Long time No post....

I dont' why I have no desire to come here and put my feelings out on paper, to document this awesome life I have as a wife and mother, to vent about things not so good or bost about the great things... I suppose we have been a bit busy.

Daddy Piper has work - WAHOO!! He has gotten a tad busier lately. Between yesterday and today, he has worked 28 hours. When he's off working, that means I am much more busier at home. I am so thankful to God for the work and for him so willing to work. He is such a good provider. It does put a sense of normalcy into our household.

Some recent thing:

• L lost her 2nd tooth. The tooth fairy forgot to come visit her. Damn tooth fairy. She did make an emergency stop in the morning while we were at the park. I think she was waiting for L to find the special coin left the previous visit and promptly lost.
• We enjoyed a lovely park date with the K family last Thursday. We don't see them nearly often enough. A splash pad completed the park date. J's first time at a splash pad. For a boy that hates showers and getting water in his face, he sure enjoyed the splash pad.
• I finally did our taxes. I put it off until the last possible moment. It turned out way better than I had anticipated. We didn't owe - thank you God!
• I had a hard phone call to make and thankfully my loving husband helped. I did feel good to express my appreciation to this individual. We would be nowhere right now without him. I hope my tears didn't wig him out too much.
• S is writing his name. For someone who never sits still long enough, teaching him to write his name has been no small feet. He is now doing pretty good at it!
• L is working on Second grade stuff in Study Island. Are you kidding me?! She is amazingly smart and a joy to teach.
• Awhile back, after shifting some finances around, I got a Nikon D5000. Super fancy stuff. Some good pictures have some out of this nice camera. I was just sick when my D40 went bad. I feel so lucky to have this new one.
• J started saying some new words today. We were telling knock-knock jokes, while enjoying peanut butter and banana smoothies (thank you Elvis - for the inspiration). J started saying "Knock-Knock". He also said "Cheese" while I was taking pictures of the him in the bath tonight :-)
• Oh and some big news. We have 2 kids without training wheels. Ok not quite but S is for sure training wheel free. L has her on her bike still buuuuuutttt they are up as high as they'll go so they are about 3 inches off the ground - no use whatsoever, only comfort for her. We can now go everywhere without those thing. We did a long bike ride on Sunday when we biked Daddy Piper's paperwork to the contractor. It was hot and windy and a long ride but we did it. On the way, there was a few crashes but the way home was crash free!
• I got a new phone - the Droid. Oohhhlalalala - fancy stuff! It is fun to have such an organizing tool. Think it can do my laundry??? I suck at laundry.
• L had a fun date with her Daddy on Saturday. It was Me & my Guy day for Daisy's and her Daddy was happy to go with her ice skating. They were there for about 3 hours. Only one major bruise between the two and a million happy smiles and stories so it was a success.
• The kids and I went and got the fabric for my new apron swap. This proved almost a disaster. S, J & I tried while L & Daddy were ice skating. The fabric cutting area was a zoo. #41 was up on the screen and I pulled #65. So cutting time would be long. We came back later. They were on 60 something and I had #85 this time. A nice lady gave me #66 so we RUSHED to pick a pattern, fabric and rickrack stuff in the time it took for the cutting table to go from 60 something to 66. My kids are just awesome to take places. They are great listeners, give valid opinions and are most patient for being 5, 4, 1. God gave me the cream of the crop! Got our fabric and left for under $30 for 2, maybe 3 aprons!!
• S is playing soccer again. He is right in his element, playing with kids his own age and size. And he's good, VERY GOOD! He has scored a goal at each game so far. He gets all that athletic ability from his father.
• J is super easy at this age. He does have a bit of a temper *ahem* but is such a joy. He is funny to a point that I get side aches from laughing so hard with him. Being a mom to these 3 is pretty easy right now. Such a far cry from a year ago, when it was sooo hard. We go and they come along, willingly and happily and with extremely wonderful behavior.
• Neuro appt last week revealed nothing new. Migraines SUCK. It was nice to have a whole day with my niece and sister. We even had lunch at Olive Garden, complete with a glass of wine. I have a MRI coming up. I am doubtful this will reveal anything. The medicine is helping. The severity of the headaches has diminished (yet another thing I am thankful for right now!). We had fun coupon shopping. Found a Target to avoid while coupon shopping. Relived the nightmare Walmart trip I had the other night. I shall never go to Walmart again unless to buying oil for Daddy Piper.
• Enjoyed a day helping my niece get ready for her senior prom. We all went up North to spend the day. My kids LOVE hanging out at Gram's. It's a break for me, treat for the kids and for Gram, and relaxing for everyone - WIN, WIN!!
• L & S are loving to pretend camping in the yard. They also are enjoying having pretend sleepovers. L's pretend name "Iz-ry-el" and S's name is "Sammy". J just goes along for the playtime. He is happy to just be near and plays along like they are including him, which most of the time, they aren't.
• Dinner tonight was a kids' fav while Daddy worked late - chicken nuggets, mac-n-cheese and strawberries - YUMMO!

