Bubbles and Brothers

Trey loves to not only say "bubbles," but to play with them! And when it's too cold to play outside, I need a little bubble fun myself!

Those little overalls make me want to just pick him up and squeeze him!

OK, so Ainsley has been wishing for a sister. . . and if she can't have one yet, she'll settle for a brother who will dress up like a sister :)

Mom and dad drew the line at undergarments :)

I must say, that even while he was playing dress-up, he still acted ALL BOY. . .here he is with his "ROCKETSHIP BOOSTER BACKPACK!"Just me and my brothers. . .

one of which is hiding from the camera. . .

Ainsley had Muffins with Mom and Gramma this week for M week at preschool (forgot my camera, but she ran in and gave grammy a huge hug), and here she is heading of to preschool with dad in their knitted hats. . .

And how is she liking preschool these days? Let's just say that she'd rather be at home, but she did enjoy the science experiment they did with snow. I am planning on sending her to kindergarten next year. . .I know she would benefit academically from being homeschooled. . .she is SO self-motivated and enjoys learning. . .plus, she gets frustrated when she can't finish her snack/work in the time allowed, but not sure it is best for me/our family. I know God has given me a passion for kids and homemaking (from the time I said, "yes, yes, yes, I got a baby that-a-way" at Christmas as a small child), but not sure I have that passion for homeschooling. You can continue to pray for us, and that God gives her a loving, Christian teacher next year that understands her (no, I don't mean myself, unless of course I change my mind :) ), and a few great friends!

Porter had an early childhood evaluation this week and was well liked :) He called the lady testing him a Dr (one of the many times he made her smile). . .I overheard her ask him, "what would you do if you broke someone's toy?" He said, "I'd tell them I'm sorry." Yes, he's learning the important things in life, like forgiveness. You can pray for him as we get his speech checked further in Feb.

And Trey, well, I'd like to pick him up and squeeze him in these jammies too. . .he's waiting to wave at daddy heading off to work. . .

Trey's zipper broke on his coat (you can just picture me trying to get him out of his coat with a broken zipper), so we headed to Old Navy to get a new coat and this regularly 42 dollar coat was 5 dollars!!!!!! I love when all the winter clothes go on sale. . .I start stocking up for the next winter!OK, so I guess, why really would you want to go to preschool if your best playmate was at home?!

In other news, Ryan's parents came this weekend and worked on our basement bathroom. . .I took the kids out for some fun in the snow so they could work!One of the reasons I began blogging, other than to share some of our flip flop family fun (minus the flip flops in this weather), is bc I loved to read other's blogs. Mckmama on http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ had the best post on what's up with mother's guilt today. . . you MUST read it. . .when I got done, I said AMEN! I couldn't agree more sister in Christ!!!

Another blog I read asked to think of one fact about ourselves. . .seriously, taking the time to think about myself. . .hmmm. . .I finally came up with this little fact. . .every time I make a batch of cookies, I use the last of the cookie dough to make a heart shaped cookie for GooF :) Yes, my cookie loving husband gets a heart out of the last of the cookie dough. . then I usually scrape the sides of the bowl and leave him a spoonful of cookie dough in the fridge.

Did I mention this handsome husband of mine overestimated me. . .he thought I wouldn't blog til mid Feb :)

Sandboxes for Summer?!

Who says sandboxes are only for summertime? :)

Our backyard is a sheet of ice!! Porter doesn't always listen the first time I ask him to do something, but the minute I tell him to get dressed for outside, he's there!!

NOT blogging

I am NOT already blogging again, because I have other things to do. But if I was blogging, here's what I'd write. . .

Ainsley's first slumber party was a hit. . .the only tears came when the cousins had to leave each other the next morning. You would've thought they lived farther than a five minute walk away from each other!

Here is a conversation from the dinner table at the slumber party (in which Trey ate EVERYONES left over mint bon bon ice-cream). . .

Ainsley: We can't get a cat, because my mom is allergic.

Tae: We don't have a cat either.

Ainsley: But you do have a fish.

Tae: No, he died.

