My Kiddos

Claire is growing up and getting cuter by the day. I have not documented some of the funny things she is doing and saying in awhile and I don't want to forget them...
- when she has been talking for a solid hour (slight exxageration) and I try to say something she gets really frustrated and says "You are confusing me!" she means that I am interrupting her.

- when she came home from school the other day I asked her what she talked about in chapel and she said "Jesus said to hide the baby named Horton and the princess found him and ran to her mama yelling HELP!!" it was the story of Moses

- she is very much into pretending she is a cat named Kelsey and when we ask her a question she will say "cats don't talk"

- Kelsey is pretty much her favorite name at the moment and even when she is not a cat with that name she pretend plays with a friend named Kelsey (I had an imaginary friend named Johnny growing up. It is so cute to be on this side of it and watch/listen to her little mind work)

- she is pretty obsessed with doing things as a family at the moment and will make an announcement when she notices that all four of us are together doing something like going on a walk or laying in bed "yeah it is a family cuddle time" or "let's all family hug". I hope that we can foster this love of family time and that it will always be important to her.

- she is constantly singing songs from school and dancing anywhere she can spin or stand on one leg. she is also very much into having us watch her "watch this mommy" is something I hear about a million times a day (it is helping my patience grow).

-she loves to put her hair in Jacob's face (annoying right?!?), well the other day Jacob wrapped both of his chunky little hands in it and yanked two handfuls out the other day (I secretly thought good for you Jake). She of course started crying and said "He is going to pull all my hair out and I will be a boy that looks like Caillou".

-Claire continues to love dancing around the house, playing chase with anyone that crosses her path, building forts and cat houses, dressing up, putting on make up, playing with friends, but most of all she loves having special time with her mommy, daddy, and brother.

I am madly in love with my sweet baby girl!

Our sweet Jacob is a big four and a half month old chunk of love. He is so happy and laid back. I could not have hoped for a bigger blessing than Jacob is in my life. He is growing and changing too...

- he is a great napper during the day and a terrible sleeper at night...oh well you can't win them all

-he is starting to love playing with toys especially his exersaucer and a little toy that suctions onto his highchair

-he is pretty easy to get a smile out of and with just a little extra work he will give you a great big giggle

-he is a squealer when he gets excited and becoming more chatty ever day

-I have to remind people that he is still a tiny baby in a one year old body (at his four month appointment he was just over 19 pounds)

Cutest Chaperon Ever

Jacob came with us to Washington to keep the sisters in line. It was so fun to have some special one on one time with my boy. He was a really good sport and for the most part as flexible as a four month old can be. I think we all would have appreciated a little more sleep- the bright side is we got a lot squeezed into our days since we weren't taking the time to sleep.

I am sorry but he is so stinkin cute, I mean look at him!!

Twilight Of Course

Well what would a trip to the Pacific Northwest be without a stop at some of the places made famous by the Twilight series? It is no secret that my sisters and I really liked that series of books and it was really fun to check out the places from the books. Lake Crescent Lodge is just between Port Angeles and Forks two of the main towns in Twilight. We went to eat dinner at Bella Italia in Port A so that Amy and Sara could eat "Bella's Mushroom Ravioli". I don't eat mushrooms so I settled for the plain old spaghetti. We spent Saturday morning touring Forks, WA and La Push Beach. It was such a cool area and fun to see so many fans of the books wandering around.

Our Trip!!!

I just got back from a fantastic trip with my sisters. We made a lot of memories. We laughed until we cried more than once. We fell in love with the Pacific Northwest over and over again. We have a bond that grew even stronger. We were thankful to finally travel as a threesome (well foursome counting Jacob, our tiny chaperon). I cannot wait to do it again in the somewhat near future.

Last Thursday we flew out to Seattle. When we got to town we checked into our historic hotel right downtown and then headed to Pike's Place Market where we made our first trip to The Original Starbucks and the pier to watch the sunset. Later that night we went to a delicious little Italian joint where we laughed our heads off pretty much the entire meal then went back to the hotel to crash for the night (kind of, Jacob was not such a great sleeper the entire trip, but we didn't let that ruin our trip).

Friday morning we went back to the market and it was beautiful. The colors, the atmosphere, the people...perfect. I decided if I ever live in downtown Seattle I would constantly have fresh fruit and veggies and flowers in my home. It would make me so happy to go to the market a few times a week. We had a great time picking out our lunch- fresh bread, cheese, and fruit.
That afternoon we jumped on a ferry and headed towards the second part of our trip up the coast. It was a beautiful drive and the destination was perfect!!!

Lake Crescent Lodge is the most quaint and peaceful place I have ever stayed. The room didn't even have a TV or phone in it which I thought was awesome. The lake was perfectly clear and surrounded by huge trees and beautiful mountains. The sunset on Friday night was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in all my life. I will most definitely be coming back to this hotel, hopefully with my husband, I would love to share this place with him.

I think that my favorite part of the trip was the hike we took to Marymere Falls. The scenery was out of this world. The trees that were hundreds of feet tall covered in moss and huge ferns everywhere. It felt like we could run into a dinosaur at any moment ;) I am a sucker for mountain rivers and a little dream of mine came true when I got to walk across a bridge made from a log across a the river.

