Pumpkin Post

I completed the pumpkin post a few weeks ago and it was posted last week while we were vacationing in Mexico!  Check out the fun recipes.  I can't wait to try them all!

I'll post some pics of Mexico soon - I hope ;)

Sam's Birthday, Eloise's Birthday and the first day of school all wrapped into one big post!

Okay, so I have a break this evening, I'll play catch up.

First, Sam's birthday.  He's turned 2!  I cannot believe he's 2 but at the Sam time I love it and I'm so glad we're finally here.  Not a big newborn baby fan but I LOVE this stage.  I feel like I'm starting to even out and our family is hitting our stride.  It's fantastic.

(Love him.  He's playing with My Little Pony car.

I might have that face too if I was a boy in an all girl house all day.)

 We had a small family party with a Thomas the Train cake.  Then we opened gifts.  That's about it and we loved it.



Second, Eloise turned 6!  She is 6!  Holy cow!  I kept thinking of the day she was born and how excited we were to find out if she was a boy or girl.  I can still remember the entire room bursting song (practically) "it's a girl".  Our long legged baby was born.  And her legs have stayed just the same.  She wanted a Rio birthday party.  If you haven't seen the movie it's a cute little flick about birds in Rio.  She loves to dance and they have some pretty great dance music. 









We got her a cake with hibiscus flowers and a blue makaw (Jewel - from the movie).  She wanted beans, rice and chicken strips.  Juice with floating coconut ice (popsicles).  Then we did coconut bowling.  We prefer the 2 year old bowl in his diaper - much more fun that way.  We rounded off the night with a RIO movie.  Perfect.






Now onto school.  Eloise started school today.  The Lord confirmed our decision the moment we walked into the room.  I felt myself in my element.  Eager to talk with other moms, eager to learn about the other kids and eager to see our family dive into this new adventure.  I love that it's only 2.5 hours.  Lily loves it too.  The thought of being away from Eloise all day right now makes her a little weepy.  Eloise told her she was going to be gone until dinnertime.  Lily cried for 3 nights straight until she finally started to understand that she would only be gone during rest time.



The school is just 2 blocks away so we'll walk her there.  I love her teacher, her sweet little friends who sit at her table and everything about it.  It's going to be a great year.  We also are waiting to read this book that my friend Lindsey suggested on Facebook.  His vision for public school is ours exactly and we can't wait to hear more of his encouraging thoughts.

That's about it for now. I'm working on a pumpkin post for Frugal Living and I've got some other recipes to share.  I'm loving pumpkin overnight oats.  They are my favorite and I don't need to cook them.  The kids love them but I'm a little too stingy to share.  But I'll share the recipe next time.

Meet Eloise

I promise I'm not a lame mom forgetting my oldest child.  Life has been busy beyond normal and trying to carve out time on the computer that is not work, is hard to do.  But today is Saturday, it's hot outside and we're laying around taking naps and resting.  Perfect day to get caught up.

Eloise....

Eloise is almost 6 and taller than most 3rd graders.  Since the day she was born the more common comment we receive is "wow, she's so tall".  Yes, yes she is.  I don't know how this will play out for her in school but we're hoping that it works to her advantage. 

She is almost reading and she loves to learn.  The kids is begging me all day long to do craft projects with her and work on her reading lessons.  I'm constantly dodging the crafting questions but I'm eager to do the reading with her.  But with the reading comes the fun to play, play, play and more play.  Sand is her favorite thing to play with.

What I love about Eloise is her heart to do good, please others and be as helpful as she possibly can.  I've noticed this trend in most first-born girls.  If I'm baking, she's the second (behind Sam) to help.  She really wants to learn how to cut with a knife so we're looking for time to help her learn how to do it safely.

She loves friends and can't wait to have her first sleepover at a friends house.  Mom's attempts to keep the sleepover at home are not keeping that desire at bay.

