The Garden-Part 1

We finally stopped talking about making a garden and did it! I am so excited!!! So are the girls. We bought some as grown plants, but 4 veggies are starting as seeds-talk about a cool home school lesson!


Here is David and the big girls planting seeds. We have lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, and
green beans.

David and I worked on cleaning out the planter-we previously had flowers in there. Two were bush size...took some serious man-power for David to get them out. The big girls and I did the rest of the cleaning-twigs, rocks, tilling (yeah, that was a workout!), and roots.
Here is what we started with.

Mayah being helpful....and messy. Chiara was a super helper as always.

Our end result. We did such a good job David thought I added the top soil! Awesome!

Where is the repeat button???

I am not usually one to 'crave' the weekends. Not much is different on the weekends for me....sometimes I sleep in on Saturdays until the kids get up, but that is not usually past 7 AM and Sunday I get up around 5:30 AM for church which is when I get up during the week. I try not to do a lot of 'chores' on Sundays because I do value a day of rest. Well, Sunday was so great (minus a little cut finger) I wish I had a repeat button!
We started off the day with David and I being ready well before the girls were up! I even had coffee poured and hair curled! We were not even rushing and somehow managed to get out of the house 20 minutes earlier than normal. What?! I did style both big girls hair and everyone had a yummy breakfast....how did we do it???
Church was AWESOME! Yes, I realize I could probably say every Sunday, but the message was hard core and put me in check. Yes, awesome is when God moves me not just a fluffy, happy, feel good message. The girls all enjoyed their classes too. Great.
We headed off to home, with a quick stop at Sam's Club. Cheese stick snacks for everyone and I got to run in the store by myself.
Lunch was a bit hectic, but that is mostly due to the fact that I was trying to do too much. I cut my finger while slicing some onions. If you ask my sweet husband he will tell you I am prone to this.....I cannot deny it. After lunch Leah went down for a nap and the four of us put on Food Network and watched Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Chiara laid with David, and Mayah with me. Cuddle time!!! We all salivated over the dishes and relaxed. I could hear laundry and a kitchen calling my name, but chose to ignore....my family is so much more important than a clean house.
David napped a bit and I colored with Mayah. I like that she chooses which picture I should color. I did wash a few dishes, prep dinner, and fold some laundry with the help of two good dryer emptiers! Leah woke up and we all headed out to Lowes to buy seeds and plants for our first garden. I love that the girls are as excited as we are about it!! We bought so many plants, top soil, and other things. David even remembered to buy a new pull down shade for the big girls room.....we are going to have to have that up for summer time!
David gave me the night off and ordered pizza for dinner. So, dinner is prepped for Monday night now! Awesome. Family dinner time is something we all look forward to. When David travels the girls always express how much they miss family dinner time. We laughed watching Leah try and eat her huge piece of pizza (NY style). Lots of laughs!
Saucy Leah and Mayah took a bath while Chiara and I completed a Strawberry Shortcake puzzle. Getting special time with each of my girls is such a blessing. Mayah and David played some Wii games while Leah watched and then when it was Chiara's turn to play Mayah helped me put away laundry. We read a Care Bear book in bed and then rose and thorn, thank you God prayers, and bed. Ahhhhh....
David and I completed the evening by playing some Wii tennis and putting together kid puzzles to see if we had all the pieces.
What a great day......FULL OF FAMILY TIME!!!!! My kind of Sunday!

Repeat.....

One, Two, Three, FOUR????

Leah has had this front bottom tooth coming in for a couple weeks now. All my girls seem to take a while to get teeth in. Not complaining, just dislike the painful teething process. I was putting some Orajel on the tooth area a couple days ago (only thing that seems to help when the pain is real bad) and rubbed my finger toward the back of her gum.....is that a molar????!!!! What?! No wonder she has been a bit cranky. I started feeling all around and discovered ALL FOUR of her first molars have broken through the gum! We had no idea.

Yesterday Miss Leah said "no-no" when offered a raw carrot. What?! Her vocabulary is growing more and more each week. Where is my little baby????

And then last night...oh-me-oh-my! This girl just cracks me up! She was running around upstairs having a personal pantie party!!! I am all for early potty training, but I think I will have to wait until she knows where to put them on! Hilarious!!!! The Lord gives us these precious little girls knowing I could use a GREAT BIG LAUGH at the end of a busy day. Even as I am typing this she is putting on these silly glasses which make her eyes look weird! I just love it.

