nine months

how ...

...in the world...

...did you...

...get so big?

to be exact...jilly-girl weighed in at 19 lbs. 14.5 oz. and was 29 1/4 inches long today. she is crawling (still mostly in her army drag way...but seriously FAST!...and she has started to get up on her knees). she is pulling up on anything and everything and just starting to "cruise" a bit. she laughs...in fact, she laughs, giggles, smiles, and is otherwise content pretty much all the time. even in the midst of working on four of her top teeth at the same time (they are right there...just waiting to pop through), she is so incredibly content...the slighest of fussies and clingies...but seriously, nothing, really! she has, however, developed an insane love of being with us...enter the major tears when being left in the church nursery...or even at our date night swap at first (though, in her defense, she calms down quickly). bananas remain her favorite food...although now she likes to actually take bites out of them. she also digs avocado, squash, yogurt, sweet potato, and, well, anything that isn't peas, pretty much....oh, and waffles...this girly really DIGS frozen waffles! dah-dah is still her only real word. and today we discovered that she is a water-bug...stuck her in the kiddy pool in the backyard and the little booger went crazy...crawl/swimming all over the place, not even minding when she would fall over or get a mouthful of water. and she is pretty much in love with trying to keep up with her sisters...

jilly, you are a treasure. we are blessed. i love you.

hopping like a kangaroo...or bunny...

ten-ish smiles

whole lotta' smiles...no particular order...maybe multiple posts! :)

1. jilly's first taste of pancakes...she liked 'em! :) daddy made us some super light and tasty crepe-ish pancakes Saturday morning. we served them up with e.d. smith's cherry strawberry kiwi jam. YUM!


2. we had some friends over to grill and hang out Saturday evening. jilly was the recepient of her first kiss....see...all the big kids had a blast running around the backyard too!


3. libs and i went to a neighborhood garage sale Saturday morning. what a joy to wander around with her, looking through everything and even finding a few treasures. elizabeth is now the ecstatic owner (well, co-owner, really, since kate is equally thrilled by them!) of a boatload of polly pockets (which she and kate call "polly holly dollys". we also scored an awesome LLBean jacket for libs for just $2 (barely worn!) and LOTS of almost new carters PJs for the libber girl too. the best part by far was spending time with libber-girl though!


4. playing with brennan and emmett...and mommy getting some auntie jill time. :) love spur of the moment playdates!



5. a date night with my hubby....including two free meals at red robin (well, except for the drinks we felt obligated to buy since they were giving us everything else for free!) and lots of wandering and chatting.

...and there are more...but perhaps i will finish out with a few more posts, because i have lots of pics!

smiles...

1. my jilly-girl...this Sunday morning was her dedication at church. what a special day...and a special girl. and here she is in her dress!

here is the best of our attempts to capture the matching sisters...the outtakes were quite funny.

2. and though jillian has been on the move for quite some time, she has definitely ramped it up this past week. she discovered she could pull all the toys off the shelves...and then crawl over them...leaving quite the mess in her wake.

3. a garage sale...i did a garage sale with three friends this weekend. not only was it successful, but we also had lots of quality time chatting, laughing and enjoying each other!

4. the tastiest dinner...oh, it was soooo good. red quinoa, roasted corn, black beans, grape tomatoes, cilantro, and lime...and a few strips of grilled steak. it was fabulous...and will definitely be added to our menu for the future! (and, for the record, it was even better leftover...all the flavors mingled together beautifully)

5. datin' my hubby....who happens to be the best.

6. oh...and celebrating aforementioned hubby's birthday yesterday! the girls and i bought him some little surprises...they each picked out a matchbox car for him...which i found pricelessly cute...after all, what man wouldn't want a new car for his birthday! :) we also celebrated with a surprise cake, etc. at our normal Sunday game night. it ended quite chaotically with a sick (and i do mean icky...puky...sick) elizabeth)...but it was still fun!

7. this little girl figured out how to pull herself up to standing this week. she is QUITE proud of herself.

8. our garden is growing like crazy...its definitely enjoying the cool, damp weather!