Lots more to document but no more awake time left in me. My babies are off to dreamland, their father is sleeping peacefully and I am off to join them all!

More Waterpark

We hit the waterpark again today - after scoring more deals at Target :-) Since S ditched us to go to work with Daddy, I just had L & J. It is unusual for me to have those two alone. It was so much fun! J was more relaxed this time. L was a fish as usual. I took J down the red slide. That was a mistake, since I had to take him no less than 20 more times :-) He LOVED that slide. He is way too little to go by himself so I went with him. Let me back up a minute. I took L to a bigger waterpark when she was 2. I went with her on a similar slide. Nope - not for her. Took S to a this same waterpark when he was 2. On the slide we go, nope - he didn't like it either. Took J today - thinking he wouldn't like it. BACKFIRE! He LOVED it!!! He even went under the water a few times and still wanted to go back on. "Moe, Moe, Moe climb", he said over and over. So we went on it over and over. L didn't like the slide until this year either. But she sure loves it this year. She is still cautious though, waiting for the blue bucket to dump then running to the top to slide down. If the bucket happens to ding and dump - she waits it out in the yellow tube slide, it dumps then she goes down the red slide. So I would go with J, then L would come down and I would catch her. Except one time.... J & I went down, looked back to get her and she was nowhere to be found. Not on the play structure, not in the water where she liked to swim, not anywhere I looked. I grabbed J and ran - looking frantically for L. I was so upset. I tried not to freak. She can swim, the water is only 1 1/2 feet deep, there are lifeguards, she knows not to leave with strangers, all the people there were moms with little ones, where could she be??? I finally spotted her - she had gone down the yellow slide and was waiting for me at the bottom of the red slide. We had gone opposite ways. She never left my sight for the rest of the time :-) We played more on the slide, then took a break to have a snack. J was super tired by this point but not happy to get out of the water. He did welcome the snack though. He and I stayed on the side and had a snack while L inhaled her snack then went right back in the water - staying where she could see me and I could see her. We left shortly after, just before closing.

We got home to lay J down for a nap, L is having some lunch while I sit here and blog. I did manage to do a load of laundry and sweep and mop before sitting down to rest a bit :-)

Off they Go!

This morning was a riot. 5:15 rolled around and the alarm goes off. Daddy Piper gets in the shower and I get up to make lunch for 2 of my men headed off to work. I pack a lunch for Daddy Piper and a lunch for S. Lots of snacks, drinks and a drawing pad for S. Sandwiches for both. I go to get S up. He is usually a bear to wake up. Not today. Up he jumps, ready to go! I get S dressed and he sat on the couch, waiting for Daddy to finish dressing. He wasn't too patient. Within 2 minutes of waiting, he wanted to know where Daddy was and how much longer till they left? Daddy Piper came out and S got his shoes on while Daddy got his on. Daddy grabbed their lunch boxes and off they went. S took his lunch box from Daddy "It's pretty heavy Daddy - I better carry it for you!" :-) Then I got a kiss from Daddy Piper. S kissed me and told me "Have a good day Mommy", just like Daddy says every morning. Off they walked to the truck, Daddy followed by S. S's shoulders were back and he was very proud of himself. I love seeing that boy's confidence shine like that!!!!

Workin' w/ Daddy

Daddy Piper has work tomorrow. He mentioned the idea to have S ride along. I told S and he loved the idea. He loves to go truckin' with Daddy. He did get up a few times after going to bed though to check on the details:

S "Mom - you got my lunchbox? You need to pack me a lunch too. I need drinks and snacks. Do you know where my lunchbox is? You need to get up early to pack our lunch. I gotta go to work with Daddy. Do you know where my lunchbox is? Us boys have to go to work tomorrow while you stay home and work with L & J. You'll wake up early right? Do you know where my lunchbox is?"
Mom "Yes - S I know where your lunch box is. I will pack you a lunch. Yes I will get up in time to make sure you both have lunches to take with. Now off to bed, get good rest, tomorrow will come quickly. Love you."

This conversation happened a few times before he settled in for the night.

Waterpark 2010

Today was declared perfect by MOI!

