The Middle Man

That's our Huston. He is the lovely age of 4 - just turned 4 in April - and I don't know what your experience is but the 3 to early 4 range for my boys have been more trying on me as a parent than the 2 year old stage. In some areas it is a very sweet and fun age, but there is such a battle at this point against pouting and whining that it nearly does me in.

Huston has this natural battle going on, then added to that he has the older brother that tries to become his third parent and he has the younger brother that often destroys or wants whatever Huston decides to play with. All of those elements added to the mix we often see this face at home and it is usually paired with a scream, a whiny complaint or a huff in anger...

No this pouty face was not staged for the picture - he was once again told the dreaded "no"-word. If looks could kill I think I'd to of been killed 743 times over this past year. But among all the difficulties of the age, Huston is a delightful little guy. He loves being a big brother, especially to his new baby sister. He is proud when he accomplishes a big boy task. He is often overwhelmed by a process that is placed before him but after he tries and is walked through the procedure step by step and eventually tastes some success, his little face brightens up with pride in his accomplishment. He is very observant and freely compliments people on the things they have done or the new things they have changed. He tells people that he likes their hairstyles or decorating and will notice details that often totally pass me by.

He has loved his morning away in his preschool class. It has allowed him to have an outlet outside his brothers and he has thrived on that. He can't wait until fall to have his Wed. morning school start again. So the majority of the day we see this shining little face and we will try to patiently await the moment when he can flash that silly grin more readily than the pout!

A New Look

I switched templates as you can see - I wanted more side stuff options...you know so I can clutter my blog as much as I clutter up my house. More fitting huh..

My Big-Hearted Little Man

Who is this tall, almost 7 year old boy that is living in my house? I can not believe how fast the years tick away, and what an independent, sweet boy this infant of mine has become. Isaiah is one of the most sensitive, sweetest boys I know...and I'm not just saying that because I am his mother. Today he and Huston went with me to church while I was continuing to chip away at my project. They were outside playing and they have a "hiding spot" - a corner of the building with trees planted close to the wall - a nifty little nook to play in. When they went to their hiding place today they discovered 3 baby birds that had fallen out of their nest. Isaiah comes to find me in the building and choking back tears he told me that he found these helpless little birds.

We put them in a bucket with mulch, leaves, and grass as a make-shift nest and fed them worms every once in awhile. The thought of them bugged Isaiah all day. He would be in the building playing something else and all of a sudden stop and tear up telling me that he was worried about those birds.

He usually is quite content to take care of his younger siblings - sure they get on his nerves at times and he can bully them too, but really he doesn't do it very often. He is just glad to have the play mate and he watches over them. If they get hurt he sometimes cries along with them. If they get in trouble he has actually requested to take their punishment for them - amazing - I can learn a lot from him at times.

He is a terrific little man, he loves to draw and color, he can underestimate his abilities and becomes more confident with each new success.












He is enjoying his school work and now likes to read to his brothers which is another way that he helps his mom!







Isaiah is a great kid and God blessed our family when he made Isaiah the big brother. He fits the role perfectly.

My Goofy Boy

Avery is growing up. His face and body are slimming down and he is looking more like a little boy. His vocabulary is increasing, he loves to "write" and will fill every square inch of paper with marks on the front and back - and he will mark on his hands and feet and table and walls - well, you get the idea. Supervision is essential or destruction will occur. He is constantly laughing and smiling and if he isn't he is tired and grumpy. He is counting and starting to identify letters - not because I teach them, but because he listens to his brothers and mimics whatever they are doing! He has sooo much energy - oh to have that energy! That's one thing I am going to ask God when I get to see Him face to face - why in the world does the majority of the energy go to the kid!?

He would look even older if he would let me cut that hair! But in the heat and humidity is kinks up into curls anyway.

The Boys are Back

They have returned and they had soooo much fun in Iowa - they got to feed the cows, climb on the machinery, play with the dogs and eat junk all weekend - what more could a boy want?

They maybe missed us just a smudge and most of that smudge probably belongs more to baby sister than to me - but hey when you've got great family to visit and farm stuff to see and climb on who has time to miss mom...and it sounds like they did really well and behaved quite nicely on the trip, which has to make me wonder why they have to be so whiny and complainy with me. Cause I'm the mom I guess.

