Kenna goes to Kindergarten!

We took the most excited kindergartner in the world to her class this morning! She barely slept a wink last night from nerves & excitement. Can't believe how fast this incredible kid is growing up!

This year she is starting Kindergarten at West End Elementary with her teacher Ms. O'Gorman. We ordered her brand new big kid back pack with monogram and everything and I can't believe how big she looked trying to carry it! (Poor thing, it is already heavy!)

We're praying this year would be full of excitement and growth for our super inquisitive, observant, and smart girl. She will surely keep her teachers on their toes and hopefully let her light shine for Jesus among her new friends!

Football men.

All my menfolk are watching t.v. together... I see lots of football games like this in my future. Thank God Kenna is my crafty girly girl! Someday we'll be drinking coffee and working on projects while the boys watch a game.

Doing today...

Dishwashing is a favorite new activity in this house... Mommy's not complaining!

Also doing today... potty training attempt version 2.0 (or is it 3.0?) We're on little man underwear #3 with numerous attempts & no successes so far. Momma's a little tired of of cleaning up pee pee.

  

Also, pretending to read books and just generally being way too grown up.

I'm still not sure how it's possible to go through this much milk. And generally we're not quite so beautifully color-coordinated.

Wordless Wednesday: Best Friends

Watching the train...

One very big boy loves watching the train go by in front of our house. When we started building out the attic and Matt said he wanted to build a bench seat at the window, this is exactly what we were picturing.

And don't worry little brother, with as fast as you are growing you'll be up there with big brother before you know it.

Valentine's in the Details

After all this snow, Valentine's was necessarily a low-key event this year. The Valentine's banquet at church got rescheduled and we've been snowed in for three days straight! Luckily, I picked up some goodies back when they first stocked up in stores (you know, back on New Year's Day haha).

We started off early with heart-shaped pancakes. It's easy to cut them with cookie cutters and they were a big hit! But of course, the big kids were too distracted by their baskets of goodies to eat. (Not Gunnar. He is never too distracted to eat.)

And coffee. Always coffee.

Finn brought his little plastic heart to Matt to help him open it and said, "What's it got? Love?" Finn set right to work eating candy for breakfast.

Kenna set right to work using her stickers to make me a beautiful "picture of a family" as she put it... including sharks, fish, sea stars... and a cow and two bunnies.

Then we sat for a bit and "made stickers" with Mommy's sticker-maker aka: label maker.

The goodie basket aftermath.... the books we gave them have memory verses and the words to "Father We Thank Thee," a song my Grannie has been singing to me since I was a little girl and that we sing at bedtime to the kids. I'd never seen any proof before that the song existed at all outside of Grannie's very creative imagination, so I was so excited to find it!

Once everything was left unattended, a sneaky little bandit capitalized on the opportunity to hijack some candy. And some pancakes.

Matt decided this year to make my valentine, and then proceeded to torture me by not giving me any hints whatsoever for almost two weeks. When he came out of our attic 'workroom' with this, I was so happy!

I love that he understands how much a handmade gift means to me. I think it's my love language. He has just the right amount of sentimentality- he carved our initials in a tree at our first house together, but we had to move away from the house. We haven't lived anywhere since then that was truly ours long-term, so he made a portable love carving for me!

The commercials would have you believe that Valentine's Day, and love entirely, is about candlelight dinners and jewelry and 'sexy chocolate,' whatever that is... and while those things are nice, after 10 years with my valentine I know that it's so much more. 

Love is a little girl who wants nothing as badly as she wants some undivided attention from her Mommy to make a craft or play Barbies. 

It's a little boy who almost never sits still but comes and holds my hand anytime it is by my side. 

It's another little boy who only has eyes for his Momma, whose little grin lights up when he sees me from across the room.

Love is a man who has loved me for 10 years even when I'm not lovely. Who knows my heart when the words come out all wrong. Who remembers the important things even if they aren't being done my way... who forgives... who compromises... who has promised to love me the rest of my life.

And, most importantly, love is a Father God who loved us first and shows us how and enables us to love when we'd rather be selfish, when things are hard, when the sickness and heartache and bitterness want to take over.

I'm so grateful for my precious three and the man who loves us.
Happy Valentine's Day!

Finn at almost 3

This sweet, sweet little boy. Where do I start describing him if not with those long, dark, lady-killing eyelashes? Those sweet cheeks that are losing their baby chubb because he's so much more of a wild, active little boy than toddler anymore.

Today I laid down with him in Mommy & Daddy's bed at rest time. He'd rather be in his own bed, but he shares a room with Gunnar who is already sleeping. Two little tears about not being in his bed & not having his paci and suddenly his little breaths have changed to soft sleeping ones- he falls asleep so fast, like his Daddy. When you play so hard, you sleep quickly.

