Quick 5

Eventful week!

1.  We had a lovely time celebrating Joya at her birthday party.  She's still a bit young to understand what's going on, but every kid understands cake and presents.  I tried to have the girls help me decorate the cupcakes, but surprisingly they weren't too interested.  Alaina just made up stories about each of the owls and Joya was content to eat about four M&Ms and sprinkle a few sprinkles, and then they left to watch their daddy put up the princess castle in the basement.  Every kid has their priorities, I guess.

Either the people who posted their pics on Pinterest did some serious photoshopping, or they used white icing to make the whites of the eyes pure white.  My poor owls had bloodshot (cookie style) eyes. 

2.  On Monday Joya, Bria and I went to Hobby Lobby.  About two minutes after we got there, the fire alarm went off.  We ignored it, figuring someone would tell us if there were a bigger issue.  Well, there WASN'T a fire, but apparently the fire department had to come anyway, which meant that they kicked us out of the store.  We had to leave our intended purchases right on the floor and get out.  I didn't have any other place to go that day, and we had a good twenty minutes before we needed to leave to get Alaina, so we hung out in the parking lot to wait and see the fire truck.  I asked Joya several times if she wanted to go, but she insisted on seeing the truck.  It took a bit, but she got to see it.   So I suppose the trip wasn't wasted.  We went back to Hobby Lobby on Tuesday and got in and out with no problems.

3.  Maybe it's mommy brain, but I have quickly forgotten and am surprised by the baby phases each time Bria goes through them.  You would think I'd remember them from the other two, but I don't.  Bria's newest thing is S C R E A M I N G any time I leave the room.  She screams like her arm has been ripped off.  I poke my head back in the room and she stops.  It's about 40% endearing and 60% annoying.  I have stuff to do, kid!

4.  Wednesday seemed like a lovely day to take some fall pictures.  So after I fed Bria in the afternoon, I put on our jackets and went out into the backyard.  Bria is our solemn child, so I had to send Alaina back into the house for the squeaky duck that always make Bria smile.  As it is, I was only able to get a ghost of a smile from her.  But I got some cute ones.  Then I picked up Bria and went to go back inside.  Only to find that somehow Alaina had inadvertantly locked the door on the way back out.  So we were locked out in the backyard.  Did I have a key?  No.  Did I have my phone?  No.  The garage door is kept locked too.  We were good and stuck.  It was about 3:30 and Lee gets home any where from 4:00 to 4:30 each day.  So I stuck Bria in her swing and we just bummed around, and I prayed that it wasn't one of the random days when Lee doesn't get home until closer to 5:00.  I also prayed that Joya wouldn't tell me that she needed to go potty.  I was thankful I had Bria with me (or I would have gotten desperate and jumped the fence to find a neighbor to lend me a phone.)  I was thankful that I didn't have anything cooking on the stove.  And I was thankful that I decided to put on our jackets, even though I thought we would only be out there for 5 minutes or so.  Finally I saw Lee in the house at about 4:30.  Thankfully Bria waited until we were inside to get crabby.

5.  So here's what I did while we were stuck outside:

Bria - 8 months

Alaina, right after we discovered we were locked out

So I played with the filters on my camera

From the comfort of our indoors to yours.  :)

Quick 5

Classic joke time!
What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
Frosted Flakes!

1.  We had a lovely time celebrating Joya's birthday on Monday.  I made it a point to tell her "Happy Birthday!" often throughout the day.  Most of the time she would look surprised and say, "It's my birthday now?!?!"  Like she knew it was earlier, but didn't realize it still was later that day.  We went to the doctor for her well-child visit, then grabbed McDonald's for lunch and had pizza and ice cream for dinner.  Our mouths were happy and my tummy was sad.  But it was still a good day.  She again was surprised when it was time to open her presents before dinner.  She'll catch on better next year.

