Harper is...one of a kind

Harper has a wonderful little friend named Anthony...yes, she calls him her boyfriend.
On the way to preschool, "Hurry up Mommy, Anthony will be so worried if I am late"

"I am going to marry Anthony, I will make him so happy"
At the park with Anthony, "Anthony, you going to marry me?"  He did say, "yeah"


Some other quotes...
Very seriously, Harper comes up to me the kitchen and says in a loud whisper, "I need you to tell me all Lily's secrets or I'll lose my incredibleness"

At Mammy's house, Jason described the taste of a mint oreo as being "like Heaven" so when Harper was asked what she wanted for a treat, she replied, "I want that cookie that tastes like Heaven"

Our unsung Hero

Most people might think Moms are unappreciated, that they don't get the recognition they deserve. Sometimes this is true, sometimes I feel this way but not very often. I think this comes from Jason being very vocal about how much he appreciates what I do as a wife, a Mom and the manager of our home. I also think it's because I truly love what I do. Not scrubbing the toilet or cleaning up diaper blowouts (thank you Haley Mae) but most days, I love the busyness of our house and the chores that go with. I love picking out the girls clothes, talking with them while I make breakfast, fixing hair, hanging out in the driveway waiting for the bus, taking walks with the littles, one on one time with Haley while Harper's at school, grocery shopping, sneaking in some sewing while the littles nap, etc. The girls see all I do because I do it with them...the girls don't always see all Jason does for us. He goes to a job where he does feel underappreciated and undervalued because he wants to provide for them, pay for college and keep me at home forever. He gives up cable TV instead of cutting back on saving for college. When he takes over practicing speech with Sissy, he gives her undivided attention instead of trying to squeeze it in between homework and dinner and constant interruptions. When he review Math with Lily, he takes her in the office and gives her the time she needs so no one ends up frustrated or impatient. He reads books like "Barbie, a mermaid tale" and  over and over and over and the girls will never know how much he hates that book. It is a ridiculous book. And I rarely read it. But he does. He has the patience and desire to teach them to ride a two wheeler and to play Uno, to repeat the rules a million times until the girls get it. 

I thought on the day we got married, I couldn't possibly love him more. How wrong I was...10 years later, 4 kids, moves, the day to day that can sometimes feel like Groundhog day, I'm amazed at how my love for him has multiplied. He puts us first, our needs and our happiness. I'm so proud to have him as my husband. I hope the girls can look back at this blog/this post and know how much he strives to be the best father and husband he can be.

Snowy Hanukkah

I don't even know if I'm spelling Hanukkah right, that's how little I know about it....
On our way home from our "group" flu shot, Lily asks...
"Whats Hanukkah?"
Me, "Well...you know how we have Christmas? Well, Hanukkah is a different kind of holiday"
Lily, "Yeah but what is it?"
Me, "Ummm...you know how we know that Jesus is the son of God and that makes us Christians?"
Lily, "Yeah"
Me, "Well, Jewish people don't believe that Jesus was the son God, just that he was important so they don't celebrate Christmas. The celebrate Hanukkah instead"
Lily, "Well, does Hanukkah have snow?"
Me, "What?"
Lily, "Does Hanukkah have snow?"
Me, "Ummm...it's in the winter so sometimes it snows"
Lily, "That's good"

Thank goodness for Google...

Our Lily

If you ask me which child is the most "high maintenance", Lily is my girl who comes to mind. She's not defiant, doesn't carry much attitude, isn't mean spirited (most of the time) but she can be a challenge to "tame" at times. Likes to be the one who's talking, has trouble waiting, a little sassy and sometimes I have a tendency to focus on these instead of the wonderful gifts she has...I was reminded of a few this week.

Lily & I were on a grocery shopping date, she loves to hold the list and find stuff for me especially if I let her go down the aisle by herself...we were walking down the aisle and an elderly lady dropped her coupon and without even a prompt from me, Lily picks it up and very politely asks the lady, "Is this yours? I think you dropped your coupon" The lady thanked her and Lily says, "your welcome, have a great day" As ridiculous as it sounds, it got me a little choked up. We teach and teach and teach and model kindness, helping others, and every once in awhile I get to see a peak at the payoff.