Puppets and Park Play

I took the girls up to Phoenix yesterday to see Hotel Saguaro at the Great Arizona Puppet Theater and to play at the park across the street. We also enjoyed a lovely picnic and the company of Nanny and cousins Cameron and Colby. The show itself was cute and educational.
Leah was not really into the whole sitting thing, but was well behaved. I am also so pleased when my kids act appropriately when we are out. They are far from "prefect", but when you look around at kids today it seems someone has forgotten to teach them how to behave in public settings. I think the key for me is giving them outlets to let loose and be 'wild' because kids need that. The girls knew they would get some park time after the show yesterday and exercising self control for 45 minutes was the way to get that park time.

My girls love a picnic. We rarely see ants in the desert so other than some overly-friendly pigeons the picnic was great! I think PB & J just tastes better on a blanket eaten outside! Leah likes her lunch with a side of grass! Geesh!

A Few House Keeping Items.....

I do not know what got into me today, but I started wiping down the inside of the door of our dishwasher and the next thing I know I am pulling 8 year old gunk out....it was NASTY! I ran the sanitize wash and then scrubbed more and ran the rinse cycle. It was lovely. Part of me hopes that it will clean things better, but I know better than that. It's just something about really cleaning something that makes me feel the house is cleaner!
I must have been on a roll today because I started "cleaning out" the folders in my email. Ahhhh, a good cleanse. There is something lovely about hitting delete on things you are not sure why you ever saved it in the first place. Clean.
I also sprayed the girls tub today around 1pm and I did not wash it until about 6pm...soap scum and dirt ring just disappears! I use that scrubbing bubbles and leave it on as long as I can.....no work, no fuss! Love it!!!
Ok, clean house....tired Mama!

Taco Pizza Part II, Bed Time Experiment, and Birthday Fun! What a weekend!!!

Well, it has been a fairly full weekend! Friday night we had my parents and my 2 nephews over for dinner. Tacos! My girls requested the taco pizza again and I was GEEKED when my Dad ate 3 servings!!! He really liked it...mom gushed too, but like me only ate one piece....we are not going to lose any weight eating 3!!! This time I made personal pizzas for the girls. They liked that, however they were just so excited that Cameron and Colby were here they did not scarf down like normal.

Friday night we had to mean what we said and put Mayah in the "baby" room. Suck. We have been dealing with night time issues since she was 21 months old and jumped out of her crib. She seems to be able to live on little sleep. Anyway, my brilliant idea was telling her that if she kept getting out of her bed that we were going to move her into the baby room (Leah's room-Mayah's old room that she seems to have no memory of sleeping in) and Leah into the big girl room with Chiara. Chiara thought this would be fun until she learned that the turtle night light would be going with Mayah. We have learned, especially with parenting Mayah, if we say it we better mean it. Well, she did well one out of 4 nights last week. So, Friday she went in to the baby room. She was not too thrilled. She did however go right to bed and stayed there all night. On the other side of the wall though all I could hear was Leah saying "hi, hi, hi" to Chiara. Eventually, so all would sleep well, I pulled Chiara out of her room and into ours on the floor with the other toddler mattress and her sleeping bag. Everyone slept....UNTIL 8AM!! That is unheard of in my house!!!! WOW! Bonus, Mayah seemed to learn her lesson (in fact we let her go back in the big girl room tonight and she was telling us she was going to stay in her bed).
David and I had plans to drop all 3 girls off with my mom in the morning so we could go shooting (David's birthday), but I had a monster headache and I knew I would be no fun at the shooting range or anywhere else for that matter. So, he took the big girls for their sleepover at my parents (with their cousins), went shooting and sweetly went to Lifetime Fitness to book Chiara's birthday party. Leah and I cleaned, did laundry, and things like that.
The babysitter came around 5pm and David and I were out about 35 minutes later. This was the first time Leah was put down by a sitter-other than my mom. Leah is so easy and we are blessed with some great babysitters. David and I went to see Avatar for his birthday date. Great movie!
Sunday.....I think we could have slept in LATE, but off to church the 3 of us went. We picked up the girls at my parents and then all of us-including the Great Grandparents-went to the Aquarium to eat lunch. Nothing like chowing down on some yummy food while watching sharks swim around. Unique and fun. My mom's idea!!! We all headed back to my parents for cake, ice cream, and presents. David and Colby both celebrated birthdays this weekend. I hope we made it special for both of them.
I was happy to be home and even happier for bedtime to arrive for my 3 princesses. We have a busy week ahead of us.....

All Together

My brother flew his boys out here for the week while he and Kate go on a cruise to celebrate their anniversary. What a great idea! My girls were so excited to see their cousins and even though I thought they would be shy with Andy....they were NOT! They were so wiped out from yesterday they ALL crashed in the car on the way home. The boys are coming for dinner tonight (with my parents) and then we have plans this week. What fun!!!!