Porter: (Look of complete disbelief and sadness on his face!!)

Ainsley: How'd he die?

Me: maybe he was old.

Tae: Fish are a lot of work.
Me: Are kids a lot of work?

Ainsley: No

Tae: But babies are :)

Followed by this conversation. . .not at the dinner table. . .

Tae: "Your toilet paper is so soft. What kind is it?"

Me: Charmin.

Tae: "It feels like a blanket!"

I finished knitting my first hat with the knifty knitter. The brim is a bit long :) but Ainsley LOVES it, and has been wearing it non-stop. You could say it was made with love.

Trey and I had a fun-filled game of "where's Trey?" this morning. . .And, one of my favorite blogs to read is http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ She is the creator and queen of the not me's. We have emailed back and forth some. . .we share a love of God, along with a love for baby names and all things colorful. And now, for my NOT ME'S. . .

After finishing grocery shopping, I did NOT give my 3 and 1/2 yr old a full box of cheese nips in his seat in the van. And even if I had, he did NOT accidentally spill them ALL on the floor of the van as I pulled out of my parking spot. After picking them up, he did NOT accidentally spill them ALL again. . .it is NOT hard for a 3 and 1/2 yr old to hold onto balloons from the grocery store and a box of cheese nips. I did NOT leave them on the floor of the van while we drove to get Ainsley from preschool, and as we were driving, I did NOT notice a car accident and think that spilled cheese nips are not that bad.

I do NOT have a chocolate cake baking in the oven as I type, because we're only eating healthy food this new year! And even if there was a cake in the oven, I did NOT make it so that my house would smell good, in an attempt to get rid of the mexican food smell.

I did NOT hear Porter say to Ainsley, "I'll pretend to be the baby kitty and you be the mommy kitty and I'll drink milk from you." Babies drinking milk from mommies?! How'd they learn about that?!

As we were leaving preschool today a mom did NOT stop me and say, "did you just call him Porter?" "That's my FAVORITE boy name."

And now, I leave you with my favorite photo. . . do you suppose she's reading about Jonah or perhaps Jesus walking on water?!

Oh yes, but anyway, I am NOT blogging because I have other things to do!! :)

Happy New Year!

Well, it's been a year since I began blogging, and what a great outlet it has been for me!! I am so glad I was able to record some of our family fun in 2008! As I look ahead to 2009, my blogging may be "going on the back burner." I am SURE I will still post stories and pictures, but blogging is not as high on my list of priorities this year, so it may not be as frequent. . .there's Ainsley's first slumber party to plan, there's more swimming at the Wellness Center to be done with the family, there's books, including my Bible, to be read, and soon I'm off to snuggle up to watch football and attempt my first knitting project :)

But first, our New Years Eve Celebration. . .My parents graciously spent New Years Eve taking care of our children for the 3rd year in a row, so that we could ring in the new year with Matt and Michelle! I so enjoyed spending 6 and 1/2 hours with my man, eating out and playing games! We are so thankful for Matt and Michelle's friendship! No, Michelle and I didn't spend the evening cutting up confetti like we used to :)

Our tradition on New Years morning is making homemade donuts! We use biscuits in the fry daddy and then dip them in sugar/powdered sugar! It is such a fun tradition that we've been doing for the past 4 years, and we always look forward to it!

This morning we prayed for our new year. . .Ainsley prayed for all the fun things we're going to do this year, and for all the things we have. Porter prayed for a Happy New Year. Trey just prayed. . .or maybe he was just asking for his food :)

Love,

PS. . .GooF gives me til Feb. . .he thinks I'll be back blogging a lot soon :) I do enjoy it. . .just don't want to feel pressured to get it ALL BLOGGED!!! You understand. . .there's clothes to be washed and folded, etc etc. OK, so why am I still blogging?! Oh yes, because it's a good outlet for me :)

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We have enjoyed celebrating Baby Jesus' Birthday! At every meal the kids requested to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus as our prayer. Sunday night we celebrated with my extended family, and I always enjoy hearing my dad tell the Christmas story, with Bible reading, songs, and the nativity. Monday we celebrated Christmas with my parents and siblings. . .we all got a box to put our loot in. . . GooF's favorite saying at Christmas is "PUT IT ON!" So Jen and Jed thought it fitting to bring him back some put it on presents from their honeymoon in Australia. Some nice boxer shorts that came wrapped up tight and "grew" when he got them wet (I USED to collect penguins :)). Did I mention everyone was smelling them while he wore them?! Along with a college t-shirt to add to his collection :) Thanks Grammy and Grampa for all the gifts and food and for making it a special evening for our family!

