a little bit of me

Dawson turns 9.

Saturday was Dawson's 9th birthday!  Dana made breakfast as we got ready for two soccer games.  It was Dawson's first indoor game.  I loved watching him play, all except for the part where he got hit with the ball really hard and got the wind knocked out of him.  :(  I was watching from upstairs and I saw him get hit and the look of fear on his face because he didn't know what was happening and why he couldn't breathe.  The coach (his dad) and ref went out to help him and soon he stood up and walked off the field.  I don't know if my kids will ever understand but I hurt when they hurt and it honestly felt like someone punched me in the stomach when it happened.  But, the game must go on and Dawson was just fine and played some more. 

After Dawson and Abby's games, we came home and got ready for his party.  We had all the family over and he had one of his friends over too.  We had baked potatoes and chili and then root beer floats (Dawson's choice) for dessert.  He got spoiled with lots of awesome gifts and then had Cam and his friend Isaiah spend the night.  They had a lot of fun playing with all of Dawson's new stuff!!

A little about Dawson at age 9:

• He LOVES soccer and spends a lot of time doing it.  We spend pretty much all of our weekends going to games.  But, I love it and I'm his biggest fan!
• He LOVES video games.  He loves his DSI and the Wii.  Video game time can be a great bargaining tool around here!
• He also loves baseball too but since it's a shorter season, so he doesn't play as much.
• He is sensitive and serious.  He sometimes has a hard time taking a joke.  He has to be in the right mood!
• When he laughs hard, it makes everyone laugh.  Love Dawson's belly laugh. 
• He is an early riser, usually the first out of bed, and the last to fall asleep at night. 
• He is a quick learner and is doing awesome in school.
• His favorite subject is History.
• He DOES NOT like it when I call him by my baby boy or pooka.  :)
• Pizza is still his favorite food.  He also loves spinach ravioli, spaghetti and tacos.
• Has gaping holes in his mouth from losing teeth.  So cute!
• Got his room re-decorated and he LOVES it and keeps it super clean.  Doesn't like other kids playing in his room and messing it up.  Loves things cleaned and organized.
• Learning to grow up.
• Starting to watch sports with his Dad.
• Makes friends super easy.
• Adapts well to new scenes.  He's shy at first but then is fine.
• He is funny and sweet.
• Still loves figures of all kinds.  He's got lots of collections.

I can't express how much I love this boy of mine.  He makes me laugh and I'm so proud of him.  I can't believe he's nine already and that half of his time here at home is gone.  It's unbelieveable how fast it's gone.  I love you, Dawson.  Happy 9th birthday!

Right now...

Out my window:  Leaves, leaves and more leaves.  They are beautiful but now need to be raked and bagged up.  It's a big job.  But, I do love our street this time of year.  It's gorgeous!

I am wearing: pajama bottoms and a tee shirt....it's still early!

I am hearing:  the sound of quiet.  Everyone is still sleeping and it's so peaceful right now.

I am thinking:  about projects I want to get done and what I need to accomplish today.

I am thankful for:  so many things....my husband, my kids and our health.  Also, thankful for a clean desk!

I am creating:  lists on evernote.  I love to compile all my lists in one place! 

I am going:  to be a chauffeur today....dance class and piano. 

I am hoping:  for some answers with a new blood test.

I am reading:  a lot lately.  Reading Feminine Appeal, my Bible and Shepherding a Child's heart. 

Around the house:  new cinnabun candle burning which I love!!

One of my favorite things:  looking through the Sunday ads...still need to finish.

A few things planned for the rest of the week:  Dawson having friend over today, grocery shopping and my son turns nine years old!

 

Weekend highlights.

Another weekend has come and gone!  We started out the weekend with the kids getting their pictures taken on friday afternoon by my super talented sis.  She gave me a sneak peek of three amazing photos and I just LOVE.  I seriously stared at them off and on all night!!  Then Dana and Dawson left Friday evening to head to the tri-cities for Dawson's soccer tournament.  He got to have a couple of his buddies spend the night with him in his hotel room and he loved it.  The tournament went well...the first game was a tie, 2-2.  They won their second and third games, 6-3 and 7-1.  Dawson scored in the last one and I guess it was a really good team.  Dana said the boys were just on fire for that game!  They went out to Chuck E Cheese afterwards before they made it home.  I was really sad to miss his tournament but there wasn't anything I could do about it. 

However, I got to have some fun of my own and went to a few Christmas open houses with Sara.  I love going around and looking at all the Christmas decorations.  Fiddlesticks was definitely my favorite.  We also got to go to the scrapbook store.  I hadn't been in forever and it was a lot of fun!  It seems like lately when I have time to myself, it's to run errands or get stuff for our household or for the kids.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy doing that too, but it was really nice to go and do something that I really enjoy and it's for me.   It's refreshing!