The most beloved present...a fluffy unicorn (pillow pet)

2.  When I scheduled Joya's 3-year check up for her birthday, I was a little concerned.  Who wants to go to the doctor on their birthday?  But Alaina had the day off of school and it seemed like the best time to do it, and they assured me that 3-year-olds don't need shots.  The girls were going to get the flu mist, but that's not a shot, so I said okay.  But it turns out she's a little behind on her vaccines, and she does need some shots.  The doctor agreed that we could postpone them until Bria's 9 month check up next month.   Because it would be too mean to poke a kid on their birthday.  I like our doctor.

3. Some lovely friends of ours gave us some clothes for the girls to wear.  Among them is this prized possession:

Alaina put it on and said, "I look like a QUEEN!!"  And then she wore inside for an hour.

4.  Alaina took a big step toward growing up this week.  We used the carpool lane for school drop-off for the first time.  I was a little bit over parking and taking her inside every day.  She's gotten to the point where she bounces over to her line and chats with her friends before school, rather than hanging around me.  Which means that Joya, Bria and I were just standing around until her teacher came.  And I did NOT want to park, unload, walk her in, and immediately leave.  That is too much effort.  And it's getting colder.  So I asked Alaina if she thought she was ready to walk in by herself.  "Sure Mom!  It's easy!  You just go past the bathroom and turn the corner!"  So we did it.  And just like that, I don't have to walk her in anymore.  It's a good step.  She's getting so big.

5.  Alaina also had her very first field trip yesterday.  Her class walked up the street to the fire station, which was about a block away.  I had to sign a permission slip and everything.  The kids were so excited about it.  I wish I could have gone with them, but alas, no younger kids were allowed.

Have a great weekend!

Happy 3rd Birthday Joya!

Joya's response to "Smile pretty!"

Happy happy birthday, sweet Joya!  You're three years old today.  We love how much you are growing and changing and learning to communicate what is going on in that head of yours.  You love your big sister and want to do everything she is doing, including going to kindergarten.  Don't you worry...that will come soon enough!  It has been fun to have you home while Alaina is at school.  You are so sweet and funny and it's nice to see that when Alaina isn't around.  We're still working on being gentle around Bria, but she loves to watch you because you are so funny.  We love to hear you sing and say Alaina's Sparky verses right along with her.

We pray that you will learn to choose to do the right things, and that you will hate sin and get caught when you're guilty.  We pray that you will be a great influence on the world and not easily influenced by the world.  Most of all we pray that you will love Jesus at an early age.

Our sweet Joya Bear.  We love you!

Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Alaina & Bria

Quick 5

Joy is driving around with your three-year-old and hearing "ooo!" and "aah!" from the backseat, just like you would when you're watching fireworks, only this time you're seeing the red and orange and yellow trees of Fall.

1.  I promise I'm not being braggy.  Or rubbing it in your face (Misty!)  I'm just chronicling the life of my family and I am compelled to announce that Bria is finally sleeping through the night.  As in 12 hours.  It started last Thursday night or Friday, but I wanted to give it some time to see if it would stick.  I had been feeding her just once at night, and I tried to keep that feeding somewhere between 12:30 and 2:30am.  Thursday night she woke up at 11:30, and it was way too early so I just re-adjusted her in bed (you know, off the tummy, away from the side of the crib) and she immediately went back to sleep.  Then didn't wake up until morning.  Friday night she woke up at 4:30, but that was too far outside the window, so I did the re-adjust thing and she cried for 10 seconds then went back to sleep.  And she has pretty much stayed asleep ever since.  She did wake up once this week crying really hard, but I think she bit her own finger.  She went right back to sleep.  But I am officially done feeding babies in the middle of the night.  It's a good feeling.

2.  Alaina and I have been having some fights lately.  About one thing: wearing short-sleeved shirts.  We had a couple days recently of almost 80 degree weather, and she would come out dressed in her warmest sweaters.  I made her change.  She would cry and fuss and moan about how I didn't love her and I never let her do anything she wanted.  I told her that it wasn't my fault that God made such a beautiful day, and that it was silly that I even had to say that.  I know some people don't even touch the battle of the clothes, but I believe it's my job as her mother to at least teach her how to dress appropriately for the weather.  She can wear whatever short-sleeved shirt she wanted to, but it had to be short-sleeved.  Apparently I'm the worst mother in the world.

