Here come the terrible twos...

So, everyone keeps asking me why the blog is so sporadic. Well, this young lady would be why.

She woke up about two weeks ago as a completely different child. I don't know if I am going to survive all of the following:

• climbing into sinks with the water running


• grabbing handfuls of the sauce that I am making with dinner and sucking it down while it drips on the floor


• taking endless amounts of cereal out of the pantry and dumping it on my kitchen floor


• using the dog as a step stool


• trying to "hug" Daniel until he screams


• crying at anything and everything at the TOP of her lungs while screaming "No, NO, mommy!"

Ok, ok, to be fair, she has her cute and funny moments, too.

• She loves to have Grandpa pretend like he is sleeping so that she can kiss him and wake him up.


• Anytime she wants you to move she says ,"Beep, beep" instead of "excuse me".


• She has the best look of surprise. Any time she sees or hears something new she looks like Mccully Culkin on Home Alone with the mouth open and the eyes wide. It's very cute.


• She will sing little songs to me. I have no idea what she's saying, but she'll do it over and over again if I ask her to.


• She loves her siblings. She asks about them all day long while they are at school. Also, she loves to have Daniel follow her to her room so that they can play. She'll stand in the hallway and say, "D, play. D, PLAY."


• She loves church. As we pull into the parking lot she says, "YEAH, YEAH!"


• She gives me butterfly kisses.

So, forgive me if the blog is not current. I'm tending my babies, and babies don't keep.

Back in the saddle

So, it's been awhile. I truly apologize. Life gets away from you when all six kids are at home. So, now that 4 of them are back in school, I have no excuse (other than the fact that Liza is currently trying to push me off of the chair...).

I really have nothing to report except that I am quite unsure if I will survive the experience of my children entering middle school. If anyone has a tip or two on getting through this phase, I would be glad to hear it!

As for Liza and Daniel, they are delightful! My new found joy is that Daniel will toddle back to Liza's room and start playing with the toys. Liza is soon to follow. So, for a few minutes they will listen to music and play together! This, I love.

family and fun

We have had such a good time with all of the family visits this summer. Here are a few pictures.

It has been a lot of fun having Liza as my shadow in the garden. She comes out to help me water each time. I have loved sharing that time with her.

We also enjoyed visiting the gardens at Thanksgiving Point with Tammye, Candy and Brynna. We spent 4 hours there and it just flew by. Tammye took these fantastic pictures for us. None of us had been there before so we slowly took it all in. It was one of those rare, perfect days that you love to look back on later.

Bon Voyage!

I have been so behind on posting photos from all of the events of this summer. Here are some from the barbeque for Carl before he left for Virginia. There were so many great ones of everyone. Sorry I can only post a few!

Enjoy!

Good things come to those who wait (for their mom to visit...)

I must give a little shout out to my mom. She swoops into town, sprinkles her fairy dust over my house, throws in a good measure of elbow grease, and viola! my plants are thriving and happy.

Thanks to her I have my trellis' up in my garden, my herbs planted in pots, and I even got a night out with Brad! Amazing. She is truly able to accomplish more in one hour than most of us accomplish in a week. And, having seen her recently use both a pick ax and a shovel, I'm pretty sure she can still take me in a fair fight.

What would we do without our mothers? THANK YOU MOM!

The quiet moments

I wonder why it is that we love so deeply in the quiet moments of life.

It's midnight. I'm just finishing a movie and Daniel wakes up. I'm rocking him to sleep and he reaches up and touches my face with his hand. He's touching my cheek and my chin with his soft little baby hand and my heart is filling to the brim. He's so perfect and beautiful. He crosses his little legs and makes cute little clucking noises with his tongue. He smells good from the bath I gave him tonight. I like the way he holds on to me now when I rock him-like he's giving me a hug as he rests his head on my shoulder. My heart is completely full.

Of course, this feeling of bliss lasts until I lay him down and tiptoe out of the room. He begins to cry, which then wakes up Liza. They are both now screaming their heads off.

So much for the quiet moment...

Oh, what do you do in the summertime?

Well, it has begun. With much excitement, my children are welcoming summer vacation. The pool is open and all is well with the world.

The girls and I took Eliza for her first little swimming excursion. She was a little nervous when she felt the cold water. However, after a little coaxing from Mady she took right to it and had a ball.

Also, we have begun the the process of planting our garden. We are looking forward to having something grow in our yard! Hopefully the grass won't be too far behind.

And last but certainly not least, THE SPURS AND THE CAVS! Certainly not the matchup I would have predicted at the beginning of the season, but we'll take it. GAME ON!