I woke up with an excruciating headache. Thankfully (what?!) Daddy Piper's work was cancelled so he was home. I went back to bed after making sure everyone had breakfast. I slept for about an hour, the length of time it takes for my migraine med to work, and woke up around 11, headache FREE! Since the kids were planning on swimming with our homeschool group, I felt sure bad the outing had been cancelled. We planned an impromptu trip to our local waterpark, where $3 gets us all in!!!!! 2 years ago, L, S & I spent so much time at the waterpark. It was so fun and relaxing. Last year, with Baby J, oh my goodness can you say stress!? It was not the least bit fun or relaxing. It was soooo much work with a preschooler, toddler and baby. Today was the exact opposite of summer 2009. It was PERFECT! So much fun!! L & S jumped right in and went hog wild swimming and playing. J was super cautious but went in with me. He was content to stay snugged up next to me and proved to be an awesome listener today. We stayed about an hour and half. It was not busy. The weather was hot and water perfect, chilly when we got out though. We did try the rainbow splashpad but that water was too cold!! J got splashed on by the big fountain and cried his heart out. The kids settled in for a bit of a snack before more water play then heading home. J was content to sit on the side with me and enjoy his snack. S was happy to have made a few friends. They enjoyed sharing the toys we brought along with. Today we were the cool family with lots of toys to share!!

Homebound, lunch followed by naps. L went right down for a nap. J & S stayed up and watched Monster Jam. I took the opportunity to run to Costco to check on pool chemicals. We haven't renewed our membership in 2 years. We have lived without it pretty okay. I do like their fruit and veggies deals though. I was going to suck it up and spend the $50 for a membership today. I went to renew it and their computers were down so I got a temporary day pass and got to shop for free - thank you Jesus!!! Both boys got new swim trunks. The ones the Easter bunny brought S were too big - oops! I bought L a new swimsuit but it was too small. And I got the pool chemicals.

This evening was S's first soccer practice of the season. I made a quick dinner (too salty) and off we went. As soon as jumped out of the van, each kid grabbed J's hand and off they went, without being reminded or told. It was a picture perfect moment.

S did great at soccer. He is right in his element, being in the age-appropriate bracket. He played up a level last time, because he is that good. But this time, being great against kids his own age is a real boost to his ego. He is now playing on the team "Blue Thunder"!!
J was not too happy to sit on the sidelines watching. He really wanted to be out there playing ball with the big boys.
L was her usual, happy self. Running around playing on the playground and rolling on the green grass kept her entertained.I finished the day off with a successful run to Target, where I spent $9.20 and saved $158.48!! I got 10 airwicks, 3 Seventh Generation cleaners, a Brita sink thing, a Lysol hand cleaner thing, lightbulbs, toothpaste, swim diapers and Tide laundry soap. It was AWESOME!!!

Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy visited our house last night! I have a horrible headache and will make this quick. She visited and left a certificate and a Sacajawea dollar along with loads of fairy dust. L was so excited to see the dust everywhere. She was a tad disappointed though that there wasn't money to actually spend :-)

p.s. I heard Daddy Piper cleaning up all that dust a little while ago!

First Lost Tooth!

L's tooth fell out today. Her very first!! It is the bottom one. It was exciting her her and sad for me. I remember her getting that first tooth :-) We put it away to show Daddy. Tonight we made a pocket for it to leave out for the tooth fairy.

Marvelous Monday!!

Daddy Piper had work today!!!! And tomorrow!!!!! So with him off to work (thank you GOD!), it was a normal day for us. We woke up, had breakfast, and got started on lessons. S was happy to be involved in the math lesson so he pulled up a chair while L & I did a lesson on coins. J was content to sit in his chair at the table and color. A first for him! He sat there for quite awhile coloring with his new triangle crayons from the Easter bunny :-) We had fun doing the coin lesson then S was bored and wondered off, J was ready to be done coloring so those 2 went to play Legos and L & I finished schoolwork for the morning. We got to read Rapunzel and that was super fun!

We got dressed and headed for the great outdoors. Our weather is darn near perfect right now. I have never pulled the bike trailer. I hooked it up to my bike and did a trial run. Got all the kids on their respective bikes, J in his bike trailer and off we pedaled. It started out ALOT harder than I had imagined. Trying to keep L & S semi-safe while keeping myself and J upright - UGH. We barely made it out of the gate before I got frustrated. I quickly squelched the raging feeling and just had fun. S is doing so wonderfully awesome with his training wheels raised all the way up. L is my cautious child, content with her training wheels in place. They both listened, staying to the right while cars came upon us. We rode for a long time. L was interacting with J regularly so it helped keep him awake. S crashed once, skinning up his knee. Some tears, then Mama's kisses then all was ok. We made it back home in one piece.

