Today

Peter comes home today and the whole house is a buzz with excitement!

He has been missed greatly!

This little girl is really in need of her dad. I am pretty sure she can sense that her world is about to be turned upside down and having dad gone for over a week has not helped one bit.  Her routine has been totally thrown off. She used to nap almost everyday and now I pray that she will nap for just a few minutes each day and preferably not at 6:00 pm as I am putting dinner on the table.  

She has also spent more nights sleeping in my room than her own bed.  Last night she at least slept in the chair in our room rather than our bed. Her sleeping in our bed has led to me catching her cold- not fun to cough at 36+ weeks pregnant. Also bedtime has been rough! She does not want to go to bed and her usual jibber-jabbering with Arabella to fall asleep has not been enough.  She will sneak out a million times and just when I think she has finally fallen asleep she shows up again. Saturday night, I finally told her to just lay on the couch and go to sleep. There were 3 blankets on the couch or floor but somehow she felt covering up with the dish towels was a better way to sleep.

 And yes, she always sleeps with her hands behind her head, it is so silly.

The last 10 days have been hard on all of us, Peter too. And when he leaves again Wednesday for another week it will likely be hard again. But, I have learned that I can do hard things. This is something we talk about trying to teach our children.  It is often so easy to do things for them or to not stick to our guns when we have asked them to do something or they are enduring a consequence of their actions/choices.  I want my kids to be strong and capable and confident in being able to tackle things that seem far beyond their ability.  This past week I have learned that I can do more than I thought I could. I have also learned that friends and ward members are gift beyond measure. 

Alright, I still have a million things to do today and another doctor's appointment which I pray will be shorter than my last few, so off I go to tackle the day.

7:30 can not get here fast enough!!!

March Madness

At the beginning of March, I made Peter a King Cake in honor of Mardi Gras.

 I do believe it is the best one I have made. 

 We also had the annual water bottle rocket launch for scouts. 

 Everyone was in on the action except Lily who slept in my arms through most of it.  

In other news, Peter's company got a huge job at the end of Spring Break. 

That is exciting news! The not so exciting part is that he left town on March 18th and does not get back until this Friday (28th) and then he leaves town again on the 2nd and returns on the night of the 8th.  He is down in Brownsville, which is right on the Mexico/Texas border.  He says his spanish is getting much better the longer he is down there.  It has been a long week so far but we have survived.  I am a bit sad that a few of the projects I wanted to get done before Samantha arrives will not be getting done due to his absence, but what can we do.  The kids have been troopers.  Lily does not really believe me when I say that daddy is at work.  She has also slept in our bed every night but one since he has been gone which does not seem like a good thing with baby almost here. Jon and I have had a few trying moments but for the most part I have kept my cool and made the most of the situation. 

Our second guinea pig died while Peter has been away. Rusty had not been doing well and I believe finally starved himself to death.  He would not eat or drink.  The kids handled it well and even helped dig the hole to bury him.  Peter should have to be here when the next pet dies, oh wait all we have left is a gold fish and I am pretty sure that I am up for flushing that when the time comes.  

Samantha is cooperating but I have had 2 appointments recently that have taken me over two hours to get to, be seen, and get home. That is not so fun! I am officially scheduled to go to the hospital on April 11th at 5:00 pm where I will spend the night and be induced the next morning. 

It seems a bit surreal. 

35 Years Young and Old

 So, Peter left town on Tuesday night and won't return until the 28th so we celebrated my birthday on the 16th.  Peter and the kids made me breakfast (famous pancakes and syrup) and a yummy cake.  I had planned a St Patrick's day dinner for the 17th so we made that up on Sunday so that Peter could enjoy it with us (because he was originally going to leave for his long trip on Monday night).

 I really appreciated Peter making the effort to do something special for my birthday 

 My birthday morning started with birthday wishes from my kids and the usual daily routine. 

I was sang to by Arabella's preschool class and Lily's dance class. 

A package arrived from my parents that morning and I let the kids help me unwrap the gifts that afternoon. 

(Me, in all my pregnant glory!) 

I felt spoiled by my family and my kids really were super that day. I would have loved more than an hour of nap time before my shift at work but hearing the girls laugh and play together right outside my door was pretty sweet too. Jon had decided that he wanted to get me a new character for one of our Wii games (which really meant I bought it for me but the kids did help me pick it out).

I really debated about what to do for dinner. I did not feel like cooking and with Peter gone and a babysitter coming for the night I did not want to make a big mess in the kitchen. In the end, I decided it was my birthday and we were going out to eat. We went to Raising Cane's. I love their lemonade and the special dipping sauce for their chicken fingers. The kids behaved really well at the restaurant and ate without complaint. I had to work but that is okay too. It was a busy night and so that made time go by quickly.

I am thankful for the phone calls, texts, and facebook messages from so many people. I felt loved!

I feel I should share something interesting about myself so here it goes:

1. When I was pregnant with Joey I heard his heartbeat for the first time on my birthday.

2. I told Peter I wanted new drip pans for my stovetop for my birthday- I am hard to shop for aren't I.

3. I like to convince Peter that we should go on family adventures that may seem a bit crazy- I am working on one right now but it is a bit early to do much planning for it since it would not happen until the end of the year. He is a good sport and plays along.

4. I love to fall asleep in a hot bath after I have worked all night long. I only sleep for about 15 minutes but it is wonderful! The water then starts to cool down and I usually need to get moving to get Arabella to preschool but it is a simple pleasure that I indulge in at least every other week.

5. I am 95% positive I will get my master's degree one day. 

Joey is a Star

Joey had his class performance a few weeks ago for music and it was a really great concert/performance. 

 There was recorder playing,

 drum beating, dancing,

 and of course singing. 

