Grand Prix

We had one of our final events of the AWANA season…the Grand Prix!  The kids were all so excited!  Cubbies are the first ones to race. (we were called over as they were still eating so I had the girls shove their last bites into their mouths as we walked over…which explains why they both have their fingers like this, haha)

Bug with some of her friends.  This picture shows her little Cubby vest, all filled up with the patches they receive for saying their verses correctly. 

It’s so hard to believe she is getting so big!  Only a few more weeks as a Cubby.  Next year she’ll be moving up to Sparks.

She was so excited for the race I couldn’t get her to stand still for a picture!

Noni entered Boo in the race too (at this age they are only racing matchbox cars, not the pinewood derby type) and she actually won 2nd place!  Haha :)  I felt kind of bad considering she is not even an official Cubby!

After the race I let the girls have ice cream bars.  They were thrilled, of course.

T put off making his car until the last minute…almost literally.  They had to be turned in on Sunday and he started his on Saturday afternoon, and finished it during Sunday School the next morning. :P

Can you guess which one his is?   I’ll give you a hint…he named it “All Wet”.

I thought he did a great job for such a short amount of time!  And it was definitely creative!  All the other cars looked like…well…cars. :)

Unfortunately bathtubs aren’t the most aerodynamic of vehicles…

But he definitely earned some “cool” points from his T&T boys. :)

I wonder what he’ll come up with next year??

“Laugh With Me!” – Part 16

November 2nd

We like to listen to Adventures in Odyssey in the car.  There is a three part one about people getting married that is K’s favorite.  We have listened to it at least 20 times (thankfully it’s one of my favorites too).  One day after we’d just finished it, again, she said “I don’t know the name of my marry person yet.  When I find out I will let you know.”

November 11th

We were doing her United States puzzle and when we got to the Northeast she got a bit mixed up.  “Which one goes here?  Is it New Hampster or Mass-a-Jesus?”

December 8th

K: “Daddy!  We went to the Children’s Museum today!”

Daddy: “What’s that?”

K: (exasperated) “It’s where the children’s go!”

December 20th

Out of the blue she says, “God knows every single hair drop on my head!”

December 13th

We were riding in the car and she and T were talking about the day. K: “And then I heard a noise.” 

T: “What was it?”

K: “I think it was a woodpecker in disguise.”

December 21st

Walking through the kitchen I hear her say, “You roll your dice, you move your mice, and nobody gets hurt.”

January 8th

She and Boo were playing pretend.  They came in to where I was, K leading her sister by the hand.  “We will be back later.  My honey has football prac-tix and my baby (talking about S) is going with him.  I will stay home and do my work.”

Reading

Buggy has been reading so well lately!  She’s been surprising even me, reading words like unconscious, thief, disguise, detectives, etc. (you can tell she likes mystery books). I figured I’d better get a video of her reading at this age. She’s not talking super clearly but if you turn up the sound you can pretty much hear it.

There really isn’t much she can’t read these days.  She reads to us almost every night and it’s quite handy when Boo wants to be read a book and I am busy.  I just ask Bug to read to her and they go sit on the couch and read together.

When we went to the Doctor the other day we had to wait for the elevator.  She read the little sign, “Do Not Use Elevator” and then asked why.  Daddy said, read the part above it…and she said, “In Case of Fire”.  A lady next to us looked surprise and asked how old she was.  When we said four I don’t think she believed us. 

I’ve decided to keep her home from Kindergarten next year since we’ll have enough big changes going on in our house (with the new baby coming only days before school starts) but as you can see I’m not too worried about her getting behind. :)

Movin’ On Up

On Friday I took the girls in to spend the night at Noni and Papa’s so that we could get some work done around here. 

Papa just bought some chickens that will eventually earn their keep by providing fresh eggs!

I sent my camera along so my mom could get the girls’ reactions.  Apparently they were a little stinky?? :)

We had SUCH a nice weekend!  It literally did not get this warm until July last year, and I’m sure this is just a big tease and we’ll soon be back down to freezing temperatures, but we actually got up to 80 yesterday!  That is unheard of for April around here! 

Here are the girls swinging in the hammocks on the bottom deck at Noni’s.

And one of their favorite activities…the trampoline!  The love it! 

One of the neighbors gave my parents this swingset that their kids had outgrown.  I’d say it’s going to get a few more years use!

La la la LA!

Mama’s “buggy” as she calls it.  My parents got this for my grandma so she can get around the place easier. 

T and I were busy working on the house while they were gone and while it’s definitely not finished, it’s close enough that we were able to move their beds upstairs.

On Sunday we got the beds all put together.  They were SO excited!  Boo was thrilled with her big girl bed!  I LOVE this Pottery Barn bedding that I got for her.  It just makes me feel peaceful and happy when I look at it.  It was a little expensive, but that’s why I didn’t re-do the nursery when she was born, so that I wouldn’t feel bad about getting nicer bedding when she was ready for this. :)  It’s exactly what I wanted!  I can’t wait to see how the whole room comes together when it’s finished.

