Elise turns 5 today!

Happy Birthday Elise Louise!  Every year you turn another year older is a year where I can't believe I was lucky enough to have you as my daughter... and also a year where I can't believe I am old enough to have a daughter your age.

Elise, there is so much in you that is good, but I will try to touch on a few of my favorite things about you...

• you are a wonderful big sister...everyone tells me so
• you take wonderful care of your siblings, like a little mama
• you are incredible intelligent
• we love your long blond locks
• we love how excited you get about holidays.... it makes it so much better for everyone around you as they all get as excited as you do

• you hardly ever make it to bed after 8, but no matter what time you go to sleep, you always wake up around 5
• you like to poor everyone their own drink
• you have a very creative imagination and enjoy making up scenarios while you play
• you love to be told that you are beautiful... it always feels good to be told the truth
• you are the cruise director around here and are always curious as to what we are doing next

• you love to play with friends... you are a social child even though you are often shy at first
• your memory is amazing... I can never get one over on you and all adults learn quickly never to promise something without coming through on time
• you love all things girlie

• you are bossy... must be a first child thing
• you love swimming and will surely be doing laps by the end of this summer
• you always want everyone to participate and are good at getting others to join in
• you usually do what mom asks of you

• you love to have books read to you.. we are now reading you chapter books and you love it
• all of your grandparents adore you... why wouldn't they?
• you enjoy baking and cooking
• you love doing all sorts of arts and crafts projects

• you have a sweet tooth... not your fault...genetic
• you love being outside
• you have a green thumb and are eager to get outside to check on our fruits and vegetables as soon as the sun is out
• you love surprises as long as you don't know about them beforehand, then it's torture for you
• you love to dress up and pretend you're a princess

• you are very sweet and still love being held
• you are learning how to match colors well, but still aren't quite perfect at matching patterns (you pick out some crazy clothes sometimes)
• you are a crank when you are tired
• you're incredibly excited about kindergarten

• you love anything new... for a day
• you want to be a princess all the time if you could
• you have a cute smile that lights up all around you and also makes your dimple show

Ellie, we love you so very much.  You made your mom and dad parents and helped us to discover the meaning of true love.  Thank you for being the person you are.  It's easy to see that you have amazing things ahead of you in your life and we couldn't be happier that we get to be around to see it all unfold for you.  We hope you never lose your sweet and friendly spirit.  We love you!!  Happy Birthday darling!

Magdalyn turns 2 today!

I can't believe my baby girl is 2 today.  The time has gone by too fast.

Since it's your birthday Maggie, I'm going to write a list of accomplishments and things I love about you so we can always remember this time in your life.

• you have a good sense of humor already
• you love to eat but stay skinny
• you think you can do anything your older brother and sister can do
• you give the best kisses....simply delicious!
• I think you might be the first teenager to still be sucking on a pacifier
• you decided you wanted to use the potty in March and will go whenever you want to or I tell you to

• you have a funny personality
• we knew you were going to be a goofy kid from the very beginning and so far you have lived up to that
• you make silly faces all the time
• you have an attitude... a big one... I am scared for when you are a teenager

• you have your father wrapped around your little finger
• you fall asleep in your bed yet always wake up in ours...hmmm
• you are in love with your brother and sister and want to do all that they do
• thanks to your brother you like Lightning McQueen

• you love to be outside
• you enjoy helping mom do just about anything
• you like to clean, I realize this will pass
• you are sassy
• you love to be held
• you pinch for comfort and it hurts
• you love to have your nails painted

• you are very stubborn
• you can throw a nasty fit
• you love to look pretty and always remember to put a bow in your hair
• you enjoy planting in the garden
• you think your hot stuff when you get to carry the keys to the mailbox
• you love the puppy... sometimes too much

• you have a toothy grin 
• you love to go places and see new things
• you LOVE the water...it's scary
• you give really good squeezes (hugs)

• you love it when mom takes your picture but aren't a fan of strangers taking your picture

• you love looking at pictures
• you really enjoy reading and constantly have books in your arms
• you are a great snuggler

• you have curly hair and we love it--even if your sister snipped some of the curls off
• you're very concerned about dental hygiene and make sure that all the kids get their teeth brushed
• you enjoy art projects, especially when you can do it all yourself

• you are talking up a storm now but you really weren't that interested until 18 months
• you are strong
• you can beat up your brother and sister--you don't take guff from any kid
• people always reference Maggie Simpson when you have your pacifier in your mouth...it's fitting
• you're a good dancer and you love to sing
• you can ride your trike like a champ... all by yourself

Magdalyn Beth... we love you so much.  You put smiles on all our faces every day.  We are privileged to have you as a member of our family.  Happy 2nd birthday my darling baby girl!!!

Oh Mama...

Oh Mama... yesterday was your birthday and tomorrow is Mother's Day.  How is it that you scored such a supreme week?  Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I am loving you.  Glad we are close, glad you are a good Grammy, glad you put up with my crap... mostly. 

Just wanted to let you know, the consensus at our house is that you are kind of a big deal and you rock.  Love you!

