ready or not

I'm definitely not.

She definitely is.

Ready, that is.

Our sweet little Adeline is starting kindergarten tomorrow.
All-day kindergarten.  It's the only option here.

This change is pretty significant for us.  Addie never attended preschool because it's pretty pricey here in our town, so I just taught her at home.  And since she's at church for several hours at least two, and sometimes three times a week, I figured she's been socialized pretty well.  She makes friends easily, so I'm not worried about that.  And I'm not worried about the educational part (she's been blessed with her daddy's brain).

I guess what I'm mostly worried about is what she'll be picking up from the other kids.  I don't want her growing up too quickly.  One of her 6-year-old friends has already been asking her what she knows about Hannah Montana, High School Musical and Harry Potter.  "Nothing," she replies to my relief.  Not that there's anything wrong with those shows, but she's so young - she doesn't even turn 5 for a few more weeks!  I've been glad so far that she hasn't mentioned wanting Hannah Montana shirts.  In fact, up until recently, she was still referring to her as "Hannah Banana."

So, when she picked out this backpack,

I first thought, "Really?  Disney Princesses?  Wouldn't a cutesy print or something without licensed characters be less tacky?"  But then I stopped and remembered that her 6-year-old friend had a High School Musical backpack, and I kept my mouth shut.

She can pick out the Disney Princess backpack for the next several years if she wants... but I'm afraid she's not going to want to.

I know I shouldn't be worried.  Chad and I both feel that public school is where God wants our children.   And we know that He has them in His hands.  I just need to trust Him more.  And I need to remember that the most important lessons are learned at home and make sure that we equip her with Biblical truths so she will know what's right and wrong.

But we're sure going to miss her during the day.

Especially this little girl.

Yesterday morning, I heard Addie tell her sister, 

"Things are gonna change now, Millie."

Yes.  Yes they are.

Ready or not.

our kari

There's this girl in our youth group...  well, I guess I should say she was in our youth group...

...who has brought a lot of joy to our family.

We love all the kids in our group.  We really do.  Each and every one.

But you see, Kari plays soccer and her practices took place on the fields nearby our house, so we got to see a lot more of her.  And we live 35 minutes away from our church, so most of the youth kids don't really get to hang out at our house as much as we would like.  But Kari was a "regular."  A very welcome regular.

Plus, Kari was always willing to volunteer to watch the kids during small group at our house if she had a free night.  Now that's sacrifice.  Giving up a free night that she could've done whatever - to babysit who knows how many kids - and without pay!

She left for college last week.

We knew it was going to happen someday, but we weren't really prepared for it.

It was especially hard for Tate.

He had to wear these sunglasses to hide his puffy, tear-stained eyes.

The girls were sad to say goodbye to the one who taught them how to tackle.

And tickle.  Whenever Kari was around, tickle wars were sure to ensue.  And they always ended up wanting to gang up on me.  Poor, innocent little me.

For a long time I was able to use the "I'm pregnant" excuse.  It doesn't quite work anymore.  Although I did lie to her last week and tell her I was pregnant so she wouldn't attack me.  Unfortunately, she saw through my dishonesty.  I'm pretty sure I won that battle though.  I usually do.  I'm so much stronger than her.  ;)  hee hee

Last Wednesday, Kari stayed over until 1:30 a.m.  We had a good time, like always.  I kept thinking, "It's okay.  She'll be back next month."  Then she sprung this on me, 

"So... I probably won't see you until Christmas."  

Christmas?!  What?!  That's like over 4 months away!  Now that's just ridiculous.

This is how we felt on the inside.

But we couldn't stay sad for long.

We know she'll be back and love every minute of college.  Okay, so maybe not those minutes at like 3 a.m. when she's cramming for an exam.  But all the other minutes will be lovely, I'm sure.

Crazy sidenote - Right in the middle of typing this, Kari texted me!  And it's the first text I've gotten from her since she left.  Of course she's too busy for us now, you know with pre-season soccer stuff and whatnot.  ;)  So we'll take any little bit of communication we can get from her! 

We love you, Kari and we're praying for you!  Enjoy college!

grateful

Last night could pretty much play as a repeat of this post (minus packing for a trip and having to pee constantly due to pregnancy).

Chad was once again my hero by saving the basement and hauling bucket after bucket of water out of the basement from about 1:30 to 5:30.  He's pretty much a human sump pump.

Anyways, we're tired, but we are so thankful that we were pretty much untouched by the floods.  So many around us have had severe damage to their homes and possessions.  Please pray for them today.

fairy wonderland

I was blessed with the presence of fairy princesses in my home yesterday.  9 of them!  

