My Little Violet

It's wild how quickly she grows.  We only keep the same routine for just a few weeks before she's moving on, changing, and entering the next stage.  Right now she wakes up from her morning nap just after Poppy and Roman lay down for a little quiet time.  Truthfully, I love the days when there is overlap, and I get a few moments (!!) to myself...but also, I love hearing her stir.  Violet makes little noises and finally I can't stand it any longer. GOT.TO.GO.SEE.THE.CHUBBBY.CHEEKED.BABY!  Some days we spend an hour or so in her room.  Nursing.  Poopy blow-outs (hey, its real life).  Drooling on toys (her).  Reading magazines (me).  It's amazingly peaceful, and excellent at decreasing my stress. Silent house, winter outside the window, and I'm hanging out with a cute cuddly baby.

Christmas Cuties

Ohhhhh these girls....the siren call of matchy-matchy is soooooooo hard to resist.
Trust me, I did NOT think that this was my "thing".
And yet, here we are.

Alternate titles for this post as follows:
"Hurry before they stain them with candy canes again"
"The full range of Poppy"
"Lily smiled like a champ through 54 photographs"
"Up next...Easter Dresses!!!"

Christmas Morning

This year, I walked around all Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with a heart full of gratitude.
For my Savior Jesus Christ,
For my testimony of His love for us and His great plan,
For my eternal companion, whom I love AND really like,
For my adorable children and this particular season of life,
For our health and our home and many many more blessings.
I kept thinking about how swiftly my lot in life could change,
but that what I treasure most about my life... (my family)...
is a blessing and gift that I can keep forever.
I can't fathom anything more precious than that knowledge.

Advent Upgrade

This year, in addition to a small treat in our advent calendar, each day held a slip of paper with a suggestion for a small act of service.  They were things that the kids could really do on their own for the most part.  I loved hearing about their experiences each day.  We strung popcorn and cranberries for the birds,  delivered goodies to our neighbors and left quarters and notes on vending machines, in hopes of brightening the day of our fellow man.  One day we left a note and some Carmex for our mail carrier.  (I tried to think of a universal gift seeing as we have a different mail carrier almost daily)  The next day, she rang our doorbell to deliver a package and told me she really enjoyed the kids notes and that she was wearing the Carmex! :)  It was such a tiny thing, but these opportunities really added a special feeling to our month. We all agreed that we definitely want to do this again!

reviving the photo wall in our new home

After a 2012 lapse (just barely surviving morning sickness), we are back in photo wall business.  I'm so excited to have these hanging in my hallway again.  I love these sweet smiling faces so much it physically hurts.  Ugh.  In the best way possible of course.

#1 - Why does Zachary (who is only 8!!) look like he's about to drive off in the family car in this photograph.? I very literally had tears spring to my eyes when I loaded his photograph.  My sweet firstborn is looking so. grown. up.  I can't.

#2 - My beautiful Lily.  In her October journal at school she answered the question, "When I grow up I want to be..."  by saying: "a good mom, a jimnist, and a balurena".  Love.  I think she will too.  Also, "A person I admire" was answered with:  "my sister". 

#3 - Robino is looking so big too!  He still has the most adorable smile I could imagine.  It's impossible to think about him heading off to kindergarten next year.  And finally, we did it.  Roman is getting "a team" next month and he couldn't be more excited about it.  Bitty Basketball here he comes :)

#4 - Oh Poppy.  One of the sisterbabies.  I love her so.  She is talking all day long, and constantly surprising me with her adorable phrases that reveal her awesome imagination.  "Oh no, the dinosaurs are coming!  It's ok!  I ride them!"  (said in her indecipherable 2 year old voice)

#5 - And seriously.  Violet is killing it with her bald head, chubby cheeks and gummy smile.  She is so in love with me it is unreal.  (All I had to do was put the camera down and say "Violet, I love you!" and this is what I got!)  Follows my every single move, and cries until we are reunited.  I have never had a baby so young be so attached.  I won't lie...I love it.

For History's Sake:
2011
2010
2009

Just a mama thinking about her punkins in a pumpkin patch

Gosh I love the pumpkin patch.  First time I went Zachary was about 20 months old and Lily was less than 2 months old, strapped to me in the little carrier.  I'd like to find the photograph that a friend took of me and my tiny clan back then!

It was a cold and windy day, and little Violet wanted to be snuggled the whole time...

(no babies were harmed* in the taking of this  1 second photo)

*permanently 

 Poppy was a hilarious wild woman, picking up every pumpkin, zooming down the 2 story slide and showing every other toddler how it's done in terms of feeding baby goats.  Oh goodness, she was reminding me so much of this day, and this girl (even wearing the same jacket!)

Pumpkin donuts rounded out our trip.  Admittedly, it was quite a process to get here this year.  There was only one potential day that worked and it still involved picking the kids up early from school, packing soccer practice gear, taking two separate cars, and sticking to a tight schedule.  I suppose it is the season we've entered with our family.  There is always something to miss about the old days, and yet the new things that have come our way are just as gratifying, and I'm sure I will miss them too once they've passed.

The most meaningful work of my life.

Yesterday I sat in the rocker in our nursery and read Violet a little book.  I was feeling all sentimental because it was a book we've had since Zachary was a baby.  I know I have sat in that very chair and read that very book to each one of my babies.

Today I began to organize the nursery dresser by taking out the 0-3 month summer clothes and getting ready for the cold weather that is heading this way.  What?  My baby is 3 months old, and try as I might she will never squeeze into that adorable lemon romper or the pink and orange crab one.  You just always feel like there will be another day, another time to grab a shot of the cute baby in her sweet outfit...but man, it's just so fast.

I realize that in many ways I've escaped a lot of those "life direction" questions.  I always felt solid about where I would go to college, what I would major in, whom (and when!) I would marry.  Perhaps it's finally caught up to me, it's my turn to grapple a bit.  I find myself thinking about what the next 15 years will look like.  Will I be employed again?  When will I start?  What will I do?  Will I teach?  There are so many things I am interested in.  It all feels so fuzzy, and I have no clear cut path right now.

But.

If there is one thing that rings louder and truer, and I feel more sure of, more confident in every single day, it is that these last 8 years have been amazing.  Full of growth, and sacrifice, and freaking hard work :)  And as I see it now, it's maybe the most meaningful work of my life.