Ballet Lessons

We took advantage of a free ballet class at the library. We had a such a great time dancing and playing!

My favorite part of that video was the boy covering his ears...too funny! Oh, and I love how cute my girls are too.

And because they are so cute, here is one more video:

Finger Paint

It was a beautiful day and we had finger paint, so we decided to decorate the steps in our front yard. We had a great time just enjoying the warm afternoon together!

Rachel Lee standing up and banging my water bottle...she's amazing at balancing these days!

And of course the clean up was a team effort! I love that Kate with her goopie hands helped Hannah clean her arms and actually got more finger paint all over her. It was like the blind leading the blind!

School Time All Around!

It's great living within a days drive of my family. My sister Jenna and her two girls spend every Friday at my mom's house, and although I wish I could join in every Friday I try to make it at least once a month. I leave early in the morning, drive the hour and half, spend the day with family and drive back. It's a blessing to be so close and be able to support and care for each other regularly.

In addition to Hannah starting preschool this year, my niece Amy is starting Kindergarten. I remember visiting a teeny tiny baby Amy on a trip from Boston and just holding her mesmerized and thinking how precious she was. Now she is off to Kinder. Still just as precious as the teeny tiny baby, but grown and ready for school. To celebrate Jenna and I gathered all the kiddos together for one last Friday hurrah - not that it will really be the last since we will have school holidays and other times to get together, but with the start of school it will be harder to enjoy our Friday times together.

PHOTO  BOOM!!

 My sister Jenna loves taking crazy pictures...she cracks me up!! I love her spunk and randomness!

First Day of Preschool

"Hannah, how was your first day of preschool," Jeff asked over the phone after I had picked her up. "It was A-MAZ-ING!" she replied as she twirled around and beamed with excitement. That's how she was all day, beaming. To prepare Hannah for school I made a short list of things to do with picture icons. She could check things off her list to get herself ready for school without me prompting her. She got up at 6:15 and by 6:45 she was ready for school. The only problem is that school didn't start until 8:30. Oh my, here we go!

Kissing daddy bye for the day.

All dressed and geared up.

Back pack...check. Lunch box...check. Water bottle...check. Tissues...check!

A Starbucks trip to celebrate the first day of preschool, and to kill some time since we were all dressed and ready to go. I only had a tall coffee though since I was headed to the lake with Kate and Rachel Lee for a run.

Cheers!

Drop off by the door of Room 3.

Peeking in the window at my Hannah girl...yes, I am THAT mom!

And there were tears shed as we drove away...mostly from Kate, but I cried too (silently so Kate wouldn't get too worked up) trying to be strong and looking forward to time with my Kate since Rachel Lee is usually napping most of the morning.

I loved see Kate as the bigger sister, and helping to take care of her little sister.

When we picked Hannah up Kate jumped out of the car, ran to Hannah's room and hugged Hannah. She repeatedly said, "I missed you so much Hannah. I'm so happy to see you." And I am too. I am happy to see Hannah so excited about school, happy to spend time with Kate and Rachel Lee, happy to see my girls so loving towards each other, but most of all I am happy to be together at the end of the day. Such a blessed life!

Church Time!

In the world of pretend, church seems to be a hit these days with my girls. I decided t get some video of church in action and have been cracking up because of the videos since:


Did you see Kate accidentally fall even in the second video? These girls are too funny!!

Funny Hannah

The other day I was driving to my mom and dad's house and the carpool lane slowed significantly because of the 405/5 merge. This was the conversation that began as a result
H: Mom, is this a race?
Now I should have said, "No," but instead I decided this would be a good time to teach her to appreciate the process of life, to impart some deep wisdom:
S: No, Hannah. Life is a journey, not a race.
H: Well, we're losing the journey.
S: Sweetie, you can't lose a journey. It's the way you get somewhere. It's the process.
H: Well the other cars are going faster so we're losing.
I attribute her competitive nature to her father's side of the family. It's surely not from my nurture.

Preschool Open House

Oh my. How did this happen? My baby has grown into a four year old, and my four year old is ready now for preschool. So whether her mama is ready or not, here she comes!!

A rare solo picture

...and with her sisters.

She picked her own lunch box, and loves the strap that goes across her body and the handle that she can hold. She told me that the strap helps her so she can carry other things with her hands. Four years later and this girl of mine is still a collector of items...it's comforting that some things never change!

Hannah's teacher is Mrs. Wills. She is in Room 3 with 12 other kids.

She was surprisingly nervous, wondering who her friends were going to be. She instantly took to the book corner though, and enjoyed looking around the room.

This Thursday is the first day that I will pack her lunch, drop her off at school and kiss her good-bye. Kate has already said over and over how much she is going to miss Hannah, and I have to echo that feeling.

So here's to a new era in our family: school. Lord, have mercy and protect your precious treasure that Hannah is now and will become! Go before her and work through her. May she bless others and be blessed through the many years, days, hours and minutes that she has in school.

White Pants

I looked down at my white pants and there is a brown substance on my leg. I'm pretty sure it's related the the diaper I just changed, but I'm claiming it's coffee. Yes, I'm sure of it. Coffee.

Sleep

Nap time has not been the greatest time around here. Someone sleeps, someone else does not, we all end up awake and cranky. It's not a lovely afternoon with the Murry girls.

