Little Miss G is THREE

My dearest little G,

When I look back at your two year pics and then look at you now I am in awe of the changes that I see.  The baby/toddler chub is no more and in its place is a little preschool girl face that I adore and love.  You are most definitely THREE and you make sure to let us know that you are NOT a baby any more.  You are a big girl!!!  

You are learning to make your bed and can pretty much get dressed on your own.  You have a definite opinion each morning about what you would like to wear and you would love, love, love to rifle through Mama's make up drawer and sparkle up your face.  In fact, you were in heaven at Gramma's house this summer because you have your very own bag of real make up at her house.  Oh Grammas.... what would we do without them?  :)  In general you just love all things girlie and pretty.  They make your whole face light up.

At three you are testing your boundaries and at times you are so darn cute doing it that Mama has to work really hard not to smile or laugh.  How can you look at me with that sweet little smile while doing exactly what I just told you not to do?  You, my dear, are defiant in such sneaky and funny ways.  You protest much more, occasionally stomp your little feet, and put your hands on your hips to let us know that you are not pleased.  You dislike drinking your milk most of the time and are not a fan of bed time.  I frequently am told, "I not tired," but you typically (at least as of late) fall asleep pretty quickly.  

You are singing again, which thrills your Mama's heart.  As a baby you would sing all the time and Daddy and I were so sad when you stopped singing.  Little did we know that you weren't singing because you couldn't hear any more in one ear.  Now that you can....sing you do!!!  Your favorites as of late:  Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Happy Birthday (sung to yourself...of course :)).

You still love to mother any and all children or dolls.  The other day a friend came over and we walked him to the car.  Despite the fact that he is not THAT much smaller than you, you held his hand and "helped" him to the car.  You can be very caring (when you choose).

Expressive would be one of the first words that I would use to describe you, Little Miss G at THREE.  Your face can say it all with one look, but you are also talking our ears off these days.  It is music to our ears.  In the past year you have gone from barely saying any two word phrases to speaking in complete (and full) sentences.  Keep bringing on the words, baby girl!!!

Some of your favorites include the colors pink, blue, and purple, but not yellow (or so you informed me yesterday), the movie Tangled is still your first choice when the big sis is not around, and you are loving the llama llama, bear, and Princess Gigi books these days.  

Dance class is something that you CAN NOT wait to attend.  You have been dying to go for about a year and in a week or so, you will be starting your first class.  You were so excited to try on your first pair of ballet shoes.  You quickly showed us your best ballet poses.  I can't wait to see how you do in class!

The big girl bed (the lower bunk) and sharing a room with your sister (something you both requested) has been a HUGE hit.

You are trying to wink.  Cuteness at its peak!  Your entire face scrunches up.

Your letter/number awareness and interest has increased in the last few months, which means that you love to work on YOUR homework when M is working on hers.  No one wants to be left out of the fun!!!

Little Miss G, as you begin your fourth year, I hope you know just how much you are loved by your parents, but more than that by your Heavenly Father.  You are fascinated by princesses and want to be a queen when you grown up.  I love that!  :)  My desire though is that, as you grow, you will always remember that you ARE a child of the king.  You, my little one, ARE in fact a princess.  You are God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10) and were created with purpose.  You are loved by THE King of Kings.

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in YOU, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over YOU with singing."  Zephaniah 3:17

I love you bunches and bunches,
much more than you will ever know,

Your Mama

Kindergarten

My dearest M,

I have both dreaded and looked forward to this day with you. The past few days I have watched you swing between excitement and nervousness. I knew that you would do great and you did!!!  You bravely marched into your classroom.

I will never forget your desire to be independent, yet that look in your eye that said you were glad we were there with you.  You are so very ready for this new adventure.  I can not wait to watch you learn and grow this year. Your teacher seems like a perfect fit for you.  Her main goal is to make sure her students love learning.  This was music to my ears.  Your Mama and Daddy love you and couldn't be more proud!!!!

