Time Out for Women

On February 3rd and 4th I had the opportunity to attend my first Time Out for Women. I loved it. The speakers and performers were great and I got to spend a lot of time with both my mothers and my new friend and neighbor, Suzanne. We ate a lot of truffles. It was wonderful. The funny thing is, as nice as it was to have a break from my busy mom life and responsibilities, every time I saw a little baby I became so anxious to have and hold my own baby again. When we found out we were pregnant with Edison (about four months earlier than I was anticipating--surprise!) I remember feeling overwhelmed and nervous and NOT READY (Eloise was only nine months old). But those "ready" feelings are coming just in time.

So I'm not a fan of Super Bowl Sunday. David, of course, is a huge fan and likes to make a party out of it. I however, feel like I have to shield my kids from the horrible commercials and would rather be weeding than watching football for three or so hours. But I try to be supportive of this big game since he tries to be supportive of my dislike for regular football watching on Sundays. We invited his parents and our friends the Hanks to come watch. And then suddenly the supportive and understanding Janelle went away. And out came a grumpy an very ornery version of myself. It was pretty and I have such a hard time hiding my true feelings, so I think everyone sensed I was a grouch. But we survived the party and on Monday I decided to take a quick retreat down to my mother's with the girls.

After about an hour into the drive, it hit me that a 4 1/2 hour car ride with three small children was probably not the best idea for someone needed to "get away" and catch her breath.

So we got our hair cut at my mom's favorite salon in Cedar, stayed one night and drove home the next day.

At least we came home cuter (and happier). I'm so glad I married a patient man who knows me better than I sometimes know myself. Love coming home to him.

The End of January

Here's what we've been up to the last two weeks of January... Hazel started her doll that she got for Christmas. Her sewing machine actually works ($5 find at DI!) and we finished about 1/3 of the doll.

Hazel helped me make some bingo cards for our Joy School Valentine's Day party.
Love those little hands.

Sometimes we stare at her in awe because she is the most beautiful thing.
We know she'll be getting married before we know it.

We have some final shots of the girls' room! Woo hoo!




I love how the vanity turned out. It was a lot of work, but of course now that it's done, it's so worth it.

 Hazel has already started to decorate the top of her dresser.  
We painted some rocks we found to make prayer rocks.

And Eloise is working on her eating skills.

I love that her hair is glued to the bowl that is pasted on top of her head.



Ellie's latest thing is glasses and headbands or anything else she can wear on her head.

And we had a visit to the dentist! Both girls checked out great with no cavities. I couldn't be more proud and grateful for that.

They were pretty excited about their SWAG too.

I caught David dancing with our girls in the living room while I was making dinner.

And 'tis the season to start making Valentine's!

Charlotte Turns Three

Our little girl is three! We are a little nervous about starting round two with this challenging age, but we definitely have a few more tools on our belt since Hazel. And we had a great party this year. We did an owl party. What a HOOT!

 

 This little owl cake was fun to make and not too complicated luckily. I especially loved my nice supply of banana Runts that were left over after the party.

Cute cute girlies.

 Mini owl cupcakes.

We showed Charlotte's three year video while the kids arrived so they could polish up on their "Charlotte trivia" for our first game. It was a pop the balloon game with balloons that were taped up in the shape of a "C."

If they could answer a trivia question about Charlotte, they could come up and pop a balloon and get the treat inside.

Then we played a version of Marco Polo but we said, "Birthday Party." One child was blind-folded and started calling out "Birthday" and then everyone else had to say "Party." The blind-folded one had to try and find Charlotte by the sound of her voice and place a sticker as close to her forehead as possible. It was hilarious! We had to get Charlotte to yell "Party!" louder than everyone else so that the blind-folded child could find her. Then she would look at them with their out-stretched hand holding a sticker and back away with a look that said, "Don't you dare stick that on me!"

    
She eventually found places of refuge...
 


 We had races where the kids went from one end of the room to the other while holding balloons on their spoons. This ended up being a little harder than I thought...

  And the last game was like musical chairs, but when the music stopped, you had to lie down on this blanket. If any part of your body was hanging off the blanket, David came and tickled you. Lottie found this as a chance to snack a bit on some of her treats.


Our tradition is to give the birthday girl her own special mini cake with cupcakes for the guests. After Charlotte blew out her candles, we invited and then strongly urged her to dive in! (None of our girls have really dug in before...)She did a pretty good job and then decided she wanted a cupcake.

Our gift to Charlotte was a new helmet to help her with her goal to learn how to ride a bike!

Her sister is always willing to help open those presents!
  



Charlotte with our friend Echo from church.

All in all, it was a wonderful night. Love this little three year old. Wish she'd stop growing right now.