How old is daddy?

Seems like moving has taken over our lives the past few weeks. We are tired, grateful, overwhelmed and in love with our hew house! I promise I'll get photos up eventually but for now, sharing some cuteness. We celebrated Blake's birthday on the 5th, here's a conversation with the kiddos while decorating Blake's cake.

Closing Day

Today is closing day! There is so much to tell...show. Pics of the new house coming soon!

Gwyneth's Fourth Birthday

DecorationsGetting Crafty
Friends
Cake!
Sisters!
Proud
Blake said this photo looked like a "Shelly party"...what does that mean?Birthday Girl


Our last party in our house!

Gwyneth's Third Birthday

Love these faces.

Full

[Artwork above was created by Gwyneth]

Tonight I am feeling full. Full of joy and contentment. I am thankful that I feel this way even with the busyness of school getting ready to start and all the changes that are coming our way. It's sort of like a little paradigm shift. I am feeling lighter. More able to let the small things go...to not worry as much. More capable of enjoying. Why? Maybe it's just growth. Maybe it's the fish oil I've been taking. The break from the heat. Maybe my new job in Owasso that I am going to love. The joy of creativity. The good Lord. All of it.

Ok, somebody please remind me of this post in about a month when I type my I'm-so-tired-I-can-barely-stand-it-post. Tired from getting up at 5am, teaching 6 classes full of about 30 sixth graders each, plus keeping my own 3 children alive. Wow! It's gonna be awesome people :) No really. It is.

Here are a few special moments from the past week or so.



Addy's first painting experience! Can you see the look of satisfaction and pride on her face?


My baby boy lost his first tooth. Freaked me out at first. We're pretty sure he swallowed it while eating a biscuit. He cried because he was worried he wouldn't get money from the tooth fairy if he didn't have his tooth. I told him she'd understand. Question, in the events that baby teeth are not swallowed, what am I supposed to do with them? Who has jar of their teeth in their closet? Creepy.


Three happy babies after I soaked them with the water hose one evening after a long day. Spontaneity can be so therapeutic.


Tonight I set the table with things I never get out. Grandmother's table cloth, my vintage garage sale dishes.


This one is random. Can someone please just write the perfect caption for this? Yes, that is a baby Jesus in the back seat.

A few things...

...the kids learned on vacation:
1. French. Not really. There happened to be a large population of french speaking Canadian's staying at the condominiums where we stayed. Gwyneth overheard a teenage girl calling to her mother from the pool and ever since I've been "momma" pronounced mumah. Now Wilder's starting to say it.
2. Patience. 22 Hours each way in the car.
3. Girls talk too much. Poor Wilder, at one point he put his hands over his ears and yelled "quit saying so many words!" I had to explain to Gwyneth that boys have a daily word quota and that Wilder had already reached his for the day.
4. How much they love their home. A few days after we were in Florida Gwyneth got homesick for her room. She expressed it at bedtime by saying, through tears "My feelings are starting to hurt." Precious.
4. Endurance. We quickly learned that what looks like a short walk on the beach can be awfully tiring. One morning we walked the kids down the beach to the rocks by the port to watch the ships come in and out. On the way back you would have thought we had been walking through the Sahara for days. Oh the whining. Blake said it but I agreed it's good for them to suffer every once in a while. Builds character right?
5. The ocean is too salty (Wilder) and the sand is full of spider-like dried up seaweed that should not be walked on (Gwyneth).
6. The world is full of things to explore. I could have watched Addy play in the sand and water for hours. She embraced it with no fears. Even when she was tired she could not resist running her hands and feet through the sand and handing me each and every treasure.

