ohhh . . . lately

well, folks, hold onto your hats . . . it’s been a while since I’ve sat down in front of this little blog, and we have some pictures to share!  So, grab a seat!  It turns out that showing my house with three kids three and under and one dog and one sweet but hard-working-at-work husband is less than fun.  I am so tired and I have been so emotional.  (and, no, I am not pregnant, but thanks for asking.)  It seems that having a house ready to show is hard work and draining, and it seems that I don’t do really well when I am in a stage of life that feels rather unsettled . . . and, it also seems that my children don’t really nap when they are feeling rather unsettled . . . and, well, really tired people living in a state of unsettled chaos is not a pretty picture to say the least. 

That said, we are thankful for easy going mornings like the one we had today.  And, we are thankful for our friends and neighbors (who not only host our dog EVERY SINGLE TIME our house is shown, but who also love to be with us.  WHY are we moving and leaving these people again?!?)

Sister seems less-than phased by the unsettled world around us.  Her volume stays high, her opinions are strong, and she will not be fed like a baby.  It has only taken me 17+ months to figure out I should take off her clothes before letting her fed herself!

a friend of mine (who also has three little rascals) and I were swapping early morning pictures of life as we know it this week, and this is what I sent her:

round one:  the rascals attack their mama

round two:  the rascals attack their sister

I am pretty sure this is her cry out for help . . .

Little Miss is getting bigger by the day!  She loves to sing “E I E I OOOOOOOOO” at the top of her lungs, and part of “twinkle, twinkle, too.”  Lately, she has been into snuggling in the boys’ beds as well.  This picture is so dear to me because she is so pleased with herself for acting like a big girl in her brother’s bed.  It is just so sweet!  Look at that face!

Last week, in one of my productivity-meets-playtime moments, a train formed in the midst of putting away laundry.  I was informed that Sister was the “passenger car.”

Hudsey was the engine.  And, Willsey was the coal car.  All atop my laundry.  Hilarious!

The spring weather has provided many an opportunity for Sister to sport her shortie dresses, and OH, how I love them!

Fancy Pants + Crocs  . . .  so very 2012!

The rascals have been loving exploring the great outdoors . . .

My Dad sent this picture to me the other day . . . remember these turkeys?  How did they get so big?  Make it stop!

You can hardly see what is happening here, but this is our weekly Thursday lunch crew . . . we go to Bible Study and then have lunch and playtime with our friends.  In the swings:  Holland, Anna, Wade, and an upside down William . . . Hudson was running off to the side!

The boys’ preschool class is a co-op and I was so excited to work Charlie’s class last week!  This bubble-blowing boy had a blast!  So sweet!

Big ole girl in action, once again!

Our big adventure last week was a trip to the dentist!  The last time we went to the dentist, we gave up the paci . . . it feels like it was light-years ago!  The boys did such a great job listening and being big helpers at the dentist!

  

Anna had a great ole time, too!

It didn’t hurt that they each got special treats, stickers, and balloons all from their dentist!  And, we followed up our morning of fun with a special lunch with Cousin “Keddy” (kelly) and Greg!  What a treat!

  

Hatch and I and Auntie Owl snuck out to dinner with some friends last weekend, and our sweet sitter snapped this shot—it perfectly captures our crazies!  I love it!

Happy, Happy FRIDAY!

these days . . .

sister, these days, is this precious combination of baby and big girl.  I keep telling people that she is 17 months going on 3.  she is quite determined, very vocal, and she has a little fit if you do things for her  . . .  after all, she is BIG.  don’t even think about breaking her granola bar into pieces, or she will cry.  BIG tears.  much to her mother’s shock, her two favorite words are “mine” and “NO!,” although she does (sometimes) say please when asked.  the littlest love has had a go of it this week, because she is trying so very hard to keep up with her brothers.  she has fallen on concrete and off of playgrounds and over he own feet and do not even stoop so low as to ask her to sit in any kind of chair/stroller/seat that straps her in unless her brothers are RIGHT THERE with her, or she will buck and scream and put on one big ole show for you.  and, in case you were wondering, this bow lasted about 3 minutes in her hair . . . cute little rascal!  (Her Aunt Katie bought her this adorable little dress before she was even born!  And, it is precious!)

