The view from here

I stand by this window many, many times during the day.  My mom recently made me some new curtains for my kitchen/dining room so now my window looks a bit more "spiffy".  That poinsettia has been hanging on for a long time...though after seeing this picture I decided it looked pretty wilted and it's now in the trash.  I also am loving my Valentines.

Valentine Party

This post is a little late!  The Friday before V-day we had a little party with some other friends who are homeschooled.  The kids all had much fun.

Does someone look a little guilty??  I caught her on the counter about to pounce on the candy hearts.  This happened long before the party was to start.

Boys against girls for this game.  The girls won by a landslide.

This was as close to a group shot as I got.  I forgot to take one.

The end of CA

It's about time that I get to the end of my pictures of my time in California!!  

Sweet little family.  This is Steve's youngest brother, Shawn and his fam.  Love these guys!!

Steve's mom's parents were also there to visit over the same time I was.  They stayed for a few weeks to get away from the Iowa cold.  It was really fun to have some time with them.  Here is a 4 generation picture.

The February birthday girls

Ok, these next few photos are a bit silly.  During one of my photo shoots with Ashley, we decided it was my turn to be in front of the camera.  Here I am attempting a jump shot.  I like to think that I was getting a little more air than this and that she was off on her timing.  I am getting old.  Who knows.

Me trying to show Ash how to "fake laugh" for a photo.  I was trying to get her to do it for a pic.  We both agreed I can pull it off pretty well.  Serious raw talent.

A few of my Alana outtakes

Who's responsible for this child?

The kids were out playing in the snow this afternoon (fully dressed in snow clothes, mind you).  I look out and this is how I see Greta.

Good-bye, Daddy

This morning we had to say good-bye to Steve.  He'll be gone all week with the other pastors for a class and a planning retreat.  He had them all lined up on the bar to give them one last talk, say good-bye, give them a piece of gum, and then pray with them.  Glad I captured this sweet moment.

I can be tempted in many ways while he is gone.  I used to really battle feeling sorry for myself.  Since that got me nowhere...fast...it has been helpful for me to see his times away as a unique opportunity to spend time with the kids at a different pace.  We did a little bit of school today but I spent the afternoon/evening doing things that I knew would be fun for them.  The girls have been begging me to dig out their spring/summer bins and go through them.  That's what we did, and then Greta and Aaron woke up and thought they needed to do it too.  Aaron was thrilled to see new flip flops and baseball t's.  Greta was in her glory as well.
Tonight for supper I let them each make their own pizza.  I think they tasted better to them that way.  After supper we watched American's Funniest Videos and now everyone is quiet and in bed.  It was fun to have a good first day with them.

Another Day at the Bar

Gullible

Aaron recently got a new dart gun.  Some is a little too trusting of him.  Look what I found in the kitchen yesterday.  She's "stickin' it up".

I Caved

Yesterday was SO nice around here.  The temp was close to 70 and there was some serious spring fever going around.  We were outside for awhile and I had to keep telling the kids to put their shoes back on.  The girls were begging me to go play in the "stream" that is still flowing down our road.  My first, second, and third response was no.  Claudia got me when she said, "But mom, the snow is almost gone and then there will be no water to play in."  Ok, whatever, get all wet and cold.

Here is "the stream".  It was about 10 inches deep and quite cold.

Gotta love the white, chicken legs.

Yes, nobody washes this poor kid's face around here.

This was about as wet as Greta got.

Aaron was unusually brave.  Up until now he has not been a huge fan of the water, especially if it is cold.  He was drenched from head to toe.

This was my first attempt at a group shot.  "Greta, look at Mommy.  Aaron, stop making faces.  Claudia, get your hair out of your face."  This was about as good as it got.

Little Boy Enjoying the Melting

Melting

The temps have warmed up a bit and all our snow is starting to melt.  Though you can't really tell from this picture, we had 2 streams coming down our road yesterday.  The sun looked stunning last evening as it was setting across all the water.

Old Times

Today is Steve's day off and we did some purging in what for years has been an office/school room/junk room.  We are turning it into Greta's new bedroom.  It was fun to dig through some old photos.  I found what has always been my favorite picture of us.  We were living in Iowa at the time and took a trip to South Dakota for our one year anniversary.  Wow, it seems like forever ago!!  I love how dated our shoes are: Tevas for him and Birkenstocks for me.

Steve, I am so grateful for you.  I look back with fondness in those early years of our life together.  But I can honestly say that I love you more today than I did then.  You are kind, patient, very hard working, loving, and always looking out for our best.  I am a better woman b/c of you.  Happy Valentine's Day.  I LOVE YOU!!

Learning

The Marathon

One of the hardest parts of being a mom is the whole sleep department.  There is nothing crazier than those first few weeks where your body is recovering from birth, your baby's schedule is all over the place, and your hormones seem to be your worst enemy.  The older the baby gets, the more "annoying" their sleep problems get.  You hear of the other mom whose baby was sleeping through the night at 5 weeks.  You compare, you long for a whole night...on and on it goes.  You feel like you're running a marathon but never quite know when you will cross the finish line.  The reward is just one full night of sleep.

Though my first 3 kids were not horrendous sleepers, one especially was pretty good (Aaron), none of them were superb and all had their own issues.  But by around a year they were ironed out and slept well.  Enter Miss Greta, child #4.  She has by far been my worst sleeper and at 2 1/2 still has not let me cross that "sleep finish line".  One of our big issues has been her pacifier.  I knew that the time was coming when we needed to get rid of it.  But I was dreading it b/c of how attached she is to it and how much it helps calm her at night if she is fussing.  I brought it up to Steve over breakfast on Monday, and Mr. Decisive decided that it was time.  He had her throw her pacifiers in the garbage and off they went to Kmart for her to buy a baby as her reward.  I was in dread mode.  I just knew that it was going to be at least a week of much, much, pacifier drama.

I am happy to report that Greta has handled this transition much better than either one of us thought she would.  The first 3 nights she slept the best that she had in years.  Really?  How is that possible??  The last 2 nights she has been back to fussing a number of times, but I am holding out hope that the end is near.

The most dramatic moment of it all was the first day that I put her down for her nap.  She just cried and cried but she never said she wanted her paci, just lots of tears.  I was mean enough to run and grab my camera.

She kept crying that she wanted Daddy.  Unfortunately, he was getting our taxes done but we gave him a call to see if he could comfort her.  All she did was cry and cry.  Now that I am looking at these pics, there are no tears.  Maybe she was just faking it and it was just wailing??