Lucy loves to build

Yesterday was Good Friday and German took the day off. We went to lunch at Central Market then headed to the FW museum. Dad helped the girls build this fort and Lucy asked me to take picture. She made me promise I would keep the picture saved forever, so here it is.

Then later in the evening we headed to Nana Gail's house to do service. We helped prune some bushes and pull weeds. Lucy built this ship and again asked me to take a picture. I love how she puts on a serious face when she poses for pics. I love this little girl! We had a great family fun day.

This one is from last week...she really wanted me to take a pic before she knocked it down.

Kinder Tales

I've finally taken some time to fix the photos that were lost here on the old blog. It is going to take awhile, but I have the computer plugged into the external hard drive so I can access all our photos and my goal is to fix a few posts a week.

I started from the beginning and it really is shocking to view photos of me pregnant and read about the twin's birth and watch old videos of them. I miss their tiny little bodies so much! Yet at the same time I LOVE their big girl brains! Kindergarten has been great! I am so glad I kept them in the same class, Mrs. King has been really great. It is amazing how quickly they have picked up reading. In just a few months they went from not being able to read much at all, to reading full chapter books!

Audrey especially and she has already read quite a few books! She takes her books in the car and reads while we drive and at night it's a struggle to get her to stop so we can say family prayer. I love that she's a bookworm, I loved reading all the time as well!
Audrey of the Outback
Magic Treehouse #1
How to Train your Dragon #1
Willow's Underwater World
And she is now reading How to be a pirate (how to train your dragon book #2)

Lucy reads just as well and has read a couple chapter books, but I noticed she was doing it mostly just to compete with Audrey. I told her she can wait and read more when she wants to and she hasn't been as interested in chapter books lately. German got these old Charlie Brown Encyclopedia books a while ago at Half Price Books and she loves reading facts and learning new things about everything. I love that their personalities are so different.

Sage and I have enjoyed just hanging out and playing at home. I thought she would miss her sisters, but she has loved having playdates with her friends and playing with just mom. She is super excited to start school in the Fall, though. She tries to do whatever her sisters are doing, especially when they have homework or other little projects. She is my favorite little buddy.

German loves his job! He is always busy, but I am glad he enjoys it. He leaves around 7am and gets home around 6pm most days. About once a month he makes time on Saturdays to take the girls out on a daddy/daughter date and they LOVE it. He is such a great dad! I love that the girls will have an amazing father who is involved in their lives and shows them lots of love and affection. They are super lucky!

I have too many home projects that I am putting off until Sage starts school. I want to paint our kitchen cabinets white, remodel the master shower, refinish the deck in the back. Plus build some raised beds for gardening and just continue learning and trying to develop some talents. I'm a little nervous about attempting some stuff on my own, but the internet is so full of information, I think I can manage it...maybe...well, I hope!

Life is good. Really I feel so extremely fortunate and blessed. Of course, we'd LOVE more babies to come to our home, but I am very happy with our three angel girls!   ;)

Daddy Daughter Dance Feb 28th, 2014

don't want to forget today

This morning Sage woke up and came to snuggle with me. She started kissing my cheek multiple times and then grabbed my face and said "I want a kiss on the lips!" and she proceeded to kiss me more. The girls had their last swimming lesson today and Audrey has picked up on it soooo well. She's so naturally athletic and I can tell she will excel at any sport she chooses to do. Yesterday at a friend's pool, she saw an older girl do a somersault in the water and after a few tries and a little help from nana, she figured it out and she started doing front flips and back flips under the water. Lucy and Sage were trying, but they were a bit more fearful about it all...not Audrey, not one bit.

Lucy loves stories! If ever I begin to say "when i was a little girl..." she perks up and looks as though she could be on the edge of her seat. "uh huh mommy...what mommy, what were you going to say????" She often asks us to tell her stories about when we were little and she's always extremely intrigued with whatever we say and her memory is astounding. Many times I've begun to tell a story and she will stop me and say "you already told us about that mom!" then she proceed to finish my story! I had totally forgotten I'd already told her! I cannot wait to get her started on the piano or violin or whatever she chooses. I have a feeling she will be really artsy...at least I hope!

I love the girls drawings! They recently colored pictures and taped them up all over our bedroom walls and their own bedroom walls. Who needs to buy art?! Someday I hope to get it all framed...someday when I get passionate about this house cleaning/decorating/organizing thing. I'm not so awesome at it.