She took advantage of “no sucking thumbs unless you are in bed” rule. :)

Here’s her little bookshelf that I got at a garage sale for $3 and repainted, and the chair and ottoman that Noni and Papa bought for her birthday.

I promise I will get lots of before and afters when we’re all finished…but it’s definitely not finished.  The bed and bookshelf are the only things in her room at the moment. :)

Here’s Boo ready for her first night in her big girl bed!

And Bug in her new bed, it turned out really cute, but you can see it’s unfinished.  It still needs trim around the shelving.

They did great in their new beds!  (Thanks to Noni, who has been having Boo sleep in a real bed when she stays over there.)  Boo stayed in bed all night and waited for me to come get her in the morning.  Thanks for taking care of that training, Mom! :)

Hopefully we can get the rest of the stuff finished up and get them totally moved in soon!  We bought some closet organization systems from Home Depot so as soon as those get installed we can get their clothes moved up.  T finished Boo’s built in bookshelves and dresser and just needs to make the drawers for it and then install it all.  We’re almost there!

DIYers

I have been spending hours, this week, creating a digital scrapbook of the last 6 months our blog.  It’s been fun to look back through the pictures and remember everything.  One thing that keeps striking me as funny, is the random pictures of the house progress.  So I decided to compile a list.   You know you’re a DIYer when….

1. You regularly spend your weekends one or more stories above ground…

2. A baby monitor is part of your arsenal of construction equipment…

3. Your kids think hanging out on the roof is a huge treat and beg for someone to take them out there…

4. This is how you, quite often, roll…

5. You’ve resorted to using child labor…

6. One of your children has been forced to sleep on the couch for more than six months…

7. You are often startled when you come around the corner to find your in-laws in the strangest of places…

8. You’ve reached for a tool, only to discover that it was made by Fisher Price…(can you tell which are real and which are toys?)

9. Your living room could double as a hardware store…

10. It’s taken you almost four years to get all your projects done!

Haha :)  I’m taking the girls to spend the night at Noni and Papa’s tonight so that T and I can have all day tomorrow to work on the house.  AND (crossing my fingers) we should hopefully be done (enough) that we can get the girls moved upstairs on Sunday!!!  Oh please, oh please, oh please!

Wordless Wednesday

T-Ball!

Yesterday was Bug’s debut as a T-ball player! There was a big opening ceremony where they introduced all the teams (there were quite a few!) and the kids got to run out on the field.  Then there were team pictures and a BBQ and we ended with their first game. 

Papa took this picture…she looks so grown up!

Which is funny considering how little she looked out there on the field, especially next to all the bigger kids.  There is T-Ball, the Minors, and the Majors for the different age groups. 

A little last minute advice from Daddy before she stepped up to the plate…

She was the first person to bat and she did great!  She only hit the ball a few feet but then she took off running for first base.

After that it got kind of funny…when the next kid hit she ran straight from first to third and then started giggling when the coach told her to go back.  Then on the next batter she forgot to run all together, but they let her go on to third.  Then by the third batter she got the hang of it and hightailed it on home for the score. :)

They actually don’t keep score.  An “inning” is just letting each child bat, and there were very few outs because by the time the kids got to the ball, picked it up, over-threw whatever base they were aiming at, and got it to the right person, the batter was safe by a long shot. :)  It was really cute to watch them try to figure it all out.

They only played three innings but it took about an hour.  After Bug hit for the third time she wanted to come sit with me.  We’d been there for almost four hours with all the ceremony stuff and she was pooped!  She stuck it out and played through the last half of the inning.

We went straight home afterwards for naps and she slept for three hours!!!  Her normal naptime is 1.5-2.  It was a fun day though and we’re looking forward to watching our lil’ slugger play in the next few weeks!

It’s A…

GIRL! That’s right!  Another little princess will soon be joining the family.  Bug is THRILLED!  She skipped out of the Dr’s office saying, “I got my wish!”

We got to have our ultrasound done by my best friend from high school again! She was actually scheduled to work elsewhere but she traded with someone else so she could perform our ultrasound like she did with our other two girls.  Baby girl did NOT want to cooperate for a profile pic, but O was able to maneuver around and get one at the end.

She counted 10 little toes! Here’s the right foot.

We had dinner with the grandparents and then had apple pie while we watched the DVD of the ultrasound.  Bug really wanted to put a candle in the pie to celebrate so we did. :)

Poor Daddy is going to be REALLY outnumbered now!  He’s being a great sport about it, but says he’s going to have to build himself a big shop in about 13 years.  We’ll have 13, 15, and 18 year old girls!  Three teenage girls in one house will definitely be interesting. :)  But in all seriousness we’re thrilled that God has given us a third baby girl! 

We love our girls!  All three of them! :)