September, So Far

We ended August by heading on a road trip. Hurricane Irene was making its way towards the coast and heading right for us, per forecasts on Thursday prior. So, we decided to leave and make a mini vacation out of it. The girls, baby boy, my mom (Bean), and I decided to visit family in WV. Mapquest said 6-8 hours. Mapquest lies. We left after a scheduled doc visit for Little Man. Acting funny, runny nose...mommy gut said something was up. No fever, no other real symptoms except for crying when put down for naps and bed. Not unusual for babies, but unusual for him. Diagnosis? Double ear infection. So...on the road, fleeing the hurricane with a 4 year old, 2.5 year old, and 7 month old. With an ear infection. For 6-8 hours. Did I mention Mapquest lies? On a traffic-free, minimal stop trip....9 hours. Our trip? 12. Yes. 12. Was it worth it? Oh, yes. Every second of it.

Aunt Jackie made cookies with the girls. As you can see, Atalie was not excited at all. :)

Shopping in town, checking out the wagon. :) Let's just say Charis cried for 4 miles down the road when we left. Mouth wide open, hands clenched, purple-faced wailing. Not pretty.

September also brought birthday parties...one in particular stood out. A cowgirl themed party with live animals piqued CareBear's interest. In a major way. Since Little Man's room is cowboy themed, she's found lots of goodies to play with. Those "boots" on her feet would be tan socks of Brian's, and her western style dress was one of mine from childhood.






September is also grape pickin' season!!! We tried our hand at picking Muscadines and Scuppernongs. I know now that I will be skipping it next year. And probably every year for the rest of my life. Somehow I feel like I should have known that they have the consistency of phlegm. I'll leave it at that.

Little Bean...skipping the picking, mostly in it for the rolling and running.





Little Man...cute as ever, enjoyed just being with the family and watching the girls giggle, run, and taste.

CareBear also started PreK this month! She adores it. I, however, am missing her tremendously during this time. I love having some one on one w/ Attie, though. CareBear made friends immediately! Lessons are already being learned, specifically lessons like "Not Everyone Will Want to Be Your Friend." So hard. She handled it better than I did, though. :)

Little Miss Personality has been living it up with all the mommy time! She's my little Sous Chef and I let her make the Sauce for the lasagna we made. She L.O.V.E.D. it.

A picture Charis drew. Herself, Atalie (flower head), and me holding Joshua. Yes, me, with the booty bump. I was upset at first, but that's when I thought it was a drawing of my belly. :) Nope...side view, complete with rump-bump.

And finally, Uncle Jason moved to New York. He came and ate dinner with us before he left. Thankfully he's good at catching random children that violently heave themselves through the air. Glad he was ready for that...

Dragging Charis along for the ride...she was not happy to see him go. Uncle Jason is, hands down, one of her favorites. Perhaps it's because he tells her things like he only came with 3 drops of silly in him, and now they are all gone. :) Or maybe because he'll wear a child sized cowboy hat. We already miss him!!

Tea Time!

Happy Birthday Bear! I found a steal of a deal on Living Social and bought Tea for Two at a local Tea Room. Charis got all fancy and we headed out for our date. The date was complete with a room full of older ladies eager to watch Bear twirl in her dress. She ordered Apple Cinnamon tea in her very own Birthday Cake teapot. And she drank the entire pot, complete with 2 sugar cubes per cup. I didn't figure out until the end that she was scooping sugar right off the bottom. Ha! This is her asking if more food is coming....she was so hungry! (or perhaps it was the novelty)

She ate her entire bowl of soup, 3 scones, a bunch of egg salad, chicken salad, cucumber, and cheese sandwiches, and a bunch of desserts.

My girls...

Not a serious face from this one... :)

6 months! Cute man is already 6 months!! Weighing in at almost 18 pounds, already in 9 month clothing. Too cute for words, hands down the happiest baby ever.

His first 2 teeth popped up at 4 months, and he's got one on top and three more coming in on that top row.

His sisters are seriously in love with this boy. Care Bear is amazing with him, drawing pictures for him constantly, talking with him and "teaching" him his letters. A-Bean reads to him and calls him her "baby butter." I'm so thankful for sweet sisters that don't mind getting drooled on. He's managed to get a handful of their hand wound around his chubby little fingers more times than I can count and neither one has cried, fussed, or complained. Last time he came away with a few of Care Bear's hairs and she just laughed.

