Food Testing

We decided to test Liam's food allergies this weekend. Legumes was the challenge. He wouldn't even open his mouth for a green pea so we tried black beans instead. He loved the black beans so much and here is his face full of mush to prove it! Unfortunately things did not go well so we will have to try again in a few months. He got a SEVERE rash on his bottom and more dirty diapers than I care to even think about.

Flying Kites Two Weeks Ago

Notice the plums smeared all over Liam's face. It was impossible to feed him outside. All he wanted to do was play with his ball in the grass and chase his sisters :)

By the way, Poppy, Emma wants to know when you are coming home. She misses you and no matter how much I tell her you live in Baton Rouge, she wants you to live here!

We Are Adding To Our Family!!

No, I am not pregnant! We were going to go to an animal expo at the Civic Center this morning after ballet class. I did not know, however, that there was an admission fee of $4 per person, cash. I had no cash on me. When I told the girls that we had to go home Page went off the deep end. I practically had to pick her up off the ground she was crying so hard. I couldn't get her to stop sobbing for almost an hour. It was a sad, sad state to see her in. Through tears and sobs she kept saying that all she wanted was a pet to love. It just about tore me apart! I promised her that I would take her to go see some animals after lunch. I was thinking a local animal shelter or a pet store. Will suggested taking a trip to Frisco this afternoon to go see some houses and we ended up at the Pet Smart in Frisco. The girls were not interested in the dogs. They wanted to see the cats. There were two cats in the very back caged together. All three of my children climbed into the cage with the cats and were practically on top of them. The cats LOVED it. I have never seen cats like this before. The volunteer there said that she knew the previous owner of the cats and she had 3 kids between the ages of 2-7. She even had a picture of the 2 year old laying on top of the cat! They loved our kids and our kids loved them so here are Blue and Ben, the newest additions to our family.

I Am Home

We were making cup cakes this morning. Emma kept whining for me to pick her up so that she could see me pour the batter into the muffin cups. Here is how the conversation went:
Emma - Pick up me mommy
Me - I can't baby, I only have two arms
Emma - Why?
Me - That is how God made me. Two arms, two hands
Emma - Well, I don't like how He made you, you need more arms
Page - Emma, God already made her, so it's too late
Emma - Why?
Me - That's enough whining; God made me perfect and He made you perfect. If you don't like it talk to Him.
Emma - FINE!

The retreat last weekend was WONDERFUL!!! It was so peaceful and relaxing and refreshing. I had no idea just how badly I needed that until I got there. I was so nervous about leaving the kids, but God gave me so much peace while I was away and it was much easier than I thought it was going to be. It took Liam a few days to not scream his head off whenever I was out of sight and Page has been VERY clingy all week. Emma did fine. She hugged me and told me that she loved me and missed me and that was the end of it.

I am having trouble with my computer and can't find my pictures so I will post tons as soon as I have more time to figure out what is going on.

Preparing To Go

I decided it was time to tell the kids that I was going to be gone for 3 days. Here is how the conversation went.
Me: Mommy will be going on a retreat for 3 days to spend some time alone with God. Maw Maw is going to come stay with you while I am gone and I will be back before church on Sunday.
Page: But that's not fair! (Starts crying)
Will: Why isn't that fair? Mommy never gets to do anything alone.
Page: Yes she does, she cleans alone and she plays with me alone sometimes. (Still crying)
Mom: God tells us in the Bible that it is very important to spend time with Him and mommy hasn't been very good at doing that lately so I am going to go somewhere so that I can do that. I think it is very important to follow God's instructions so I am going.
Page: But I don't want you to, it's just not fair! I am going to cry the whole time. (Still crying)
Emma: Can I have a snack now?

Things are not looking good for my departure on Friday :(

Wedding Bells

Here is Emma getting all dressed up for her date with her daddy! She loves hats and scarves so much!! She is so funny. Yesterday she kept saying "that stinky old Poppy, I don't know what in the world to do with him because I am so sad he is not here."

Page threw a fit this morning about wearing pants (it is very cold) because she just couldn't wear pants to her wedding. Evidently, she and a little boy named Wilder were going to get married at school. Her daddy said that she couldn't get married because he had never gotten an invitation. She was whining and throwing a fit and said that she was going to make him one! We eventually got past the fit and finished getting dressed. (She even let me put a bow in her hair today so that it would be pretty for her wedding.) When we got to school we pulled up the same time Wilder did and Page squealed "Wilder!" I told his mom about the wedding and her response was that Wilder had been asking for a whole week for Page to come over to his house so that they could get married. Yikes! It starts already!! I really need to pray more for that girl!