I spent the weekend sitting in the all too quiet house doing the necessary things like working and cleaning and purging the stuff we don't use. I did get some good sleeping time in there and some visit time with my folks...so I had a good weekend too. I just was constantly reminded how very empty my house felt so I'm just glad to have all the kids back together again.

I am anticipating a good and grumpy time of it until all of that running finally catches up with them and they crash for a good rest. Here's hoping it will come sooner than later!

Investments

Ok, you know that I told you that I had been working on a post for quite sometime - writing it and re-writing it - trying to get all my thoughts on paper so to speak. But I just kept hitting a wall - I didn't know how to respond to these things that God was laying on my heart and it was proving very difficult to fully wrap my mind around it in order to write about it.

But some recent developments have helped things have cleared up a bit - it has opened up a whole new perspective on the subject and I think I am now at a point that I can write about my thoughts with some clarity. This past week or two have been filled with gut wrenching tragedy - nothing that has effected me personally, just situations and valleys that other families are beginning to walk through or are right smack dab in the middle of...a 4 year old losing her battle with cancer, a mom also losing her battle with cancer and leaving behind a young family, a terrible family accident that took the life of one child and will more than likely emotionally scar the lives of her siblings. That plus all of these world events of cyclones and earthquakes that have killed thousands in countries that have so little to begin with. Just a bunch of heart-break that causes me to think about my life's journey in a new light.

Lately I have been feeling like there is too much stuff in my life. To much going on, too many things around me - both in the area of physical junk cluttering up my house and also misaligned priorities that are cluttering up my spiritual perspectives.

I am constantly picking stuff up around here - nothing has made me feel more like the glut of an American that I am than having 4 children. Now I am not saying that I didn't accumulate stuff before we started adding children to our family, but with each added member comes a new collection of stuff. Even after having a third boy, people continued to bless us with additional clothes and toys and to put it bluntly - stuff we didn't need.

Each birthday rolls around and we get more stuff to add to the piles. Thankfully the novelty of the next generation (we were the first in our families to add the grandchildren) has started to wear off a bit and the extended family does not smother the boys with gifts as they used to. But now we have added this first baby girl to the mix and her closet and drawers are already bulging with clothes and when she is old enough to play I know everyone will want to give her "girl" toys.

I really just wish I knew what to do about all this stuff - am I alone with this struggle? - probably not. Do you ever wonder why we are blessed with so much while many in the rest of the world have so little? I know I am called to be a good steward of the things I am given, I am called to use what I have towards God's plan here on earth, and I will be held accountable for the blessings I am entrusted with. The thing is, I look around and a good majority of the money and stuff we have is used for ourselves and our enjoyment, and so much of it is wasted in some way. That is the crux of the struggle that I have been having for several months now. What is God calling me to do? What does good stewardship look like?

I'm also busy right now - its a busy season for me at work - there will be lots of running around and coordinating and pressure for the next 3 weeks and then this major project will be over and hopefully I will feel like I can breathe again - and sleep without my mind interrupting me with "what ifs" and worry. But with all of this running around my family has taken a back seat at times. It's hard to get work done with so many small children competing for your attention...they want you to help them too. Just to much stuff to take care of - to some extent I enjoy the excitement of trying to get it all done, but really when I step back and look at what I have been doing there have been a lot of trade-offs and opportunities lost because I have been so job oriented instead of people oriented.

So now it all comes full circle for me I think. I promise, I'm wrapping all my thoughts up. All of these struggles really boil down to the same underlying theme. What am I investing in? When I've been looking to the Scriptures to help me answer my questions about how to use our finances and what to do with all of our junk the one verse that keeps coming back over and over is the classic - "Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

What are these treasures of mine that can end up in heaven? My kids, I pray...my family, the people around me. Those are the only type of treasures that I know of that can leave this life for the next one God is preparing. Am I investing enough in my kids so that God can to touch their lives and in turn teach them to touch other lives for Him? Am I investing enough of my time, energy and resources into the treasures that God has in store for me? I can see that I am making some progress, but I can also see some pretty big holes, many inconsistencies, and a few misguided priorities that are waiting to be tackled.

There is a song that Sara Groves wrote called "Just Showed Up For My Own Life" and it has this line in it that says...[I've been] spending my time at the surface repairing the holes to a shiny veneer...I think that's what I've been doing with all my stuff - I've been using it to repair veneer instead of using it to store up the treasures.

