New Traditions

I am really enjoying Christmas this year. Riley and Piper are at that age where they are starting to understand Christmas. With this has come the 'I wants'. Every toy they have seen on TV or in the store they have to have for Christmas. So since they beginning to understand how Christmas works, Ben and me decided they were old enough to learn the meaning of it. My Grammy bought a Nativity set for my mom the year I was born. It is a really nice set. The fantastic thing about it is made of durable plastic and the figures are very life like. The camels I do have to say have great expressions. One of the reasons she bought it was so I could touch it without the worries of anything getting broken. My mom passed it down to me. So this year we have been talking about the birth of Jesus. We get down all the pieces and go through the story.
Its so amazing to see things through their eyes and the part I love the most is they are so excited about it. Riley will run up and ask" Can we get your pieces down?' This has also helped Baby Jesus stay in his manger. For a little baby, He gets around. Ben and me have traditions that we have grown up with and have shared with the girls but its also nice for us to create our own too. I've included pictures of decorating the tree. I found these bells at JoAnn's and they have been a big hit.( as you can tell by the pictures.) I really thought I would only have to keep Aubrey out of the tree but Riley and Piper love playing with the decorations. There is a huge clump of ornaments in the middle of the tree. Riley and Piper moved them higher to keep them from Aubrey. Now if only I could keep them out of the tree. Oh well. Good thing Christmas only comes around once a year.

Baby Steps

Its official. Aubrey took her first five steps!I can't believe it. This last year has just
flown by. I knew this day was coming. She is now crossing over from baby to toddler.
With her being the last one, I've been trying to savor every moment and its gone by way too
fast. Its also been fun to watch Riley and Piper get excited with her milestones. Now I guess it is time to dig out my running shoes. This Mama has just gotten awhole busier.

A New Breed - Purple-Spotted Little Girls

I know there has been a few people wondering if this story would make it on to my blog.
At the time it happened I failed to see the humor in it. Let me set the back round and scene for you. On Monday, (Ben's birthday by the way) I had decided to give the girls a bath after naptime. Now my room and bathroom are adjoining. I have a big garden tub. Its easier to give them a bath in there because it is bigger and I can sit in the doorway and multi-task if need be. The girls had been playing great and wanted to stay in the tub longer. Aubrey had had enough of her sisters and wanted out. Not a big deal. So Aubrey was crawling back and forth between the girls and me. It turned into a game. On one of her trips to see her sisters I didn't catch the little purple bottle of nail polish she gave to her sisters. Apparently she is just like Riley and Piper, she has a knack for finding items, that she can't have and super long arms. Plus throw in a need for approval from her big sisters and you have trouble.There is a big lip on the tub. Kinda like seat. The girls play with toys there,nothing out of the normal. With their backs to me happily playing with their toys, I periodically ask if they are ready to get out. They tell me no. And things continue. Riley turns around a few minutes later and says "Mama. the purple isn't coming off." Hmmm. Weird. I go over thinking its another game of theirs. To my surprise and to be honest, my horror, there is a half purple moon in my tub. I have them get out of the tub and see that it is all over their little bodies too. A couple of bottles of nail polish remover later. There are still flecks on their bodies and my tub( Happy Birthday honey! Poor Ben. I don't think he expected to come home to that) which will just have to wear off in time. I wonder if Harold's mother ever felt this way. Days like these I keep telling myself they won't be this little forever and I will miss these days. Plus years from now they will make great stories for family functions.

Happy Birthday to My Wonderful Husband!

Happy Birthday Ben! You do get better with age. It been amazing watching you grow as
a husband,father,and and as a man of God.I am very blessed to be your wife. Here is to many more great years! I love you!

A Very Blessed Thanksgiving

There are so many things we have to be thankful for this year. Our family,friends,jobs, our health, just to name a few. God has really blessed us this year.And there are still more blessings to come! Erica Jayne arrived safely this morning at 5lbs 13.9 oz. She is beautiful and everyone is doing great! I hope everyone's Thanksgiving is as fantastic as ours is!

