4 1/2 years old!

The picture above is pretty indicative of our Emmy's personality.  There is an old soul tucked away in her four and a half year old body.  She has embraced her role as biggest sister and is a very responsible and capable little person.  She is independent and innovative.  When she wants something, she makes it happen, which is either wonderfully helpful or positively (negatively?) maddening.  She has an incredibly loving heart and desires to make other people happy, particularly with gifts. (When she went to the zoo with Miss Emily, she bought me a cockatoo magnet with her souvenir money, it was an idea all of her own. :)  I think I might have her love language pinned.  

She has the memory of an elephant and will hold you accountable for whatever you say- I have become far more elusive with my plans now that I have to answer to her. :-P  She is incredibly thoughtful (my back was aching for a few days and she told me, "let me pick that up, Mommy, so your back doesn't hurt.")  She is a problem solver, and her solutions are usually pretty spot-on.  This is also a double edged sword because she does a pretty good job eliminating my rationale for not going with her plan for things.  She is innovative, always trying to come up with a new, better way of doing things (much like her Daddy.) I get a good laugh sometimes over how thoroughly complicated she makes a simple task, though, just to claim credit for her brainstorm.  Especially when she's "teaching" Hannah how to do something.  Sweet Sis usually goes along, I just turn the other way and laugh watching it all unfold. She likes to be in charge and has trouble taking orders from others.  Teaching her to ride a bike, whistle, or tie her shoes are monumental tasks because she thinks she has a better way of doing it, even though she has no idea what she's doing.  I've found that she eventually will give me a chance to demo it for her when her approach isn't working-but I need to act quickly before she jumps in and takes over again.   She thrives when she is given a job, she even tells me how she "works" during quiet time.  I find her "re-organizing" her things, writing letters in a notebook, stacks of books that she's read through.  She is so doting on her babies, throwing them regular birthday parties, coming up with agendas that make them feel special.  She's gotten really good at puzzles and creating lego castles.  Everything is princess, but I am grateful that, she views princesses as girls who wear pretty dresses and like to sing and dance and go on adventures.

Emmy loves her imaginative play.  She spins the most exciting stories, and is so resourceful pulling together props to enhance the experience.  She is so wonderful with the babies and love to make them laugh.  So much so, that sometimes when she gets them going, she gets a little too crazy and needs to be reminded to cool her jets.  

For sleep...Without a nap, which is usually the case, she'll sleep from about 730 or 8 until 630 in the morning or so.  I consider her to be my "quiet time burglar."  It seems that every time I finally sit down to pump after getting everyone down and finishing up some chores, there she is.  She tells me that she just really wants to spend time with me, so it's hard to get mad at her.  She's supposed to take an hour of quiet time, but a lot of times it's closer to 45 minutes.  I would rather pay for it on the back end with a late night and get a break in the middle of the day, so I am jumping for joy the days she actually naps. :-P

She tells me that her favorite breakfast foods are cheerios, oatmeal with brown sugar, pancakes, waffles, bacon and eggs.  Lunch favorites are bean and cheese quesadillas, crackers, cheese and pepperonis, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Campbell's chicken noodle soup.  Snack foods: applesauce, graham crackers and nutella, a mix of cheerios, craisins, chocolate chips and marshmallows. Dinner foods are chili, buttered pasta, white bean sausage and kale soup, Italian wedding soup, fish sticks, taco salad.

Love my girl.

4th of July

Our neighbors treated the girls to picking berries and riding on the mower...The girls were tickled!  I love hearing Sis talk about Mr. Richard, it sounds like "Meeser Reechard."  I sometimes this she has a french accent.

Fireworks are legal around here and people take full advantage.  I usually get annoyed because they last for the better part of the month and Molly looses her mind each time one is set off, but I so loved sitting on the front porch with my Emmy watching six different firework shows.  She loved it too, she drew a picture the next morning of the two of us sitting on the steps together watching the fireworks.  :) We invited Sis to join us but she says they're "too youd" and wanted nothing to do with them. :-P

Playing with photo booth on my computer...

2 1/2 years old!

My Sis, she is so much fun!  Hannah has such a dynamic little (BIG!) personality.  She can be very soft spoken and polite and then flip the switch and she's a silly goofball.  She is very tender-hearted and takes such thoughtful care of her baboos (just last night she asked me to pray for the new baby giraffe that she got at the zoo because she missed her mommy and daddy. :()  Speaking of prayers, every night she prays for Daddy, and declares whether or not he is home, and the "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" book that she destroyed several months ago.  The day she found another copy of the book on a shelf, she empathically praised the Lord for fixing her book, "Badu Badu What do you see eess FISSED!!! Mommy eess FISSED!!!" Excited to know that she's learning at such a young age that God answers your prayers!  