I will close this ramble with some more of the song, cause I think it describes where I'm at...There are so many ways to hide, there are so many ways not to feel, there are so many ways to deny what is real. And I just showed up for my own life, and I'm standing here taking it in and it sure looks bright. I'm going to live my life inspired, look for the holy in the common place. Open the windows and feel all that's honest and real until I'm truly amazed. I'm going to feel all my emotions, I'm going to look you in the eyes, I'm going to listen and hear until it's finally clear and it changes our lives.

I know that the old way of life will want to seep back in - cause truthfully its so much easier, but in spite of that constant struggle awaiting me, I'm off - off to invest more in people instead of stuff.

Just Us Girls

We're all alone this long weekend, just Lillie and I. The boys went to see Steven's family in Iowa. We had originally planned to go along for the visit, but I balked at the last minute. Lillie had her well child check-up yesterday and got shot 5 times, plus she just hates the car right now - so a 4+ hour drive to Iowa seemed pretty stressful. She also isn't quite sleeping through the night, naps would be interrupted and it just seemed the perfect storm for a stressful and tiring weekend. Add all of that to my piled up work stuff and our house looking like a yucky pit - I pretty much decided it would be a good opportunity to get some stuff done. Although, the weather is trying to tempt me to just curl up in bed and sleep the day away...its so cool, cloudy and rainy.

I hope the boys have a great trip - and I hope Steven does ok - this is the first daddy/son getaway, and he isn't amused by childish behavior for very long, even if it is coming from children. I had to pack their clothes so that he would know which kid belongs to which outfit, but I'm not there to see what their wearing so who cares. I miss them already - its way too quiet around here. I think Lillie senses that too, and I think she's taking advantage of it cause she is talking up a storm!

More Tony...

sorry - this is probably more selfishness on my part. This blog kind of serves as my family scrapbook too, so I am posting these other Tony Bennett concert snippets more for my behalf...for prosperity's sake. Enjoy them though - if you like this kind of music...I apologize otherwise :-)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fun for Me

Guess where I went last night - ok, you'll never guess so I'll show you...


That's right - dead center, lower balcony - that's where my seat was - and the price was right - it was free! Here is the evidence that it truly happened...

This is me taking a picture of myself in the mirrors and here is my program and ticket.

Pretty crazy huh. It was one of those times in your life when stuff just falls into your lap and you get to just let it happen and enjoy. Steven does a news radio show at our local community radio station. He usually interviews folks in the community about events that are happening around our town. We just re-opened our historic Missouri Theatre after a year or so of renovation. It was built in 1928 and had been in disrepair for many years. We still used it (I'm saying we as in our town, not me personally) for showing movies or the occasional symphony, etc. but the seats were sprung and lumpy, it smelled mildewy and the paint was chipping the curtain was stained, well you get the picture. Now its all nice a pretty...

























Well, getting back to Steven's show...he interviewed the executive director of the theatre concerning its grand reopening and all the renovation that has been done to it and the guy thanked Steven for the free press by handing him a ticket to the black tie opening night starring Tony Bennett himself. Steven had one ticket and he gave it to his wife...awww...isn't that sweet. I could mention that he doesn't much care for Tony Bennett anyway, but I won't...ummm...at least I won't dwell on the fact that that might have been a factor. It was very nice of him to give up such an event and let me go in his place.

So anyway, this was a black tie affair, and I don't know about you, but I don't have formal wear hanging in my closet waiting to be worn out for the evening - so I did my best but pretty much felt and looked like a fish out of water. I got to my seat and started chit-chatting with the man seated next to me - he was in his tux - as were the men seated in front of me - all the woman were sparkly (and let me tell you I saw enough old lady cleavage to last me quite awhile!). But the guy was very nice - seemed to me a good ol' boy who was a bit uncomfortable in this crowd as well and I was hoping that he wasn't passing judgment on me as I was trying not to pass judgment on all the people around me that smelled and looked of old money. He was very nice to speak with and then the show started and a lady comes out to start thanking all the people that made this night possible. She was having these different individuals stand up to be recognized and toward the end of her speech she called for one more man to stand for recognition - guess who that man was? Yep, the one sitting next to that under dressed gal...which would be me!

