On my own

Joe has been gone since Sunday afternoon, on a Staff Retreat, and we, especially me, miss him terribly. Every time he is away I appreciate him that much more. So I guess it's good that he goes away every so often. The girls have been pretty good, just an ocassional tantrum or act of defiance, but all in all they do pretty good. I did however have a melt-down last night, I am going to confess to all of you. One of my biggest frustrations, if not the biggest, is when we can't locate the girls drinking cups. This is a daily, if not more than once a day occurance. It drives me CRAZY!!! I feel like I am constantly on the hunt for a missing cup and we end up finding them in the strangest places. The girls are absolutely no help either, they just follow me around, which sometimes just makes the situation worse. Well last night I told them that their milk cups needed to stay in the kitchen and they were doing pretty good. Next thing I know I see Noelle heading into Joleigh's room, with her cup in hand. I attempted to tell her it had to stay in the kitchen, and she responded with, "No, Mama." I let her go, because I was too tired to get up and take it from her. My mistake. Well about 15 minutes later, it was time to start our bed time routine, and guess what Noelle's milk cup is NOWHERE to be found. I looked everywhere. I proceeded to ask Noelle for some help, and she resonded with, " I dunno Mama." Ugh. After looking around every room in the house, I headed to my room, shut the door and screamed at the top of my lungs and then came out and began putting the girls to bed. We all went to bed never finding the milk cup. I dreamt about where it might be and how disgusting it would be when I found it. After the girls got up this morning I filled a new milk cup for Noelle and began to get ready and as I walked into my bedroom, I caught a glimpse of what appears to be a blue cup under my bed. There it was, under my bed. Now why didn't I think to look there??? Anyway, that's enough of my ranting, but seriously it drives me crazy and I'm not sure how to elimate this problem.



The girls are in bed and I am beginning to relax and counting down until I my honey gets home tomorrow afternoon. I feel so lucky to have him and am so grateful for the amazing husband and father he is. I don't know what I would do without him and everything he does for our family! I can't wait until he walks in the door tomorrow and the girls run and tackle him. He really is a celebrity in our house. Here are some pics from our few days without Daddy that we sent to him while he was gone.

A Great Morning

Today is Thursday and that means it's Joleigh 2nd day of preschool. We are still getting used to this new schedule, but everyone is adjusting great. The day started with everyone snuggling in bed for a few minutes, then I went to make breakfast. Joe has been working a TON in the past month, especially this last week, so he decided to take the morning off, yeah! We got the girls and ourselves ready and headed off to school. Joleigh was more than excited to go back.

After we dropped Joleigh was off, Joe and I decided to have some fun with Noelle, our only child for the morning. We went to Barnes Noble, where a great time awaited. We had blast playing with the trains, reading books, playing with stuffed animals, sitting in the chairs, being silly on the stage and pretending to climb the tree. We took a ton of pictures and showered Noelle with love and lots of attention. It was such a great time! I love getting to spend time with my husband and now we know how important it is for us to spend some quality one-on-one time with each child. We look forward to planning little dates with our little girls in the future.

After our date we headed back to pick up Joleigh at school and got to see her in action. She was painting a beautiful picture and also painted her shirt, oh well. We grabbed some lunch as a family and concluded our great morning with naptime. I should probably go take advantage of that myself!


Ready for school.

Our little artist.

My Noelle

Yesterday was a special day, not only for Joleigh, but for me and Noelle. It was the first time in a long time, that I was able to spend one-on-one time with my youngest daughter. We had a great time, just the two of us. We visited with my Granny and then went to the mall to play and have a snack. I wasn't sure how she would do on her own, but she seemed to relish in the time she had alone with me.

Let me tell you a little bit about my Noelle. She is funny, and she will tell you that herself. She loves to make you laugh, whether by dressing up, tickling you, making funny faces or just doing or saying the cutest things. She is so energetic, always on the go, even if she doesn't know where she is going. She is affectionate and gives the best hugs, or squeezes, as we call them. And she gives the sweetest little kisses, at the exact time you need them. She is her own person. She knows what she wants and what she doesn't. She is my baby girl and even though she wants to be a big girl like her sister, she will snuggle with me and let hold her as long as I need to. She is a gift from God and I am so thankful for her sweet spirit. She is already so beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. I love her so much!
Getting the opportunity to spend more time with her alone with her is going to be such a blessing.

