Tonight

We are finishing a very busy month... scratch that... we are finishing a very busy TWO months with parfaits (that fancy for ice cream sundaes, just ask Nancy). I was looking through the camera's memory card and can't believe all the things we've done this month! Here's a few of the highlights. In June we.....

• Had a visit from Grandma and Great-Grandma
• Went to the Children's Museum, the splash pad, the pool more times than we can count, and lots of play dates.
• Graduated out of the helmet!!!
• Celebrated Elizabeth's birthday.
• Celebrated Father's Day.
• Went to a couple softball games.
• Played outside and road bikes.
• Picked blueberries.
• Made new friends.
• Went to VBS.

It's been a great month!

Last week, I found myself hoping that July would be a wee bit calmer that May and June. However, on the 3rd, we will all be driving to Wichita to be with my side of the family. It's always fun to see Grandma, Grand-Daddy, and Aunt Shannon. And as a bonus, my sister and her husband will be coming to Wichita too! I'm so looking forward to a wonderful weekend! Curtis and I will also be taking a little excursion to relax and rest. Yay! So far, it's not looking like our July is going to be any calmer than the other months. And if it's just as fun, that's okay by us!

Another bow

Elizabeth wanted me to post a picture of her with her new bow. Really, I promise it was her idea. :-)

VBS pictures

Throughout the week, Marian takes pictures of the kids at VBS. She then hangs them in the foyer, and we get to take them home at the end of the week. Here are just a few of the ones she took of me and the kiddos. I seriously have dozens! A couple of the pictures were also taken by Shirley, who took pictures of the kids for them to put in a frame they decorated. She actually got a good one of Elizabeth!

Sweet Benjamin!
Sweet Elizabeth!
Hannah, Jessica (the youth helper in Elizabeth's class) and Elizabeth.
Amanda and I tackled the five year old class together. We mad and AWESOME team!

Elizabeth, hard at work at recreation (thanks Mr. Charles for wearing her out every day!)
Me and Benjamin, hangin' in the nursery.
Micah doing his favorite VBS activity.... PLAY-DOUGH!!!!
Micah's sweet feet. He made a poster that said, "Micah follow Jesus" and it had his foot prints. Thanks to Stephanie and Josh for being super teachers for Micah!
Sweet Micah! (On a side not, his little boo-boo was inflicted by his sister.... it's a long story. The whole even surrounding the boo-boo has been named The Cupcake Melt Down. Ask Michael for more details).

We had a great week at VBS. All the kids had great teachers, who were very active, involved and shared the Bible in very real ways. I would like to say, "I can't wait till next year!" But in reality, I totally can! I'm tired!!!

VBS program

Today was the final day of VBS. At lunch time, the kids shared all the songs they've learned and we all had a pizza lunch! It was a great day!

In the second clip, you'll notice that Elizabeth keeps looking at the little boy behind her. She told me it was because he was singing REALLY loud! :-)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Micah-ism

Often when bathing the kids I sing the song, "O, the Blood of Jesus." If you don't know that song, basically it's just, "O, the blood of Jesus! O, the blood of Jesus..... it washes white as snow." I pause, and let Micah fill in the blanks. He's very good at filling in all the "Jesus" parts. At the end, I sing, "... it washes..." and wait for him to say, " white as snow." Instead, he says, "Benjamin's body?"

Benjamin-ism

Warning: this story involves poop. Actually, it's mostly about poop.

This morning, I was french braiding Elizabeth's hair, trying to get everyone out the door on time. Suddenly, Elizabeth is screaming, "Benjamin got poop on me!" I look at Ben, and he has ripped open the poopy diaper that I had just changed, with his teeth, and is rubbing it on Elizabeth. So gross! Not wanting to start over on Elizabeth's hair I scream for Curtis, who pulls the poopy diaper out of Ben's mouth, cleans him up and helps Elizabeth and I get the poop off of us.

Bikes

This evening, to burn off a little energy, we played outside, ridding bikes. Elizabeth just got a new big girl bike from Grandma and Grand-Daddy, and Micah got Elizabeth's old trike. We love having the calm, quiet, cul-de-sac that the kids can ride around in!
Doesn't Elizabeth look like a big girl on her new bike?!
Micah alternated between peddling and walking with the trike. :-)
Since Benjamin doesn't have a bike, he had more fun sticking him face in the puddles trying to get a drink.

