Toofless AGAIN, as of 8/16!

During lunch on the 16th Lilyanah said, "Mommy, I can't find my tooth!" I ran over and saw her tooth was missing then checked her burrito, nothing. ..   Yep, 4th lost tooth & 1st one swallowed.  Ugh!  I assured her the tooth fairy could still tell she'd lost a tooth and would be by that night.  Turns out she brought her gift early. .  The door bell rang and Lilyanah found a note that said she'd found the tooth under the table and to go look under her pillow.  She ran down the stairs yelling, "It's GI JOE!!!"  No money this time. . . this time it was a GI JOE movie.   Good thing the toothfairy brought it early so we could watch it together that night.  : )  Daddy's idea.

Don't Give Up. . .

Ethne running in the grass for the first time, a before so you an see how ridiculously long it was!  And below an after. . . .

Sunday after lunch Will was all ready to go out  and mow the lawn while the kids were down for their nap but I actually really wanted an excuse to get outside and accomplish something.  Isn't it nice sometimes after having so many responsibilities inside to get outside and work?  For some reason I've always enjoyed mowing the lawn, I think it's seeing the immediate difference in something, same as painting, which is another 'thing' I enjoy.  The SUPER bonus was that while I was outside getting a miniature workout Will was inside cleaning the kitchen.  : )  Such a beautiful thing & a blessing to me!
  It was a race to beat the impending rain and unfortunately for me the grass was already wet from the 4am auto sprinkler shower that hadn't dried by 3pm.  : )  I tell you this because our lawn which requires just a little over a gallon of gas to mow  took me around 2 1/2 hours to complete because the wet grass made me stop twice as much to empty the bag of clippings!  Fortunately, God had my back & held back the rain until I was finished and Will had spread the fertilizer and sprinkled some seed in some of the sparse areas.
Lilyanah woke up while I was working out back and stood on the patio while I mowed, giving me a thumbs up every time I looked over at her.  Always the encourager!  Once I got to the front everyone was awake & came out to play on their bikes.

  So now we come to our bike dilemna. . . .  I know this picture isn't great but it best displays our situation. We have a small toddler Mickey Mouse "airplane" that can be ridden, a red tricycle, and Lilyanah's bike which you see above (thanks to Grandpa & Grandma!)  Lilyanah has been incredibly resistent to ride her bike and is always taking the tricycle instead which leaves the younger two fighting over M. Mouse.  I'm a little emberassed for not having realized and fixed it sooner, but her issue with the bike was that it was too wobbly so Daddy tightened the training wheel bolts and she was good to go.  Of course at one point while he was fixing them, the point when the bike was the most sturdy, her back wheel was a 1/2" off the ground!  : )  Oops!  Even when he lowered it when she was going up the hill the back wheel had a hard time gripping the road so there's still a little adjustment to be made.

To fully appreciate this video you have to know, this little girl just the day before would NOT ride her bike without me holding onto it because she was too scared.  She ABSOLUTELY would not go down the incline in our cul-de-sac without me slowing the bike down.  So doing it completely by herself was a big deal.  I'm proud of her for not giving up, which she wants to do so badly!  I thank Word World for the episode about Sheep learning to ride her bike where Bear sings, "Don't give up, the more you try, the better you'll get, the better you'll get.  The closer you'll be to doing it right. . . . la la la la la la, don't give up!!! "  I don't remember the last words, but I seriously start singing it to Lilyanah or Ethne when they start getting frustrated.  There have been times when I've heard Lilyanah singing it lowly to herself.  Too adorable!  Of course you get to witness a taste of her frustration at the end of the clip.  Learning is a constant process isn't it!  : )

Bye Bye Baby

Just a quick before and after of Westyn's new 'do.  Isn't it funny how at the age we're at now we get haircuts to hopefully take years off, but when our kiddos get haircuts it makes them look older?  So much irony in this life we live!  : )

I probably should have taken him to a pro but why when Will's clippers were right upstairs!?  I have to say it was a little hard seeing those beautiful blond locks falling to the ground but doesn't he look sharp? : )

And to end this quick post here was my sweet love letter from my husband last night who was sleeping away soundly when I crawled into bed.  Love that he made sure to tell me he loves me before he crashed, in the non-destructive way).  Love you all!

