Homemade

Last week Annie came home from ballet and told me she needed to make valentine's for her friends.  She brought me some red paper and asked me to cut out hearts.  Then she got to work.  We took a week to finish them, but I think they were fabulous.  She came home with a bag full of store bought cards and candy.  I told her that her valentines were the BEST.  As far as the school parties go, we will be buying cards,  but I love that Annabelle wanted to make these beautiful cards for her 10 ballet friends.

 

Callie wants to be anywhere Annabelle is.  I have been going into the playroom with them so she can play with more toys.  She LOVES it.  And I love watching them interact.

9 Months

 Time flies.  Check out those 2 little teeth!  Callie is my youngest to sprout teeth and she is even getting another one on top.  She crawls, pulls herself up, and even stands holding on to nothing.  I am very nervous that she will be walking soon.  Mobility = No time to get anything done.  She weighed in at 19.8 Lbs this morning, fully dressed and holding keys.  We all love her silly faces, but Annabelle is learning that it is a little tricky playing with toys when a baby can chase you around or reach whatever you are trying to play with.  Callie loves music and dancing and turning pages of books, even the Church hymn book.  We all love and little Callie Cooka.

More Glue

 

 

Of all my children Annie definitely gets hurt the most.  We were having a fabulous time at Grandma Pam's house.  We had a delicious dinner.  The kids were having a blast with their cousins.  We had yummy cake and ice cream to celebrate a bunch of January and February birthdays.  And then we hear Annie scream.  

I look at Greg and ask "Do you want to go help her?"  He says "No" and takes over the Callie watch so I can get away.  When I walk into Grandma's room I see blood, not tons, but enough to know that I need to get my hand on her forehead immediately and that we would be going to the doctor's that night.  As I rounded up the kids and gathered all of our stuff Grandma and Greg cleaned Annabelle up and calmed her down.  I could see on the faces of the cousins that they were a little shaken up.  I don't think I freaked out very much, if at all (I've done this too many times).  On the way to the doctor she said, "Why do I always get hurt?"  

We decided to try the Instacare a few minutes from Grandma's house.  We got there 15 minutes before close and left in less than 20 minutes with Annabelle's head glued.  Greg said she just played the Iphone and didn't fuss at all.  It couldn't have gone more smoothly.  My poor little girl has had her fair share of injuries.    Poor thing.

Bless This Mess

This morning I got the boys off to school.  Annabelle left for preschool with her Dad (she is so excited he is helping today) and Callie got put down for a nap.  I then cleaned up the house which has been growing into a bigger disaster all week.  It is now all picked and I sat down at the computer and had an email from my friend telling me to read the article, "Bless This Mess."  As I read it I almost got sad that I had just picked up my house.  Luckily I remember what was on the floor, so bear with me, I am going to do a little list of what it was and why I am grateful for it.

Books-I must have picked up at least dozen books.  From all four of my children.  Yes, even Callie loves books, even if it is just to empty her shelf of them.  I love that they all love books.  Most nights I don't care how late it is, I love to cuddle with them and read a book.
Ritz Crackers crumbs all over the kitchen-To me this show that my little girl is getting more and more grown up and can eat and crawl around and I don't have to watch her 100% of the time.
Dress up Clothes-I love watching Annie dress up and laugh and dance and play.  The other day she asked me to put one of her dresses on Callie and she thought it was hilarious.  She said, "Hattie has got to see this!"  We called her little friend up and it was so cute to hear them talk on the phone and then Hattie did come over to see how cute Callie was.
Stuffed animals-Lately Annie likes to pile a bunch of her animals up to cuddle with during a movie or to watch her play or even have a tea party.  I love her imagination.
Callie's toys were everywhere-She is mobile and now so are her toys.  She picks one up and crawls somewhere and drops it.  This goes on all day so toys are literally all over the house.  I love seeing her think and learn and grow.
Socks-Now I don't love finding dirty socks everywhere, but I do love that my kids are healthy enough to run around and play.  So I am thankful for the socks that they can wear and get dirty.
Games-Since I showed the kids how many games we have upstairs they have been playing them more.  I love it.  I love playing with them, or watching them try to play together.
Receipts-This is my bad.  Sometimes when I have a receipt I will just throw it downstairs knowing that the next time I make it to the computer I will pick it up and bring it with me to my pile.  I love that years ago my dad taught me about quick books and I now love keeping track of our family's money.  I am so grateful to Greg's job that allows me to buy the things that we need for our family.
Crayons, Pencils, and Paper-My children love to color and draw.  They love to make mazes and use stickers and glue.  They always present me with their masterpieces.  Lately I have been telling them we should mail more stuff to grandparents and cousins.  I love their artwork, and I love that they are okay keeping it for awhile on our "Look What I Did" board and then throwing it away.

