Saturday Sillyness

Jadyn loves to play with her pretend make-up. It's an empty blush container, and she just loves it. She sometimes puts the pretend blush on me too. She's such a girly girl. She loves to have me put a little (unnoticeable) blush or chapstick on her when I'm doing my make-up. She's crazy about fingernail polish too. She asks to wear a dress almost every day and the hair accessories are becoming important to her too. She's funny.

Barbie Playin' Daddy!

Playing with dolls isn't really one of Alan's usual activities. He was just helping Jadyn get a dress off or on the Barbie. Hee hee. I hope Alan doesn't kill me for posting this, but I think he knew it would probably end up on the blog. :) Doesn't Jadyn's expression just say, "Look! I got my daddy to play Barbies!"

She makes me laugh every day!

Funny Things That Jadyn Says continued: Yesterday, we were driving in the car and she said, "Mom, my fingernails are growing....just like plants." I laughed out loud. I was thinking that I'm glad they don't grow "just like plants." She's a funny girl. Ahh, the joys of having a 3 year old.

Right out of the blue - "Mom, do chinchillas drink water?" Thank you again Diego. :)

Sharing a few photos

I'm adding a handful of photos. I've taken a lot of photos lately, but some just weren't that nice. Some I took with my phone and they weren't great. I'm learning what my phone's camera can do, and what it "can't". :) It's all a learning experience I suppose. Don't you hate it when you have all of these photos that you think will be great and then they....aren't?

Jadyn attended a friend's birthday party last weekend. It was a cute and fun party with all of the girls wearing tutus. I was happy that Jadyn participated in all of the dance activities. She can be pretty shy at times.

This is Jadyn, watering her sister's flowers. Lauryn and Aaron are out of town on vacation right now, so we are taking care of their flowers. Here's my little helper.

We stopped off at the grocery store after Kaitlyn's check up at the doctor. Jadyn wanted to ride in a cart with the kiddie seats. Kaitlyn decided to join her. Silly girls! We drew a few stares as well as a few smiles. Don't worry, Kaitlyn didn't ride there throughout the whole store. :)

A Bit About Our Weekend

Hello, and Happy Memorial Day! We're planning to spend a quiet day here at home as a family. Thus far our 3-day weekend has been so nice.

Jadyn attended a friend's birthday party on Saturday. Such a cute party, with sweet girls in tutus dancing and it was so much fun. Hey, Jadyn only cried twice this time, so that's progress. Ha ha. These events are so much fun for her, but at 3 years old, she still sometimes gets a bit overwhelmed if things aren't going exactly her way. :) Napping as soon as we got home was a cure for what ailed her.

We had 2 meals with friends over the weekend and so that was fun to visit and catch up with them.

Kaitlyn and I had a little time yesterday for some shopping. We went to 2 "stores that only women would enjoy." There was everything from home decor to jewelry and flowers. It was so wonderful to get out and do this. Seriously, I just don't get a lot of time to go to these types of stores. My shopping is usually "all business" - just get in, get the necessary things such as groceries, clothing or household items and go home. Kaitlyn and I finished our shopping and got into the car with our purchases. I literally sat back in the seat with this, "ahh that was such a wonderful shopping experience" feeling. Girl shopping! It was so nice! It sounds like I don't get out much, doesn't it? I just don't get to do that kind of leisurely shopping, in "girl heaven" stores very much. Jadyn isn't much of a shopper, that's just how it is. We don't do the leisurely shopping excursions, but we have come so far from the "screaming in the stroller days." :)

Here are 4 little stories/things about Jadyn from the past few days:

1. We were watching a bunny out in the backyard, from the kitchen windows yesterday morning. We watched for a while and then he hopped off into the bushes in the far part of the neighbor's yard. Jadyn asked me where the bunny went and I told her he was in the bushes. She said, "Him's playing hide-and-seek?" How funny is that?

2. She was watching a show on TV with Alan last night. They were showing a large snake with brown spots. Jadyn asked Alan, "Is that an An-conda? How crazy is that? Thank you to Diego or her computer games, (probably Diego) for teaching our child about Anacondas.

