A Merry March

Lunch at Pipsqueaks with Grady, Erik, and Abby

Carla and I actually got to visit a bit in between keeping up with five busy kids in a fun indoor kid park.
Poor Kristina was under the weather, so we had our first solo 'away from home' outing with Grady.

These girls LOVE every cuddle opportunity that arises with baby Rayna. She's like a magnet!

The new carseat came in a super fun box! The girls and their dolls were hiding from the buffalo for a good half hour! I couldn't believe how LONG they were totally still in there. They kept having to 'shush' their babies. Too cute.

We finally won the mice war. Lil stinkers. I was reaching for the corn chips when packing for a lunch and THERE IT WAS, stuck on the trap. HIP HIP HORRAY! A couple of days later, at 3:30 am, Nate says, "I think we caught another mouse." We could hear it scuffling around in the pantry. Sure enough, the poor thing was on the sticky trap and not happy about it. We had husband/wife 'middle of the night bonding time' and put him to his end. Now, let there be NO MORE MICE. 

Little Miss girlie of few words has a NEW word that she LOVES to use:

"Why?" I explain, and she follows up with, "Why?" I explain further and she follows up with, "Why?"

and on and on and on. She thinks she's pretty clever!

Rhya informed me that she was going to 'cobention' (convention)

Sure enough, practically the whole house was packed into her shopping cart! She didn't leave much out. Nate wondered where his bible went later on the night and Rhya could assist! Where'd my toothpaste go? Oh yeah-check the cart. Kitchen baggies? Yep- cart. Kleenex? Cart's got it! Can't forget the beloved heart jammies either. :-) 

The snow finally melted a bit and got hard enough to walk on TOP of the crust. Oh what FUN we had on the hills!

Sakari is always happy to join in the fun!

Finishing touches on the kitchen. 

Fact of the day: We recently weighed the girls.

Rhya, age almost 4: 33 lbs

Brielle, age almost 2: 25 lbs

Enjoying the crusty snow

Always Something to Smile About

Our happy yard pal, Miss Snow-woman, is always smiling. She doesn't care if the north wind blows her straw hair off or her carrot nose starts drooping or she gets buried in 10 inches of snow. She's just glad to be where she is!!

Here are a few simple life pleasures that make life worth smiling about:

Brielle's first pigtails:

She walked around the house continually touching both sprouts and saying, "Two! Two!"

Spending creative time with Rhya:

She LOVES it when I sit down and focus with her. I feel guilty about not doing it more, because when we let everything else slide and have a little one on one, it makes her GLOW.

Boots ALWAYS on the wrong feet.

Brielle and only Brielle puts her boots on and everyone can tell. HA. Why can't they at least be on the correct feet half of the time? 

Sisterhood

It's so heartwarming to watch their relationship grow, change, and connect. Brielle is starting to be more opinionated in their activities which means added spats, but they enjoy each other's company tremendously. It's so fun to eavesdrop on how Rhya explains things and how Brielle responds. They can get SO hyper together, but yet so serious and engaged in their imaginative play at other times.

New Nephew:

We certainly enjoyed our time with our mini far away nephews. It was so special to meet Gideon and to log play time with Gabriel. Now we are crossing our fingers that Gideon will overcome his latest oxygen hump and that their family can start enjoying carefree time together. Until then, sending strength your way, Terry, Sarah and boys! 

Sugaring up Valentines Day with cookies homemade by little hands: 

Little Gabriel's eyes to drown in:

Gideon had quite the support team the day after his first homecoming:

Bad phone picture but I love it anyway:

***Be the Reason Someone Smiles Today***

Nice to Meet You, Kitchen

Most of what you see on this picture was done by my dear parents. Dad built the cabinets and Mom put the finish on them. She also took pity on my pregnant self and painted the walls for us!

Nate has had to listen to my displeasure over the border ever since moving in. I tried to remove it with gobs of wallpaper remover and a scraper. I maybe got about 1 foot off per hour. Nate got bit by the 'border challenge' and removed the whole thing in a couple of hours. I am humbled and relieved, especially since Nate said he didn't even mind the the border (let's just say he's not too picky) and gave himself a sore thumb over the deal.

My father in law is still on speaking terms with us! Ha. Nate invited him over for a fun day of 'wiring the basement', which turned into 'ripping our the kitchen soffits'. The poor man didn't know what he was getting into, but dug into with all his might! After hours of ripping out brittle plaster, stubborn wire, determined nails, they got the job completed. There was only a slight amount of blood and a couple 'near falls'.

The tiny, 'back to the 70's 'kitchen was one of our biggest turnoffs when we looked at the house (remember scrubbing the gross, sticky cabinets, Gma Mo?), and now it's quite possibly my favorite room!

Uplifting Article

This article is so sweet. Follow the link:
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Happy Birthday to Someone Special!