Kitchen

I am VERY slowly hanging things on the walls.  I've decided the first thing I want to do in the great room is choose fabric for curtains.  Then I'll address what to hang on the walls & where. . .  : )  The kitchen was easy because there's nowhere else I would have hung the items that are above the cabinets.

There's so much counter space I hardly know what to do with it!  Don't get me wrong, when I'm cooking I take advantage of nearly all of it!  At the edge of the counter by the pantry door is my very large cutting board that I LOVE!  I find myself cutting a lot of vegetables these days so it's nice to have a board that accomodates me.  Now I just need a knife sharpener.  Just yesterday I cut up a bunch of tomatoes, a jalapeno, cilantro & onion for some quick salsa to serve over cream cheese.  (Thank you Nicole for introducing me to this deliciousness at bunco!)  : )  Oh, and that yellow squash in the bowl is spaghetti squash.  It tastes AMAZING & is such a great alternative to pasta with some yummy marinara and zucchini.  Just puncture it all over with a skewer and put it in the oven @ 375F for an  hour.  My homemade marinara was a little too spicy for the kiddos but with a mild marinara and some mozzarella even they ate it!  : )

Lilyanah has decided under the counter is a perfect place for her to display her art, I have to say I agree.  I'm half tempted to paint it with chalkboard paint so the kids can draw down there but that's too big of a committment and not very realistic.

If you look in the picture above there's a blank wall to the right of the fridge in the kitchen.  I'd like to get one of those vinyl decals that's a chalkboard and put it there.  The dishwasher is a little further away from the sink than I would prefer but I'm not complaining because at least I have a dishwasher!  : )  Eventually we would like to do some sort of backsplash and add crown moulding to the tops of the cabinets, but that isn't the most pressing home improvement at the moment.

So there is a glimpse of where I spend quite a lot of my time.  It's such a blessing to live in this house, I'm just anxious to have friends and family visit so it feels more like a home.  I almost forgot, you are looking at the two items we  upgraded on in the house.  I chose to have a pull down spray faucet (black) and got a little deeper, little longer sink than what came standard.  It's crazy how many dishes fit in that sink.  Westyn's even had a bath in there once.  He didn't like it, but with all the sand we have at our house it's like living at the beach and I didn't want all the sand he had on his body upstairs!  : )  Now to go spend some more time in this lovely room preparing yet another meal!  : )  Any healthy suggestions that kids love?  Love you all!

Mission Accomplished!

On Sunday, (July 31st) Will & I set up the kids water toys out front so they could play while we worked.  They spent the first half of the day in the pool and the second half down in the sand at the base of our driveway.  They planted some oranges and bananas, but our real money maker is the pinata they're growing out there.   It took all day after church to get the sanding and painting done so it wasn't until late Monday night after the girl's finished cleaning their room that we set it up.  Which means, as of Monday night there were no more floor sleepers in our home!!!!

  Such an accomplishment, and it's amazing how much room we now have in our garage without the bed in there!  I was literally outside painting until the sun went down & what a beautiful sunset it was!  I wanted you to see too what a little kid looks like CAKED in sand but you can't tell from this pic.  He looked a few shades darker from the layer of sand on his skin & he had dumped sand on his head.  He was a mess & he loved every minute of it.  Well, every minute until it was time to clean up, that he could have done without!

I think I figured out where our camera is so hopefully I can start geting some better pictures.  Something to look forward to if I can ever get Will to bring it home!  I'll do my best to get pics of the kitchen and the girls completed room posted.  Love you all!