3. This girl loves chips! She will eat them in any flavor she can get them in. It doesn't seem to matter how spicy or sour they are. I love buffalo wing flavor and vinegar & salt chips. These show up at our house from time to time or I'll get them with my Subway sandwich. She loves chips so much that she will eat these. We have spicy buffalo wing chips right now. She sat there with me the other day at lunch, eating them. Seriously, my lips were burning afterward. This girl loves them. :)

4. She's noticed that her skin is different from ours and has been voicing that this weekend. I'm sure she noticed long ago. We've always told her how beautiful her skin, hair and eyes are. She's now learned how to express her thoughts on this difference to us. "Mom, does my skin match yours?" She asked me this yesterday morning as we were getting ready for church. Again this morning, she spoke about it to us at breakfast time. Alan and I put our arms next to hers and showed her that we all have different skin tones. We assured her that her skin tone is pretty. She then said that her skin was the "beautifulest" one. Oops! Cute, but maybe we've told her too many times how pretty her skin and features are. :) So anyway, I'd wondered when this time would come, when she would start talking about the differences. I hope that we can handle it properly each time.

Enjoy your day! Thanks for stopping by.

Photos From the Past Couple of Weeks

Delightful Dandelions!

The one below is my favorite.

It's for you!

Jadyn just loves dandelions. She picks some each time we are outside. Here are photos of her picking a bouquet for Mom, outside of her school. These photos were taken with my phone, so the quality could be a bit better. I was happy to capture these photos though.

On Friday the 9th, we went bowling with our playgroup friends. It was a lot of fun. Jadyn did well, and it was such a contrast to the first time we took her bowling. Now she's pretty confident about it. She can even carry her own 6 or 7 pound ball.

Jadyn enjoys having pretend picnics or "picmics" as she calls them. So we had a picnic in the basement and she said we could invite our friends. I asked her who our friends were and she said, "The cats." Lexi is the only cat who stayed. :)

Jadyn found the first baby geese of spring a couple of weeks ago. We always look forward to them so much in May. I thought it was neat that she was the first to spot them. We now have baby ducks too. Oh so cute and so tiny, and boy can they swim fast.

The top photo of these 2 is the view out my kitchen window. It never grows old and I never take it for granted.

My Excuse

I saw this on someone else's blog and had to have it. I am quite the coffee drinker. Maybe this is what happened last week when I had my little blooper? :) Well...I need an excuse!

Our Weekend

Hi friends! I'm so glad you're here today. It's a blessing to know you, whether I know you personally or you're one of my many online friends. I send each of you a hug!

I feel so amazingly blessed by God today. You know sometimes your heart can be more full than at other times? Today I feel very full of the love, joy and blessings of the Lord. I am so blessed, for so many reasons.

Our weekend was good. The best weekend is always one that includes time with our children and church family. We had lots of it this weekend. Yay!

On Friday night we had dinner at Cici's with 3 of our kids. Hooray for Cici's! It's our long-loved pizza buffet place. We used to eat there in Texas, and now we have one here, just one suburb over. Woo hoo! They opened in April, and we've already been there 4 times. :)

Alan and I spent most of Saturday at a church leaders meeting. Always good to be with our friends, but my back and backside almost didn't survive 6-7 hours in a chair. :) A few of you may know that I had a bit of an accident last Monday. I fell, at the bottom of an escalator at the mall. It was my own dumb fault. I took Jadyn's stroller on there and it got stuck at the bottom, at the threshold. I fell pretty hard on the metal stairs. I have learned a very painful lesson, and I will never do that again. Why do we sometimes think the rules don't apply to us? I hope that anyone reading this will take my advice and never get on an escalator with a stroller. I am thankful that I was not hurt worse and very thankful that I didn't hurt my child.

So it's been a week now and I'm slowly getting better. My horrendously bruised backside will survive. My church family has prayed for me and I know God will take care of anything that I can't see.

Yesterday we had lunch at our favorite Chinese buffet. It was Lauryn's choice, since we were celebrating her birthday. I heartily agreed with her choice! Our family always has a great time when we are together.

I have hardly posted any photos lately of the family. How very unlike me! I will post some within the next day or so. Please come back for a look. :)

*I still need one more participant for the Pay It Forward challenge posted below. I'd love to have you join us!

What I've Learned Since Becoming a Mom

What I've learned...

Children of any age are a precious gift. Cherish every moment. They really do grow up so fast.

Don't strive for perfection. Life goes by too fast, and your family will still love you even if you don't have a perfect house or the perfect meal on the table.

Girls are so precious when they are small, with all of the pink, purple, bows, dress-up and girly things.