He's getting bigger and can ask for what he wants. He can keep sister on her toes and can help himself a little more... putting on shoes, picking out his own snack or candy from the jar... big pouts and the cutest disappointment when I tell him no because he didn't eat his lunch. Little tiny arms crossed in defiance, he learned that from sister for sure. Stealing toys from her and running off with them, but also sitting and playing with her so nicely sometimes. He loves to play 'bad guys' (any super hero) and 'super mens' (spiderman). Loves to chase & be chased, loves to be tickled & loves to laugh.

He sleeps every night with his soccer ball pillow stacked on his truck pillow & his little head on top. Difficult to potty train so far and so busy, rarely sitting still unless he's completely engrossed in a show (also like his Daddy!). Loves to watch superwhy and mickey and buzz. Loves his new "woodee" toy he got for Christmas.

Comes straight to me for kisses when he's hurt, and can instantly be cheered up with pretend arm biting, ticklish nibbles.

Mischevious. Constant motion. SO much sweetness. Finnfinn, we love you so.

little lambie.

i grew up with a really talented mom in the sewing/generally crafty department. i mean REALLY talented.

so talented that i probably had a false sense that everybody's mom sewed their clothes & costumes from scratch & "just" brought their kids' ideas to life even though i had no idea how much work & expertise it would take to do so.

even though i have nowhere near her skill or repertoire of knowing how to do just about everything, i think i can understand how she felt now that i have my own daughter. so when my sweet girl found this little stuffed lamb at a yard sale for something like 25 cents, started carrying it around everywhere calling it "lambie," & asked me to make it a skirt, well... i had to oblige. (lambie is thanks to her current love of doc mcstuffins.)

all it took was a $3 roll of pink tulle that's been sitting in my craft stuff forever, a little scrap of elastic & some pink ribbon tied in a bow.

little lambie went to bed a yard sale toy & woke up a sweet pink character loved by a little girl, and mommy gets to be the hero. sounds pretty good to me!

Bouncy Seat

Look who is outgrowing his bouncy seat! Gunnar is one little growing dude, on the move and not a fan of laying back in anything- he doesn't want to miss it!

Growing Boy!

I had to laugh just now when I saw these two photos side by side on Matt's facebook page!

Gunnar around three weeks:

Gunnar around three months:

Not to mention these two lovelies:

They're such a visual confirmation of how quickly he's growing and what a big boy he is already. We're not surprised, mostly because he's such a constant eater, but we're so thankful that he's so healthy and loving his sweet little fatness! I gave him a bath the other night and realized that not only has he grown out of all his newborn clothes (pretty obvious since he was almost an 11 pound newborn) but even his 3-6 month stuff is getting small... so I put my not-yet 3 month old boy to bed in 6 month jammies. 

Truly, the hand-me-downs must be shrinking in the laundry. Why else would this outfit that fit Finn at six months fit Gunnar now at 3 months?

My babies are growing up way too fast. It's getting ridiculous.

Signs of a Small Town

Sort of along the lines of Wordless Wednesday, I thought it would be fun to post some of the cute and funny signs you inevitably see living in a small town. This was on a barber shop door during its regular business hours:

We also saw one at a funnel cake truck at an outdoor flea market with "lemmaide" for sale. We're having a good time enjoying our new town and all the fun adventures that come with it!

Sweet Siblings

I love seeing Kenna and Finn love on Gunnar so much! They absolutely love having a new baby brother and we're so happy how they have taken to him with almost no jealousy. Even though the demands of three can be overwhelming, I try to always stay thankful they are each so healthy!

Summer's Coming!

The weather is getting nicer so we've been making our favorite little yogurt pops. The kids love them and they're the perfect little portion size to eat (almost) before they melt. Summer is coming so fast!

wordless wednesday: new sleep method

Cranky Boy.

Cranky Boy. Crabby pickle. Hey you. You earn a lot of nicknames when you are the crankiest baby of your siblings as newborns (that, or we just forgot how much babies cry).

We even took Gunnar to the pediatrician to make sure his crying wasn't something more serious- but really, it's just normal newborn behavior. You cry when you're sleepy. You cry when you're not held. You cry when there's anything whatsoever in your diaper. You cry when you're hungry (every 2 hours). So I guess it just feels like you cry all day.

But to be fair, when he's not crying he's the absolute sweetest thing, bright eyed and alert! Watching his siblings, watching the world, loving to be outside. Snoring so softly.

Sweet milky sleep after nursing so long and a tiny hand holding mine. We love him so.

Snuggled up to Mommy and finally happy- I think this will be a baby-wearing summer! Thank God for the peanut shell!