The day is here.

This is going to sound crazy but I have been anxiously waiting for this day. I have fond memories of my AWANA days and still remember verses that I learned as a 5 year old. Crazy, how that works, huh? :) Anyways, the boys are officially starting "Cubbies". It is AWANA for 3 & 4 year olds. I got the letter in the mail with emergency forms and sat right down and filled them out. Yes, Miss Procrastination takes a back seat when I am excited about something. Anyways, the boys got a letter with a cubby bear on it but there was just one so I made a copy, put it into separate envelopes and they got their first piece of mail also. They were so excited. Alex slept with his letter and then quickly grabbed it before getting out of bed the next morning.

Every day since they ask when "cubby church" is. On Sundays they ask "is this cubby church or regular church?" Since I started this post (3 weeks ago) Alex came home from the first night of cubbies with a vest and I didn't think much of it but Eli didn't have one. Jared just assumed he left it in the car but upon searching we came up with nothing. I asked my sister if Alli came home with a vest and she said no. Upon further research (I made my sister Missy investigate) no one not even Miss Shari (his cubby teacher) knew why he came home with one because they still have to be ordered but Shari did say there was an extra one there and "someone" must have given it to Alex. Knowing my Alex I am assuming he thought "Wow, that vest is cool and there is a bear on it. I think I'll take it home." You see when Alex puts his mind to something LOOK OUT! So he has since slept in it and wore it to play outside. I finally washed it and hid it because I was afraid Eli would get a bit jealous and I didn't want to have the "you have to share your awesome vest with your brother battle". Since then they both have recieved vests and all is well.

They both said their verses the first week and got stickers. The next weeks verse was "all have sinned" which, led to a lesson on sin, which, has led to some pretty funny discussions with my little boys. So fun. One of the cool "bonuses" of all this is that Mommy is unable to get these little verses out of her head. This week I keep repeating to myself "everything He had made was very good, CHA CHA CHA". (Cha, cha's added by Mama so that it sticks in the boys heads.)

This past Spring they also started Sunday School and they have lessons. I ask them regularly what they learn and I hear nothing but "crickets" (complete silence). When I ask them what they did they say "puppets" and they sing "twinkle, twinkle, little star", EVERY WEEK. Hmm... so, recently, I decided to mess with them and ask them some specifics; "Did you learn about Jesus?" Alex responded "yes". "Did you learn about monkeys?" again "yes". "Did you learn about clowns?" "yes" "The circus?" "yes", etc., etc., and on it went. I said, "wow you learn a lot in Sunday school" to which Alex responded "yep, Jesus LOVES the circus."

Despite their inability to tell Mommy and Daddy what they've learned I am overjoyed and thankful at being able to pass on this heritage to our children and hey, who knows, Jesus very well may like the circus. :)

Apple Orchard 2010

Monday, Monday

a glimpse of our day

*grandma Lores stopped by for a visit and brought marshmallows

*to Alex this meant Hot Chocolate

*to me it meant incentive to complete the responsibility chart (make bed, clothes down chute, brush teeth, pick up toys, etc.)

*worked like a charm

*Eli enjoying his "coffee"

*"where did Alex go?"

*Addison decided to wake up for more than five minutes today. :)

So In Love

So many people are so thrilled for us that we "got our girl" and I am thrilled also but I have to tell you I am so in love with these boys. We had such a nice day at the apple orchard today. I took a million photos that I will post but here are a few.

Happy Autumn to all!

Goodbye Summer

This is a little late because things were a little crazy for us this Summer but I had to post this when I saw the pictures of the boys in Summers past. I cannot believe how much they have changed and grown.

2010

2009

2008

A dose of reality

You know how, as a mother, you have those "perfect Mom" days. I had one of those yesterday. I woke up and made the boys alphabet pancakes with a Mickey Mouse shaped one thrown in to make them smile. They screamed out which letter they wanted made next and I complied. We sounded out each and we had a lot of fun. We made a craft out of their cubby handbook and talked about all the beautiful things the Lord has made in the world. Although, Alex laughs hysterically at the fact that God made chickens. He thinks I am kidding about this one and refuses to believe me. :) We played in the backyard and I thought "my life is unbelievably wonderful". I had all my kids home and they are healthy and happy. My husband works his butt off so I can stay home with these kids and I am unbelievably blessed.

I LOVE days that are like the one I described above but they are not always my reality so before my optimism and joy seems unrealistic and maybe a bit irritating :) let me tell you about my day today. I woke up with a headache, which, may have been because I was up 1/2 the night with a fussy newborn or because my 3 year old had a nightmare and needed Mama at some ridiculous hour. Alex woke up in rare form today for the 2nd day IN A ROW. To give you an idea of what this looks like, yesterday, he threw a fit becasue I shook his chocolate milk cup instead of using a spoon to stir it. I am not kidding, I REALLY wish I were. We needed milk and juice so rather than wait for Jared to get home, like any sane person would, I took all 3 of my kids to the grocery store (with a headache). I reasoned that this grocery store is smaller and has those cute little carts that Alex and Eli could push. They don't have those carts anymore.