Me as a Mother

As Mother's Day approaches I find myself thinking about the last five years that I have spent in motherhood.  I didn't always know what my purpose in life was, but five years ago, when Elise was born, it became very clear why I was placed on this earth.  I was given a responsibility, a great responsibility, to help in raising these young souls and assisting them each in becoming intelligent, secure, happy and caring adults.  It's a huge task, one that a hardly feel adequate for and am always unsure of the right way to go about.

I didn't know, I didn't understand how much love could be felt for another until I had children.  It wasn't a magical connection when my first baby was born, in fact I didn't know she had such a profound pull on me until events occurred that tested that bond.

I'm a mom.  It's a job/calling/position filled with many everyday, seemingly insignificant tasks that all together can make an incredibly significant in one's children.   

It is my belief that we are able to take two things with us after this life, our knowledge and our families.   Recently, I have learned quite a bit about my own lineage through family history.  Through learning about the women and men I am related to that came before me, I have found a sense of pride and security in who I am, because I know who I came from.  When I think about my grandparents, I think about their children- and I think about their children- and then I think about their children... It's incredible to me how so many can come from two.  Just from my own parents, they have four children, two son-in-laws and 6 grand children!  What a legacy they will one day leave behind.  What will mine be?  What sorts of knowledge will be passed down from me to my great-great grandchildren?  I'm not sure, but I do know it starts here.  

All that I have learned in life has been for the benefit of my children.  They are better because of my experiences. They will know more because of what I have learned.  I will do my best to teach them all I can while I am able to.  Even though my days may be filled with housework, potty training, wiping noses, kissing boo boos, running errands and taking my children on outings... it is all for their good.  I am their example and they will learn through me. 

I realize that I have some who are not of my faith that read my blog, but I would feel completely ungrateful if I did not mention how my relationship with my Father in Heaven has evolved since my having children.  Before I knew for myself, my Heavenly Father knew that I would be a mother one day and He has blessed me with certain qualities and talents that allow me to be the best mother I could possibly be.

Elise, Owen and Maggie- I love you.  It has been my privilege to be your mother and as much as I try to teach you the things you need to know, you do the same for me.  You have taught your dad and I about love and sacrifice.  While some days are more challenging than others, I hope you will always remember me as a mother who gave all she could for your betterment. 

Training Lucille

Lucy has been in our family about a month now I guess.  We love her. She's ours.  So far she is has been a fairly good dog, very smart.  She learned crate training quite easily.  It took about 3 nights of letting her "cry it out" and since then she has done awesome and now we don't have to get up with her at all... she sleeps through the night.  I'm teaching Lucy a few basic commands... she is good at "sit", is learning "stay" and "off". For being so young I think she is doing great on walks.  Cesar Milan has taught me the best way to walk her and she does great... she gets distracted if the kids are going on the walk with me as they always run ahead and therefore she wants to as well... but I think she is learning who is the alpha in this pack!  She also took to her bed very quickly.  Wherever we put her bed, she usually chooses to lay. 

All this being said, there are a few behaviors-- completely learned since being in our family-- that I am hoping to nip in the bud as soon as possible and therefore am exploring different training options.  The biggest problem is nipping.  Naturally, to play, puppies nip each other and when a puppy nips to hard, the other pup yelps and then ignores its playmate.  Well, this is a hard thing to learn in our family.  While I think she is learning how Dan and I will play with her, she doesn't understand as much from the kids.  The kids run around, try pushing her off of them when she nips (she just sees this as physical contact which she assumes is playing), and drop food accidentally all over the place.  Other behaviors we want to fix right away are begging (this just started and no doubt from food droppings), trying to take a chew dirty laundry-gross-, grabbing diapers-super gross-.  Of course, these are all things that puppies and owners go through in the beginning and while I feel like I can teach her to do things, I have no clue how to teach her to stop doing things.

We are in love with this puppy and our children but it is very difficult to be consistent with our commands when the kids are around... she is just so excited to have them play with her and frankly, the kids don't know how to teach her what's right and wrong. 

So, we are looking into training options.  We could do a basic puppy class-- which they've informed me the whole family is encouraged to come and participate... totally laughable!!  Can we say 'nightmare'?.  We could do a private trainer or we could do a sort of boarding school where she can go for two weeks to learn the basics and how to listen in a consistent environment. 

Maybe our situation is not unique but I sort of feel like it is in that we have several young children and a young pup.  So, I'm not exactly sure which training route to go, but I do know that we will be doing something.  We have years with our Lucy and we are committed to having a dog who will listen to us.

Here is Lucy with her two favorite toys... her rope and her bunny.  She seriously loves this bunny and frolics all over the house with it, pouncing on it and jumping all around with it.  The rope is a good tool for when she tries to chew on something... if we just replace her target with the rope, she is happy.  We love our puppy so much and want her life and our lives to be in sync so that we can enjoy one another and know what to expect of one another.  Hopefully we can find the right training for us all!

Uncle Pat is Home!

