Thursday, February 25, 2010

A boy and his trains

Zach has a love for trains.
He spends a lot of time in his room playing with his trains.

He makes sure his train friend stays cozy and warm when they watch tv together.

His clothes profess his love for trains.

Even his snacks are train-friendly.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

You know you are a mom of many small children when...

you have to stop nursing one child in order to go wipe the booty of another.



the man behind you in the check-out line at Target looks at your cart and says, 'Please tell me you run a daycare.'



your skin breaks out in a rash from a lovely virus picked up from your children.



you stuff an extra car seat into your already packed car so that Abby can spend time with her friend Annerson.



you can manage to catch every hour on the clock overnight.



you make a quesadilla, a peanut butter jelly sandwich, and a hot dog for one lunch.



you talk on the phone from your closet so you won't wake up any sleeping children.



you stay up way too late in order to have a little peace and quiet.



you become a 'mall walker' because it is too cold outside for a baby.



you change your clothes at least twice daily due to deposits left by others.



you wash 8-10 loads of laundry every week.



you sing the patty cake song more often than you have adult conversation.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Heart Day

Happy Valentine's Day!
I thought I would include all of the pictures from previous Valentine's Days.
2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Tim always sends out an e-mail card that he puts together. I wanted to upload each of the cards but the format did not work. Instead I just uploaded the photos. It is amazing to see how our family has grown in just a few short years.
We had a great day today. Grant and I stayed home from church. He has been sick for the entire last week with a low-grade fever and a horrible cough. He still had the fever today but seemed to be feeling a lot better.
Tim and the other kids went to church. They brought home food and then we opened presents. I went a little overboard this year but had bought all of their presents on clearance a few weeks ago. Zach and Calyn also 'built' Grant a bear yesterday that they were super excited to give to him. Tim built them bears for their first Valentine's day. My brother's family made one for Abby when she was born. So now they all have their own bear.
Valentine's Day really makes me miss my mom. She always had special gifts waiting for us when we woke up.
Here is our day in pictures:
Zach opening the lifesaver card that I recovered after forgetting to put it in his Christmas stocking.

Calyn displaying hers.

Showing some brother and sister love.

The gang after church.

Abby opening her card.

Abby dancing with her Elmo hands.

Grant being helped to open some blocks.

Grant and his new bear.

Tim's gummy bear rainbow.
I need to add that Tim and the kids got me frames to make a collage of pictures from our recent photo shoot. I'll try to post a picture once it is complete. We have to wait for the store to get more frames as we bought all they had.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Tea for three

Yesterday was the annual tea party at our church. It was the fourth tea party for Calyn and I and the first for Abby. Calyn and I had so much fun getting ready. I ironed our pink clothes. Calyn picked out our accessories. We both washed our tea cups. Calyn looked forward to the party all week.

We sat at Nana Janis' table. Janis has graciously hosted us several times. But this year was the first year for her to be joined by her daughter, Jessica and new granddaughter, Addison. Janis has always loved on us and made us feel like family so it was so fun to see her with her special guests.

Calyn loved the tea. I think she had five cups with 'two sugar cubes and no milk.' We are going to have to get her a bigger cup before next year or Janis might not invite us to sit at her table since Calyn kept her so busy. We also dined on peanut butter and jelly finger sandwiches, fresh strawberries with whipped cream, cranberry (? I am not actually sure what kind of scones they were, but they are amazing every year) scones, and mini chocolate chip cookies.

Abby ate a lot of strawberries which was funny because she refuses to eat them at home. She had fun playing with Addison. I think Janis and Jessica thought she was so cute until Addison touched Abby's nose and she said, 'Don't pick my boogers!'

Here are some pictures of our special party. I did not realize I did not get any of me until the party was over.






Monday, February 1, 2010

When the cat mom is away...





the mice Abby will play.