Definitely Not Mickey Mouse

I'm sorry its been awhile since my last post. I've been having computer trouble. I know what else is new right?! Now its fixed( thanks to Lana) and I can share the girls' latest adventure. Riley and Piper woke up at 5:00 am on Friday morning and started taking their dresser drawers out to play with them. Ben told them to go back to bed. My husband is a early riser but even that was too early. They go back to bed and get up at nine. I tell them to start putting their clothes back and I will go get breakfast ready. Sounds like a good plan right?! What could possibly go wrong? Aubrey at this point is starting to fuss and I told her to go see what her sisters are doing. Piper then sticks her head out and says " Auuubbbbuuuuurrrreeeyyy come here!" in a singsong voice. That should have been a red flag. For all of you who don't know, Piper is not a big fan of her little sister or any child littler then her. Don't get me wrong she will play with kids but prefers the older crowd. Plus Aubrey really likes pulling hair and Piper is her main target. I really didn't put too much thought into it, I figured she was trying to avoid picking up her clothes . Riley ( our resident drama queen) starts screaming bloody murder. Nothing new there. I love Riley, she is one of the biggest joys of my life but everything seems to set the waterworks off. After a couple of minutes go by (to see if they resolve the problem first)I called for her. Ready for this? Piper comes out first holding something by its tail. As she is getting closer, I realize it is fuzzy and moving.Its a mouse! Not Mickey but a real one. By now I am thoroughly grossed out at this point, I told her to set it down. Poor thing is wet and isn't moving, still breathing though. I put him in a bucket and asked for the story. Riley told me the mouse rode on Diego's head (the dog) into the room and when she tried to hold it, it bit her. Piper adds,Diego had him in his mouth and apparently she just picked him up by his tail. At this point all three girls and the dog are surrounding him. Who isn't interested in the mouse? The cat. There is something wrong with this picture right? After a million phone calls later, Riley doesn't need to go in and get a shot. Mice aren't as prone to diseases as other rodents. We released him and hopefully he will be the last mouse my daughters catch.

Prayer

I wanted to take a quick minute to point out the new link I added to my blog. If you click on the
little girl on the top right corner, it will lead you to the Bring the Rain blog. Angie Smith had put together seven prayers you can say for your children during the day. There are verses to go along with it. I encourage everyone to take a minute to read it. One of the most important things we should do as parents, for our children is to be always praying for them.. I would even encourage you to even check out her story too. Her faith and strength is a real inspiration.

First Day of School

Finally I'm getting new pictures uploaded! This is Riley's first day of school. She is in the Ready Four program. I thought last year was hard but this year I think it somehow was harder. She is getting so big. She is four going on twenty! Such the little adult. I'm trying so hard to keep her little but they do grow up so fast, I think even faster then generations past. It always amazes me the things that pop out of her mouth. Riley is so creative and so smart. Would you expect anything less from my child?! Just kidding. I love whenever we are working out details, whether its for a trip to Target( Greatest store ever opened!) or a party, she tells me " Mama, that will be perfect!". I ask myself where she gets comes up with this stuff and find myself pausing as I make plans with my mom or sister, telling them 'That will be perfect' Proving she does listen but only when she wants to. Back to my post, I do tend to get distracted (esp. when talking about the girls) Here are the pictures of her first day of school. Such a big girl! Enjoy!

Look Mama!

No hands!

Waiting for Riley at the bus stop

Yay! Riley is home!

Piper's Birthday

Here are the pictures from Piper's birthday. What a difference a year makes. She is becoming more vocal and has her own opinions on how things should be done, much to Riley's dismay. I also included a picture of her in her Lightening McQueen rain boots. Its hilarious. She kept stealing Riley's slippers and would run around everywhere making vroom vroom sounds. We decided the boots would be more durable.

Halloween Costumes + Toddlers = Headache

I remember when my sisters and me were little, Mom got costumes and we would wear them. End of story. Times have changed or it could be I'm just too nice and decided to ask my very opinionated daughters what they wanted to be for Halloween. Riley wanted to be a pumpkin, Aubrey doesn't care and well Piper kept going between Handy Manny and Nemo.Do you know how hard it is to find a Nemo costume? So to Ebay I went. After losing a million auctions ( who knew Nemo was so popular?) I had pulled out some the girls' older costumes for Gidyun and Lissie. In the process I pulled out the Jo-Jo the clown costume and Piper tried it on. "I want to be Jo-Jo!" she announced very excitedly. Flipping Fantastic! Right?! All of them have costumes right? No, Piper never makes it that easy for me.Monday, as Piper is curled up in my lap she says "Mama, I don't want to be Jo-Jo." Its a good thing she is so stinking cute.

One Week Later

I know I haven't added pictures in awhile. I've been having problems with our computer. With the help of a computer genius, we are working on getting it fixed. So make sure to check back for Riley's first day of school,Piper's Birthday party and Aubrey's silly faces. So I bet everyone is wondering if my floors are done and if not here is the update anyway because not much is going on in The Adams household. So with two hours and twelve minutes to spare, Ben made the one week goal. Last weekend He finished the hall.playroom and three-quarters of the living room. Then everything came to a complete halt. I think he must have read the blog (he rarely does) and decided he wanted to get the floor done. Now he has realized he has enough for the bathroom. I swear he never slows down. I really wish I had his energy level. I'm blessed to have him and tell myself that even when he starts talking about another project that won't take that long!

One Week

We have been talking about what to do with the carpet in our house for awhile. It has just not held up the way it should have and Ben who has been itching to start a new project ( Like he doesn't have enough going on) wants to lay new flooring. I asked him the famous question, How long will this take. Anyone want to guess his answer?! Not that long. As the voice in my head is screaming, "That's what he always says!" The girls room took two weeks( It was supposed to be done in a weekend) I calmly without rolling my eyes or making a snide remark, ask for a more specific timeline. He tells me a week. He originally said a weekend but because he is helping with putting the roof on the pole barn for our church on Saturday he extended it to a week. Stay tuned to see if he finishes in time.