Tuesday morning we had a delicious breakfast out with my siblings while Grammy and Grampa watched the kids. . .lots of laughs and better than any present we could've exchanged among us!
We spent that evening taking care of Maddie and Cohen, since we owed their parents a date night. . .love the "mixed up jammies." When I went to check on the boys, they closed the door and told me they were having "boy time."On Christmas Eve each year, our kids each get to open one gift from us (new pajamas), and then one gift that is related to the real meaning of Christmas. . .this year they got a new Bible. We enjoyed spending Christmas Eve with GooF's family. We did NOT have to stop on our way out of town at the dentist, because there is NO way my crown could've come off my tooth while having a tea party with the little girls the night before! Ainsley enjoyed getting to play some games, and of course they all liked opening gifts. . .PUT IT ON!!! Professor attire. . .

Christmas morning the kids were excited to check and see if Santa had eaten his cookies and drank his milk. . .

Can you spy the pic of crying Trey? As the kids would say, "Cheer up dude! It's Christmas!"We wish Uncle Jake and Auntie Julie lived closer. . .thank you so much for taking the time to play with our kids! Julie listened/helped Ainsley read a whole Helly Kitty book. . .

And for GooF's other brothers, the kids call Uncle Mark's house the John Deere house and Uncle Chris's house the kitty house :)

Our Christmas Break has involved moving Ainsley into her own room and moving the boys into a room together. It's involved moving Trey out of his crib and completely weaning him. It's involved staying up late painting pink and pokadots for Ainsley and racecar stripes for the boys (which I LOVE doing). It's involved transitioning the kids from nap time to "rest time." My best present has been that after all this time spent promoting sibling love, Ainsley and Porter have become best buds! Her first night in her "big girl room," was spent missing Porter and going in to sleep by him. The next night he camped out on her trundle bed. Porter wants her to get him dressed and she loves doing it. And, he wants her to read his bedtime stories, which she also loves doing. Thank you God for their friendship!

As for pictures of the new rooms. . .they're still in the works. . .I love how Trey gets into his bed :)What to do with baby items that aren't currently being used?!All in all, we've done a lot of spending time together as a family over this Christmas vacation, and a lot of trading spaces. . .I just love my little penguinos :)

not to mention, my "Lightening THE QUEEN" as the kids say. . .I just love how Trey lays/falls asleep with his hands behing his head :) Oh, and Trey is repeating everything we say. . so cute. Tonight I stopped singing his lullaby and he said, "sing." Also, as I was giving him a plane ride on my legs, he said, "plane," and went and got an airplane. . .even though he sometimes is messy. . .mmm. . .there's nothing like a bowl full of spaghetti followed by a warm "bubbley tubbley" to make a baby sleep through the night :)One of our favorite Christmas movies is the Christmas on Sesame Street one where Oscar flies down the stairs and through a wall in his trashcan :) after being swung around ice skating. We had our own fun ice-skating today!

We also got out bottles filled with food coloring and water to decorate the snow!!

My husband really is the best daddy ever. . .check out that tunnel he built in our huge snow pile! And he's even planning a 2nd sleepover with the kids :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus! Oh how I remember Christmas morning as a child. . .I am not a morning person, except on Christmas morning. I would be the first one up and wake up my sisters, but we were not allowed to come out of the hallway into the living room til everyone was ready! And it took my sisters forever to put in their contacts, etc :) And then there was the Christmas Eve service in which I got my candle too close to the hairspray in my hair :)