My "Straight A" Birthday Girl

She is amazing....Clarabella got straight A's on her report card and had a great birthday. She is GREAT! She received stilts from grandma and grandpa. Yes, she asked for them and I have never known a kid to actually ask for stilts. She hopped up on them and walked right away. Wow! What fun!

Ahhhh...Omi visits...and we celebrate!

Growing up I never lived near my grandma for a long period of time. We would visit her for long vacations and we even lived with her for a few months once in between duty stations, but I'm talking about seeing her daily for years on end. My daughter has that opportunity and I'm so thankful for it. We live very close to my parents and aunt so my kids get the chance to see them all, every single day if they would like. On the other hand, she lives 6 hours away from her Omi; my husband's mother. That can make things tough sometimes, but it also allows for fun and exciting visits when they do happen. Omi comes to see us several times a year and when she does everything else stops and Clarabella devotes her time and attention to Omi. This weekend Omi came to see us and we celebrated Clarabella's birthday. What a fabulous time we had. I hope the memory is one my Bella holds onto for ever and ever.

A boy and his Grandpa

I love the way my little boy idolizes his grandpa; my dad. He runs up to him for hugs, he asks about him daily if we don't get a chance to visit, and he wants to talk to him about everything. Jak thinks that "Bapa" hangs the moon and Grandpa thinks the same about Jak. What a pair! I look forward to all of the things Jak will learn from my dad. All the little useless bits of information my dad thinks don't matter, but really do. I hope that Jak has my dad's natural talent for fixing and building. I hope that Jak realizes that his tree that is in the front yard of his grandparent's house was begun from an acorn that came from a tree Bapa had. I hope they both realize how much they are loved...by one another.

Oh what fun we have!

Let me set the stage! We're slowly getting ready to start the day. I'm finally out of the sick bed I have been in for the past five days, and my kids are happily playing while my husband and I get the laundry ready. Both of my children then pick up their hampers and put them over their heads...then play a strange version of "bumper cars." I love their imaginations and I love that they can find fun in anything.

Being sick is the pits; for the MOM!

So we know that it hurts a bunch when our kids are sick, but it's just darn inconvenient when it happens to the momma....and who gets sick over SPRING BREAK? Me...that's who. However, it has given me the opportunity to stay at home and get a lot of things organized along with playing games with Clarabella. She and I love playing Qwirkle Cubes and just plain Qwirkle. So there's my "looking on the bright-side" moment for the day.

This is what happens when there's no nap!

We have a really difficult time on the weekends with nap time. I'm so bad about schedules and keeping track, so the look on my little ones face is my fault...poor little guy.

Oh thank heaven for Spring Break!

It is officially SPRING BREAK and we are so thankful for that. Clarabella and I are officially on vacation. So knowing that it is a Friday, Clarabella of course asked to spend the night at her grandparents house. That means I was left to feed the fish. No it's not a tough job and to be perfectly honest, I like it. I never thought fish had personality but it appears that they just might. HAPPY SPRING BREAK!

Devotions with Daddy

Being the wife of a pastor it's important to us to maintain our devotional life and we don't always do that great of a job as a couple. However, we try to do better with our children. Clarabella's working on the books of the Bible so each night she finds the passages that go along with her devotion. Jak is working on listening and that's all he can handle right now. I'm happy that we have that time as a family and that we work to find the time. We are all able to calm down and listen to each other without TV or computers. It may only last for 10 to 15 minutes, but it's ours, and it's spent doing something we need to do. I find it reassuring that Clarabella is usually the one to remind us that we need to do it. That means it's something important to her. Whew...we've done something right!

Being sick is the pits!!

As a teacher it is quite often more trouble to be home sick than it is to just go in to work; sick. However, when it comes to my kids, I'll deal with the trouble and the work it takes to prepare. Jak surprised us all this morning with rosy cheeks and complaining that his tummy was hurting. Come to find out, his tummy hurt because of all the coughing he had been doing. So mommy mode kicks in and I assess the situation. Hot head? Check. Hurt tummy? Check. Droopy eyes? Check. And a clingy boy who wants to lay down and hold onto his mommy. Yep, he's sick. I run up to school with sick boy in-tow to infect everyone else; I mean, prepare for the substitute that may be coming. Jak makes his rounds, and mommy gets set up.

