This morning was our first MOPS meeting and it was so fun to get out again and be with other moms!  Ladies, if you need a morning out with free babysitters, yummy refreshments, great speakers, fun crafts and great conversations with some of the coolest ladies, then you HAVE to come to our MOPS group! It's the first and third Fridays of each month.  Check out our blog.


After a refreshing morning, I headed to Wal-Mart with the girls... you all know how much I love that store (NOT). (click here for a refresher) Is it still cool to say "not?"  I haven't said that since... high school maybe?  So what are the kids saying instead of that these days?


Anyways, it was a necessity to go there to pick up the baby announcements I ordered.  Trust me, I only go there if it is absolutely necessary.  Anyways, since we were all starving for lunch, we ate at the Subway inside the store.  And it was there today that I learned how it can really pay to be the frazzled mom with my brood of 3 little ones.  While we were standing in line, a man came up to us and gave us a coupon for a free cookie.  Then, while we were eating, another lady came up and gave us yet another coupon for a free cookie.  I felt guilty, so I explained to her that someone else had just given us one and she said, "I know, but you have 2 daughters, so I figured you could use two."  Wasn't that nice?


That doesn't change my opinion of Wal-Mart.  I don't think Subway really counts as part of the store, does it?

a true confession

I have a confession to make...


It's something I've been hiding for about 3 years now...


I'm ashamed to admit it for fear of what you may think of me...


But I'm just going to come right out and say it.


I love Matlock.


There.  I said it.  And yes, it's sad but true.  This is what happens when one doesn't have cable and has to resort to watching whatever is on the free channels.  And ever since Addie was little, the only thing to watch during naptime besides soap operas and Jerry Springer was Matlock.


I don't know what it is about that cute old white-haired lawyer, but he draws me in every time.  Maybe it's because it reminds me of simpler times when cell phones had to be carried around in a suitcase and actors could reappear several times as different characters - maybe this time as the murderer and next time as the unsuspecting victim and then again as the judge... "Hey, wait a second... didn't that guy die in the last show?"


And it's amazing to see how many current stars got some of their first appearances on this show.  Such as Jan from "The Office,"  John Locke from "Lost," Patricia Heaton from "Raymond," and many more.  It's always fun to recognize actors on this show and see their super cool hairdos.


So go ahead and judge me.  I can take it.  But I just wonder how many of you have secret tv confessions to make...

a better afternoon

Thanks to those of you who prayed for me earlier today. My intention wasn't to make anyone feel sorry for me.  I just needed to get those nasty feelings out and the blog seemed like a good venue for that... much better than being crabby at my innocent children!


And just so you all don't think I've gone off the deep end, my afternoon did eventually get better.


I'm still out $220 and will be unless that package shows up...


I do still have that stupid headache (I think now it's due to the full-blown cold I've developed throughout the day)...


BUT...


I'm in better spirits now.  


Millie had a good nap and Addie and I worked on her preschool (we're doing it from home this year to get her ready for kindergarten next fall).  I am so thankful for this girl... she LOVES to learn!  The look on her face when she's able to sound out words all by herself is priceless.  I'm so glad I'm doing this with her this year.


After Millie's nap, I decided we all needed a special treat to brighten the day, so we headed to DQ for a few blizzards.  We bought this Keep It Local card full of discounts last year and got it again this year because it is CHOCK FULL of AMAZING deals!  Such as... BOGO blizzards that I can use 20 times, BOGO family size pizzas at Papa Murphy's that can also be used 20 times (That means 2 family size pizzas for only $9.99 so we put one in the freezer for use later on)!  Free bowling games, free blooming onions at Outback, free appetizers at Applebees, etc, etc, the savings goes on and on.  It only cost us $45 for 2 cards, which pays itself off after buying just 5 pizzas.  TOTALLY worth it.  I think they should pay me for this advertisement.  Okay, I'll move on now.


After our blizzards, we went home and spent an hour in the front yard riding bikes, filling wagons full of grass and rocks, and making our driveway into a beautiful masterpiece with sidewalk chalk.


Then one of my lovely friends from church brought a delicious pizza and dessert over for us tonight (our church brings us 5 meals after having a baby).  Great perk, huh?  Last week, I was treated by this friend with a SCRUMPTIOUS chicken hashbrown casserole that I need to get the recipe for... I'm also lucky enough to have this friend who doesn't even go to our church bring us a meal after Tate was born.  Hopefully she'll post her meatball recipe on her blog... (hint, hint)  It was AMAZING!


