ELEVEN!

I have an eleven year old. What? I don't look old enough to have an elven year old? Why, thank you!

By the way, this photo was NOT taken today. Today, there is no less that 8 inches of brand new snow on the ground. A present Ashton certainly did not ask for!

I can hardly believe that eleven years ago today, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my first tiny babe in my arms.

I remember waking Doug up at about 2:00 a.m. and having him take me to the hospital. I was having contractions that were very regular, though they didn't hurt. They told me I wasn't ready, that I should go home and rest. I did. I woke up a few hours later and told Doug to take me back. This time, they let me stay. The contractions hurt. My doctor came and told me to expect to deliver that night. He left and went to church. He walked in, sat down and his pager went off. I was ready. He rushed back to the hospital just in time to deliver Ashton at 1:04 p.m. (the very moment Doug was supposed to be giving a talk in church!).

We brought her home and she started growing. She hasn't stopped. She is 5'4 1/2". She has been a pleasure nearly every day of her life.

I will now list eleven things I love about that girl.

1. She is so helpful! She is my right-hand-man, er girl.

2. She has something like a photographic memory. It's amazing.

3. She is a piano-playing genius. I don't think I'm exaggerating, either.

4. She smiles 99% of the time.

5. She finds joy in everything, even the little things.

6. She is a super-reader. She reads at the speed of light (I might be exaggerating there, but just a bit) and remembers nearly everything.

7. She is a fantastic cook.

8. She plays with everyone. She plays with tiny kids, kids her own age, and can hold her own in adult conversation.

9. She is a self-motivated learner. She makes homeschooling a cinch!

10. She is beautiful. I would love her just as much if she wasn't, but she is.

11. She is a fruit bat. In fact, this is the first year in forever we aren't having fruit salad for her birthday. We're having fruit pizza!

Well, there you have it. Happy Birthday to my favorite ELEVEN year old! I love you, Ashton!

Gimme That!

My sister and her cutie girls came over yesterday. Her babe just turned one (happy birthday!). She is the same size as Sophie. Ok. Smaller. Anyway, I kept trying to get a cute picture of them together, smiling. It didn't happen. But I caught this sequence and it made me laugh! If a picture is worth a thousand words, these four pictures tell a whole story!

The end.

Sophie

I kinda feel like Sophie hasn't gotten enough face time on my blog. 

Maybe she has. I don't know. 

I just thought I needed to show her off a little. You know. 'Cause she's cute.

 I love the baby teeth.

 Captain Jack Sopho

 A little fuzzy, but I love the face. The cheeks. The eyelashes.

 Ignore the dog food and the filthy window. Only notice the cuteness.

 Same as above.

 Her daddy often calls her "Big Blues." Maybe this is why.

 The cheeks again. The ears. The chins. The eyes. Can you tell I like her?

Taking a nap with Wall-E and Dad-E.

There you have it. Cute baby. The end.

Caught Red-Handed

We have a very strict do not put anything in Sophie's mouth rule in our house. If someone wants to give her a paci, they have to hand it to her and let her put it in her own mouth (not that she sucks on them). Otherwise, things get a little out of hand. Seriously.

The other day, Ashton and I were sitting on the couch chatting, Roxie and Sophie were sitting on the floor and Christian was playing with my phone (which he is usually not allowed to do, but I was feeling generous, I guess). I looked up at Sophie and she had a paci in her mouth and looked like she was about to tip over backwards. As if someone had put her paci in her mouth and shoved it in so hard it threw her off balance. Hmmm.

Mom: "ROXIE, did you put that paci in her mouth?"

Roxie: (Incredulously) "NO!"

Christian: "Yes she did, Mom. And I have the picture to prove it!"

Wow. What are the chances? I laughed like I haven't laughed in a long time. I'm still laughing. Don't worry. Roxie still earned consequences for breaking the rule and for lying. I just laughed and had tears streaming down my cheeks while I enforced said consequences.

So, the moral? Either don't lie (the best moral) or at least make sure your brother doesn't have the camera when you feel like being naughty.

Monday Morning Giggle

There you go. If you aren't giggling, I don't know what to do for you. You may be hopeless.

Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

This One Takes the Cake

What do you do when you want to be a knight and your meanie mom won't buy you a suit of armor?

You get creative...

Keys: the big motivator...

Cuteness, if I do say so myself...

FOUR!

Roxie turned four last week!

