Sleeping Duty

Last night after a little disagreement over "man food" we went to Life Group and it was awesome. I got to know some of you much better. Others of you really challenged me, which I truly appreciate because it encourages me to dive deep into the Word.
I know you are all wondering about the "man food" comment. Well each family was to bring man food for our Life Group dinner. Brian wanted to bring Pub Mix (which is a pretzel, crunchy thing mix) and I thought that was more of a snack and thought we needed something hot like pizza. Needless to say my darling husband dropped us at Life Group and drove out to get real "man food". Thank you honey! You are such a great husband. I love you!

So after a great life group Hannah wanted Kacy to sleep over. To which Jen and I agreed it would be fine. So this was our FIRST real sleepover experience. So I was not sure what to expect, but I knew it would involve lots of giggles and squealing. After arriving home the girls ran to the playroom and put on princess dresses and played for an hour or two. They had a ball. The two girls played with the doll house most of the time. They took turns being the kid. I just love that they kept saying "Mommy" and I kept responding. You would think I learned my lesson last time.
So after lots of fun we decided it was time to get into their pajamas. The girls both had princess pajamas, but they were the same which was a catastrophe let me tell you. Although they quickly resolved it by deciding they would just buy each other new pajamas for their birthdays.

After the girls were ready for bed I let them pick a bedtime story. They wanted to read "sleeping duty" or "Cindarerra". ( I love how they talk!) We decided to read sleeping beauty. Kacy was sure to tell us what was going to happen before we turned the page. I guess she didn't want us to worry. So the girls finally fell asleep about 10pm.

They woke up at about 7:15am and started to play again. We played princess and then the girls played mermaids in the bath tub. I could NOT get those girls out of the tub. Their poor little lips were turning blue and they were shivering, but they weren't cold and they really didn't want to get out. Finally Hannah wanted to get out so Kacy decided that I should just put Carter in the tub. So funny. Finally, all the kids were dressed and ready to eat. So we made a pancake breakfast.

We finished eating and then cleaned up the playroom a little. Kacy was very obedient. Then, Jen, Sam, and Trey joined us for lunch. It was so fun to visit with Jen. Sorry it was a short visit, but we are busy moms and I will take every moment of fellowship I can. Even if it is too brief. Above the kids made lemonade for our lunch. Thanks for being such great kids. We love all of you!

Train Party

Welcome to Carter Station. I am going to attempt to create a virtual tour of the party for our friends and family that weren't able to come to Carter's 2nd Birthday party.

"Welcome to my party I'm Conductor Carter."

Carter was not so sure about wearing the overalls. As soon as he was dressed he started pulling at the straps saying, "off, off, I want off 'pease'(please)" But by the end of the day we couldn't take them off. Brain even rolled his sleeves to make him look more like a working man.

As you entered Carter Station the house was filled with tons of balloons. Carter loved running through all the balloon strings. At the end of the party Hannah and Carter made two huge balloon bunches and were chasing each other around. I just love the love and giggles they share. Carter really looks up to Hannah and Hannah really loves to tell him what to do. I just pray that their loves continues through the years.

Next, we have the train cake. I decided that I wanted to make a train cake for the party and as I surfed the net I got the idea to make an actual train out of cake and various other food items. It was a lot of hard work and took a lot of man hours. Thank you to Sue! I don't know what I would have done without her help. At one point I thought I might have to move the party till Sunday just so the cake could be completed.

Our first activity was a train craft. Thanks to all the moms for their participation. I don't know how I would have done this task alone.

Hannah worked on her train until I finally had to clean off the table for our lunch.

Beck and Anna.

Owen and Jena with their completed project. Notice the driver of the train is a picture of each of the kids. I thought it came out really cute.

Although the highlight of craft time for me was when Carter kept gluing cotton balls to his fingers. He would start yelling "Momma help, Momma help!" If I didn't respond immediately he would start to really throw a fit. Oh the stress of being two. He kept putting his finger on the glue stick and then picked up the cotton balls. I just laughed because he truly couldn't figure out what was happening.

Girlfriends. At one point Anna started to cry for her mom and Hannah said, "it's ok Anna I will hold you." They stood there hugging and then Anna went and sat on her lap. Too cute! I just love that Hannah thinks she can hold Anna.

Kiddos table.

Blowing out the candles.
Carter was really not so sure about everyone singing to him. He started to cry, but we sang through it. He did blow out the candles all by himself. I am not sure if it was the blowing or the spit that actually put out the flames. The good news is that I made another cake for us all to eat. So Carter got to eat his train. I loved watching him pick apart the details. First, was the graham cracker roof. Although truthfully it was hard to watch all of the hard work gone in minutes. I now understand the guy that makes the most beautiful cakes and then leaves before the people eat them because he can't stand to see them cut the cake.

Carter are you eating your cake?

We ended by opening gifts.

Thank you to everyone that made this such a special birthday for Carter!

Train Party

Train Crafts

Today the kids and I did lots of crafts to decorate for Carter's Train Birthday Party tomorrow. We all had such a great time. Hannah loves to do any craft, but I was really surprised how much fun Carter had.

decorating the trains

making the train tracks

Hannah worked very hard on the spacing

Here is the final craft. We still have a few more to make. If you want to see more photos click below.

Train Crafts

Thank You Hudson & Andrew

Carter loves his gifts. As you can see he was really excited about the stickers. I am so impressed. The kids and I were having craft time when I heard a knock at the door. It made me jump. It was UPS with a package. I am just so impressed that you shipped it. WOW! Thanks so much that was really a nice surprise. I figured we would just celebrate when we see you. Now you are putting the pressure on me to be on top of shipping gifts. Way to set the standard Jen.

