Pre School, Changes & Ellie's Heart

Audrey's first week of Pre-school began a few weeks ago.

It was also....

Ellie's first week of transitioning from not having a playmate.

First week with our "new" truck.

Daddy's first week of being "home" for the summer.

Mommy's first week to try to adjust to all these changes....

Audrey was super excited even getting dressed in her "school" outfit she had chosen earlier in the day, shoes & backpack and all & waited by the door at around 7pm the night before her first day of school.... I finally got through to her that this would just be a practice and that tomorrow would be her first day of school. Eager as ever, she got ready first thing the next morning and waited by the door for the 30minutes leading up to when we were to leave... :)

Time to say goodbye to sister!

(who truly had no idea what was coming--look how happy she is to hug & say goodbye to Audrey...)

Her Daddy chose to come home one day early from a special road trip, so that he could take his darling little Audrey to school on her first day. And also, in part, because we both weren't quite sure how she--and her Mommy!--would do, emotionally on this big step being "away". (Literally, 5 houses away...)

She was so excited to start school that she apparently had to be told to turn around to say goodbye & wave for pictures her Momma requested. :)

First day of Pre-school! What a big brave girl!!

And then there were the other two of us.

Ellie & Mommy.

Crying our little eyes out on the front porch.

Not really....having Ellie sobbing her little heart out was probably a distraction from any emotion I could have had. Truly though..Ellie Lu was heartbroken!

It was one of those sad & sweet moments of motherhood.

I tried comforting...she cried harder.

I tried distracting...she cried harder.

I tried offering a snack (this girl likes food)..she ate it but continued to cry.

Then I suddenly realized...this would be the first day all Summer that I only had one child with me. Which meant I could do something I've been longing to do since last Summer! I could take my ONE child on my bike seat with me!!

So away we went, just she & I.

My baby Girl.

She finally stopped crying as we rode away, we talked about what we saw, what we heard and I kept telling her how much I Love her.

She seemed to enjoy the ride and I LOVED IT!

Then we got back to the house just in time for a little snack.

Then I noticed the time & said it was time to go get Audrey.

Ellie RAN to get her shoes & started getting whiny & crying again.

She just could not handle the change! She loves her sister so much!

On our walk back home, Audrey saw that her Daddy had begun the walk to meet us.

She started yelling to him:

"Daddy! Daddy! I'm all done with school now!"

And ran, jumping into his eager waiting arms.

PRECIOUS!

Can you bottle this sweetness up??

Then we decided to take Audrey out to celebrate her first day of school in style.

With Frozen Yogurt!

My Dad & Brother Mike just opened up a yogurt shop nearby--FroYo Nation--a few days prior, so what a perfect opportunity for us to see it for the first time & as a special celebration for Audrey!

Grandma Lu met us down there, of course!

A spoonful of sweetness, makes the tears go away!?

Daddarazzi.

Two big girls, one little spoon.

Wait a minute.

And here's what we were riding in style in!

Our "new" purdy Blue, 2nd vehicle with carseats stick shift which I am actually enjoying learning how to drive, Truck!!!

As of Today Audrey has attended 9 days of school! The first 3 weeks were "transitional" days, so they were only one or two hours.

Today was her first day of all 3 hours. She seemed tired, but said she "just loves school!"

I really could not have seen it coming that she has so easily adjusted to this new change! She was truly ready for this! We knew she would like it eventually, but by day 3 when I took her and asked her to please come back to give me a hug before she ran off into the schoolroom...I knew that she really did love it, and that I'd be fine too. :)

Ellie.... has yet to have a tear-free day with out her sister. The first few days were rough :) I spent the majority of the time Audrey was away from us, comforting her sad little sister, Ellie. We watched Sesame Street & cuddled, we ate snacks, we did puzzles and built blocks, but there were stressful off & on tears. We visited a dear friend who just had a baby, we take walks around the neighborhood and we've spent a few of the days running errands. I can tell though, that we aren't in a good groove quite yet. Ellie is so emotional on Audrey's school days. My intention is that Ellie & I can have a sort of fun Mommy/Ellie time at home, maybe even doing our own school-at-home projects. Potty training was also on the to-do list this fall, but there seems to be too much going on to begin something big like that just yet. Maybe in another few weeks...

