Oh the Bliss!

I put Addison's hair in tiny buns on the top of her head almost everyday for 4 reasons: 1. It's cute 2. It's easy/she sits really well for me 3. It keeps her bangs, that I've been trying to grow out since I cut them, out of her face 4. It's just about all I know how to do (besides a ponytail which won't keep her bangs back). Ever since she was little and figured out that her hair is kinda funky sometimes she's loved to look in the mirror and check out what her hair looks like after the day is done and we take her buns out. Recently she's been wanting me to do her hair in "bunnies", as she calls them, specifically for the after-look. Which is this: I would like to note that the last picture is of Addison and myself in a face-off. She over heard a conversation Ben and I had where we (jokingly) were thinking of places to hide should I ever leave him at the park. (Don't worry, we both knew we were joking and I did clarify with him what he's...

***Warning: Gets a little graphic, not too bad, but, you know, my dad reads this, so I just want to give him a heads up.*** My dear friend Wendy had an interesting conversation with her gyno today, HA! - I bet that got your attention, I've asked her to share it with you. Take it away Wendy... Don't get your hopes up people, it was just a yearly exam :) So, I love my "down there" doctor, she is so awesome, perfect combo of friendly, professional, calming and personable in my opinion. Well, today I was there and we were chatting about me moving onto the same street as my twin and one of my favorite people, ie: Sarah :) And I mentioned, that she (my doc), delivered Sarah's last baby a year ago. This is how it went... Me: "You actually delivered my friend's baby a year ago, not that you remember, I am sure you deliver 800 or so babies a year." Her: "Yeah, I get to do a lot in a year." :) Me: "She had a not so great experience, the anaesthe...

Ben: Mom, we should name our new baby Rich. Me: Rich? Interesting. What made you think of that name? Ben: Because in that one song it says, "Sarah wanted a son, so she prayed for one, and Rich was her reward." Ben is so awesome. (The song is "Open Up the Bible" on More Sunday Morning Songs with Bob and Larry, Veggie Tales.)

Turn up the volume and listen to what I caught Ben doing right before Addison's nap...

Getting ready to walk out the door... Ben, on his own, took two sunflowers out of my vase to bring to his teacher. :-) I made him take a picture with me. I love their faces! Addison was NOT thrilled that she didn't get to go to class with Ben. She was the only one who cried. But she certainly wasn't crying here! Daddy saved the day with a trip to get snow cones! Ben loved his first day! He loved being able to play outside (they get 55 minutes of outside time!) with bikes and trucks and cars. He LOVED the bunnies, one of whom we'll be bunny-sitting next weekend. Ben was the first to sign up! He made a new friend, "the kid in the green shirt". He painted a picture and used glue to add stuff to it. I saw it and said, "Oh cool! You got to use wood chips on your paper!" and he said, "No that's a boat, Mom." Of course it is!! I love that he's really into creating things lately and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of that. There we...

A few nights ago Ben and Addison were attempting (poorly) to put away all the trucks, cars, Legos and blocks they had used to build their mighty pirate and princess fortress in the living room when I could feel my cool going up a few degrees. It was bedtime and I was tired, shouldn't they be? I'm sure it was only a couple of minutes but it felt like it was taking them for-e-ver to clean up. Thankfully, the Lord calmed me down, showed me how well they were working together, reminded me that this time is fleeting, and led me to get down on my knees with them and say, "You know what guys?" (I think they thought they were in for it.) "I would so much rather have a messy house and you guys as my kids than a clean house and not have the two of you. Lets just read some books we can pick up the rest tomorrow." So thats what we did. Lord, thank you for giving me glimpses of the bigger picture every now and then. And while they're working at getting better at pic...

I could never be a heroin addict. I had a needle stuck in my arm yesterday and it is still sore today. And blue and purple. And it hurts to bend my elbow, like to flat iron my hair, mmhmm that hurts. You'd think this being my fourth pregnancy I'd be use to all the blood draws and needle stuff, but I'm just not. I have learned that I have very small veins and the least amount of damage with the most success is done with baby or butterfly needles. And I tell the technicians this every time. Sometimes they listen to me, but most often I think they take it as a challenge. "Ha HA," they snicker, "I'll show you who does the least amount of damage with the most success... say hello to my little friend - the Rhino Injector/Sucker!" It's not nice, blood drawers, not nice at all. Now I know, if I really sink low, that I will have to stick to pills or pipes because needles are just cruel. Just thought you should know.

I have this parenting dilemma, albeit a small one, and I just don't know what I should do. Sometimes I wonder if I care too much about the little things and should let stuff go, or if I should stick to what I said no matter what and enforce every single thing. For example: I've really been trying to crack down on the amount of toys laying around the house. In an effort to do this I've tried to be more diligent about having them pick up the toys they're done playing with before they move onto something else. Seems reasonable. But 9 out of 10 times what happens is I'll see they've left the Legos for the blocks so I'll tell them to go back and put the Legos away first, but then they end up playing with the Legos again and not really putting away anything. A lot of times I will say, "guys, you were done playing with those Legos, put them away so you can play with the blocks." And Ben, smarty pants, will say, "Mom I am putting them away. See? I...

