Family Day

Wow, cant believe we spent the day as a whole family, all day, with no where to go. It didn't start out that way, we had 2 events planned for the day. The first things we did was got up and went to the Primary activity, pajamas and pancakes. Kate insised on wearing her nightgown with the unicorns, she wanted to look her "best". And Lydia who typically cares the most about clothes didnt just wore an old pair of jammies. The girls did great at the activity, sitting with their class and meeting their new teachers. They played a couple of games and  it was so cute to watch them get into it. I loved the smiles on their faces. It was really cute seeing Lydia sitting next to her big sister. Those two girls love each other so much, it warms my heart to see them together. They have such a bright future together, all my children do. We got home (actually this was the only part of the day we didn't spend all together since Daddy stayed home) Brock was building a fire, he loves building a fire in our firepit, any chance he has he's building a fire. So we spent most of the day outside since it was 63degrees in January. I was suppose to leave and take Kate to a birthday party, but we were having so much fun as a family and Kate and Lydia were loving on each other so much I couldn't break it up. So in the moment I decided to spend the day with my family outside.
Brockman was so cute just toddling around, this is his first real time outside since becoming a big independent boy. He loves being outside. And I love a baby boy that loves being outside. He loved "helping" with the firepit, eating marshmallow, hotdogs. It's so cute to listen to him walk around asking "what's this" one of his favorite little phrases.
I was a little stressed at one point because I had so much to do during the day inside the house. If I take any time off the house chores pile up fast. Dishes, toys, laudry, it gets out of control fast. The floors needed cleaning from the kids tracking in mud. I snapped at Brock that I never get a day off, and I don't  have time to sit around. Kate-6 years old- over heard me and stood at the back door. (I swear I will never let this memory leave my mind) She looked at me with her hands held outwards and big smile on her face and said "momma I heard you mention you needed a day off, I 'll give you a day off, what do you want me to clean" It was music to my ears. What an awesome kid I have. I told her to pick up the toys and vacuum the floor, which she did, she pulled the vacuum out all by herself. She then mopped the floor. Neither one of these things she did a great job at. I still need to redo them. But I love that she was wanted to give me a day off. It made me stop and realize that the house isn't what is important, that can always wait, there will always be a mess. I need to spend more time with them. I love my family, every single one of my children was sent to me for a reason and I'm learning so much from them.

A first Tooth!

Wow, can't believe I got one kid losing teeth, one kid getting teeth and one who wishes she would lose teeth. The tooth popped through on Tuesday June 5, after a night of fussiness, runny nose, diarrhea and a slight temperature, he could be getting a cold but I'm thinking it's the tooth making it's way through, he was 2 other teeth that are sure to follow very shortly. Poor little gums are so so swollen, and he's been such a cuddle baby.

Kate lost her first tooth!

Yay! This tooth fairy is so happy that she is not out $150. The dentist was giving us 6 weeks to get that tooth out on its own and then she wanted to go in after it. Our insurance would've covered some of the procedure leaving us with the rest. I had Kate wiggling that tooth every chance she got, but it didn't seem to even budge. The dentist just called yesterday checking up on that tooth. Then right after talking to the dentist Kate bit into a banana and the tooth became very loose and even bled a little. Today we were at the playground and I looked over and noticed a missing tooth. Kate didn't even notice her tooth was gone. There's no looking for a tooth at the playground, so we are hoping the very happy tooth fairy will be very understanding with her situation.

Lydia turns 3!

