Becca & Preston's Visit

The big highlight this week was Becca and Preston's visit. We hadn't had a real visit with them since their wedding two years ago. It was so fun to see them, and see how happy and cute they are together. And it was fun to see them get to know my girls better and meet Lucy.

One of the fun things they did was set up a treasure hunt for Sami and Janie (& Lucy too but she isn't mobile enough to find the treasure so Sami and Janie found her treasure for her ☺). Becca made up clues, green ones for Sami and yellow ones for Janie, and then they helped them work through their clues to find the treasure. 

Sami and Janie thought this treasure hunt was so fun that they are still "playing" it, hiding notes and trying to find treasures. (And one of the clues was in the backpacks so I guess they thought they needed to wear their backpacks??)

Their treasure was a horse in a purse, as Janie calls it, and some paint coloring books. And a cute cow for Lucy, but I didn't take a picture of that. (I thought I was taking so many pictures, but as I downloaded them tonight I wished I had taken so many more! Next time...)

Janie's horse is named "Jessie," and Sami's has been a cast of characters from Strawberry Shortcake. 

 Becca is VERY talented musically. She played the piano and sang for us. She also showed Sami how to play a few basic songs on the piano. 

And Becca and Preston played a lot of Memory. I just sat with Lucy and watched. :)

And I have to say that my older girls were smitten with Preston, especially Janie. They hadn't been here for more than a few hours when Janie said "Preston, you can sit by me because I love you." She was always sitting by him or hugging him. It was so funny and I was relieved that Preston is such a great guy, otherwise I would have been very worried. :)  

It was a super fun visit. We are blessed to have them in our lives. The only bummer about their trip was that Jonathan was so sick. For most of their visit he was either working or falling asleep somewhere. But he felt better at the end of their visit and that was nice. Because Jonathan makes any party funner. And it was a party. We had cake (Preston had a birthday while he was here, the perfect excuse for chocolate cake!) and we laughed and had a great time. 

Thanks for spending your vacation with us Becca and Preston! 

Another Week...

Lucy is 6 months old tomorrow! I can't believe how time flies. 

In celebration of her 6 months of life on earth, we gave her a taste of peas for dinner. Up to this point, it's only been cereal. 

I love it when they can eat more food. And I love the faces babies make when tasting new food! 

This girl just cracks me up. She gives me the best faces for the camera. 

 When we first got her, I was worried that we wouldn't bond. Silly. I must have been tired. We have totally bonded and I love it! I have totally fallen in love with this one. It's amazing how much love you can have for each child.

This is a tired face. Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks?!!

And summer is almost over here. I can feel it. And I am so looking forward to winter!

My older girls have been a little stir crazy lately. We don't go outside except in the morning when it's cooler. So I try to find something for them to do all afternoon.
Janie loves Polly Pockets. These are some old school, origional Pollies, that I found at yard sales and some my mom gave them. 

Enjoy them while you can, Janie, because when Lucy starts crawling, these bad boys are going up in the closet. 

Her eyelashes are amazing. I wish she got them from me. 

Sami has been the most bored this summer. But she loves anything electronic. Any little computer or game is a favorite of hers. She asks me almost every day when we can go to the park. I was happy to tell her today that we were going to go soon. 

 And I did take Sami to the doctor this week about her penny. I couldn't find it. So we went to the doctor then waited an hour and a half for an x-ray. We were all ready to go home by the time it was done, but gratefully, there is no penny inside Sami. 

Rainy Days

We finally got some rain here. One day this week it rained all morning. The girls got their jackets on (it wasn't really cold, it just seemed right to have a jacket on), and  then they begged me to let them outside. 

When Janie saw these rain boots at a yard sale, she was in love. She wears them all the time, but when it was raining, it was a special treat to wear them in the actual rain. 

I love this picture of Janie jumping in the background.

And Lucy and I stayed inside and I took pictures, of course. She loves to stick out her tongue when she smiles and we think she's beyond adorable. 

