The Wrap Up.....

Overwhelm has now officially set in!  You see, I thought being wide awake at 3:47 AM due to our roaming sleeper, whom shall remain nameless, (starts Mmmm and ends with aggie...) wetting, not her bed, but MY bed, this morning was a good thing.  I sat down to the computer and thought to myself, "Self, how about posting on the family blog?  Lots has gone on and it should be easy to bang one, maybe even two posts out!"  Well then this Self, started to happily and excitedly (as only a peed on mother of 4 could do at 3:54 AM could be!) go through pictures that have been taken since the last post... well heck!  My last *REAL* post was back in February.... DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WE HAVE DONE SINCE THEN?????????????????????????  Entire people have been added to our family! Vacations have been had, adventures started and ended, TEETH have surfaced (and bitten!) and solid food has been raspberried, birthdays have been celebrated!  I am overwhelmed just thinking about trying to relay all this to you!  So I will start from my beginning... my first, and only Sweet Pea.  My Bailey.

We have enjoyed school.  She won the Spelling Bee for our Homeschool support group and got the opportunity to move onto the County Bee.  For over a month she practiced (even Will got in on the act.  He can spell W-I-L-L easily and sometimes B-I-L-L, as in Grandpa Bill, but I have to spot him the B!)... then the big day came!  June 7th!  And she was sick in bed (Oma's bed to be exact) with a 102+ degree temp, sore throat and headache.  Oh well!  At least WE know she is a great speller! Maybe next year.... We read Pollyanna out loud during the afternoons and have started playing "The Glad Game"!  Bailey got a Wal-Mart gift card for her birthday (From Great-Grandma T) and decided to buy the Disney version of the movie with it.  It has now become a family favorite!  Did you realize that thing is OVER 2 hours long?!!!  Now my mom is reading "Black Beauty" to her.  Next I think we will try "Heidi"!  I think my grandma even has her very old, loving worn copy that we can borrow... What a literature legacy!  Next fall we will begin American History, so the "Laura Ingalls Wilder" books are on our must read list too!  Speaking of the fall... William will be in Kindergarten next year.  We had toyed with the idea of not starting him this year, but he really wants his school picture taken!  So totally!  It makes total sense to start school JUST to get your picture taken, right?!  So as any good mom would do, I volunteered to be the "Picture Day Coordinator", thus ensuring we would be available that day!  Bailey is still dancing.  She is currently in Ballet, LOVES her teacher and is amazing.  Please just give me a couple of moments of some proud mommy time... Indulge me!  Her work ethic and determination astound me.  She has such an earnest heart.  Her attention to detail is like her father's!  One more class to go, before the big recital, and she is constantly rehearsing the little things!  They are dancing to Canon in D... she is breathtaking.  I will post pictures!  Next on her horizon is soccer.  Nate promised to coach if she would just try it!  I think they are leaning towards "The Flutterbys" for a name and Bailey is really hoping to be purple!  Nate is stoked (insert sheepish grin here!). 

The Boy... wow. He is all boy.  I even think he may be enough boy to qualify for TWO boys!  He told Bailey's BFF, Kimmy Iverson, (she is actually 21 and a Senior at The Master's College, but yes, she is Bailey's Best Friend) that his "heart is a workshop, He (God) is working ALL THE TIME!"  I love it.  Such truth.  But that is just a taste of the profound, yet often silly things that he says without even batting one of his SUPER long eyelashes!.  He is a crack-up!  Ask my mom and Oma for some of their favorite "Will-isms".  He is growing SO FAST!!!!  He is now in a booster seat for the car and the panties underwear he just got a month ago are hurting him.  He IS built like daddy!  Love it!  In the last month we have really tried to talk to him about helping daddy take care of "their girls".  He has really started embracing this concept!  And thank goodness, because Maggie was starting to win their brawls!  That could have been bad!  He even holds the door open for us and says, "You girls go first!  I am holding the door for you, just like they did back in the "olden" days!"  Here's to bringing back the "olden days" one little boy at a time!!  He has discovered "Star Wars".  It is still just a blip on the radar, but I expect that blip to continue to grow!  He wants a "Light SaVer" shaped birthday cake.  I told him I could do that!  But now the hard part is trying to make that shape cake, and not have it look... well... obscene!  I have until August to figure that out!  And speaking of his birthday, he thinks five is the perfect age to start Karate.  This could either be a VERY BAD idea or the best idea ever.  Stay tuned....

Maggie is... Maggie.  She has her own idea about how the world should be and NO ONE (I am afraid not even God Himself) can change her mind.  There are days (probably not today, since I have been up since 3:47 am due to her... well, you remember) that I just love that about her.  We can feel fairly certain she will not get lead astray.  Our job is to mold her beliefs for good.  Teach her to use her willfulness and ironclad convictions to do good in this world.  And to a 3 year old that looks like... saying YES! to the toilet, and if that is all she said yes to today, I would be a happy mom!  Mags is also dancing and will perform in the annual recital.  Her final rehearsal is today before going on stage for the first time next weekend!  Talk about cute!!!  Her strong willed tendencies have been a small stumbling block for... the teacher.  But Miss Andrea learned early on, that the pink hula hoop caused problems, aka, Maggie beat out a girl twice her size for it, so it hasn't been brought out again.  Much to our surprise, Maggie actually listens to her instructor and is very teachable!  She practices "pwee-ays" all the time!  She is loving dance and even has been known to follow along with Bailey's class on Wednesdays.  So cute.  She is fearfully and wonderfully made.  She is the biggest cuddle-bug we have more nights than not can be found in our bed cuddling with daddy!  Last night however she was cuddling with me!  Hence, being awake right now....  She has started negotiating things!  If we say "No" to her, she has started coming up with alternative solutions and at the end of her dissertation she cocks her head to one side, holds her arms out to her side, with her palms up and says, "How 'bout dat? Dat a good idea?!"  How can one resist dat?!

Lucy.  She is doing everything a beautiful, sweet, curious, growing baby should do!  She has her two front, bottom teeth and is now eating solid (pureed foods).  So far she has had sweet potatoes, butternut squash, green peas, carrots and applesauce.  One of my greatest joys of each of my kid's babyhoods is making their food.  She gives hugs, loves to have her people about her and is pure joy.  I just wish I could rock her to sleep....

In the last few months we have camped in the desert with friends, gone to Lake Arrowhead as a family, celebrated Bailey's {{gulp}} 7th birthday, Maggie's 3rd, enjoyed a new nephew/cousin, and oh yeah, we have now been married 9 years and been dating for 16 years!  Time sure does fly when you are having fun!  Speaking of fun.... It's beginning to wake up!  I must. get. coffee.

Birthday dinner at Red Robin. 
Wearing her Sleeping Beauty dress and tiara from our trip to Disneyland!

Mommy/Son Date "Knight" at Chick-Fil-a!

Making Deviled Eggs for Easter.  Will says "Debiled Eggs"  Don't correct him!  I like it!

And 3 minutes before this picture he was telling me how tired he was NOT!!

We love our 'fires!!

5 months... however she is now 7 months.  Imagine those cheeks now!!

6 months.  She LOVES her tongue!!!!

I think the face was due to "Pre-Bee" jitters!

Her only competition... She won!

Love you all!  Have a great week!  I will try to post some more recent pictures in the near future.  Until then, we will be enjoying lots of Summer Shinanigans!!!