You see, the mama is ever working to help protect sister from climbing up the stairs of the jungle gym that was build for 3-5 year olds, but it is hard, because the 3 year old brothers are equally rascally . . . and, may be climbing a tree at the playground while sister is in a precarious spot (which happened today) . . . or, they may be escaping from the back yard without a single word (I know how to open the gate!  I can open the gate, Mommy!  There goes Murphy!  Bye, Murphy!)  . . . or, they may just bare it all at a moment’s notice and tinkle in the middle of the front yard for all of the world to see . . . or, they will climb up on the slippery and dangerous hatch that covers our basement stairs, just because they can.  (fear not, Daddy handled this situation when he got home.) . . . or, maybe, while the mama is in the shower for a whole 2 minutes, they will take every single clean towel out of the linen closet and unroll and entire roll of toilet paper to make a cloud or snow or something, and then abandon the whole thing to take all of the sheets out from the trunk at the end of mommy’s bed . . . all before 7:30 in the morning.

they are hilariously particular these days, and they think about everything.  for example, william only wants to wear green, thomas the train undies.  every. day.  he has even learned to put them on himself, and he and mommy are both quite excited about this.  and, he will tell you I like green things.  I like tiny things, too.  I like to find tiny things.   he has carried around a plastic bolt from his workbench that Aunt Courtney gave him for the last two months, at least.  he has a lot of questions about everything, so it’s best to grab a chair and just work through them all with him.  both boys are really expressive—william loves to throw around his hands while talking, and hudson cocks his head to the side and rolls his eyes and makes these hysterical faces.  where did they come from?  Hudson wants to know, every night, if Daddy will be there the next morning.  he prefers his waffle smothered in peanut butter wit a yittle bit of jeddy (jelly) on top, and he eats and eats with the best of ‘em.  Most of the time, he is a fireman, or he is helping mommy or sister, or helping William find his tiny things.  If you ask him how old he is, he’ll tell you six and then give you a look that will make you laugh out loud.  He certainly gets his sense of humor and sweet spirit from his father.  He is very particular about which shoes he will wear, and whether or not he will wear socks (and as far as I can tell, there is no rhyme or reason to this one).  And, I am proud to say, he has mastered his meal clean up—even at friends’ houses—taking his plate to the kitchen, cup to the fridge, and coming back over to push in his chair.  Oh, I love it!  Last week, in the midst of playing, Bumpa saw him huddled down and talking, and Hudson said I am praying that Jesus will help me so Uncle Judah can’t get me again!  Both boys love a good snuggle, and they have a particular and peculiar routine before bed that seems to drag on forever and a day (and involves tissues, water cups, a set amount of singing and praying and sometimes stories and maybe even nail clipping and an extra pair of socks plus three more runs to the potty and 700 questions), but we try our best to get through it cheerfully and get in a good smooch and snuggle every night . . . we know these days are flying by us.

    

Anna still loves talking to her Bumpa on her phone or hand.  Whenever I get in the car, I tend to call someone . . . and, well, so does she.  I’m not sure what her phonebill will be like in 16 years, but based on what I am seeing now, things are not looking good for the ole wallet!   Also, you may notice the big scrape on her upper lip.  Hudson knocked into her while swinging.  To his credit, he asked her to move twice, and she didn’t—Mommy!  I say to her:  watch out, baby! watch out!    To her credit, she is still a baby, and she was NOT happy.

To make room for showings of our house (we have had great traffic, by the way, but no offers—please Please PLEASE spread the word and pray for our house to sell!  this is hard work), we spent a few days at my mom’s last week.  Aunt Katie was there and did sister’s hair—how cute are these pig tails?  The combo of the chubby cheeks and ringlet down her neck in the profile shot is too much for me to handle! 