Audrey Lynn--your Daddy & I are so proud of you! On your very first day of school your two teachers told me you had "mastered it all & wanted to begin teaching the other children!" I was not surprised to hear that! :) And every day thereafter they have made similar comments about how well you are doing. You are like a little sponge, soaking all of the Goodness of the world in. And your Kindness to others is evident. I love that you love school! I pray for you every day you are away from me. Just know that we are proud of who God created--Beautiful You!!

Love, Your Momma who misses you.

Ellie Lu--We'll get there soon. I promise. We'll enjoy the time we have together before another big change comes and alters it for us. I plan to get to know you better and snuggle you up lots during this season. So please let me. My heart breaks when yours does, but we will be fine. Thank you for loving your sister so deeply! You are a Gift!

Love, Your Momma.

Silly Ellie

We love attending extravagent child birthday parties, but that's not really our style. At this point as the Mom, I don't feel any guilt trying to keep up with anyone else's idea of a party. It's not my area of expertise to plan, prepare, cook for, or host a large group "for my child". So I'm perfectly fine being on the attending side of things.

I'm sure as the children get older we will do more "themed" parties, inviting friends over, etc. For now, we like to keep it simple in this house.

Focusing on our child and who they are.

This year we joined forces with Ellie's cousins who's 1st and 3rd Birthdays are exactly one week & two weeks after hers. It was a triple birthday party! We had it at Sis-in-Law's house. Pizza, cupcakes, cake..and only us, one friend, and grandparents! We should hardly call it a "party" but it was a simple way to mark the occasion.

On her actual birthday I went & bought her a new blanket to sleep with, like sister's and a balloon.

Like I said.

Simple :)

Here she is in all of her adorableness with her birthday balloon.

Funny Ellie facts:

Instead of saying a simple

"Yes"

if I ask her if she would like something, she says

"Yes I do, Mom. Yes I do"

She never has just one bowl of cereal with milk.

Usually two, most days three.

First thing in the morning she says "I awake now. Can I Eat? I hungee".

She is hungry FIRST thing when she wakes up.

And every two hours thereafter :)

She will fall on her head and get back up, no tears.

She finds taunting the dog, trying to get her to nip, hilarious.

She will jump/flip/tumble onto people, with out them having so much as a warning to catch her.

She is fearless about most everything...

But is PETRIFIED if a fly gets inside.

Yes, houseflys are her weakness.

She has barely drank milk since 13 months. Just never liked it.

Gets plenty of calcium through diet instead.

When I tell her I love her she replies

"I lub you so much too Mom"

Although verbal, she is not as verbal as her big sis was at this age, but she still understands everything!

A favorite learning game lately is to look at story books & I ask her to "find" this or that. She is quick!

For awhile she would only say "I can't do it!" when frustrated with something.

With Mom's encouragement the phrase has now changed to

"I can't do it! ...But I try, okay?"

She is very interested in my belly. Kissing & hugging baby.

Resting her hand on me then saying

"He kick me!"

She breaks out in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at any given time of day.

Oh also, here's another fact: she is Beautiful.

And her mother is officially jealous of her

long curled dark eyelashes & green eyes.

Just Wait.

Well it has taken me a few days worth of the Girls' nap times, and evenings to finish this post. I thought many a times I should just scratch the whole thing. I mean really, who wants to read this entire thing?? It has got to be my longest post to date. But then I reminded myself that I want to read this. One year, two years, 20 years down the road. I will want to read this. So that is worth it to me to continue to write.