 The very next night we went to the Grand Theater in Lewisville where the school district elementary art show was going on.

Joey had a piece selected to be in it this year. He was so proud of his art work. It is a pokemon but I can not remember which one. I think it is beautiful! 

We are so proud of Joey and the hard work that he puts into his school work and developing his talents.

Moments of Motherhood

I will regret not recording a few sweet moments of motherhood that have happened over the last few weeks.

First, Joey bore his testimony in sacrament meeting. This is huge! We have spent time talking about what a testimony is and sharing testimonies at home during family home evening. Joey often defines what a testimony is instead of actually testifying of what he knows is true. He told me he wanted to bear his testimony and there were only about 10 minutes. My first instinct was to say no but I told him that when those that were up there sat down and if there was time then he could go up. It worked in his favor. My heart was racing and he looked obviously nervous. He did start out doing a bit of defining but then he added a few things about what he knew to be true and closed his testimony! I was in tears. It is amazing to see the growth and changes that have come to him. He can do hard things. The things that are hard for him are not the things that are hard for most but I see him daily growing and becoming what I am hopeful Heavenly Father has in mind for him. The sad part of this tale is that Peter was home with a sick Lily.

Second, I was folding laundry last week and Lily climbed up on my bed and started playing with a dish towel. Then she handed it to me and it was folded amazingly well for a 2 1/2 year old. I could not believe it. I dug through the mountain of laundry and gave her as many dishtowels and washcloths as I could find. She folded them all and made a neat little stack. She has watched me fold so many things and without me knowing it she has learned what to do and offered her help to me willingly.

Today, we had a few cherished moments. It is Spring Break and we did not make any great plans. Today I was the mean mom and made the kids clean, practice the piano and read.  Then the dreaded activity of grocery shopping and other errands. The kids did not complain when I asked them to clean. I had made them each a list and they got right to it. Joey helped Lily get started on vacuuming the stairs and Arabella helped her finish.  Jon helped Arabella by giving her a few tips on cleaning the downstairs sink, which is usually his job but we decided to shake things up a bit today. Joey then read to Lily- 2 books and Jon helped Arabella read a book. They loaded up in the car the first time I asked and helped Lily to buckle and unbuckle at different stores. I did have to ask about a dozen times for the boys to keep their hands to themselves. At Costco, I chose to get two carts so I would not be pushing as much.  Joey and Jon took turns but Jon did most of the pushing and only ran in to the back of my legs once.  When we got home the 3 older ones willing went back and forth taking groceries into the house and helping each other if something was heavier or bigger than they thought and they were only half way to the door. Lily would have been in on the action but she had fallen asleep.  After things were put away the kids went on a bike ride for a bit and then played together without fighting. 

A couple of weeks ago, a friend saw me with the 4 kids in town picking up our bountiful basket and commented on how she loved to see my kids work together. I laughed and thought if only they did that without me constantly telling them what to do our telling them to not fight.  Today, I was able to see what she was seeing. I would venture to guess that I don't need to do even half of the correcting that I do because I really do have good kids and they really do work well together. 

Wacky Wednesday

Last week at Preschool Arabella's class celebrated Dr. Seuss. 

Wednesday was Wacky day and the kids were encouraged to dress wacky! 

She had four ponytails with only 2 of them braided and green and black striped leggings, pink skirt, purple long sleeve and red and blue striped short sleeve. She also wore her socks inside out with a valentine sock on one foot and a Christmas sock on the other foot. And as you can see she work mismatched shoes! 

She loved the green eggs and ham on Thursday. 

We love her preschool and hope that our last two girls will have the chance to go there too!

Dentist

 Our adventure last Monday (24th) was to take all 4 kids to the dentist for a check up.

It was Lily's first visit. I love our dentist. They let her go back and watch the other kids. She even said encouraging words to Jon who does not especially love the dentist.

When it was her turn she was a champ! The dentist could not believe she was only 2.

The best news was that none of the kids had cavities!!!

Joey had a crown that needed to come off in the next two weeks or be pulled out due to the permanent tooth already being through his gum above the crown. He took his assignment seriously and wiggled like crazy and we pulled it out on Tuesday night! We also learned that Joey is missing one of his permanent molars and will someday need an implant.

And I was not surprised when the dentist recommended that Jon will need braces in the next few years. Joey will need them too but he has pretty straight teeth with plenty of room. Jon's teeth are more like my side of the family (and he had a pacifier for a few years) and so he has big teeth and not so much room. It looks like we may end up with two in braces at some point- the joys of parenthood!

Blue and Gold Banquet 2014

Our Blue and Gold Banquet was a success!

We went with a Luau theme and it worked out really well that we recently got a new missionary in our ward from Hawaii. He helped the boys learn a "haka" like chant.  

The tradition for the last few years has been to do a breakfast and we had a delicious one this year.

 As you can see the leis and umbrellas were a huge hit.

 Peter and his scouts helped with a bridging ceremony. 

 Jon earned his Bobcat award. (Wow, I look really pregnant in that picture- oh wait I am really pregnant!)

Joey earned a bunch of pins for Weblos and is really close to earning his arrow of light! 

We are proud of the work our boys put in and our dad who loves scouting and keeps us on top of all of the requirements we should be doing!

In other food news...

Peter with the other young men leaders had a party for a Book Of Mormon reading challenge they have been doing.  We made a huge batch of caramel popcorn for it and since there were so many treats at the party a bunch of it came home. The kids obviously did not mind. 

When they found it the next morning, it became the breakfast of champions!

 Last Sunday when it was warm and not freezing temperatures outside we had our first shaved ice of the year. I look forward to many more.

And I would like to thank to newly remodeled Kroger for having these little shopping carts. It made going in for milk and orange juice so much more enjoyable for this little lady! She loved being the one pushing the groceries!