Lilyanah's Heart

August 2nd) I was cuddling with the girls in their bed and the song we sang was 'tears of the Lamb' a song they're just learning.  Only this time after the song was over this was the conversation we had,

Lilyanah, "Why does it say tears of the Lamb?"
Me, "Well, it's talking about Jesus when He was up on the cross."
Lilyanah, "Why was He crying?"
Me, "Jesus had been hit and was hurt and He was covered in sin which God can't be around sin, so He was lonely and very sad."
Lilyanah, "Did He do something wrong?"
Me, "Jesus never did anything wrong. . .   He went through getting hurt and being lonely up on the cross for all the things that we've done and will do wrong.  He did it so we can be forgiven and live in Heaven with Him and God someday. . . ."
The thought of Jesus lonely really touched her tender little heart and with tears in her precious little eyes she said, "Can we pray again to tell God and Jesus thank you?"

So we prayed and thanked both God and Jesus for what They did for us.   We started to broach the Holy Spirit, but I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to explain the Holy Spirit to her.  Any ideas?

I just love seeing her precious little heart & how it is already seeking to understand God and His ways.   I have to admit I'm already having a really hard time with her 'all-to-quickly-approaching' first day of kindergarten, but am so thankful that God has given each new stage it's own joys.  Like the joy of having a partner-in-crime when it comes to planning get-togethers!  She's decided that we need to start having theme parties to invite friends to.  For example, a Noah party where everyone brings one set of 2 animals and we make rainbow cookies and set up a fort like an arc. . .  She is SO my daughter!  Oh and the picture above is of Lilyanah's new haircut.  It had to be done so last night after getting permission from Daddy I cut about 4 inches off.  She LOVES it & kept saying, "I look SO beautiful!"  : )

Friday we loaded up and registered her for kindergarten!  She loved it, I held back tears.  She was at least 50 feet away in this pic being assessed by one of the teachers.  I can only imagine what she was saying making the face she is & holding up her hands. . .  I'm pretty confident, "I don't know" was in there somewhere. . . : )  Everything is good to go, we should find out who her teacher is in a couple of weeks and at the end of the month they have an open house where she meets her teacher, fellow classmates & even gets to go for a ride on the bus.  Then, just 6 short days later she has her first day of school.  Life will never be the same.  Is it normal to picture her as a little baby every time I think of her being gone for the day? 

This last picture was Ethne tracing Westyn's hand while we waited for Lilyanah.  All the teachers fell in love with him.  They aren't use to seeing the small kiddos.  : )  The extra little heart wrench was that next year we'll be there again with Ethne, just a couple blinks away I'm sure!

Westyn's Love Letter

The other night after tucking the kids in I found this on my side of the bed, my love letter from Westyn.  It made me smile like when I'd find knick knacks Lilyanah hid in my shoes when she was a baby.  : )  Westyn still loves his letters.  Last night he was cuddling with Daddy, writing on his drawing board and actually drew "R P W"  then pointed and said the letters to Will.  He's growing up SO fast!  Lately one of my favorite things he's saying is, "I got this."  He still says, "Help, I'm stuck!" when he's somewhere he doesn't want to be, though not nearly as much as he use to.    When he's hungry he goes to the fridge and asks me to , "Open door" and gets giddy when he sees fruit, especially berries.  He calls strawberries, 'stawbehee cake'.  (Chalk it up to having sisters who watch strawberry shortcake on occasion.)  Right now it seems like that's all he wants to eat, I think he's in his 'anti-meat' phase.

 

On Saturday he decided to design his own workout which included carrying this chair around on his back.  Guess he's trying to develop muscles like his daddy!  He loves getting under things. . . boxes, laundry baskets, you name it.  As I'm typing he's at the end of the bed laying under a laundry basket.  I love it when the kids are easily entertained!

Yesterday we had a playdate playing in a pool with friends.  When we got home Westyn crawled up in our bed and was playing with a clock Meme brought on her last visit.  I listened to him play while I fed the girls a little snack (he didn't want to come down to eat),  and then there was silence.  This is what I found when I got up to our room & Ethne wanted to be in the pic.  (The clock is between his knees.)  I don't even remember the last time Westyn fell asleep in the middle of playing out of sheer exhaustion!  So precious to me!  (Wish it happened more often!)  And now, to carpe diem!