We finished up the weekend with a great church service and then a birthday party for Ken and Veronica.  Lots of football and food!  Then it was movie time at our house.  The kids watched the new Veggie Tales Christmas DVD that just came out.  We're getting in the mood for Christmas around here!  It was a great weekend that flew by of course.

On the agenda for the week:

• first indoor soccer practice for Dawson & Abby
• Bible study for me
• Community Groups
• Awana
• Organizing/cleaning out the girls' room
• dance for the girls
• piano lessons
• Holiday that Dana has off - we're having big ole leaf raking party!
• Getting ready for and planning Dawson's birthday party (on Saturday)
• Dawson getting his picture taken at the Herald - he's going to be in the paper for the Christmas kids countdown this year....super excited about that!

Life is busy, but good.  Just trying to breathe, not get stressed, and just enjoy.  Happy Monday!

Sophia Paige turns 4.

How can it be?  How can my baby girl be four years old already?  When the kids' birthday's come around, I usually spend some time thinking about their birth story and how fast the years have gone.  With all of us getting sick and life being so busy, I didn't really have time to think about it this time.  I remember one night after her birthday thinking that I just wanted to sit and think about her, probably cry a little, but that I was just too tired.  It seems silly but it makes me feel better to just cry, get it out of my system and move on.  On the actual day of her birthday, the 27th, we had waffles with birthday candles and took her to Toys R Us to pick out a small toy.  Her big gift got lost in the mail so we had to save that for her birthday party.  She LOVED all the attention she got that day and was quite the little princess if you know what I mean! 

Her first birthday celebration was with Grandpa & Grandma and Tina.  She opened presents, had dairy queen ice cream cake and then carved pumpkins.  It was a really fun night and I was so thankful my in-law's hosted since I had just came down with strep throat the day before.  Sophie got an easel from Grandma & Grandpa which has been quite the hit at our house.  All of the kids love it and even fight over it!  She also got the new barbie movie from Tina and her American girl bitty twin from us.  She was a very happy little girl!

Sophie hugging her bitty twin that she named, Addison.

Her second birthday celebration was on Halloween.  My side of the family was all going to be together to go trick or treating so we figured we could celebrate Sophie and Colton on the same day.  They opened presents, had dinner and cupcakes and then went trick or treating.  She was so excited with all the festivities.  She got polly pockets pop n swap, a backpack, a gigi princess book & movie, a puzzle, polly pocket car, and a dress up tutu.  She was so excited and as soon as we got home that night she started playing with the polly pockets. 

 

There are so many photos of her birthday and halloween that I think I'll do a photo album rather than try to post them.  Sophie is such a joy to us and we love her so very much.  A little about Sophie at age four:

• She likes to talk in the third person.
• She likes to pick our her own clothes which almost never match.  She loves leggings and skirts and her favorite "rainbow dress" that I have to hide from her so she doesn't wear it everyday.  I think clothing is going to be my battle with Sophie.  It makes me tired just thinking about it.
• She also likes to change her outfit several times a day if I let her.
• She's obsessed with mirrors.  I always catch her talking to herself in mirrors. 
• She loves her dance class and wishes she could go more than once a week.  Did I mention the studio is lined with mirrors?
• She is freaked out by Dana's armpit hair and makes him keep his arm down if she can see it.  Oh, it makes me laugh!
• She is very bossy.  She holds her finger up and tells you how it's going to be.
• She's very loving and gives lots of hugs and kisses randomly throughout the day.
• She tells me she "loves me to the back of the moon" instead of to the moon and back.  It melts me.
• She has a best friend, her cousin, Audrey.
• She sings and dances by herself and gets embarrassed if you watch her.
• Loves to be outside.
• Loud.  Loud.  Loud.
• Very expressive.  Has the dramatic expression perfected!
• Loves her sissy and bubba (made those names up on her own) and also fights with them like crazy.
• My pickiest eater.  She has certain things she asks for over and over:  strawberry nutri grain bars, apple juice, jelly sandwich, cookies. 
• Doesn't take naps very often anymore.  Things she's a big girl and doesn't need them.

I could go on and on about our third born.  She is so much fun, sweet and just plain cute.  We adore her.  Happy 4th birthday, sweet baby girl!  We love you!

Life right now.

I am going to try and keep this little blog updated.  The reason I started blogging was to document our life for the kids.  So many little things happen that you forget and when I go back and read my blog I am so thankful for the things I recorded.  It's hard to keep up on everything so I'm not putting pressure on myself.  I am just trying to prioritize a little better and since my blog is important to me I am really going to try and post more often.  I don't think I had any idea how busy life gets the older your kids get.  We're getting pretty involved in our church and with the kids' sports/dance/piano and other activities, it keeps our calendar full.  When I think about all we have going on it really makes me appreciate the time I have with them at home.  If they weren't home with me homeschooling I wouldn't be able spend a lot of time with them.  So for that I am grateful.

