A Very Belated Update

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Yes, I'm very late in wishing Jared Happy 7th Birthday on this blog. Yes, my life is crazy with three kids. No, we're not having any more...at least, I don't think so. Yes, we had a great (and busy) summer. Yes, I will quit writing these "yes/no" statements and get on with my post.

So, in June my oldest baby turned SEVEN!

Seven just seems so old. I think it's because it's so close to eight. ;) He had a Lego-themed birthday (what else?) with several of his little friends. I think they all enjoyed it. We had Lego spoon races outside.


Later, he opened his gifts (more Legos, cool shirts, a model of the solar system, and a couple of fun games).


On his actual birthday, we took in a Texas Rangers' game in Arlington. This was the first major sporting event for the kids. It was hot and humid, but we enjoyed the atmosphere for five innings before calling it a night.



The highlight of July was our trip to Dinosaur Valley/Dino World with the cub scouts. This was rescheduled from April. It was very HOT. And HUMID. We opted not to camp overnight. We were a dirty, sticky mess when we got home that night, but it was well worth it.


At the end of August, we officially started the new school year. I say "officially" because we pretty much school year round now, with longer breaks in the summer. We joined our friend, Maria, and her children at their home for the first day of school.

Jordan is in kindergarten this year, although she's already halfway through her kindergarten year in her curriculum. She kept bugging me last year about starting in her books, so I let her.


Jared is in second grade this year. His reading skills have taken off this year...it helps that he discovered the Lego Bionicles book series. It's nice to see him enjoying chapter books.


September was filled with more school activities, but we FINALLY made time to go to the zoo and take in the new Asian Rain Forest exhibit, complete with orangutans and an elusive komodo dragon.


Whew! I think that gives you a good idea of what's been going on in our lives. We hope to head to the pumpkin patch soon for pictures. I've been dabbling (a lot) in digital scrapbooking and some other crafty things, so I will share those soon as well. On a serious note, my father is literally in his final days due to lung cancer. If you feel led, please pray for our family.

Happy Belated Blog Birthday, Jordan!

(Two birthdays down, one more to go...)

I can't believe that my baby girl is now FIVE! Actually, I can. She's our one that's wise and verbal beyond her years. Unfortunately, her shyness masks these traits in public, but if you get her one-on-one, you'd be amazed at what she thinks and says.

We celebrated her birthday last Sunday with a few of her friends. After months of asking for a princess cake...no, a My Little Pony cake...no, a Strawberry Shortcake cake...(you get the picture), she asked for a simple, pink flower cake...strawberry-flavored, of course.

In keeping with the floral theme, we opted to have the attendees decorate coffee cans and then plant a small flower. I think that the girls really enjoyed using my stamps.

No party is complete without the birthday song. (She was a little embarassed by the attention.)

She got lots of fun presents--a new bathing suit, her first Barbie, a great book from The Wind and the Willows, a Target gift card, new shoes, and a Littlest Pet Shop toy.

What a fun day for our sweet Jordan! We look forward to what God has in store this next year!

Happy Belated Blog Birthday, Joshua!

(For the sake of this post and my mommy guilt, let's pretend that it's April 16th.)

Happy 1st Birthday to our precious Joshua!

To say that life has been an adventure since he was born would be an understatement. :) There's nothing like a third child to make you feel like you know nothing about parenting...and I say that with love. He has brought so much joy to our lives and truly completes our family. We can't remember life without him, though I have fond memories of a little more sleep. ;)

In honor of his birthday, we had a small celebration with grandparents and our church Life Group.

Joshua's "theme" has always been frogs, so I couldn't resist making a froggie cake.



Daddy, Joshua, and Mommy, just before we sang Happy Birthday.



As you can see, Joshua THOROUGHLY enjoyed his birthday cake.






He received lots of fun toys and clothes.





This past year has gone by so quickly, and we look forward to many more.

What's been happening?

Yikes! A whole month (nearly two) has passed since I last updated this thing. For the record, does anyone read here anymore? I feel like I'm posting to myself.

Our March is off to a slow start as Jared was diagnosed with the flu last week. Jordan is now running a high fever today. Yes, all three kiddos got their flu shots in the fall. I'm going to have a hard time convincing them it's a good thing to get the shot next year. I can see the conversation, "...yes, it's a good thing to get the shot. Remember that horrible sickness that you had when you, um, had the shot last year? This will prevent it...like it was supposed to do last year..."

Anyhoo, here is what has happened since my last post:

Joshua started crawling like crazy after Christmas. (Thank goodness he waited until after I took down the tree.)

We started a new homeschool history curriculum with Maria and her kids called Story of the World. This was our first activity called A Dirty Dig. Maria buried some artifacts in her sandbox and the kids had to dig them up as if they were archaeologists. (Jared was most interested in this activity since he IS going to be the next Indiana Jones.) :)

We birthed another music man. Joshua is fascinated with the guitar. When David picks it up, he will stop what he is doing and frantically crawl over to David. A few weeks back, he was sitting in the middle of the living room floor staring up at the speakers. It took me awhile to figure out what had captured his attention--there was an acoustic version of a song on the radio. Here is our next great worship leader and his guitar hero (our current great worship leader). :)

Mark and Adrienne came up for my birthday and treated David and I to dinner at Ninfa's. (It was Mom's first time to keep all three kids, and they did just fine.) Needless to say, I savored every sip of my first margarita since having Joshua.

Valentine's Day equal candy, candy, and more candy from grandparents and parents.

Our next study in Story of the World had us making hunting sacks like the nomads. Ben has mad sewing skills--he did better than the adults! Jared, however, would most likely have been a very hungry nomad... ;)

I think Jordan and Annie also did pretty well stitching their own bags, too.