I love you bunches and bunches.

Your biggest cheerleader,

Mama

My Mountains

Around last Christmas I realized that I, an almost Colorado native (it's not my fault my dad was in seminary and I lived my first 6 months in Texas :)), had not been up in the mountains since my brother's wedding.  That wedding was FIVE years ago!!!  M was only 4 months old, which also meant that my poor children had basically never been up in the beautiful Colorado Rocky Mountains either.  Completely unacceptable!!!  So I began plotting and planning (read:  told Aaron and my Dad) how we would get to the mountains this summer.  True to form, my dad came up with a way to get us up into the mountains at the end of July.  Love him!!!!  What made the trip even more special is that ALL OF US (my parents, my brother & his family, and the girls, Aaron and I) were able to make it.  This ended up being an even bigger blessing because just days before our get away my brother and SIL made the difficult decision to move their family to another part of the country.  Good for the job/family, but boo for the distance!!!  So....it was such a gift from God for all of us to be together to relax and enjoy the cooler weather, each other's company, and the beautiful surroundings.

At the top of Berthoud Pass...a first for the girls!

M was very concerned with these stairs.  She informed us that we should walk up them carefully because they may be wobbly since they had holes in them.  Love her!

Our daily view...God's creation is awesome!

Hiking

M and Daddy with their bear sticks (apparently you use them to fight off the bears :))

Getting the younger two to smile at the same time and stand this close together is nearly impossible. :)

Going Fishin'

M showing off her casting skills and M & Papa looking unimpressed with the lack of fishy activity

If all else fails and the fish are not biting, then raid daddy's sunflower seed stash in his shorts pocket and practice chewing off the shells and spitting them out.  

Playing in the dirt

Celebrating little man's 3rd bday

Exploring the mountain town: 

 eating at fun places like this hot dog "shack"

enjoying wonderful company

(love that my SIL caught my parents holding hands)

Hopefully it won't be another five years before we venture into the mountains again.

The Farm

Aaron's family has a farm that has been in the family for 100 years.  It was started by his great, great, great, or something like that, grandfather, George Washington.  Not the famous one.  Obviously.  His grandpa was born in the barn there.  His dad spent many summers out on the farm.  Aaron remembers visiting as a kid and now my kids have had a chance to enjoy the same land.  It is kind of neat!  We had the privilege of going out to the farm last October, meeting the sweet family that runs it, and that is where my girls' first fishing experience took place (that well-stocked pond has ruined them for all other fishing trips).  This summer, while Aaron's dad was in town, we visited the farm twice.  Once with Aaron's brother and family and once for the 100 year commemorative get-together.  Each time the girls enjoyed the fresh air, playing in the dirt, the sunshine, the animals, the tree swing, the homemade ice cream, and the extra attention they receive from the fam.  

It really all boils down to...

What city kid doesn't enjoy escaping to the country for a little bit?!  :)

Here's to more memories on the family farm.  

Next time we visit though, this City Mama's vote is that we visit in the fall when it is much cooler.

(Yes, Dad, if you are reading this, I can hear you now.  

I am a wimp in the heat and not afraid to admit it!!)

Family

The end of June and beginning of July ushered in lots of family from all over the place.  Grammy, Aaron's mom, arrived from Colorado.  Aaron's brother & family arrived from California, and a week later Aaron's dad and his wife arrived from Florida.  It was a crazy couple of weeks, but it was nice to see everyone.

During these visits we swam, ate lots of yummy food, played some games after the kiddos went to bed (Who knew Jonathan would be so good at Scattergories and, just for the record, I got more points than Aaron on a music related question.  Have to gloat because it may never happen again.), visited the family farm that has been in the family for 100 years, checked out our new aquarium (a better use of our money than Legoland had been), attended a family BBQ, and fit in a photo shoot since we were all together.  

Little A was born in March so this was the first time we got to see him.  