Long story short, I wasn't a "perfect mom" today and of course I never actually am. I was the Mom who lost her patience, whose kids watched 2 Veggie Tales along with way too many other shows, who heated up mac n' cheese and let them eat it in front of the TV. Yeah, I was that Mom and while I will have other days like this, it just makes me treasure the days when I sit in my backyard and thank God for what feels like a little glimpse of heaven. Today, however I am just thankful that he promises to renew my strength.

Now 2 of the 3 are napping and I am hanging with my Addie (who is starting to sport a double chin), drinking a cup of coffee and blogging. Life isn't too bad. :)

She's growing so fast.

Our little peanut has grown out of her preemie clothes. I cannot believe it. When I had the boys at the Dr. last week with all of their various ailments I snuck in a weigh in for Addison and she weighed 5 lbs 9 oz.

Here she is 2 wks after birth, swimming in her preemie clothes and looking pretty cranky. Can you blame her? :)

"Uh, Mom, these sleeves are gettin a bit short!"

"Hey, what the heck is that?"

Don't you love when they discover their hands? So cute.

Miss Addison is a very good baby. She fusses when she's hungry, messy or has spit up on herself. She wants to eat every 3 hours and does one 4 hours stretch at night so if I go right to sleep after the 10pm feeding I could actually snag a little over 3 straight hours of sleep. WE have been getting out with her much more than we did with the boys. We just are very honest with people and tell them not to touch her. We don't pass her around either. We have been able to go to church and library time. I know we are quite the jet setters :)

I have LOTS of posts in my head just little time to write them. I hope to take a little time to get them in print so that I have a memory of this crazy time because let me tell you having 3 kids is NO JOKE. I know I have sweet friends reading this who have 5 and more and they are probably snickering but i have decided that they are secretly super heroes. If I allow myself to believe this than I don't have to wonder HOW IN THE WORLD they do it all. I can just continue to lament over the difficulties of having 3 that are 3 and under. :) It works for me.

Jared's getting older!

Jared's Birthday was last week. He is 34. Don't worry I didn't forget his birthday or anything I just don't have a whole lot of time to be on the computer currently.

I had to laugh, as I baked a cookie cake with the boys and made Daddy a brithday crown, at how much our lives have changed. There was a time when I would plan his birthday so methodically; where we would go, what I would wear, taking such care over the entire day and now although we still try and make his day special things have DEFINITELY changed. This year I had to tell him to hurry up so that we would have time for him to open his gifts, sing and blow out the b-day cake before dinner because we had to get to church. :) What hasn't changed is the love and respect that I have for him and now the love his boys have for him. Jared is a wonderful father and husband. We love you! Happy Birthday!

Alex, Eli, Addison and Mommy

Making Daddy's b-day crown. When I asked the boys what we should get Daddy for his b-day they said that he should be the king and he needed a crown. SO lucky Daddy got a constructin paper crown. ;)

They won't go to kindergarten in diapers!!!

Everyone says this but I thought my sons may be the ones to do it. I can't blame them I have not consistently tried. When I did they weren't ready and then the past 4 months, well, we have been a little "busy" with bedrest, hospitalization, NICU, newborn, etc., etc., BUT because we are crazy we decided to potty train the boys last Saturday, newborn or not it had to be done. Actually, I decided. Jared has been saying "sarcastically" (although I think he was serious) when referring to potty training the boys that I needed to get on it. This led me to decide on a Friday that tomorrow was the day and that I would have Jared's help all wknd. I am so glad WE started on the weekend because there is NO way I could have kept up with Addie and dealt with the boys at the same time without his help.

We are a little over a week into it and I am saying cautiously confidently that Eli is potty trained except for nap and bed time (we aren't even trying that yet). Alex is SO close but has some poo fears. If anyone has insight into this I'd love to hear from you. :) We are so excited about this and thankful that we will no longer be buying diapers for 3. I should take this time to thank all of our diaper contributors. :) You know who you are. We SO appreciate being able to buy one less box or more.

As far as the process, we give 5 M& M's and a sticker for each successful trip to the potty and when you fill your chart you get a present from the box ($ store toys or hot wheels cars). When you go #2 you also get a present from the box. The are also thrilled to flush the potty. :) I am hoping that this continues to work for us.

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complete chaos!!

add to this equation alex's pink eye, eli's nasty double ear infection, addison's cold and jared's case of poison ivy along with a few other life stressors and you have what we are up against. Thankfully there are precious moments like these (below) thrown in on a daily basis to keep us sane. We are so thankful for each of these crazy children and try not to take any of this "chaos" for granted.

What our life looks like lately

In reality it is much less peaceful and quiet! :)