Update and funny stuff...

Emma is obsessed with dinosaurs right now. She spends most of dinner telling us things that she learned about dinosaurs that day at school. It is fun to have her interested in something new, and Russell especially loves learning about it all right along with her! She is such a funny and sweet girl and has become such a great little helper!

Russell - *While hugging me one day he said, "I love you so much I will never forget your name!"
*Prayer the other night, "Please bless the new baby that I thought was a boy but is actually a girl. And please bless the new little girl that she will be beautiful"
*"Dad, don't you know you aren't supposed to work until Monday?" Apparently to Russell every day is Sunday! He LOVES that song, "Saturday is a special day...."
He loves the new baby and is always kissing my belly and talking to her. He does ask almost daily if maybe it is a boy or if maybe we can trade. But when we talk about it is is just super excited and says that he will share his trucks either way!

Hannah - this girl is adorable. I just can't get enough of her. I hate putting her to bed or for naps because I just want to play more, she has such a fun, sparkly personality! She loves to tickle my baby belly and has no idea what is going on with it! I guess she just figures I look more like she does now! (She has such a great belly!) The other day she was playing with her baby and she went to the fridge and held her up to the water dipenser. I asked her if she wanted a drink for her baby and she nodded her head and said, "thank you" AWWW! How polite!

I am LOVING feeling the baby kick. I love this part of pregnancy, it is just amazing. There is nothing to compare it to! Now, if we could just think of a name.... We are stumped... There are a few we like but none that stick out as "THE NAME", ya know? We may end up calling to announce the birth without a name... Which is frustrating to me because I want to get things ready, like letters on the wall etc... ya know? But, that is life! Russell asked today if we could please go buy a new outfit for the baby to come home from the hospital! What a sweetie hu? I love it! I told him we have a while until she comes and he said, "That is ok, we can just get it done early".

Baby Mop

Baby Mop from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

I need to get me one of these! HA! ;)

I realise that I haven't updated my blog for a while. Things are just going here! Nothing exciting really. Just cleaning, cooking, laundry, coloring, building with Blocks, watching Star Wars ( I haven't been feeling good so Russ is loving this new genre of film I am letting him explore!). The kids are so sweet and adorable, I couldn't ask for more than the beautiful life I have been blessed with!
On Saturday (Valentines Day) we got up early and headed down to Phx for our niece's baptism. It was so beautiful and so much fun! I wish we got to spend more time with family!!!! It is such a blessing to all live so close, but life is just so crazy busy that we hardly see each other. The kids both loved the baptism and have talked often since about the day that they will get baptised! For Emma that day is just over 2 years away! It is amazing how fast the time is already going by! Then we will be doing activity days and such! Crazy!
Hannah is learning more and more words and cracks us up by "tickle tickle tickleing" everything in sight. She is truly the happiest little girl and I am so grateful for her and her brother and sister!!!!
More later, but I wanted everyone to know that we are alive!

Happy Valentines!

And I am sorry, but I saw this and could not help but laugh.... This is for all the single ladies!!!! The Hoff (I am laughing sooo hard right now...).

Better? Worse?

Emma has a "cow-lick" in the front of her hair that is impossible to tame!!!! She used to have bangs but we got so tired of trying to tame the thing that we let them grow out! She finally (after 2 snow days at home) talked me into cutting her hair and giving her bangs. I thought it would probably be a good opportunity to do layers to hide the chunk she cut out of her hair in August so.....
Here she is before....
And After - You can't see the layers very good, but I swear they are there!

The back - she wanted to show you this picture, and what Emma wants -Emma gets!

I love this picture, and you can see the layers a bit better. So can you even tell they are there? Does it look ok? Should I take her to a professional?

I just had to throw this one in with her total fake smile - she cracks me up.

Oh my word, when I was cutting her hair I just could not get over how much this kid looks like me - it is so weird, like looking back in time. I just hope she makes better decisions than I sometimes did... ;) Ya know? Although I do have to say that those decisions are what got me to where I am - how can I not be happy with that?

Back to Emma - How do you feel about the hair???? Seriously - I NEED input!

Lots of new posts today! Be sure to scroll down and see the cute pics! ~K

My Mom sent this to me, take a few moments to read it, it is very beautiful!

Invisible Mother...... 


It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask me a question. 

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' 


 Obviously not. 


No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. 


 I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? 


 Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.' 


I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going; she's going; she is gone! 


One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England ...

 Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. 


I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. 


I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. 


I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 

 'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: 

 No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. 

 These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. 

They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. 


A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.' 

 I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. 

 It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.' 


At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. 
 It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. 


I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. 


When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.' 

 As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. 

 

And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women. 


Great Job, MOM! 
 

 

Hope this encourages you when the going gets tough as it sometimes does. We never know what our finished products will turn out to be because of our perseverance. 



The end of the earth!