   

Anna can now say “Du-Dah” and she says it all day every day!  She really has a thing for her uncle Judah (anyone surprised?  I am not!)  They had some great snuggles together this past weekend.  In the morning, she would wake up in the 5:00 hour just calling for him.  I say, if it’s 5am, and she calls your  name, it’s your turn to get her!  ha ha!

     

And, we had a guest visit from Uncle Christopher!  Oh, the fun!  It was very, very exciting to have him in town for the weekend!  Anna calls him “Un-tle”, and it is so sweet.  For some reason, this is the only picture I have from our time together, but suffice it to say much relaxation was had by all!

Before we went to Sugie’s last week, Anna rode around in her “wee-oooo” (which, I think is her version of a firetruck siren, but it means “car” to her) on the back deck while I was running around and getting our house together for showings.  In the first picture, she is happily sitting in a puddle of horribly cold water (it had rained the night before).  In the second picture, I told her that we were going to go inside to change her clothes since she was wet.  She BOO HOO’d the whole time.  Apparently, being wet and cold was much less important than being with Brubby and Woo Woo the Dog (who, bless his furry little head, now also answers to the name Woo Woo).

 

And, yes—this last picture is a good example of us trying to show our house with three kids at its finest.  The under-the-bed storage bin (full of books and picture frames) was discovered and immediately used as a boat.  Bon Voyage, tiny people.  Just clean up your mess! ah!

is it friday yet?!?!

Today

I love spring. And, I love being outside with my babies.  The littlest one was especially sweet today!

(Her dress was mine . . . Sugie saved it, and I love i!)

She loves going out for a stroll!

We took a big family walk (minus Daddy).  It only took us about 52 minutes to get out the door.

then we played in the front yard.  someone seemed to want to go inside . . .

this may be one of my very favorites!

and, CHEESE!

lately . . .

so, in between trying to keep our house neat and tidy, we have gotten out and had some fun with family and friends!

anna thoroughly enjoyed her chili tonight . . . thankfully, I remembered to take off her dress tonight before she chowed down!

these boys are too cute!  they love playing together!

sissy lou plopped herself down in the dirt today (and began to eat it a bit) and got both her dress and her bloomers dirty!  she is doing her best to keep us with her brothers!

 

our sweet friends, the caldwells, were here at the beginning of the week, and we had so much fun with them!   we decided that being together was just like old times, only about 5 times the fun and chaos . . . I’m not sure that we finished a complete sentence with 4 toddler boys and a baby (she left her littlest at home with her mama) but it was still such a treat to be with them . . . and, the boys made a great rescue team!

    

we spent the morning at the museum, and it was a first for brother:  william rode the train for the first time!  we made for one cozy train car!

here’s to a great week of fun with our littles!

this morning: imagination overload

this morning was a little abnormal in our house . . . a secret mouse turned off hatch’s alarm during his nap yesterday (WILLIAM), so hatch overslept . . . the boys woke us up this morning, so they got a mini-morning with daddy, which worked out perfectly because I woke with a killer headache.  while I was bustling about getting ready for the day, caring for anna, and putting away loads and loads and loads of laundry that had been sitting around our home, the boys were deep into playing and imagining. everywhere I went, they were doing something different . . . it is just SO much fun to watch them play together and create and imagine together.  this is one of the MAJOR perks of having two at once! 

I think that every closet in our home was a pseduo firetruck.  Fireman Hudson was singing while Fireman William was driving . . .

    

Where’s William?  He was being “the baby” . . . and Hudson did what every loving parent does, he wrapped his “baby” up in anything and everything in sight—from mama’s corduroys to the clean sheets.  Can you find our Waldo?

 

It soon became naptime for the Firemen.  They had rescued several people from trees and they saved everyone from their friend, Robert “Yuck”’s burning home.  We were thankful that our firemen had such a successful day!

The rescue team switched to the water, and they began putting on “life jackets” to save people . . .

I have to wonder what Anna thinks is happening . . .

    

Climb in the boat and prepare to be rescued!

These two are hilarious.  I love it!  Happy Weekend! 

(and, we have another open house on Sunday!  Spread the word, and let us know if you know of anyone interested in a great home in the cute Northside!)