Hannah likes order and cleanliness and is quick to run and get a towel to mop up spills.  She is so expressive with her thoughts, particularly with her eyes, which get big as saucers when she's asking a question or concerned about something (or is caught doing something she shouldn't be.)  While Emmy approaches a lot of things with reckless abandon, Sis is far more cautious.  She's quick to let me know if and activity is "skawey."  She gets upset by loud noises.  Hannah loves to play outside, her very favorite being the swing, but she's learned to scale the mini rock wall Nick built like a pro.  She also loves to play with water, and uses an excuse of "watering the flowers" for why I find her with the hose.  Hannah is getting really good at dressing herself, which means that she gets fancy like Emmy does each day.   She will declare, "Mommy, I yook booful!" She is very generous with her compliments, she's quick to tell Emmy and I that we "yook booful" and is the first one to cheer us on if we do something great: "Hooway fo Mommy!"  "Yay fo Emmy!"

She is obsessed with shoes, and has become really proficient at walking in my heels.  She loves to do my hair ("I do-a yo hair?" with her trademark inflection as, simultaneously she pulls out my hairband.  Busy girl, no time for a response.)  She is still a lover of Caillou and anything technology.  She would spend all day playing on my nook or watching family videos on my phone if I'd let her (but I don't, much to her chagrin :-P).  She loves to "read" books, but, curiously, desecrates her favorite ones if left alone with them during quiet time.  She'll alert me, with sadness I might add, to the fact that they're "bwoken" afterwards, it's almost like she's surprised?  Her favorite books are "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?,""Bun Bun Button," and a box set of Caillou books.  Her favorite song is, "Let It Go" and has the entire routine memorized, she has honed her skills for MONTHS.  Her favorite movie is Frozen-she renamed "Friday movie day" to "Friday Fronen Day."

As for sleep...I am so grateful for Sis' incredible sleep.  I never would have guessed while waking up throughout the night with her for her entire first year of life that she would go on to be my very best sleeper.  She goes down around 830 each night (it's a little earlier during the school year when it's not light so late!) and wakes up around 7 each morning.  She goes down for a nap between 1230 and 1 each day and will usually sleep for 3 hours.  It's hard to say for sure, though, because I usually go up to check on her and find her awake.  It's hard to know just how long she's been awake because she doesn't call for me!  I actually told her the other day that she could let me know when she wakes up and I will come and get her out of her crib, but so far she hasn't taken me up on my offer!  Works for me!

For food...Her favorites are still pancakes, pirates booty, hummus and carrots, pears, applesauce, watermelon, cheerios, cheese (when I let her have a little, too much and her belly hurts :(,) peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, quesadillas, hot dogs, fish sticks, pasta, and Campbell's "princess" chicken noodle soup and CHOCOLATE.  Sis went missing one day when Nick was recently home and we all went into high alert looking for her (she is a Houdini, that one.)  We searched high and low for about 3 minutes before I finally thought to check the pantry.  When I did, I found her round little face looking up at me with cheeks stuffed with marshmallows from the nearly-empty bag she gripped with white knuckles.  I can't help but smile thinking about our big two and a half year old. :)

Summer Fun!

Errands wear me out, too!

Sissy making lunch. :)

This photo is so indicative of their different personalities...Emmy lets it all hang out and Sis is a bit more reserved.

Little Beggar Darla

At capacity!

I'm going to keep working on this picture, it's kind of a fun challenge. :-P

On my birthday, I decided we needed to do something out of the norm.  So, in the spirit of being spontaneous, I loaded all of the kids up in the car without a spare diaper, our "my carry potty" or so much as a plan.  After we left the driveway, Emmy convinced me to get Zaxby's for lunch and so I decided it would be fun to eat it picnic-style at a park by the river.  As soon as we got into the drive-thru line, Emmy informs me that she really, really, really needs to go potty.  I realized at that time that I had forgotten the "my carry potty" in the utility sink in the garage from the last time I cleaned it.  The thought of pulling all of the kids out of the car to go into a busy fast food restaurant bathroom at noon sounded unbearable.  I decide to abort the plan and go home.  As I was driving home, I was overcome with a wave of irritation with myself for giving up so easily.  So, I find myself pulling the car into a Rite-Aid parking lot. It had automatic doors, which, these days, make the biggest difference.  Me and my entourage overtook the bathroom, loaded up on some baby food pouches (I had TOTALLY forgotten about feeding the babies) and diapers for Sis, who, after she insisted on "going potty" with Emmy was now commando.  By the time we got to the river, it was "quiet time" but, we went for it anyways. It went pretty well for about 10 minutes or so until Sis started running for the edge of the embankment towards the river.  The highlight, though, was an ENORMOUS barge that sailed passed us while we ate. 