Love having this sweet baby around....love it...

There's none like her...

Rough 'n' tumble, her voice often residing at a decibel level that will cause ringing of the ears, tough, adorer of babies, full steam ahead, a mind of her own (okay, stubborn), generous beyond her years, brutally honest, and a regular comedian...

She makes me laugh hysterically, sigh deeply, pray regularly, and well, clean constantly. She will literally give you her last cookie, or even every cookie. She copies what she sees (which serves as a very humbling mirror of my own behavior) and despite that, she has demonstrated grace more times than I can count.

Just tonight, after getting a stool, reaching my drink on the countertop, spilling it everywhere and then confessing before being discovered, I had one of those mommy moments. You know, the ones when your child does something so incredibly funny while you are disciplining them and you have a hard time stifling the laughter? I actually had to hide my face and pretend to cough.

As I sternly reminded her that she is NOT allowed to get things off the counter without permission, she gave me a very serious, yet confused look. So I asked, "Are you allowed to get things off the counter without asking?" She quickly replied, "No. I asked Major."

Somehow I believe she did ask the 112 pound doberman for permission to taste my drink. I guess he said yes.

Jesus, I love you!

Oh the things your children can teach you, and how He can minister through them. Bear was told by her Sunday school teacher recently that they can tell Jesus they love him when they wake and when they go to sleep.

So a few nights ago, I hear her shouting LOUDLY "Jesus, I love you! Jeee-SUS! I. LOVE. YOU!" I peeked in at her and she said "Don't worry mommy. We are just praising Jesus." My heart stirred and I felt a lump rise in my throat. As I closed the door, fighting back tears, I heard her tell Bean, "Worship with me. You do it like this. I LOVE YOU JESUS! And you can say it loud, or quiet. He just likes it any way you say it."

I spent the next moments aching to relearn, to go back, to be child-like in my worship. Complete abandon. Free. 100% involved. No shame. No embarrassment. No holding back.

My girls taught me something that night, and He gently called to me.

I am so guilty of letting the business of life get to me. Groceries, cooking, teaching, cleaning, washing, budgeting, clipping coupons, paying bills, meeting needs for the family. They reminded me about Him, about His character, and His affection for me. He doesn't care how clean my house is (or rather, how dirty), how smart my kids are, how much money is in the bank (or lack of), or any of the things that I let bog me down daily. He wants me to worship, loud or quiet, and to spend time in his arms. To forget about the day and just let His love, conviction, change, forgiveness, and acceptance wash over me.

He just likes it, any way I say it.

Oh, the time...

It's been so long...

Instead of dwelling on how long it's been since I've updated, I'll just start updating. :) Our little man was born in January, sharing a birthday with our little Bean. Seriously, what are the odds? And somewhere along the way, he went from this:

to this:

As babies go, they can't get much happier. :) Just had his 4 month appt today... 75% for weight, 90% for height. As soon as the nurse walked in to give shots, Bear yelled "Oh Jesus, please don't let it hurt and him cry. Amen!" Then as soon as he fussed, she burst into tears. He was over it in about 5 seconds. It took much longer to help get her settled. Such a tender heart.

When we were getting into the car to leave she added, "Mommy, when you love someone you hurt when they hurt. And you pray for them. I don't like it when brother cries." *melt!*



Bear had a speech eval done today and passed with no trouble. She was having some difficulty with the hard c/k sound and completely unable to make the g sound. After the eval (which she loved) and a free lesson for me on teaching these sounds, we are already making progress. :) I was super pleased with the testing and the test administrators. They did a full work-up (academics, language, and motor) which was kind of fun! Yay! I can't believe she's already 4... Next week the ballet and tap begins!


Bean is talking up a storm, and by storm I mean torrential downpours, tornadoes, and gale-force winds. It seems she has two modes: on and off. Mostly on. She literally talks her sister to sleep each night. And when she's not talking, she's singing.



I finally realized that long stretches of quiet at our house may be over for a while, but I sure do love the chaotic symphony of sisters giggling, someone singing loud enough to rattle your eardrums, and a baby cooing, sometimes all in unison.