I honestly cannot write out a short version. I guess I could type out those 3 little words:

"IT'S A ____"

But that's too easy. If you want the big reveal and don't already know yet, scroll to the very bottom...otherwise, come with me on this emotional journey I detail from beginning to now.

My Dr. and I get along really well, and in Aaron's words I basically "convinced her to give me an ultrasound". It's true. I may have used phrases like "I feel pretty confident you know how to use that ultrasound machine, what do ya say?" And there may have even been an offering to "practice" on me anytime. She explained how she isn't a trained technician......but, ultimately told me, off-handedly that if I were to "show up" the following week she'd make some time to "practice". :)

It was a Monday.

I only told a few close friends that we'd be getting this opportunity, being that is was so early (17weeks), and I don't like the idea of everyone waiting on an answer for my life. I wanted to just tell people when I knew, on my own terms. Aaron was working, locally. My Mom came over to go to the appointment with me. (sidenote: She got to be there with me when we found out Audrey was a Girl, because Aaron was working and convinced me it was totally fine to not be there, in his words "he'd know eventually"--how gracious. It was very special having my own Momma there when we found I was carrying my first child, a baby girl)

So since Aaron truly didn't mind, my Momma drove over to accompany me again! I had a sweet neighbor friend come watch the girls so we could escape.

With a lump in my throat I told her on the way over how I was very excited to be gifted with another child but that I was really nervous, and that I might be disappointed, either way. Here were my thoughts...

If it is a boy? I'd be terrified. I don't know boys. And I wouldn't have that familiar tiny precious newborn girl. None of those darling little clothes would need to be used, for some reason that seemed sad to me...

If it is a girl? We hadn't yet chosen a girl name, and it lessens my chance to ever raise a boy..if this were to be our last...

We arrive. It began like any regular baby check-up. Weight, blood pressure, heartbeat (thesoundoflove), questions, paperwork..etc. Then my Dr came in the room and said, "okay, let's go!" She lead us into the ultrasound room. I was shaking, like usual, something about the reveal of the child...it's like my destiny is about to be decided for me and it gives me happy/excited/nervous anxiety! I laid down on table and revealed my growing belly. Right away my Dr (the untrained professional, remember), went to town. Another nurse came in to watch for fun. Right away my Dr. said

"Oh, that looks like little boy parts!" The whole room agreed.

I got really excited inside. Something my heart wasn't quite expecting to feel.

"Are you sure?? Is that really a little boy!"

Then she says...

"well...now let's look from this angle...that looks more like the cord there....up that is the cord. Okay now from that angle it looks like girl parts.."

I was quiet. I love girls, I have two beautiful daughters myself! What am I feeling right now? Then I mustered up the words

"Oh, yay, is that really a little Girl! Aww..another little Girl.."

Something in my heart felt disappointed at that moment. Why was I disappointed?? We'd been talking about how we'd probably be having 3 Girls since day one of this pregnancy. It seemed right to have been told I was, most likely, carrying another little Girl. Of course, my untrained ultrasound technician...a.k.a. My Dr. still didn't know, for sure. She kept looking at different angles. My Mom chimed in a few times that it looked more like a girl...the nurse agreed that the cord was probably what we all saw at first...and after a few more angles of "girl parts" and that darned long cord in between the legs, my Dr. concluded with

"If I had to guess I would say 75% Girl, 25% Boy"

Hmmm...

I thanked her for letting me come in to do that, but I think she either sensed I felt disappointed not knowing for sure or she herself was disappointed to not have known for sure. She asked if I'd like to come back next week and see the actual ultrasound tech, just for fun. (Isn't that so nice?)

She walked me up to the appointment counter and told them to book me under "follow-up ultrasound", since they apparently needed a reason for me to keep coming in like that.

I tried to act excited to have seen my child again on the screen with my Mom as we left (it is very exciting because it's unreal to be able to see your child..in a very, makes it real way.), but I left feeling very confused. It was so very nice of my Dr. to even do that, but I felt as if I wished I hadn't come in at all, because it didn't give me anything concrete to leave with...other than the images that I saw.

