First art show

The girls artwork was submitted in the distric art show and they both did beautiful pieces! Audrey's spiderweb was chosen as best in show for all the kinder aged submissions. She was so excited!!! Lucy wondered why she didn't get a trophy, too. I wish they weren't always compared, but I guess it's inevitable. I love art!!!

Lucy loves to build

Yesterday was Good Friday and German took the day off. We went to lunch at Central Market then headed to the FW museum. Dad helped the girls build this fort and Lucy asked me to take picture. She made me promise I would keep the picture saved forever, so here it is.

Then later in the evening we headed to Nana Gail's house to do service. We helped prune some bushes and pull weeds. Lucy built this ship and again asked me to take a picture. I love how she puts on a serious face when she poses for pics. I love this little girl! We had a great family fun day.

This one is from last week...she really wanted me to take a pic before she knocked it down.

Kinder Tales

I've finally taken some time to fix the photos that were lost here on the old blog. It is going to take awhile, but I have the computer plugged into the external hard drive so I can access all our photos and my goal is to fix a few posts a week.

I started from the beginning and it really is shocking to view photos of me pregnant and read about the twin's birth and watch old videos of them. I miss their tiny little bodies so much! Yet at the same time I LOVE their big girl brains! Kindergarten has been great! I am so glad I kept them in the same class, Mrs. King has been really great. It is amazing how quickly they have picked up reading. In just a few months they went from not being able to read much at all, to reading full chapter books!

Audrey especially and she has already read quite a few books! She takes her books in the car and reads while we drive and at night it's a struggle to get her to stop so we can say family prayer. I love that she's a bookworm, I loved reading all the time as well!
Audrey of the Outback
Magic Treehouse #1
How to Train your Dragon #1
Willow's Underwater World
And she is now reading How to be a pirate (how to train your dragon book #2)

Lucy reads just as well and has read a couple chapter books, but I noticed she was doing it mostly just to compete with Audrey. I told her she can wait and read more when she wants to and she hasn't been as interested in chapter books lately. German got these old Charlie Brown Encyclopedia books a while ago at Half Price Books and she loves reading facts and learning new things about everything. I love that their personalities are so different.

Sage and I have enjoyed just hanging out and playing at home. I thought she would miss her sisters, but she has loved having playdates with her friends and playing with just mom. She is super excited to start school in the Fall, though. She tries to do whatever her sisters are doing, especially when they have homework or other little projects. She is my favorite little buddy.

German loves his job! He is always busy, but I am glad he enjoys it. He leaves around 7am and gets home around 6pm most days. About once a month he makes time on Saturdays to take the girls out on a daddy/daughter date and they LOVE it. He is such a great dad! I love that the girls will have an amazing father who is involved in their lives and shows them lots of love and affection. They are super lucky!

I have too many home projects that I am putting off until Sage starts school. I want to paint our kitchen cabinets white, remodel the master shower, refinish the deck in the back. Plus build some raised beds for gardening and just continue learning and trying to develop some talents. I'm a little nervous about attempting some stuff on my own, but the internet is so full of information, I think I can manage it...maybe...well, I hope!

Life is good. Really I feel so extremely fortunate and blessed. Of course, we'd LOVE more babies to come to our home, but I am very happy with our three angel girls!   ;)

Daddy Daughter Dance Feb 28th, 2014

don't want to forget today

This morning Sage woke up and came to snuggle with me. She started kissing my cheek multiple times and then grabbed my face and said "I want a kiss on the lips!" and she proceeded to kiss me more. The girls had their last swimming lesson today and Audrey has picked up on it soooo well. She's so naturally athletic and I can tell she will excel at any sport she chooses to do. Yesterday at a friend's pool, she saw an older girl do a somersault in the water and after a few tries and a little help from nana, she figured it out and she started doing front flips and back flips under the water. Lucy and Sage were trying, but they were a bit more fearful about it all...not Audrey, not one bit.

Lucy loves stories! If ever I begin to say "when i was a little girl..." she perks up and looks as though she could be on the edge of her seat. "uh huh mommy...what mommy, what were you going to say????" She often asks us to tell her stories about when we were little and she's always extremely intrigued with whatever we say and her memory is astounding. Many times I've begun to tell a story and she will stop me and say "you already told us about that mom!" then she proceed to finish my story! I had totally forgotten I'd already told her! I cannot wait to get her started on the piano or violin or whatever she chooses. I have a feeling she will be really artsy...at least I hope!

I love the girls drawings! They recently colored pictures and taped them up all over our bedroom walls and their own bedroom walls. Who needs to buy art?! Someday I hope to get it all framed...someday when I get passionate about this house cleaning/decorating/organizing thing. I'm not so awesome at it.

German came home from a 3-day 2-night high adventure young men outing in Arkansas tonight and the girls missed him so much. When he got home they said "Don't ever leave like that again daddy!" On Saturday we leave on a 2100 mile roadtrip to Panama City beach and then to Georgia where German is going to bless Natalia's new baby boy Pablo. Should be fun and crazy and memorable and exhausting!

Today was a good day!

My poor neglected blog...today!

You may have noticed how many of my pictures were all lost last year because of a google mess up...so discouraging! But I still need to use this as journal, so I'll start with today since 'catching up' is just too overwhelming.

Today was a really good day! I love my sweet little girlykins! The girls let me sleep in and got breakfast all by themselves and even poured a bowl of cereal for me. They colored upstairs and I love that they usually play so well together. Lucy did get in trouble for wanting to kick her sister and I sent her to her room. She then yelled "I don't love you anymore mom!" and slammed her door.

Later the girls did some yoga with me and Audrey did 10 jumps with her jumprope. We ate lunch outside since weather was beautiful today! I love our backyard soooo much. I got a blanket so I could read outside and the girls wanted to play I spy and lay outside with me. I finally made them each get books and we read under the trees. Lucy had a way too long big toenail and brought out some clippers so I could cut it, I ended up trimming all their nails. Then Audrey asked if I'd paint them, too, so I painted all 30 toenails and fingernails! The girls found ladybugs and were so excited...not so excited when they saw ants and spiders though.

I finally took a shower and got dinner ready. Dad came home semi early (before 6pm) and we ate chicken salad in lettuce wraps, tomato/cucumber salad and broccoli. I'm so glad the girls love to eat their vegis. Later we relaxed on the love sac upstairs and watched the end of princess diaries, while dad napped.

I made some yummy white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies for FHE and we had a lesson on being a missionary. Audrey chose hide and go seek as our game/activity. Then shower, books and bedtime. I'm also glad they usually go to bed pretty well. I love our girls. Tomorrow I am planning on the free first Tuesdays at the Dallas Museum of Art. Hopefully, it won't be raining because I want to grab some food truck grub.

Good night!

Motherhood

I have so many thoughts right now that I don't know where to start. I love being a mom and I love my kids! I also love other people's kids! But I've never felt so insecure about my parenting until about 15 months ago when school ended and 'employed' life began. I need to sleep, but I wanted to save these articles for future reference.

articles here and here

*update* March 23rd: I read this article today in the NY Times and loved it. I realized I have had a smart phone for the last 16 months. Although the two mat not be completely related, the coincidence is enough for me to want to get rid of the thing ASAP.

We miss nana and nampa!

The girls were loving life with nana and nampa. They got to stay with us for 2 1/2 weeks and I really miss not being outnumbered by these little people all day...come again soon! We love you!