Happy Mother's Day...

I gave C a book for Christmas that is called 'I Love You More', by Laura Duksta. It is awesome. Tonight when I was reading it to the kids before bed, it really hit me how blessed I am to have a mom that is unreal. She is one of my very best friends. Somehow, it seems, that she always had time for me, she always had a perfectly clean house, dinner was always cooked and cleaned up, laundry done (practically before you had a chance to even take your clothes off), and more love than you can imagine. She set her expectations high and her tolerance for disrespect low. She whopped me on the hiny when I was naughty, but hugged me and told me she loved me almost immediately after. She is an amazing wife, mom, nana, sister, daughter, Christ follower, and friend.

Here is a little glimpse of the book that I was reading tonight...Mom, I do love you more!! :)

"I love you higher than the highest swing ever swung. I love you sweeter than the sweetest song ever sung. I love you longer than the longest lollipop ever lasted. I love you louder than the loudest rocket ship ever blasted. I love you taller than the tallest giraffe ever grown. I love you more, so much more than you've ever known."

Some people cannot talk about their mother in law the way that I can. Over the years, I have grown so much closer to her than I really thought was possible. Don't get me wrong...we had some years of warming up and learning each other's quirks (mostly mine, I am sure). But that time was well spent and well worth the wait. Talk about a woman of God...she has an incredible faith. I am thankful for the son that she raised and the character that she molded in him. I am inspired by her independence, loyalty, humor, and positive outlook. I am blessed that, even though she is my mother in law, she is one of my closest friends. Grammy, I don't have a quote for you, but you are loved and respected by many. And I am blessed to call you....mommy in law.

I hope everyone had a Happy Mother's day. We had a great weekend, with Faithy's 2nd birthday party. More on that later.

At your service...

Yesterday Hubs was out of school, so we all spent the day together. We kept C and K home from preschool because...well...playing with Daddy is fun. And no one wants to miss that. We even got to go to the 'ice cream store' for a little snack. Lots of fun. We were sitting in the living room playing restaurant. The kids were preparing meals for us. C went to Hubs and said, 'What would you like sir'? Hubs said, 'I would like a tall carmel macchiato.' C said, 'Ok, and what would you like to drink'? (Hubs looked at me and smiled). Hubs said, 'Hmmm...I think I will have sweet tea.' C said, 'Ok, with sugar or no sugar'? Hubs held it together without laughing and said, 'sugar please'.

Just a few minutes ago C said, 'Mommy, I know how haircuts happen'. He got a haircut yesterday, so it makes sense that this is on his mind. So I said, 'Oh yeah? How?' and he replied, 'The people use those tools to vacuum your hair off '. Haha. I love that kid. And I promise he really is very smart...

The Best Rip Off in Town...

The carnival was in town this weekend. We decided to head over there for a good time. Lori brought Ja and we took our whole crew. It was a blast. The kids were so excited to ride all the rides and C played a couple of games. Hubs and C rode a roller coaster...he loved it!!!

The girls rode several smaller rides and had a wonderful time too. We decided to put F on one of the rides with Ja and K...it was hilarious. She would scream for a minute and then laugh for a minute, but I think she really enjoyed it.

Then K and Ja decided they wanted to go on this gigantic slide. Lori and I took them up and sat down and I was scared to death. Oh my word...it was so high and we went so fast. The girls loved it and wanted to do it again so Hubs and Lori took them the second time.

You can't go to a carnival without having some cotton candy, funnel cakes, and cheese fries. So...we let the kids go crazy. K ate atleast half a bag of cotton candy all by herself....she is a junk-food-aholic. That girl cracks me up.

We had such a great time together...it really was the best rip off in town. PS...K Bel loved the funnel cake too. Can you see her top tooth that just came in? It is bigger than she is! :)

Her way with words...

That's K with Nana this past weekend. K is very social and charming when it is part of her agenda. I love the things that she says. She has tons of personality.

The other day we were playing with magnetic letters and she said, "Look...C says mmm, mmm, mmm for CAT." Haha...

This morning I asked her what she did with Ms. Haley last night and she said, "We played for 5 minutes with our friends. And then we played air hockey and PINK pong." Heee....I didn't correct her. That is pretty cute.

We were playing Candyland (the new shape version for smaller kids) a few minutes ago and she said, "Mommy, do you have a circle-a-gon?" Ha...yes, yes I do. Being a mom is the best. I wouldn't miss these moments for a million bucks.

Gone public...