I am sure there were a lot more things I picked up and threw away or put away.  I love my family and I love that we are active and healthy and able to do all that we do.  Next time I think I will let the mess last longer, or at least appreciate it more when I see what is on the ground.

Jumbled Thoughts

No need to read on.  This is just for me and my book this entry will some day make it into.  Today was a day for reading.  My house is a mess and we didn't have a fancy meal but I am okay with that.  I love to read.  I love to get into another world and take part of it.  I love that I can go anywhere and be anything and anyone in a book.  For the last week I have been reading, "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett.  I finished it a few hours ago and loved it.  It really stirred within me some crazy thoughts and feelings.  It is about the South in the 1960s.  It tells the stories of maids and the good and bad things they dealt with at that time in Mississippi.  The 1960s were not that long ago.  I really can't believe how different things were then, when my parents were young.  I am so thankful to how things are now.  I pray that I would not have been like any of the women in the book.
I also found time today to read 5 articles from the Power of Moms website.  Wow!  If only I can take all of the wonderful thoughts and ideas and apply them all to my life, right NOW.  Wouldn't that be nice.  My kids would be so happy, I would be so happy.  I plan on being a frequent to their website where I can learn and grow slowly but surely into the mom and woman I want to be.
One of the articles challenged me to watch my kids more and notice things.  Here is what I noticed today: Nathan is a great reader.  I love him telling me about what he reads.  He is reading Harry Potter 4 right now and I now just how he feels when he wants to read another chapter at 8:50 at night.  I love when it is quieter and he feels like he can come and talk to me.  I know that I need to make more quiet moments so he feels comfortable talking to me.  Ryan still needs me a lot, even though it can be annoying at times.  He needs hugs and stories and lots of love.  He is always wanting to make Callie smile and laugh.  He wants to help and be a leader for Annabelle, even though she doesn't want the help.  Annabelle dances everywhere she goes.  She bites faces into her salami and talks to it.  She loves to make Callie laugh but leaves the room when she cries.  She is so proud of her school work and loves showing it off.  Callie is still an enigma.  Right now she loves to crawl.  She will crawl one flight of stairs and go over to the next.  When she climbs that one she heads straight to the bathroom.  Thankfully not to the toilet, but to the bathtub.  She would sit in the tub all day if I let her-with or without water.  She wants attention and loves to see her family.  Gregory is amazing.  He can calm any one down, including me.  He loves me more than I deserve sometimes.  He loves to just hug me and cuddle while I read and read until Callie wakes up.  He knows when I need something and is right there fulfilling that need.  Hopefully I can keep watching and keep noticing.  
I am not a shopper.  But over the last 6 months I have received two 50% off coupons to a store and have decided that I need some new things.  Today I tried out their jeans.  I hate trying on jeans.  I have a pair of Mudd jeans that I bought forever ago that if I could find again, I would buy a bunch of pairs.  I love them and they fit me perfect.  I probably tried on 20 pairs of jeans today. I came home with 2, and I am not sure if I am okay with them.  Annabelle is so fun to shop with.  She was sad that she wasn't getting anything so I promised her she could pick me out some jewelry to wear.  She was so cute.  She picked out a lot of things that I had to politely say no to.  When I was finally checking out she just wandered around the jewelry racks.  She has already told me that when she gets married all of my jewelry becomes hers.  I have tried to explain that she will have her own, but I don't think it has worked.
Tonight at boot camp we did a lot of work with our arms.  My goal this time around is to do more "boy" push-ups.  Tonight I did 95!  Not all together, but still, 95!  I was so proud of myself.  I didn't go to my knees once!  Now I just have to work on getting down lower and lower.   Autumn is definitely pushing us harder this time around.  I love feeling sore.
Life is just so full sometimes.  I feel like I am being torn in so many different directions.  Probably my favorite time of the day is when Callie is happily playing on the ground and I am just laying there.  Relaxing.  I don't have the TV on.  I don't have music on (unless Annabelle wants to be dancing).  I just lay there and dangle toys in my baby girls' face.  Sometimes i feel like I need to get up and pick up the house, or make dinner, or work on a project.  But then I remind myself that I don't have much time left for laying on the ground and I lay back and enjoy my time.  I like just thinking about life and my kids and whatever else pops into my head.  The kids and I play games or read books nearly every day.  I hope they remember those times.   I pray every day that I can be a better mom, a better wife, a better woman and example for my family.