Our Persisting Memories

I have really been thinking lately about things I am loving about my children. Being a mother is the hardest *job* I have ever had! It is difficult at times to remember to be grateful for my children and to always like them--for I will always love them. I don't know if life would be easier if they were farther apart in age, and have often wondered that, but at the end of the day this is our life, our family, and it isn't going to change. So I thought it would be fun for others, and important for me, to write a thankful post regarding my children. I AM THANKFUL FOR.... rocking chairs. Months ago Phoebe started asking to be rocked before bed. Although she is not a baby anymore and doesn't really need it I know she enjoys it. I love that after a busy day of running around and being active she and I can sit in the dark, her head resting on me, and have our sweet, quiet moment together. Mmmmmm snuggles! potty trained children. It is a whole lot cheaper than buying dia...

63301 Sophia has finally hit the age where everything is of great importance to her. Holidays have become huge events with weeks of anticipation beforehand. As of today, November 18th, she has Christmas fever and is greatly anticipating the arrival of Santa. She did however have a great time for Halloween. I made sure to teach her how to be a polite little ladybug (Phoebe was a pirate and as such did not need to show the same level of decorum as a dainty ladybug). Here's Phoebe perfecting her AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! replete with a clenched fist swinging in front of her chest to punctuate the exclamation. In the run up to the actual day of Halloween we were able to participate in one of the most crowded events I've ever witnessed. The fire department of our nearby town has a complete miniature town where sponsors were able to erect Hobbit sized businesses so curious young citizens could practice obeying traffic laws in power wheels with an entire town sized to their own d...

This post has truly been a LONG time coming. We have done several fun activities over the last few months and I just have not gotten around to posting about any of it. Now I am getting so far behind I simply cannot wait any longer or it will be out of control! This will mostly be pictures.... We finally decided to go to the lake this year. You know, that lake that is only 5 minutes from our house but we have never put even a toe into to? We went for Labor Day knowing it would be the last big swimming hoo-rah before the weather would start to change too much on us. We had a BLAST! We met up with some other friends while we were there and they were kind enough to share their food and company with us. The girls thought it was the coolest thing ever being at the 'beach'. 63156|360 63138|370 Flying kites, just Daddy and the girls. It was quite a windy day so the kites stayed up wonderfully. 63271|340 We went to the State Fair this year! YAY! BJ and I went years ago in the ...

As you may have noticed there was only a single update to our family site in the month of October. This is really sad since we actually filled up every weekend with some sort of activity. Admittedly we had some downtime in the middle of the month due to my bringing H1N1 home and spreading it around after our trip to the State Fair. Heather is working on a catch up post to fill in the October gap. I could lay blame on Heather as she has read EVERY SINGLE book in the Harry Potter series during the month of October... but I can't do that without also laying the blame on myself. Sickness, school, and work have kept me busy. I'll also admit that I've been a little preoccupied due to the release of Forza Motorsport 3. Other items of note in the month of October. My youngest sister turned 18 and my mother celebrated the 24th anniversary of her 29th birthday. After we catch up we still have a lot of things to cover, like: Writing letters to Santa A visit from the Browns ...

Pistol. Fireball. ADHD. Excitable. Choose a word and that is Sophia! She has so much energy and has become more hyper with time. I began in home Preschool for her with one other little girl from our church. The first day she could barely sit still, or listen, pay attention, or quite wanting to grab at things. I understand this is new to her, she will have to get used to this new schedule in her week, and that there will be an adjustment period. She was a little better the second day and so it gives me hope that each day will be better still. I am excited about being able to teach her more formally and have a little friend in the house to share this time with. She is already catching on with memorizing and recognizing numbers and letters. She also asks me all sorts of questions about being able to do things or places to go. Some of my replies simply have to be "When you are older." or "When you are bigger." So she has started to say to me, "When I be 20...