All A Flury!

Yesterday was FULL! Too full... The highlight of my day was watching the cement truck pour the concrete on our front porch. Well the highlight was really getting to do that with Walker. He was mesmerized! And sweet! And obedient! Not only that he was dressed appropriately: Well, maybe not... This happens to be his favorite outfit, and he asks to wear it whenever her sees it. I too love it and thank my mom for buying it for him. We just happened to be wearing it yesterday. We didn't know until we were headed downtown for a speaker at our church that the cement truck would arrive at 12:30. We rearranged the rest of our day so we could be there.

Since having children {especially the third}, laundry has become what could be a full-time job. Maybe it's just my children but they can be quite messy particularly this time of year when we are living outside. In the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to embrace stains on their clothes. I am trying to have a new attitude about these stains and not get so bent out of shape. I spend a whole lot of time and energy trying to get stains out. I pre-treat, I soak, I wash, I re-soak, etc...

But in reality there are just some stains that are going to be there forever. I'm trying to retrain my brain on stains ~ instead of getting frustrated with those stains, I am trying to see them as memories. For example, that orange paint on Mary Frances' bishop is a reminder of many things ~ she loves school, she loves to paint, draw, write, etc, she is creative. Those gray tinged shirts Stephen takes off each afternoon are a reminder of how much he LOVES to be outside and how hard he plays. Well today Walker made his own memory through a stain.

As he was watching the cement truck, he backed into a bucket covered in tar. Now you know as well as I do ~ that tar is not coming out. I won't even try!

My dad will say something to the effect of "you've come a long way baby!"

Those Little Lips, Those Little Hands

And that big smile!

Betsy is 12 weeks old today ~ that's almost three months. Wow, what a three months it has been. I'll admit it has been a rocky road but well worth the ride. To Frank, I will say there have been some moments where I might not have been enjoying the ride so much, but I definitely wouldn't trade the ride.

She essentially slept through the night last night, and now she is sleeping soundly in my arms after filling her tummy with warm milk. She is snuggled close with her sweet lips pursed, her closed fist resting close to me while making sweet soft baby sighs and gurgles ~ the essence of contentment.

There are few things like the sweet sounds of baby noises, the way their little lips purse in contentment after a full feeding, and their clenched fists resting softly on their own cheek.

These are just a few of the things I will miss of this season of life.

Sunday's Walk Through

As I was talking to my dad on Thursday it dawned on me that I have been remiss in updating pictures of our house project.

There are a multitude of reasons including:

~ I haven't taken many pictures in the last couple of weeks ~ I'm a bit self conscience of the project ~ I don't want you to be bored with our dream ~ Since the roof line has taken shape, the framing has been less apparent through the lens.

The fact that there are no pictures does not mean that we have not been checking on the progress. In fact, we walk through the house daily! Within the last two weeks, Frank allowed as how each new thing they do is his new favorite. That comment speaks volumes to he amount of time we {mainly Frank} spent creating the plans for our home. Here are some updated pictures:

When a child goes missing this will be the first place we look ~ our favorite found space!

This week the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC will begin. They are also thinking the windows will be installed and stone might begin to appear on the exterior. Exciting stuff!!

And the Joke Is...

that it's really April 1st. Right? Tell me it's not true! I get to this place most years and feel completely overwhelmed ~ too many large incomplete projects ~ our taxes are in a file, my children's Easter clothes are in sacks, heaps or worse yet just thoughts in my head, huge gaps in spring/summer wardrobes. This year it's even worse because I still haven't sent out birth announcements of our sweet Betsy, and I have lists of thank you letters that need to be written and mailed. And oh yeah a house under construction. Instead of working on these tasks while I had helping hands ~ this is how I have I spent my day

And this is no joke ~ my children love each other dearly

Snaggle Tooth

When I came in from running this morning I found everyone in the laundry room and Mary Frances had a smile on her face that was a mile wide. Why the smile? Her loose tooth was hanging by a thread. What you say ~ a loose tooth, she's not old enough to lose a tooth, how old are you when you first loose a tooth anyway! Me too so let me me back track to our time in Mobile... Last Saturday after enjoying a delightful pancake breakfast with friends, Mary Frances came to me and said her tooth hurt. I could look at it and tell something was different so I reached up to touch it. Well imagine my surprise when I realized that it was loose, and I don't mean just a little loose. It was so loose I thought it could easily come out that day! For some reason, these has been a more momentous milestone than I would have thought. C'mon you say, it's just a tooth...I know, I know! Fast forward to breakfast today... First off, I e-mailed her teacher to one let her know that she was going home with a friend, two that her dress was on backwards {it took a lot for this control freak to let that go} and she might decide she wanted to change it, and three her tooth was hanging by a thread and I hoped it wouldn't be a distraction.

