finally spring!

Our long-lasting winter fast-forwarded right into summer this last weekend and we all sure enjoyed some time outside! We traveled to my parents' for the weekend and also enjoyed visiting with my brother, sister-in-law and niece. It is so nice to be outside again in the sunshine! I'm also choosing to ignore the snow in the forecast....

our latest accomplishments.

...and by "our", I mean the children.

Miriam:
Reading. I love this so much. I feel like she's had the fundamentals for reading for awhile--even before Kindergarten--but her confidence has really helped her get that extra push to actually read on her own. She still struggles with confidence a bit...sometimes I give her a book we own and I know she can read it but she thinks she can't and then won't try. But any of the books she brings home from school that her teacher says she can read, she will. It's been really fun (especially as a former elementary teacher) to watch her learn this. One of my favorite milestones so far!

Abbie:
Puzzles, potty training and painting. That pretty much sums it all up! Abbie is wanting to everything like her big sister, so she is learning much along the way. She always surprises me with how well she can do puzzles, and she loves to do them, too. Potty training...well, that has been in the works for awhile now, but she does almost everything on her own. That helps me a lot, too! And painting...she asks me to do this all the time. So we do it as often as we can!

Ella:
Walking and talking. This little girl has taken her sweet time with walking. She is a master scooter (I will post a video sometime soon of that), so I feel like the normal transition from crawling to walking isn't quite there for her. She definitively could be fully walking if she wanted to, but she often just plops down and scoots along. But everywhere I take her, people repeatedly comment on how they just love watching her scoot! I just want her up and walking so I can take her outside. Scooting on the muddy grass will not do wonders for my massive laundry load! And talking...I think "bye" was her official first word. She is so used to saying it each morning to Matt and Miriam when they leave for the day. It comes out as, "daaa!" and she always waves, too. She's working on "hi" and pretty much signs her other "words."

It's so fun watching them all grow up in their own stages!

while they were sleeping

One of the biggest privileges and responsibilities of being a mom (or a dad or grandparent, for that matter!), I think, is to pray for my children.  What a blessing that we can offer our children to the Lord in prayer!  However, sometimes as the busyness of life gets away from me...I find myself offering quick prayers for our kids that seem like it's just a routine or the same thing all the time.  I know the Lord still hears these prayers and answers them in His way, but I sometimes feel like I need more direction in what to specifically pray.  So recently, I pulled out a book I received at a baby shower when I was pregnant with Miriam.  I had read through it a few times after she was born, but I have found it so helpful in guiding my prayers with all three girls now.  I would like to continue going through it over and over again as they get older.  It is called While They Were Sleeping by Anne Arkins and Gary Harrell.  The book takes you through 12 specific character traits to pray for your child or children.  It uses Scripture followed by a few prayers specific to the character traits.  It leaves blanks for you to put in the names of your kids as you pray.  It also offers ideas to incorporate your kids into learning the character traits at various age levels.  The specific traits are: kindness, humility, teachability, forgiveness, obedience, discernment, purity, responsibility, courage, servanthood and contentment.  I highly recommend this book for new moms or grandparents or if anyone just wants more direction in praying for your children.  It is fantastic.  

Children's Museum

I'm so thankful to live in a city with a Children's Museum. This place has provided hours of entertainment for all three of my girls! I took Abbie and Ella this morning again and here are few pictures from our day:

faces, part 2: the toothless grin

Our dearest Ella, going on 15 months next week, has still yet to get her first tooth. She doesn't seem to mind, however. And yes, whenever the camera comes out, she squints her eyes and gives me the biggest smile she knows how. I love her to pieces.

please take a picture

For some reason, Miriam is a very nostalgic child. Just as she recently reminded us to make sure we had pictures of her in the snow this winter, she also keeps asking us to take a picture of something she's made or wants to remember. I'm not sure what has sparked this in her...but someday we will look back and see a ton of pictures of Miriam and her day-to-day play and creations. This is the beauty of digital photos! Here are a few of her recent requests for pictures...

silly slinkies

treasured friends

Yesterday, Matt and I were able to attend the wedding of one of Matt's college roommates. We were thankful to have both sets of our parents take turns and watch our girls at home while we could spend a date day at the wedding and reception. We knew we would be able to see some friends from college while we were there, so we were both really looking forward to going. The wedding was lovely and the reception was so fun. We have some truly wonderful friends from our college years. It's amazing how even after many months (and sometimes years) go by, we can pick up right where we left off with these dear friends. Matt lived in a room with seven other guys for two years, and we were able to see most of them along with their wives. I was just reminded again yesterday that while some people are placed in our lives for just a season, there will be some that will probably be there your entire life. I am so thankful for these friends and always look forward to seeing them again!

the resident birthday queen

Last August when Miriam turned 5, Abbie suddenly began to realize what birthdays were all about. So since then, she about daily asked when HER birthday was. It's unfortunate that their birthdays are almost exactly 6 months apart. But all her then 2-year-old mind could comprehend is that it was in March (whatever March meant to her), and that it involved balloons and cake. So by the time her birthday finally did roll around, we tried to make it exactly the way she wanted: with cake, balloons, and a celebration just for her. When her birthday was over, I figured we'd be getting her asking us daily when her next birthday was. But alas, she instead discovered my birthday was coming up and got just as excited for that. She began asking me what kind of cake I wanted and if she could help make it and if she could yell, "surprise!" So if it wasn't for Abbie, I'm not sure that I even would have made a cake as my birthday fell on Easter and I knew we'd end up with other desserts that day anyway. However, so as not to let her down, we made a cake together. And we put one candle on for each decade. She didn't seem too disappointed that I didn't get balloons or that she didn't yell, "surprise!" at any time throughout the day. I think the Easter festivities easily trumped the need for those. So, now that my birthday has wrapped up, I figured we were in the clear on the birthday question for awhile...except that she recently asked when Matt's birthday is. Unfortunately his is still three months away. So we begin again with the daily countdown. But we love our little birthday queen. She makes all of our birthdays more fun by her excitement of them.

three beauties on Easter (and my birthday!) morning