German came home from a 3-day 2-night high adventure young men outing in Arkansas tonight and the girls missed him so much. When he got home they said "Don't ever leave like that again daddy!" On Saturday we leave on a 2100 mile roadtrip to Panama City beach and then to Georgia where German is going to bless Natalia's new baby boy Pablo. Should be fun and crazy and memorable and exhausting!

Today was a good day!

My poor neglected blog...today!

You may have noticed how many of my pictures were all lost last year because of a google mess up...so discouraging! But I still need to use this as journal, so I'll start with today since 'catching up' is just too overwhelming.

Today was a really good day! I love my sweet little girlykins! The girls let me sleep in and got breakfast all by themselves and even poured a bowl of cereal for me. They colored upstairs and I love that they usually play so well together. Lucy did get in trouble for wanting to kick her sister and I sent her to her room. She then yelled "I don't love you anymore mom!" and slammed her door.

Later the girls did some yoga with me and Audrey did 10 jumps with her jumprope. We ate lunch outside since weather was beautiful today! I love our backyard soooo much. I got a blanket so I could read outside and the girls wanted to play I spy and lay outside with me. I finally made them each get books and we read under the trees. Lucy had a way too long big toenail and brought out some clippers so I could cut it, I ended up trimming all their nails. Then Audrey asked if I'd paint them, too, so I painted all 30 toenails and fingernails! The girls found ladybugs and were so excited...not so excited when they saw ants and spiders though.

I finally took a shower and got dinner ready. Dad came home semi early (before 6pm) and we ate chicken salad in lettuce wraps, tomato/cucumber salad and broccoli. I'm so glad the girls love to eat their vegis. Later we relaxed on the love sac upstairs and watched the end of princess diaries, while dad napped.

I made some yummy white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies for FHE and we had a lesson on being a missionary. Audrey chose hide and go seek as our game/activity. Then shower, books and bedtime. I'm also glad they usually go to bed pretty well. I love our girls. Tomorrow I am planning on the free first Tuesdays at the Dallas Museum of Art. Hopefully, it won't be raining because I want to grab some food truck grub.

Good night!

Motherhood

I have so many thoughts right now that I don't know where to start. I love being a mom and I love my kids! I also love other people's kids! But I've never felt so insecure about my parenting until about 15 months ago when school ended and 'employed' life began. I need to sleep, but I wanted to save these articles for future reference.

articles here and here

*update* March 23rd: I read this article today in the NY Times and loved it. I realized I have had a smart phone for the last 16 months. Although the two mat not be completely related, the coincidence is enough for me to want to get rid of the thing ASAP.

We miss nana and nampa!

The girls were loving life with nana and nampa. They got to stay with us for 2 1/2 weeks and I really miss not being outnumbered by these little people all day...come again soon! We love you!

My baby is 3!

 Can she stay 3 forever?

 She got to pick out her toy at Target. Her favorite princess is Cinderella...Audrey loves Belle and Lucy loves Ariel. It is so much fun having little girls!

 I've decided that I hate decorating cakes...I am terrible at it and it makes the cake look less delicious. Oh well, she loved it and that's all that matters.

We love you so much Baby Sagey!

devil's food cake

butterscotch pudding

Big wheels

When I was three years old, we lived in a cul-de-sac. I had a big wheel and I vividly remember riding it around the cul-de-sac buck naked. My almost three year old was contained to the backyard, but she and I are kindred spirits for sure. 

Hi mom!

See ya later

I love this girl so freakin' much.

silly girls

I wrote German this email yesterday...

The girls are playing in the entryway and Audrey just said "I am the King of the Jews!" then Lucy responded, "Ok, and I'll be the Queen of the juice!" I think Audrey was the only one paying attention in church yesterday. ;)

We had lots of crazy fun with cousin Maddie and Aunt Amy the past week and a half. Amy came to watch the girls so German and I could celebrate our 10 year anniversary for a couple of nights. We had a little birthday party for Maddie since she is turning three in a couple of weeks. We danced in dressups and ate pink cupcakes. They had fun playing outside, jumping on beds, coloring Valentine's, decorating heart cookies and fighting over toys. We even got to see Uncle Spencer for a couple of days, hopefully we will get together again soon.

Isn't she so cute?!?

email to dad...

I made caramel corn and the girls and I were chowing down in front of a movie. It was disappearing fast and Lucy looks down and says, "we better save some for daddy." So, she says, "I'll just take two more bites." Then she grabs two more little pieces. I tell Sage and Audrey to take two more little bits and then I'm going to put it away to save for daddy. They proceed to take two more BIG handfuls and Lucy also digs in again for one more huge handful. It's addicting. I'll try to save you some, but not sure if I can stop...