She is curious but not overly curious.  If there is something to try, she takes a few steps forward and then waits a few more minutes for her sister to try.  Once it's safe, she takes the plunge.  A far cry from the 20 month old leaping of slides. 

I am reminded that with as she longs to please and make it known that she is doing things right, I want her to know that even when she does things wrong, I am pleased.  I am pleased with her because she is fearfully and wonderfully made by a powerful and loving Creator who is pleased with her as well. .

I look forward to watching her grow next year in school as she can hardly count the days until she attends kindy.  The friends she'll meet, the teacher she will enjoy and the lessons she'll learn.  I can't wait. 

We love our sweet Eloise Caroline.

Meet Lily

I promise I haven't forgotten about my two other children.  Nothing major holding me back from doing it.  Just work, a garage that seems to be accumulating clutter that needs to be sold or given away and a bed filled with laundry from nights with soaked sheets.  The times where it just doesn't feel like it will ever be clean enough or organized enough.  But through it all there is one little girl that reminds me to have joy.  Lily.

Oh sweet Lily.  She is our fun loving, party starting, crazy hugging, sweet lovin' girl.  This child came into our lives as a surprise and we knew the moment we heard of her impending arrival that she was our grace.  And her middle name will always be our reminder.



Lily is 4 yrs old.  She currently has no aspirations for academics.  That education stuff is left to her big sister.  She wants to bounce around and swing as high as her little legs can pump her.
 


She loves all fruits and veggies and has no fear of trying whatever is set in front of her.  Her only strong dislike is bananas.  Her favorite fruit of the moment is strawberries.  She eagerly waits by the strawberry patch in the backyard to see her beloved fruit turn scarlet.  She has been known to have arguments with her daddy about who can eat the strawberries in the garden.  Her favorite bucket of peas has been planted and she tenderly calls them "sweet peas".


Lily loves to hug.  She is our most affectionate child.  If you're not up for cuddling she find a way to make you cuddle.  It feels as though she is my baby kangaroo waiting for her mama to open up her pouch so she can climb right in.


We often call her bruiser.  She's pretty rough with the rest of us.  It's not uncommon to hear someone crying and know it's Lily who has been the aggressor.  It's 80% unintentional.  She just doesn't know her own strength.  The other 20% is sheer aggression.  This could be the asthma medicine talking.
 



She is our joy and our sharpening tool all at the same time, but we wouldn't have it any other way.  

I am Sam

I want to try and capture each kiddo where there are in life currently.  Here is the first kiddo.
 

Meet Sam.

He’s 21 months old.  He loves playing outside, drive his cars around the house and take long walks in the park.

He is tall, slender, and will mostly likely reach 3 ft tall by the ripe age of 2.

 He doesn’t have an experienced palate yet.  He loves pumpkin oatmeal, lots of white foods, and carbs.  Milk tops the list, which he demands the moment he wakes up from a long nights sleep.  Crackers, pb sandwiches and bananas suit him just fine.  He has yet to hop on the Paleo bandwagon. 

He loves his big sisters, but at the moment, pals around with Eloise the best.  This might change next year when Lily and Sam have a little bit of time to themselves. 

He knows how to communicate to his sister’s well.  He is often found lying in a heap on the floor when they slightly touch him or refuse to hand over the toy they are playing with.

 

He’s very fluent in the language of baby, but occasionally he branches over to proper English.  His current English words are Mama, Dada, Nana (doubles for Nana and Banana), papa or poppie (doubles for puppy and papa), kah-ker (cracker), car, bye, hi, and of course, no and mine.

 He can climb bunk beds, book shelves and anything else that could send him falling a large distance to the floor possibly breaking an arm or leg.

Hair cuts are his least favorite activity.  His mom and dad have tried pinning him in their lap and that was an epic failure.  The movie trick was tried the next time, which proved to be a little less of a failure.  However, he still thinks his dad is the coolest guy in town.

