Fantastic Weekend

We had a fantastic weekend.

Jordan and I made a trip up to IKEA to get a few things to finally

finish off our toy/craft/den area.

It makes me so excited to be getting all our house projects

done before our vacation and SPRING!

Jordan and I got to have some time together and the kids had Rosanna.

They were so excited to see her. And of course she did a great job with the kids and we came home to this decorating our fridge...she is the best!

We also came home to a 'grown-up' Avery. She has her first loose tooth!

I'm ridiculously emotional about it!

She is thrilled!

This is Tess saying good-bye to another weekend.

Seriously, she is the cutest!!!

Realizations

1. Amy is mean. She brought me a bag full of chocolate chip cookies for watching Ellie today. I cannot stop eating them. Avery said, Wow, these are better than your's mom. I'd be hurt but they are seriously wonderful.

2. Little girls who are not used to boys' Sullivan's age are terrified of boys' Sullivan's age.

And little boys' Sullivan's age find it fun to torment little girls who are terrified of them!

3. When we have other kids at our house I am much more productive. I've gotten a ton done today. I think its because I dont want them to go home and tell their mom's that I sat around the whole time they were here!

All Dressed Up

We are watching Ellie today and Avery loves having a dress up partner!

And it seems Tess is pretty excited about it too!

I love how she is looking up at the older girls in this picture.

Um, cute.

And on two other random notes:

I'm on the tail end of a rotten head cold that has been holding me captive for about 5 days. Awful. And I'm so thankful for the energy I have this morning after days with none.

And I'm giving up pop today. Cold turkey.

Done.

A Quote

It is not the wife's role to make the husband 'good', rather it is to make him 'happy'.

It is not the parents' job to make the children 'happy', rather it is to make them 'good'.

And the husband has the daunting task of making the wife - both 'good' AND 'happy'.

- I'm not sure who gets the credit for this quote I heard last night...possibly Ruth Graham although I cannot find any evidence of that on the good old world wide web.

Anyway, I like it and its so true.

If we focus on making our husbands HAPPY, our children GOOD and not getting those mixed up...then we would ourselves be better off.

Calling the ordinary...

What comes to mind when you think of David?

As in, King David.

I don't know about you, but I think of a mighty king and warrior...a man after God's own heart. (I Sam. 13:14)

And I think, sure, God can use him...he's DAVID.

But I started reading a commentary on David and I realized...he didn't start out great. He didn't start out mighty.

He was ordinary.

Just like me, just like you.

A shepherd. A lowly shepherd.

The author, Charles Swindoll, pointed to this verse:

I Corinthians 1:16-29 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. BUT God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that NO ONE may boast before him.

That made me stop and realize...God is looking for people just like me. Just like you.

To do might things that point to Him...not to us.

And that makes me FEEL mighty today!

I REALLY want to know...

What is the secret to a good chocolate chip cookie?

Mine are always flat.

Why?

I follow the directions...I do exactly what they say.

Its not rocket science.

I REALLY want to know, so please share this secret with me.

For now I'm just happy that I make them mostly for the dough anyway!

Pretty exciting!

We made a countdown chain for our vacation next month.

These four were extremely excited about it!

(Yes, Sully's just in his underwear...dont ask)

And really, what is more exciting than the Olympics.

We LOVE it.

We spent weeks looking forward to it and we've loved watching all this week.

(We've had fun reminiscing that during the Winter Games in 2004 we were busy holding a new born Sully all through the games...He's a bit more interested in them this time around!)

We've also loved the distraction of something to do since our house is still not all back to normal and probably wont be for a few more days.

Jordan brought in a nice back drop for my picture tonight...all the kids curled up in our bed for the ski cross racing.

And since there is a 2 hour late start tomorrow, Lauren and Avery are REALLY excited to stay up and watch the Ice Dancing competition.

Another little girl to be thankful for!

There was NO way to pick a favorite out of these pictures of Contessa.

She is so precious, naughty, adorable, naughty, sweet, talkative, naughty,

curious, naughty and FUN right now.

I seriously love 18 month olds. There is nothing cuter in life.

Thank Heaven For Little Girls

Having little girls is just plan F.U.N.!!!

I'm pretty sure they would have preferred we left the furniture out of this room, added a wall of mirrors and opened a dance studio!

Lauren participated in a dance clinic with the HS Dance Team on Friday and then on Saturday she got to perform at their show.

She spent most of Saturday morning practicing and teaching Avery the moves.

We had fun doing hair and make-up for the show.

Of course Avery had to get in on this part of the fun!

Lauren sat with her friends during the show. I just watched from a few rows back with Avery.

Lauren just seems so old. She has so much fun with the girls in her class.

She is sweet and kind and I love that. But she is fun and funny and loves to laugh and giggle.

And here she looks 12. And she can stop.

I got choked up watching her dance and smile out there.

She really is a natural performer.

The girls in 1st and 2nd grade danced to Miley's 'Hoedown Throwdown'

and they all did great, especially for only having one practice.

(I took video instead of still pictures during the actual performance.)

Striking a pose!

And its Friday...