We will probably wait until you get here to eat since we just ate alot of caramel corn.

Love you.

i love the green!

Today I took Sage (and the other two) to the doctor because she's been really cranky, stuffy, feverish and waking up the last couple of nights. It started on Sunday and turns out she has RSV and maybe the beginnings of pneumonia. Poor thing...she wouldn't nap today, so we are watching lots of TV. I'm tired and should be working on my talk for church, but instead I am wasting time looking at design homes. Maybe it's because I was born on St. Patrick's day, but I LOVE all the green.

robot twins

Lucy and Audrey will sometimes start talking to each other in robot voices...must be from a cartoon. And they love to pretend their names are Ahhsha, Anna and Bobah. No idea??

I wish I had a pecan tree in my backyard. These are pictures from last month at the beautiful Royalty Pecan Farm, the most delicious pecans I have ever tasted. The day we celebrated German finishing his last final! No more school!!!

I love these people so very much!

Ahhsha

Anna

& Bobah

My newest design wish: a photo frame collage wall kinda like this one. Or this one.

today

I woke up at 7:05am

I remembered to say my morning prayer

I gave the girls Life cereal for breakfast & Honey Bunches cereal to my honey

I read outloud from 1st Nephi chapter 5 and told the girls how much Lehi and Sariah loved their children and how much they worried about them

I also smiled to myself reading about Sariah complaining to her husband Lehi, calling him a visionary man

I cut out three paper hearts and watched the girls color rainbows on them like their friend Bristol while I ate breakfast and drank some mate

I helped Sage with her pinkalicious puzzle

I washed, folded and put away two loads of laundry

I gave the girls graham crackers and milk for snack

I told Lucy 5 times to stop bugging Audrey and sit down and finish her snack

Then I lost it when Audrey spilled her full glass of milk because she was trying to get away from Lucy who was, of course still bugging her

I cleaned up the milk and continued to rant and yell about the girls leaving their toys and clothes and blankets and puzzle pieces everywhere

I felt bad when Lucy came to say sorry and give me a hug

I hugged her back and told her I was sorry I had made a bad choice by yelling

I sent the girls out in the backyard to ride bike/scooters

I laughed when I saw Audrey walking around in dad's flip flops

I got a phone call from my MIL

I gave the girls mac n cheese, mixed veggies and homemade pinto bean dip for lunch

I let the girls watch Miss Spider

I spent time on craigslist looking for a queen size bed, piano, dresser, lawn mower, cake stand, butter dish, and a bunch of other non-essential items

I also researched a solar oven and really want to buy one soon

I changed three poopy diapers & wiped two poopy bums all before noon

I put the girls down for a nap

I thought about how I want the girls job chart to look like

I also thought about taking a shower (didn't happen)

I took a 30 minute power nap

I sighed when the girls woke me up

I gave the girls trail mix for a snack and they pretty much only ate the M&Ms

I put on 'Vida' music so the girls could dance around in their dressups

I crawled around chasing the girls while being the red-headed tickle monster

I tackled and tickled the twins and smiled when Sage did a Sumo jump onto my back

I snuggled and watched Milo & Otis with the girls.

I skyped with my mom, the girls are regular jokesters ("Sort of" & "Awkward")

I made BBQ chicken thighs, rice and vegis for dinner and PW prune cake for dessert

I smiled when the girls saw daddy and squealed for joy

I bathed three cute little girls

I kissed Sage all over after I put on her diaper--she laughed and yelled "top it mommy!"

I helped draw a birthday card for family night

I laughed and applauded for each singing performance on the fireplace stage

I listened while Sage and Lucy both had to say family prayer

I sang I am a Child of God while I put their books away on the bookshelf in their room

I kissed, hugged and said I love you to my three favorite little girls

I am now enjoying my alone time and feeling thankful for being a mother

I am also thinking that I really need to start writing my talk for church on Sunday

Tah Tah for now

This morning at breakfast...

...Lucy was wearing her favorite yellow headband:

Audrey: Hey Lucy, maybe when you get too big for your yellow headband then baby Oscar can wear it.

Lucy: Baby Oscar can't wear a headband, he's a boy!

Mom: When is baby Oscar coming?

Lucy: When Sage grows up and isn't a baby anymore then baby Oscar will come.