One other funny thing happened this morning. I was sitting at the table feeding Liam sipping my coffee while the girls ate their breakfast. It had been a bad morning already and Will was in the kitchen washing dishes :) He asked me if I needed some coffee (that really means you are kind of grumpy this morning). I grumbled something about already having some when he asked if he should call Super Nanny. Emma got so excited that her daddy was going to call Manny from Ice Age and leaned over to Page to tell her that daddy was going to call "Super Manny". They were pretty happy about that proposal, lol! That certainly helped lighten the mood from the wedding dress tantrum.

The funniest thing has to do with Easter. I made Resurrection Rolls for Easter. I told them them that the rolls are empty on the inside just like the tomb is empty because Jesus is risen. Now every time we have rolls with dinner the girls shout "Jesus is risen, the tomb is empty!" before breaking into the bread. Isn't that just adorable?!

Work Weekend

Poppy, Will's Dad, was in for another work weekend. This is how Page fell asleep waiting for Poppy the first night he was here. It was so funny. Even funnier, but you can't see is Emma twisted up like a pretzel with her face smooshed into the carpet right next to Page. They love their Poppy days! Thanks to Poppy we got the "bubble tub" as the girls call it installed. They had sooooo much fun playing in the new tub. Since these pictures the green board has been put up and we are very close to starting the tile work!! Yippee!!!!! In other news, Liam is sick with a fever and rash and is on a food strike again. The doctor is doing some tests, but hopefully he will be better by the end of the week.

Fast Paced Life

Things have been so hectic around here that I don't even know where to begin. I sit here covered in paint and hoping for a little sense of normalcy to return to my life. First let me say that I found a blog through Nikki Spreen called
Bring the Rain. I hope you all will join my in praying for this beautiful family as they return from the hospital without their precious baby girl. It is such a story of faith and hope and love that I am weeping as I write this.

We had planned on having the house finished and on the market by the end of this month, but sadly that is not going to happen. We now are hoping for the beginning of May. Keep your fingers crossed on that one! But things are moving along slowly but surely. Will and I are finishing up with the kitchen this week and his dad is coming in again this weekend to do some more work on the master bath. I can't wait to have a functioning kitchen again!

I am preparing to leave my kiddos for the first time ever! I signed up to go on a woman's retreat next weekend. I really felt led to take some time for myself and to recover a little from the sleep deprivation and constant chaos of the kids and the renovations. I definitely need a little refilling and some time to focus on God as opposed to just making it through the day. If I do okay with leaving the kids and the kids do okay with me leaving Will and I are going to make plans to take a small vacation in August to have some time together without the kids. The last vacation we took without kids was our honeymoon 5 1/2 years ago! It is something to look forward to and we celebrate our 6 year anniversary this summer.

Some funny things the kids are doing lately:

Page - She loves doing chores around the house for money to buy lip gloss and she has really taken to the whole concept. Tuesday I was bringing the girls to school and Page asked me what I was going to do while she was at school. I told her I was going to do some painting in the kitchen. She told me that if I did a good job she would give me 2 pennies for doing my chores :)

Emma - I can't even remember what we were talking about when she said to me, with one hand on her hip and the other hand waving a finger at me, "just make up your mind!" I just about rolled on the floor I was laughing so hard. She gets more dramatic and sassy every day of her little life. She draws on something that she isn't supposed to every day and she just can't understand why I won't let her make things pretty.

Liam - Can I say fire ball! He is so loud and so energetic that I think he might explode sometimes. He chases balls around the house like a puppy dog and he bangs on anything in his reach, me included. He is trying to stand without holding on to anything and has done it a handful of times. He is cutting his top teeth right now and utterly miserable. His eating has finally slowed down a bit to every 2 hours alternating between food and bottles. He is starting to get pretty heavy carrying him around in the Bjorn.

I will post some pictures of the house and the kids when I can figure out where our pictures are being stored on the computer. They aren't where they are supposed to be and I can't figure out what is going on. Anway, pictures to come soon.