Wordless Wednesday

Celebrating McKenna!

While the cousins were in town we decided to celebrate McKenna's birthday too (it's next week)!

And this girl knows how to party!

She even blew out her own candles!



And since she loved blowing out her candles so much, we lit them again and let her do it all over again.

But the saddest thing ever happened!! She put her finger right in the flame of the candle. It was so terrible. There were five adults standing right there and she burned her finger. She recovered quickly at the mention of presents to open (I told you she knows how to party) but I just felt terrible. Despite a boo boo finger (it didn't blister or anything) we had a wonderful little party. And we're planning on more celebrations to come, so stay tuned!

P.S. I got that banner that says "Happy Birthday McKenna" from Vistaprint. It was free and all I had to pay was shipping! Totally worth it. It's made out of heavy vinyl and I can use it for years to come. I got one for Chrish too.

Hate this...

I have an ear infection for like the first time in over a decade and it is soooo frustrating. I hate feeling "off." It doesn't really hurt and really I feel totally fine, but I seriously can only hear out of one ear and I think my balance is off because I've been feeling a little dizzy and pretty tired. Just annoying because it hampers my ability to get things done!!! So I'm planning on just sitting around today and reading books to the kiddos and doing crafts and playing table games and I'm going to forget anything else that needs to get done! If you know me, you know I like to get things done, so I'm frustrated that I can't do five things at once. But maybe it's just time to slow down!

Well, the truth of the matter is....

that the volcano was a very fun project and all of the kids LOVED it!!!

The girls did a great job decorating the volcano and the first eruption was rather tiny.

And there was cheering for more!!

We erupted that volcano at least 4 times.

Live Blogging...The Volcano Saga Continues

The volcano was really starting to take shape...
Things were moving along quickly...

It was almost time to start painting....

And then we read this....notice the part that says "allow to dry overnight."

And that's how I ended up doing this!

The Play by Play

Just in case you wanted to know the play by play of what's happening at our house right now...we're in the middle of Emma's 9th birthday party.
Emma wanted to have a "science experiment party." Hmmm...definitely an interesting theme. Amy asked me if I had any ideas for activities/science experiments we could do and I quickly informed her that she was on her own with that one :) So Amy came up with the grand idea of making a volcano that explodes.

And so...she's a little stressed out right now because you can imagine how involved that is. She keeps calling everyone "honey" in this very forced nice voice. Ha!

Notice who is doing most of the work.

She has lots of willing help and then there's me over here in the corner not being much help at all other than to giggle at the thought that she actually thought this was a good idea. She is currently lining the girls up, so that can each take their turn wrapping the volcano with plaster. The girls are having fun....we'll see how this turns out! Maybe I'll post a video of the "explosion."

Just Thankful

I am so thankful for my two kids! I just have to tell you and I think it's important for me to remember, you know...for when they're not so great :)
Anyway, my kids have been such great sports about this move. We've lived in this house for a little over a month and they have both adjusted beautifully. And their behavior has been just outstanding. We've worked so hard to get to where we are right now and it's nice to be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor just a little bit. I'm sure the tide will turn soon enough, but right now there is just a lot of peace in our home.
Tonight was a perfect example. Ryan's traveling, which should have meant an extra stressful night for me. But I was able to paint a "room" tonight (I put that in quotes because it's more like a little nook where my desk is between the kitchen and the dining room...I guess I really need to take a picture to explain it). Okay, back to my point....I was able to paint a room tonight while Christian played on his Leapster and colored a whole array of pictures at the table. McKenna pushed her babies around in there strollers and every now and then she would come over to see what I was doing and she would inform me that I had "paint" on the "wall."
It was just a great night. A fun bathtime followed and then we had a really special time at bedtime loving on each other and talking to Jesus. It would have been absolutely perfect if McKenna didn't HATE going to bed these days. She screams and shouts "no bed. rock me" whenever I lay her down in her bed. And she cries and carries on and makes this mommy feel terribly guilty for not rocking her for the next hour. I do usually rock her for a little while when she asks and it's the sweetest time because she loves to rest her soft little hand on my face. But she just won't fall asleep like that so I have to put her in her bed after awhile and then the screaming begins all over again.
But really, it was a fabulous night. There simply aren't words adequate enough to express my praise to God for the two precious gifts he's given me.
And the best part of the night is that daddy is on his way home right now. We weren't expecting him until tomorrow :)

An Update...

1. I know, I know...I've been the worst blogger lately. Life is just catching up with me these days. I've just got too much to do and some things just aren't getting done and blogging seems to be one of those things (and Ryan would tell you that laundry is also one of those things). I used to blog during nap time when McKenna would sleep for two hours and Christian would have quiet time by watching a show, but with the addition of two extra kiddos in the afternoons, I just don't have that time anymore. And that's okay because I'm enjoying the craft/homework time that we have instead. I should have taken a picture of the craft we did today because it turned out really cute!

2. Did you know that Abby and Nate and Emma are coming in just two more "sleeps????" Well, that's just about all we can talk about around here. Christian was still awake last night at 10pm when I went in to check on him and I asked him why he was still awake. He told me that he was so excited that Abby & Nate were coming that he couldn't sleep and that he just wanted to scream! Ha! Isn't that hilarious? I don't think I've ever seen him so excited about something. He even has matching outfits all planned out for himself and Nathan.

3. This picture has nothing to do with anything, but I just thought it was funny how she had the box propped up on her foot. She seriously sat there like that for about 10 minutes with her foot up in the air while digging in that cereal box (which quickly turned into a disaster and I'll never let her have an entire box of cereal again!)

4. This is just a sneak peek of the playroom. I love it so far and I did get it painted and put back together by the end of the day on Sunday (which I think is the last time I posted about it). But I can't show you the finished project yet because I just got the lights that I ordered in the mail today. And I just finally got some pictures on the walls, sooooooo You're going to have to wait a little longer to see the entire thing!

5. Who knows how long you'll have to wait. I've got a cold and so does Christian, McKenna and Ryan. Daddy's traveling and I've got the cousins coming this weekend and two birthday party's planned. Emma's turning 9....like I can't even believe I just typed the number nine in the same sentence with Emma's name. And McKenna is turning two very, very soon but we're going to celebrate while the cousins are here this weekend.

6. And speaking of McKenna's birthday.....guess what??? You're all invited to her party and you don't even have to get in your car to drive here, although I would love it if you would! I'm still figuring out the details so I'm going to keep you all in suspense for now, but it's going to be fun!!