9. an entire morning out by myself....an appointment, lots of errands, and even sneaking in lunch out with my hubby today. thanks to holly for watching my girlies...and, oh how thankful i am to have friends we trust and enjoy...who love my kiddos...and whose kiddos we love as well!

10. giggles, tickles, laughter, superman flying the girls like my dad used to fly michelle and i, creating, coloring, making messes, story reading, listening to my kater make up stories, and on and on...soooo, soooo blessed.

{inspired by a tent}

i broke out our tent today....and discovered that a tent is not a "quiet" toy around our house. nope. not a bit. the tent inspires raucous laughter, shrieking, and occasional rolling and tipping. the tent makes it sound a bit like we live in a zoo (as if it doesn't most of the time...who am i kidding?!). but it inspired lots of fun...lots of smiles...and some all three girls playing together time (which delighted jilly LOTS!). want a peek? inspired by the fact that the camera was out, i also clicked a few "self-portraits"....no make-up...still in my PJs...messy haired girls...and kate with nothin' but her undies on (after a milk mishap at lunch)...remembering the giggles...unedited.

"come on into our igloo...but don't worry, it isn't cold (as evidenced by kate in only undies!)!"


love the silliness of my libber-girl


and seriously...cute x a bazillion...but actually, the part that makes me laugh outloud is the background...kate, hair covering her eyes (always...no matter how many bazillion times i replace the barette--but i refuse to cut bang, thank you very much!), wearin' her undies



my crew...




okay...lovin' kate's expression...she is looking at her big sissy...love it!


life can't get much better than this!

ten smile tuesday

so, so, so many blessings and smiles in the past week or so. i've been attempting to blog a bit more often...because, honestly, while i love "ten smile tuesday", some days the thought of finding time to put it together and post it is just too much. maybe if i post more often with "little" moments it will be a bit less intimidating, because i truly treasure reading back through these "smiles" weeks and months later.

1. pandora...streaming from our (now downstairs) computer pretty much all day long...the girls like to dance to it...and it just brightens the atmosphere. plus i love discovering new artists...and not having to pay for it!

2. a special mother's day weekend with my treasures...saturday we enjoyed lunch out at red robin (with a free burger compliments of my birthday earlier in the week) and a trip to costco...and then sunday morning a great time of worship, an afternoon of relaxing (for me, at least), and then an evening of enjoying the glorious weather...walking to a little pizza place "downtown" (if you can call it that in our little "burg"), popping in dairy queen on the walk home, and then lots of swinging, garden watering, and giggling in the backyard (including tickle tackling daddy on the ground and races around the yard). i am so blessed to be michael's wife and elizabeth, kate, and jillian's mama....so, so blessed!

3. the gorgeous necklace i received from aforementioned hubby and girlies (with super sweet cards). i should post a picture, but seriously, if i leave the computer to take a pic i will never finish this post...seriously...it is one of the sterling silver necklaces with three engraved charms...each one has one of the girls' initials on it. he got it from initial reaction...and i love it!

4. some sewing....the matching dresses were inspired by jilly's upcoming dedication at church next sunday. i found the heidi grace "we are family" fabric and just felt it was screaming to be paired with red and white polka dots...then i found the itty bitty dress pattern at made by rae...resized it (by enlarging and shrinking on the copier)...and voila. i also made some bloomers for under jilly's...and some soft soled shoes...because, well, just because....i love the final products! i will post pics of the girls IN the dresses after the dedication! then i just whipped up two of the green flowered ones yesterday...they were so quick since they were the smocked top material. kate is too tall for all of libber's hand-me-downs...so making something was the cheapest route to summer church dresses.

5. growth...in our garden, that is...look at our little green beans popping up. since i took this picture on sunday our sugar snap peas, carrots, cucumbers, and spinach have also sprouted. our zukes, broccoli, squash, green peppers, tomatoes, leeks and squash went in as plants...and they are growing bigger each day. i can't wait for our first taste of fresh from the backyard veggies. elizabeth and kate are getting such a kick out of watering and watching it grow...elizabeth sat next to the garden yesterday "watching" the beans grow. love that girlie!

