Catching Up

I promise we have not fallen off the face of this earth. I always thought I was so busy with babies (and I was), but it is such a different busy now that the kids are getting older. And, sadly, I only have one in school--I can tell it's only going to get busier. But, it is a fun busy.

What have we been up to? Warning: this is a choppy update.


JAKE AND PAIGE
There is not too much new with us. Jake has now taken on the role of head pastor while our head pastor is on sabbatical for the summer. And, I'm just keeping things going at home and getting excited about summer.


LACI
She is almost done with Kindergarten. This has got to be the fastest school year ever or so it feels. And, I'm thinking each year will feel faster and faster. She has thrived in Kindergarten and has really come out of her shell. She has made some sweet friends at both school and at church. She is very close to losing her first tooth. And that event may lend itself to a blog post all on it's own as I'm sure there will be a dramatic story to come with it. She is reading/spelling ALL of the time now. I can no longer spell something to Jake. In fact, she LOVES to text...(her grandparents and daddy). And, it has come in handy at times. Once I needed to respond to a text, but couldn't because I was driving so I gave her my phone and asked her to do it for me. Because she is the only one school she is confident in the idea she knows all things. For example, she drew a picture of a lizard the other day and wrote "lizerd" underneath it. She asked me if she had spelled it correctly and I said that the "e" was supposed to be an "a," but that vowels can be tricky. Her response, "well, it can be an 'e', too." She does not want to be wrong. I think I know where she gets that from. She loves to draw and color. At church the other day I asked her to draw what daddy is preaching. This was her drawing:

This is a picture of Jake standing behind the podium (you can even see the little microphone clipped on his shirt). She had asked me how to spell preaching, but I thought she said projecting. I couldn't help but laugh when she wrote above her picture, "Daddy projecting." But then I realized what she was doing and helped her spell "preaching."

Jake took Laci to a daddy/daughter dance. They had a great time.

LUKE
He is just loving the friends he is making here. In fact, as I'm writing this blog, one of his best friends is over here and Luke is dressed as spiderman and his friend is dressed as a Jedi knight. And they have agreed that they can be friends. He still LOVES playing with legos and building forts anywhere around the house. I frequently have to hunt down blankets and pillows at the end of the day. And now, he has learned that he LOVES to color, too. Frequently the kids just sit at the counter while I cook and color. He likes his pictures to reflect exactly the colors they are suppose to be. So, if Luke Skywalker has blue eyes in the movie, then he needs blue eyes in the coloring book and it is NOT okay to do it incorrectly. His other big thing is to do and be anything Jake. If Jake likes to watch sports center, so does Luke. If Jake is working outside, so is Luke. He even likes to dress like Jake. I love it and pray he looks up to his daddy for a LONG time.

Helping out at Aubrey's swim lessons. Funny enough, Aubrey hated swim lessons (even though she LOVES to swim) and would just whine so much she would eventually sit out wrapped in a towel. Meanwhile, Luke would be in the water with all the other 1-2 year olds helping them learn to swim. One little girl at swim lessons would only did what Luke told her to do.

Helping my dad blow the grass and leaves off the patio.



AUBREY
Oh, where to start? She is two and half for starters. That in and of itself should give some indication of life at our house. Also, she is kid number 3. She thinks she can and should do everything her siblings do. And the funny thing is...that she can. She is doing things my other two never thought about at this age. She loves to color just like Luke and Laci. Not only does she like to color pictures, but my counter, her books, my floor, etc...She loves to dance and make Luke and Laci laugh, she LOVES to be center of attention. Eating is quite the battle in our home for all three kids, but especially her. So, we try to make it positive when we can. While eating grilled chicken one night we would all clap after each bite she took. The next night, she ate a bite of whatever we were having (I'm sure it was something disgusting) and she looked at us and in a very matter of fact way she said, "clap. clap" Later on that evening she was face timing with my parents and after Laci or Luke had about 5 seconds to see my parents, she would say, "my turn, my turn" and proceed to spend 5 minutes with my parents.
Aubrey recently had her adenoids out and her tongue clipped (she was severely tongue-tied, although you would never know because she is such a talker). She was having terrible colds, or "snots" as she called them, and she was a TERRIBLE snorer. We could hear her breathing/snoring from the living room. It has made the world of difference--no more snoring and no more "snots". I love it. But, what she has picked up now that she can actually breathe through her nose and no longer needs her mouth to breathe is thumb-sucking! And, she loves her thumb.

