Blessings

Sometimes it feels like when it rains it seems to pour, but Chris always reminds me that even though I may think we have problems, we really don't.
It could always be worse, and I have to remember to count my blessings and know that everything will work out.
Many of you know that our computer died again and for good this time around.
Thus, the blog has not been updated in a while.
At first I pretty much freaked out because I thought once again all my pictures were gone forever. You would think I would have learned from the first time it died not to procrastinate and that I would have backed up my pictures.
This time I did back up our older pictures, thanks to Ben giving me an external hard drive, but alas I did not put all of the pictures since Elsa's birth on there.
I thought I had time.
I think I said a gazillion prayers that somehow we could get the pictures off the computer, and the girls said prayers for me too.
Thanks to our former home teachers Chris was able to go to their house, use their monitor to remove the pictures, and put them on the hard drive.
They let us do it the last time our computer died too.
And thanks to one of our current home teachers we have a loaner laptop at the moment, which is why I am able to update the blog.
I am feeling very blessed at the moment.
So, let me just quickly run down what has been going on around here other than the death of our laptop.
It has been in the triple digits around here, and we all can't wait until the weather starts cooling down.
We have been hibernating in our air conditioned house since Monday.
Last Friday Chris and I went on a date thanks to the generosity of Rachelle, Marissa and Jamie Hunt. The Hunts are always so sweet and generous to come and give of their time to watch our little ones. It was so nice to have a date with Chris. I felt like a newly married person, holding his hand for two and a half hours straight. It was awesome!

Chris had his birthday and is now two years away from the big 4-0.
Rhaevyn made him chocolate cupcakes that she put pieces of peppermint patties in.
She bought the candy herself.
Then she topped them with chocolate icing.
They were scrumptious.

Last week was nice and cool. The kids played with their friend/next door neighbor boy, Sam. They like to play in his shaded front yard and then check in every 15 minutes. At one point Myles came to check in and had purple lips. I thought perhaps he had asked for food at our neighbors house because when I asked why he had purple lips he replied that he had had strawberries and oatmeal.
Sam's older sister had made huckleberry cobbler and had given the kids some.

Saturday I took the kids to a birthday part at Lewisville Park up the road. Myles enjoyed the cupcake he was given. He also enjoyed rolling in the dirt. I had to just let my germaphobic tendencies go and enjoy watching him literally run, slide and then proceed to roll in the dirt. When we got home I could see that his whole entire scalp was nothing but dirt.
Oh how I love my little man!

I took these just cause I think they are cute.
Poor Myles has been banned from kissing Elsa the past couple of days.
He started running a temperature of 102 Monday night, and it finally broke yesterday. Although, I am wondering if it started up again last night because at about three this morning he came in my room totally drenched in sweat. I know it was pretty cool in the house, and he only slept with a sheet over him, so I don't think he was sweating because of the house temperature. Plus, yesterday morning I noticed two little blisters on his lower lip. They are totally gone today.
He is not the same happy camper when he doesn't get to kiss and hug his baby Elsa.

Finally, here are some recent pictures of our little one. I could just eat her up!

Lastly, the girls got their school books already and are thrilled. They had so much fun unpacking the boxes and seeing what they have this year. They have already started working in some of their books. Rhaevyn's incentive for starting early is to finish early next year.

Visitors From Another City

We had two wonderful people come to visit us.
As always, we wish our time together could have been longer, but we sure enjoyed the time we got to spend with them.
Here are some pictures of Ben and Stacey with the kidlets.

Elsa fell asleep while Auntie Stacey was rocking her.

Myles was doing his Darth Vader impression for Ben.

The girls had a blast playing games on
Uncle Ben's and Auntie Stacey's phones.
And we learned that perfume is made with whale vomit.
We are always learning something new from Uncle Ben.

Chris and Ben worked together to make dessert...rice krispie treats.
Myles went to pick up one with a napkin, but ended up getting several.

Ben and Stacey are such naturals with Elsa.
They are going to be great parents someday :)

This one just makes my heart melt.

Elsa is all smiles with Auntie Stacey.

Picture with all the kids.

Saying "good-bye."

Other news:

the girls should be getting their school books this week.
This is earlier than predicted.

When I read them the UPS email they were squealing with delight.
I guess I am glad.

I don't ever remember being that excited for school to start up again.
I was just always excited about the new school supplies I was getting.

Lots to Say

Be Prepared for many pictures and videos on this blog.
Because there was so much to pack into this post, there is no order to it.

The girls went to a two day Achievement Day Camp last week on Thursday and Friday.
There were about seven different Achievement Day groups there.
I dropped them off at 9:30 in the morning and then picked them up at 3 (Thursday) and 4 (Friday). They had a blast. It was good for me and them, as I had to let go a bit.
Aeva was very glad that she had changed her mind and decided to go.
Originally she said no way because the bathrooms had spiders and spiderwebs.
They learned about first aid, made little first aid kits, played games, went on a hike, made crafts and their group even had its own cheer.

They each got a hat and have various "doodles" on it for things they did.

Friday they made these plant boxes and painted rocks.
This is Rhaevyn's.

This is Aeva's.

Friday evening we (the girls and I) took Myles to "Chuckee Cheeses" as he call it.

