Updates

I was just sitting down to post about the last week when L came up to have me zip her pants (they are playing firefighter and she needed her fireproof pants on). I happen to notice how crazily short they were; the pants belonged to her brother, not her. I suppose a 3T is a bit small for my 5 year old : -)

Our last week has flown by with out much fanfare. J has an 8th tooth, is pulling up and cruising along furniture and actually slept well last night. He slept so good in fact, I almost didn't get up to make Daddy Piper's lunch this morning! I usually wake up when he's in the shower or at the very latest, when he goes out to start the truck. Well not today - I just happened to notice the light on when J rolled over to nurse. I rushed up and Daddy was already in the kitchen dressed and about to make his own lunch. I would have felt SO guilty if he'd made it himself. J and I went right back to sleep till 7 this morning - WOOHOO!

Later this morning I turned into a major crabby pants for some odd reason. Our trip to the library helped change that so the mid-morning and afternoon went much better. We made pudding pops and canned some peaches. Yep - actually canned some peaches. I had gotten a 28 pound box from the co-op and bought a canner to '"put them up". It was hard work but fun. The kids enjoyed making the pudding pops. During nap, S fell off his bunkbed coming to tell me J was crying. S slipped down the ladder and fell right on his face. I was almost hysterical but managed to keep it together. I was beside myself with worry but 3 hours later, he still seems fine.

Back to the last week. We went to a birthday party last week in which L went down the BIG waterslide!!! We had some friends over on Thursday which was total fun. She is expecting baby #3 and I was so jealous when she announced that. I miss being pregnant and wish I could convince Daddy Piper to have another : -) Friday we met yet another friend at ChikFilA for some playing fun and breakfast. It's a treat to eat out lately and even more a treat for the kids to play at an indoor playground like this, so we all had fun!! Daddy had work 3 days last week (YEA!!!) I seem to be able to keep the household on more of a schedule when Daddy's working. I was also able to get out for dinner with a friend last week. Wonderful conversation and great food - the things my sanity needed.

We were able to get L's dance pictures back from the studio. The DVD isn't done yet so I am hoping for that this week.The garden continues to grow, even in this awful heat I did lose some stuff the other day when it was hotter than hell. Mostly though everything is trudging along waiting for those cooler days of fall to appear (get in line, I say!)

We have postponed our family vacation in July due to financial concerns. It's been a rough year for us so far. We are hoping to make the trip in August if July goes better than April, May and June did. Well June hasn't been too bad but April and May were REALLY, REALLY bad. Aww the Economic Crisis of 2009 seems to have hung on for the long haul.

Life is fine - better than fine most days. Baby J is growing so quickly. I want him to stay a baby forever but that just doesn't seem to be happening. He is such a happy go-lucky baby so I am thankful for that. He is laughing in there with Daddy right - music to my ears!

Swimming Fun

Today was a trip out to the pool. We all went out and spent a few hours splashing around. L is still enjoying the water while S didn't want to come off the ladder for all the candy in the world. After an hour of water and sun, J was super tired so I brought him in for a nap and started dinner. While I was inside, Daddy Piper got S to swim around the pool, dunk his head under water and splash around some away from the ladder!! I took a few pictures from inside the house of S swimming since he gets weird when I cheer him on sometimes.

Watermelon

We have our first watermelon!! Our watermelon has started growing and doubles in size just about every day.

6/18/09

6/19/09
6/21/09

6/22/09

6/23/09

We also have one tomato and some squash growing!!

And the baby keeps growing too : -)

Happy 5th Birthday, L!!

Today is L's actual birthday. 5 years ago at 8:33 AM I gave birth to the most wonderful little girl to grace the face of this planet (I might be a little biased!). She is amazing - very thoughtful and considerate. I don't treasure her nearly enough nor have I taken advantage of each moment to spend with her. I have taken her for granted more times than not. I am so lucky to be her mom. If I had one thing to change, it's to be more patient with her. Hopefully I can work on this and make this change to better her life (and mine, and S's and J's and Daddy's!!)