Her sweet teacher e-mailed back to say Mary Frances had asked her to pull the tooth, but the teacher wanted to make sure it was okay with us. Of course it was okay ~ I figured Mary Frances would like loosing it in front of her friends and it would make her feel special. That it did!

The following pictures are courtesy of Frank's phone ~

Betsy and the boys are already with me at the lake for the weekend so Frank got to do the honors! What do you think? I think she is excited ~ I look forward to giving her a hug tomorrow and hearing what the tooth fairy left under her pillow!

Road Trip Confessions

{Warning:No pictures} Last night I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with girl friends!! When I first moved back to Birmingham after spending some time in Tuscaloosa for graduate school, my roommate and I were invited to have dinner with a group of girls. When I first went, I knew a handful of these girls because they were from Mobile though a year younger than me. Ten years later I am still invited to enjoy dinner with this group monthly, and I have come to know many of these women quite well. It is a group of amazing women who I am blessed to call friends! When I think of how the group was formed there is no clear explanation though the one unifying element is that we all love the Lord and for those of us who are mothers want to raise Godly children. Truly, we are blessed to have each other and our monthly Girls Supper Club. We have been there for each other through thick and thin, the highs and lows, the joys and tribulations of life, and I don't see that changing. We've seen dates gone awry, weddings, an indoctrination to motherhood ~ babies {babies born and babies wanted}, job changes, new addresses, etc... Last night was a treat in so many ways ~ 1. I needed a night out of the house 2. All but two of the group were there 3. Rachael fixed an amazing shrimp dish ~ a recipe that I can't wait to get my hands on Now for the meat of the post: Road Trip Confessions As I told you, the children and I went to Mobile last weekend. Many people wonder how I travelled with four young children alone. Well, first of all my children are good travelers. {For that we are blessed because we seem to be on the road a lot~} We do not have a DVD player nor do I want one in the car. Instead we talk. We listen to music and sometimes books on tape. The children play games and interact as we drive. Yes, sometimes that interaction turns to screams but for the most part it is a sweet time. When the screaming gets to be too loud I interject and we do something together. This particular trip we counted trucks heading northbound on I-65. Simple yet satisfying...Sometimes I let them pack a backpack of activities, but not always because it is just one more thing that has to be put away upon returning home. Best of all, my children sleep in the car. As hard as I try, my children don't always get as much sleep as they need so they catch up on some much needed zzzz's. I much prefer rest stops to fast food restaurants and gas stations, and I typically pack a picnic for us to enjoy as we get out some energy, take a break from sitting, and of course potty. For some reason I didn't do that on Sunday. I think my reason was wishful thinking that I could make it all the way home without stopping. What was I thinking! Well, we stopped at what is about the half-way point to grab lunch, feed a baby, and of course potty. I wasn't about to take all four children into the tiny restroom by myself so we {the confession is that the "we" included me} used our trusty bucket. I have a bucket in my car! Yes, a bucket ~ nothing fancy, just a bucket you could use in the sand. We say that it serves double duty ~ trash can and potty.

Just Words

I'm struggling here...it's not that we haven't done anything or been anywhere it's just that I am not inspired to put words together and give them any element of excitement. Here's an update... Last week I spent most of the week home with sick children. I don't love for my children to be puny, but I do love the extra snuggle time that it provides. We had many ordinary moments without the hustle and bustle of our ordinary routine. On Friday, Frank went on a men's retreat with our church and Mary Frances got out of school at noon so I took advantage of some extra hours and a husband away. I packed our bags and the children and headed to Mobile for the weekend. My mom loves to see us, and it just doesn't happen frequently enough especially now that I have a school age child. It is tough to slip away and often when we arrive in Mobile we have a laundry list of people to see and things to do. Not so this trip because we weren't going for any particular reason except that we could. Sadly, I did not take a single picture, but we had a good weekend with my mom, my brother, his wife and daughter, and friends.