That night I looked up online ultrasound pictures at 17 weeks. What we saw was definitely the umbelical cord. And the other angle we saw definitely looked like a girl. Nothing we saw looked remotely like the little boy ultrasounds that other Mom's had posted on various websites. I knew then that it was a little girl. Aaron and I quit talking about boys at that point. The next few days we talked about Girl names, future plans with "The Girls", etc...

It made sense to have another girl! We know girls! We have a gazillion articles of pink or purple clothing in this house in various sizes (thanks to Grandma Julie for 90%!!!!!!!). How wonderful to already be set up to add another girl to our Team! Geesh, says on costs of everything really, toys, shoes, blankets, bedding...etc..etc...etc. We know a few amazing families with all girls, and bottom line was, we love Girls!!!

Still...if I'm being completely honest there was this lingering feeling in my heart I didn't quite know how to explain. The closest word I could relate it to would be disappointment. But I couldn't dare allow myself to think like that! We were being blessed with another child, something some people aren't ever given the gift of! I already had two children, how selfish would I be to feel saddened--even just a little bit--at the possibility to never be the Mother of my own little boy??

Possibly selfish, possibly normal.

At one point in the week I was folding laundry and at the bottom of the pile I found a few items I had bought a few weeks prior. They were blue, green, gray colored...a few baby boy things I had bought "just in case". Girls were in the room with me wrestling and playing on the bed and I all of a sudden found myself crying holding these baby boy things. I wouldn't get to use these things I had bought. Would I not have been a good mother to a boy? It's okay though, I thought. I am being entrusted with a child of God, and He must already think I am a good mother to girls. Look at these two beautiful healthy girls that I have been entrusted with! I pulled it together after both girls, not caring why, but still comforting me with their "It's okay Mommy"s and hugs & kisses.

xo I Love them. xo

As the week went on having a Girl seemed like a wonderful gift & the perfect plan, and I had chosen a few beautiful name possibilites. I looked forward to getting out all those clothes from the attic, picturing this little girl in all my favorites with sentimental memories of my other two babies. Aww...I couldn't wait. Oh my, what would I even DO with a baby boy?? I mean all the little toddler boys I know tire me out just by watching them while my girls like to color and read and cuddle and play with dolls... And then there's the diaper changing! What on earth are you supposed to do with THAT THING! Phew...so glad I didn't have to worry about any of that... I'm good with girls. Girls are what I know. :)

Aaron had chosen both the Girls' First Names (with my approval, of course), and he had also had our "someday boy" name chosen from the beginning. Well since we wouldn't be using that one, he said I definitely get to choose this baby girl's name. It would be all up to me! I had a few we both really really liked, but nothing was coming to me for sure.

The week went on.

We went on our annual camp trip (post coming soon) and had a blast as a family! I love our together time. One of the nights I stayed up later than everyone else just to pray and soak up the quietness by the lake, beside the crackleing fire. It was wonderful and relaxing but something in my heart was still unsettled. It wasn't the Girl vs. Boy anymore, I was completely looking forward to Loving this little girl, but her name was undecided and that bothered me. I figure my gracious God has helped make me feel "settled" in the past when I've come to Him, why not come to Him with my name game too?

I prayed sincerely...

Lord, help me feel good about Her name. You already know what Her name is, Lord. I know this...but what is it? Is it ___ or ___ I'm not feeling good about this decision..I need your help Lord. What have you chosen Her name to be?

And then I listened...quietely... but nothing came...

I went on, Lord I feel unsettled in my heart about not knowing Her name, I feel that if I knew Her name I would feel like I know Her even more. What is Her name, Lord... What is Her name...

And then:

"Just Wait"

That's what I felt clear as day stiring in my heart.

"Just Wait"

What does that mean Lord??...Just Wait?? ...Oh I get it..I'm going to be one of those people that waits until She's born and then She will "look" like a ___ or a ___ I never liked those people, but I guess I'll be one of them, that's what you meant...Right??

