Faces a Mother Can Love

Here are some cute and not-so-cute of the kids at various times.





Here, Cade had pulled up a stool next to Claire and was entertaining her while I was cooking. She adores her biggest brother, and Cade loves making Claire laugh and smile. They really are sweet together. I'm glad Claire has two big brothers -- I have always wanted one!

Artsy Fartsy

I'm not sure why I do this to myself. Why would I put myself through torture?

I saw some unfinished birdhouses the other day at Joann's, and knowing that Cade loves to paint, I bought one for each boy. You can't buy something like that for one kid and not get one for the other kid. Of course once Cade saw the birdhouses, he wanted to get started right away. So after much begging, I relented. Now, my concern was not with Cade. He is as cautious as they come and doesn't like to get messy. Jack? He's the polar opposite. If there is a way for Jack to make a mess, he will find it and exploit it with all this toddler power.

The really unfortunate thing about all this is it was 5PM by the time I agreed to the project, which in our house translates to cookin' time. So I hurriedly spread out some newspaper on our table, got out the paints, and changed the boys into some painting clothes. Back and forth from the stove to the table and back again. I wore a trail in the linoleum. I don't think I burned dinner.

The really really unfortunate thing about all this is that Claire, who is scooting around the house now, was crawling all over the kitchen at this time. And Jack, who had a glass of water in front of him so that he could wash his brush off before changing paint colors, apparently wanted to see how far the now dirty water could go if he continued to pound his brush into the cup. Let me tell you that the water goes far. He's got good distance.

And of course Claire crawls right through the puddles of water-diluted paint, leaving a path where she's crawled.

I can't even remember cooking dinner that night. I sure hope it was cooked all the way through.

We're Alive!

We are alive, despite the lack of postings in the last week or so. Life in our house has been busy. We are all healthy (Mr. Mucus finally left). And then Scott & I switched houses with my parents for a long weekend and had a mini-vacation while they watched the rug rats. So things are getting back to normal now that we're home.

And yes, my parents were extremely exhausted when we relieved them of kid duty yesterday. But Scott & I are so grateful for their willingness to step in and help us out!

One special thing we did on our mini-vacation was to go to Austin on Sunday morning to hear Matt Blackwell preach at his Echo college ministry at First EV Free. That guy is amazing. You want to hear God's Truth? Go listen to Matty B. And his beautiful bride of 6 or 7 years, Shannon, celebrated the anniversary of her 30th birthday on Sunday as well. We had a great time with our dear friends. We don't get to see them enough!

The boys are on spring break this week, and since there is currently a deluge outside, looks like we'll all be bouncing of the walls this week.

Hey Guys! Guess What?!?

The kids and I were at our friends house on Monday for a birthday party. Hailey turned 5, and so we and another family were there to help her celebrate. After a painting craft and eating cake, the kids went back to Hailey's room where the girls tried on all kinds of princess dresses and costumes. [yes, Jack and Cade were back there too, but they watched without much interest]. I was in the living room chatting with Michael, Teri & Ashley when I suddenly hear Cade calling me from the bathroom: "Mommy! Come look in the potty!" Well, that can only mean two things. 1, Cade went poop in the potty [something he has struggled with for more than a year], or 2, something was in the potty that was most definitely not supposed to be there. Or maybe both.

I was happy to find Cade sitting on the potty and only poop in the potty. Hallelujah! And he didn't have a stain in his underwear. Yea Cade! Jack & I both told Cade how proud we were of him, and I promised Cade that he could have a candy treat when we got back home.

I was heading back to the living room as Cade rejoined the girls in Hailey's room. And then I heard Cade proudly say this to the girls: "Hey Guys! Guess What?!? I went poo poo in the potty! AND THERE WAS NO STAIN IN MY UNDERWEAR!!!"

Just like his Daddy. Cade has a way with the ladies.

Claire Bear

Claire looked so cute today in her outfit (given to us by the Wilkens! -- shout out!) I just had to snap a few of Shirley Dimple.




And this is Claire doing her best Jack impersonation. She just looks guilty.

***SNOW***

Yea! We received our annual snowfall last night -- and it was wonderful! About 3" fell at our place, and we all woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. Jack's comment upon seeing all the snow outside was a jovial, "cool!" And as soon as Cade heard from Jack that there was snow, he raced to the back window and couldn't wait to go outside.






After a very hurried breakfast, I bundled the boys up and we headed outside. Poor Claire was left in the house (you can't please everybody all the time, right?) while we frolicked in the snow.





It took about 90 seconds for Jack to realize that he did not like snow at all.






After getting Jack safely back into the house, it was time for some serious snowman production. I guess I need remedial snowman building lessons: it's a lot harder than you'd think! I kept trying to pack snow into a ball, and it kept falling apart. So Cade & I ended up making several snowblobs around the yard. One even had a fake carrot for a nose.


Cade & I had a marvelous time throwing a few snowballs at each other before it was time to go inside and get ready for school.

I really love snow. But I'm sure glad I don't live in it. What a mess!