6. friends. just feeling thankful to be blessed with Godly, encouraging, challenging friends...especially after our MOPS meeting on friendship last week. there have definitely been so many seasons of friendship...and friendships during the "little kiddo" phase of life can be tricky...so i am thankful to be surrounded by genuine ladies...AND have them love my kiddos and my kiddos love them!

7. and an extention of #6...we are so blessed by our date-swap. this past week was our turn to watch the kiddos...8 total. we spent almost the whole night in the backyard...having a blast...and we made these cute butterfly crafts (well, the big kids did!) from leftovers from our MOPS craft (thanks jamie!). i'm already looking forward to my date with my hubby this thursday night.

8. my girlies giggles and imaginative play. elizabeth and kate have been having a blast together lately (don't get me wrong...they have their fair share of squabbles in the midst of that!)...i feel like their imaginations are sprouting more and more...such a delight to hear! i absolutely cherish seeing them play together and genuinely enjoy one another...what a treasure to have a sister (well, two sisters, actually!) (and speaking of sisters, i should get to see mine in less than a month...HOORAY!). and jilly...well, she follows them everywhere...and kate, especially, loves to play with jillian...

9. tofu...okay, we are on a quest to eat less meat around our house (and to be healthier, in general, when it comes to eating)...we've added LOTS more veggies lately...but we've also been trying to find new sources of protein, etc. and last night we ventured into the world of tofu...i added it in place of the chicken to a fried rice recipe we enjoy...and everyone cleaned their plates! even jillian enjoyed eating little pieces (tofu and black beans...she was digging it!)! i know some of you out there are already well on the track of eating locally and healthily...so i would love any ideas, recipes, etc....pretty please! (keep in mind that we are also trying to operate on a budget....)

10. crazy love....just finished the book...still thinking on it. it coincided perfectly with our sermon last Sunday on the parable of the sowers (matthew 13). i'm being stretched and challenged...lots of thinking.

from the backseat...

this morning we were listening to k-love in the car and they mentioned something about being married. from the backseat elizabeth pipes up...."mommy, i don't want to get married."

the conversation continued like this.

me: "why not?"
elizabeth: "just because i don't."
me: "okay...but you might change your mind."
elizabeth: "i might not."
me: "you might meet someone special...like daddy is to mommy...you never know. marriage is pretty special."
elizabeth: silence....
kate: "i want to get married." (imagine that it is the "competing" voice...you with two talking children know what i mean, right?...the "me too!" voice...or the "i wanna go first" voice...in kate's case it is the "i'm just as big as you and i can do it too...don't try to tell me otherwise" voice)
me: "well, someday pumpkin"
kate: "i want to marry you, mommy."
me (feeling a wee bit flattered): "aww...thats sweet kate...but God designed marriage to be between a man and a woman...so you will need to find a boy to marry...and anyway...i'm your mommy...and i'll just stay your mommy forever."
kate: "oh...." letting that soak in...
kate: "then who can i marry?"
elizabeth: "well, kate. i was gonna marry patrick, but since i don't want to get married i guess you can marry patrick instead." (patrick is one of the lone boys in our flock group...mind you, he is 8 or 9, so i'm not sure he would be all that excited about my 2 and 4 year old taking dibs on who gets to marry him!)
kate: "oh...okay. mommy, i get to marry patrick!!!!!" (in about the most excited voice i've ever heard)

love it!

and just because she is so stinkin' cute with her little "cheese" smile...here she is....my silly little gator.

because someday i might wonder...

this one is mostly for me...because it seems my blog is my "memory" some days...and definitely the place i can look back on. i mentioned it on facebook, but not here i don't think...but kate developed a strange terror-filled reaction to the bath about a week and a half ago...and i do mean TERROR...shrieking, kicking, screaming...absolutely terrified. we have no idea what prompted it...but it has been exhausting. so you can imagine my delight when she agreed to take a shower with her sister this evening. and yes, that is also a new development. the first night of the bathtub horror for kate, i offered her a shower instead...she didn't want one, but elizabeth's ears perked up...and she has been a shower fiend ever since. she thinks it is the coolest thing EVER. she spins and dances and giggles and lets the water pour down on her. it is precious...oh so precious.