...I learned on vacation (some I already knew):
1. Be grateful for family. Thank you Pat and Paula for letting us stay in your beautiful condo. It was wonderful.
1. How to play angry birds. I usually catch on to trends later than everyone else (facebook), this one not excluded. Pretty darn fun.
2. How to entertain a one year old. Forget all the scheming and planning toys to pack. Foolproof amusement can be found in endless amounts of peek a boo, putting things on your head, biting toes, and giving her anything she should really not be playing with like portable DVD player's (one that is now broken), silly puddy, and chocolate.
3. Time goes by way too fast. I looked forward to this trip for months only to be past it now, sadly.
4. Less is more. The best days that we had are the ones we just stayed at the beach and pool and didn't go anywhere.
5. I am healthier when I am relaxed. Of the few physical issues I have, I didn't have any the week we were at the ocean. No ibuprofen, no muscle relaxers for my jaw. I'm trying to prolong the vacation state of mind for as long as possible!
6. We can survive without TV. The TV in the condo did not work due to some bizarre electrical problem. Chance? I don't know, I enjoyed the quiet and time spent cuddling with the kids, coloring, reading, and playing games. Ok, by about the 5th day and all-kids-all-the-time Blake and I were ready for some TV lounging.
7. Our ocean paradise was just a place. No matter how much I pondered how to get two palm trees and a hammock home to my backyard, it doesn't compare to the permanent blessings I have within my family each day and the eternal paradise of heaven someday.

ocean

mysterious

cleansing...healing

colors exist that can't be named

colors that are created when blue and green intersect

wonder

a life giving force pulling you in with every glance

won't you bring forth your treasures

Home

Wish I had a better photo with all three of them looking at me! We made it back from our vacation today. 44 hours total in the car later. Reflections to come! If only I could have brought the cooler weather with me. Or the ocean.

Poor Baby

Addy has a tooth brush fetish. She has her own white My Little Pony brush but she would prefer to chew on Gwyn's pink Dora brush. One of her favorite spots is hanging out at the bathroom sink on the step stool. Tonight Gwyn's toothbrush was within hand's reach. She climbed up, grabbed the brush, and was walking down the hall with it. I told her no and gave her brush to her. She did this a few times. I thought we had moved on and I was in my room. I turned to look and there she was standing, swim diaper only, with Gwyn's toothbrush in her mouth. She gave me the most mischievious grin and shook her head no. She shakes her head when she knows she's doing something she shouldn't. As I said no addy and started towards her she turned and sprinted as fast as her fat baby legs could move her. She was not giving up that pink toothbrush. When I caught her she face planted in defeat, screaming. Poor baby. Here's to just really wanting what you can't have.

Forget crayons, just buy her some body paint

Of Wilder and Gwyneth, Gwyneth is not my artist. Meaning, she doesn't really have much of an attention span when it comes to coloring. Wilder can spend hours in a coloring book. However, today, she proved me wrong. While we were sitting in the car waiting for Blake in one of the hundreds of grocery stores we went in today I had a passing thought that Gwyn was being really quiet but didn't think much of it. When I got back into the car with the FP groceries Blake said "you have to look at your daughter's hands." I could have believed she was wearing purple gloves. I guess she found a purple marker in the back seat. I have never seen her do anything that thorough. It was just funny. I caught this picture after the first layer of purple washed off! She said tonight that she just felt like being messy.

Grocery Angst (a rambling story)