And yes, I do realize the birthdays in my home don't happen for a few more weeks, but this was not a birthday party.  It was just for fun!

Knowing such beauty would soon arrive, we beautified our home the best we could.

The door hinted at a craft to be made later on...

Tiaras and wings were hung by the door for the little fairies to choose their very own.

Flowers and balloons were strategically hung.

A bluebird hovered over her nest of party favors.

Chairs were adorned with bows and flowers.

Tulle filled with flowers and butterflies was hung from the deck (although the wind soon had it's way with it, making it completely uncontrollable).

A watermelon house was even made incase some smaller fairies decided to join us.  Adeline decorated this completely by herself!

And my little fairy princesses waited patiently for the rest of the fairies from Addie's Sunday School class to arrive.

Even mama was excited.  Perhaps even more excited than anyone!  You can't really tell here, but I had my very own fairy wings on too.

I am the fairy queen, you know...

Finally all the little fairy princesses arrived and we got our party off to a fun start...

... with an easy tiara frame craft (found on clearance at Target for 25 cents each!).  It's always good to start with easy.

Next the fairies floated around the yard in search of the golden nuggets that the fairy king (a.k.a. Chad... hee hee) had scattered about.

The golden nuggets were all found!  And their reward - CANDY!  You're welcome, fairy moms... ;)

Now let's try getting another picture of those beautiful faces...

Almost successful!  :)

After all that hunting, these fairies were hungry!

And maybe a little silly...

But what do fairy princesses eat, you ask?

Why, fairy cakes (oreo balls), sugar cookies (thanks, Abby!), flower and butterfly sandwiches, and frozen pineapple flower pops, of course!

These turned out so cute, they were worth getting a close-up of, even if they were a little frosty!

Hint:  Eat these while frozen, because when they start to melt, they fall apart quickly, making for a sticky, yummy mess!

We ended with another craft.  This time a little more complicated, but these fairies were definitely smart enough and creative enough to pull it off!

Wish I had a cute picture of them all with their fairy craft, but alas, I was too busy changing Tate's diaper blowout to catch them all before they scattered around the yard to play.

I will say a HUGE thank you to my super wonderful Chad, who ran around like a crazy man while I requested everything from scissors and tape to tying ribbons to scattering gold.

And also, thank you Family Fun magazine for all your fun ideas!  I LOVE this magazine!  Makes my job of coming up with creative ideas MUCH less stressful!  :)

And, of course, thank you to all the beautiful fairy princesses who made our day extra special!  You were all so much fun!

a birthday story

So, as some of you may know, last week I officially entered my 30's.  Okay, so yes, I was 30 for a whole year, but not until I turned 31 did I feel like I really entered the 30's.  I was just 30 before.  But last week I took that next step into a decade that has always sounded so ancient to me.  There's no turning back now.

To honor my big day, my parents had us come down to O-town so they could make my birthday complete with dinner and cake and all that jazz.  My mom gave me the option of having her make her homemade pizza (which is my favorite pizza by far!) or taking us out to dinner to the local "fancy" restaurant.  It was a hard choice, but the temptation of no food preparation, no clean-up, and no dirty dishes won out in the end.  Plus, it's a breeze taking 3 kids ages 4 and under to a restaurant.  Right?

When we arrived at the restaurant, we found out that there was a big party going on, so the only seats left were in the bar area with very tall bar stools.  Great for kids... ha.  My parents were highly disappointed since they frequent this restaurant every Friday night and are used to their "usual" seats.  But we made do although the "girls table" (yes, we had to sit at different tables) tipped precariously back and forth causing our food and drinks to slide all over.  And poor Tate had to sit in two highchairs stacked on one another and still could barely reach his food on the table.

Eventually the food arrived.  All was good.  I was about to take the 4th bite of my delicious meal when...

"Mommy, I peed my pants!"  Millie's sad (and very loud) sob rang through the "bar."  And she was right.  She and her chair were soaked.  I couldn't be upset with her though.  It was completely my fault - I had totally forgotten to have her go potty before we left and in the excitement of ordering dinner, she forgot she was wearing big girl panties.  So I took her to the bathroom to clean her up, but I didn't have an extra set of clothes for her.  Luckily, we had one diaper left in the diaper bag, so I put that on her and washed her shorts in the sink with handsoap.  Since they were soaking wet I didn't want to put them back on her, so I just had her wear her diaper back to the table.  Good thing we chose the "fancy" restaurant.  This may have been okay at McDonald's, but it was quite out of place here.  At least we were in the "bar."  I'm sure she's wasn't the first to be pants-less in there...