I woke her up this morning with a great big hug and a cheerful Happy Birthday. We had gotten her 5 balloons and Blow Pops while she was sleeping last night so she saw those first thing when she came out of her room this morning. Blow Pops were a big deal because the house rule around here is no bubble gum until you are five - well today was a monumental day for her.... she got bubble gum!!! She then noticed the doll house we got her that she really wanted so very badly. It was $130 at the store and we just couldn't swing that right now. She was warned that this would probably be a Christmas toy from Santa rather than a birthday gift. Our neighbors who garage sale for a living had one at their house. Daddy noticed when he went over to help them 2 days ago and got it for.... $10 yep 10 bucks. It looks brand new! We spent an hour last night wiping it down with Clorox wipes (best invention EVER!) so it was clean and shiny. She has played with that toy all day.

One comment to remember from the day: L was standing in the kitchen in her jammies just moments after getting up and said while stretching her good morning stretch"I think I am taller now that I am 5". Too cute!

After playing with her gifts (we also got her a Birthday Barbie and a new elevation track pack for GeoTrax), it was breakfast time. We always do special birthday pancakes and since happy birthday with candles. She put in a request for a pancake that looked like a Barbie. I tried my hardest:

She was pleased with her Barbie pancake : -) We enjoyed our breakfast together.

Next up was a birthday gathering with her homeschool group. We had the whole group over to play complete with pizza for lunch and ice cream sundaes (total party for 12 kids and 8 adults - less than $20 thanks to my coupon shopping!!) She enjoyed the company of everyone but having the neighbor girls over really made her day. She thrived with all the little girl giggling!! Our homeschool group has become so wonderful to us. I am thankful for the friendships I have made with these women. I do believe God has brought them into my life at this time for a special reason.

After everyone left, we settled down for nap time. I was able to get about a 30 minute catnap and was awoken by the birthday girl. I bargained with her for some snuggle time, which I just don't get enough from her. She laid down with me for about 10 minutes and we chatted about her party and about her being 5. I valued this time immensely!!!

Nap time quickly came to end (dang it!) and we were up getting a birthday cake baked. Before I could con any kids into helping, a show auto-tuned for the kids. Daddy Piper had timered Spy Kids 3 for the older 2. It was a special treat having a movie in the afternoon - this is usually a big no-no around here. L sat glued to the show while S lost interest after approx. 15 minutes.

No kids helped bake the cake but L helped frost it. Her and I had the most glorious time together complete with much laughter and tons of sugar. The frosting was running off the plate quicker than L could lick it up. We alternated giggling with shrieking laughter at the mess we were making - fun times!!!!Dinner was leftover pizza and that yummy, messy cake we made earlier. I had leftover Taco Soup with cilantro fresh from the garden - delish!!

L's birthday was everything she hoped for - she told me at bedtime tonight. She was so happy to hang out with the neighbor girls, enjoyed getting a doll house special from her Daddy and LOVED getting to have gum.

Some things to remember about L being 5:

• She can read like no one's business. I mean everything she gets her hands on - reminds of her Mama!
• She's very smart. She gets upset if we skip regular workbook time. She will ask to do schoolwork periodically throughout the day - even if it's already been completed for the day.
  
• She is very, very thoughtful.
• She loves to color and do craft time, regularly.
• She is enjoys playing soccer. She may not be the best but she has fun and tried her hardest.
• She lights up when she talks about dancing.
  
• She makes friends easily.
• She is starting to comb her own hair now.
• She is mindful of her brothers. Example: I took J to the garden with me today while she was watching a movie. She ran out 5 minutes later and screaming she couldn't find J, not realizing I had him. I calmed her down and showed her he was with me.
  
• She is a swimmer. She loves to dunk her head under water and float around.
• She can now chew bubble gum : -)
  

Happy Birthday L! We love you more with each day. I am so happy to be your mommy. I hope to have my actions reflect that more each day.

5th Birthday Party

We spent today celebrating my baby's 5th birthday at the local waterpark. We had a grand ol' time. I let L pick who came instead of inviting the families I enjoy hanging out with so the guest selection today was all about her. She picked 3 other little girls and a close family friends of ours. Everyone had a BLAST!!! Here are a few pictures that happen to include Mommy!



I'll post more details but it was wonderfully relaxing and I am seriously in awe of where the last 5 years have gone!!

