He's in my heart

I'm not sure why I never posted this, but last month I had a super sweet conversation with Evan and typed it into a blog post that I never posted...



Evan:  Jesus is really in my heart

Me: how do you know?

Evan: I asked him

Me: when did you do that?

Evan: I don't really know, but I love him very much

Me: well, I am glad he is in your heart

Evan: Tomorrow, when I wake up in the morning, I am going to ask God too, I want them both in my heart.


My sweet, sweet little man...

10 on 2sday

1.  Brynn opens doors now.  We've been enjoying our time up until now just waiting until they finally figured it out.... I was hoping that nap and bed time in their big girl beds would be so routine, that by the time they figured out how to open doors it wouldn't be an issue coming out of their rooms at those times.  Not so.

2.  It's creepy.  Brynn is my stealthy child.  One day after nap she opened her door without me hearing it, so when I started walking towards the bedrooms and saw a small child standing in the hallway, I got a little creeped out...

3.  The other problem with Brynn opening doors...  she is the one that leaves the room, and she closes the door behind her leaving a screaming, upset Avery behind...  oh the life with twins...

4.  Potty training sucks.  It was miserable with Evan, and I'm not looking forward to it with the girls.  Avery asks me all the time to go sit on the toilet and go potty.  Some times I oblige, other times I try to change the subject.  She never actually does anything, she just likes to play around in the bathroom.

Until one day.

She peed.

Then she decided she no longer wanted to wear a diaper.  So we went and bought big girl panties.  I washed them.  I dried them.  I pulled a pair out of the dryer for Avery and she put them on immediately.  That lasted about 30 seconds and then she took them off, handed them back to me and said "ah done!"

5.  Speaking of being "ah done," I've been considering buying stock in bandaids these days at the rate in which Avery goes through them.  Evan has never wanted anything to do with bandaids.  Avery LOVES them.  Brynn is completely indifferent.

6.  Evan's filter is broken... or just non-existent.  He has been pointing out (literally) physical characteristics of strangers that non-5-year-olds would find rather rude and offensive.  *insert large sigh right here*

7.  Evan's last t-ball game was tonight.  Me and the girls didn't go.  Partly because his game crossed over their bedtime.  Mostly because it's too much work keeping them out of trouble...

8.  We finally got our fence fixed!! 

9.  If you need pumpkins this fall... plan to come to my house...

10.  I've been making some changes to my photography blog... slowly... I also recently did my first newborn session, and LOVED how it turned out!!

Hawaii :: the Flowers

again... I can't think of any words...

Happy Birthday, Joslyn

Happy Birthday to my sweet niece who turns 7 today.  We got a chance to do a little mini 'session' last weekend at my parents house and I was so excited for a chance to capture her gorgeous blue eyes!  She is such a beautiful little lady with a personality to match!

Lots of love to you, Joslyn ~ I wish I could sing you happy birthday in person today...

10 on 2sday

1.  This is my 3rd week in a row with a 10 on 2sday post!!  I think that's a recent record... Ya know why?  I started writing it in the to-do list section of my calendar...  I REALLY love checking things off my calendar...  even if it keeps me up past 10pm... (which is when I turn into a pumpkin...)

2.  We've had a pretty busy past week...

3.  I had a really fun family session...

4.  Evan graduated from preschool...

5.  I had the bizarre realization that we all matched what I dressed Evan in for his graduation 2 years in a row (2011 = blue, 2010 = red)  (Dan thinks I'm crazy for remembering this stuff... especially since I forget so much else...)

6.  We took a weekend trip to my parents' house in SW Missouri to celebrate my Grandpa & Grandma's 50th Anniversary...

7.  My parents actually live in Joplin, but thankfully just enough outside they weren't in the path of the tornado that hit last week.  We ended up driving through the town and witnessed some of the most unreal sights a person could see...  pictures don't do it justice...  but I will say, it is nothing short of a miracle that more people weren't hurt. 

8.  We said goodbye to Penny... she was my parents dog and part of our family for 12+ years...

9.  My Grandma E also came for a visit to my parents place, so we got another 4 generation photo... and the best part was my girls were NOT screaming while taking the picture!!!

10.  That's it.  It's 10pm and I'm turning into a pumpkin as I type...

10 on 2sday

A little more catch up...