Anyway, the lights dimmed and out came Tony. I really do love this type of music...I will admit that I am not very knowledgeable of it and I don't own tons of CDs and such but I do really enjoy it. And Tony's voice is just total quality - I mean the guy is older than my grandma and his voice is just amazing - it's even that more impressive live and in person. He sang for almost 2 hours and he was really quite entertaining too. He had amazing musicians accompanying him and he allowed them to flair their talents as well. It was just all around a really fun evening.


I guess one of the main things that drew Tony to our humble little theatre was the fact that it is an old historic theatre and that is what Tony prefers to preform in. He mentioned during his show that the acoustics in these old theatres are so much better than anything you will find in theatres built today - he calls today's stages "filing cabinets" - filled with metal and plastic. And to prove his point he had his crew cut all the microphones and sing a song. It was wonderful and I couldn't help but to film it with my measly little camera. I'm sure it might be illegal, but I wanted to share it because it was so neat. So sit back and enjoy a little piece of Tony Bennett.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Smiling and Cooing

That's what Lillie has been up to lately. As of yesterday, she is now officially 2 months old and pretty much has started flirting with her family. The boys eat. it. up. - for now anyway. Here's a little movie of her doing her thing - sorry for the high-pitched mommy voice, but hey you want results right? :-) Well truthfully this isn't her best stuff, but its a sampling...I love the wide open muppet mouth smile she gives - could melt an ice-cold heart anytime!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

As soon as I turned off the camera and picked her up to tend to some other things around the house she started fussing at me - the girl wants eye contact! - except when she wants to be draped over your arm, then she just wants to drool on your foot.

Silly Lillie

Look at this baby - she is such a nut. I call her my sack of sugar, can you tell why?

Yep, she's asleep - this is one of her favorite ways to be carried - not so very slumped over like she is in this picture, but still facing forward and draped over your arm like a sack of...well sugar of course (you thought I was going to say potatoes didn't you...). She is so very slumped over in this picture because if you walk around long enough with her in this position, she will fall asleep and start drooling down your arm and will sometimes even snore. I joked that maybe she doesn't really fall asleep - maybe instead all the blood rushes to her head and she passes out - like I said, I'm just jokin'.

My mom is holding her in this picture - we were just leaving the wedding of one of my bestest, oldest (as in longest known, not aged) friends. She was one of the very first friends I made when I moved here to MO in jr. high and she finally was married yesterday after many years of fretting she would live her life alone. She made me cry when I saw her walking down that aisle - and I don't cry at weddings....and no I didn't get a picture of her - I had left my camera in the van and I was her guest book gal so I couldn't run back to get it. But no worries, I am also friends with her photographer so I will just have to sneak a copy from her.

Froggy!

Yesterday was a beautiful day and the boys spent a good majority of it in the backyard - where they experienced some more Missouri nature. They saw one of "their" turtles - this time it was Boxy and they fed him some strawberries - although he was more interested in hiding and getting away from everyone. He's a bit more skiddish, that one. (Oh, and by the way our conservationist friend told us that these two turtles of ours will not be creating a turtle family cause they are two different species - Boxy is an "ornate box turtle" and Twisty is a "three-toed box turtle" - just so you know) I do think I have officially determined that Boxy is a girl - so I guess I should stop calling her a "he" - if I remember correctly John the conservationist informed us that the bottom of a girl turtle's shell is flat, while a boy turtle's bottom shell is a bit concave for...umm...obvious reasons...

They also found a frog. The two older boys were a bit timid about picking him up, but not Avery. He kept grabbing it and re-catching it and making it sit upon his arm. It was fun to watch him play with the frog (or maybe its a toad...hmmm...guess that will be a new question for the conservationist).









Huston would let Avery pick the frog up and then wait until it was quite still on Avery's arm and that's when he would try to touch it. Isaiah just kind of stayed back and watched. He is definitely the cautious one - he won't try new things until all his options and all the risks have been weighed very carefully.













And finally here is a clip of the Avery with frog movie - it gets a bit boring toward the end - no one's talking and the frog isn't doing anything exciting, but at least you kind of get to see animal-wrangler-Avery in action.

What Flower are You?

I am a Daisy What Flower Are You?

I discovered this evening that I'm a daisy...have fun checking out your flowering personality here.

"You are just a sweet person. When a friend needs a shoulder to cry on, you are happy to offer yours with a box of tissues as well. Once in awhile, you wish you could be a little more dramatic but then sensibility sets back in and you know that you are perfect the way you are."

That was the description that came with the flower branding...ummm...can you say "barf"?