Picking Strawberries!  This is such a sweet memory (both literally and figuratively.)  I picked this patch because the area to park your cars is right next to the patches.  I left the babies asleep in the car with the air conditioning running (and window rolled down) and we picked from the strawberry plants right in front of the car.  I just went to check on them every couple of minutes.  It wasn't ideal, but it was really the only way I could make it happen.  My heart was warmed watching my Sis as she sat quietly and carefully picked enough strawberries to fill her basket.  Her shoes were caked in mud, so she took them off, and walked barefoot through the strawberry patch.  She looked like a lost child, but had such a wonderful time I had to pry her away.

We brought them home and after eating a bunch made some freezer strawberry jam and fruit leather.  We still have a couple of big bags in the freezer for smoothies!

The day they learned to hold their bottles!  A momentous day, for sure!

This girl is such a little ray of sunshine.

Emmy, Mommy in Training. :)

Play hard, sleep hard.

Still amazed by this new skill!

It's a long day for these babies...Couldn't keep their eyes open while I finished bathing the big girls.

Our reward for surviving grocery shopping!

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but we needed a new stroller.  A double umbrella stroller.  Now that James has outgrown the infant carseat, my double snap and go is rendered useless and ready to consign.    That stroller was a GOD SEND, truly, I don't know how I would have left the house without it.  Our double jogger stroller is great for walks, but it doesn't fit through doorways, which is an obvious problem if I need to use it for church or to run errands.  So, because I refuse to buy new strollers, I was excited to find a good one on Craigslist.  The only thing was the kids and I needed to drive to Franklin to get it, which is a little over an hour away.  They were WONDERFUL, but clearly tired once we finally got there.  So, I promised them a treat.  Franklin is GORGEOUS, there's a reason all the country music stars live there, so it didn't take long to find a really beautiful park.  We picked up some ice cream  and headed to the park.  I was lucky to find a parking spot right next to a tree and a grassy area.  So, I literally laid a blanket on the ground right next to the car and plunked everyone on it.  It worked out so well and we had so much fun! :) 

Emmy doing my hair while we sit with Hannah.  Sissy says to me, excitedly "It's working! My pivates are working!"  She went potty on the potty for the third time ever! Yay!

Anna and Elsa visiting the girls' favorite frozen yogurt place...The girls were awestruck when we walked in the door. :)

Sis, who is usually very shy around people she doesn't know well was mesmerized by Anna and Elsa, she just wanted to be near them.

We tried to maximize our time with Daddy and went to the city pool.

Hannah was very unsure about the water when we first got there.

Not Emmy!  She jumped right in!  This girl's bravery scares me sometimes!

It's not so bad!

We had a beautiful day last week, and we desperately needed to get out of the house.  A nearby church just built this park and the play structure is very appropriate to the girls' ages-so they didn't need me to be standing there to help them play.  I set the babies up on a blanket with their lunch...I was SO PROUD of myself and then I felt a little bug run across my sandaled foot.  I look down and there was, unmistakably, a brown recluse spider on the blanket right next to my foot.  I throw the wipey container over top of it to buy myself time to get the babies back in the car and pack up our lunch.  It was good while it lasted!

Our Army Life

Dedicated to the one I love...My first documented gray hair.

Grandpa had it right when he told me that if the army wanted Nick to have a family, they would have issued him one.  I laughed it off at the time, but this stuff is no joke.  Nick's previously scheduled month-long June deployment (that I was dreading like mad) was put on hold the end of April because of business going on in the world.  Not long after we learned this development, he left for a 10 day training trip in the beginning of May.  After his return, we were in a holding pattern until he got orders for a new "trip."  After a couple of weeks sans notification, we both were starting to think it was going to be a no-go and that he'd leave as scheduled on his rotator flight to Afghanistan as previously scheduled for the month of June.  Well, the phone call finally came.  On my birthday.  I sometimes think the army is like an obnoxious person at a party that likes to steal your thunder.  Is nothing sacred?!  (My actual birthday was a rotten day, so I declared a do-over the following day-complete with a giant chocolate cake.  There's no problem too big for chocolate cake, in my humble opinion.)

