catch up

The rest of our week was great.

  Colin finished up sports camp and loved it. The week was topped off  by having sleep overs with their buds.

Colin stayed with his friend and Emilie had a friend stay with her.

She was on cloud nine.

Once Colin rolled home he was tired and in need for a nice down day to recover from all the late nights he had during sports camp.

If I would have had it my way we would have had 3 down days.

The next morning the girls and I made the most amazing zucchini muffins with a nutella swirl.

The rest of the family finished the morning off with a drawing session.

 If Colin could have it his way he would draw with his dad all day everyday.

We did eventually get out of the house.

Doug found a gift card to LOWES and it was burning a hole in his wallet.

I'm glad it was because we used it to finally get rid of our pedestal sink in our down stairs bathroom and replaced it with a sink on a cabinet.

Fantastic!!

A trip to Issaquah is not complete without lunch at our favorite teryiaki place and a Cold stone ice cream shop stop.

Monday Emilie and Colin started VBS.

This is Emilie's first year at VBS. For two years she watched Colin go and have a ton of fun. Finally it's her turn.

Now its Molly's turn to wait....

It's not as cool as VBS but I thought it would be nice for molly to have something special.

I stayed up way to late and finished her quilt.

She loves it and I love it.

Tuesday my little's played outside like it was summer and ignored the dreary dark cloud that hung out with us all day.

While they played outside looking for meteorites and dinosaur bones I made them  super yummy cookies. Emilie actually said they were amazing. She never calls food amazing.

Lots of things are happening around our home.

 First the bathroom redo and now the banister is on the home stretch to being completed!!

I'm hoping in the next few weeks I can get some walls painted, kiddos rooms finished and our room put back together. 

I can't wait!

catching up

Some days I feel like little miss Emilie and I barely talk to each other. We mostly just tell each other what we need and {I} hope that she will do it with out much of a fight. 

Yesterday I realized that I needed to change this habit we have gotten in to. I asked her while we were driving to gymnastics what I could do to be a better mom for her. Her answer surprised me. "Time" she said. 

Time with me is all she wanted. And at that moment I realized  the reason for our bad habit was because we are both trying to survive our day with crazy, super hard in the thick of the terrible 2's Molly. Because that is not going to change for a little while the next best thing I can do is give her the few hours that Molly naps.

And so I did. 

I put Molly down for nap, stole one of the hours for myself and went running and the moment I got back I was all hers. 

The choice was hers. Books, dolls, etc. She decided on dolls and baking.

She was so happy. Her chit-chatting never stopped until she went to bed. It was so much fun seeing her this happy. Something so little as time made such a giant effect on this little person.

I've always used nap time as my time to get some stuff done but I'm going to have to suck it up and change that. My goal this summer is that I will use Molly's nap time as a time to spend one on one time with one of the older kiddos. In the end the happiness that those few hours is worth way more then getting a few loads of  laundry done.

Look how happy she is enjoying her cookies she made with her mom. I even let her crack the eggs. I think that was the best part for her.

I need to remember that we are a lot alike 

Next activity was dishes. She LOVED it and did a really good job. Why am I just now letting my controlling ways go and let my kids help out in the kitchen? She even helped with putting the laundry away after we cleaned the kitchen. She loved all of it and I also LOVED every minute of it.

Another great thing is that is is SUNNY this morning!! Thank goodness after the nasty weather we had all week.

  

Hail and rain

More rain and hail

But now sunshine, fresh cut lilacs and a neighborhood garage sale to get ready for. wish us luck. We have a ton of {crap} really great stuff to get rid of.

Have an awesome weekend!

and this week...

was soooooooo long. Colin got the nasty bug that Emile had, but his lasted for 6 long days. Molly also got it but was done within 3 days.

By the time the week was over it was time for Emilie's  mother's day tea party at school.

Whats that? Mothers day is coming up? Oh.......

First she showed me that their Caterpillars hatched....into butterflies. Very cool. 

Why didn't we have this cool stuff when we were in school?

Next stop,  tea and cookies. She took her job very seriously. 

Even though she brought them to me, she ate all of them.

Patiently waiting to bring me her gift.

Such a special gift! I was surprise how much it meant to me. Ever since my dad  passed away hand prints have never been the same to me. We made a hand print of his hand after he died and it made me realize how important the little things are and how nice it is to have something to touch once someone is gone. Seeing her little hand in clay was a lot for this mama to take.

Tonight was the second night these three little one's spent in the same room. They all moved into the same room two nights ago so we could make Colin's room  the toy/play room. I love it, they love it but Molly is taking some time getting use to the fact that she needs to STAY IN BED. {She moved out of her crib last week}

She will get there before I know it. What I do know is they are an amazing group of kiddos and I am so lucky to have them.

catch up

I've had this little puzzle out on the table this week and everyday I've been sitting down and working on it. To my surprise Emilie has been the perfect puzzle partner. She doesn't talk much, she works hard and she is a master at finding edge pieces. I'm really surprised that I'm still working on this puzzle. I tend to get board with things pretty fast but I'm finding that when I work on this puzzle it relaxes me. I wonder if this is what book readers feel like when they sit down to read a good book. relaxed and recharged. When I sit down to read a book my mind wanders, I fidget and in the end I  get up and try reading the 4 pages I barely got through again in a few years. The books my kiddos are into are about my level of book reading. I've always wanted to be a book reader but I've accepted the fact that I'm not and I will always be a magazine/blog reader.
  

Since Easter it has rained, rained and rained. And to make  this spring even more special it SNOWED last night! Those better be some amazing flowers in May that these April showers are bringing.

These next few pictures make me laugh. Little miss Molly has such a funny personality and the facial expressions she makes are awesome! And those front teeth...how can you not love them.

It's almost Friday and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be sunny this weekend, or at least not raining. Colin gets to take his dirt bike out for a spin since last fall and I really want it to not be soggy.

week catch up

This week was fun. Long but fun.

 I love it when Colin falls asleep on the couch. He hardly ever does it. But when he does it is awesome!

Colin had his first t-ball game this weekend.

 It was fun. Long but fun.

This picture is mostly so I can make fun of myself.

How awesome am I  in my hat that I wear everyday.

Even more awesome then me is the gal with sweatpants  pulled up.

 Totally something I would do.

Now stop laughing at me and take a look at Colin's awesome swing and focus!

Check out the cool background of their game.

As I was scrolling through my pictures of the week I came across Doug's first love... Bi%&h

In Emilie's preschool class they grew beans from a seed. Since we brought her's home and put it in a bigger pot it has tripled in size. Check out what it did...Do you see it?

I can't believe it! It's produced offspring! 

Something got into this Non-crafting mama today and we did some serious crafting.

It was either gilt or just the spirit of the holiday.

either way the kiddos loved it!

Once he got a chance Colin tore into 4 eggs and ate all of them.

After all of the excitement of doing crafts this poor little lady fell asleep.

Once Molly was finally rescued from her crib she got to get her crafting on.

Did I mentioned she potty trained herself this week. Oh I didn't? Well, she did and she is awesome!

 Emilie then moved her sick train onto the floor in the kitchen so she could be near us.

Then this little rock star gathered up her strength to finish coloring her eggs.

She truly is amazing when she is sick. 

She is overwhelmingly kind, appreciative and just wants to sleep. All opposites of her normal personality.

Hello pretty eggs.

Tomorrow I hope to finally finish two of the crafts we started yesterday and maybe clean the house. Probably not going to do either of those things. But, you never know.

Have a Fantastic Friday!!