Next up was some yummy lunch. The kids ate their lunch while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse since they didn't get any TV this morning. I took the opportunity to finish some left over dishes from last night and from breakfast. Went back to check on the kids and J was fast asleep. He did manage to finish his fruit and PB&J before dozing off though! He then slept until 4:00!

L & S played outside for a bit before heading off to their nap. I took advantage of that quiet time to get some cleaning done, more laundry, billing done for the business, some reading and lunch for myself. L woke up. She got up just in time to fetch me some water while I was doing my Shred DVD. I didn't keep with it as regularly as I would have liked but I have lost 6 pounds with only 9 more to go!

Daddy Piper got home shortly afterwards. S woke up about the same time. They raced out when they heard his truck hit the dirt road from the asphalt. Unfortunately, he had a bad tire he had to fix before having fun with us. I took the time to run and get milk. All my babies joined in the milk run. Anytime that van leaves the driveway, they think they need to be in it. Back home, made ham for dinner, enjoyed it with the family then it was bath time and bedtime. While the boys were in the bath, L helped me clean the toilets (on the list from my Motivated Mom calendar). After her shower, L wanted to read "The Runaway Bunny". J was in my lap first. He is not a patient book reader yet. He did learn where his nose was though and can say nice :-)All 3 got in my lap to read the book. Thankfully, they are bigger than my lap but there was plenty of room in Daddy's recliner (in fact, I think there is room for one more!). We read the book then it was off to bed. Prayers and goodnights to all. Some monkey play for about an hour and they are finally settled down.

Great day around here. Funny how sending Daddy off to work lends some normalcy to our home life/routine. I just feel so thankful and grateful that he had work today and tomorrow so far. Maybe this is the turn in work we have been praying for!!!!!

Easter 2010

Highlights to remember:

• Waking up and seeing L in her bed. She hopped out and found the eggs down the hall (leaving some for the boys upon my gentle urging!) and tore into her basket.
  
• S not wanting to wake up but seeing the eggs down the hall changed his morning grumpies into giggles.
• J finding his basket and slowly looking through it - super carefully.
  
• J lovin' his sunglasses while egg hunting for the first time this morning. He just stood there for the longest time, trying to adjust to wearing the glasses.
• S lovin' his Spidey swim trunks and wearing them all morning. Even wanted to wear them all day but eventually changed into regular clothes.
  
• The Easter bunny leaves eggs all around our yard and the kids have to find them first thing. This includes being able to eat candy at 8 in the morning. Super special day for the kids!
  
• All 3 kids walking with me up to the gate to get my newspapers. L crammed her paper into her basket. S carried 3 papers but decided it was too heavy so he ditched one on the walk back to the house. J wanted so badly to carry a paper but between the paper, his basket, his glasses and his bink - something had to go and it was the paper :-)
• L trying on her new swimsuit and loving it.
• L noticing the Easter bunny managed to buy the right hairband but Mommy couldn't the other day.
  
• Running the egg bake to church. First time contributing something - WOOHOO!
• Coming home from dropping off the egg bake to find Daddy Piper cooking breakfast and 3 kids playing in the dark bathroom with their new glow sticks.
• Enjoying an Easter church service. Message was powerful, about fear. Super excited about the upcoming weeks on this same message. I took my first communion, after completing my First Communion class yesterday. I was so nervous I was going to screw it up but Pastor was reassuring and called me by name while blessing me.
• "Cult Gotcha?" text from Daddy Piper
• L & S hauling tree branches up to the fire pit for Daddy Piper .
• J attacking Daddy Piper while he was trying to eat lunch. He would walk up and just grunt and smash his face into the plate but didn't want the food because it was too hot.
• Hiding and finding eggs with the kids after dinner. They took a turn hiding them and parents finding them. We managed to lose 1 egg. Guess we'll smell it soon enough.
• L being scared after bedtime, worrying about an earthquake hitting us. We did feel tremors from the Mexican earthquake today.
• Doing a puzzle with S just after the earthquake tremors!
  
• J carrying his balloon during the entire evening egg hunt. He is attached to the birthday balloons from S party & Daddy's birthday last week.
• Kids going to bed with their glow sticks. J getting his taken away 'cause he was chewing on it.
  