She went from this ("snots")

To this (post-op)

To this (thumb-sucking). But, hey, at least she is quietly sleeping and breathing with her nose! I'll take it.


Potty training--let's just say we are basically in cloth diapers around here. But, I'm going to stick with it. I haven't bought diapers in months!!!!


Few more pics:

Easter:

Best picture I could get of anyone in their Easter clothes. And, that was my dress once.

We got to have Jake's parents for Easter. It was a great visit.

Sound Machine or Sermon Podcast

There are mornings in our house where I just have to wonder why and how our son could wake up as early as he does. And we use fans/sound machines in the kids' rooms just to help with their sleep (anything that gets me more sleep, I'll try).
This picture (courtesy of our sweet friend, Ginger) is not an uncommon thing for our congregation to see on Sunday mornings. So, I'm thinking...why not put an iPod in Luke's room with podcasts from various REALLY GOOD preachers and then I'm bound to get more sleep in the morning.

Ironic that Luke's daddy is a preacher? Hmmm...maybe I should just wake Jake up at 5 in the morning and have him go into Luke's room and start practicing his sermons! It will give Jake some indication of at least one person's response :)

Goodbye Diapers!

It was not in my plans to potty train Aubs this soon, but she left me no choice. Everytime that girl would mess up her diaper, it was off! So, I couldn't ignore it. I got the little potty out (which I vowed I would never use again) and SLOWLY started the process, dreading every bit of it. To my surprise, she has done pretty well. I think I can say she is pretty potty-trained. And, she is at that prime age of doing EVERYTHING by herself, which is helpful. Potty-training always comes with great stories...

I'm in my room putting away laundry and I hear Aubs run down the hallway saying, "hurry,
hurry, hurry"

I'm in the kitchen and Aubs has just started using the big potty (thankfully) and I hear her
self-talking "Don't fall in the potty, Aubrey, don't fall in." (you know, whatever it
takes)

Our first public potty experience: we are in the stall and I turn to look at Aubs and she is
SITTING on the floor, taking her shoes, pants, and underwear off to sit on the potty. I
was totally grossed out, but willing to go along with it, so long as we did NOT have an
accident in the store. And, I can look at the "sitting on the floor" in two ways: she
may get sick or she was just inoculated and will not miss those extra few days of grade
school.

As I've been happily (now) reflecting on this potty training, I laughed to myself: when beginning potty training, you pump your child with fluids so they know how it feels to have the urge to go and to actually go in the potty. And then when you are pretty sure they have it down, you start dehydrating them b/c you are brave enough to put them in big girl (boy) pants and run errands. The last thing you want to hear while out and about is, "I have to go potty."

So, let the dehydrating begin! Goodbye diapers--you will not be missed!

GEAUX TIGERS!!!

Be scared Alabama!

A Caterpillar Story

About 3 months ago, the kids and I were outside and found this little guy.

Because he was so bright green and plump and just very cool, we decided to capture him and put him in a bug cage. The next morning, we woke up and found this.

He was making a cocoon. We watched for about 36 hours and he was all wrapped up. So, we thought we would wait and see him become a butterfly/moth. After about a week I just set the cage on top of Luke's dresser and forgot about it.

Today I went into Luke's room and found this:

The kids (and Jake and I) were SO excited! Our very own home science project.

My oh my 6 YEARS OLD

This time 6 years ago Jake was calling all parents and friends (those coming to the hospital for the birth of Laci) to HURRY to the hospital, she was on her way out. My doctor even barely made it! It was the beginning of such a wonderful life ahead for Jake and I. As any first time parents, we had no idea what were doing (and still don't)!