He knows his way around a kitchen.  At the first sound of a utensil being pulled out of the drawer, he is sprinting to pull up his chair and begin cooking with his mama.  He’s still working on his culinary skills. 

When his mama doesn't need his help, she will gladly hand over the ipod to get his dinner finally on the table.

Sweet Sam is a blessing to the family.  We enjoy watching him grow and look forward to many more years to come.

Kindy

Tonight, we go to Eloise's Kindergarten round-up.  It's a night where we get to meet teachers, look at the school and get an idea of what may lie ahead in the next year.

Those who have gone before me know that it will be a little emotional but will pass.  I can see that on the other side, but it's transition and I LOVE transition (insert sarcasm).

I've talked with the Lord alot about what His plan is for schooling our children.  I've explored homeschooling, looked at charters and had dreams about private (too expensive).  With each option, the Lord has clearly checked off each one and we've ended up with public and our local school. 

Now this comes with some hesitation.  First, the surface hesitations.  It's not in the best neighborhood and it doesn't LOOK the best.  Second, the deep hesitations.  What kind of things will she come in contact with?  Will people be mean to her?  How will she handle confrontation or getting her feelings hurt?  These deep hesitations or worries I have can happen anywhere.  They can happen in the best of the best schools and 4 pretty walls surrounding her will not prevent any of that from happening. 

Eloise is a driven girl, she will excel anywhere she goes.  I can teach her whatever she needs to be taught.  It's not really about education.  So then, as a family, I'm left asking - are we supposed to be in that school to love people?  To serve where there are needs that need to be met?  To show support to teachers, to help children who don't have a steady home life, to be a light where there needs to be light?  I can't help but know deep down that THAT is why we are headed in that direction.

So I look forward to Kindergarten round-up and I look back at this last year with thanks. Thanks to the Lord for helping me make the decision to not send Eloise to pre-school.  I have loved the time I've had to keep all three of them at home without any commitments.  I love that in a rare beautiful Spring day, they get to make mud pies and play fairy soccer until their hearts are content. 

And he just likes to push things around, including his sister's doll stroller.  

Oh the life of a little boy with only sister's.

Easter 2011

Not the best shot, but family photos aren't perfect around here.

There have been numerous times I've wanted to update my blog with thoughts, phases, stages, ideas, etc...but after spending 3 hours on the computer working, the last thing I want to do is spend another 30 minutes uploading photos and editing pictures.  But Easter rolled around, no time spent on the computer and it seems like the perfect opportunity to update.

 

 Pictures don't work out so well around here.

This year, I learned more about the history of Easter and how it came to be.  Because of our belief in Jesus, I wanted to move away from the tradition of Easter and focus more on the the Holy week and Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.  A few blogs I read gave me some inspiring ideas.

First we started out each day reading what Jesus was doing leading up to the Resurrection.  My mom had given them these little paper cutouts with a book and stickers.  It was a good visual for little minds.  On Good Friday we spent some time outside working on our Tomb garden and then put it together that evening.  We read a story, lit the candle and then went to bed after we blew out the candle.

 

 

To keep balance, we still did Easter eggs.  We just did them in the lawn in our backyard on Saturday.  The kids knew no different and still had tons of fun and lots of candy (too much in fact!).  Then today, Resurrection Sunday, when the kids woke up, we rolled away the rock in front of our tomb in the garden and then cut some flowers to place around it for the "new-ness" that Christ has given to us in His Resurrection.  We went to church, came home and had lunch.  Took naps and rested the remainder of the day.  It was a beautiful, relaxing, and fresh filled day. 

I love that she has no idea he's stealing her candy.

I think in the future, I'll do a Spring party with their friends and hide Easter eggs on that day.  Something about keeping Easter separate from Resurrection Sunday has become really important to me. 

Because it would take more creativity than I have, here's the pictures from the weekend, all clumped together.

 

Happy Easter and Resurrection Sunday!