I'm going to be working on updating my blog with a new banner but I did add some books I'm reading right now.  I just started a Bible study reading the book, Feminine Appeal.  Even though I am only a couple of chapters in, I totally recommend it.  It's really good so far and I think the timing is perfect in my life right now.  I am in a season of re-evaluating and re-prioritizing my life and the book has helped so far to examine where my heart is and my desires.  It has discussion questions in the back that are really good too. 

So, on my mind these days are priorities and Christmas!!  I don't know if those go together but it's what I've been thinking about.  And since I haven't even decorated for fall I figured I should shift gears and focus on Christmas.  I've gotten almost half of my shopping done for my kids which thrills me.  I am hoping to have my shopping done by the end of November so we can spend the month of December being together and remembering what the season is really about.  As the kids get older, I really want to teach them about giving to others and I've got a few ideas in my head of how we can do that this year.  One is to purchase gifts for the Madison House's Christmas party (my bro in law and sister's ministry).  I was telling the kids about it last night and I could tell the wheel's were turning.  I am excited to take them shopping to get gifts for others.  Abby has such a giving heart and has been asking lots of questions ever since.  She's thinking about her toys she can give away which makes me so happy.  Another thing we recently did was to fill out the Christmas kids interview our local newspaper does.  I filled one out for each of the kids in hopes that one of them will get drawn to be in the paper.  I hear it's a long shot but I thought we'd try!  I can't remember all their questions and answers but Sophie's really cracked me up.  It went something like this:

mom:  What does Santa put in Rudolph's stocking?

soph:  A build a bear?

mom:  If you could cook for Santa and Mrs. Claus, what would you make them?

soph:  Probably something good.....like chicken.

mom:  Why is Rudolph's nose red?

soph:  Because he colored it.

There were a couple more questions that I can't remember but it was just really funny the way she was talking and her little voice trying to answer these questions.  We talked about it at dinner that night and Dawson and Abby cracked up.  Just something I want to remember.  :)

Halloween '09.

The kids looked adorable in their costumes this year.  They each chose their own costume and were very adamant about what they were going to be (once they finally made a decision!).  One of these years I will get them to dress in theme together like I want!  Dawson was a Transformer, Bumblebee.  Abby was Cleopatra and Sophie was a fairy but told everyone she was Thumbelina. 

I figured if I waited around to edit these pictures, I'll never get around to posting them.  So, here we all are.  The kids crack me up.  Sophie is really difficult to take pictures of.  She does the fake smile that looks like she's in pain.  Abby is totally into posing these crazy poses.  And Dawson is just happy to have a mask on to cover up if he's really smiling or not.  I threw in the family photo to document Dana and I actually being there!  It's pretty rare for us to be in pictures and it's not the greatest photo of us all but I still love it because it's the 5 of us.

October highlights.

October just flew by and I thought I should update on what we've been busy doing around here....

• Took the kids to the fair.  Tried to get out of it but Papa and Nana paid for the kids' wristbands so I was out of luck.  :)  We had a lot of fun and the kids loved it, of course. 
• Annual Bunco Costume party.  I went as a cheerleader this year.  I love my Bunco group.  Such a great group of girls that have become such good friends over the years!
• The girls weekly ballet classes.  And I got to order their adorable costumes ordered for their recital.  They are so cute and I can't wait to see them in them!!
• Soccer practice twice a week and games on Saturday's.  Had our last game on Halloween and Dawson's team, the Blue Devils, finished a undefeated season!!  So proud of the boys, especially the adorable #8.  :)
• Sickness hit. With a vengeance!  Started out with Dana and Soph having a minor cold or something.  Then I got really sick and had to cancel my girls shopping trip w/Christi and was in bed for several days.  Then, the rest of them got it.  Nobody got it as bad as me but it wasn't any fun.  Just when I thought we were well, I came down with strep throat last week.  We are DONE with sickness around here.  At least, I hope we are.
• We rescheduled and I was able to go shopping with Christi and we had a blast!  Two days and one night in Seattle with great company, good food and some good deals.  It's always nice to get out of town.
• Celebrated lots of family birthday's - Ava, Nana, Colton, Kevin and Sophie.
• Sophie turned 4 years old.  I have a post saved all about her but it really made me sad this year.  I can't believe my baby is 4! 
• Sophie got her hair cut and it looks adorable.  Three to four inches off and it makes her look older.  She loves it!
• Pumpkin carving and a party for Sophie at Grandma and Grandpa's.  So fun celebrating my baby!
• Birthday party for Sophie and Colton and Nana and Papa's with dinner and trick or treating to follow on Halloween.
• Dawson starting to catch up and finally is losing some teeth!
• Started Christmas shopping.  Got a big gift for my girls that I am SO EXCITED about.
• Getting involved at our new church.  Going to community groups and I'm starting a women's bible study tonight.  The kids are actually loving it all so we're so happy about that!
• Learning a lot in school, adjusting well to our new schedule and loving the time with my kids!

That's all I can think of right now.  As you can see, October is a busy month for our family.  I will be back to post some pictures hopefully soon.