Squeezing it all in...

I guess you could read that title to mean a bunch of things.  Like..."squeezing it all in to one weekend", or emptying the camera and "squeezing it all into one blog post".  I think it may also refer to what it's going to look like later this week as we pack to get ready for our trip to the lodge with my family.  I'm willing to bet we'll be "squeezing it all in" literally as we pack up everything this troop is going to require for a week in isolation from the rest of the free world.

 

Regardless, it has been a busy few days for us.  I held true to my promise of trying to get out of the office one afternoon each week during the summer and picked Joshua and Lauren up Friday afternoon to head to the movies to see Monsters University.  What a cute movie it was!  And I swear, I had the most adorable dates that afternoon, donning their 3D glasses.  It was Lauren's first time to see a movie in the theater, and I was proud of her for not getting scroochy until the movie was almost over.  We felt a bit like criminals smuggling in our peanut safe snacks, but I was grateful that the kids didn't seem to mind eating their popcorn out of a ziploc baggie.

 

Saturday was an at home day for me as I was preparing for a little picnic that evening with the Knepleys.  We were thrilled to have picked one of the hottest days of the summer so far.  Yeah right.  Their new baby, Mason, is only a month old, so it was great fun to have a little little one in the house.  Their almost three year old, Miller, jumped right in with our big kids and was running all over the place despite the sweltering heat.  We ate too much, drank some wine and shared some good laughs about how quickly our lives have changed from our wedding days until now- with five little kids between the two couples.  As is the case with most fun times, I neglected to get out my camera.  But having to hold it might have hindered my ability to enjoy that glass of wine.  So I'm glad I didn't have to worry about that.  :-)

 

Sunday we had all good intentions of getting up for Sunday School, but I knew I was defeated as soon as the alarm went off and I couldn't convince myself to get out of bed.  Too much fun on Saturday night I guess.  I did, however, consider it a victory that I talked myself out of skipping church altogether, and the kids and I headed for church and made it there on time for the service.  As is usual, I ended up in the nursery with Mara while the big kids were in Wee Worship, but it was OK.  She is starting to learn how to behave through the first 15-20 minutes of church now that we're out there with Joshua and Lauren too, so that's a good thing.  She has her moments, and more often than not, I end up sweating as I try to keep her occupied and quiet (quiet is the issue without a doubt), but we're getting there.

 

I am noticing so much development happening with Mara these last few days really, that I started snapping pictures of some of her new skills.  I feel like she has been a little slower at picking things up than the other two were, but I don't completely trust my memory on that either.  Things have gotten awfully fuzzy in my memory since Mara came along.

 



 

 

 She is working diligently to pick up food and get it to her mouth using her fork.  She has been "using" utensils for a few months, but I've been noticing in the past week or so that she is doing so with greater accuracy lately.  As in, far more ends up in her mouth than on the floor.

 

Anyone who has been within ear shot of me in the past few months has certainly known that I have been increasingly concerned about Mara's lack of vocabulary.  We have no trouble figuring out what she wants or is trying to say, and so many people have told me not to worry and that she will find her words in her own time.  I have to tell you, though, as we near her 18 month checkup in a few weeks, I feel like I have a test that I didn't study for, because they're going to ask me about her words and I'm going to have to tell them that she can't say anything besides "mama" and "dada" and "eh", with the latter being her go-to for everything.  Well, after she downed her Oreo cookie the other night and was a complete and utter mess from the chin up, I grabbed my camera to take her picture.  To which she smiled and said, "eeeeeeeeeeese".  I nearly fell over.  In the days since, I have caught her saying "no", "up", "bubbles", "Bible" (when we're singing the B-I-B-L-E), "Nana", "Pap-Pap" and a few others.  So, all of a sudden, it seems to be picking up.  Here's where the fuzzy brain comes in again-- I know that the other kids started putting words together around this time, I just don't know exactly when.  So, it looks like we have some talking to look forward to soon from Miss Mara!

Books and puzzles are Mara's new found favorite.  I do distinctly remember Josh and Lauren being seriously into books around this same age, and it seems that Mara will follow in their footsteps.  We have been doing a whole lot of reading in recent days, with her favorites being Brown Bear, I Love You Through and Through, No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, her big word book and her Mickey Mouse lift the flap book.   Where's Spot continues to be a favorite, although all three copies that we have are now missing their flaps where she got a little excited to find the animals hiding beneath them.   I loved this picture of Lauren reading to her on Saturday morning.  Lauren is such a good big sister most of the time.  She adores Mara and I can just see the kind of relationship they are going to have down the road.  What a blessing!

 These were a few pictures of our crazy kids on Sunday afternoon who insisted, despite our urging, to be outside playing in the 100 degree heat.  Honestly.  But the last two pictures highlight Mara's newest ability to climb up onto things.  Little Miss Independent.  The big kids were sitting at the table eating a little snack and she was not going to be outdone.3

 

So that's the latest from this little corner of the world.  See you soon!

More of this.

I didn't have a lot of goals for this summer.  No particular manner I intended to go about filling the next couple of months with things to do.  But I can tell you this much-- we're having a pretty good one so far.  I am loving the fact that we aren't scheduled to the hilt.  We've been making plans for fun things to do on the fly, something that doesn't usually happen with us.  So far we seem to be focusing on doing things together as much as possible, and spending less time than normal going in separate directions to accomplish things.  And while it isn't always efficient to drag the kids to Sams Club or to pack up the whole family for a quick run to Target, I have been appreciating doing it together.

