Such a Cutie!

Better Late than Never

Mom asked me to take a picture of the girls in their soccer shirts and hats way back when soccer season was going on. Well, soccer has been over for two months and I finally followed through. Anyway, my mom made these hats for the girls and they love them! I love them too, but I love this picture even better. :)

Merry Christmas to Us!

It didn't really feel like Christmas because there is no snow on the ground, but we had our Christmas tonight anyway. :)

Daddy got a cross stitch from mommy.
Libby has wanted a scrapbook so she can scrapbook with mommy, so here it is.

Grace is on a REALLY BIG Polly Pocket kick right now, so her Christmas present made up for her birthday present.

John loves anything with wheels on it...so he was thrilled!

And...I really did make it on time!!! Here are the girls matching aprons. :)

Gracie Day Festivities

Here is the cake daddy bought Grace. We were going to do the actual celebrations in Ohio with my family (don't worry, we still will), but when I asked Chris to pick up a mini-cake (Cars, if possible) he heard Cars or bust. So, he went to Hy-vee and asked about a Cars cake. They told him that although there is supposed to be a 24-hour notice, they could whip one up for him in about 15 minutes...so, here is Grace's birthday cake. :)

The excitement is mounting as we sing to her.

Finally, she gets to blow those candles out...and she is officially four...no, really, we had the cake right about 9:58 when she was born. That being said, when she woke up today I told her it was her birthday and she was four. She responded with, "No I not. I three." It didn't take her long to get excited about being four though. :)

God beat us all out on birthday gifts. He gave Grace snow for her birthday. I won't even post a picture of the book we got her. It wasn't as enchanting to her as I had hoped. In fact, she liked Mater better. Such is life!

Happy Birthday, Grace!!!

Is she really four already? Wasn't it just yesterday that she was sleeping in a borrowed crib in the front room with me? I remember people asking EVERY big storm...you going to go in to have the baby during this storm? Nope, she was still 8 days late. Such a precious little girl!
One year old! Finally in our new house and she is finally giving daddy a chance. She didn't like him much the first year.

Two years old! Look at her pretty little scraggles of hair. She is beautiful enough to wiggle her way into every one's heart, though!

Three years old! Momma's little princess. She loves life so much and is always up to something! ;)

Now? A big four years old! She is absolutely a darling! She loves to learn and knows all of her alphabet and how to count to ten now. She also knows how to spell her name. Our favorite new game to play together is "beginning sound match". She is still so full of life and loves to see if she can tick her sister and brother off just to get a rise out of momma. Her favorite way of annoying them? Copying every sound they make...funny, I remember doing the same thing as a kid with the same results. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRACE!!!!!

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!

I have been dying to post this for two or three weeks now, but I had to wait for her to lose the darn second tooth. She did it finally! A great big thank you to Aunt Judy for the cold wash cloth idea. That evidently gave her more courage to yank and twist that tooth right out of there. We are up to four teeth gone and one happy little girl!

And, if big sis is getting her picture taken then, of course, Grace needs her cute little mug shot, too! See all that wild hair?

Guck

Definition: Usually it is either "truck" or "stuck", sometimes it can be "duck" or "yuck". It is a close relative to GOOK, meaning "book" or "look".

This definition brought to you courtesy of John.

Where Do You Call Home?

Thought I'd share this with everyone. These are friends of ours who adopted three baby girls (they aren't babies now) from China. As life would have it, they ended up living in China for John Deere for three years. Anyway, this is the story of the adoption of their third baby girl, Kate, in pictures.

Yeah! Go! Ball!

We have been using marbles as a reward for the kids. They finally filled it up and, after much debate, decided on bowling for their prize.

John was so patient, and only tried to climb out of his stroller once...but he REALLY wanted to have a turn, too.



At one point the girls were off playing so he got to roll one of Libby's balls. He was so cute! He was so excited that after he pushed the ball off the steering rack he started jumping up and down and cried out, "Yeah! Go! Ball!"



The second time he bowled...well, if you look in the background, you can see why he got to bowl.

His enthusiasm was seriously SO cute!

The best part of the night? I actually beat Chris for once! The sad part? Oh yeah, this was with bumpers. Ha!

Almost Four

Here is Libby at almost four.

Here is Grace at almost four.

Speaking of...

Here is the picture of Libby when she cut her hair, too. Although you really can't tell in this picture, we did have to go to the beautician to fix her hair. Who needs a beautician when you are already beautiful though, right?

Career Day?

Ok, it is a rite of passage...every (or at least most) little girl tries this. The difference is that Libby did this when she was almost three and and had a brand new baby sister (plus, she had hair to make look not quite right); Grace, on the other hand, is almost four, and well, a few extra snips from mom and we were fine.


Yep, Grace cut her hair. You see that one cute little flipped up lock in the top picture? That was the only one left, so I cut it off, too, after these pictures were taken. The sad part is that when we were putting the girls to bed I thought Grace's hair looks shorter...eh, it's probably just extra messy today. After we prayed with them I went in to our bathroom and found some straight smooth locks laying on top of my masses of icky ones. Oh, yep, Grace's hair DID look different!


We just laughed and went to bed. Seriously, she looks just as adorable as ever. It will just be another couple of years before we get it cut again. ;)

Normal

What does the word "normal" mean, anyway? According to dictionary.com it means "conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural. "

That being said, I'm normal! I like to put my best foot forward. I like people to know and see the good things that I do. I am a bit atypical in the fact that I ultimately want the things I do to bring glory to God, but for the most part, I'm normal.

I'm also normal in the fact that, although I like to put my best foot forward...that is certainly not the only foot I have. I have a not so great foot that I like to keep hidden, and only those closest to me have to deal with. That being said...this has been a rough week for me. I have just been down, and sometimes, downright cranky! Not for any reason, in particular, just having to deal...well, with me, I guess.

I know this is just a fact of life (especially as a woman), but it never makes it any easier to deal with. So, when you have one of those frustrating days...just remember, you are normal...and I will do the same today as I ride the tide of my emotions.

Christmas Time is Here!

Whenever we put the Christmas tree up, I always think of the song from Charlie Brown's Christmas...Christmas Time is Here. So, it is here now.

As we put the tree up, Grace was worried about where the snow was, Libby was worried about the precise placement of each ornament, and John was worried about mommy taking the "vehicle" ornaments away from him to put on the tree.


John has an airplane ornament in his hands. He made all the appropriate noises all night long to go along with his airplane.



Peek-a-boo, where are you? Do you see a cute little boy in this picture? Not to mention, two cute little girls!

From our family to yours, Merry CHRISTMAS!!!