Christmas Wrap-up

Wow, what a great December/Christmas we had.  We did a lot of fun activities with the girls and family.  I had many times that I wanted to blog, but just found that I didn’t have any time.  We were so busy, I had to try and catch up on sleep when I could.  I did get sick and am still on antibiotics, but it hasn’t been anything too serious (though I did miss all of Christmas Eve with ML’s family with a throwing up child). 

Our event's consisted of: walk-thru Bethlehem/live Nativity with the girls and friends, Christmas Under the Stars with our church, sleepovers with friends and grandparents, bowling on Christmas Day with family, road trip to Sedona, Jerome, and outlet stores, Tempe Town Lake, going to the movies, and shopping for a needy family and delivering their presents.  Well, that’s all I can remember right now. 

We just love spending time with our families.  It was extra special because we have South African family that was in town for 10 days and we got to spend tons of fun with them.  This was the first time the girls had met them and they immediately fell in love with them.  I think we created some great memories for the girls that they will remember for a lifetime. 

And now that today is the first day back to school, it’s time to get the house back in order and mommy to rest and get back on a good schedule.  I am glad that 2012 is here and so excited to see what God has in store.

Happy 2012 to you!

Balloon Glow and Tree Lighting

I just love our town.  They have so many family friendly FREE events.  This was the first year we went to the Balloon Glow and Tree Lighting.  Of course, I go to take my first picture and the camera’s batteries die.  So these pics are compliments of my cell phone (not too bad).  Unfortunately, the picture of the tree didn’t turn out.  But, boy, were the balloons awesome.  We got to get up close and personal with them. 

We were so close we could feel the heat from the fire and smell the propane burning.  It was awesome for ML and I and for the girls.  We had never been that close to hot air balloons.  And getting to watch them from beginning to end was soooo cool.  Now if only we could for an actual ride.

Christmas Kid Funny

Driving to school the other morning:

  Little Miss A:  "Mom, can you smell my breath this morning?"

          Me:  pausing for a long moment and thinking "no, I don't realy want to"


          Little Miss A:  "Mom, can you smell my breath this morning?"


          Me:  and then it hits me..."Yes, I think we can SEE our breath this morning"

Gingerbread House Fun

We always end up doing Gingerbread Houses at some point doing the Christmas Season.  We have become “honorary neighbors” to some friends of ours even though we live several miles away.  Our friends were hosting breakfast for their neighbors and we were invited.  It was such a cool thing, I hope to do it for our neighbors one year.  But anyway, my friend Veronica bought the simplest stuff for the kids to make gingerbread houses with.  My girls had so much fun and it was so easy.  I will definitely do it this way next year (just use graham crackers, frosting, and candy).

 

Saturday Random Play

I love listening to my girls play.  They are so creative and hilarious with some of the stuff they come up with.  Their favorite things to play are drive-thru (now that it is cool enough they play through the open window), dentist, beauty pageant, and now that I am in physical therapy, they play physical therapists. 

Some of the things they come up with you now are things they hear from us as parents.  Miss G and Little Miss A were playing Barbie’s and this is what I heard:

G:  Let’s go on a ride (in the Barbie car).

A:  Ok, I want to sit up front.

G:  No, You and your husband sit in the backseat and me and my husband will sit in the front.  That way we can each have some quality time with our husbands.

 

We were also talking in the car the other day and Miss E tells me that she doesn’t want to marry a tall man (because she is going to be short).  And Little Miss A blurts out “I want a husband that will carry my boxes!”

Boy, I just love these 3 girls the Lord has brought me!

Shift in Alliances

There has been a shift in alliances in our house.  For years it has been, Miss E and Miss G that have always been together non-stop, ganging up against Little Miss A.  They shared the room, they wore the same outfits, watched the same shows, etc.

Well, now the shift has changed and Miss G and Little Miss A are best of friends.  Since Miss G is in the middle, she can fit in with the older kids and the younger.  So she is so friendly and willing to watch "baby" shows with Little Miss E.  The clothes are moving down children, so now Miss G and Little Miss A have matching outfits.  They now share rooms and Miss E has her own.  They like to play with each other and keep Miss E out of their games. 

It's just so interesting to see how the relationships of sisters work.  And I know there will be another shift again at some point.  I just love that they still play with each other and care for each other (for the most part).  May they grow up staying close to each other. 

Make-up: Part 1

I am honestly not that vain of a person (minus the gray hair part).  Do I go out of the house without make-up on?  Yes.  Do I pull my hair up and just go run errands?  Yes.  I can be seen in my worst and have been seen in my worst.  But for your average, feeling well day I choose to get all dressed and ready before I leave the house.  I choose this for me!