Eventually we found out that it is STREP. Wooo Hooo! Anyone wanna place bets on how long it will take his sister to get sick? Aw c'mon...join in the fun.

Ahhh...music lessons!

I love music...in almost every form. There is a time and season for every type I think. So Clarabella has expressed and interest in music and I want to make sure she has every opportunity to explore it. When I asked Clara what she was interested in playing she said; in a very matter-of-fact way; the piano, then the harp, then the violin. Then I asked her to narrow it down to one. Which one could be first? She chose the violin. So now we take violin lessons and she's doing pretty well. It doesn't even sound like a dying cat when she plays. She has a pretty decent sound. I'll let you all know when she performs at Carnegie Hall. :)

Tea Parties are for boys...too!

So we got home today and both of the kiddos went to Clarabellla's room to see the new fish. Then things got really quiet. So Great-Aunt Carol went back to check and ended up having a tea party with the kids. Yep; boys can have tea-parties too. Especially if there are cheese crackers!

Reading is cool!

I love the fact that Clarabella loves to read. She'll read to me, her brother, her grandparents, her great-aunt, the dog, her fish...she loves to read. I hope that is a trait she'll always have. Some of my best memories have been when I'm curled up somewhere reading. I remember the summer my family and I moved to Germany. It was so cold and we were living in this adorable little apartment house in Rodalben. My mom and I would curl up on the couch; her on one end and I on the other. We shared a blanket and bundled up together. She was reading the John Jakes series and I was reading Judy Blume or the Archie Comics. When we finished the books we would head over to the post to go to the Stars and Stripes book shop. I LOVED that place. We spent that whole summer on the couch; READING!

Here fishy, fishy!

So we finally purchased the aquarium. Remember I said I thought we would be purchasing a 5 gallon tank. Yeah well we get there and Grandma and Grandpa begin looking at something a bit bigger....a lot bigger. So we have a 10 gallon tank....that is GORGEOUS. There is a fish in there but he's not real happy right now. I asked Clara what she was going to name her fish and she said, "Michelle." "Well," I replied, "It's a male fish." (The only reason I know that is because it's a Betta fish.) "Oh...well then I'll name him Mark," she says. Yep...not bubbles, or blue, or even Jonah; Mark. I LOVE IT!! She is my heart and my life. I'm so proud of her and the progress she has made.

Morning Routines!

So I think it's important to establish some goals for yourself. It just seems that I establish odd ones, but odd goals are still something you can attain. So the new goal....for everyone to leave the house in the morning with a smile on their face. This morning...it worked! I don't count though. I'm NOT a morning person so it's painful for me to smile. I'm working on it though...oh look...another goal!

Bed Time!!!

We are THRILLED!!! Clarabella is sleeping in her room and is sleeping well. We have struggled with her sleeping location for over 5 years. She has been sleeping on her toddler mattress on the floor of our bedroom for that whole time and I was struggling with the guilt over her poor sleep. She wasn't sleeping well and I knew she was exhausted so I did what all good parents do; I bribed her. She has been wanting a fish tank so I told her that if she can sleep in her room for a full week we will go purchase a starter tank. (I'm thinking a 5 gallon.) So tomorrow we shop! Yay us! We'll post a picture of the tank as soon as we can.

And so we begin...

I wanted to begin this blog for my children and for those that love them. I was watching my youngest child just last week and I noticed that he can already see over the back of the couch. Yikes! Where has the time gone? When did he get that tall? Why is he looking at me like that? What has he done and where has he done it?

So I thought about a way that I could chronicle their growth and their daily life, and this seems to be it. My hope is that I will be able to take a picture-a-day in order to keep track of their lives. I'm looking forward to seeing the differences in the pictures and how their personalities shine through. For those that know us, and love us...ENJOY!