I am totally breaking up with coupons. I don't know how people save enormous amounts of money with coupons. The Coupon Queen does it. She makes it look easy and makes you feel shameful for NOT using coupons. Being summer I figured since I had the time I would make a valiant effort to embrace couponing. I clipped, got my binder organized, printed coupons from the internet. So today, grocery day. The ads came in the mail, we checked bargains at all the major stores. Made a plan. Let's, for a change, not go to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart owns us. We normally shop at Wal-Mart because it's the only close store and you can comparison shop. I felt optimistic, maybe this time, things would be different and we would beat Wal-Mart by spending the same or less amount of money shopping somewhere else. We were wrong. Anyway, since we were not in hurry we decided to take the extra time to drive to South Tulsa. We decided to do the majority of our shopping at SuperTarget then hit Reasors, Food Pyramid, and Whole Foods for various items on sale. First, three kids no matter how you shake it is just stressful in a grocery store, even if there's two adults. Addy is in full monkey stage and the other two, well are just loud and busy. We ended up spending about the same amount at Target as we do at Wal-Mart but still lacking several items. Reasor's was ok, we just bought a few things that were on sale. Then we headed across town on Tulsa's terribly awful in-construction streets and finally made it to Whole Foods and FP. Blaked grabbed a Rotisserie chicken with a free side then I went into what I thought was going to be my saving grace, Food Pyramid. Now, I had never been into a FP until last Saturday. I was impressed with their natural and organic selection which motivated me to go online and print healthy coupons (like organic yogurt). The FP I went into Sat was a different one than the one I went into next to Whole Foods. The store, of course, was arranged entirely different than the other one, the few things I could not find I just didn't get because three kids and Blake were waiting in the car. I could have swore they had the type of yogurt I wanted and had printed several coupons for, but they didn't. I learned as I was walking in that they don't double coupons over 50cents. Boo. I was totally pumped that they had organic blueberries for $2. That was the main reason I wanted to go. Only 6oz for $2 - not the pints we're used to! I'm sure that was in the add but I'm still not blaming myself! ha. To make things worse I even bought things I forgot I had a coupon for and a few things that Blake had bought at Target that I didn't see him throw in the cart. So total fail. Just a long, hot, frustrating afternoon. Hey, but we did get milkshakes from Steak and Shake for all of us for a total of $5 with coupon and happy hour combo. Not bad! I just wanted to feel like I was getting a deal today but we ended up spending about $60 more than we usually do. Oh well.

Mind of a Child

Gwyn, after the subject of heaven came up in our bedtime prayers: I don't want to go to heaven (almost crying).
Me: We'll all be there together, it will be fun.
Gwyn: But I don't want to go to heaven.
Me: Is it because you don't want to leave our house?
Gwyn: Yes
Me: Well, you'll have a new house in heaven or maybe ours will be there. Would you like that?
Gwyn: Yes, but mom (with great concern), our house is too heavy.
Me: Well Gwyn, don't you worry. God can do anything.

As I turned out the lights I could see the wheels turning. Dear God, please give Gwyneth sweet dreams about heaven so she'll look forward to someday being there. Amen.

June is...

...morning runs
...metromint water, yummy
...lazy Sunday afternoons because I don't have to work Monday
...heavenly. Enjoyed reading about a 4 year old boy's account of his visit to heaven in Heaven is for Real
...enjoying my fixed up house...please sell, please
...summer evenings, my favorite
...short shorts
...celebrating 33 and 8 years of marriage
...confirmation of a new job in Owasso!

Livin Easy at the Lake

Summer

I can't believe summer is actually here and the school year is over. I know there are a lot of things I did right and equally wrong. Teaching is emotional, exhausting, rewarding, frustrating, fun. I cried happy tears from laughing, mad tears, and sad tears from saying good bye. I hope I made a wee bit of a difference. I will miss my students. (you know who you are). So, as you can see, we had a little fun the last two days of school. So much fun that I bought my custodian a gift card because I felt bad about the mess.

My summer to do list:
1. Have a clean, organized house. Not piles of laundry. Everywhere.
2. Sell our house!
3. Find a house.
4. Read. My list:
-Love & Logic
-Heaven is for Real
-My $1 bargain novel.
5. Discover the Word again. As a family we are going to memorize one verse a week.
6. Go on vacation to Florida.
7. Start my Etsy page
8. Find my flat (ok, less squishy) stomach under this one.
9. Eat healthier. Visit Farmer's Markets.
10. Sleep past 6:30. Ha, ha, just joking. I wish.
I better stop there. Relax.

Addy Jane is 1

Happy first birthday Adalyn. You are more precious than we could have ever imagined! I keep thinking when I'm with you that you are way to smart to have just turned one. You understand so much. You are opposite of your sister - you are not shy. You are everywhere all the time. You climb everything. You get your feelings hurt when Wilder and Gwyn won't let you touch their toys. You are sensitive and cry when people yell. You love to play peek a boo. You still love to hang out in the middle of the night. You are a momma's girl. I'm not complaining, I want you to stay a baby forever.