I was recently at a Mary Kay party where a friend’s friend was talking about her everyday appearance.  How she drops off the kids at school in pj’s with no bra, rarely ever wears make-up, and doesn’t care what outfits she wears when she is out and about (I told her she needed Stacy and Clinton from “What Not To Wear”). 

This conversation really made me think.  As women, I think a lot of us get to the point where we just don’t take care of ourselves.  We just let ourselves go.  Where the same things around the house, never do our hair or make-up.  We are just stuck in “mommy life.”  It was after my 3rd child that I started slowly with my hair.  I was done with the ponytail look, everyday, morning and night.  So I made the step and went for a cute hairstyle.  And I have kept it ever since.  And now with the weight loss, I had decided that enough was enough.  I am taking charge of my own body. 

So mommies it’s time to take charge!  Take charge of your beauty and your life.  It will make you feel better, it can even improve your marriage.  But it’s time.  Do it for yourself.  You deserve it and you owe it to yourselves and to God.

 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20  (NASB)

^“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

Miss A. Funnies

Miss A. is definitely the 3rd child.  She comes up with the funniest things and they just blurt out of her mouth.  Here are a few to add to the list:

hanitizer = sanitizer

cockcorn = popcorn

The phone rang the other morning and it was a solicitor so I didn’t answer it.  And Miss A. says, “what if it’s the mental institution?”  Who knows where she got that from.

In Heaven

Our girls are in heaven….we have finally succumb to the pressure.  They now have their own cell phones, play cell phones that is.  We had enough old phones to give each of them one to play with and they couldn’t be more thrilled.  There still learning how it works because they still think they should be able to text each other lol.  But for now they are having fun taking pictures and pretend calling people.  Miss E’s phone has some games on it so that is making her feel even more special as the oldest.   Hopefully these will satisfy them for a while since it will be yearrrssss before they get any real ones.

Kid Funny: With Jesus

Little Miss A is obsessed with calling people on the phone.  All day long she asks me “who can I call?”  Over the summer her favorite has been Grandma/my mom, but now Grandma is working so we have been having to find other people who are home or not in school. 

But the funny thing is that my mom and dad have a nice message on their voicemail that says “…Have a great day in Jesus!”  So if Miss A happens to call and get the voicemail, she tell us that they can’t talk because they are “with Jesus!”  LOL

And she just hasn’t quite figured out the whole leaving a message thing, but it’s so funny listening to her try.  As soon as she hears the beep she will say “call Grandma.”  But it is a command, like she is giving her cell phone a voice command to call someone.

Gotta love my Miss A.

Flagstaff Fun!

This July we went and spent almost 3 weeks with my in-laws at their cabin in Munds Park.  We have spent about 8 days with them in the past and weren’t sure how 18 days would go.  But they were awesome.  We had tons of fun.  The older girls participated in a drama camp that ended with them doing a performance of Grease.

It was also awesome because it rained almost everyday we were there and reached about 79 degrees each day.  This was great for my Fibro and made it so hard to come home. 

 

We did our annual 4th of July Parade Celebration up there and added a breakfast this year.

 

The Girls got to go on their first ride in the forest in Rhino’s.  They absolutely loved it and loved riding in Poppy’s golf cart.  ML even taught Miss E. to drive the golf cart.

 

We just had fun playing and relaxing.

 

We all kept feeling the windows as we drove down the mountain not looking forward to the heat that was about to slap us in the face.  I think that staying in the cool pines for July should become our family tradition.

Kid Funny

This July the two older girls participated in a drama camp and production of Greese (more to come on that later).  Well one of the songs was of course the Hand Jive.  And Little A. has been going around the house since singing the song, loudly.  The only problem is that she changed the words.  So where there should be the word "plow" she inserted our last name "Clow."

"When I was three, I pushed a Clow"

On the Outs!

I’m not the favorite, boo hoo hoo.  Little Miss A. has made it clear to me the last couple days by telling me that

“Daddy and Grandma are my favorite, but not you!”

And then she also told me that…

“Daddy and Grandma are IN and you are NOT!”

But do you think this has changed her wanting/needing me anymore????  That would be a big fat NO!!!  Good thing Miss A. is such a cute thing and I love her so much.

My Baby is 4!

Wow, has time flown by.  Felt like just yesterday she was a baby and I was still breastfeeding, lately she has had the attitude of a 2 year old so that hasn’t been helping.  I still have one more year home with my “little love” before the big K.  I hope to make it a meaningful and memorable one since she is the last of the babies. 