"Just Wait"

I honestly had NO idea why I felt like I should wait to name Her. I just figured God's a busy man & maybe had a lot on his mind then & wanted to get back to me on that little silly name game question I had for Him.

(sidenote: Nothing is a silly question to Him. Nothing is too small to ask.)

Okay. I'd Wait, apparently, I'd have to. Maybe I'd ask for help again in a few weeks...

It was Sunday night, we returned home from camping. Oh, that's right--I thought--I had my "follow-up ultrasound" appointment tomorrow. It wasn't as much on my mind since, ya know, we already pretty much knew. This time though, a few other's in our family had asked and known we'd be going in. Aaron & I winked at eachother as we told people we were "pretty sure it was a Girl, but we'll see!" Because then everyone could say "Oh you were right!"

Nope, we were already certain it was a girl. She was a Girl.

I didn't arrange for a sitter this time, figure it would be a quick appointment. I took Audrey & Ellie with me first thing in the morning and grabbed my camera at the last second, just for the heck of it, since I hardly ever take the girls to my appointments anyway, figure I might get a cute shot of them.

(Yes I am wearing underwear, but my big belly has begun to block my view of my lower half...and my parents have been waiting for me to finally admit this but... Dear Daughters of Mine, please do not do half of the things I did as a teenager, including piercing your own belly button with a closepin at age 15. Why on earth would that ever be a good idea? You are right. It's not. And when your body stretches out during pregnancy, so will that tiny reminder of foolish rebellion, resulting in it looking like you have two weird looking belly buttons. Not pretty. Keep your belly pretty. Thank you, Love your Momma)

Ellie was pretty interested in seeing "our baby" on the screen, Audrey was more interested in the spinning stool she was sitting in. Which is funny, because I thought it would be opposite reactions from the Girls.

Right off the bat, I told the technician that

"We're pretty sure it's a Girl, based on last week, we're just here to confirm that it really is a Girl. Last week we saw the cord, but also saw Girl parts...blah blah blah"

She told me she'd get a good look then turn the screen so I could see. My attention was turned to Audrey & Ellie, talking to them about what they were doing, my nerves were little to none. Much different than my past 3 ultrasounds. She found baby right away and turned the screen so I could see... I Oohhed and Aahed... I truly did Love her already! And I love being able to see the baby inside of me, it's amazing. Awww...my sweet Baby Girl...Look at Her, isn't She precious already in there!... Aww....

And then my thoughts were interrupted when she pointed and says:

"Okay....You see this right here?"

I hesitantly said I did.

"That is a Baby Boy."

WHAT!

ARE YOU SURE?

I began to cry.

"Is that Really a BOY?"

She barely turned the doppler on my belly, giving me a second view..

"Yes, that is definitely a Boy in there!"

I covered my face, tears ran down my face, which I was instantly embarrased about.

"Oh my goodness, that is wonderful news.. I just can't... Oh my goodness... I just cannot believe it. Oh my goodness... A Boy!"

I tried to share the news with Spinning McGee (Audrey), who was very not interested at that point. And Ellie, who was then trying to climb onto my belly.

I just kept saying "Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it. So...are we sure-sure??"

It was confirmed about 4x, then my Dr peeked her head in the room and says "Well??" I said in a VERY confused loud, almost gasping, voice:

"It's a Boy?!?"

She cheered (she has 3 boys herself), and came in for a closer look on the screen, her exact words were:

"Woah! We did not see THAT last week!!! Yes, that is definitely a little Boy in there!"

Then the technician showed me a few more angles--by request--definitely confirming this little precious Boy, this SON of mine. She printed off a few pictures, and sent us on our way. My Dr. hugged me in the hallway, congratulating my, still confused self, and our family. And Audrey--the one who acted very uninterested--left the room yelling:

"I'm having a Baby Brother!!"