Terribly Tired

I know, I haven't been blogging - I am still swamped with other things (you know kids, a messy house, junk at work, the usual) and I have been working on a post - drafting and re-drafting it - for days now. Still not where I want it so I guess you'll have to wait. I know, I know its hard, but you can do it ;-) Ok, actually don't get your hopes up too high, I just am having a hard time putting all my thoughts into words with that one. So while you wait you may gaze upon some pictures of my almost 2 month old - oh my, the days just go too fast.

Muddy Monday

We have had plenty of rain this spring for sure...everything is nice and pretty in rich green colors. Last week was especially rainy - the boys were not able to go out and play in the backyard for quite a few days. Today the rain finally cleared and the cooler temps started to turn north to create a beautiful spring day. I sent the kids into the backyard. When I went to check on them I noticed that a hole they had dug in the backyard last week had filled with muddy water - Avery had noticed that too and had already started throwing rocks into it. I thought to myself, hmmm...no big deal, a little dirt won't be terrible, its kind of cute...and I took these pictures.


See, he's just so cute with the little bit of wet and mud on his pants cuffs

















and his sweet little hands,



















and the little bits on his chin.













See this is the harmless little pit of muddy water. What could happen?











Oh and look how he is going back to play some more. How nice. What a nice activity to do on such a pretty day...(do you here the "insanity" in this statement) - I obviously did not.
















Right before I went back inside to tend to Lillie, one of the older brothers decided to join the fun. Look at that face - there is no mischief about it...right?














Well a half hour or so had passed and during that time the biggest brother also joined in the fun. Pretty soon they were showing up at our back door. Isaiah and Huston did not even attempt to come in - they stripped down to their underwear outside. So the sight of half nudie boys coming in did wake me up to reality and I went out to head Avery off before he decided to come in. And boy let me tell you he was a sight to behold. He is mad at me in these pictures because I would not let him come inside...

I like this last shot - it's like he's too embarrassed over his mess and is trying to cover it up.

The older boys didn't really fair much better ( but I guess in their eyes they faired just fine) - they too were caked with mud, they had just stripped before I had the chance to take their picture. Here are their boots.


Needless to say everyone had a nice mid-morning bath. All three in the tub at once and when we were done the bath water looked like a Missouri creek - nice and brown and muddy.

I haven't been able to post about these adventures sooner because well, I have been too busy cleaning up the pants and the shoes and the bathtub and the floor and the - well you get the idea. :-) I guess that's what you call good clean fun.

Dilemmas

I have been faced with a couple of dilemmas this weekend - don't worry neither are life threatening or earth shattering...in fact they are very, very ordinary and 20 years down the road I won't even remember I had come to these crossroads - ok, forget 20 years - 20 minutes!

The first one is this - my key chain broke. It's not just any key chain, it is my little St. Louis Cardinal man key chain...the one I have had for my entire driving life. I got him at the old concrete bowl Busch Stadium when I was in Jr. High and he has always been on my ring of keys. The chain on him has broken before, the problem this time is that the poor Cardinal man is in very sad shape now...you can't even tell he's a baseball player. Along the road of his life he has had his bat broken off, and his paint rubbed off and you can't even tell what team he plays for - for that matter you can't even tell he has a facial expression. I should send him into retirement, but I can't. He's been with me for so long, getting rid of him would be like driving without a key. Replacing him seems wrong too...its kind of the way you feel when the favorite, solid veteran player is replaced by the rookie. It feels uncomfortable. So anyway I have to decide what to do with him. I'll probably just move down to the next link of the chain and put him back on my key ring where he's happy.

The second dilemma is something that bugs me like a little tiny pebble in my shoe. Huston has entered his cowboy boot phase. Isaiah had his season of boot wearing, and we survived it just fine. I really don't mind boots - in fact I think they look pretty sharp with a nice pair of jeans so I usually have no problems in allowing Huston to wear them....but I was reminded of something today that really bugs me about the boot phase...


That's right spring is here - warmer weather has come and my boy wants to wear his boots.....with his shorts. *Sigh* This is not a look that is flattering in any way, but how do you explain that to a 4 year old? I've tried to just ignore it, to be like those super moms that let their preschoolers wear their boots everyday with everything, really I have, but there is that pebble again. It just looks uncomfortable to me, I just think of hot and sweaty feet - and you know its all about me and what I want! Ugh, I think these boots may just have to be kind of "accidentally" lost some days - what!? He can still wear them to church on Sundays...