First Day of School

So today was the big day! After open house on Friday we have all been anticipating what today was going to be like. On Friday afternoon, the girls and I met my mom and we went back to school shopping to get new clothes for Joleigh. It was so much fun and it made me remember back to when I was a kid and how much I looked forward to all of the back to school traditions. Then on Saturday all we had left was to pick our first day of school outfit out and get a new backpack with Daddy. We got the outfit, but had a little bit of difficulty finding a small backpack for our small little girl. We eventually found the perfect packback. Joleigh LOVED it, even telling strangers at lunch that she got a "beautiful new backpack." The entire experience was complete when yesterday afternoon, Joleigh had on her new school shoes, her new backpack and was carrying her new lunch box and said, "Mommy, this is a dream come true!" I think she has been watching Cinderella a lot lately, but it was too cute!

So Tuesday morning is here. Joleigh wakes up and is ready to go. I made panckes for breakfast, while Joe gave the girls a bath. They both scarfed down their pancakes and then Joleigh couldn't wait to get dressed. We put on your new dress and curled her hair. She looked beautiful and so grown-up. After taking a ridiculous amount of pictures we were off. She couldn't wait!

We got to preschool and walked her to the gate. Joe showed her where to put her backpack, and then she was ready to go and play. We convinced her to give us a hug and kiss and she said "good-bye." I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I was secretly hoping she was going to miss me, just alittle bit.

Noelle and I picked her up 2 1/2 hours later and she had the best time, so much so that she didn't want to leave. I had to convince her that the teachers didn't stay there all the time and we had to go too. She made an adorable craft project and would only tell me how much fun she had with all her friends. I am so glad that she is getting to have this experience, even if it means she is growing up!

Open House

Today was Joleigh's Open House for her new preschool. She will start next week, going Tuesdays and Thursday to Happy Apple Preschool, a small school that was recommended by many friends from CCV. There are also a lot of Joleigh's friends in her class, so it will be nice to have some familiar faces, as well as meet some new friends. Up until today, Joleigh hasn't really understood what we were talking about when we told her she was going to start school. But today her eyes were opened and she can not wait! She had a great time exploring the outside play area. She was so distracted and over simulated that we couldn't get her to stop and take a picture, as you can tell. We got to meet her teachers, see her classroom and she even got a snack. It was a great introduction for her and I look forward to the school year, even though I am not looking forward to next Tuesday and dropping off my baby. I will definately keep you posted on that eventful day.

Bye, Bye Jeri

Today we said "good-bye" to Jeri. Jeri is Joe's little sister and she is going to be a sophmore at Manhattan Christian College. She was home for the summer and has to head back first thing in the morning. It is always hard to say good-bye to her. She has been in my life for over 11 years, she was 8 years old when Joe and I started dating. I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. During the first year Joe and I dated we did a long distance relationship while I was here and he was at MCC in Kansas. During that time I got to spend quality time with Jeri. But the hardest thing to watch was when Joe had to go back to school, he and Jeri had these extremely emotional good-byes and to this day it remains the same. It has been such a priveledge to be such a major part of Jeri's life and to watch her grow into the amazing woman she is today. She is one of the funniest, articulate, smart, sincere and beautiful people I know and this summer she showed how hard-working she can be. Jeri also has faith in God that inspires me. She has not had an easy childhood, but she has always remained unwavering in her trust in God and the hope that He gives her. She is very good at always letting me know how she feels about me either through words or writing, but I only hope she knows how much she means to me, how proud I am of her and how very much I love her! So saying good-bye today was hard, but I only look forward to the next time we talk and get to see each other and to see the amazing future that God has in store for her! Here are some pictures of our summer with her.

Sisters

I have just been watching Joleigh and Noelle a lot lately. I think just realizing that it won't just be the two of them for much longer, so I am trying to capture as many memories as I can, before life as we know it changes again, for the better. But I have been so pleasantly amazed at how well they get along and how much they truly love eachother and just love being together. When Noelle was little Joe and I kind of brainwashed Joleigh by telling her over and over again that Noelle is her best friend, so whenever anyone would ask, "Joleigh, who is your best friend?" Without fail her response was, "Joleigh and Noelle." But over time I truly believe that they have become best friends. They always have to know where the other one is and they are always coming up with little games to play together. It makes me so happy, as a mother, to see her daughters so close. The funniest thing is when they are on the couch watching TV or a movie, they have to sit on the same cushion together without any prompting from us. How cute is that!?! And they LOVE to hug, mainly so they can squeeze eachother so hard that they fall over and giggle and then proceed to do it all over again. Don't get me wrong, we do have our moments when they need their space, but over all they just have the best time together. I feel very blessed!!!

Our Days at Home

I have been so tired lately and all I have wanted to do most days is stay home and relax. That is fine for me, but some days the girls need a little entertaining. So here are some of the things we've been up to.

Playing with playdough

Joleigh's favorite color is purple

Noelle didn't even try to eat any.

Joleigh practicing her name

We finally unpacked and the girls got creative with the suitcases. This lasted a very long time.