Dad: Where is baby Oscar?

Audrey: I don't know where baby Oscar comes from...

Mom: Ha, I'll tell you when you get older.

I think the girls are getting a little baby hungry, too bad mom and dad aren't quite ready yet.

JOY

This past week I've been feeling alot of joy. It is wonderful and I realize how important it is for me to always seek out that joy, not just when things seem to be going well. Things aren't incredibly different, I still wake up tired and cranky some mornings and I still lose it with the girls now and again. I still get a little stir crazy being inside all day and I still get frustrated when the girls are all screaming something at me at once.

The difference: I get over it quicker. I am somehow not allowing those moments to linger as long and ruin my day. Sadly, over the last few years I often let my deep worries/concerns pour over into my attitude toward daily life, which impeded my joy.

Now because life has alot less worries, I am sleeping better and recognizing how I feel more joyful and more grateful. I realize this is all fine and dandy, but the trick is that I need to learn to feel this way even when my life is filled with worries and/or trials. Because as most of us know one guarantee in this life is that trials will come. My job is to not let the trial shake me up for too long. My challenge is to find joy during difficult times. I love our beautiful little girls so much and I am extremely fortunate to be able to stay home with them each day.

Yesterday I decided to shower while the girls were napping. The girls woke up while I was blow drying my hair. I got them a snack and then went to put hot curlers in my hair (which I usually only do occasionally, maybe a few times a month). I finished my hair and makeup and it was almost 4pm. I looked in the mirror and thought, "alot of work and I'm not even going to leave the house today...oh well." I walked out into the living room and my Loving Lucy said "Wow mom, your hair is so beautiful!" I started to tear up a little as I thanked her and gave her a hug. She is so sweet and so sincere and just such a wonderful reminder of how very lucky I am to be home all day.

Adorable Audrey loves the new bike they share from Christmas and she is always wanting me to put on her pads and helmet and WATCH her. "Mom, look at me mom...mom, mom, look--did you see me mom? Watch mom, Watch this! mom mom MOM!" And I get to be here to watch her ride in circles over and over. How lucky am I?

Sassafras Sage and her dressup changing is adorable and a tad annoying. She loves to twirl and say "look mom, I so boosissol in my dress!" I find her dressups strewn all over the house inside out all day long. Cinderella is her favorite followed by her purple fairy Halloween costume, then Alice. I have stitched up Alice and Cinderella once and it is time for another fix on the Cinderella dress.

My Gentle German. I love him more each day! We are both so much happier when not in school. We will celebrate our 10 year anniversary in a few weeks and we've been loving our lazy nights together with no homework to do. We have been in school pretty much since we got married and I still can't believe it is over FOREVER! I am so proud of him and he gets even more handsome with age. He is my media naranja and I love to be near him always. The girls love him, too and get SOOO excited when daddy gets home from work (screaming, running and jumping for a good 5 minutes straight!) He is a wonderful daddy and I love that he reads to them every night before bed.

 Surprised Faces

Mean Faces

Silly Faces

I love each face so much!

Wish our bed looked like this...I love the shutter headboard and the lamp and the pillows...

German full-time employee

German finished school on Friday and he just left to start work full-time this week. I am so proud of him. We will all move up to Mansfield, TX (about 30 mins south of his job in Arlington) on Jan 9th and start a new era of our lives with NO SCHOOL. It has been a difficult and long journey, but I knew he could do it. I knew once he got his foot in the door, he would be offered a job. He works so hard and is so loyal and reliable and gives his very best.

I have set new goals for myself since he will be gone working now M-F from 8-6pm and why wait until the New Year??? I will miss having him so close by and at home so often during the day. I have to step up my game alot and I need the girls to help me out. I am making a new schedule for all of us, a routine of studying and learning and playing and cleaning and organizing. I want helping out to be fun and enjoyable, so that they feel like part of a team. I want it to just become good habits or second nature to them, not something I have to nag and remind them about each day. I only have a year and 8 months left with them here at home all day and then they are off to school and then gone forever. I got a laminator for Christmas and I am so excited to use it! Now that German has an office at work, I get to make the home office my own work space. We also got Adobe photoshop and illustrator, so I get to play and design and hopefully, develop/attain some talent. I'm excited.

Any ideas or website links for preschool projects, organization ideas, crafts. etc would be great!

Love him...

And them.

Today I'm grateful I drove to Utah with my girls in July...

...so Sage could meet her sweet great grandfather and give him a kiss.

Halloween cuties