And I finished off the evening by giving Mr. Tate a bath.  He loves his bath, which makes it very enjoyable for me too.  And of course, the girls were great helpers.

Then the girls went to bed and my knight in shining armor arrived at home.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of my sweet little baby.  I know, I know... they're all very similar, but I've had a hard time getting decent pictures of him lately.  I don't think I'm patient enough.

This is the one I'm using for his announcements.

my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

It started with a headache.  


Not just a little headache, but a constant pounding, pounding, pounding that not even 3 ibuprofen could cure.  I'm sure the headache was probably caused from the lack of sleep after a night of being up with my congested baby.  Poor guy.  (And I'm not sure if it's the congestion or what, but now he's wanting to eat every 2 hours again, which makes for a difficult time trying to get anything else done!)


Then my morning checklist started to go awry...


I tried to print out some papers for our MOPS group this Friday.  But would my computer open them up?  Of course not.  Not sure why not, I opened them up just a few days ago, but decided to print them off later.  Wish I would've just printed them then.


So then I moved on to place an online order for a seat-belt extender.  Now with 3 carseats in the back, it's very difficult to get Addie strapped in.  But the website wouldn't take my credit card (I hope this doesn't mean there's been more fraudulent activity on our card...) 


So I tried to pay with our PayPal account.  PayPal won't let me log in.  I thought maybe I was entering the wrong password somehow, so I had them email me my correct password.  This was 5 hours ago.  Still no email.


Then the biggie happened...


I got an email from Premier (the jewelry company I'm a "jeweler" with) saying they haven't received several pieces of jewelry that I exchanged for some customers.  So I checked, and I did send out a ton of replacements all in one package almost a month ago.  Must've gotten lost in the mail.  So they had to charge my account over $220!  


Gulp.  


Normally I get insurance for a package that big, but I remember that day I was in a big hurry trying to get all my errands done, being all huge and pregnant with my little girls in tow and skipping the insurance.  


Oops.


That's when I lost it.  I did the unthinkable... I broke down and cried in front of my girls.  I always try so hard to hide my tears from them so they don't worry, but today it was unavoidable.  I just hope I didn't scar them for life.


This all happened before noon.


Let's just hope this afternoon and evening go much better.  


Chad won't be home until around 8 because he's coaching a football game tonight.  So I'm praying that God will grant me the serenity to make it until then!  I have to keep repeating Phil. 4:13 over and over to remind myself that I CAN do ALL things through CHRIST who gives me strength.


I could really use that strength right now...

2 girls 2 cakes and a party

We like to have our children all at the same time of year.

Actually, that has never been our plan, but God seems to like this set-up for our family and it seems to be working for us!

So, instead of having 2 separate birthday parties in one weeks' time, we combine the girls' parties into one so the family doesn't have to keep driving up here every few days. Next year it'll be 3 parties combined in one!

We still try to make it so they each have their separate parties, so we started with Millie's cookie cake and presents at 10:30.

Say cheese!

She loves her Snow White baby from Uncle Mark!

Next we grilled burgers and had some lunch!

Then we had the kids try to break the princess pinata. This was very amusing and took much longer than we expected. Each kid got about 20 swings at the thing, it seemed like.

Finally Grandpa stepped in and helped Kaiden break it with a big heavy bat. And the candy rush was on!

Finally, it was time for Addie's party! She was very excited about her castle cake, which made me happy since it took a LONG time to make it!

All the girls wanted a part in opening the presents.

This was the first year that Nana B and Uncle Mark were able to come for the party. We were thrilled to have them here!

Five of the seven grandchildren. Notice that even Kaiden got in on the dressing up with his shoes. He's actually pretty good at walking in those heels...

four years ago today...

Happy Birthday, Adeline!

Four years ago today (actually, I guess that was yesterday now)...

We were in the hospital with our new little bundle of joy.

I never knew how much love I could feel towards a tiny little baby.

Words can't even describe the feeling inside my heart, and my desire to protect this beautiful little baby from all the nastiness in the outside world.

How innocent and precious this little baby was in my arms.

It was at this moment that it dawned on me how enormous (that's not even a big enough word) a sacrifice it was for God to give his perfect son up to die a terrible death on the cross for the sins of the very people he had created.

I couldn't imagine ever giving up my baby.

Not even if it would save a nation of people.

But God's love for us is so huge that He did the unthinkable for us.

That's some love.

Think about it.