My parents just returned from a cruise around South America! They started in Chile and ended in Argentina! Sadly the flight they were going to take to Antarctica was canceled, but they got to see and do a lot of really cool stuff!!!! They brought home these vests for the kids from Ushuaia, Argentina - Fin del Mundo - the End of the Earth! The kids love them sooo much that this is their second full day of wearing them (besides the fact that they keep trying to wear them to bed!)! They are all sooo sweet in them I had to take a picture! I wish I had pictures of them in them yesterday and with them in them in their pj's the night they got them! Scrumdidleyumptious!

So.... I read that you should adjust the youngest child to a bed at least 3-4 months before the new baby comes so that they aren't upset that baby is taking over their stuff. We realized a few weeks ago that we had better go ahead and order a toddler bed so that we could slowly start adjusting Hannah to it.
I let her pick out her own bedding (Tinkerbell) and she was sooo excited when it arrived! She ran all over the house, "Tink, Tink, TINK!!!!" Funny girl! She was even more excited last night when Daddy set up her bed and I put all the new Tink bedding on! I had planned on trying out naps today BUT, last night Jonathan decided to put her to bed in it and just "see how she does". She did AWESOME! We were thrilled! She loved it, layed right down and went to sleep! Now this kid has been one that LOVES her crib so I have been a little nervous about the transition - but hopefully it will continue to go well!
I was - of course - a little worried so I checked on her quite a bit. One time she had gotten out and was sleeping under her crib (!) so I put her back in her bed and she was still there in the morning....
Loving the new bed!

Emma wanted to make her bed for her! It is always funner to make someone elses bed! :)

Crayon Craft

We saw this in Family Fun magazine (which we LOVE) and decided to try it! We got all our (and Grandmas) broken crayons, peeled them, and baked them in the oven till they were melted (in muffin tins). Then you just pop them out and you have cute new crayons. In the activity it said to put a dowel in them after they come out and are cooling and put a ribbon through them so that you can give them as V-day present necklaces to friends. I think that would be a great idea but I forgot - by the time they finally got done - that we were going to do that! Oh well, I am sure we will have plenty more broken crayons by next V-day!

Why does Hannah need a bath after almost every meal????
Peek-a-boo!

Oh, look at the messy baby!!!!

This particular occasion was Grandpas birthday! Birthday cake always tastes best!

It's a WHAT?

Everyone was sooo sure! Jonathan insisted it was, the kids really wanted one, and I wasn't even that sick.... Imagine our shock when the Ultrasound Tech said....


I tried not to cry.... too much...We all wanted a brother for Russell so bad! Give me a break! I was sure with how easy this prenancy had been, the fact that I hadn't been that emotional (ok, till today!) etc etc etc.... I wish I could say we were all super happy walking out of there.... but we were in SHOCK! I was so glad that all the kids were there with us to see! We decided that instead of taking Emma back to school we would just make a day of it! So we went to the play place at the mall and then we went to JCPenney to find something for the baby (and to make Mom more excited...). I found these -

In case you can't read them - they say, "It's a Happy Day!"

I guess I am just SUCH a girl, because these outfits made my day and changed my perspective! It is a happy day! We are so blessed, we have a happy, healthy, sweet little girl on the way! And I even have matching outfits for all my girls when she does make her appearance! ;)

Also - I am so grateful for my chinese medicine! All I can figure is that my body was just soooo much healthier, that I didn't get as sick as I usually do! Whatever the reason, I am so grateful!!!

I hope I don't sound like I am complaining - I truly am excited! I am just better with boys.... which is why I guess I am in YW and am having another girl. There are some things I need to learn about girls I guess! Meanwhile, Russell will be our spoiled rotten only boy!

Wish me luck!!!

Oh I forgot - the tech kept saying "Its a girl" etc and Hannah said, "GIRL"! All excited, it was so CUTE! I guess she remembered her, it wasn't that long ago that she was with her!!

300???

My last post was #300! To celebrate I will tell you a funny story from yesterday!

*Emma was playing with one of Hannah's tiny baby dolls and she said, " I know the baby in your belly s bigger than this now, but someday you will have a tiny baby like this in your belly again!" She was so excited and so cute about it! It didn't faze her at all when I said I wasn't sure I would have another baby in my belly. She simply told me, "Mom, when Dad puts the pregnant into you he can't take the pregnant back out!"

And one from this morning

*We are home sick so I put in "The other side of heaven" so I could rest - the kids love that movie! As it started it showed that it was distributed by Walt Disney. Emma was told by a cousin that you meet ALL the Disney characters at Disneyland so she told me this morning that she is most excited about meeting John and Jean Groberg! (YOU try telling her they won't be strolling around Disneyland posing for pictures... if her cousin Sarah told her it is so - it is gospel to her!)

There have actually been a LOT of funny sayings around here lately but I keep forgetting to write them down (which is soooo sad). But mostly we all love to sit around and watch Hannah! She is so beautiful and growing so big and smart! Her favorite thing to do is read books to us! She just goes on and on and no one can understand a word - I LOVE IT!!!!!