Last night, after showers without being asked Lily combed out the little girls hair because she knows I have to battle Harper to get all the tangles out and as she says, "So you don't have to hear Harper whine"  She must have had a muzzle on Harper because I didn't even hear her yell once.

Such little things but I can't wait to see how this girl continues to grow....

Picture Round UP

 Harper @ preschool open house

 Lily working hard on homework

 Butterfly PB&J

 Swingset  canopy and flags I made, not perfect but way better than spending 300.00 on a new one!

 Last beach day on Labor Day

First day of preschool!

 Sure, she eats screws, smears lipgloss all over the carpet, colors on the walls and obviously just emptied a whole container of wipes in front of her BUT she also read Bible stories to her baby doll so who cares about the other stuff?

 I found this note Lily had wrote to me on her table at school for Open House

Dear Mommy, I bet your going to like my teacher. I will miss you alot. Your the best Mommy in the wourld. Love, Lily 

 Is this the face of a kid that cares she has a screw inside her? Nope. Waiting for the xray

 Blessed, our girls are so blessed to have him for a Daddy.

Haley & Jason playing roll the ball with your elbow, your chin, your thumb, your toes...it's pretty complicated..

The Rules

 

After the gum saga of a few days ago, Lily & Lacy have decided to lay down the law. They called Harper & Haley to a meeting in their room yesterday to talk about "Consecrences" which I think are like consequences. Here's what was discussed:

 

 

 I think those are the consequences for taking gum or other items from their room. I'm not sure if #2 & #4 mean that Haley & Harper will be pinched or scratched if they steal gum but seems pretty serious. I think #5 is scare 10x which they must have gotten from Jason who loves scaring people.

Here's whats so funny about this sign, besides the pretty hearts that Lily added to make it not look mean. I said, "Lily, I love the sign you made but Harper & Haley can't read"  Lily then gives me that awesome look that girls have that says "You are an idiot Mom" without saying a word and then replies:

"I know Mommy, that's why I wrote it so BIG"

The Screw Saga!

F

 

 

You know those shows or a news report about someone's kid swallowing a battery or a nail or a matchbox car? And you know how you think, "Gosh, don't people watch their kid?" and you judge just a little because your kid has never done anything like that? I mean, yeah, one shoved a fuzzy craft ball up their nose but they didn't swallow anything. Judge no more, Haley swallowed a screw, actually an eye screw to be specific. One Sunday, after lunch, girls were acting crazy, Jason's packing to go overseas, I'm upstairs putting away laundry, the stair basket gets knocked over & Haley finds two screws which looked tasty, puts them in her mouth. Lily starts yelling for me telling me Haley has screws in her mouth, I sternly tell her to "SPIT THEM OUT!", she did but only one. Lily stuck by the fact that Haley had two in her mouth and only one came out. Bless that child and her tattletale, nosy ways! We looked for the other screw, couldn't find it, Jason's getting ready to be picked up for the airport, I call the pediatrician, tell the other girls to pack some toys/snacks/books because I think I'll be sitting in the ER with my 4 kids while they extract a screw. Nope. Dr. said it's super common, should pass within a few days, call back if it hasn't. At that point, I really didn't think she had swallowed it but I still dug through her diapers all week.

 

 

Friday came, no screw. Jason was more insistent we go & get an xray. There was no radiologist to read the xray but they gave us a copy to keep. We got home, I gave it to Jason and I'm out mucking out the car and Jason yells, "Jenny, get in here" and my mouth fell open as I saw the screw in our little girls gut. We were much more worried than any Dr.! Dr. still said it should pass on its own, it was stuck in some stool. Tuesday xrays showed it hadn't moved much so we did Operation Clean Out for Haley. Giant doses of Miralax for 2 days + a liquid diet = one grossed out Mom. And still no screw! Friday's Xray showed it had moved & Dr. said another day or two. Great, that meant Jason would be there to dig through diapers! Of course not. Monday was the big day, said her bottom hurt a few times and then after one more diaper dig, there was the screw. No, I didn't save it.

 

 

Some of Haley's reaction to the screw:

Me, "Haley, we never ever put anything in our mouth, except food"

Haley, "And suckers!"

 

Jason, "Haley, it scares Mommy & Daddy when you do things like that"

Haley jumps and yells, "BOO! I scare you!"