On Friday though I had had enough. I was tired. The girls were tired. So, instead of giving up on nap time I separated the girls, held Rachel Lee until she fell back asleep and we all had some time to refresh.I wasn't able to sleep, but I sure enjoyed holding my sleeping baby.

How Great is Our God

A Lovely Time at the Park

Babblings of a Stay at Home Mom

Kate is phasing out napping. I'm a little bummed because Hannah is starting preschool next week I was hoping she would come home utterly exhausted and sleep in the afternoon. But, if Kate is not sleeping I will not be able to rest myself. One day I will catch up on sleep...one day. A perk to Kate not napping though is that she and I will get some nice quality time together, if I can manage to stay awake. The other night at dinner, we were eating outside and I looked at Rachel Lee playing on the grass. I then glanced back at Kate and said, "Please eat some more grass." "What?!" She asked. I meant to ask her to eat more rice, but in my mind everything gets mixed up these days. Thus the need to sleep more. And the need to babble on the blog a little.

Speaking of preschool, I can't believe that this is the beginning of school phase for us. Although it's just twice a week that Hannah will be going to school, there is still lunch to be packed, kids to be carted out the door at 8:00, and, and this is the big one for me, I will have to say good-bye to Hannah for FOUR full hours. It will be weird here without her lively and energetic personality asking to play games, read books or get her something to eat. Again, I am looking forward to some quality time with Kate since Rachel Lee usually naps during that time, but I will sure miss having Hannah as well. Can't a mom have her cake and ice cream too...or more appropriately, Kate and Hannah Scream...yeah, that was a bad one...

And since I am thinking about school I often find myself wondering what kind of student Hannah will be. Wither her social nature I think she will quickly make friends. I also see her being liked by her teachers. I know I will often hear at conferences that she needs to focus more, but then I did not develop a lot of focus in my life until I met Jeff. He was actually the inspiration to my academic success.

I was in high school, totally worried about who was dating who, who was saying what, and totally, totally neglect what class I had to be at and when. Jeff and I started dating, and he found out that I was getting a D in math and said, "You shouldn't be getting a D." He then worked with me a little and I got an A instead...my mom said, "Jeff is good for you. He keeps you grounded." Hmm...not sure I understood at the age of 16 what she really meant, but he is good for me. He does keep me focused and grounded. The grounded one that motivates me.

Which is also sometimes exhausting for me. After a week with the girls, Saturday is my day to unwind and have some extra support. He as the motivator, is ready to do any and all activities. So most Saturdays we hit the park, head to the pool (or beach), return for naps and then garden, play outside, run errands and throw in a couples loads of laundry, BBQ and go for a walk. Phew...no wonder on Mondays I crash! What would an ideal Saturday look like for me? Sleeping in, coffee, chatting and strolling around aimlessly somewhere cool, naps and then dinner out somewhere. Maybe I could cut the strolling around part out, but then I might just look too lazy.

Which brings me to a different thought. I am lazy. I really don't like doing much, and I will usually settle for meeting the standard. It's not that I am lazy because I don't do stuff, it's just that I don't want to do stuff. I think I could be perfectly happy with a house cleaner, a chef, and a nighttime nanny. One thing I do want to do and that is take care of my kiddos, which is why I enjoy being home with them so much. Are they my purpose? Maybe, but I think I am the type of person that doesn't need a purpose. Which is why I never finished reading The Purpose Driven Life. I am not purposeful, nor driven.

I should list the books that I have never finished...or the projects that I have never finished. Let's see, there was scrap booking, beading, knitting, sewing. I'd still like to try to crochet since I have a bunch of yarn that I never used for my knitting projects.

Finally, after all this typing, Kate and Hannah have fallen asleep. YAY!! Now to go get some rest myself while baby hopefully sleeps a little longer.

20 minutes later baby woke up just to fall right back to sleep in my arms. This is one crazy, tired, loveable life.

Funny Tidbits

While driving home from the grocery store, Hannah and I had a conversation that went like this:
H: It's tough being a mom.
S: Yes it is, but it's also a lot of fun. I get to spend time with you, and doing boring things like going to the store is always more fun with someone you love.
H: I'm going to cut you in half!
S: Wow, that didn't go the way I thought it would.
long pause in the car...
H: Don't worry mom, I'll love both of you.
S: What?
H: When I cut you in half. That way you will have two to do all the work.
I think Hannah understands the idea of divided attention a little too well.

While driving home at 9pm after the Nighttime Zoo shows:
H: Kate, are you awake?
silence
H: Kate, are. you. awake?
silence
H: (Louder) Kate, are you awake?!
still silence...I actually turned around to see if she was sleeping
H: TA-TERS! ARE. YOU. AWAKE?!?
K: NO! I'm a jag-i-wyer.
Our totally random Taters had us all laughing.

And just so Rachel Lee gets some representation, she is now crawling around the house saying, "Ba, ba, ba, ba." Her little noises are such a delight!

Cheerio Time

Rachel Lee is advancing quickly to eating solid foods. Her curosity to keep up with her sisters is sometimes distracting, but so fun!

Trouble

This little girl is on the go and getting into everything...I'm in trouble! But, just look how cute she is trying to get things just slightly out of reach. I love her so much!

Consider the Source

Hungry?

Before you accept this wonderful delicious meal from Kate, consider where it may have been:

That's right. This girl has got a lot of junk in her trunk. Where else would you store things when you have no pockets?

And why do you have no pockets?  Because clothes just always seem in the way for Kate.