He's a definite keeper!  Still not sure why he doesn't live closer. Boo!  ;)

Cousin S was not sure about his Uncle Aaron AT ALL.  It appears that he loves him a ton in this picture, but he was actually scared of Aaron most of the visit and using his stealthy strategy in the pic.  His strategy:  if Uncle Aaron picks me up, then I will just be a limp noodle, not look at him, and lay as still as possible.  Then maybe that scary ol' Uncle Aaron won't remember he's holding me.  We got many laughs out of this.  The last day Aaron made progress.  S finally let Aaron read him a story. 

And a few pics from the photo shoot...

The Entire Clan in our patriotic attire

Just the kids-

In the first pic M is crying because the baby messed his pants and she did not want to hold that stinky boy.  We (the mean parents) told her she had to so in the second pic she is giving us an attempted smile.  And we thought she would be the easiest one to get to cooperate in the pic.  Geez!

Finally, almost a real smile from M.

The brothers-

Yes, they picked out their matching outfits (hats and all) just to prove to all of us that they could go somewhere dressed exactly the same.  So cute!!  ;)

Look how much they love each other

Being more serious and then not so much.

The little brother always has to pick on the big brother.  Right?  It IS his job.  

Grammy with her boys

Cute pic of Grammy and M

We love you all!!!  Thanks for visiting.

"Old" Friends

I don't know about everyone else, but I have not kept in close contact with a lot of my high school or even college friends.  It is sad, but true!!  It isn't that I don't care about them because I truly do, but life has a way of taking us all in different directions, growing us, and forcing most of those friendships to become Facebook friends or Christmas card friends.  You keep up with them.  You love hearing from them.  You might occasionally check in with them or see them, but that is about it.  It just isn't possible to remain BFFs with everyone, BUT....there are those friendships that remain.  Those friendships have become "Life" friendships.  We were lucky to spend our June with a few of those friends.  

In early June we had the privilege of going camping with my HS friend Shawn and her family.  Last summer when we were moving, her family was also moving and for once we moved closer to each other.  It was a miracle.  We only live about 3.5 hours from each other, which allowed us to meet in the middle at a campground.  So fun!!!  Our kids are all about the same age and got along great.  

Watching them learn to fish was priceless.  The excitement wore off quickly when they realized how much standing around they would have to do, but M figured out how to cast out her line.  She was pretty proud of herself and she should be.  Tandon tried to teach Shawn how to cast out the line and let's just say she wasn't as good as M.  She blames the teacher, but I'm not so sure that was the problem.    Hehe!!

While we could have used a shower (the showers and bathroom situation were less than desirable) and it was pretty hot on Saturday, Shawn and I did very little cooking (thanks guys), the kiddos enjoyed every second of playing in the dirt, glow stick fun, sticky desserts, and we made lots of great memories.  My kids can't wait for round two!

In mid-June we were then blessed with a visit from some other HS friends.  Our friends Sarah and Adam arrived bringing with them their three girls for a total of 5 little girls running around our house.  Before they arrived both Sarah and I wondered how the girls would all get along.  Would we be pulling our hair out by the end of the week?  The answer to that question was NO.  They got along so well.  Seriously for the entire week, if we were home, they played peaceably in the basement.  The little ones would check in every so often, but other than a few minor problems, the visit was problem-free.  We had an amazing time reconnecting with their family.  We swam at our pool, visited the zoo (pretty sure we almost melted our dear friends in the heat and humidity...sorry guys!), went to the Legoland Discovery Center (which I will forever call Lameland...so not worth the money), Sarah and I went shopping, then the guys ever so nicely hung up all the stuff we'd bought for the walls, and overall just had a blast hanging out.  We will definitely have to do it again!

our Fab Five

playing freeze dance

the guys hanging up the metal "beast" 

that we bought for the wall--it looks great now!

at Lameland

We can't say thank you enough for our precious friendships.