February meet Snow.

I love this springtime weather!  I feel the Lord blesses us daily with all kinds of sweet surprises, and this Spring weather is no different.  These beautiful days have had our windows open for two days now. 

February, this is Snow.  Snow- meet February.  Here's to getting aquainted:  

And here's to all the fun we could have once your relationship is established:

Yes, those are icicles Anna collected.

  

There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

Well, it all started with free tickets to the movies.  We thought we'd go Saturday night so I made our older 3 daughters lists to help around the house Saturday morning.  And their reward?  Their own bag/bucket/box of popcorn when we went to see Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.  {insert their screams here}.

As we worked, I was just super proud.  We were working together, gonna get out together for super cheap, and all was wonderful.  We anxiously plugged through the day.  We got baths early, dressed, got our chore lists done, school completed,  fixed 3 heads of their hair, fixed an early supper, cleaned up, and bounced into the van to go.  We made good time, arriving in Jamestown 30 minutes before the movie would start to hear the dreaded words, "SOLD OUT".  Whaaaaat? 

I walked back to the van to meet my crew who had dropped me at the ticket window just minutes before.  What in the world do you do for your super helpful kiddos who you promised their OWN BAG OF POPCORN to? 

Louis and I quickly strategized (I'm thinking we must have looked like coaches, laying out a quick plan for the team).  We were loud enough that one caught the details of what happened, whined about it, and then spread the horrible rumor through the whole van.  They all were whining in their best girly voices of their disappointment.  We were then quiet enough to plan the "official play" that hopefully would save the night and we'd come out winning afterall. 

$100 later, we walked out of Wal-Mart with 3 movies, chips & the makings for Mexican cheese dip, and other necessities, like light bulbs.  We got to the van, and waited for all to buckle up.  A woman walked over to the driver's side, and Louis rolled down the window.  "Would you like a free puppy?"  I'm thinking, "She didn't just say that loud enough for all to hear!!"  Then the little "Yeahs, and Please, can we have a puppy?" pleads filtered up from the back of the van.  Louis politely apologized we couldn 't take it right now.  Then he went to roll the window up.  It didn't budge.  The button didn't even make a sound like it usually does.  Dead.  And it's cold.  And we're in Jamestown (always a 35 or longer drive home with all the windy, curvy roads).   

We pulled through the Long John Silvers drive-thru and ordered their $15 Family Pack.  If we're gonna be cold on the drive home, it's better that the girls are distracted.  The more they had in their mouth, the less they could complain of being cold, and my theory was correct!    Louis did do a hero number and shut the door over his coat which broke the wind a lot.  The sound we heard all the way home was of whipping coat and snaps slapping the window behind the driver's side.   

We got home, unloaded the van and all got into their jammies ready to watch, "Dolphin Tale".  What a night. 

We went with free movie tickets.  We returned with $115 (+tax) less money, and a costly car repair to make.  Hmm, the statement Dad used to tell me in high school rings true, "There's no such thing as a free lunch."  Thanks Dad, for always being right. 

Our Christmas Tradition

When I was little, our Christmas Eve tradition was to eat mac n' cheese and hot dogs, go to a Christmas Eve Service at a local church, and drive around and look at Christmas lights.  One of my favorite parts of the night was pulling up in our driveway afterwards to see all the lights on our house (Dad was a pro at decorating) and knowing I was that much closer to going to bed and then waking in the wee hours of the night at a reasonable hour to open gifts.  As a parent, I realize how difficult it is to develop a tradition and keep it up annually, especially since we are in ministry and we never know when something may come up.  But here is the ONE thing we always do:  

Yep, cuz it's just not Christmastime if we don't go!  It's something Louis and I have done since our dating days back in 1995, well actually since 1997 when I was old enough to go out on dates! 

Some other traditions we do around our house at Christmastime:

•  Wait until the last possible minute to Go Christmas Shopping
• Make cookies with Christmas cookie cutters, and Halloween, Easter, and every other cutter they just "have" to try.
• Go Christmas caroling at the nursing home
• Help with the Angel Tree that our church hosts
• Lead the Christmas Eve service at church
• Stress about the lack of time we have (even though it always falls on the same day, EVERY YEAR
• Talk about and celebrate the birth of Christ, which really is the most perfect and only important gift there is!

For the first time since Abigail was a baby, we got out a wedding present.  Not a set of china, or crystal...but our Nativity Set.  We got it from my grandparents as a wedding gift in May 2000 and at the time of our first Christmas as Mr. & Mrs., we didn't have any other Christmas things to our name.  It was VERY special to us.  This year, it was so special to get it out (now that we have room for it) to share it with our girls.  It's ceramic and delicate, two factors that make it kid-friendly (NOT).  But it's large and so the girls were able to see it very well on the table we stored it on all of Christmas.  The girls never messed with it.  However...I'm not too sure how the Barrel of Monkeys monkeys were dangling from the roof one day.   I know who did it....her name begins with "A".

Our 4 sweet little Butterfly Fairies....
...and yes, we were late to Bible Study the next day because their make-up wore off and I had to re-do it. 

Just a driving

While driving a sibling pair home after church tonight, Aliza says to me, "Mommy- I want to be a mommy when I grow up". She must know that being a mommy is the best job there is!

17th to think happy

since it's the 17th

here are 17 things I'm happy about right now:

1) all 4 girls are sweetly sleeping.

2) had a good time at tonight's softball game.

3) got to see our new nephew, Ethan, on Wednesday.

4) Louis got his first homerun EVER at tonight's game.

5) we are blessed with an amazing church family.

6) Aliza has been potty trained for a month now!

7) Adalyn is rolling over completely both ways.

8) Louis has his lines memorized for the play in october.

9) Abigail is just as thrilled to have her songs to memorize...not quite there but she presses on.

10) Anna has her first loose tooth.

11) Aliza tells people, "See me loose too?"

12) Adalyn has 2 teeth.

13) Anna knows her scabs from mosquito bites will heal when she goes to Heaven.

14) Louis and I have been together for more than 15 years...just the other nite our date nite included him getting pizza at 10:00 when all the girls were asleep...hehe.

15) I'm very blessed to get to stay home with our girls full time!