What a happy day. She got to have TWO parties. Yes, my children are spoiled rotten, why do you ask? The first party was for her friends. We made jewelry, painted nails, ate cake (chocolate beet cake), and opened presents. Wowie wow wow. What a fun time. The best part was that all her little friends brought their moms, all of whom I adore. So, when the party was over, everybody stayed and played and all the moms got to visit and have fun. I love that kind of party. Plus, my sister, who is darling inside and out, cleaned up after the party for me. She's a keeper.

The second party was for grandparents and aunts and uncles. It was lovely, too. Well, except for the cake fiasco which is still too painful to talk about...

So, in honor of the big FOUR,  I would like to list four things I love about Miss Roxie.


1. She is hilarious. H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. You may have gathered this from some of my posts.


2. She is sunshine. Everyone who meets her is drawn to her by her bright spirit and happy nature.


3. Everything is the most exciting thing ever. Really. She is so enthusiastic and loving and grateful.


4. She loves everyone. She is, I am pretty sure, who Jesus was talking about when he told us to be like little children.


Happy birthday and I LOVE YOU, Roxie!

Catching up!

I have been so busy, it has been hard to keep up with my blogging. So, here I sit on a Sunday afternoon, with happy and occupied kids - the perfect time to do a little catching up! There is so much to cover, that it may just end up being lots of pictures!


The beginning of August, my sister Panda and her husband Choo Choo came to visit. Those aren't their real names. They are really Adrienne and James, but we never call them that. Isn't that a wonderful beginning?... Never mind. Anyway, one of the first things we did, was visit the gardens. I will mention that Stacy (my other sister) and her lovely girlies came too.

Christian got all things Star Wars for his birthday!

We also went to the dinosaur museum with my sisters and nieces.

Panda got feeling a little feisty with this guy:

Christian followed her example.

Hopefully, they will both be a little smarter if they ever meet a real one. What? They're extinct? Oh, good.

Roxie and Lily were feeling brave.

OK. Maybe Roxie was feeling brave. Lily was feeling dramatic.

Sophie was feeling a little bored.

The next day, Doug was home from Haiti with his broken arm he got there. We made him go bowling anyway. Aren't we nice? OK, so he didn't bowl so much as cheer. It was a grand time. Panda and I rocked out to all the 80's music. We partied like it was 1999. Or something. Anyway, we had a blast!

Then, we went home for cupcakes. Panda and Choo Choo are the queen and king of cupcakes, respectively. Choo Choo had already returned to Illinois by then, so the queen, herself, made the cupcakes. 

They were made with whole wheat flour and unrefined sugar and they were divine. You may not believe it, but it's true.

I told you his birthday lasted a week! I will have to finish catching up later. One of those happy and occupied children decided she was hungry. Too bad for her she's too little for chocolate cupcakes... I'm feeling hungry now, too!

EIGHT!

Christian turned eight last week. Can you believe it? It was quite the birthday. Celebrations lasted a week. Really. The highlight was his baptism on Saturday. I will blog about that soon. For now, I will tell you eight things I love about my favorite eight year old.

1. He has old man eyebrows. I can't stand it, I love it so much.

2. He has the best laugh I have ever heard.

3. He loves his family.

4. He's a Mama's boy.

5. He has such a good heart.

6. He is affectionate. He gives fantastic hugs and loves to snuggle.

7. He is hilarious.

8. He is so very thoughtful.

I'm so grateful he's my boy! I love you, Christian!

National Self Appreciation Day?

So, I'm behind on my blogging. Way behind. I've been busy. I'll catch up at some point. I promise. I think.

But, I read my friend Annalia's blog and she posted some self-appreciation. She got the idea from her friend's blog who got it from her friend's blog. (I followed the links because I was curious.) Anyway, I started thinking, what would I write? I could make a list a mile long of the things I don't like, but the things I like? That's hard! And then, I thought of a few things and then thought, I can't put that! What if someone reads this and they disagree? But, that's not OK, is it? That made me decide that I should do this. No matter how uncomfortable it makes me. So here goes. Here is what I like about me:

I'm nice. At least I try to be.

I'm strong. Not physically (though I'm working on it!). I can do hard things.

I am a daughter of God. I have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am willing to do what I believe is right for my family. Even if it makes me weird.

I'm LOVE being a mom. I think I'm a pretty good one, though I want to be even better. I doubt I'll ever be completely satisfied on this one, but I like how hard I try.

I LOVE my babies.

I'm pretty smart. Sometimes.

I am generous. I love to give money or gifts whenever I can to friends and charities.

There you have it. Girls are too hard on themselves. I know I am. We should love ourselves for the wonderful people we are. When did it become so unacceptable to be confident and secure? It's a shame.

So, now all of you should make your own list. What do you like about you?