New Pictures

Every six months I try to get pictures done... here are just a few cute ones of the kids.

Another try for a family picture

On Sundays, if we get ready early enough, we try to take a family picture. We are desperate to finally get one of everyone looking at the camera and everyone smiling at the exact same time. This one isn't too shabby....

Maggie Loves the Pool

A month or so ago we bought a plastic pool for the backyard and ever since, the kids have spent almost every afternoon playing back there (oh how I am longing for a neighborhood pool of our very own). At first I would only let Ellie and Owen back there but one day I decided to let Mags venture out there in her cute little swimsuit. She will never be the same. She has tasted the freedom of the backyard and always wants it. She even knows when Owen and Ellie start getting their swimsuits she needs to have hers on.... she does sort of an excited whine to let me know that she wants to go out there (kind of like a puppy--- don't mean to compare my baby to a dog, but it fits in this circumstance).

And she needs to be in control of the hose at all times. Often she sprays herself in the face or aims it at one of the other kids (smart girl).
I do wish Maggie would learn to walk already (she just doesn't care to) because she is crawling on the back porch area where it is pavement and I just know that can't be comfortable.

Owen enjoying the cool water on a hot May day.

Ellie Lou posing for the camera... I had to beg for a picture, she was way too busy to be bothered by me trying to take pictures of her.

After Enrichment

After Enrichment last week, I came home to find this...

The Mother's Day Post

Happy Mother's Day everyone! This is my mother's day post. Mostly today I am feeling a great amount of gratitude for the women in my life. Not just our moms, but all the mothers who have influenced, helped and molded me into a better mother myself.

(My mom and I this past Marc h)

But speaking of mothers, I've got a pretty good one. Sometimes I am surprised at her willingness to mother me in that I have used her for all she's worth over the years. But as mothers do, she still loves me and cares about what is going on with me. Over the years our relationship has changed. When I was young she cared for my needs, kissed my boo boos and let me sleep in her bed when I had nightmares. As a teenager she loved me even though I was not so lovable. I always thought that after I was out of the house I would no longer need my mom so much, that I would be on my own. However, it seems like now I need and use my mom more than ever. She now is my best friend.

(Daniel and his mom July 2004 in Colorado)

I am also grateful to Daniel's mom for all she has done for him over the years. Though I don't have first hand experience of her mothering, I can see it through the person that he has become and I am eternally grateful for her willingness to raise children in the gospel and to raise them in such a way that he has a desire to work and learn more each day.

(Elise and I right after she was born-- not the most fantastic picture, I was in labor for 33 hours so I wasn't looking very fresh, but this is when I officially became a mother)

My purpose in this life is to be a mother, I know this now as I am one and I know that there will never be a more challenging job. I feel honored to be Elise, Owen and Magdalyn's mom. I am lucky to get to spend every day with them, teaching them (at this young age) the basic things in life. As they grow and get older it will be my responsibility to teach them even more important things and help them to become parents themselves one day. It is still hard and scary to think about this great responsibility but I am happy to be a mother.

My family made me delicious baked french toast in bed this morning, gave me flowers and bought me some training sessions at the gym (they're awesome!).

Maggie, Owen & Elise in the Sprinklers

At the last minute this past weekend I decided to take the kids down to Houston to look at a house that seemed like it might work for us (the one we put an offer in on). While there, the kids played in the sprinklers. They had a lot of fun, even Maggie unexpectedly joined in. She had a blast!

Crossing Our Fingers

We just put our first offer in on a house.... if we get it, details will follow.

Reading Books

When I was pregnant with Ellie, Daniel would tell me how excited he was to read to his baby. He just knew that he would be able to connect with his children through books. When Ellie was born, he did what he said he would and read to her a lot. It is nice to see that as we now have 3 children, he still loves to read the kids books. They love it too.
Last weekend we switched the kids rooms around and moved the bookshelf that was in Owen's room into Maggie's room. Ellie and Owen have always loved escaping into the bedroom to read books together and now Maggie joins in on the fun.

These days, Owen is most obsessed with books. Whenever we go anywhere in the car, he runs out to the garage with a book or two tucked under his arm.

Ellie's favorite thing is to "read" to her brother and sister. Her words are usually better than when mom or dad reads them. Elise is really into girly books (along with the other girlie stuff she loves) like Angelina Ballerina or other princess type books.

Maggie just thinks opening the books is pretty cool.

New Sleeping Arrangements

Without ever meaning to, I ended up doing sort of an attachment style of parenting. My children find comfort mainly from me. All three of them need to feel my skin in order to feel comfort (I know, it's weird). Elise is partial to having her fingers on my elbow pits, Owen needs to feel the backside of my arm and Magdalyn needs to grab fist-fulls of my arm, pinching me in the process. They even fight over my arms. I am aware that this is strange.

Maggie has been the worst. I think this is because she is on the tail end of 3 babies pretty close together. At night, we always did the easiest thing in order to get a few extra minutes of precious sleep. We've really paid for it and you'd think we would have learned our lesson by the third, but we haven't. Anyway, Maggie would start in her bed (most nights) and then end up in our bed every night by midnight. Plus, she was waking up a lot and feeling like her mom should be nursing her ALL THE TIME. This weekend we decided we needed to start teaching her how to soothe herself. So, for the first time, we let a child cry it out at night.

We moved Elise into Owen's bedroom (which they LOVE) and now Maggie is all on her own. We've let her cry for quite awhile and I have not been going into soothe her at all. After awhile, Daniel goes in and loves on her a bit and puts his hand on her back and she goes back to sleep. It makes my stomach hurt just thinking about her crying in there, but I got some ear plugs and I have been trying to be strong. I get so paranoid that something is going to happen. I just say a prayer every night that she will be ok and I know it will be ok. I mean, at least ONE of our children needs to sleep through the night. I mean, Ellie is almost there, but she is about to turn 4---it's about time.

This is how naps have been going. She used to always nap on our bed, but then as she got more mobile, I got scared so she napped on our pillows instead. I know, it's ridiculous (at least she wasn't needing to be held anymore), which is why we are going to be strong and get this girl sleeping through the night! I'll update later.

Backyard Water Fun

Since it has been in the 90s the last couple of days, I've been making sure the kids have been enjoying the outdoors.  We went to the park, on walks, but the favorite thing is playing outside in the water.  We don't have a pool or anything (though that is changing today) so I gave them a bunch of bins to fill up and sit in.  Pretty trashy, but you make do with what you have.  Anyway, here are a ton of pictures of our backyard fun.  We invited a friend over, so that is the other little boy you might see in some of the pictures.

Ellie was in control of the hose most of the time and the boys didn't mind... they had a nice little game going where she chased them around trying to spray them.  She was pretty serious about it.

Here is Owen (left) and his friend, Spencer.  They are in the same preschool class and I usually pick the kids up and I look pretty crazy with four kids because it looks like Owen and Spencer are twins since they have the blond hair, plus they have the same backpack.

Mags was enjoying the outdoors as well.  She had a blast since she is usually just pressed up against the glass door watching Ellie and Owen while they play outdoors.

The kids don't eat Popsicles very often and you can see why... they get pretty messy, but outdoors is a great place to let them at 'em!

Mags playing with one of Owen's cars.  She is pretty cute because she loves playing with Ellie's babies with her but she also really loves to play cars with Owen.  She really does love her big brother and sister.  She especially likes to pester Owen.  Maggie is a pretty funny kid.

I imagine you will get to see a whole lot of backyard water fun this summer on our blog, just enjoy the pictures. :)