1.  The last several weeks Brynn has decided she likes her bed enough to sleep in it now!  No more shoving a body out of the way when I open the door to check on the girls at night!

2.  Avery and Brynn love practicing their ABC's and 123's.  Brynn counted from 1 - 13, occasionally skipping 4 & 5, skipping 14 & 15 and hitting a random 16.  Avery's V's sound more like B's...

3.  I haven't taken the girls to get their hair cut yet.  As you can see, their hair can be a little unruly at times... but I'm ok with that for now...

4.  Avery has been such a little helper and a sweetheart.  She saw 2 skittles on the table, and asked for a special treat.  When I gave her one, she walked around, grabbed the other one and said "this one is for Brynnie".  And she actually gave it to her!!  Every time we have a snack, or do just about anything, she always wants to be the one that gives whatever it is to Brynn!

5.  Evan started t-ball a couple weeks ago, and had his first game tonight.  We had some nasty weather moving in, but we were able to get each team through a round of batting and field play.  I tell ya, getting a bunch of 5 year olds to focus on what they have no idea how to do is interesting... glad it's not me that has to do it!  Notice in the last picture where the bat is as Evan is running to home plate...

6.  We had our first smores grill out of the season last weekend...

7.  We've even been able to get the water play going...

8.  I've been working on clearing this out:

9.  To look like this:

(I have 1/2 a garden planted, but no picture of it yet...)  EXCITING!!  :)

10.  And this little man is getting ready to graduate from preschool...  watch out world!!  

 

someone...

...likes to play in dirt...

10 on 2sday

1.  I've been trying to figure out why I've had such a hard time getting these 10 on 2sday posts up.  Part of it is just being busy, but the biggest part of it is I'm just not motivated to write anything.  I don't feel quippy and I don't feel like anything I write makes sense... but here I go... a bit of catch-up to do...

2.  We left on Easter Sunday for our trip to Hawaii, and the Wednesday before, I got sick with strep.  At that point I was feeling so overwhelmed by my to-do list, that I couldn't imagine losing an entire day to laying on the couch praying the kids wouldn't get into too much trouble while I attempted to rest.  Instead I hauled all 3 kids with me to the doctors office so I could get on some antibiotics, only to be sent over to the hospital to get blood work done to test for mono.  I almost lost it when the doctor mentioned mono.  Thankfully it was just strep.  Just.

3.  The Friday night before we left (my family was all in town for Evan's birthday), Brynn started looking awful.  So Saturday morning I took her to the doctor and she got treated for strep too. 

4.  Everyone but me and Brynn got to go to our city-wide Easter egg hunt that Saturday morning...

5.  ...then we loaded up for chuck-e-cheese for Evan's birthday party, and I *think* he had a good time...

Oh, who am I kidding... he had a blast!

6.  Saturday night after the birthday festivities... we packed, said our goodbyes, and set our alarms for 3:16am... I woke up at 2:47am.

7.  My parents graciously offered to watch the kids at our house the week we were gone, and my Mom sent me pictures of the kids from her phone every day.  (one reason I LOVE technology)

8.  We've been playing catch up ever since.  Lots of spring cleaning, attempting to get our house ready to sell, enjoying the beautiful weather while we can before it gets too hot, hoping to get our fence fixed after the 2nd time it fell over because of wind...

9.  ...started cleaning out the raised garden beds, getting ready for Evan to graduate from preschool, trying to find the line of keeping the kids active this summer and not over-scheduling them with too many activities...

10.   ...and lastly, my Mom would be happy to know that we bit the bullet and got a new dishwasher this past weekend.  After spending a week at our house, one of her first comments after we got home (aside from glad to see ya, I need a nap) was how horrible our dishwasher was... yeah, it was that bad.  Dan emailed me one day with the subject line "there is soap in my salsa".  It was time.

Hawaii :: the Sunrise

Not to be outdone by the sunsets, the sunrise can be pretty darn amazing... especially when combined with some of the fiercest clouds I've ever seen, and they weren't even storm clouds (which was really good since this was the morning we went deep sea fishing)

Hawaii :: the Sunsets

I have never seen sunsets like the ones in Hawaii... and I have no way to describe the beauty in words...