More to come.....

Click on the collages to see the pictures a bit better

Sisters

I just had a great long weekend with my sisters in the Pacific Northwest. I can't wait to tell you all about it...but I have to wait until I get all the pictures from Amy. Let me just say this was such a special time with two of my favorite people.

Thank God for Neighbors

I am blessed to live in a fantastic neighborhood with fantastic neighbors. I don't get to see the ladies on my street nearly as often as I would like. These last few days I have been a bit exhausted and on my own these sweet ladies have helped me out and I am so thankful for them. Yesterday one neighbor invited Claire down to play during Jacob's naptime so I could catch a little shut eye. Today three of the neighbor's houses were out playing and they invited Claire to join them once again and I got to sleep for about thirty more minutes and give Jacob his breathing treatment without interruption. I cannot begin to tell you how much it meant to me that they saw a need and decided to practically help out. I was truly humbled. I mean how many times do I hear of people that could use a little break or that are going through a tough time and I do nothing. I have a tendency to think "they don't know me well enough" or "I can't do anything big enough" so I do nothing. There is always something that can be done to help someone out practically, even if it is just asking their kiddo to come and play for an hour or two so they can have a break. Just another life lesson learned this very long weekend.

Claire and some of the neighborhood kids at their lemonade stand this afternoon.

Hannah, Claire, and Addison playing with Addison's new dollhouse. Claire also inherited some pretty swanky beaded shoes that she is really proud of.

Chase and Claire saying cheers with their lemonade.

Emotion vs. Truth

The Emotion:
My day has sucked, really most of this last week has sucked...I am just being real here after all that is the title of my blog. It all started with my dad's heart issue which got the emotions rolling, then Jacob got a cold while we were in Waco and he quit sleeping more than a couple of hours at a time and exhaustion started to set in, the cold took a hold of my head and I had a few days of feeling like a freight train slammed into my face and still no sleep. Jacob's cold is still going strong and so today I took him in to the doctor. At first they thought he had RSV which was a little terrifying, then she decided we would be buying a nebulizer and doing breathing treatments three times a day over the weekend. I waited at the pharmacy for almost a half hour with both kids just to be told they were out of nebulizers. My doctor called the pharmacy a bit later and they said there was some confusion and they did in fact have a nubulizer and I should come back and pick it up. When I got to the pharmacy it was discovered that our insurance does not cover some of the things prescribed and a huge chunk of change was handed over to get Jacob healthy again. Let's not forget that Allan is gone for four days on a guys weekend fishing out of state. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

The Truth:
As I sat here tonight having a pity party a few things hit me straight in the heart and I decided that I needed to remind myself of the good things that have happened over the last week. My dad is alive and on the mend. I will have many more years to get on his nerves and make him laugh. Once I was honest about my exhaustion I had a neighbor offer to help out with Claire so I could get a nap, and good gracious what a great nap it was. Jacob does not have RSV or anything else seriously wrong with him, he has a cold for crying out loud. We have insurance and although it does not cover everything it does cover visits to the doctor when I need peace of mind and most medications. Although it tightens our budget for the month we were able to get the medications that will help our baby boy get better and hopefully sleep better. I have a husband that I can trust to spend four days with really great men and when he is home he is amazingly helpful and loving and caring.

Sometimes it is so easy to get wrapped up in the moment whether it is a good or bad moment and let your emotions take control. I was so glad that I made myself look at the bigger picture for a minute tonight and soak in the fact that life is really good overall. I have a hard weekend ahead of me, but nothing that I cannot make it through for goodness sake. I am pretty sure that this will be a lesson I will relearn many times over throughout the rest of my life.

A Few Claire Things

I just uploaded pictures from my phone and saw a few pictures of Claire that show a little about her life at the moment. She is seeming more and more grown up every day, sometimes I forget she is just three. She is honestly one of the funniest little girls ever and is starting to get the concept of being thoughtful and caring which makes me so proud. I absolutely love being her mom.

The other morning she decided that she wanted to have coffee with Allan so we made her a very special cup (it was chocolate milk). She decided that she needed coffee every morning for a few days after that. It was hilarious to see her sitting at the breakfast table with her mug.

At a restaurant the other day Claire was busily drawing on a napkin and when I asked what her picture was she looked at me with a look of exasperation and said "Mom, it is airplanes!"...of course it is. She is her daddy's little girl and already has a love of airplanes. We will be saving this picture forever.

Thank you Yo Gabba Gabba for teaching my daughter how to make this funny face! It really is funny and she does it often. I love the way she wiggles her fingers very slowly. I also love when she is doing something she thinks is great and says "take a picture mom".

The Bright Side

Although I hated why I was in Waco last week there were a few bright spots, two of them being my grandparents. I love getting to spend time with them and I love when my kids gets to spend time with them. They are two of the greatest people I have ever known. I love their love for each other and their life stories. They are really special! It meant a lot to all of us that they drove down for Dad's surgery and stuck around for the next few days. I love you Grandma and Grandad!!!