 

Admittedly, summer time is the time that I feel most guilty for being a working Mom.  There are so many things to do with the kids that I always feel bad leaving them during the day.  I think back to the gift that it was to have my mom home with us during the summers.  That teaching gig certainly had its benefits for the teacher's kids!  I am becoming more aware of it because Joshua is becoming more aware in recent days.  Last night, we were watching a movie about George H. W. Bush and talking to Joshua about what kinds of things he is going to do when he is President.  His answer... "I'm going to make it so that no matter whether you're a man or a woman, you get the summer off from your job."  Ouch.  Straight to the heart of working parents who are already hating leaving the kids behind at home for the summer months.

 

Joshua is absolutely loving spending time with his Daddy this summer.  No sooner does Jason get in the door, and Joshua is asking him to make all of their plans for the evening.  I swear, he must be planning all day long about the things he wants to do.  It usually involves basketball or playing Super Mario Brothers.  But this past weekend, the boys got a chance to go fishing, and they caught their very first fish together!  They were both pretty excited.  The girls and I stayed at home where I was working on jobs at the house- cooking, cleaning and laundry.  Surprise surprise.  I've been admittedly having a very hard time lately with the amount of things that Joshua is dying to do that don't involve me.  I can only describe it as the fact that I am missing spending time with him.  So I'm going to have to do something to fix that.  Last weekend the girls and I accompanied Josh and Jason to the lake where they were fishing, and that was fun, but the girls definitely make it hard for me to focus on Josh.  I guess I'm just having a little bit of a hard time with the stage we are in right now with Mara in particular- where I am the only one who can occupy her and keep her happy, making it nigh upon impossible for me to be doing the things that I want to be able to do with Joshua and Lauren.

 

Despite the struggles of having kids at the ages we have, I will say we are doing a good job of focusing just on the kids when we can.  We're spending lots of time outside blowing bubbles and taking walks and riding bikes.  

 

We're eating lots of watermelon and fresh strawberries, which I think is making the kids extra sweet.

We're loving watching Mara dig in the sandbox.  Talk about an investment of $50 that we have seen pay for itself over and over and over throughout three children!

And we've had lots of giggles about the kids making funny faces-- like this one!  Mara has learned how to roll her eyes--- in my estimation, this was perhaps not something we should have taught this little girl.  Something tells me she isn't going to need any help in the "attitude" department over the next few years.  But for now, we all got quite a laugh out of her. 

I think, if we can keep focusing on doing more of these things, and less of the things that aren't important, we're going to continue having a very good summer full of fun memories together. 

Just a glimpse.

I've been missing blogging lately.  I have been doing a lot of writing privately, mostly coupled with my devotions and Bible study while working on some personal things, and have been remembering just how therapeutic and rewarding it is for me to put pen to paper.  I think that's why blogging has always been such a rewarding hobby for me-- because of the union of writing combined with my family is the stuff perfection is made of.  Except that I write about the imperfection, and unconditional love of it all.  Ironic.

 

My posts have been full of photo evidence of the big stuff lately- Joshua's graduation and our family trip to Disney World.  But that isn't the real stuff of our every day lives.  So that's what I pulled in for today.  And I figured it may be time for a quick update on the not-so-exciting, but oh-so-real happenings in our world.

 

 

This photo requires a little explanation.  First, let me say that I am beside myself because there is now a Blogger iPad app.  It has probably been available for the rest of the free world for months, but I just learned about it today, so we'll pretend that it's a brand spankin' new piece of life changing technology.  Oh happy day.  I know I got excited when the iPhone version came out, but this has me much more excited.  So, when I launched the app this morning, I pulled up a few pictures from my photo roll on the iPad and landed on this gem from the plane ride home from Disney.  I really wish Lauren would just show a little personality.

 

The following two are from this morning's play time right before I left for the office.  Lauren was dressed as a police officer- but I had to laugh at the pirate earring she was wearing as well as the 3D glasses that Joshua insisted on bringing home from the movie theater when he went to see Iron Man 3 with Jason.  Just about every morning, the kids head straight for the costume box and get dressed up as something, as if their need to pretend is just too much to even wait until breakfast is over.  It's so fun to watch.

 

 

 

I feel the need to comment on Joshua's photo too.  Bless his heart, he moved this "office" set up at least three times before I left this morning.  He is constantly in search of a spot, anyhwere in the house, where the girls won't get into his things.  He and Lauren were actually playing very nicely this morning, but as soon as I walked down the steps holding Mara, Joshua's response was, "Oh nuts.  I forgot about her."  And he immediately began searching for higher ground that Mara couldn't get to.  Please take note, also, of the meticulous set up for his office gear.  Everything is placed in a very specific spot, lined up in accordance with the lines on his boxes so that things are centered and neat.  This poor apple did not fall far from either of the trees from whence he came.

 

Not much to say about Mara today other than that you can rest assured that she is very busy getting into mischief.  She has learned how to climb up on things in the past week or so and now can be found higher than where you left her if you make the mistake of taking your eye off of her.  This generally isn't a problem until she tumbles off of the summit of whatever mountain she has scaled.  She is trying with great intensity to get some words out, although we haven't gotten much that we can make out yet.  I know it's coming, and honestly, I can't wait to hear what she has to say once she figures it out.  Remind me that I said that when I'm wishing otherwise.