She was thrilled, and the staff found it very adorable. :)

I left in total shock. And total excitement. God is Good.

My Mom happened to call right when we got into the elevator to leave so I told her the exciting news. She and I just laughed and laughed and could not believe it!

We left my Dr.s and went down the street to Aaron's office, hoping he would be there. He was out on the road, and too far away to come back, so he called me... I played it off cool so we could surprise him in person. He Never Asked Directly Boy or Girl! This was our conversation:

Oh I was just thought we'd stop by and see if you were there, they printed me some pretty cute profile shots I wanted to show you. We have a pretty cute baby!

"Oh so, was the cord out of the way?"

Yup, cord was definitely out of the way this time.

"Well that's good. Well Okay Babe, her name is going to be totally up to you, so you'll have to be thinking of some good names!"

Oh yeah? Totally up to me huh? Okay I'll be thinking about it, we've got some time. Are you going to be home for lunch?

"Yeah, I'll be home in about an hour."

Okay that sounds good, we might go run an errand then we'll be home then too.

Good-byes ~ Good-byes..

And my ear to ear grin because I kept my voice calm & HE NEVER ASKED DIRECTLY! Awww...I was thrilled! :)

I called my Mom back to laugh and laugh and express how "in shock" I still was.

A BOY!?

I took the girls to the nearby dollar store and we bought 3 blue balloons.

Then we picked up a few sandwiches and headed home to eagerly await.

When Aaron got home I greeted him with a kiss and the ultrasound pictures.

Then while I got the camera out I told him I'd taken a few cute pics of the girls while at the appointment. As he looked over the pictures with the words

"Looks like a Boy!" typed on them, I snapped these pictures:

To be honest....when I was done taking pictures and he was done looking at ultrasound pictures he said he didn't know what he was looking at... :)

"It's a freaking BOY. We are having a BOY! You have a SON!"

I know that sounds a bit extreme, but I wanted him to share in my excitement/shock, and best I knew how to do that was to almost shout it out! :)

He was also very surprised. I think it took awhile to sink in. Since we both truly thought it was a girl, there was something about hearing we were wrong that was unsettleing, yet exciteing at the same time.

I really didn't know I would "desire" a son, until it looked like I was having less and less of a chance to raise one. He knew my Heart's desire, and He was laughing at me leading up to His reveal. "Just Wait" I heard over the crackle of the campfire...

"Just Wait" A girl's name wouldn't be needed...

"Just Wait" until you find out I am entrusting you with a Son.

Just Wait.

This little life is so worth waiting for.

Just Wait.

xo Hunter Thomas Roth xo

My Precious Son.

I can hardly wait to see what your little life will bring!

I LOVE YOU ALREADY!

Love, Your Momma

EllieLu, my darling daughter.

I keep thinking you've maxed out your "cuteness" then another day surprises me with a few new words you've put together, an eagerness to help, a simple kind gesture towards your sister, or those darned beautifully long eyelashes grow--what seems like--another inch.

You make me laugh, frustrate me, and melt my heart all in a matter of seconds.

You are so very very very Loved.

And your life is a complete blessing to me and our family.

We are so glad you are ours!!!

I was going through some recent pictures and found a few of my favorites to share with the world on your 2nd birthday (yesterday)....

Nothing but an "E" thang baby.

Sweeter than sweet!

This is the quirky smile given lately when asked to smile, with your teeth.

It's adorably forceful.

Oh Ellie Belly Lu-Lu,

Your Momma Loves You Oh-So-Very-Very-Very Much!!!!!

Can't wait to see what year TWO brings us!!

Marble Painting

Another simple fun project: Food coloring ball rolling, paint project.

Not sure if there is an official name for this type of artwork, we called it

"Marble Painting".

Step One: Cut white paper shape to fit bottom of plastic tupperware

Step Two: Add a few drops of different colored food coloring (less is more!)

Step Three: Drop a few marbles in...

Tip, Turn, Shake, Rattle & Roll!!

