Stuff

This might be the calm before the busy storm. While we have had many activities over the weekend, our weekdays are pretty low key. Last weekend, a cousin of mine got married, and we had family in town. It was a great time to visit, and catch up with some 2nd cousins we hadn't seen in a while, along with some time with my favorite aunt(s) and cousins.

Matt leaves for Brazil in less than a week, I'm excited for him. It will be long days for us, but this will be a trip of a lifetime for him.

Keeping up with making it my goal to have my camera out to take pics and make prints, here are some photos of the last week or so.

Because a light switch is where you hang your keys. (Selah did this)

Riding bikes is a daily occurrence

Corinne and Audie get along so well. Neither of them dominate the other, and they keep stuff pretty low key. I'm trying to introduce them to making Selah a part of their playtime, but it really doesn't work out as well as I like it to. I also don't want to disturb the peace between Corinne and Audie, so I don't push it too hard. I hope eventually the three of them will play together nicely. For now, Corinne and Aud are good friends, and that pleases me!

Today, they made their lunch on their own, and are having a picnic outside on the porch.

The girls have chores of cleaning their room and practicing piano, but a 50 cent incentive to clean some toilets works pretty well to help get some stuff done. :)

And to keep things real all the way around, here's a pic of Selah throwing a fit one day after a nap. The smiling faces you see in the above pics are generally our day to day, but there are hours in the day when I am putting out fires, too. Selah is learning the art of first time obedience, but not very well. She is a test of my patience for sure. From time to time, she does say, "Okay mom, I'll obey." And the heavens break forth with rejoicing. That makes my mom heart happy, and is just enough juice to keep going with the three year old stage!

Sleeping Selah

Can't stand it. So precious.

Summer

I'd say this picture represents our summer so far.

Pretty lazy, enjoying the outdoors, nowhere to be.

It's nice.

Really, we only have these last weeks of May before we start to get busy. 

Matt has his upcoming trip to Brazil.

Theater Camp for Audie, VBS for Corinne.

Me and Selah will be hangin' out together.

AHHHH, summer.

She's turning 3

She babbles.

She's sweet.

She hisses when she's mad.

She loves yogurt.

A little on the feisty side.

She loves her sisters.

Here are several of her 3 year pictures.

4.30.2014

Pictures of today

Party of 5....

Audie's doodles

practicing piano and sleeping, b&w edition

I always tell myself I will leave my camera out to take pictures of the girls doing everyday things...

I had my camera out the last couple of days and did just that.

Corinne practicing piano

And I walked by the girls' room this morning and Audie was just so cute there sleeping all snuggled up.

this and that

pictures from recently...

Audie is always doodling.

Matt and I try to tell her to write/practice actual letters. Obviously, she prefers to scribble. I guess I'm okay with that. Soon enough she will be writing letters and sentences and she'll never scribble/doodle again.

Selah likes to play in the bathtub lately. She asks all the time to "take a baff"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! 

As always, I love it when the girls will let me take pictures of them. Audie was my main model this time around. I really wanted to get good ones of all 3 of the girls- to have a set, but Corinne didn't want her picture taken. I got one cheesy smile from her. Selah cooperated a bit with some coaxing. 

Of course Audie's serious streak can only last a few minutes. It doesn't take long before her urge to fart around pops in. I love this side of her. She makes herself laugh, and I hope she always considers herself funny! I know since she is my kid, she is probably more (or, only) funny to me. But I laugh when I see this pictures.

This is the only smile Corinne would give me

And Selah gave me a few minutes to take pictures of her.

And for some exciting news, (since most of you readers know by now anyway) We're getting a puppy!! Probably in another week or so, we will have our pup picked out, and I will be able to post a picture. I'll give more details then. Everyone but Corinne is excited. She (like me) is a cat person. Hopefully her mind will change when the pup actually gets here, but for now, Zona is her true One and Only. Stay Tuned!

Christmas 2013

Every year when January rolls around, it seems too late to do a Christmas post. Not to be a Negative Nancy, but I'm sure you all know that Christmas is not my favorite holiday, and when it's done, I'm kinda glad! (I might get on a Christmas soapbox in a later post...I have some post-Christmas thoughts brewing around in my head...we'll see if they make it to the keyboard)

Anyway, whether it is too late for a Christmas post or not, here are some pics from our Christmas and New Year.

Selah's expression in the picture is perfect. She knows she was not allowed to touch the ornaments (she was constantly trying to pull all of them off!). As you can see, the face of guilt.

We stepped outside to get some sister pictures...

 Needless to say, not one of the 3 of them together turned out with everyone looking, not making faces, or eyes open.

We had an evening Christmas eve with my family, and the few days after Christmas was spent with Matt's family. Good times all around!

New Years Eve was spent at some friends' house. Games, movies, food, and more games made for a great evening full of laughs. We packed pajamas for Selah to put her to bed over there. That allowed us to stay til midnight!

Audie tried to make it til midnight, but she could not. Poor little girl was so sleepy. She made herself a bed and was OUT. Screaming, laughing, gunshots all went on and she slept through it all. 

Happy New Year to everyone! I am looking forward for what 2014 has in store.

Oh, and PS! Proud mom moment:
Corinne asked us all what our New Year's resolutions were.
Hers? "To think about others more"
LOVE!!!

Selah on the pot

Just moments after I took this picture Selah took off her hat, waved it around and said, "Yee Haw!"

This and That

Since our Christmas cards went out, I can now post our family picture! Hooray!


Audie in her favorite shirt. She wears it about 3 times a week.

Here's the quilt I blogged about a few posts ago.

 The girls had their own band one day.

 Wild Things. Surely our favorite book.

Corinne had her Christmas Piano recital. She did so good!

The recital was at a nursing home. Corinne accompanied the residents in playing while they sang "We wish you a Merry Christmas". Don't get too impressed. It was the slow version. I suppose it was exactly what the residents needed to sing along.