What a week!

Is it really only Wednesday night?!

This week has been a busy one, and it feels like it should be Friday night already! Here's what we've been up to.

VBS!!! Woohoo! That means our goal is to be up and out the door by 8. That gives us enough time to get to church, and still have time for me to finish all my rockin' lessons! That's right, I'm teaching the five year old class! At first, I was only going to have two. Long story short, I have SEVEN! It's been quite an exhausting experience. But it isn't as bad as the one time I subbed for a Kindergartner class at the end of my college career. I guess have a child who is not far from five helps.

Elizabeth and Micah are both in class and Ben is hanging out with his buddies in the nursery.

On Sunday night Micah's contained rash spread. He didn't' sleep well, so it was a trip to the pediatrician for him and Curtis. Turns out it's just really bad eczema (he had/has it on the back of his legs, the small of his back, his elbows and cheeks). The doc prescribed oral steroids and a steroid cream.

Tuesday found us at the ENT for Ben's follow up from tubes. All looked good (though today his ears look a little gross), which we are thankful for! However, there is something in the air that is making the little guys allergies go NUTS! His big blue eyes were so runny that I thought he might have pink eye. The ENT confirmed that it was just allergies (whew!) but the poor guy is just a big, snot nosed MESS!

And another excited element to my day on Tuesday was when I drowned my cell phone in coffee. That was special! I closed my coffee mug, stuck it in my purse, and didn't realize till I had coffee running down my leg that the mug wasn't really closed. Opps. My phone didn't die (amazingly!) however, it did lose sound. But all's well now. And I have a phone that smells like french vanilla coffee!

All that to say that we have been quite busy, are all tired, and due to allergies and rashes, there hasn't been much sleep. Oh, and don't forget the boys are both teething.

But, to get ourselves through, Curtis and I keep reminding each other that next Wednesday we are leaving to go up to Wichita for the 4th! YAY!!!! We're very excited to see family. And the icing on the cake is that Curtis and I are taking some "off time" to catch up on each other and sleep. Only 12 more days till then!

For Will (and Amy and Charla!)

Will, the husband of my friend Amy, was deployed today. Since he and Amy had a long distance relationship, then moved to Washington after they married, I never really got to know him. But, I know from first hand accounts that he is a wonderful man, husband and brother (check out Will's sister's blog)! So please join me in praying for Will as he sets out to serve our country. Also, please pray for his wife Amy. Elizabeth wearing her "I hear the Air Force" shirt from Ms. Amy and Mr. Will. Will and Amy's niece, Hannah, also has one just like it, just smaller.
An old picture of Micah, wearing a flight suit. Yay for the Air Force and the men and women who serve in the Air Force!

To be continued.....

Update.... all's well that ends well. Thankfully, Elizabeth's Daddy has a bit more patience for these kinds of shenanigans, and got the comb out. No scissors needed.

Happy birthday Momma!

This isn't a special picture of my mom. But it is my favorite picture of my mom! This picture is one that shows how truly beautiful she is!

As a way to encourage me, people will often remind me that I only have 17 more years of parenting. Ha! That's when I think about my Mom, and remind myself that if I'm going to be half the mother she's been, then I'm going to be parenting for a long, long, long time! Even though I'm not far from 30, she is still a very active part of my life. I am so thankful that she is willing to take time from her life, time from her schedule, so that she can come be such an active part of my family. Even though doesn't live close, if doesn't feel that far.

When I think about all the major milestones that I've see in the past few years, almost every one of them I've had my mom there to celebrate with me, encourage me, and support me. I am so thankful for the gift that she is to me and my family!

I love you momma! Happy birthday!

Blueberry picking

The big kids and I took a little trip to Porter, which is just outside of Conroe, to pick blueberries! My dear friend Kristy, is one of those super moms who knew about these things, and knew where to go. The Arnolds kept baby Ben, since I had a moment of clarity and realized a two hour car trip (each way) and three kids in the heat might not be the best idea. Thanks Arnolds!

Have you ever read the book, Blueberries for Sal? It's a great book, one that I read as a child, and one that Elizabeth has read. In part of the book, the little girl, Sal, has a run in with a momma bear while little Sal's momma has a run in with Baby Bear, all while they are picking blueberries. Elizabeth kept asking, "There won't be any dangerous animals, will there?" "Nope," I assure her. "Are there going to be any bears, because bears are dangerous!" "There won't be any bears at the blueberry farm, sweetie." "But if it's a farm, there will be animals, right?" It's at this point in the conversation that I consider banging my head on the steering wheel. It's also the point in the conversation where Micah decided that we will be picking blueberries with cows.