Today we are doing many exciting things...

I decided that the floors were complete enough for us to be on them

and do things like clean all the wood work and windows,

put window treatments back up, pantry doors back on,

things on the wall back up, ect.

And truly it is awesome. We are close to the end of this process.

And this is little Tess, last week I took this picture because I was so excited that

her hair was finally long enough for a little pony on top that does more

than stand straight up in the air.

And well, she's just cute. And her talking has taken off this week.

She's putting words together and making more sense. And it is SO fun!

Normal, where are you?!

You know when you have sick kids or you yourself are sick and you think, wow, I really took health for granted! I just want everyone to be healthy and then I'll never complain again.

That is where I'm at...

I want normal and then I'll never complain again.

Our kitchen is the only useable space in the main floor of the house. And the kids are TOTALLY over playing upstairs.

So we are trying to be gone everyday. All day.

Easy.

or not.

And yes, Im whining and complaining, so I'll stop.

Because the sun is shining and even if the house is a disaster, its warm and in a week it will be all back to normal and everyone is healthy.

So now I will shut up and try to find places for us to spend our day!

Houston we have wireless...

And the floors are finished!!!!

Jordan wrapped it up about 10 last night.

We have to wait until Saturday to put any furniture back but I am feeling SO much better.

YEAH!

Floors

Name that movie:

"He put so much dang lacquer on that thing it was just an accident waiting to happen!"

Here is our progress. Its going better.

We've decided that the 'weathered/destressed' look goes with our house.

And therefore we love it.

And no, we would not do it again if we could do it over again...!

This is after Jordan started coat #3 of poly. And hopefully that will be the last coat we need...

Valentines Day!!!

And now for a MUCH more fun topic!

We love Valentines Day in our house.

And with all these cuties in pink and red...how couldn't we?

These two are the best of friends.

Its hard to stop playing to smile at mom!

Cheese!

Mommy and her baby.

Kiss!

We had a huge surprise for the kids on Valentines morning.

This new game was laid out for them...Lauren's been asking for it...

The clues were written out for them.

Here they are waiting for us to tell them to open their

eyes so Lauren could start reading the clues.

And here's where they figured it out and yelled, DISNEY WORLD!

We are taking a vacation to Florida and to see Mickey this Spring.

And after this project...we are going to need it!!!

(Unfortunetly I did not get a picture of me and my #1 sweetie on V-day.

We were covered in saw dust. But oh how I love him!)

More floor

A few pictures of our help...

Livvy was a champ working on the edges.

Testing out the sander for the first time.

It was really exciting for about 5 minutes.

Sully loved the sander.

Jordan worked for hours. And I mean hours straight.

For two days. And today is day three.

This is after the sanding. Its one of the best spots.

I'm not kidding. The prognosis of our floors is not good.

Even my mom, who has refinished hundreds of pieces of

furniture and floors...said she was 'a little concerned...'

And we just want it over!

Floor Update

I had quite few emails asking for flooring updates.

Our wireless is disconnected so I'm posting quick from my mom's.

First, we cant thank my brother Nick, sis-in-law Stacie or niece Livvy enough for their help on Saturday. Or my mom for watching all 4 of our kids all day Saturday AND Sunday.

With that, I'll tell you that if I could go back, I would not have done this project. I would have a) put down a new floor or b) hired someone to refinish it for us. We've had some amazing laughs with this and there is no one I'd rather attempt this with than Jordan. But we are sooo done with it! Honestly we have not fought or wanted to kill each other yet so I guess that right there means a success in home renovation terms.

And it MIGHT work out ok and look good in the end...but getting there may also kill me. Our house is DESTROYED. And get this...we will probably put the last coat of polyurethane on Tuesday. And THREE DAYS after that we can put the furniture back. Yeah, nice. Did I mention we have four kids?

But, now for the fun. My all time favorite quote from the weekend was Jordan saying, "Well, I guess you and Stacie were right!" It was so beautiful to my ears! ;)

Now for a quiz for those of you who might be considering refinishing your own floors...

If you answer Yes to ANY of questions 1-2 or No to ANY of questions 3-8 then do not, I repeat do not attempt this project:
1. Do you fight with your spouse during any type of household project?
2. Do you live in a 100 year old home with uneven floors that have buckle and dip and therefore resist the commercial sander?

3. Are you and/or your spouse Bob Villa or a direct decendent of his?
4. Do you enjoy spending hour after hour on your hands and knees and a razor blade attempting to remove old floor varnish?
5. Do you enjoy the movie Cinderella so much that you want to replay the scene of her cleaning the floors over and over in your own home with you acting out her part?
6. Do you enjoy tearing open your knuckles and fingers with sandpaper?
7. Do you like making FOUR trips to the hardware store in one day?
8. Do you like to cry?

Anyway, that was meant in fun.

The last coat of stain goes on tonight. Hopefully tomorrow we will get 2 coats of poly on because Jordan has the day off...PHEW!

The party

Sully's party was a success. He was SO happy!

He got so many wonderful new toys. Really, boy toys are fun!

His cake was fun too!

Here was Sully's first look at the cake.