kate has watched a few times....and then reluctantly submitted to a super quick bath (fearful and trembling the entire time...ugh...). we did come to the conclusion that the fear is completely related to the drain...and the idea of things going down the drain...like toys and washrags and baby sisters (yep...she did worry quite a bit about jilly going down the drain). and there is no explaining to her that the drain is safe...nope...not one bit.

but tonight was definitely a turning point. she headed upstairs with elizabeth and i...and didn't start crying until i turned the water on. and then she decided that, no, she didn't want a shower after all. rather than trying to convince her, i just decided to let her watch elizabeth...and she did. and finally...after a bit she decided she would, after all, like to try the shower. she cautiously climbed in...stood under the water...and started giggling...i mean, really, really giggling. and i almost cried...with relief.

the fear of the drain is still there. she much preferred to stay on the non-drain end of the shower....and when elizabeth put her washrag down on the floor of the shower kate snatched it up and tossed it out of the bathtub...telling me she didn't want it to go down the drain. but she showered. she laughed. she spun in circles and let the water wash over her. and afterwards, she was so thrilled to go downstairs and tell daddy all about her shower. and i was simply thankful to smell her still baby-soft-ish skin and freshly shampooed hair...and to know that we are perhaps one step closer to the return of joyful bathtime.

and then i kind of got a wee bit teary. my "babies" taking showers...oh my...where did the days of baths in the kitchen sink go...somehow taking a shower seems like a huge milestones in some odd way. oh my!

i really did think that about "where did the days of kitchen sink baths go"....only to walk downstairs and have mike, who was just finishing up lotioning and PJing jillian after bathing her in the kitchen sink, say, "i think she might be getting too big for the sink." apparently she was kamikaze baby...trying to climb out, grabbing anything and everything within reach....my babies are getting big sooooo sooooo fast. i better not blink!

{blessed}

before bed Bible reading with daddy....

...i don't think my heart could come any closer to bursting open....

i am blessed.....really, really blessed.

glimpses...

...of my first day of my life at age 31.

mike and i technically celebrated with sushi last thursday on date night. (and it was yummy sushi...really yummy!)...and we had fresh from the meat market bratwurst (i have a weak spot for bratwursts...) on the grill Sunday evening....and i had an entire day with my dearest jill (a trip to IKEA with just baby emmett and kate) on Saturday....and i received a delightful princess birthday card hand-selected by two of my princesses while on a special trip with daddy (as in received it the minute they got home from the store Sunday...because, well, secrets aren't their strong suit!). but, of course, in the midst of a wee little pity-party over my "stay at home" actual birthday...not sure if there would be a cake or any actual day-of-the birthday celebrations. (but might i take a moment to mention that my husband's surprise party for my birthday last year was WAY over the top incredible...and hard to beat!...AND he did already take me for sushi, buy my half of IKEA in the process of redecorating and reorganizing, and in general treat me in a celebratory day...in other words, leaving me with NO excuse for throwing a pity-party).

and here i am at 2:30...in a much less pity-party-ish mood. counting my MANY blessings. the girls and i started the morning with a trip to the local bakery for donuts...and then holly and her boys showed up for kangaroo costume making (for her son aiden's school play)...and she came bearing a gorgeous cake...and handmade cards from her and from two of her boys...and lunch...and singing happy birthday. and we chatted and crafted and laughed and settled squabbles and cleaned up accidents and ate cake...and my heart delighted in the treasure of doing life....even messy, little kid, not a moment of silence life...and i was brought back to the reality of the immense blessings in my life. 31 years of them.

want a peek of my morning?

my princess birthday card from my princesses


my birthday cake from holly

the trail mix the girlies and i made this morning...they helped me chop up the dried fruit...and snacked as we went...and i am just about to put my feet up and partake in a handful before naptime is over

the fabric i ironed this morning...i planned to start dresses for the girls...but now i'm thinking perhaps i will make it into shirts with little red pants perhaps...we shall see.