It's halftime

This month, the children of 3 of our closest friends (who are, by default, Ben's closest friends) started Kindergarten. Even though we made a family decision to wait one more year before sending Ben to kindergarten, I found myself being very weepy the night before school was going to start for Tanner, Emily, and Mia. I was laying in bed that night thinking, wow, where have these five years gone? I then did some quick math and realized that in five more years, I would be sending my baby off on his first day of school. The concept of time became real to me in a way I haven't ever thought about it before. I was half way there. Five years down, five to go.

When you have little ones at home (and particularly when you are a stay at home or mostly stay at home mom), the days tend to DRAG by. Way too often I find myself looking at the clock and thinking, "Seriously, is it not nap time yet?!" Lately I've had to remind myself to slow down. Ten years. That is the time that the Lord has gifted me with these three precious little ones at home. Ten years filled with things like diaper changes, meal clean-up, potty training, and lessons in sharing (all squeezed in between floor mopping, bill paying, toilet scrubbing and laundry). I too often focus on that part and get a little overwhelmed. I forget that it's also ten years filled with playing trains and coloring sheets and children’s stories. Ten years of play dates and lunches at McDonald's. Ten years of napping in our pajamas because we couldn't think of a good enough reason to get out of them that morning. Ten years of arms wrapped around my legs while I do dishes, ten years of stopping what I'm doing so that a little person can crawl into my lap and clue me in to their current life-consuming dilema. Ten years of those sweet, tiny voices mispronouncing words and asking curious questions… a lot of questions... SOOOOO many questions.

A few times over these past five years I've wondered if I made the right decision by not working full-time and staying home with my little bitties. Did I give up a great career? Am I wasting my degree? Should I be contributing more to our finances? Then I think about these 10 finite years and I wonder, what could be worth exchanging these years? Who wouldn't like more dinners out, a bigger house, a nicer car, newer clothes, or exotic vactations? I certainly wouldn't turn down any of those things. But would I trade my 10 years for them? There isn't enough money in the world. They'll be plenty of time for those things in the future, but my little ones won't be little forever, and I don't want to miss it.

I blinked and half of my years are up. My prayer is that the Lord would give me the presence of mind to savor the next five, as busy, frustrating, and overwhelming as they may be.

The Paci Cow

The time has come for Gracie Belle to say good-bye to one of her best friends, the paci. Now that she's in a big girl bed, she's gotten up a couple times during the night when her paci falls down between the wall and her mattress. It is not fun to have to stumble to her room and fish it out at 3 in the morning. We had a similar experience with Ben around the same age, so we decided that it was time for paci to move on. We talked to Gracie all week about saying good-bye to paci and getting to pick out a new "pet" (what she and Ben call stuffed animals). She told me she wanted a puppy dog, but Brian took her to the store tonight and she came back with a cow. "Paci Cow" as he is now affectionately known.

Here are some pictures of our momentous evening.



Here they are, her two favorite paci's



Enjoying them for the last time!



Oh, pacis, you have been so dear to me.

Tucking them inside Paci Cow



Getting some hugs from Paci Cow after he was all sewn up.



Paci Cow has some moves!

We're going to be great friends, Paci Cow!

For the most part, our evening was filled with giggles and smiles. Then Gracie climbed into bed and said, "Ok, Paci out." 

Um, sweetie, Mommy sewed up Paci Cow. He doesn't open anymore. Your paci is in Paci Cow's tummy... you can feel them and hug them... see?

No, lady, I do not see. Kindly remove my paci's from this ridiculous cow before I go and find the seam ripper myself. Whose idea was this cow, anyway?  

(Ok, so she didn't say those things... but it's what she was thinking.)

A little upset with Paci Cow

 I then spent approximately 30 minutes making Paci Cow sing songs to Gracie. "Paci Cow says moo moo moo... Paci Cow says I love you!"

(I, like you, am mystified that my song writing has not yet received a Grammy Award).

My silliness won my sweet girl over and she made up with Paci Cow. She even requested that he have the prime spot in her bed, tucked with her under her blanket.



We'll get through this together, Paci Cow!



Requesting that I kiss Paci Cow "good-night"

 10 minutes (and no tears) later, she was passed out. I'm counting it a success!

The 4th of July that wasn't

For the past couple of years, we've spent July 4th with the Collins and Sullivans. We've cooked out, we've had a pool party, and we've gone on off-roading adventures on La Cantera Pkwy to get a prime spot to see the Six Flags fireworks show. This year, the Fourth of July included none of those things. The Sullivans had family in town and the Collins had some lame excuse about having a 1 week old baby (just kidding - love you guys), so we couldn't make it happen. To add insult to injury, nearly the entire state was under a fireworks ban, so there were no fireworks to see, either. It ended up being just Bri, the kids and I and we grilled hot dogs at home. Sadness.