And now, here we are four years later and I can't believe how much my baby has grown. She got her first "big girl" bike tonight and I couldn't believe that she was big enough to actually ride it. It looked so huge in the store.

Way too big for my baby, right?

*sigh*

Time goes by way too fast.

I just want to cherish every single moment I have with my children.

I want to study their faces, take as many pictures and videos as possible and never tell them that I'm too busy to do something with them...

although that happens a lot more than it should.

I'm working on saying "yes" more to their requests to read a book to them or do a craft with them or whatever it may be. I want them to remember the fun times they had with mom and not a mom who was too busy to play.

Anyways... Happy birthday, Adeline.

You have turned into such a sweet little girl with a sincere heart that loves God and others.

I love hearing you sing your favorite Sunday school songs and especially love it when you make up your own!

You are such a good big sister to Millie and now to Tate too. You tolerate a lot from that little sister of yours, but you always forgive her right away and are so kind to her.

Thanks for teaching me how to be a good mom

and for reminding me how amazing God's love is.

I'll leave you with some pictures of our little family celebration tonight...

Yes, that is a baby bag on the right, but it was the only one that I had that was the right size!

A pony fit for a princess.

She was thrilled with her new bike! She said several times, "That is a really cool bike!" and "I love the color!"

Nana Brooks treated us to a yummy ice cream cake!

(I'd been baking cakes all day for Saturday's party, so I wasn't really up to making another one for tonight!)

By the way... notice how centered the writing is. I was told when we called that DQ had their own "cake decorator" on hand. Do you think he/she took a class on how to off-center the writing as much as possible?

How "artsy" of them.

running on fumes

It's amazing how so much can change in just a moment.

Here's what our family looked like just 12 days ago.

(Please try and ignore large blimp on the left...)

Right here would be a great place to insert a picture of our family of five,

but unfortunately we don't have a good family picture yet.

Sorry.

However, I'll just tell you that this past Saturday we had our entire family in the car together for the first time and it felt so complete. I looked back and saw all three of our kids lined up in the backseat and my heart swelled with joy.

For the first time I felt like we were all here.

No more waiting for our final member.

We are all here.

And it is such a great feeling.

On another note, Millie celebrated her 2nd birthday last Wednesday (the day we brought Tate home). My mom was thoughtful enough to bake a cake for her and we had a little family celebration that afternoon. She was pretty excited about her new tricycle that's just her size. It was raining, so we let her ride it in the house.

I think she had more fun pushing Addie around on it. She was laughing so hard.

Aunt Mary sent a wonderful package in the mail. She knit these adorable slippers for the girls, which they LOVE! She also knit a super cute sweater, hat and booties for Tate, but he's a little too small for them right now. We'll be sure to get a picture of them once he's a little bigger to model them for you.

You would think the girls would get tired of having a new baby around, but they're about as excited as they were the day we brought him home. They love holding him and he seems to like them pretty well too!

Grandpa Cornie got to meet him for the first time at my niece and nephew's birthday party on Saturday. He was pretty proud. Only his 2nd grandson, but he has 5 granddaughters.

Nana Brooks flew in on Saturday afternoon. She couldn't wait to get her hands on her new grandbaby! This was the first time she got to hold him at the airport.

I am breast-feeding, but we wanted to be sure he would take a bottle since I'll be having jewelry parties some evenings and so we can feel free to get away if we need to. So here he is taking his first bottle. He took to it right away like he'd been doing it all his life (which of course, was just about 7 days...)

My little hunk.

This outfit only lasted about an hour before he peed all over it. He wore 4 different outfits this day because he kept peeing all over everything. I'm finally starting to master the diaper changing. I just have to keep a washcloth ready to put over him before he squirts all over me, himself, the ottoman, the carpet and the couch. Yes, that happened for the first time yesterday.

Last night was the best night we've had so far. He was awake for about 3 hours before I fed him at 11 before going to bed. Then he slept until 3 and then again until 6:30! It was AMAZING!!!

Not so sure that's going to happen tonight since he's been sleeping all evening. We tried so hard to wake him up, but he is a heavy sleeper! Before last night he was waking up every 2 hours or less to eat. That meant only an hour or so of sleep for me in-between. Ugh.

I think he sees me as an open-all-night cafe. But I'm not. This cafe wants to close at 11 and not open until 7, but I guess I'm not the boss...

Well, I'd better hit the hay. We're having the girls' combined birthday parties this Saturday and I've got a castle cake to attempt to make tomorrow!