I meant to write this post on Lydia's birthday, but we were busy having fun celebrating her birthday that I didn't do it. And then I thought I would do it that week after her birthday, now it's been two weeks. Lydia is a special girl. In fact I call her my special Lydia. Our family wouldn't be complete without Lydia because she is such a good mommy. She is 3 going on 23. There is nothing Lydia can't do. Lydia has been known to get into things. If Kate is quietly doing something I know this means Lydia is wrecking havoc.  A few recently instances, she got intop some makeup of mine and placed hand prints all over the bathroom. She constantly gets into my make-up and puts it on, she looks like a clown! She ruined a favorite tube of lipstick of mine,which I hardly wear, so I guess it wasn't too big a deal. She loves water and playing in water, mostly if it's at the sink, where it can splash on the floor causing water damage. She calls water, her "love potion". I find containers of love potion all over the house. Lydia loves to grab anything in hands reach and steal it, destroy it, or take it apart. If a marker is left around, either she will draw on herself or wall or take the marker apart. This week she got into my fridge and helped herself to the eggs which she cracked open on the floor, all of them. She is very mischievous, but mostly very curious about the world around her. She is also very sensitive so when she gets in trouble often she hangs her head low. She gets in trouble a lot, which she always apologizes to me by saying "sorry mom" in her sad little voice. Lydia is a very girlie girl, she love princesses, shoes that sparkle, ballet, the color pink and dressing up. She loves wearing dresses, and ballet costumes, and often will ask me if she can watch some ballet before bed. She reminds me a lot of me when I was little. She loves her baby brother and gives him lots of hugs and kisses each day. I love when she talks to me and will say "ok mom" like a grown up. Probably my favorite thing about Lydia is what we call the Lydia look, she has this special look she's been doing since before she was 2, where she looks at you out of the corner of her eyes. She so badly wants to be in her big sister's shoes, her sister is losing teeth and getting adult teeth and Lydia makes sure to show me how her teeth are doing the same thing.  I'm also working with big sis on some reading/writing skills getting her ready for kindergarten and Lydia is right there with us doing what she is doing.
For Lydia's birthday this year we had a big weekend, we spend lunch on Saturday the 19th with nana. She got 8 new princess dresses from Nana for her birthday, we went to visit her cousin twin Rowan, who gave her a cute little dress. On the 20th, she went with Kate and her dad to a birthday party for Kate's friend, but they got to swim and have fun. For dinner we ordered pizza, her favorite food, even though she asked for spaghetti. I made homemade chocolate cupcakes with frosting, On the 21st, we had a little play group at the house with the Hornbaker girls and a friend Ivy Larson. We gave Lydia a princess laptop and a princess nightgown for her birthday. It was a wonderful weekend celebrating my special special Lydia! And she is special!

My 5th Mother's Day

Mother's day was on Sunday, and this was such a different kinda Mother's day for me. I had my whole complete family with me. All three of my children here with me. I love my family so much and although I would've loved to have a day off from doing mommy stuff, I NEVER want a day off from being their mom. I love my children so much that if it means I still have to do laundry and cook and clean on Mother's day, I'll do it gladly as long as it means I have them with me!
We woke up and all the kids ended up in our bed before 7:30am, this is actually my favorite way to wake up. When I'm just waking up and have my whole family in my bed the only thing I can think of is, it doesn't get better then this, life is perfect! Kate went and got her present for me, which was a cute hand print on a wooden plaque. Then Lydia got her present for me which was her hand print on a pot holder. These gifts I will cherish forever and ever. Brock got me much needed speakers for my computer. We got up went to church, where they passed out potted flowers to all the mom's. We got home, Brock made me lunch, we hung out a little as a family. I watched the girls jump in their new little pool in the back yard. I kept thinking to myself I would love to take a nap and read some from my book....I did neither. We then went to my mom's house up in Harper's Ferry, WV for dinner with her. It was a great day.
The next day, Kate's preschool class invited the mom's to class and the kids served their mom's lemonade and muffins and fruit. Kate had been looking forward to this all weekend, promising me how she would serve me anything I wanted, I just needed to "ask her" lol. She was so cute. I still can't believe how much she has changed this year, she is becoming such a kid. She is so amazing.

Easter

For the Saturday before Easter April 7th we went to Uncle Van's house for our annual Easter Egg Hunt. The girls love this tradition. Grandma is living at Uncle Van's house and when she first moved there Kate took Grandma around the property showing her all the spots where she found an egg from the previous year. So a whole year later and she still remembers, this must be important to her.

 Emily and Baby Brock

For Easter Sunday we went to Nana's. We hadn't been down to see nana in such a long time and we were missing her so much so this was such a fun treat. We always have a great time with family because we don' get to see them very often.

The Easter Candy The girls got from Nana....each girl got their own bag filled with all this stuff.

Easter Morning at our house, before we went to Nana's. I have a really cute video of Lydia trying to wake up Kate to tell her the Easter chocolate was down stairs. She kept getting the words mixed up and would say the chocolate bunny came to our house. Kate wanted to know if there were bunny prints in the house...something I told her the bunny did from the year before that she must have remembered. The big hit this year in the Easter baskets were the make-up kits, just some lipgloss and nail polish...the girls loved getting make overs! They also got some cute disney princess night gowns. Poor baby Brock...didn't get anything this year. The Easter bunny was spread thin this year, since we just got home from a week long vacation from Virginia Beach.

Family Photo's