Cheese is my Favowit

So nothing exciting happened today. I took kids to school. I took kids to the park. I played Barbies. I played store. I did laundry and I made chicken tortilla soup for dinner and that is pretty much the extent of it. (I know...you all are jealous.)

So tonight we were eating dinner and I put cheese on top of the soup and Halle said to me "Mommy, cheese is my favowit... Cheese is my favowit color." (That is how she says favorite.) And of course Bryce being the ever present and helpful big brother, told her that cheese is not a color. So Halle said "Cheese is my favorite color, green." Bryce quickly corrected her "Cheese is not green!" So I told Halle that cheese is orange. To which she reassured us that yes orange is one of her favorite colors. I always love dinner conversation!

Ella is 5

Ella is my beautiful, red headed, freckled, 31 pound, independent, lover of life, mischievous, little girl. And now she is officially 5. Five seems like a red flag that is waving around saying "watch out because I am growing up, and there is nothing you can do about it." Five is like a big deal and so is Ella, so together they are a really big deal.

Ella, you are a big deal to me because you are one of my greatest gifts from God. He made you so wonderfully. The way that he gave you your beautiful red hair and your adorable freckles, even on your elbows, is so completely perfect. I love who you are. I love that you love people so much. I love that you are so curious about life. I love that you love chicken nuggets and ranch and sweets and books. I love that you like to sleep in Brycey's room and play dollhouse with Halle. I love that you like to wear dresses and that you would like to be a princess when you grow up.

Thank you for being my Ella Rose.

Saying Goodbye to 4

Today we tried to say goodbye to four. Ella will be five tomorrow and so today we said farewell to four. We had a good day but it is slightly painful to realize that Ella is done with those baby years. Five definitely starts childhood rather than babyhood, I guess you could say. How did we get here so fast? (By the way I know that I am pathetic, so you don't have to tell me.) Luckily she is like 30 pounds, so sometimes I can just pretend like she is still three.

So on another note, last night Jarrod stubbed his toe on a brick in the dark. It was a pretty good stub and so there was blood and all of that. Well this morning when Halle saw it she said "What happened Daddy?" Jarrod told her that he hurt it when he kicked something. To which Halle responded "What did you kick Daddy? Momma?" Anyway this was hilarious to me because of course he never kicks me and so it just seemed hilarious to me that Halle thought that perhaps he had hurt himself kicking me! That kid man she cracks us up.

Okay so one more side note. We ate frozen yogurt for dinner tonight (what don't judge me). That is what that gooey nastiness is. Anyway, so somehow it was spilled. The reason I took a picture of this nastiness is because I feel like my whole life is spills! No I am not being dramatic! Every time that I sit down to eat or relax something is spilled. Today it was Craisins, bubbles, frozen yogurt, goldfish, Halle's whole cereal bowl. Seriously just listing this makes me think what is wrong with my children?! Can anyone else relate to this problem or am I doing something wrong?

So Happy!

This picture just made my whole day! Kelsey took this picture and posted it on Facebook and so I stole it... and now I am happy. The End.

My Sister the Graduate!

I am so proud of my sister! She is officially a graduate of Cal Baptist University. Way to go Court! Such a huge accomplishment.

Giants

Well our Giants season is officially over. It was a really fun season. Bryce got to play with some of his best friends and his team did really well. I loved watching them play. There is just something about little boys in uniforms that kind of makes my heart melt. We won't miss the cold afternoons at the sports park, but I will miss that cute uniform!

My Loves

This post is just purely a"look at my kids post." I just transferred pictures tonight for the first time in months and I just wanted to share a few of my favorites!

Good Morning

I was up painfully early this morning. I think that I got 4 hours of sleep. Which means either I will make 2 pots of coffee today or I will be terribly crabby later, or possibly both. (No probably both.) Anyway... I just put an Apple Spice Bread in the oven and I am drinking my hot cup of coffee and so enjoying the peace. In fact I am almost looking forward to when my kids start waking up. I really need to get myself an alarm clock and get up before my kids every day because usually I am not this excited for them to wake up. No excited is not the word that I would usually use, not even close.
So anyway Good Morning to all.

Did I mention the Apple Spice Bread? I am so excited!

So Far Today...

So far today I did a mountain of dishes. I made pancakes and eggs to nourish my little munchkins before they went to school, and then did more dishes. I put away all of the laundry while dressing and preparing my children for school. I packed lunches for my kids, and then I did more dishes. I dropped off at two different schools. I put deodorant on and brushed my teeth so that I wouldn't scare people away. Then I made 2 dozen peanut butter sandwiches for the school Harvest Festival and then I did more dishes. Then I brought Ella home from school after staying at said Harvest Festival. And it is only a little after noon. By the way do you notice a trend here with the dishes. I think I am going to go take a nap and contemplate how to put a permanent end to the dishes.

Rice Activity

I just thought that I would share a fun cheap and easy activity that we did tonight.

