Her cup runneth over...

Sometimes...

there is a long silence between my posts because I might post a favorite photo and I want to be able to see that for awhile when I pull up the blog. Sometimes it's because life at home with the kids is just tough and I don't feel much like posting anything, and sometimes it's because I can't decide which series of photos to share. There are so many that I love and never post! And then, sometimes (like this last time) it's because life has gotten a little busy.

I suppose all lives are busy really but we all have the same 24hrs. in a day right? And actually, really, we are usually not that busy. We stay home. A lot. And I love it. And lately, I've been loving it a lot because the weather has been soooo warm! We've made daily habits of these wagon rides; the girls love them. We've said hello to the scooters and Matthew relearned how to ride his bike. I wish I had a picture of him. He was wearing his winter hat, his red mittens, his blue sweatsuit and his snow boots. It was so fun to watch him ride. And if I had a working camera you'd see a few of those photos now. (More on that later)

Sara is eager to be outside to try to ride her tricycle so already this season of playing outside is that much easier than last season, and that alone is refreshing.

We've been playing a lot. Have you ever sat in your kids' room and just watched them play? It's fun isn't it? To see what they come up with? It wouldn't be uncommon for you to find me pajama clad with a cup of coffee sitting up in one of the girls' rooms watching them play. With each other or by themselves; both are entertaining. One of Ella Jane's newest lines is "Mom, I have good news!" and then she'll follow that up with something like, "I found Snow White's shoe", or "there is a tea party at 2:00pm." It's really quite fun to be a part of.

Another thing that has been taking up some of my time is serving the needs of young mom's. I'm really excited about how God is using the desires of my heart. When we lived in MD and Jim pastored a congregation, our kids were young and the needs were great. Much of that time I felt like a single mom because Jim was gone a lot either traveling or attending meetings for church. Our families lived in Seattle so the hopes of free childcare quickly went out the window. So did free time w/o the kids.

Certainly that is not to say that I didn't have wonderful friends who would care for our kids. I did. But I wouldn't use that resource very often b/c they all had kids of their own and who wanted two more young ones to watch? So it was usually when I had to run to the doctor or dentist that I would call upon one of my gals and have them care for my kids.

It was shortly before we moved that I had the brilliant idea for a ministry. I can still remember where I was (in the Subaru on the way to church at the intersection of 235 for you dear MD.ers) and I decided that when my kids were in school full time I would befriend a young mom in our church and watch her kids for her so she could have some time to herself. I certainly knew what it was like to struggle as a stay at home mom w/o the support of family. And I thought if there was a way I could help someone else get through some of those really tough days when the kids were still little, I'd do it.

Well, only one of my kids is in school full time but today I got to see part of that dream come to fruition. I have a friend who has 5 kids; the youngest of which is a newborn and today she needed help. A lot of help. So when Jim came home for lunch he graciously offered to linger while I ran out to help this young mom. And it was wonderful. I loved being able to be useful and I loved that God hadn't forgotten my desire to help young mom's in need.

So yes, it's been awhile since I posted. But our days have been full. And there are so many funny random things to say like, we've been skyping with my mom and my brother's family a lot, we still have a half gutted bathroom from when I flooded it back in OCTOBER. Ugh. Sara will yell "QUIET!" when she gets stressed out. She hit Ella Jane again tonight and for the first time Ella Jane really stood up for herself. I was so proud.  Of Ella Jane that is.  There are toys all over our bedroom floor b/c I had the brilliant idea that if the kids weren't going to pick up their rooms, they'd have to put it all in our room for a month (and not play with it, but be able to see it) and then return it to their rooms. I still think it's a brilliant idea but I'm starting to think a month is too long. I've been staring at purses, clothes, and Little People for weeks now. And if I had a working camera I'd show you!

Alas, my camera is not working. I haven't given up hope that it's just a battery issue. A new one has been ordered and I'll find out in a week or so if it's as simple as that. Wouldn't it be nice if it were? I'm a little bit sick about it. Not too yet, since I don't know for sure if I'll have to fork over a load of money to get it repaired and I'm quickly discovering repairs are not cheap. But still really bummed to be without a camera. I took the big kids snowshoeing this weekend and was just mentally snapping away at all the ones I would have taken. Oh so sweet to see a group of little kiddies in snow shoes!

Well if you're still here (this is my longest post yet and quite honestly when a blogger has posted a SUPER long post I just skim it) here are a few funny pictures of the girls last week.

This is what I love about this age. It's so random! I wanted them to sit in this chair because they were dressed the same which is rare. They don't really have matching clothes so I thought it'd be fun to catch them when they were "twins". But Ella Jane had to have Buzz Lightyear and Sara had to have that bracelet and those shoes. I love that Sara is this busy little girl and Ella Jane is just kickin' it with Buzz.

When I heard...

it was going to be in the 30's today I knew we had to get outside.