Well, actually an incident did happen today that could have helped with my argument, Huston fell while wearing his shorts and skinned his knees - except he wasn't wearing his boots when it happened so there goes that angle, can't blame it on them. He thought he was dying though - poor kid. He took forever to calm down and he spent the rest of the day hobbling around like he was lame. He even missed out on going to the creek! A boy that can't even go up and down the stairs without whimpering can't climb a creek bank...he was a bit disappointed he missed out to say the least.



Look at that sad little face, all dressed up for the creek...











and sidelined with bad knees.







What's a poor, "injured" kid to do?








He decided a poor injured kid needed to go see his Gran where he could get his back scratched and he could practice his letters on the computer. So that's what he did - mom came and picked him up and he spent the evening with them all by himself. He came back in a better humor, still a little overly sensitive (some might even say wimpy), but hopefully all will be forgotten tomorrow.

So that has been a little taste of our weekend so far. Don't worry, Huston will wear his boots to church tomorrow - ahem, with his jeans. (cause its all about me, Mother's Day you know ;-)

Super Day

Today was one of those busy, unproductive, yet sort of fun and good days. It was another cool, cloudy rainy days, the kind that should make a person sleepy unless your a kid and then its just another day to wake up early. Avery was up at 6:00am, which is usually fine cause Lillie has been getting up about then to eat...wait a minute, Lillie isn't up!!! That was the first thought that ran through my mind as Avery crawled into bed with me so early this morning. Her routine had been to wake up in the wee hours of the morning, between 2 and 4 for a little bit extra to get her through til morning...but not last night - the first night of sleeping through the whole night, 9 til 6:30ish, and obviously I slept right along with her.

Everyone was up by 6:30, we were all dressed by 7:30, so I went ahead and piled everyone in the van so that I could drop some supplies off at the church and give some "assignments" to my wonderful "assistant" Ms. Helen. The boys totally go crazy when we step through the church office doors. Just drives me nuts. They can be well behaved, sweet kids and the moment we enter the building they become crazy, greedy little urchins that want anything and everything they can get their hands on. I always end up losing what little control I might have on them and I know after we leave everyone is breathing a sigh of relief that A.) they don't have to go home with them and B.) that they don't come to visit very often.

So after a good "talking" to about their behavior in the church building we all returned home and still had quite a chunk of morning ahead of us. We waded through it somehow - mainly by watching some PBS shows that Gran recorded for Isaiah, and by 11:00 everyone was ready for lunch...hmmm...what to do for lunch. I was tired of the same ol' stuff. So the great idea popped into my head to take all of the kids and go to a restaurant. Yes you read that correctly, I was either very brave, very desperate, or just plain stupid. I vote for a little bit of all three.

We didn't go to just any restaurant, we went to a quick Mexican place close to home that we all enjoy and that serves chips and salsa right off the bat - so no waiting for food and having to scrape things together to entertain everyone during the down time.

Here are the boys enjoying their food...













Then we returned home and Avery, Lillie and I got a nap and Isaiah and Huston played quietly and watched more PBS reruns. After the little siesta, the boys headed upstairs and got into their dress up clothes box...we had a couple of Supermans, a Spiderman, a tiger and a pirate all frolicking around and having a grand ol' time together...

The Tiger and contemplative Superman - the pirate is hiding in the "dressing room" (closet)



























An action shot - the Tiger and Superman "fighting"











The top bunk - aka, the superhero hide out...













Then everyone was downstairs playing play-doh and computer games and such and Lillie and I were have deep meaningful conversations. I was trying to get Miss Lillie to smile on camera and she wasn't cooperating too much. Then Avery entered the picture and you can watch the rest - its in two parts cause Mr. Avery decided to grab the camera out of my hand, as you will see! Avery has become very sweet to his "baby sister" - you will hear him ask to "take her" which is what he says when he wants to hold her. I also like how he pats her belly toward the end of the second clip to calm her when she starts flailing a bit...



Now I am sitting here typing and guess what I am listening to? Shhh....that's right, its absolutely quiet around here. Steven loaded up the gang and is heading to his parents house for the evening, allowing Grandma to have some grandma time and mommy to have some alone time. That means a night to listen to my radio and clean the house without little ones following me, interrupting me and undoing what I just did. A pretty super end to a pretty super day!