Back at the table, my food was still warm.  All was not lost.  And then Tate started fussing.  Loudly.  Hmm...I thought, it's not like him to be so fussy.  I wonder what's wrong with him.  We let him fuss a little more, thinking he would stop, but all he did was get louder and louder.  Being the courteous restaurant patron that I am, I didn't want him to disturb the other diners, so I picked him up to hold him on my lap.  But as I lifted him up, I felt a squishy substance oozing through my fingers.  Yes...  Poop.  It was poop.  Lots and lots of poop.  I panicked realizing that we didn't have any diapers left.  But my mom came up with the perfect solution...  Chad trotted off with Tate to the men's room while Mom took Millie to the ladies' room.  When they returned, Millie was wearing her soaking wet shorts (commando-style) and Tate was happy in his clean diaper lent to him from his sister.

Another successful meal out.  However, it ended on a good note when I got my free birthday cupcake.

Which, of course, my girls quickly devoured.

But back at mom and dad's, there was this big yummy cake waiting for me.  Angel food - my favorite!

Please try to hold back on your nasty candle comments.  Yes, it's a wonder the house didn't burn down.  Yes, it did take nearly an hour to get them all lit.  Yes, it took me several tries to get them all blown out.  Yes, the candles cost more than the cake.  Ha, ha.  You've had your fun.  Now get over it.

Anyways, not only did we celebrate my birthday back in my hometown, we also got to go to the good ol' Southern Iowa Fair!

The highlight for the girls was riding the ponies.

Millie's face was priceless.

After the rodeo Addie attended, she's now an old pro at riding horses.

It's much easier to stay on a horse than a sheep.

And of course, the fair isn't complete without posing by a race car.

Well, that's my birthday story.  If you learned anything, I hope it's this: When given the choice, always choose the homemade pizza.

I'll leave you with this sweet picture:

10 blissful years

Today marks Chad and I's 10 year anniversary.

Seriously.  10 years!

Does that mean we're old?

I'd love to write something long and sappy, but unfortunately, I just don't have time right now.  Instead, you can read about how it all started here.

Happy 10 years, Chad!  
I love you!

our 2nd honeymoon - last day :(

So, our second honeymoon is nearly over.  And it has been amazing!

We tried to cherish our last day, by taking in a few local sights and relaxing together.

We started out by going to the Betty Ford Gardens right behind our resort.  I'm telling you, the location of where we stayed was perfect.  The Gardens, the Amphitheater, the Creek and the walking trail into Vail were all located right behind our resort!

The Gardens were beautiful, of course.

Chad got a little tired, so he found a bench to rest on awhile.

If you look closely, you can see that these trees are split down the middle - one half still standing, the other half laying down as benches.  Pretty cool.

After enjoying the beautiful gardens, we headed down to the pool where Chad grilled some brats for lunch.  Then we swam and soaked in the sun for a few hours.

They also had a couple nice hot tubs, but it was too hot for that today.

This evening, we headed into Lionshead to walk around and have dinner.  Chad found some cool chairs made solely out of skis.  And they were actually pretty comfy!

We dined on some BBQ at Moe's Original Barbeque.

Don't let the picture deceive you.  The portions look small, but boy are they filling!

This is definitely a place you need to check out if you're ever in Vail.  A platter costs just $10, and it includes 2 sides and drink!  Finding prices like that in Vail is like finding a secret treasure.

After dinner, we hung out at the resort and enjoyed our last vacation evening together.

This is the view of our resort from the back.

Our room is on the top floor, third balcony from the right.

Our living room, where I'm typing this blog right now.

Being on the fourth floor also had the benefit of a vaulted ceiling with natural sunlight streaming in.

It was perfect.

Thanks again to our dear friends who made this trip possible.  We are eternally grateful!  :)

This trip was wonderful for our relationship.  Not that it was struggling before, but you know... after 10 years and 3 kids, it's sometimes hard to find the time to really connect.  And this week gave us that time. We're more in love now than ever.  ;)

Now for the long trip home tomorrow (or today, depending on what time zone you're in).  We're not sure if we'll make it all the way in one day or if we'll stop somewhere Saturday night and finish on Sunday.  But I know my arms are aching to hold my little munchkins again!!!  Giving hugs over video chats just isn't the same as holding them in my arms and smothering them with kisses.

Thanks for tuning in to read about our trip.  Hope you all have a great weekend!