Girls who are shopping, dressing, having hair appointments, and taking photos for Prom or their wedding are absolutely just as precious.

Boys will be attracted to mud and water when they are small, but they do clean up beautifully.

Boys who are 14 will be attracted to firecrackers and anything that burns or blows up. -- Give them LOTS of supervision.

Adopting a child opens up a completely new pocket of love in your heart that you never knew existed. Yes, absolutely you will love this child as much as the ones you gave birth to.

Children do spread their wings and fly some day. Learn to love all of these stages and embrace the new chapters in their lives and your own.

Silly Sisters

Hmm...a late Cinco de Mayo thing? No, just sisters being silly today. Jadyn has really been enjoying spending time with Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn has been doing all kinds of organizing and cleaning in her room. They've found all sorts of fun things. By the way, the small hat on Kaitlyn's head is Jadyn's. Just wanted you to know it's not something from Kaitlyn's room.

What's wrong with this picture?

Alan installed a new water softener yesterday. Apparently he left this on Jadyn's toy, after he used it for something on the installation. I'm glad I found it before Jadyn did. That could have been a mess! Bad daddy! Hee hee. :)

Our oldest daughter, Lauryn, had an adventure with Vaseline when she was 3. Let's just say her stuffed camel toy was never the same again. :) Glad we avoided a problem today.

Out At The Pond

Sometimes Jadyn doesn't want to smile for photos, so I was happy with this one.

Jadyn and Kaitlyn

We had a power outage as I was getting ready to post photos, so I'll try it again. :)

Jadyn enjoyed being outside at the pond, enjoying a beautiful afternoon.

5th of May

Happy Monday! I hope a good weekend was had by all. Our's was good. Friday night, the 3 of us (Alan, Jadyn and I) went out for Chinese and a little shopping. It was cold and very rainy and we almost wondered what in the world we were thinking when we decided to go out.

On Saturday, most of the family spent the day working at Lauryn and Aaron's new place. I heard that they got lots accomplished! Part of me really wished I could have been there helping but hey, someone has to stay home and take care of the kid right? We'd decided it would definitely be better if she wasn't there at their house.

I took Jadyn to a birthday party. She had fun, but I think it was almost a bit much for her, and her attitude was less than wonderful. That sort of thing will get better as she matures and doesn't need her nap on schedule. :)

Bryan had the 2nd of 2 band camps over the weekend. 18 hours of practice! Wow, that's dedication. He was a bit tired and sore by last night. Mom to the rescue, with some Ibuprofen. All of their hard work will pay off when parades start in June. I'm looking forward to that.

We spent some time outside last evening and I'll post some photos later this morning.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! We don't actually celebrate it at our house, but it's an opportunity to add a cute graphic, so hey why not?

Friday Fun

It's been a rainy Friday, but we found a bright spot. We met with our playgroup today and that was lots of fun. We're always so happy to spend time with friends. Jadyn even found some flowers blooming. :) She made this flower arrangement today. Thanks, Nancy!!

It's May!

Happy May Day everyone!
Exciting times!

Kaitlyn made it home last night from college. We were so happy to see her. Her car was loaded to the max, but luckily she had plenty of help to unload when she got home. We were pulling into the garage after a trip to the store, right after she arrived. She was so excited to get Jadyn out of the car, that she almost forgot to hug her mom first. :) "Where's my baby girl?!"
She was a bit tired from her 9 hour drive, but just bursting with happiness and very talkative. We talked until it was time for all of us to fall into bed.

Lauryn and Aaron bought their first home yesterday. Congratulations to them! They've been living in an apartment for the past 2 years and they are very excited to be moving soon. They've lived about 20 minutes or so from us, but they're moving to our town. They'll be about 10 minutes from us now and we're excited about having them closer. One of these days I'll post a picture of them with their new place. They'll be doing some cleaning, painting and changing of this and that this weekend. The following weekend is their big move.

Today's a day to just relax a bit, do a few things around here and let Jadyn get outside. Woo hoo, the trees are beginning to get their leaves! The grass is green, the flowers are coming up. Jadyn keeps asking if the flowers are here yet. :) She loves to see the robins outside and points them out each day. We've had such an assortment of water fowl at the pond in the last week. Alan's spotted at least 3 types of birds out there that we've never seen before. We think maybe it's because of the odd and cold spring we've had. Maybe these are birds that would normally live further north? Not sure really. What a blessing to have the wildlife right outside our back door.