So, a few days later, we said goodbye to Nick, with nary a hint of where he was off to, when he'd be home, and without any means to communicate with us.  To say that I was outside of my comfort zone, would be the understatement of the century.  The kids and I busied ourselves as best we could.  Emmy spent the first week doing Vacation Bible School, which was absolutely AMAZING (she loved it so much she begged me to find another one for her to do!)  We had a couple of playdates, a handful of outings, a whole lot of time spent playing at home and a visit from Kris and the kids!

As Army wife luck would have it, I had a run-in with a reptile and a rodent just to make life even more exciting.  I am irrationally fearful of snakes and mice, one of each decided to show up all in the same week for the first time since we moved in.  I didn't actually see the mouse, but found the hole it made in Emmy's old convertible carseat when I went to retrieve it from the attic for our growing boy.  I set a mousetrap for the first time in my life.  The trap is still ready and waiting, and I am a bit on edge until that rodent is eliminated!

As for the snake, we had arrived home from running an errand, when Emmy let the dogs out of the laundry room prematurely.  I was swamped in crying babies and lunch meal prep, when my inpatient dogs relieved themselves on the bathroom floor.  Enraged, I shooed them out of the house, to reinforce that they go potty outside (I swear they laugh at me in their heads when I lecture them about such things.)  I stood on the deck to watch and see who was responsible for the puddle in the bathroom by process of elimination, when out of the corner of my eye I see something slithering on the grass.  I panicked, yelled at the dogs to now come inside, grabbed my camera and my phone.  I called Mom, because she routinely talks me down from ledges and was armed and ready with google on her I-pad, as I described to her what identifiers I could note from the magnified photos.  Turns out it was a king snake and they are harmless to humans and good to have around because they eat the bad snakes.  Still, I was happier not knowing they were anywhere near my house.  Ignorance is absolutely bliss. 

This is when God sent me a reminder that He had it covered, as He does for me.  About half an hour after the sighting, I was still on the phone with Mom while I ran around getting my kids down for quiet time.  The dogs started barking their heads off and Sis alerted me, from the bottom of the stairs, that someone was at the door.  If I do actually hear the knock on the door, I typically don't answer it unless I'm expecting someone, because I have heard too many stories about crazy people on the news; but, for some reason, I mindlessly cracked it open.  It was our pest control technician.  He was working on a Saturday, to complete his routine appointments.  I mentioned to him that I had just seen a snake in the backyard and he, completely unfazed, told me that he had some snake repellent in his truck and he'd take care of it.  I waited to dissolve into a sobbing mess of gratitude until after I closed the door.  God is SO GOOD!  

And He showed up again...I had been feeling a little discouraged after an outing with the kids.  I've been trying to get more creative to come up with "fun" things to do that are realistically manageable and safe for me to do with all the kiddos.  But, it's not easy.  Emmy, very innocently, asked me when we ventured out on an errand why we never go anywhere fun.  Kind of hurt my heart a little.  So, the very next day at church, our babysitter, Emily, came up and said she had a question for me.  She nervously started explaining how she and her friend really wanted to go to the zoo, but they felt a little lame, at seventeen, going just the two of them and asked if they could borrow Emmy and Hannah.  Once again, I felt my eyes burning with tears of gratitude.  I arranged for another sitter to say at home with the twins and drove the big girls to the zoo yesterday morning.  When I offered to buy Emily and her girlfriend, Amber's, tickets, Emily begged me to let her spoil the girls for the day.  She had really been looking forward to making them feel extra special.  I still get goosebumps thinking about it, I'm sure she has no idea just how much her kindness impacted us.

....And then again, I felt enveloped in His love...A box with two dozen roses and a note of encouragement arrived on my doorstep from an unnamed angel.  It arrived on a particularly tough day and provided such a boost.  I kept the bouquet and card on the kitchen counter above the kitchen sink, where I spend a great deal of time, so that every time I looked at it, I couldn't help but smile.

At 1030 at night a week and a half ago, three weeks after Nick left, I heard the garage door open.  I froze, trying to figure out my plan of attack, because the thought of Nick being home was that far from my mind.  Still without a plan, I stood frozen in the kitchen when  Nick walked through the door.  I pretty much lost it.  My nervous system gave way and I was a sobbing idiot holding onto him for dear life.  Praise the Lord he was finally home...

...Until the next morning when he built up the courage to let me know that he was leaving for another month-long deployment just 6 days later.  He left again last Thursday.  I am praying hard for Nick's safety followed by patience, endurance, and, if I'm being honest, an attitude adjustment.  I do know that God is in control of my crazy life, I just have to give it to Him.

Our "selfie" at the airport, we were running really late so this was the best I could do.

Zoo pictures!

There it is.

Daddy's home!

Parking Lot selfies of 5 of our 9 deployments.