Anyway Hannah was a little sad that the man in the brown truck didn't bring her anything, but that was okay when she found the note that Hudson made with the car sticker. She told Carter he could have the presents because Hudson drew her a picture.i just love that they love each other so much!

Little Tinker

Hannah loves to change her outfit 10 times a day. This was her favorite outfit yesterday.

Happy 2nd Birthday Little Man

Little Man we are so blessed to have such a great little boy. I just love Carter's smile and his incredible level of tolerance. He is such a sweet boy that just loves his cuddle time!

This morning he woke up and went down stairs, "Momma, Momma. Boons boons." Then he held his breath and let out a yell, "BALL, yeah". Carter really loves his new basketball hoop.

I just want to note that it is his birthday so I let him take his pacifier out of bed. It is his special day.

Dad took Hannah to school and Carter got ready to go out for his special birthday breakfast.

While waiting for breakfast he opened his present from Grandma. Thanks for the camera!

the sprinkle donut

Nance and Sarah Jane were so excited to share this special day with Carter.

We have now reached the TERRIBLE twos

Carter taking pictures of himself. He loves to watch the flash go off and then turn around and look at the LCD screen for his picture.

We picked Hannah up from school and she made a beautiful snowflake crown that says "Hannah is wonderfully made". The celebration of Carter's birthday will continue on Saturday with his train party.

Click Here for more photos

Carter's 2nd Birthday

Laundry Day

God is so Good!!! Last night I prayed that God would give me the motivation and strength to get up this morning at 6am so I could clean the house, strip all the beds, and wash the sheets before taking the kids to Music and Motions. This doesn't seem so bad except I was up until midnight last night doing all the other laundry in the house.
Last night as I was laying in bed and continuing to pray I just realized how much the Lord has given me and I am just so grateful! I have three perfect (most of the time) kids and a great husband who works so hard to provide for us. He even brought home my favorite dinner last night, chicken marsala, which was a really nice surprise. Thanks Honey.
Anyway I just want to give a shout out to all the moms out there. I know our job is so trying at times and all you want to do is give in BUT you are doing a great job! It is days like this one when I say Glory Glory Glory!

Little Book of Love

This afternoon the kids and I went to Carter's 2 year old well baby visit. He did a great job! For the first time ever he walked on the scale and got his height with no tears. He didn't even cry when he got his shot. Way to go little man!

When I arrived home I got the mail and found that I had received the recent issue of Red Envelope. Suddenly, I just started laughing and couldn't stop. The kids kept saying "Momma, Momma are you ok? why are you laughing?". Now look at the cover photo above. Are you laughing? I have played airplane with the kids many times and so has Brian, but I have NEVER thought that Brian and I should play airplane together. I am still just laughing at the idea. Not to mention that if attempted I might fall and crush him after his legs buckle from all the weight.

I also want to note that that not only are they able to successfully play airplane, but there are rose pedals showering them from above. Although I am really glad they decided to close the blinds.

So lets be honest. Have any of the moms out there attempted playing airplane with their spouse? If so, I would love to know if you looked just as graceful as the couple above?

I am thinking that Brian and I should now attempt this and post our picture so you can rate our form or lack of.

Sweet Smile

Sarah Jane just loving life. Her favorite place is on the changing table. She just smiles and giggles and loves to chat. Sweet baby girl you are growing up so fast.

Adventures with Daniel

So I am sure you are wondering who Daniel is.... well he is the voice of my Garmin GPS navigation system. My Mother-In-Law is in town and we wanted to go shopping for my birthday. So Daniel took us out to the King of Prussia mall. This was my first time without a guide. So I was constantly reading my map. I just had the most wonderful day. Shopping and shopping and shopping.

Our first stop was Crate and Barrel. The store was inspiring, but unfortunately I broke a French press while demonstrating how it works. "Oh %$#&, how much does that thing cost?" Mom yells. Whoops, I guess I shouldn't have done the demonstration. I felt so bad, but the sales gal didn't even seem to care. She was more worried about me getting cut on the glass instead of the $40 French press.

Although the highlight of our trip was getting kicked out of Victoria's Secret. Mom has lost 30+ pounds in the last few months and Victoria's Secret was having a huge sale. So we decided we needed to check it out. We were so amazed by the visual displays that we decided to take a photo of Mom with the display. Next, thing we know we are getting attacked by the sales team. "Excuse me you are NOT allowed to take any photographs in our store. This is our company policy." the very excited sales woman exclaimed. Whoops! So needless to say we took a photo outside the store. She is one sexy Mom!

While we are on the topic of Mom... I want to share that we had a great trip into Tiffany's. After realizing that we could afford NOTHING in the store. Mom wanted some type of souvenir. So over to the perfumes she goes. As soon as we got home she had Brian smell her wrist. Oh the fun things you can do when you don't have money to spend.

Thanks for such a fun day!

First Snow of 2008

As soon as the snow started to cover the grass Brian decided he needed to build a fire. He even cooked our dinner on the fire.

As soon as Hannah Grace woke up from her nap out into the snow she ran. It is so great to have a sledding hill right in the back yard.

Warming up by the fire. Getting ready to sled down the hill again.

Hannah was so excited when her friend Allison came over with her Mommy and Daddy.

Notice there are no photos of the Moms outside in the snow. That is because we were nice and warm inside. The Dads had fun playing in the snow with the girls. We are stilling hunting for Allison's WHITE glove. We learned that as cute as the white gloves are they don't show up in the snow very well.

Hardwork

Poppo, Thanks for all your help and hard work. We had a great visit with you. We miss you!