This year a pool party was in order (since we now have 3 community pools in our new neighborhood).  It was a fun day, well week of celebrating and she is happy that she is finally 4.  We love you Baby Girl, you bring so much joy and laughter to our lives we couldn’t imagine life without you.

Happy Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day weekend and it's been forever since I've blogged.  Not sure where the time has gone...been dealing with fatigue and my husband's illness.   I have some great idea for blog topics but just seem to tired to blog. 

We are having my mom and grandma over today for dinner.  It should be a low-key dinner (as my family calls it).  My parents are buying the main dish and we just fill in with the rest.  ML mopped our floor which was awesome and helped so much and I love that the 2 older girls are old enough to clean the bathroom and help tidy.  Makes cleaning up the house so much easier.  Of course, I could really use a nap right now.  I might actually be able to go squeeze one in before everyone comes. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend and all my mommy friends have a great Mother's Day!  I hope you are pampered and taken care of at least for a little bit. 

According to A.

According to my Little Miss A.,

“Jesus tells us to eat candy in bed!”

Funeral First

As parents we are faced with so many decisions.  Should we do this with our kids or that?  Should we let them experience a certain event or not?  What is the right thing to do? 

We were faced with this when our friend passed away.  Were we going to take the girls to her funeral?  When is the right time to expose them to this?  How much is too much?  So many questions that you are never taught in childbirth classes.  We have always been open and honest with our girls about life and death and we remained so with this situation. 

Through some discussion we decided that it was the right time for the girls to experience a funeral.  (The husband also helped make the decision because he said “now you are bringing the girl, right"?)  We did clarify if it was going to be an open or closed casket which was also a deciding factor (in this case it was closed). 

Thankfully we had a week to prepare the girls and had many opportunities for discussions where they asked tons of great questions.  We walked them through everything that would happen that day and what different things meant.  We also explained what things meant to our family and our relationship with Jesus Christ. 

The girls ended up doing great and really learned a lot going through this process.  They each took in what they could for their age and mental ability.  We were able to share and teach them so much, it’s just sad that it was due to the loss of our friend.  I think that ML and I made the right decision to involve them and that it brought the girls closer to us and a greater understanding of love and life.

Pinky Swear

My poor Miss G. broke her pinky finger at school.  It’s actually a cute story.  Her best friend Ryley and she were playing “horses” at lunch recess.  They went to pinky swear that they would always play with each other, they jumped up and some how her pinky came down and hit her friends elbow. 

 

After it happened, she didn’t even cry.  She went to a friend who is an aide at the school and whispered that she had bent her finger and asked to go to the office for ice.  She told her teacher that her finger hurt, but never a tear.  When she got to the car, she said “mommy, I hurt my finger” and put the finger in front of me.  And of course I said “HOLY COW G., what happened?”  Her poor finger was swollen twice the normal size and completely black and blue.  We were going to just give it a day or so before we took her to the doctor, but ended up googling broken fingers and decided to take her to urgent care. 

 

As soon as the doctor saw it he knew it was broken.  But it couldn’t be a normal break, it involves the growth plate so off to the orthopedist we had to go.  She will have to have it splinted for a total of 4 weeks, but thank the Lord no surgery.  She is being such a trooper and doing great with the splint.  She is only having a little pain here and there.  Unfortunately for her teacher, her handwriting has been affected, but at least that’s temporary.

Amazing Day

There was no April Fools going on today in our house.  The most awesome, Praise the Lord moment was that our middle, Miss G. asked Jesus to come into her heart tonight.  We finally found our devotional book (lost with the move and out of habit) that we would read with the girls at dinner and have been reading it the past couple nights.  And it lead to her wanting to ask Jesus into her heart. 

She prayed the prayer inside her head (they have always been so scared to say it aloud) as she repeated after us.  We are so proud of her and so happy that she has taken this step, now we just have our Little A. left.  Thank you Lord that you have given us girls that have a heart for loving you!

Fibro Friday: Fibro Funny

For some reason, my girls like to watch me go through my medicine bottles and pull out all of my night time meds.  The other night as I am pulling them all out, the girls are counting them as I go.  When I get to the end, I ask them how many are there.  And the big whapping answer is 10!  And then my Miss E. says “well that’s not that many!”

 

Not that many??? 10 pills just at bedtime?  (No wonder I have to pee so much in the middle of the night .)  And she thinks its “not that many.”  Silly girl, if she only knew this wasn’t normal.