not sure about this face...

 But this girl got right to work.

We also found Crayola washable paints in the large bottles.  They were only $1 per bottle.

I see some painting in our future!

Bittersweet

I teared up something fierce while driving home.

This song came on K-LOVE that struck a chord with me.

I thought, "I'd like this played at my funeral."

Weird, I know.

Picnic

Sarah patiently waited for Norah to wake from her nap so she could serve us a picnic lunch.

She didn't want Caleb to help her.

He was supposed to sit and enjoy.

This was my spread.  Yummy.

She thought it was hilarious when we gobbled up our food!

She enojoyed some tasty watermelon.

Lastly, she served dessert.

Independence Day - Details

Handprints

Family
We spent the better part of the afternoon with Jadie's mom and sister at Grandma's house.

Pool
Jadie's mom recently bought an above ground pool, so we were water-logged by the end of the day.
Norah is our little fish.
With a pair of arm floaties, she is fearless!

Face-plant
It was bound to happen.
She had been going up and down the 3 steps from the house to the patio all afternoon.
And she finally face-planted.
It still looks pretty sad this morning.
Poor baby!

Fireworks
It was a last minute decision, so I don't have any spectacular photos.
We parked near the golf course to catch a glimpse of the fireworks show over the lake.
As fireworks always are, they were spectacular!

Independence Day

Handprints
Family
Pool
Face-plant
Fireworks

So, I'm thinking about starting up the blog again.  My idea is to post 5 words at the end of the day that will intrigue you, while giving myself a little something to remember when I try to elaborate my 5 words in the morning.

Yes, this sounds like it will require some discipline, so we'll see how it goes!

Budding Artist

Sarah has drawn her first rendition of our family!  

From left to right: Norah, Sarah, Mommy, Caleb, and Daddy is lying down at the top.

I'm so thankful that I thought to take a picture before it was erased.

Soups On

Just a normal day, but full of blessings nonetheless!

The kids are learning to eat more veggies...I added plenty of carrots, celery, and onions to tonight's Chicken Noodle Soup!

Quote of the Day

This one is brought to you by Sarah, after being released from timeout.

Me: "Sarah, why did I send you to your room?"

Sarah: "Because...I was being...noxious."

For the record, she was not sent to her room for being obnoxious.  At least not today.

Baylor Baseball Game

We've been talking about going to a Baylor Baseball game for a while now.  Earlier this week we realized that their final regular season game was this week.  So, we loaded up the kids and headed out to the ballpark last night.

The Bears had already secured the Big 12 title, so they were giving away t-shirts to pretty much everyone who came last night.  I'm kind of tired of the obnoxious neon yellow (Jadie got a basketball version earlier this year), but it'll be fun to wear it anyway.  We actually got one for Caleb and Sarah, too, and I plan to restyle them to fit the two of them.

Yes, those are beavers on the t-shirt.  You can read about that HERE.  Feed the Beaver!

Since we took all 3 kids with us to the game, I really can't tell you much about the game itself.  I know that Baylor scored 3 runs in the 1st inning and 1 more in the 2nd inning.  I don't know anything beyond that.  We left after the 5th inning, just after the sun finally moved behind the scoreboard and stopped blinding us.  At that point, it was already 8:15pm and time to get the kids ready for bed.  Next season, we'll be working on finding a babysitter so we can actually pay attention to the game.

In case you're wondering where exactly our seats were...we sat on the grassy hill on the 1st base side.  It was awfully tempting for our kiddos to slide down the hill or to run around and play.  I think that made things even tougher on the parenting front.  We'll know for next time!

Sarah's Prayer

Dear God:

Thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Caleb and Norah.
Mommy is sitting with me.
Daddy is outside mowing the lawn.
I'm thankful for Jesus' son, Jesus.
Thank you for Mommy's ring and Daddy's ring.
Thank you for Mommy's jeans and my pants and panties and my shoes.

Amen.

Quote of the Day

Me: "Sarah, have I told you how proud I am of you?"
Sarah: "Yes."
Me: "Do you know why I'm so proud of you?"
Sarah: "You're crowd of my bottom!"

I was looking for..."You're proud of me going tee-tee in the potty!"

I wonder what she meant...

Major Milestones

All three of our kiddos are reaching milestones lately.

Caleb, 6 years old

He is reading!  It's been a process over the course of his kindergarten year.  Each week, he learned about a letter of the alphabet and a sight word.  Those sight words have given him so much confidence.  Now he's able to sound out words, even the longer ones.  So far, he's read two books for us at bedtime.  We couldn't be more proud!