Well, I decided to take the plunge and remove the password protection from the blog for now. In order to protect our privacy, I have changed the kids' names to initials and try not to mention too much personal info. So, welcome if you are new around here. For those that know us well, try to keep your comments name free if possible. Thanks. We are having a good week. We have had lots of friends over. Ja and Hu stayed over on Tuesday night for a while. The kids had a blast. K and Ja played so great together. You never know what you are going to get with them. Sometimes it's great...sometimes, not so much. Last night, Mai and Ava came to visit, and we had a great time. It was a wild crew last night, but I really enjoyed visiting with my sweet friend Laura (until midnight...yikes) when she came to pick them up. Today, our little buddy Josh is here for a while. He is so cute...just following everyone around checking things out. Fun stuff. Tonight I am having a girls night...repeat...a girls' night. Haley is keeping the kids while I go to dinner with some coach's wives...at my FAV place to eat. I am pumped. Today, I am thankful for Thursday. It is my favorite day. We stay in our jammies for a while and play play play all day. God has given us such a gift in parenting these sweeties. I love being a Mommy...it is awesome.

Lost in time...

I seem to be in a fog lately. I am lost in this time in our life. I am going through the motions. I miss my husband...I miss him walking through our door everyday. I miss his support, his love, his help. He is the best...we make a good team. I am ready to move. But, I will say that I feel like we are doing great with what we have right now. I am ready for it to be over, but it has really gone so smoothly. We are praying for our house to sell quickly, so we can get down to future hometown...hopefully very soon.

Part of the reason I feel like I am in a fog is because we are so busy right now. C is playing soccer and baseball. K is still doing ballet. The kids are still going to preschool a few days a week. I am still working a couple of days a week. F and K Bel are still receiving various therapies through ECI. And K Bel is being seen by every type of doctor, nutritionist, specialist that there is out there. The coordinating that goes on for all of these things is truly a logistical nightmare. That is when I miss Hubs the most...he is an amazingly supportive husband...and he knows just when to step in and help or take over!!

God is good all of the time though. I don't think I have called Hubs crying one time. I have such a peace about everything. I am having a blast with the kids. It is busy, but I don't think any of us feel stressed. Hubs has been gone almost 2 months now...wow...the time really has flown and we have made the best of it! Anyway...I have lots of cute pictures to post. C has really enjoyed playing baseball this year. This past weekend, he made an awesome catch. He was so surprised that he just burst out laughing. Everyone in the stands laughed with him because it was so cute. I didn't get a picture of his super catch, but I did get a couple of others. McKinsey and Whitney came to one of C's games...so sweet! Nana and Pops came this past weekend to hang out and catch some soccer and baseball action too. A couple of weekends ago when Hubs was home, we were all outside playing and had such a great time. Here are some cute pictures of our fun.

This past weekend, we had C's very good friend, Austin over for the whole weekend. It was so much fun. The kids had a great time and just played and played their little hearts out. Our neighbor, Jett had his boat out on Friday night and he let the kids get up there and play in it. What fun!

We are gearing up for some birthdays around here. F will be 2 next month and K Bel will turn 1 in June. Wow...it breaks my heart that my tiny baby is already almost 1 year old. That can't be possible. F is planning an ice cream party for her birthday and K Bel is planning a polka dot party for hers. We are excited....birthday parties are a pretty big deal around here...as many of you know. I am a bit of a party planner!

Please continue to pray for our little K Bel. She is doing GREAT. She is still very small and is seeing a genetics doctor next week. Then, we are making another trip to the nutritionist a couple of days after that. She is 10 months now and is working hard to crawl. She actually CAN crawl, but it is hard for her to go very far because of her little bitty muscles. I still believe in my heart that she is perfectly fine....just little. Also...please pray for our sweet little house to sell. Although I do love our house, I love my hubby more, and would like to live with him again, even though I don't know where we will live once we get to our new hometown....ha. We really are a circus of a family, aren't we?

This girl can talk....

Look at her...already on the phone. And she doesn't even have to have a phone. She will just use her hand and put it up to her ear, saying "hello, hello, hello" over and over. Today, she was sitting in my lap using her hand as a phone and said (brace yourselves) "hello ommy (which means mommy)". This girl is insane. She is not 10 months old yet and she is talking like crazy. Then, she looked up on the wall where we have a bunch of pictures and said, "baby". Yep, that's a baby. She loves babies. She kisses them on the head and gives pat pats. Other tricks....she demands "row row" constantly to anyone who will listen. She holds up a book and says, "boo"...books are very exciting to our little K Bel. She started saying "bubby" (which is C) a few days ago. So, here is a list of her almost 10 months words: hi, hello, ommy (mommy), daddy, bubby, poo poo, shoooo-wee, baby (her favorite), ummy (yummy), boo (book), happy, pea (please), and bo bo (bottle). She also signs "more" and "please". She amazes me...growing up too fast. I do not want her to turn 1 year old, but it is coming quickly.

I just love this little peanut. She is a doll!