Ellie loved it.


Audrey adding a drop or two..or 8 of food coloring.

Shakey shakey shakey!

Their finished project drying:

(hard to take a really great picture from this angle on my dark stove top)

And then it's time for fun clean-up. If you did it exactly how I did, there shouldn't be much clean-up. Other than messy hands, which is a regular occurence around here.

It really is a nice simple fun project to do with the little ones because they can see their creation really easily, and who doesnt love to roll a few balls in "paint" every now & then??

Also, it's a fairly clean project since their little hands--should--stay out of the paints.

Oh there's the missing marble we were looking for!

Okay...there may be a mess or two like this, you've been warned.

A few tips: Do not dress your children in their nicest attire, since, ya know, this is food coloring...

Put a bib or some sort of smock on them first.

Drop the food coloring in yourself..a little goes a long ways, we found that 3 drops of 3 different colors was the perfect amount.

Audrey chose to do a few drops of all 5 colors we had, and as you can see in the pictures hers turned out a lot darker than Ellie who only used 3 colors. Enjoy!

Bean Bag Toss

Another crafty project we did recently was to make bean bags.

Supplies Needed:

6 different colored rectangle shaped pieces of fabric

scissors

sewing machine or simple needle & thread

funnel

rice

big bowl

a little helper

Step One: measure & cut fabric into a long retangle, so when you fold it over, it creates a square.

Step Two: sew all around square shape leaving a 2 inch opening unsewed

Step Three: place one "pouch" at a time into bowl to catch extra rice.
Step Four: use funnel to pour rice into pouch

Step Five: Sew the opening closed.

Ta-da!

We've enjoyed tossing them in buckets, practicing our accuracy, bringing them on vacation to use as a "bored" activity, warming them in microwave (15 seconds) for a pretend heat pillow, using them as pillows for baby dolls....etc.

Simple to make, fun to use, cute to boot!

Last year we were asked by our neighbor friend to take care of their critters while they were away. Audrey loved it! And I had fun taking all sorts of pictures. This year I practically begged for them to let us do it again if they would be gone. Ellie got to join in on the fun this year & it was no surprise that she and Audrey loved it! And, once again, there were many...many a cute pictures that needed to be taken...

Two of the cutest little chicken farmers I've ever seen!

Cute girl close-ups.


Big Girl Ellie gathering the chicken scratch.

Busy little farmers.

When they were done with their "chicken chores" they got to bounce around on the trampoline. Even Mommy got on a few times by the coaxing of the girls.

See that nice big pool in the background? Our neighbor friends who own it said to help ourselves if we wanted to swim. I instantly thought, bad idea. Too stressful to get in with two non-swimmers by myself. And since Aaron was gone that week, I just discounted the whole idea. I'd pick them up and let them feel water with their hands, but that was about it.......until it became 90+ degrees out......... I felt very brave (and very hot) and got them both into life jackets or float devices and carefully got in. Ellie loved it and didn't want me to touch her while she bobbed around.... Audrey was a different story. She's got bit of her mother's fear in her and she was wrapping every inch of herself as tightly around my body as she could. She eventually wanted to try the floaty Ellie was in instead of her US Coast Gaurd certified fitted life jacket...so I plopped her onto ladder to take off life jacket, pulled Ellie out of the floaty, helped Audrey get into it, strap and buckle life jacket on Ellie, all while holding onto Audrey's new floatation device and reasurring her I was still holding onto her floatation device.. I'm sure I made it look effortless (yeah right). Let's just say, I was glad to be in the cold refreshing waters because that made me work up a sweat!

Ellie action shot

Audrey action shot

And oh man were they worn out after all that jumping. Most of the time Audrey would tell me when she was ready to go home. (which is a pleasent rare surprise) And they took wonderfully long naps each day. :)

Time to go home & scramble our findings!


Another day, another chicken to feed...





One more egg for today!









Ellie Bear checking on the bunnies.