Laci has had a very big year. She has gone from living in Huntsville, to Louisiana (with grandparents and all the fun that comes with that), to landing in Greenville.

Besides moving, the biggest part of her life this year has been kindergarten. She LOVES all of it (except computer lab). In fact, there are some days I really wonder if I ever need to send Luke to school. She comes home and "teaches" him everything she is learning. Really, he could just skip kindergarten. Her teacher, who is GREAT, uses big words around the kids to increase their vocabulary. To hear some of these words used at home, just cracks me up. Here are the 2 latest:

#1: Laci got a doll house last Christmas and we have been furnishing it this Christmas/birthday (due to destruction of previous furniture: refer to any blog about Aubs or Luke). It's got really tiny pieces (which we also discovered do in fact digest-gross) and it takes her some time to set the rooms up to play with. She tries so hard not to get frustrated with L and A when they frequently create earthquakes in the house. One day, while Laci was at school, such an earthquake occurred from little brother. I wanted to get it set all back up before she got home from school so she wouldn't be upset. But, I reasoned I had no time to clean her house and mine. So...she came home, saw it, and said, "who did this to my house? It doesn't matter. I'm not mad at whoever I did it, I'm just ASTONISHED." What kindergartener says "astonished"? When I told Jake he responded with, "I don't think I've even used that word in 10 years."

#2: Just last week when all the cousins were eating lunch, she comes out with this piece of information (in case we were wondering): "There are some kids in my class at school who have been URINATING on the floor in the bathroom." Of course, the response from the table, "what's urinating mean?" Sorry Jill and Chris :)

Laci is such a joy to have in our lives. When we told her we were moving and that God had called us to a new place, we were very careful with her emotions thinking she would be very sad to leave her friends (which she was), but she was SO excited about the next adventure. This is very much her personality. If you tell her about something that we are going to do or somewhere we are going to go, she is the kid who will help get the whole family excited about it, countdown the days, and is ready to always go.

She is a great help around the house. She even likes trying to get Aubrey to go potty in the big potty. Maybe I should excuse her from school for a week or so to potty train her sister. It would be worth it. She likes to help me cook when she can. And when she can't help cook, she is sitting at the counter doing her art.

With each passing year, her daddy is shining his shot gun more and more and doing more and more research on convents! He is getting nervous. We could barely watch Father of Bride recently. And, she is only 6--can't imagine what he'll be like as she gets older!

Everyone told me, it goes by so fast and it does. We love her to pieces and can't wait to see what this little 6 year old will have for us this year.

Happy 6 years old!

Thanksgiving with just us

This was the first Thanksgiving where we stayed home and had dinner with just the 5 of us (we've done it in the past, but only eaten turkey sandwiches). I decided to brave the dinner and make it for the 5 of us. I thought if it ended up in the trash (which it didn't) no big deal. I injected our turkey with my Uncle's recipe for frying a turkey. We didn't fry it, just baked it, but it was still yummy.
We had such a nice relaxing family day and I would do it all over again.

Crushing up cornflakes (perfect job for Luke--making a mess)

Snapping green beans (perfect job for Laci--getting everything neat)

eating the cornflakes (perfect job for Aubrey--staying out of the way)

Our table. Laci and Luke helped set it last night and created the centerpiece (fall leaves and acorns). Those are not Aubrey's teeth, just pecans and Luke is not praying, but pouting because I asked him to smile. Yes, I did pull out my crystal. The kids loved it. Surprisingly, Laci broke hers while drinking her milk. Oh well! At least my crystal got used.

I was trying to capture a cute/posed kid picture.

Best buddies! It's been nice having Laci out of school this week. Luke misses having her around.

Trying to get a Christmas card picture. We'll try again.

A little post-dinner football. It didn't last long before we all had our post-dinner rest. Which is also when we discovered that our 4 year old, I mean 2 year old, climbs out of her bed. Yikes! That will be another post.

All in all it has been a great, quiet family day. I'm already eating leftovers--yum! I may even attempt some black Friday shopping. Jake doesn't think I'm serious. We'll see!