Tuesday, October 20, 2009

ten-ish smile tuesday!

smiling...smiling. not a lot of pictures this week....but lots of smiles in the little things, and there are a few pictures toward the end of the post!

1. the gorgeous changing of the leaves...i have been purposefully taking "the back way" more often so i can soak in the beauty of autumn in indiana...brilliant reds, vibrant oranges, seasonal browns, mellow yellows, and the lingering greens splashed in. what a time to savor the magnificence of creation!

2. an extremely encouraging MOPS meeting...see my thoughts on it here. thanks for your lovely thoughts ladies!

3. some girl time with my MOPS table ladies. we had a "my life in a bag" getting to know you evening at our table mentor's house...tasty chocolate mousse for dessert, fabulous conversation with delightful ladies...it was great. i am so looking forward to diving more deeply into relationships with the ladies at my table.

4. two chock-full freezers...i inventoried and organized both the garage and inside freezer yesterday, and wow, we have a lot (i mean LOT) of food in our freezer. what a blessing!

5. sleep, glorious sleep...jillian is doing 7 hour stretches fairly consistently at night (and doing 12 hours total at night!)...i feel like a new woman!

6. my hubby bought me the wii active for our wii on sunday...i've done two workouts, and oh my, it is kicking my bootie (but in a good way!). i'm so excited to have something to motivate me to get moving on getting into shape....especially something i can easily do in the comfort of my own living room...because realistically this is not a phase in life where getting to the gym is a reasonable/feasible option!

7. watching jillian smile at her daddy...i mentioned her very first smile in last weeks "smiles"...and really, the only thing greater than catching my first glimpse of her smile was watching her gorgeous blue eyes look at her daddy and then seeing that mouth open in a massive, toothlesss grin AND hearing her let out a little squeal-y giggle. precious! she is starting to "talk" to us much more as well...oh how i love hearing that little cooing...

8. a freshly bathed baby...lightly lavender scented...smooth and silky skin...snuggly warm. she is also starting to love the bathing process. but really...what could be more smile-worthy than her itty-bitty mohawk. jillian seems to be losing hair in a ring around the middle of her head...however, she still has a healthy tuft of fairly long hair on the top...and it just so happens to naturally curl into a little mohawk at the top. LOVE it!


9. miss elizabeth and i had some special "beauty shop" time saturday evening. jillian was in bed and libs and i were waiting for daddy and kate to come home from a quick visit to a friend's house, so elizabeth decided to take a bath without kate. she lounged in the "spa" (a.k.a. bathtub), soaking, floating, enjoying...and then, after she was sufficiently "pruny", she hopped out, snuggled into some fleecy warm PJs (since it felt like january here!), and we went to the salon (a.k.a. mommy's bathroom) where i blow-dried and styled her hair (nothing more than a pony-tail, but she was thrilled)...and then she insisted on a pony for church sunday morning. she wasn't feeling real photogenic, but here she is with her pony-tail...and though she isn't "smiling" per se i really do think these pics are beautiful...i think the ponytail makes her look even older than she is already looking....


10. and, of course, i would be remiss to include photos of jillian and elizabeth and not include kate...so here she is, for your viewing pleasure. no really, this girl is a card...she is getting more and more verbal every day...and with the words comes humor...seriously, this girl is hilarious...and charming. where elizabeth is quite clever and tries to use that to her advantage (ie....tries to manipulate at times...this girl has fabulously reasoned arguments for why we should allow her to do whatever it is she thinks she should)...we are realizing quickly that kate is going to be the one who uses charm to her advantage....busting out that big grin and giggle...and, Lord help us, mommy and daddy find it quite hard to resist. shot number one makes me see the resemblance in she and elizabeth quite clearly (i now see what others see when they ask us if they are twins...and we get asked that a lot, which sometimes surprises me, as i don't really think of them as looking that alike...perhaps since i know so closely the stark difference in personality)...shot number two is her running around the kitchen with her squeaky shoes screaming "squeak" at the top of her lungs...and shot number three...she loves to stand right on top of you and say, "picture" while you are trying to take a picture...oh how i love this fireball!


11. a pink bundled baby. and can i just ask...just putting it out there...upon seeing this child in this carseat with the pink hat, pink blanket, pink paci, pink elephant toy....pink, pink, pink...would there be any doubt in your mind on gender?! just curious...because at least 4 times on this outing i was either asked, "oh, is it a boy or a girl?" or heard, "oh, HE is adorable...how old is HE?"...that aside, really love the look of her all bundled up with just her eyes peeking out...and i'm so happy that her little pink hat fits...hand-knit by grandmommy and worn by all three of the girls now...i love little things like that!


12. double chocolate mint cookies...YUM!

13. a date with my hubby last night...to the Gideon's pastor appreciation banquet...a delicious dinner and a nice break from the norm. jillian did a fabulous job throughout the banquet, thanks to the moby wrap...seriously, i've mentioned it the past three weeks...but seriously...it is fabulous since she enjoys being snuggled close!

14.....and finally, the anticipation of knowing my mom is coming to stay with us for a few days starting tomorrow. HOORAY!

5 comments:

Crystal said...

Beautiful smiles! I have continued keeping up the reading of all you ladies, but I haven't had much opportunity to comment or write myself. The girls are getting so grown up! I can't wait to see what kind of personality Jillian will bring to the table. I am sure they will be quite a trio! Enjoy having your mom around!

Rebecca said...

such great smiles. love the photos, as always. your girls are so beautiful. and that pony tail on libs does make her look older! and that kate is such a cutie. jillian looks adorable in her pink knit hat. people asked me all the time if my babies were boys when they were in all pink or purple and wearing dresses. crazy!
double chocolate mint cookies sound delicious!
and sleep...oh so happy you are getting more sleep. we are having problems at night with leila lately...ugh.
i love the colors of fall, too. so beautiful and amazing.

Amy's Blah, Blah, Blogging said...

What a great bunch of smiles, and they are definitely worth smiling about!

It is so interesting how your kids are so much like Erika's. Madison does that reasoning thing too and Sydney is also a fireball with adorable grins that you can't resist. Hilarious! Maybe it's birth order though because Anna is a spitfire too with the cutest stinkin grins ever. Michael and I just crack up at her!

I'm so glad you and Mike are able to get those date nights in, such a wonderful blessing for sure!

Elizabeth sure is looking all grown up all of a sudden. Oh, but where does the time go?

Hope your days go great with your mom and, I'm sure, some canasta! LOL

Lisa said...

I always love your smiles - they make me reflect on my simple joys of the week!!!

Your girls are amazingly cute!

Nancy M. said...

Great smiles! What beautiful girls and each unique in their own way! I don't know how anyone could mistake her for a boy in all that pink, lol! People still ask me how old my little girl is and he's a boy, with not much hair, I just laugh it off.