Ahhh, fresh air. Sun on our faces!

These two girls squeeled nearly the entire time I pulled them uphill in the wagon. It's great exercise for me so I really don't mind it. Plus, I loved hearing them giggle and carry on the way they did. I'm looking forward to more of these days.

Early game nights...

Jim plays ball (b-ball) three times a week. He plays in an Intramural League, a City League, and a Neighborhood League. That last one is not really a League per se, more so just the men of the neighborhood gathering 2x a week to play pickup games. The other two teams come complete with ref's and playoffs.

Most of Jim's games are around the 8:00pm hour which is too late for the rest of us to enjoy. Our kiddies are in dreamland by then. So when he came home last week and told me that two of his games were at 6:30pm I jumped at the chance to take our three and cheer him on. This team has quite the supporters too, lots of fun to be around. Young families with kids abound and last night was no different.

It happened to be their homecoming game so instead of just supporters there were supporters with faces painted, pom poms, lots of orange and black, kazoos and lots of cheering. The fact that a member of this team was killed in the earthquake in Haiti makes the cheering for these men that much more sweet.

And cheer we did.

And our men hung on to win.

By ONE point.

Victory was very sweet indeed.

And while the big boys played we did a little playing of our own. With a whole extra gym to run around in, it was just screaming our names!

Kids+bouncy balls+open empty gym=FUN! (that little red dot at the end is Matthew)

That's what I'm talkin' about...

A little scattered but shoveling just the same. Matthew is at the age now where he enjoys getting out there and doing some of the legwork. I do love shoveling our driveway most days. But it is nice to have a helper too!

She's the new background...

on our computer.

Love it.

A few things to say...

I've been offline for almost two days and what a nice break it has been! I love checking in with my friends out here in the blogging/FB world but it's also so refreshing to be away from it for a bit.

I've been running more lately and when I run, I think. I love to run and I love to let my mind wander. I come up with amazing stories when I run and sometimes wish there was an invention that could capture thoughts as you had them. Then I could come home and read my little stories to Jim or something. I don't know. I just think it'd be fun.

So I've been running more because it's good for my body and right now my body needs some exercise! I go with or without Sara depending on my mood or her nap schedule. I love to take her with me, bundling her up to the hilt and keeping her nice and warm. She usually drifts off within the first 10min. and it's so peaceful to know that I'm out getting the fresh air and exercise I so desperately need while she gets the rest (and fresh air) that she so desperately needs too.

We've started up at the library again for story time with the girls. We've been on a story time hiatus for about a year or so. In Maryland I had a lot of fun doing this with Matthew when he was younger. He enjoyed it so much too and it was such a fun part of our week. We quickly jumped into a routine here after we moved and it was preschool story time for Matthew that Ella Jane was able to sit in on as well. Now we're back to finger plays and nursery rhymes for Sara and I must say...it's A LOT of fun! Looking forward to that tomorrow.

We completed our first house project this weekend. Two upstairs light fixtures needed replacing so off to Menard's we went while our friends watched our kids. We've worked out a great schedule with another family of three (kids) like us to swap childcare for each other. What a blessing that is! It was nice to work on the house a little bit and was reminded of how much we did this kind of stuff in Maryland!!! Oh my. The house projects we did back then.

We watched the Superbowl today at our neighbor's house with a bunch of our other neighbors. Lots of fun to be social that way. And lots of fun to see the game on a huge theater screen in their basement.

And lastly, we have found a new church to go to! This is so exciting for me. After two years of hopping around I think we've found a place to call home. The kids enjoy it and Jim and I are refreshed at how it reminds us of how we first started out going to church together way back when, when we were first married and lived in Seattle. Having coffee with the pastor and his wife this last week was a lot of fun and made it feel that much more personal.

One more thing. This is a busy week for us. Which is funny b/c we rarely have a busy week. Really; we send Matthew off to school (now go to story time), come home to play, send Ella Jane to off to preschool, come home to nap/work/exercise/chill, pick up said kids and then move into dinner and bed. Really, we're home most of the time.

But this week.

This week is Kindergarten RoundUp!~ Oh dear, this means I have another school age child in my family! You mean to tell me that Ella Jane is old enough for Kindergarten? How? When? I can get that Matthew is going to be 7 (in the summer) but I can't get that Ella Jane is going to be 5 (in the summer). She's always been my little one. She was the youngest for the longest amount of time and ever since birth has been the smallest of our three. And now I'm registering her for Kindergarten? It makes these mornings home with her that much sweeter.

Even though she was super whiny tonight at bedtime and got scolded because of it. Sigh...

Tomorrow is a new day. A story time day!

So she needed a little help...

Sara.

The other day, she was playing dress up.

And she needed a little help.

See?

This particular dress gets caught on shoe straps easily but she still loves to wear it. She was much better after we got her untangled.