The girls have been superheros.

Baby Update

So I still can't believe it!!! I am officially 11 weeks. We went for our doctor's appointment this morning at 7:30. My mom came over to watch the girls, since our last appointment lasted 2 hours. Well, we were one of the first ones there so they got us right in. Dr. McKernan, my OB, came in and surprised us by giving us an ultrasound. They weren't busy so he said we could either listen to the heartbeat or actually see it. It was awesome! The baby has grown so much in just a month. He or she was moving everywhere and it seemed like they were looking at us. It's crazy! This pregancy has been so different from the first two. With the girls I was so sick and throwing up all the time. This time around I gave felt great, just extremely tired and absolutely no energy. But only one more week and I will be done with the 1st trimester. It is going by pretty fast, even though I am in no hurry. We will be happy either way, it will just be exciting to meet our new addition, boy or girl. I'll keep you posted.

Our Trip To California

So this past weekend, Joe and I, along with some others in his department and a few of their wives went to California to check out some churches. We left the girls with my parents (who by the way are AMAZING) and my cousin, Angel. I'll talk more about that later. I was really excited to get away with my husband, with no kids, for a few days and get to know the people he works with and spends so much time with. Joe travels so much, so it was really nice to get a chance to go with him. We left Saturday morning and headed to the Orange County/LA area. While we were there we visited 3 churches: Rock Harbor, The Dream Center and Mosaic. The purpose of the trip to was to visit these churches, observe, and then see what our impressions were. It was nice to see how these churches are reaching their congregations in such different ways and some of the awesome ways they are serving their communities. There were some great worship experiences and some challenging speakers. All of the services made me appreciate all the hard work that goes into planning and programming a service and gave me a new appreciation for what Joe and the rest of the programming department does!

Besides visiting the churches, we had a little down time. We went out to eat a lot and stayed at a really nice hotel. On Sunday, in between services, we spent the day in Hollywood. It was a lot of fun walking around and sight seeing, but it was a lot warmer than I thought it was going to be, so we mainly relaxed in the shade.

I got to see a couple celebrities, I'm not sure how impressed you will be, but it was fun anyway. At The Dream Center, the producer Rodney Jergens was in the audience, as well as Sinbad. Pretty cool, I know. I guess Patricia Heaton, from Everybody Loves Raymond was there, but I didn't get to see her. Her son was part of the worship team, I thought that was neat. And when we were at Starbucks in Hollywood, I saw the actor who plays, David Cho, on The Young and the Restless. I am a fan of the show, I know its bad, but it was fun to see him, even though his character was just killed off.

All in all it was a great trip. I got spend some quality time with my husband, get to know some new people, hang out with some old friends, get out of town for a few days, relax and enjoy some great worship services. The only negative was being away from my girls. I missed them so much and called them at least twice a day. But they did great and had so much fun with their grandma and grandpa. And had a blast playing with Angel's kids! I am so thankful that I didn't have to worry about them, knowing they were is such great care!


We brought the girls a surprise and this is them enjoying it!

My Joleigh

I have been a little nostalgic the past couple of days, especially when it comes to my oldest daughter Joleigh. There has been a lot going on in our life and I am coming to realize just how fast time goes by. Joleigh was only 9 months old when I became pregnant with Noelle and as a result the one on one time I had with her went by very quickly. I feel so fortunate that I have been able to stay home with her, so I have been able to watch her amazing transformation from my little baby to my big girl. She will be starting preschool in a couple weeks, and I think that is why I have been so reflective. As far back as I can remember in her short little life, Joleigh has brought so much joy to our life. She was such a good and happy baby, always smiling. It amazes me that she already shows in so many ways how kind she is to others and the compassion she feels is so evident. She goes out of her way to make people happy and smile, its almost what she lives for. I have to be careful if I am sad or crying around her, because she immediately responds and wants to know why or what she can do to make me feel better. I have tears in my eyes right now just thinking about my sweet little girl and the wonderful times we have shared and all the time that has already gone by. These words don't even do justice to describe how truly wonderful Joleigh is and what a blessing she is to my life and our family. My prayer for her is that she never lose the innocence that she has and that nothing ever take away the kind spirit that God has given to her. I have been writing down little things she has said to me in the past couple days that make me smile and show her true character and gentletness. So I will end this with

Sweet Words from Joleigh:
*"You're my best friend and my family."
*"Don't worry, God will protect me, even in the dark."
*Random "I love you Mommy." throughout the day
*Let's go snuggle."
*I love your beautiful haircut!" (She thinks when you do your hair, that you get a new haircut every time.)
*"Thank you for dinner, Mama, it is delicious."
*"I'm glad I'm a girl, cause you're a girl, Mommy."