Sarah, 2 years old

She is potty training!  I sent her home with Granana on Sunday and she brought her back potty trained on Wednesday.  Mom did say that Tuesday was a disaster, with accidents galore, but Wednesday did the trick.  She managed to stay dry all day, including the two hour drive home.  Way to go, girl!

Norah, 7 months old

She is crawling!  She has her first tooth!  She can (but doesn't always) sleep through the night!   Crawling is a loose term, but she can get from point A to point B rather quickly.  That qualifies in my book!  Her first tooth is the bottom left, and it's well on its way.  No difficulties breastfeeding with the tooth...yet.  As far as sleeping through the night, I find that she does better when she gets in a good dinner of veggies and cereal and a solid nursing session.  I also discovered last night that she may not be waking up in the middle of the night to nurse.  All I had to do was go n and turn her from her tummy to her back when she was crying at two this morning.  Who knew?

Rambling

1.  My coffee is delicious this morning.  Folgers coffee, International Delight individual creamer in Caramel Macchiato, and Sweet N Low.  Perfection.

2.  The King's Speech is such a moving movie.  Tears, cheers, heart swelling.  Colin Firth.

3.  Caleb was late to school this morning.  How do I enforce natural consequences for being late when he's only in kindergarten?  He takes a tardy slip to his teacher, but that's about it.  Where's the sting?

4.  Sarah's with Granana for a few days.  It's nice to have a quiet house this morning, but I can't wait to have her back.  I wonder how the possible potty training efforts are going.

5.  We travelled to Longview this weekend to watch this girl graduate.  Congratulations on earning your Business Admin degree.  And enjoy your FREEDOM!!!

6.  We spent some time with my grandparents this weekend.  Not only do I love the chance to sleep in while someone else is up with my kiddos, but I just love everything about escaping to their farm house. I love looking out over the pasture.  I love watching Granny and PawPaw tag team preparing a hearty breakfast.  I love driving up the red rock driveway.  I love the quietude.  I love the state highways, lined with trees and houses set way off the road.

7.  I need to get rid of this china cabinet.  Preferably for the best price and in the shortest time possible.

Quote of the Day

Sarah:  "Mommy, I hear fire ants!"
Me: "Do you mean a fire truck or an ambulance?"
Sarah: "Yes!"

Sarah Dressed Herself

She's been dressing and undressing herself pretty well without any help for about a week now.

This morning I couldn't help but laugh.  This is how she came out of her room, so proud of herself.

What a good little Aggie!

Slow Down

Today I tried to enjoy being still and in the moment.  After I picked Caleb up from school, we got out of the car and spent some time at the school playground.  I visited with a couple of the other moms and nursed Norah while Caleb played with some friends.  We took our time.  We stuck around for almost an hour.  I enjoyed the slow pace and the warm weather.

When we got home, we went on a walk to find a rock for Caleb's homework.  They are studying rocks and soil this week.  Sarah was so cute holding my hand all the way around the block and trying to keep hold of 3 or 4 rocks in her other hand.

I have run out of quality food to make for dinner, but we had a few breakfast items to put together instead.  A slow, but good day.  Thank you, Lord.

Thankful 2011

Although my body has endured the birth of 3 children, I'm thankful for a husband who says I'm beautiful.

Although I try to control how she "parents" my children, I'm thankful for a mom who always looks forward to visiting me and my family.

Although I don't see her as often as I'd like, I'm thankful for a sister who always makes it seem like we haven't missed a beat.

Although we're only in their home a few times a year, I'm thankful for grandparents who always make us feel at home.

Although I'm overly critical of him and downright bossy sometimes, I'm thankful for my firstborn, my Caleb.  I'm very proud of your sweet spirit and your eagerness to learn.

Although I get tired of her frequent whining and her shrill screams, I'm thankful for my spirited and very verbal middle child, my sweet Sarah.

Although she can't seem to sleep for more than 4 hours during the night, I'm thankful for my healthy, growing baby girl, my Norah Beth.

Long White Bones With The Skin All Gone

Remember that lovely little song?  

Something about the Ghost of John...

Anyway, we did a skeleton craft for Halloween.  

It was easy peasy.  

I painted the skulls and cut the q-tips.

The kids glued them on while using an example from the internet as a guide.  

I helped Sarah position her q-tips.  But I'll give her the credit :-)

These lovely bones now grace our front door...scaring away anyone who dares to ring our doorbell.