We've since moved on to Egypt in our studies. Here, we built a model of the Nile River, complete with grass seed along the banks. Our model now sits proudly on our front porch displaying banks that may need to be mowed soon. :)

Meanwhile, Joshua has been secretly listening to hits of the 80s. Here, he models his Flock of Seagulls 'do. ;)

Joshua is also now cruising the furniture. :-o

Jordan's dance class performed at the Kidz Expo at the end of February. She absolutely loves her class, and we're seeing some improvement in her overcoming her shyness.

That same day, Jared's cub scout pack had its Blue and Gold banquet. Here, Jared and a few of his den-mates receive their awards for popcorn and pinewood derby kits.

Well, that was life in a nutshell. I pray that the sickness will leave our house soon, and we can get on with life. In honor of St. Patrick's Day and the wee bit of Irish heritage we share from my mom, we started a mini study on Ireland. I plan to complete lapbooks with the kids and will share those soon.

My first Pikasso...

In looking back at one of my posts, I realized that I never posted a picture of the trivet that I made at Practically Pikasso. So, without further adieu, here it is:



I used a stencil for the vine and hearts but very carefully wrote the letters myself. The only think that irks me is the random yellow dots on the lettering because I did not do it. When I picked up the piece, I pointed them out to the sales clerk. She said that sometimes in the heat of the oven, there are "floaters" from other projects and then in a voice that indicated she really didn't feel like doing it, she told me that she would have to grind down those sections of the trivet. I had three kids in tow and decided to just take it as is.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it, and I had a lot of fun. I think we're planning a ladies night there with the gals in our Life Group. My next project(s) will be birthday plates for each of the three kids.

A little more joy...

Okay, so forget about posting the remaining joys for December. We did have a great Christmas with family even with Joshua's sickness. David's time off went by way too quickly.


Here are a few photos of our Christmas celebrations.


We let the kids open our three gifts to them on Christmas Eve.



Jordan LOVED the dollhouse that Santa brought for her on Christmas morning.





Santa brought more Legos for Jared--woo hoo!



Santa gets a little practical with the stockings for babies. Since Joshua can't eat chocolate or candy now, he gets teething rings, toothpaste, and new shoes and socks. :)





Just some really cool clouds that we saw on our drive to Groesbeck.




All of the cousins together, just before the wrapping paper flew.




After Christmas in Groesbeck, we came home and had Christmas with my family the next day. However, the night before (on our drive home), Joshua spiked a fever and suddenly became very lethargic. After a few calls to the on-call nurse, I took him to the ER. After sitting there for a few hours with nearly every chair full and people puking in the waiting room, I did my calculations and figured we'd be seen about the time I could be waking up in my own bed. Besides, Joshua perked up and started flirting with the nurses, so I knew he wasn't critical.


So, back to Christmas with my family. Even MORE Indiana Jones Legos for Jared (he received the ginormous set from David's parents).







Jordan has been wanting this cupcake maker since she saw it in the store in early Fall. Funny thing is my mom had bought it for her even before she saw it.




Joshua and Nana (my mom) playing pat-a-cake together. Nana made him the little outfit that he's wearing.




Oh and notice the cat in the background? My niece bought it for Jordan. It's not real--it's a Fur Real pet. It meows, blinks, purrs, and hisses if you pull its tail. Cute and creepy at the same time. As my bro and sis-in-law were carrying in the wrapped packages, you could hear it purring and meowing in the box. We all got a good laugh--anyone think of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation?

Well, I think that pretty much wraps up our holidays. I, uh, still need to get my Christmas cards sent out, by the way...

Okay, so the hustle and bustle of the season caught up with me, and I have completely neglected posting my daily joys. Plus, Joshua came down with RSV and pneumonia just before Christmas. He's on the mend, though the other two have the sniffles now.

Let's see if I can remember some joy and post a few pics in the process...

Daily Joy 10

The kids and I made mock turtles (pretzel, rolo, pecan on top). We actually did this the day before, but when I uploaded the photos, I got a good giggle at the thought of Indiana Jones as our guest baker. :)



Daily Joy 11

Jordan had her first recital with the dance studio. It was actually just a "review" held at the studio and very informal. I was very worried that her shyness would overpower her desire to perform; however, she did her dance perfectly.



Daily Joy 12

Jordan decided that she didn't feel like jumping for joy at her church performance. Instead, she stood on stage with a terrified look on her face. So where's the joy in this? Not really sure if it's appropriate, but I giggle at the photo every time...little boys and girls jumping and singing for joy while Jordan just stands there, praying it will end soon (green jumper, far right).



Daily Joy 13

This was the start of the last week before Christmas vacation for David. We're so looking forward to having him home for two weeks.


Daily Joy 14

A cold front blew in. I LOVE cold, drizzly, wintery weather. :)


Daily Joy 15

We had a mini Christmas party with some homeschool friends. We made angel ornaments with the kids pictures and ate lots of cookies. The gal who hosted even put together a fun scavenger hunt for the kids.



Daily Joy 16

I'm happy for David because this is the evening of the Christmas performance at his school. I'm praying that it goes off without a problem.


My mom also came up to visit and helped me put together 20 goodie bags filled with sugar- and cinnamon-coated pecans. (Bags were cut with my Cricut.)



I've also found joy in my Kitchen Aid mixer this season. My mom totally shocked me when she brought it over one day in November. It was a Today's Special Value on QVC and she knew I would enjoy using it as I love to cook and bake.

Daily Joy 17

Woo hoo--Christmas break begins at noon for David!

Daily Joy 18

We took the kids to their first movie at the theatre (I know, they're so deprived...) We went to see "The Tale of Despereaux." We split the ginormous bucket of popcorn and really enjoyed the movie.

More joys to come...