• Feeling incredibly lucky to call this family mine. Another amazing holiday!!!

p.s. DADDY PIPER HAS WORK!!! Tomorrow - during the day. Should be a good day. I am excited to get in our routine, at least for a few days. God is good - ALL THE TIME!

Friday Fun!

Today was a fun day. I had an EEG to help diagnose the headaches I am still having constantly. The plan was for my sister to come down and take me, leaving the kids home with Daddy. I wasn't supposed to drive after the test. The kids looked so sad when we were leaving so my sister took her niece and nephew along. Baby J was napping. He seems to sleep during all the fun things lately! We ran by Target and picked up some final Easter things and then off to the dr. They dropped me off and then went to Peter Piper to play and eat pizza. The test went fine. Results will come in 2 weeks at my followup appt. The kids enjoyed their time with their auntie - success all around!

So much happened today that I wanted to remember. All the kids had such cute things to say and I kept saying to myself "Don't forget to write that down" and here I forgot all of it - AGH! L's lessons went great this morning. Oh yea that's one thing I want to remember. J painted while L did her lessons. I set him up at the table and he went to town painting. He did try to eat it a couple times but I popped his bink in his mouth and that helped :-) He did pretty good painting. He liked to feel the paint with his fingers. S played with his renaissance toy from his birthday party. It came complete with a canon to shoot, which just completely appealed to his manhood :-)

After all the fun from the afternoon, I had to sleep off the after effects of the test. L & S missed their naps the last 2 days and we all slept until after 5 tonight! Dinner was a simple affair, soup and sandwiches. All ate well and that sure helped the stress level.

Tomorrow I am taking a first communion class. Should be interesting.....

Friday Fun!!

The kids ran out to play after dinner tonight. It turn out a bit chilly. J ran out with no clothes on (where's that kid's mother??!?). Daddy grabbed a sweater and covered him at least. He ran right for his stroller, wanting a ride. Daddy was kind enough to indulge him in a ride around while the kids chased on their bikes, or trikes depending on the kid :-) These moments are priceless to me. Another priceless, never to be forgotten - S got up from his nap and came out to snuggle with me on the couch for a bit. As much as he's a Daddy's boy, he still loves his mama and is willing to indulge me in cuddle time every now and then.

And Daddy Piper is off to work again - 2 nights in a row! It didn't work out so well last night but hopefully tonight is better. I totally cried when he left tonight. Between the neighbor offering help if needed when he seen Daddy Piper leave to actually seeing the truck pull away - I just cried. Sometimes my emotions get the better of me.

Playdate

L got to have the neighbor girls over to play today. She was soooo excited. Both girls are around L's age. She just adores them and has a ton of fun doing girly things with them. They go to regular school and are gone all day so their weekends are the only time they have free to play. They are on break this week so it was a weekday playdate. It was fun! They were well behaved and played well with J & S too. L was in Heaven to have them over. Guess I need to break out and try harder with their mom to make it more of a regular thing.

Next step - sleepover!

J's Words

J is talking like crazy. He gets new words everyday it seems.

• Bye
• Thank you (tink U)
• More (MOE)
• NO
• G'Night
• Shoe
• Sock
• Outside (SIDE)

He talks and uses his words at the right times. He is also pretty articulate for a 17 month old.

PRODUCTIVE!!

Daddy Piper headed off tonight to work. It broke up the routine this afternoon/evening and boy was it chaotic around here! Unbelievable how ingrained the routine is in our children.

Daddy napped this afternoon so I was alone with all 3 kids. It is always such a chaotic time anyway then to have him napping so I was trying to keep the kids semi-quiet. It was just crazy. During this time, L & S were climbing trees again (I reminded S to keep his pants buttoned!!). Well S fell out of the tree and was hanging on by his fingernails. He had his legs wrapped around the tree truck and his arms holding on the higher branch. L hollered for me and I walked out, almost going back to get my camera but thought better of it at the last minute :-) They use an old wooden stepstool, then climb on top of their cozy coupe car, then get up into the tree. Yes - super dangerous but it works for them.... until the car moves and you get stuck like S did!

I got so much done after Daddy left tonight. I made 4 pans of cinnamon rolls, cleaned the carpets in the playroom and settled down 3 bambinos. While putting down the kids for bed, they were almost neurotically upset about Daddy leaving for work. They kissed him over and over and S told him to be extra safe and not tip over! All 3 were super wild after he left. S was crying because he wanted to go be with his dad, L thought she had a fever and needed some extra kisses and J was just a clown, making these wildly loud noises and being the center of attention.

Now here I sit watching the news, recounting our day and the many blessings we have. Daddy Piper working brings out the optimism in me :-)