My Crazy Kids

I love this age.  I love all of the funny things that come out of these kid's mouths.  For instance, the other morning Josh was getting ready to leave, and I was still asleep in the bed.  I heard Andrew move around in his crib and then the first thing he said, (at the top of his lungs), was "IT'S DADDY TIME!!"  It totally melted my heart.  He loves spending time with Dad in the mornings. 

Anna has really been on a roll with cute sayings.  After church one day, we had all finished lunch when Josh walked in from meetings.  He began cooking himself something to eat when I asked what he was making.  He replied, "Chicken salad."  I told him that was rather ambitious, to which Anna said, "Mom, Daddy's a bishop?"

On my birthday, we were trying to figure out where we wanted to go out to eat.  It was between Maggiano's and Zen, (a thai restaurant).  I just couldn't make up my mind, so I asked Anna.  Her response was, "maybe McDonald's!"  Yea, I don't think so.

At dinner a few nights ago, I was trying to get Anna to finish her dinner.  She then told me that if she ate even one more bite, she would get a stomach steak. 

We cleaned out all of our toys on Saturday.  It was long over-due, let me tell you.  When we finished, Anna said, "Aww, it's so clean and organ sized."

Anna and I were playing Barbies the other day, and she was really struggling to get a certain shoe on her Cinderella Barbie.  She asked me to try.  I did, but it just wasn't going to fit.  I told her it was just too small.  Her response..."I guess it must be one of her stepsister's shoes."

I always tell Anna that she is my sweet princess.  Her new response is that I am her "sweet queen".  LOVE HER!

The kids had a great time a few weeks ago having a "bonk party".  I was doing my hair in the bathroom when I heard them just going crazy with laughter in the living room.  I asked what was going on to which I heard lots of loud bangs and giggles.  They were running and jumping on their knees and crashing into each other as quickly as they could.  They named it their "bonk party" and were in heaven.  It's the simple things in life, right?!

Love these guys!

Parenting Thoughts

I probably only have a handful of these, but this post has no pictures, just thoughts....

I have just been feeling so incredibly grateful lately to be a mom.  It is completely unreal to me how much a child can teach an adult.  Being a parent has a steep learning curve with great benefits.  Josh and I were talking the other day about how crazy life can be sometimes with keeping the kids from going nuts.  We came up with the conclusion that your kids can drive you crazy, (sometimes all day), and you just don't know if you can take one more second, and then by the end of the day, all you can talk about are all of the things your kids did and how cute and funny it all was.  We end up spending most of our nights laughing about how daring Andrew is or how sweet Anna is.  Somehow, all of the chaos disappears and your heart if overflowing with love.   Why is that?  I think it's that their little spirits are so good and pure, even when they are coloring on your walls and fighting nonstop.  They are still so good.  Nothing in the world can replace the relationship of parent and child.  There is a divine nature about how a family works.  I feel all of this love for my kids because our Heavenly Father feels so much love for them.  It's like I can sometimes get a glimpse of what He must feel for them.  What a blessing to be able to feel and see that glimpse. 

I'm just so excited to be able to experience all of this again very soon with our little Daniel.  He'll be here in no time, and I am excited to feel that love for him and to feel of Heavenly Father's love for him.  No worldly thing can replace that sweet emotion.  It's great to be a parent.

Apple Pickin' Fun

Just check out that cutie!  What a hunk.  ;-)

 We went with some friends to Eckert's Farm where we got to pick apples.  I am really starting to feel the, "if I don't do it now, I won't be able to in 4 weeks" syndrome.  I did this with Andrew too.  In my head, I keep telling myself that I HAVE to get everything done right now because in four weeks, I'll be out of commission for months.  I know life will go on, but with three kids, it will all be more difficult.  So, we're trying to cram everything in we can now and are loving it! 
Eckert's was super fun.  It was much better than I thought it was going to be.  I saw on the forecast that our high for that day was 72 degrees.  I knew we had to take advantage of the good weather.  I was so glad that some of our friends got to come too.  We all had a great time!

 We splurged and bought some over-priced tickets for the kids to be able to go on the rides.  I was glad we did.  They were in HEAVEN!  Here they are on the mini Ferris Wheel. 

 They had cute little John Deer bikes for them to ride.  They loved it and would NOT stop to pose for a picture if their life depended on it. 

 They even had a little petting area with goats and camels.  Andrew was really into it!

 Anna, not so much.

 Now, this is an embarrassing photo of me.  I realize that one me equals more than twice my kids.  But, look how happy they are!  We all put our hands up on the "fast" swings.  It was really quite enjoyable, even for the pregnant lady. 

 I know it looks like Andrew is squished but he really didn't feel any pressure from us.  Thumbs up Dad!

 Anna in the bounce house.

 Josh didn't know this picture was being taken, but here we are loading on the tractor.  We're ready for some apple-picking fun!

 The Thornocks...so sweet!

 And the Waldies, love them!

 We finally made it to the apples.  I guess in my head, I thought the trees would be a lot bigger.  It was SO much fun to be there.  We all got a bag to carry and we went to town!  I was curious to see how Andrew would do with all of this.  I thought he would just take off and leave us, (because that is ALWAYS what he wants to do).  Instead, he was really focused and concentrated very hard on which apples to put in his bag.  Mind you, he only chose the gross ones that had already fallen on the ground.  It wasn't until about the last ten minutes that he caught on to picking them off the branches.  

 That apple looks tough to get doesn't it?

 Don't you just want to squeeze that little cheek!

 It was great because we could eat the apples as we picked.  Andrew thoroughly enjoyed that!

 Family pic!  Again, I know I look HUGE but check out the faces on the kids.  Darling.  Their little personalities are just shining through!

 And, one last shot of the Thornocks!

The Big 26!

 Happy Birthday to me!!  Yes, I turned 26 last week.  My birthday often falls on Labor Day, which I love!  It gives my husband the day off and usually is bursting with sales at the stores.  It isn't a big holiday but makes it so more people can be around.  I am truly blessed to have so many sweet family members and friends.  Everyone showed me so much love on my bday.  It was great.  I love the cards the kids made for me.  Andrew held the crayon as Josh wrote these words.  Then he colored it front and back.  When you see your darling little boy and girl waking you up with beautiful, home-made cards and a rose in their hands, you realize, life couldn't be sweeter.  Look at Anna's picture.  It's the cutest thing.  She drew a picture of myself and some balloons.  Aren't those the CUTEST balloons you've ever seen?  It was so sweet. 

 Breakfast in bed, made with love by my sweet hubby.  I also got some beautiful roses!

 I got to choose the activities for the day, so we went to a park for the kids to play at.  It was awesome.  We've only been to this park once before and it was when the playground portion was under construction.  This time it was open and we were so glad it was.  People around here call it the Rocket Ship Park.  Coolest. Park. Ever.

 What a cutie!

 This is in the control station.  ;-)

 Here we are at the top of the rocket ship, about to take off. 

 This reminds me of the moon mobile from the Berenstain Bears. 

 At night, we went out to eat at Applebee's.  Andrew was going crazy before we got there, so we almost cut out the whole eating out portion of our day.  Once we were there though, he was a little angel.  Thank goodness.  He tried standing up in his chair and as he was standing he said very sternly and very loudly, "SIT DOWN!!!!"  He knew what we were going to say.  Then we did tell him to sit down and luckily he didn't put up too much of a fight.

 I've never laughed so hard as when we were desperately trying to light my candles.  Andrew kept blowing them out before we could get them all lit.  I think we ended up lighting the candles 4 or 5 times or so.  Everyone needed a turn, some more than others. 

Overall, it was a great birthday!