Refuses

Our little guy is 14 months old now. He REFUSES to walk. Should I be worried?

One Year Down

I have mixed feelings about Halle finishing Kindergarten. I'm excited for her to be in First grade next year and for her going to be able to go to school "all day". But, I am sad that Kindergarten is over and that she is a year older. Halle is different than she was a year ago, and I guess every year she will be a little different.

A year ago, Halle was still ALWAYS wearing Halloween costumes, loved pink, wanted to be a princess and always wanted to be "pretty". Now, she doesn't like pink. She says it is "too girly". Her favorite color is blue. She doesn't like to dress up that much anymore and wants her hair cut really short. Not like a boy hair cut short . . . just shorter than it is. We'll see if I can give in. She doesn't like to wear her fancy church dresses anymore either. Where did Halle go???

I know she is still in there somewhere, she is just growing up. I think I will always miss the "old Halle" though. Going to school seemed to change a lot of things for her. But there are a lot of new things about her to love too.

Halle graduated from Kindargarten last Friday. She was SO excited. And a little upset that I made her wear a dress. The only reason she agreed to the dress she was wearing was because she could hide trinkets in the fabric. (ask her for details). But I think once she saw other girls wearing dresses too, she was okay with it. She sang songs with the other Kindergartners and she even had a special line to say in the microphone during the program. One year down, 12 more to go (snif, snif).

Congratulations Halle!

Recital

Abby and Halle started taking piano lessons in January. Their first piano recital was this last Monday night. And boy . . . were they nervous! But they did SUCH a good job! They both had memorized their pieces . . . 2 songs each.

I was going to let them take a summer break from piano lessons, and start back up in the fall. But they actually fought me on that decision (well mainly Abby, but Halle was in agreement). So, now they will still take piano lessons for another 6 weeks or so, and then take the rest of the summer off. I figured, I probably should really take advantage of this time where they WANT to be taking lessons. Halle especially spends a lot of time practicing these days . . . above and beyond her "required" amount of time.

Good job girls!

Cooking

Okay, so I have been trying to decide how to "de-clutter" all the recipes that I have. I really like cooking, but it seems like I have a lot of recipes that I don't ever use. So . . . I decided to try out a cooking blog! You can check it out here: http://welovetoeatthis.blogspot.com/

I thought this would be a fun way to get my recipes organized, and an easy way to share them as well. There are only a couple of recipes up on the blog right now, but I plan to post new ones 2 to 3 times a week. So check back often!

I am not really a "gourmet" or "fancy" cook, but I do really enjoy cooking for my family. I am hoping to get an extensive list of "tried and true" recipes. So . . . check it out . . . follow it . . . share the love!

Mother's Day

Abby spearheaded my "breakfast in bed". She wanted to make chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, bacon and orange juice. She sure likes to be in charge! Halle and Gwen helped too . . . and Ben supervised.

I loved all the homemade cards and notes. My kids thanked my for all kinds of things that I do, and expressed LOTS of love. It was wonderful . . . and then a part of me feels like I may be a little undeserving. There are so many things I could be doing better with them.

Luckily for me, they are forgiving and love me anyways. Happy Mother's Day to all you women!

My New Life

Stephanie Nielson, survivor of a near-fatal plane crash, shares her story of a beautiful life centered on faith in Jesus Christ and love of family.

If you have not seen this video yet . . . I really recommend watching it.

Up Until Now . . .

Since I have had Austin, several people have asked me, "is it different having a boy?" My answer so far has been, "except for the clothes, not really . . . so far he just does baby things that my girls did too."

Up until now.

Maybe all boys do this, but Austin saw Ben throwing a football around last weekend . . . and went absolutely NUTS! He was laughing, had his arms in the air, and was talking excitedly in jibberish.

The football in the pictures has actually been in his room this whole time, but NOW he notices it and points at it.

Tonight, he cried until Ben came and gave the football to him, which made him SO happy. Ben played with Austin and the football for a minute, but then it was time for bed. We actually had to take the ball out of his room so he would stop crying about it and go to sleep.

I'm pretty sure my girls have NEVER done that.