Chris hung out at Barnes and Nobles until we were done. We figured that would be better for Elsa's ears. Myles was absolutely thrilled. This is all he talked about for a month before his birthday. I went online and printed out a coupon for 20 free tokens so we could go.

We started off with ski ball, but I realized this was a bit dangerous because he was throwing the balls and they were landing three lanes over. So, I finished up that game for him, and we took him to the bowling game.

You can't really tell in this picture, but he is clapping his hands,
jumping up and down and saying "yesssss" after rolling the ball.

He was pretty good with the Whack-a-Mole game.

Every time I thought we were done, out of tokens and ready to leave Rhaevyn would show up with a handful of tokens she had found on the floor. Both she and Aeva found several handfuls of tickets as well. Moral of story, we really don't need to pay for tokens when Rhaevyn has such a knack for finding them.
Once we were finally done at Chuckee Cheese we headed over to Target so Myles could spend his gift card he got from Oma and Opa. He has been having fun with the water gun he picked out there. He also got water color paints, along with a new pair of shoes for him to grow into.

Elsa is now rolling over. I can hardly believe it.
I practiced a bit with her on Thursday, getting her on her side and letting her hold onto my finger and pull herself the rest of the way.
Friday she rolled over twice for me and once for Chris all by herself.
Saturday I put her on her back and then went into the kitchen to check dinner. When I peeked back around to check on her this is how I found her.

I was finally able to get proof on video that she really is rolling over.

While the girls were at camp it was awfully quiet at times around the house, especially with my two little ones napping at the same time.

Thursday we celebrated Myles' birthday. He picked out a chocolate cream pie.
Thanks to Oma and Opa he had some great decorations.
He now sleeps with these cars.....all of them. He barricades them underneath his stuffed animals.

Grandma and Grandpa Lindsay sent Myles
a present to do with his favorite Disney Character.

None other than Lightning McQueen.

Happy birthday Myles!

I was trying to get proof of Elsa rolling over, but it didn't happen in this video. However, she kept smiling and I thought I would just share her wonderful smile with all of you.

So far this week the kids have been busy playing outside in the morning/early afternoon and then coming in later when it is hot. Myles chased me around the driveway yesterday with his squirt gun, and we both got a good laugh at my soaked pants and shirt.While I was attempting to fold laundry he kept knocking on the door and ringing the doorbell because he wanted to tell me he loved me and give me a hug and kiss. It took me quite a while to get the laundry done, but it was sure worth it. I picked up some movies from the library, so we could watch those when it gets too hot in the afternoon. Today we watched the Masterpiece Theater version of Pollyanna.
Okay, enough of my rambling.

A week of threes.....

I am now the blessed proprietor of a three month old and a three year old. Elsa turned three months on Tuesday, and I can't believe my little guy is turning three today. I shouldn't say little because he really is getting to be quite big. And he isn't an infant, baby or even a toddler anymore.
I said to Chris and the girls, "Doesn't it seem like we just brought him home from the hospital?" I know I say this about each of them, but it really doesn't seem possible for three years to have come and gone already.

Myles at 3 years old.

Elsa at 3 months.

Here is a little video of Myles over the past three years. You can imagine that I got a bit teary watching it myself. Just think what I'll be like when he turns 18/19, and I think back over those years to when he was little.

PS: Don't forget to scroll down to my music box and press the pause button so you can hear the music on the video.

Summer Days

The kids (not baby) have been getting their heliotherapy on this week. I've been sending them outside to play while it is cool. They have been loving it. They went swimming at the neighbor's twice this week. Myles is getting a farmer's tan. He has been enjoying catching bugs like rolly-pollies and grasshoppers.

Myles with his new haircut.

We made another trip to the library this last week.
I won a big kiss from Rhaevyn because I found a Liberty's Kids video to checkout.
We also checked out, and watched, a fabulous documentary on the fight against Polio. This was great for Rhaevyn because she was studying Jonas Salk at the end of history this year. I can just imagine how parents must have felt when the vaccine was discovered and came out. I remember my mother telling me that she remembered getting it in a sugar cube when she was little.
What a devastating disease. It makes me thankful for the knowledge that doctors and scientists have been blessed with to eradicate diseases such as Polio. I would never want to have to watch any one of my child's bodies be ravaged by something so terrible.

Elsa is holding her head up so good. She almost completely rolled over by herself last night. She is growing so fast. I already made her 4 month appointment for her well child check next month. It will be here before I know it.

Elsa in her patriotic outfit.

Myles trying to get Elsa to sleep.

Aeva doesn't carry around Elsa too much, and you can probably guess why.

She is like half of Aeva's size.

The girls being silly.
I told them if they kept doing that
their eyes would permanently stay that way.

I have been busy going through clothes for Myles, Elsa and Aeva--
rearranging clothes according to sizes.
I was very unorganized in this department.
Aeva was excited to learn that she fit into four dresses
that Rhaevn had worn about two years ago.

A conversation with Myles

regarding breakfast and a Lego Star Wars game.

Happy Fourth of July to you all.


The kids are ready for barbecued hot dogs, strawberries and fireworks tonight.
I am so thankful to be an American!
Thank you to all those who are currently serving our country
and those who have served this great nation in the past.