Uncle Pat is home for the summer!  Yea for us!!!

My children are so happy... pardon the undies...

We've got Green Thumbs!

Inspired by many, I decided that we should grow our own garden this year.  It has been a really fun project and the kids love it almost as much as I have come to love it!  I'm a complete rookie at it, but hopefully we'll get a bit of production from this years' plants.  I was originally concerned with remembering to water the plants each day, but they get quite a bit from our sprinkler system and I have my Ellie reminder... Ellie remembers everything...  Plus, the kids and I venture out every morning and look at all our plants together

to see what changes have taken place each day.  It's been wonderful to be able to show our kids how tending to and working on something can produce something useful.  It's a good lesson about the importance of taking care of something... you know, in addition to that dog we bought! :)

The above picture was taken Easter weekend shortly after we planted.  We planted about half already started plants and about half seeds.  As you can see from the below pictures, they've both done well in just 2/3 
weeks!

We planted quite a few things.  As mentioned before, I am a rookie so I wasn't too sure what spacing I should do with the seeds and plants.  From the bottom of the screen on the left up we have pumpkins, a row of herbs, carrots, broccoli, 2 rows of peas, corn, canteloupe, watermelon, raspberries and grapes.  The second picture from the bottom up are several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, squash, zuchini, eggplants, corn.  So, things will probably get crowded quickly.  Our next phase of gardening work to be done is making another bed along the back fence in our yard where we will transplant some of the larger plants like the pumpkins, watermelons, corn, and probably our ichiban eggplant.

We have lots of our vegetable plants flowering and we've even got some tomatoes growing.

Ever since I went to Daniel's grandparents house and they had several fruit trees in their backyard, I've been dreaming about my own backyard fruit trees.  I've dreamed of my children out harvesting all the fruit from the trees, collecting them in woven baskets.  I've dreamed of the children and I together in the kitchen together working to can all the fruit for our food storage.... all while the angels are singing praises from the heavens... Well, it's a dream, not exactly my reality.  Anyway, the dream was semi-crushed when I realized that we have a huge concrete slab underneath our entire yard.  Our actual yard dirt is only about 4-6 inches deep, not exactly suitable for tree growth.  So, after considering my options (like returning the trees, pawning them off to parents or giving them to friends) I discovered that we could grow them in large pots.  Sure this may not last us more than 3-5 years, but it is our now solution and all we've got at this point.  So, we'll see how they do!

Here is a closeup of our peach tree.  We've already got several peaches growing so that has been very exciting to see!

This is a closeup of the orange tree.  It is the smallest of the 3 at this point and I wonder how fast it will grow.  Daniel says that those green circles underneath the flowers are actually oranges, but I'm not sure they aren't just little buds or something.  We'll see, I hope my orange tree fruit comes to fruition.  Get it, FRUITION!  I am hilarious.

This is our lemon tree.  Oh lemon tree, I love you already!  Do you see that big ol' lemon growing already!?  Awesome.  And there are more little ones coming up behind it!  It is growing quickly already and that makes me happy as I hope its growth will reach all the way over to cover up that hideous utility box we have in the corner of our yard.  From what I've read, citrus trees grow well here in Texas, so I hope that's true.

Here are some of our strawberries.  We originally planted them in the bed with the rest of our plants but they didn't seem to be doing very well, so we moved them.  When we first got this plant it gave us a couple strawberries, but I haven't seen anything growing on it in awhile, so we will just have to watch and see what it does.

This is our newest addition... the TOPSY TURVY!  I've heard mixed reviews about it, but I just filled it up with strawberry plants this weekend so we will see how it grows... I already see improvements in the way the plants look since being put in the topsy turvy, so this might be a good buy after all.

Finally, these are just flowers that the kids and I planted together.  Well, we did it all together, but they got complete freedom to plant these how they wished.  I think our front yard could use more color, but I don't want to buy anymore flowers.  So, we are growing our own flowers!  Hopefully these turn out nice and strong enough to use in our front flower beds this year.

Well, there you have it!  Never thought I would be a gardener but I'm loving it and it is a good use of our backyard which isn't completely functional or safe for our kids to play in alone anyway.  I'm sure we'll update pictures in a few weeks to show you how we're doing as first time gardeners and certainly when we eat our first fruits of our labor!

Easter was awhile ago...

Easter was awhile ago, but I haven't posted any pictures as of yet.  So, let's all pretend that yesterday was Easter Sunday and I am completely on the ball with my posting... shall we?

We had a great Easter.  We had just got our little Lucy that week and we were also doing a lot of yard work, but mostly we were having fun and enjoying the holiday.  Ellie is our child that gets excited about any and all things related to a holiday so she always makes sure we make the most out of each holiday.

Here are some pictures of the kids dyeing eggs:

This next sequence of pictures is kind of funny.... mostly because I forgot my picture was being taken and because I am one who always wears my emotions on my face... it's obvious what I am thinking!-- It's frightening watching your child dip breakable eggs into a dye that will stain everything.

All in all, a wonderful Easter celebration!