I basically just took a rimmed cookie sheet and lined it with a thin layer of uncooked rice. Then I let each kid take a turn. Bryce wrote his spelling words in it. Ella did letters and her name. Halle mostly just played. And in case you were wondering the way that you spell Halle according to Halle is h..7..8..9..10..11. So we had a good time for about an hour and it was free and educational for all.

P.S. To erase just give the pan a little shake.

Pumpkin Patch with my Pumpkins

We had such a great weekend. We went to the pumpkin patch and we took Mason. I am so glad that we got to take Mase. We got to pet and watch the animals. They all picked out a pumpkins and we did the hay ride. We listened to the country band while eating funnel cake and kettle corn. The kids had so much fun that 3 out of 4 of them fell asleep on the way home. I would have taken so many more pictures but the battery on my camera died.
How hot is this man that gave me my beautiful children?

They were so cute while picking pumpkins. Mason is almost painfully indecisive. Bryce was looking for the biggest. Ella wasn't very picky at all. Halle was easily persuaded. I love to see how each of them is different in a situation like that.

Updates

Well I realize that it has been quite sometime since I last blogged. There are quite a few things that I haven't blogged about. Truly I have been just trying to keep my head above water.

One of the events that I have missed is our family trip to AZ. We stopped first at the Hancocks. Whom we love and had a great time with. And then we went on to Sedona and had a great family trip.Ella started ballet. I am sure there will be more to come on that subject. The last week we have been baking. The girls love to help me bake. Especially Halle. And since it has been cool here and somewhat fall like we have been baking fools. Too bad that tomorrow we are supposed to be back in the 80s.
This picture brings pure joy to my heart.
Tonight we made chicken pot pie. It was deee licious.

First Week of School...A New Normal

Well this was a big week in our house. Bryce started first grade and Ella started preschool. It has been such a strange week for me to go from 3 kids at home all of the time down to sometimes only one at home. There are many reasons why it will be great for the two of them to go to school. For instance grocery shopping and cleaning bathrooms and not having to referee every moment of every day. There is also the quietness factor. One kid is so much less noise than three. Have I told you all that I love quiet? I actually crave quiet. I could roll around and eat up quiet. (Okay, so enough about quiet.) I love the new found one on one time also. It feels like with this new schedule I can actually pay individual attention to each of them and not just to the gang of them. Walking to school has been fun and all of the conversations that have evolved from that new time. I also love to be able browse a store and actually see what I am looking at because there are not three voices talking to me and three bodies trying to preform acrobatic stunts in the grocery cart. So there are many reasons why it is great.

But there are also reasons why it is terribly sad. It seems like I just gave birth to each of them and here they are ready and willing to leave me and go out into the world without me. I can't help but feel like time can be such a cruel thing because the days that are so hard and unfun, that you want to sprint by you, seem to stand still and yet the years that you want to hold onto, seem to fly from your grasp. I guess that I am just not quite ready to let go of them yet, and yet it is time. Dropping off Bryce just seems wrong. I can't believe that I am just supposed to leave him there without even a teacher knowing that he is there, so that he has to just fend for himself on the playground until the bell rings. What is he like 6 or something? Oh that's right he is. It just seems different without him around and it makes me realize what a big kid he is becoming. I know that I will miss him and yet I know that it is time for him to go and learn and become more and more of who the Lord created him to be. It will be a learning process for me about how I will fit into his school days. I want mornings to be great and yet there has already been mornings that I have lost my patience with the bunch of them. I want afternoons to be great and yet they just seem normal too. We need a new routine, a new normal. So we are working on it. It is also sad to be without my Ella, who I haven't spent much time away from at all so far in her little life. I can't help but be so happy for her though. She has waited so long for this day to be like Bryce and go to school. I know that she is already waiting for kindergarten. Look out world here she comes, all 29 pounds of her.

So we are finding our new normal. And my heart soars because of it and breaks because of it. This whole parent thing, man who knew it would be so hard.

Me and Halle left to eachother. Well Hall, there is no one I would rather be left with!

My Baby Turned 2 Today

These are just a few pictures that I took of Halle tonight. She had such a fun day. She figured out about an hour into today that something was special about today and that she was the star. She probably thinks that biwday (as she says it) means that everyone pays a lot of attention to you and that you get extra sugar. And those are two of her most favorite things.

She is two today and 24 pounds. She can't say L's very good so she says things like "wook it" and she calls herself "Hade" and calls Ella "Eya". She also says peeky boo instead of peek a boo. She calls Mason "Fason". She also tells me she "wuvs me" which melts my heart.

I love her so much. There is not much that is better in this world than Halle when she is happy. Her laugh is heavenly. To be very honest she is sometimes a very hard kid. And there are days that I want to ship her off. But when she is happy she is amazing. And of course I love her even on her most screamy days. Is screamy a word? Well it is in Halle's world anyway.

The fact that she is already two is very disturbing to me, but I am trying to cope.