We received our first box yesterday from our new CSA group, Farm Fresh To You. You may remember we had a stint with a different CSA group not too long ago. That CSA experience reminds me of my high school boyfriends; absolutely head over heals in LOVE for about 3 months (or three weeks in some cases), then just annoying and too much work. But this time it's different, I promise. Here are the reasons why this CSA is better: 1. It has many options to tailor make the box just the way I want it. I'm a fruit girl, so we get a "Mostly Fruit" box that is, well, mostly fruit. And the veggies that are included are "Easy Veggies" meaning no cooking necessary. 2. A week before we receive the box we get a list of what will be in it. If I don't like something on the list I have up until 24 hours before delivery to email them and let them know No onions, more strawberries. Pretty cool, huh? 3. We pay per box... so there's no huge sum due at one time, and there...

It's Claim Jumper. It ends with an R. Not an S. It's singular, not plural. Claim Jumper, not Claim Jumpers. Claim. Jumper. So, the next time you or someone you love accidentally makes this grammatical mistake... now you know the correct way to say it. And knowledge is power.

A friend of mine's Status Update on Facebook this morning read "I'd like to thank God and the universe for the wonderful weekend I just had." I'd like to know what the universe had to do with his wonderful weekend?

I'm in the middle of a sweet little read right now called Work in Progress, An Unfinished Woman's Guide to Grace, by Kristin Armstrong. This is the kind of book I want to buy for all of my girlfriends, every single one of them. Wife or not, mother or not, working or not, this tiny treasure of a book speaks to many different levels and I am soaking it all up and loving it. It's nothing really revolutionary, it's just a pure and simple book that makes me think, "Yes! Why aren't we, as women, collectively acting, thinking, praying, loving, and living more like this?" One section sticks out in my mind, here's a cut and paste version of it... 'I am not sure where or when it begins, though I see it already in the relationships at my daughters' preschool. There is something about women that permits us to vie for a better impression of and for ourselves by belittling someone else. Think about it. Some woman could excel in the workplace and someone else...

This morning Ben asked me what will he call God when he goes to his house. He said, "Will I say, 'Hi God', like that?" I told him he could do that but that God has lots of names he loves to be called. So he and Addison and I sat and looked at a list of all the names of God. Of all the ones I read Ben decided he would call God Captain and Addison decided on Counselor. I thought those were both very fitting names for each of them to choose. I love that God has so many names and when we need the power of God the Captain he's there, and when we need the softness of God the Counselor he's right there too. What a moment that will be, when we stand before the Lord and utter the name that our heart knows him as. What will you call him?

Addison wasn't feeling so hot today so we stayed in and after about 3.5 hours of movies I said enough and pulled out these crafty beauties... I bought these the other day at BigLots!, one bag contained all the materials needed to make five different animal puppets for only $2! What a steal! After we constructed them the kids took turns putting on puppet shows for me. It was my, "Yay Mom!" moment of the day.

This afternoon, while Julie was over for lunch, Troy had made a big stink so I told Ben to go tell Dad to change T's diaper, and Ben says this, "Aww Mom, Nooooo. That will make Dad pompous ." Julie and I look up at each other, did he really just say "pompous"? Then we look at Ben. Ben says," Pompous. It means to be snotty or full of yourself." Both of our jaws drop. (And it's true, Mark probably would've gotten a little snotty if he had to change the diaper). "Ben, how do you know that?" "Word Girl". I love Word Girl! **Since we don't have TV Ben spends a good amount of time playing games on the computer. Word Girl is on pbskids.com and is really fun for him and he learns a lot from it. Super Why is another one of our favorites, also on pbskids.

**Warning: I slightly abuse the word "fun" in this blog. My apologies. The Wilson's are officially our neighbors now! Praise the Lord! That was one of the toughest escrows I've ever seen, poor husband and friends... Mark swears it took years off his life. But it's over now (47 days AFTER it was supposed to close), it has CLOSED! I've held off blogging about it because there was always this tiny bit of "what if?" and even though they re-carpeted and Wendy ordered address labels and checks, I wanted to be really sure they were really in before I announced it to the world. So, world, IT'S OFFICIAL! Within the last year Mark has found houses for three of our good friends right in our neighborhood... the Snells and the Wilsons being on our very street! It has been SO much fun having our cherished ones so close. When I look out my front window and see their cars in their driveway the world just seems a little brighter. As Wendy unpacked her kitchen I s...

Trying to get his hands on the candle... and the cake too I'm sure. The winner of a toy we gave him... He's a fan, and so is every other kid that sees it - no age limit on the fun apparently. Dinner with Nana at Chick-fil-A. He looks like he's three here to me... such a bruiser! A little ice cream treat for the b-day from Nana.