Pictures

I took the kids to the photo studio on Monday to get some professional shots done. It went similar to the experience we had back in December, which means not so well. I took L & S every single month to do professional photos and haven't kept this up with J. It is soooo much more work taking 3, we don't have the disposable income we had 2 1/2 years ago and I was hoping not taking him would force me to do them myself, giving myself the needed practice with my awesome camera. OK well I haven't been so great about taking them. We went to the studio on Monday and as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. I wanted one horizontal of all 3 and 1 vertical of L by herself and 1 vertical of the boys. What did I get - none of those!!!! I tried today to get some good ones at home and out of 203, I was able to capture the following photos. Please note I did not get one good one with all 3 looking - AGH!!!!

Looking at the helicopters going over our house. Nothing excites my kids more than the flying objects over our home. Fortunately for them this happens very, very often!

Lying in the hammock Daddy hung last week.

My gorgeous thoughtful little girl, who isn't looking so little these days : -(

She was pondering the meaning of life... or maybe just watching her baby brother crawl away during picture time!

The above mentioned baby brother crawling away during designated photo time - little stinker!And this truly summed up our hour of picture time!

Daddy Piper has worked for 10 days in a row now - WOOHOO!!! Yesterday and today have been so long for him though (which in turns means MY days are extra long too!). He has left the house by 3:00 or 3:30 each morning and last night it was 7 PM before he got home and it's 9:15 right now and he's still not home. I feel horrible when he works long days like this. I know he is super tired. Today after a fun magic show, we went shoe shopping. Both kids needed new sneakers and L needed some sporty summer sandals. $100 later, everyone has the necessary footwear for summer. When talking with Daddy tonight, he voiced my exact thoughts by saying "Just because I am working these long hours, don't think you can go on a shopping spree". And I almost cried since that is how I felt shopping while he was working so hard. He laughed when I told him that and said he was totally kidding. The kids have been needing new shoes so it was hardly a shopping spree but it was eerie how he said exactly what I had been feeling earlier today. I feel guilty sometimes when we are off doing that kind of stuff (whether taking the kids to a magic show or shoe shopping) while he's working. I know I work hard too taking care of the kids and our home but I still feel guilty at times.

So all in all things are on the upswing around here. I could hope and wish for more, like more money, fuel prices to go down, rates to go back up and an extra 5 hours everyday but overall, I am content with life and it's been awhile since I have felt that way on a regular basis!

Garden Update

Our garden is growing well. We have put up a fence to keep the rascally rabbits out. The squash is getting big, the watermelon has a bloom on it and I have things growing far from where the seeds where planted!

L just ran in to tell me that S touched a butterfly and politely requested we put this "on your big ol' blog Mama!"

The watermelon was taking over the bell pepper next to it so we transplanted the bell pepper last night. The watermelon is just massive it started out smaller than the plant below and now it's about halfway up the trellis.

These are zinnias from our friend in MO. They came from her flowers last year - how cool is that?!

Watermelon bloom

Tomato bloom

Family Saturday

Daddy Piper hung his old hammock up today for the kids. Boy was this a fun new toy! There was only one casualty when S hit the ground- HARD! The day was filled with swinging in the hammock, making chocolate covered pretzels, planning our 4th of July vacation and a looooonnnggg nap for mommy ;-). It ended with a scrumptious steak, corn and baked potato dinner which was devoured by everyone.






We have had my nephew here this week. It has been so nice to have some quality time with him. I enjoyed his company. He was coming back down for another week but after going home for a few hours, changed his mind. He is a self-proclaimed Mama's Boy : -)

Zoo

L lost her hat running down the hill!

I had to work and work to get a sem-good picture of these 3 munchkins together and this was the best out of about 40 shots : -)

It was a nice day so we decided to take advantage of the break in the weather and go to the zoo. Our membership is such a wonderful thing. We go once or twice a month. The kids enjoy the walk and seeing the animals and I enjoy the no-fuss family time. We brought my nephew along this time. We rode the train and looked at a few animals before stopping to have lunch. We bring our lunch so we can buy a treat. It works out pretty well! Anyway our lunch today consisted of pb&j with our yummy homemade peach jam. We picked peaches a few weeks ago and made jam from some of them. It is the BEST peach jam I have ever tasted. Our our way home from the zoo, we went by a local farmer's market to get our fruits and veggies for the week since I forgot to order them in time from our co-op. I was very impressed with the quality and amount of stuff I was able to get for $15. It should be enough to last us a week, until our next co-op!! I really liked that most of the stuff was local grown and ALL of it was USA grown!!