Blessings

I don't know why I feel deeply motivated to post tonight after so long. Probably because I feel so satisfied from day I spent with my kids. All I did today was clean house and spend time with my kids. That's all. Not a thought about school. It's 9pm on Sunday night and I don't have one single thing ready for getting myself and 3 kids out the door in the morning. (I like to torture myself). This day has been refreshing because school and all the busyness that comes with Spring has been so encompassing. Thank the good Lord that after this week I will be past the play we are performing in my drama class. Considering the fact that I had a girl fight on stage after our dress rehearsal on Friday would suggest what kind of road it's been. Funny, one of our custodians was in the auditorium during the fight and asked me after if it was part of our play. Ahh, comedy. Ok, back to what I really wanted to post this evening, just some favorite things from today.

I love how much Wilder loves to make art. He stayed home with me this morning from church because he's not feeling very good. He made a whole stack of creations that I hung in his room. 4 year old art has to be one of my favorite things. Pics to come.

Wilder told me today he was too sick to clean up the mess he made after his articat time (arts and crafts, a word he told me he learned in school the first day). I told him I was smarter than he was and that wasn't going to work. We then went on to argue who was the smartest. A close tie, he can already add, subtract, and understands the earth's rotation patterns.

Addy's second word after mommy is dog. Pronounced gog. It's so cute, she gets so excited when she says it. I think she might have also said mo for elmo today. What makes this red monster so adored by so many? I don't know but I think she needs a stuffed elmo.

Addy has this adorable look she gives when she knows she's doing something she shouldn't be doing. Then proceeds on doing it. Today I barely caught her from being entirely perched in Gwyn's window seal like the cat. She is not afraid of anything.

Addy has been giving little love pats when you hold her now. I love how she pats me on the back. She is also so proud of herself after she takes a few steps. Just a few more days and I'm sure no more crawling.

I bought Gwyn and Adalyn matching sparkly flip flops today. Ok, so I did go to Target. Is there anything cuter than baby feet in flip flops?

Gwyn. Gwyn is a 25 year old woman in a 3 year old body. Her room has now become her house. She loves for us to knock so she can answer the door. Today I checked on her and she was sitting, in her dress, with her purse, legs crossed in her elmo chair reading a princess book. She changes clothes about 3 times a day. Ok, unlike a woman she does not like boys. She told me the only boys she likes are grandpa, pappy, and Wilder. She is going through a serious shy phase right now. She doesn't play with anyone at school. She just watches. I ask her about school and the only thing she tells me is "I took a nap then ate a sucker...and watched my friends play." It makes me so sad! It doesn't seem to bother her though. She seems to take the world in at her own pace which is perfectly fine with me.

80 degrees, I will miss you tomorrow. Have a good week everyone. Night night!

I was pleasantly surprised a few days ago by this unexpected splash of color I found hiding by my bedroom window. It is my grandmother's Begonia. Here's to little bits of color and joy...warmer weather is on the horizon!

Top 11 Things about Blizzard 2011 (in no particular order)

1. 3 days without makeup
2. Clean house!
3. Exercise in the form of the Kinect and carrying Gwyn on my back in the snow.
4. Taking Wilder and Gwyn sledding on a giant piece of cardboard.
5. Lots of episodes of Modern Family (and not feeling guilty for not doing something more productive.)
6. Lots and lots of time with the wee ones.
7. Pictures hung, photos printed and in frames.
8. Rearranged the kiddos rooms.
9. Watching the kids play with their dad in the snow through the kitchen window as I'm cooking.
10. Having a front row parking place at the movies because no one else was dumb enough to get out.
11. Time to update my blog...for all of you that check my blog every once in a while and are so tired of seeing the same things, I'm sorry!!
She is really sleeping in this photo. Prior to bed she had a serious meltdown about losing this balloon.