In other news, Jonathan started the ICU again this month. So he is doing those awful 30 hour shifts. But the end is in sight and it won't last forever.

Sami swallowed a penny this past week. The girls were having quiet time and Sami started screaming. I ran into her room and she was so upset and told me she put a penny in her mouth and swallowed it on accident and now her tummy hurt.

So I called poison control and they told me to go through her poops until I find it and if I didn't find it in a week, we will have to get an xray. Oh joy. Still no penny. It's been three days. Of course we have lots of talks about why we don't stick things in our mouth.

And I am working on a few small projects that I will post later. It feels good to get some stuff done!

First Day...

Today was the first day of preschool for both Sami and Janie.

 Sami was excited to go back to Carole's preschool and Janie was beyond thrilled to get to go inside the preschool and stay inside, versus come back to the car with me, which she did all last year. I am so glad that Janie has had Sami to help her through a lot of transitions. Nursery was a breeze for Janie, because Sami was there. Same with preschool. I am not worried about Janie a bit because she has Sami there to help her. (Plus preschool is only 2 hours a day/2 days a week, so they are not gone a lot. That helps too.)

Sami loves to pose when she sees me with the camera. Cutie.

Janie had a little melt down before we left. About hair bows, of course. But we got it resolved and she loves her new princess back pack. She feels so grown up know. Sigh...

And today was the first day of tumbling too. Janie is a bit confused, she thinks it's ballet. But no matter, they get lots of exercise and an otter pop at the end. So no complaints here. I am thinking they will sleep good tonight. :)

And Lucy. I wanted to get her in on the camera action too. This picture reminds me to back up. :) And it gave me a good chuckle. In a few months she will be so used to the big black camera over my eye, she will probably start posing too! 

We sure love her. Before I know it, she will be off to preschool too. But luckily not too soon. :)

A Good Week

This has been a really good week, over all.

I finally have Lucy on a really good nap schedule. I love schedules. :) 

She has just really settled in here and has become our little sweetheart. We are so blessed to have her. 

And she likes her cereal now. She didn't at first. She would just cry or spit it out. But now she is happy in her  chair with food all over. She is going to love getting real (mashed) fruits and veggies next month!

And she loves to spit and blow bubbles. It's hilarious! She concentrates so hard. It just makes me laugh. 

And Sami and Janie are now bed-makers. They make their beds every morning and are so excited to show me their beds. I usually have to help Janie some, but Sami has it down. It's part of our morning routine now to make beds. I love it. (They wanted me to take a picture of them with their made-up beds, so while it's not the best picture, it represents a proud moment.)

And Jonathan comes home Tuesday from Omaha! Yay! Even though I have missed him (and his help, he is a great help here at home), I feel so blessed. It wasn't as bad as I thought, thanks to help from my mom, good friends, and Skype. But we are excited to be together again.

My Mom Was Here

Jonathan has had to work in Omaha, Nebraska,this month. He is trying to get into the allergy fellowship there so this past spring he set up the rotation. By the time we got Lucy, it was too late to back out. 

So my mom came to visit and help out. 

It was great. She is great. I miss her. I miss talking to her all day long. I miss her help. She "saved my bacon," as Jonathan says. 

The girls played restaurant. Everything with Grandma is fun.

Mom left on Friday morning and Jonathan came home Friday night, just for the weekend. Just having him for a day and a half wasn't long enough. When I picked him up at the airport, I had a migraine and by the time we were home I nauseous and almost crying from the pain. Jonathan stopped by the store and got some meds for me that took away my headache, thankfully. I was so sad because that was not how I wanted to be when he came home for such a short time.

He did lots of work for me while he was here. I have nine days until Jonathan is done with his rotation in Omaha. And I am counting down. :) 

A Family of Five

I realized about a week ago that we didn't have any pictures of us as a family of five. 

So when my mom came, that was my first priority and she became the photographer. These are just a few and I will try to get more on here soon. ♥