Just Because

No words needed.

Today

BFFs

Outside wannabe!

But oh so cute!

Oh dear. Is that another rabbit?

Apparently they do multiply.

This is Tula.

She is a bunny for Erik.

He is winter rabbit-sitting for Remick.

Deal is courtesy of Farmer Lindsey.

Erik is VERY happy.

Um. Tula is a REX female.

There better not be any funny business.

Meanwhile, later....

Too cute to pass up.

Lindsey snapped this pose.

I love it when they think this stuff up themselves.

I hope your illusions aren't shattered.

I do let my kids watch TV.

Once in awhile.

Thus, the intent glazed over look.

It lasts for about 12 minutes with this crowd.

Then it is back to fun and games!

My Best Friends

My best friends these days are my littles. I love spending time with them. I love seeing them grow and discover new things. With a baby about to turn "21", believe me, I know how fast the time goes. Now that Trey and Micah are talking, it is lots of fun to play together.

Today, it was just the four of us for the afternoon.

All of the sudden, I looked up and here they were.

It took me a minute to ascertain how the baby got into the toy box. Trey helped, of course. They were each busily playing with whatever they landed on. The ultimate parallel play experiment, I would say.

Mommy MUST take a picture of this.

After while, the baby started fussing. The next thing I knew, Trey had gotten the bottle from the counter that I just made and was taking care of business. What an awesome big brother.

Mommy MUST take a picture of that.

After the bottle, we all had a two hour nap.

Yes, even me.

Sneak Peek OR What's On Your Counter

We have had a few birthdays around here. Actually we have one every two weeks through the middle of December. I bought a bunch of cake mixes when they were on sale a few weeks ago. The kids were putting the groceries away and couldn't quite figure that out. Well, the "big" kids don't go on a grocery store date to pick out their own cake and ice cream with Mom anymore. She has a pretty good handle on what they like.

I could only load four pictures. So this is just a tease. I am still (huge sigh) without my MAC and the editor on this laptop has a mind of its own. So I can only give a preview until I figure out a better way to load pictures.

The first November birthday was for Baby R. You saw below what happened on HER birthday. Yep, twins. That is a pretty big gift.

Everyone gets to lick the bowl after beating up the cake mix. R had a learning curve. It didn't take more than one lick for her to catch on.

She grabbed the beater and licked happily away.

I made her twelve cupcakes and a one layer cake. All the one year olds get to have a cupcake of their very own. VERY entertaining for the rest of us. You will have to wait for those photoes.

After I took the above picture, I zoomed out. Look what is on a small section of my kitchen counter which is between the stove and the refrigerator.

Food Processor

Twelve cupcakes on a rack

Nebulizer

Small pumpkin

Bottle top and nipple missing a bottle

Knife set

Steak thawing for dinner

Pedialyte for a kid who was throwing up. Didn't need it.

What a conglomeration of stuff.

Not all of my counters look like that........

Falling

Autumn is not complete without some falling!

Underwater

Did you think I was underwater?

Drowning in my own busy-ness?

Taking on more than humanly possible?

Oh no!

It is way better than that.

TREY

SWIMS

UNDERWATER!

No joke! We have the best swim instructor in the whole wide world. He is patient and kind, yet firm and loving. This accomplishment is exceptionally exciting for me because of how far Trey has come in being around water. He screamed bloody murder for a solid year in the bathtub. I never minded taking him to the beach that first summer because he wouldn't go in the water. Easy peasy. Oh boy, I am in trouble now. Once he got the hang of it at swim lessons, he was diving down and getting toys off the bottom in 3 feet of water.

Again and again and again.

At the tender age of three!

Micah even graduated to being on the "barbell" by himself, kicking his feet and swimming around. He kept saying, "Mommy, me swimming."

I wonder if I delight in these milestones more because of where my kids have come from. Each developmental stepping stone is a gift filled with excitement and awe. We rejoiced when our first three learned how to walk and swim and ride a bike. But perhaps in some ways we took it for granted because we knew they would.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:14-16

Isn't that amazing?

This Is How I Know

This is how I know God is working.

I am stunned when I think that in the myriad of decisions that have been made in the lives of these children, just one person making a different decision would have meant that we might have missed out on this amazing God-filled moment.

The sibling bond is not meant to be broken.

Blessed be the tie that binds.

Hair Equals Time

I knew for sure that God had a sense of humor when he gave me all this hair. I spent awhile this morning working on hair and it struck me again that I love it. Not because my hands get super mosturized or my arms get (sore) a workout but because it gives me time with my girls. Real time for them to talk and for me to listen. When you have this much hair it takes forever to comb it out and style it, so we talk.

We make these special one on one times count!

I love these girls AND their hair!

A First For Me

Look what I got to do today.

This ranks pretty high on the

list of amazing.

Combined weight was a few ounces less than my second son.

One year ago exactly we were at this same hospital,

same room, same people.

I've only been to the hospital a few times to visit new babies.

What a privilege to welcome new life into this world.

Bless your little lives.

I am incredibly thankful to have been able to visit

these precious souls at just a few hours old.

God be praised.

Loving other people's children is what taught me how to love like God loves!

Hippity Hop

The bunny care is going well. Kloey is diligent about making sure there is food and water. Right now that means going out in the dark to cover the cage at night. Not always so fun especially when it is in the 30's in the morning. I am very proud of her. We got a $10 gift certificate from Tractor Supply in the mail so we went and got rabbit vests for basically free. What fun! And I don't feel so bad about them being cooped up in a cage all day when I see them zipping around the yard with kids in tow since I told them not to yank on the leash. So far, this impulsive decision has been a good one. :)