We made it to the blueberry farm, met up with Kristy and her little girl Parker, and off we went! Aunt Kristy, leading the way to the blueberries!
The best place to find blueberries was at the very bottom of the bush, or the very top of the bush, which worked out well since we had the munchkins (not talking about you Kristy! :-)) and me.
"Look! Boo-berries, Aunt Kierstyn!"
Blueberry picking girls!
Elizabeth, proudly displaying a blueberry. Not a green one or a red one. A BLUEberry. She and Parker were very particular about the quality of berried that made it into their buckets!

Sweet, precious, beautiful, Parker. You know where she gets all those amazing traits?From her wonderful momma!
Micah picking something that might or might not have been a blueberry. At the end of our little excursion, he didn't care what he was picking! He had blueberries, green blueberries, leaves, sticks, you name it, in his bucket. I knew it was time to go when he would pick something and promptly throw, exclaiming, "I ready to go home!"
Parker and Elizabeth..... awwwww!
This is my evidence that I really was there! See, that's me in the cute sun glasses, between all those sweaty kids.

All in all, we had a fun time. It was hot.... really, really, hot! Kristy kindly offered to combine Parker's boo-berries with ours, and we got a grand total of.... 1 1/2 lbs of blueberries! Yep, one hour of work, only 1 1/2 lbs to show! Now wonder blueberries are expensive.

The next order of business is to decide how to use these yummy treats. Elizabeth is thinking a pie. Anyone know how to make pie?

Bow, bows, and bows!

Last night Elizabeth and I had some little girls from church and their mommies over to make bows. It was a blast! The amazing part was that at the end of the night, I only had four bows to show for hours (literally, hours!) or work. But, as you can see from the bow below, two of my bows are really two bows in one. So I count that as six bows! That sounds a bit better.

Here's my favorite bow from the evening.

Jamison, are you jealous of Elizabeth's cool 4th of July bow? I can totally make you one! :-)

Teething

Blah! Teething is the pits! In my (limited) experience, I find that the first tooth a baby gets is the worse, until they get molars. Molars are miserable! And guess what. Benjamin is getting his 12 month molars and Micah is getting his two year molars. So we've seen a lot of this.....

and not much for this.....

This is when I remind myself that this is only temporary, smile, and try not to think about putting braces on all these new teeth!

I do all my own stunts

Look Mom! No helmet! Ta-Da!
(this is Ben's "I'm so proud of myself I must scream" face)

You know you're a mommy when....

... you're watching a cartoon with your children and you find yourself thinking, "Yeah, sure they can fly a boat to Africa. That's dumb!" Never mind the fact that said boat is being flown by a turtle, duck and guinea pig, that's totally within the realm of normal!

A good lookin' family

2007 softball season

2008 softball season

Maybe I'm just biased, but I think that we are one good lookin' family!

Elizabeth's birthday

Here are a few (okay, so MANY!) pictures from Elizabeth's actual birthday. We had quite a busy day with it being her birthday AND Father's Day. Curtis was a real trooper, and let the light shine on Elizabeth. Thanks sweetie!

Before we ate pancakes, we had to open a few presents! opening a present from Aunt Shannon
Micah was ready to help Elizabeth, just in case.

asking Grandma what she's supposed to do with the bike basket. She was very excited to learn that there was a bike coming!
At Sunday school, her teacher made her a birthday crown and brought cupcakes. I'm not sure what "rule" I was breaking, but I even let her wear the crown into church.
For dinner we went to Chuck E Cheeses... the happiest place on earth... or the inner ring of hell. You take your pick.
It's just not a trip to Chuck E Cheese without some ski ball!
Even the boys played!
Daddy and Elizabeth
The Krajca girls With "all" our tickets, we were able to buy two pairs of these lovely glasses.
And in case you didn't recognize him, that's Curtis in disguise.

And of course baby Ben get in on the fun.

It was a really special day! We had lots of fun with friends at church, friends at lunch (thanks to the Arnolds for sharing Father's Day lunch with us!) and then with family at dinner. A fun day to celebrate a very special girl!