3.  Believe it or not, yesterday was the end of the first quarter of school.  So Alaina has today and Monday off from school.  I generally do not feel like time flies by, so I am surprised that a whole quarter has passed already.  Alaina is doing so great, and I am pleased every day with our school choice for this year.  And Joya, Bria and I have gotten into a nice little morning routine.  It's been a great quarter.

4.  Monday also marks Joya's third birthday.  We have big plans: her three-year-old well visit at the doctor, lunch at McDonald's, and pizza and ice cream for dinner.  We'll have a party for her a week from tomorrow, since this is a worship team weekend for us.  But I hope she feels special.

5.  To wrap it up, here are me and my girls almost three years ago:

Happy weekend!

Quick 5

It's snowing.  I pulled all my green tomatoes off the plant last night.  My question is, is it normal to get more tomatoes the first week in October than you did all summer? 

1.  Gone are the days of the toothless baby grin.  Bria sprouted her first two teeth last Friday.  If my memory serves me correctly, she's about a month and a half ahead of her sisters in the tooth arena.  They're not fully erupted yet, but they've definitely broken through the gums.  It explains the manic chewing that's been going on for the past few weeks.  Thankfully there's been no biting.  I'm praying it stays that way.

Can you see them?

2.  Alaina and I enjoyed her ice cream reward for breaking the thumb sucking habit last Saturday.  It was everything we dreamed it would be.  We went to Magill's, the ice cream shop I worked at in high school (although this is a new location.)  The ice cream was just a delicious as I remembered.  Alaina chose Cotton Candy, as there was no Blue Moon out to choose.  She loved it.  Originally she had told me that she was going to get a "triangle cone," but she called a last minute audible and chose a cup instead.  A wise decision.  It was the perfect reward for her hard work.

 3.  This week was Spirit Week at Alaina's school.  Tuesday was Career Day, and she got it in her head that she wanted to be Batman.  I emailed the school and they put the kibosh on that, so she chose to go as a fire chief instead.  Upon further conversation, I think she wanted to be Batman because that is the only costume we have (besides princess stuff.)  But Grammy had a fireman's coat and hat, and Alaina's daddy was kind enough to go retrieve it so she could wear it on Tuesday.  (Side Note: I love my original girl!  Quite a few of the other girls went dressed as veterinarians.  Alaina was the only girl fireman.) Wednesday was PJ day, which she thoroughly enjoyed.  Thursday was Twin Day, and since she didn't have a twin at school, her daddy gamely dressed like her so she could tell everyone that he was her twin.  And Friday was Old MacDonald day, and she dressed like the cutest farm girl we've ever seen.  It was a fun week.

Driving the fire truck

Twin Day

Digging a hole

 4.  Over at The Pumpkin Pie Patch I've been participating in the 31 Days challenge with my 31 Days of Ordinary.  On Day 2 I mentioned how my blogs are very ordinary, especially since I just use Blogger, which gives my blog addresses a .blogspot.com address.  I don't really have a reason or reader base to justify getting my own domain name.  But then my awesome, tech-savvy brother-in-law told me he got me an early Christmas present.  Go check out www.pumpkinpiepatch.com.  I won't add the link here so you can type it in and see for yourself that it's real.  Maybe someday I can get a host site for it, but the fact is if you type that address in, it'll send you to my blog.  Thanks Josh!  It's the coolest present ever.

5.  We had another mouse problem this week.  Dirty little booger was leaving poop on my dining room table.  More than once.  It took us a few days to catch him, but this morning we finally did.  Lee should be so grateful that a.) he caught it today and b.) we don't have the adoption fees needed in our budget this month.  Because I spent many minutes looking online at various cats for our home.  We could swing the food/litter/occasional vet visit in our budget, but not the initial start up costs of a cat.  But if we hadn't caught the mouse I would have done some creative accounting to make that happen.  Next time he might not be so lucky.

That's a wrap!