Blowing out the candles.

These three were very excited to he superheroes for the night!

Even Joshua got in on the dress up fun! He is getting SO big and so cute.

Jalen was a great spiderman!

I think Aaron was excited to have a boy cousin who got 'cool' toys!

And with that, its 11:30, the furniture is moved out and the floors are READY!

I'm going to bed!

I could cry

What is the matter with me?

Went to pick up the sander today.

Got the wrong one.

We'll have to exchange it for the right one tomorrow...30 minutes away.

Got home from the store to see Mandy taking Avery to preschool. "What are you doing? There's no preschool on Friday." I say.

Uh, snow make up day.

I had zero idea.

Walked inside to my husband smiling at me and asking 'so, how's your day going?' He knew I might cry at any moment...

I still have tons to do for the party which starts in 5 hours. And all I want to do is sleep.

Is this what it feels like to get old?

Please dont answer.

And Mandy...THANK YOU! And thank you for having Avery change her shirt!!!!!

Friday

Four times a year life comes to a halt in our house and we focus on one special person and we PARTY!

You can probably guess those four times just happen to coincide with each of my kids' birthdays!

Tonight we have Sully's party. He is so excited. Its a superhero theme and all the guests under 10 are wearing superhero costumes.

The after party will consist of moving out all our furniture. One of my brothers will be here to take our couches...and since our new furniture wont arrive till the 24th...we will be couchless for 13 days...which isnt a problem except that the Olympics start tonight!!! We are so pumped.

The after after party will start bright and early tomorrow morning when the big sander arrives and we start the floors!

Have a great weekend! I'll post floor pictures when we are all done.

Happy 4th Birthday, Sullivan Joseph!

Sullivan is Four!!!

How is that possible?

Overnight Sully suddenly seems older. I've heard other mom's say this, that boys suddenly seem different at 4. Im not sure I like it. But he has been 'easier' lately so I know that is a good thing.

I recently commented to Jordan I cannot imagine our family without Sullivan.

He has that type of personality that when it is not present...its like a gaping hole.

And I love that about him more than anything else.

Here are some of things about him that I never want to forget.

I love how he says, Do you love it? instead of do you like it?

Or when he says, what you said instead of what did you say?

He talks...a lot. Constantly. Every minute. ALL. DAY. LONG.

I love that he displays his love for his family with no reserve. A hug and kiss from Sully is likely to strangle and be sloppy. An 'I love you' is going to be yelled. He tells us he loves us a lot. It seems that everyone in our house is told that they are loved by Sully at least a couple of different times a day. Its not abnormal for him to just yell out from across the room, I love you Avery! Or whoever is on his mind. Sully believes, "when you love someone, you say it!" And we LOVE that.

He still sucks his thumb when he has his blankie. And he cannot sleep without his blankie.

He is my best sleeper. Always has been. He takes a 2 hour nap in the afternoon and it would be longer if I let him. He goes to bed at 7:30 or 8 and sleeps till 8 or 9 am.

He loves to wrestle. With anyone. Tess is one of his favorites because she giggles the entire time. He still understands that he has to be gentle with her, its AMAZING. He also likes to wrestle Avery because he does not have to be gentle with her apparently! And they are evenly matched!

When Jordan walks in the door at night he is usually met by Sullivan either dressed like a superhero, star wars character with light sabers or football player and ready for action. There is NOTHING this boy likes better than to play rough with his dad. And there is nothing I enjoy more than watching them together! They wrestle, fight, tackle, shoot hoops, shoot nerf guns, watch 'scary' stuff on tv, and ponder the great questions of life, like who is stronger? Superman? or Green Lantern?

He talks about Jesus a lot. Asking lots of questions and telling me that Jesus is stronger than Superman and EVEN DADDY!

He loves his legos.

He loves to work on letters and numbers and writing.

He is an amazing colorer and cutter!

He loves to count and organize things by color. He loves to write his name

and have me write other names so he can copy them. He is great at puzzles.

He LOVES nothing more than to help me bake. Oh how I love that.

He loves to play board games. LOVES it.

He is silly and funny. He has a great sense of humor and loves to make us laugh.

He is a tease and a copycat.

He has a GREAT laugh. Its contagious.

He loves knowing that every day is a 'mommy day!'

He sits at the kitchen table and swings his feet madly all during breakfast...

just happy for the start of a new day.

He sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating hard.

He loves to play the Wii.

He is LOUD. He doesnt understand the concept of 'inside voices'.

He is an awesome eater and will eat anything. Just like Lauren.

He always wants to have dessert after a meal I blame grandma Barb for that!

Sullivan, I dont know if there is much more I can say to you than that your dad and I are so blessed to call you our son. You fill our days with exasperation and my head with gray hairs. But you fill our hearts with a joy that only you, our boy, could do. You've taught us a lot in your four little years and I am better for it. Sully your sweet heart and zest for life can do great things for Christ and I pray that you will let Him work in your life as you grow.

We love you unconditionally and unmeasurably.

You are our Sully and knowing you, watching you, loving you is one of our greatest joys.

Love, mommy and daddy.