Although we couldn't be together for the actual holiday, Liz, Melissa and I couldn't bear the thought of not having the annual picture of the kids in their red, white & blue. So we made plans to get together and fake it. Here are some of the pictures from previous years:

 

2009



2010

  I love all of these kids - they may as well be my family. These pictures are treasures. You can see why we couldn't skip a year just because of a logistical error! :)

So, here we all are this morning in our front yard. It's getting harder and harder to get everyone to look the same way at the same time. Happy Fake Fourth of July!  

Avery, Rylan, Tanner, Ben, Noah, Grace, Emily, Luke & Grant

 

I was trying to get a picture of just my 3, but Tanner asked if he could

 be in it, too. How could I say no?



They are too big in this picture.....

best friends!



My three blessings!

This picture cracks me up. Noah always has the same expression whenever Grace is touching him - one of complete terror and distrust. She loves him to pieces, and I think he's terrified that she will literally love him to pieces. Easy, Lennie.



She waited so patiently for her turn to hold Noah.

And the onesie is so accurate: "All American Hunk". SOOOO squeezable! I think one of these is going to be his 4 month picture since a) he actually turned four months old today, and b) I have once again failed to make an appointment to have his picture taken by a professional. Poor third child! 

Who needs a neighborhood pool...

when your daddy lets you swim in puddles in the street?

Like father, like son

My not so baby brother posted a picture today from his fishing excursion that made me look twice. He is right in the middle of "Operation Wooly Beard", as he calls it, and seeing that picture was like going back in time. My goodness.... he is practically a carbon copy of our dad. I immediately dug thru some old photos of Chuckles to do a comparison. What do you think?

I showed Ben and asked him who was in the pictures. He said (pointing to the one on the right), "That's Uncle Gav." I said, "Well, then who's the other one?" "Uncle Gav, maybe?" Ha ha!

I bet in about 15 years I can do a similar line up of Ben and Brian. Why do the Dads get all the look-alikes?!

Meeting Rylan

The Collins came over for dinner tonight and Noah had the chance to meet his new best friend, Rylan. The kids spent the evening fighting playing while the grown-ups tried to steer the conversation away from the impending move. We got some picture of the boys' first meeting (right after a simultaneous nursing session... just like we used to do with Ben & Tanner). Looking at these makes me even sadder when I think about Aaron, Liz and the kiddos not being around anymore. I see a lot of trips to Corpus in our future!

Noah (4 months) & Rylan (2 weeks)

You've got a friend in me :)

Deja vu ~ Tanner (6 months) & Ben (6 weeks)

Last day of school

It’s the last day of Mother’s Day out for this semester. It was also Ben’s pre-school graduation. I wasn’t too terribly sad because we’ll be right back here next year. We’ve decided that we want to have him home with us for just one more year before he starts Kinder.

 

Still, it breaks my heart when I see how big he is!

 

 

Gracie is trying to be big, too. She insists on wearing her backpack in and out. Yes, it is the same size that she is.

 

 

If she’s really feeling up to a challenge, she takes on the lunch box as well.

 

 

Here she is with her wonderful teachers, Mrs. Kim & Mrs. Tammy.

 

 

We love them both, and they love Gracie!

 

 

Just any other day for Ben. He went straight to playing.

 

 

The kids were all TOO CUTE in their cap and gowns.

 

 

They all behaved so well and did a great job during their presentation. Of course, Ben provided some comic relief. There was a boy in his class with the last name “Schwenke” and Ben just couldn’t let it go. He said loud enough for the entire room to here, “His name is SCHWENKE?!” Oh, my child. This is his father’s gene.

 

 

Standing up so proud… ready to collect his diploma.

 

 

But not without a big hug for Mrs. Monica. We LOVE her, too!

 

 

Our little graduate.

 

 

This family pic makes me laugh. Noah looks like he’s trying to leave and I apparently have a lazy eye. Awesome.

 

One of our friends is a wonderful photographer and her son was one of Ben’s best buddies at school. She took them outside afterwards for an impromptu photo session. Seriously, Mrs. Jamie takes the best photos!

 

 

It was a sweet, fun day. I’m so glad that I was able to enjoy a “dress rehearsal” this year. I’m sure that when he really has his last day of pre-school next Spring I’ll be a hot mess!