Claire and Eily/ Ballet and Gymnastics 2011

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Swimming Lessons 2011

Claire has come along way from last week where all she would do is scream and cry between her turns to swim.

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The air conditioner is out and I am so hot that I almost feel unable to type. There really hasn't been much going on that's news worthy. Thus the lack of posts.

Ha. Elaina just pressed herself against the glass door on the front of a house and said, "Oh, this is cold. It feels so good." She looks like a bug squished against the glass.

We have been super, duper busy every day. Monday through Friday we had swimming lessons and a few other days in the week we also had gymnastics, tap and ballet and then gymnastics again. Then we always have to run errands, shop, etc... and then come home and try to get some housework done.  Swimming lessons are draining because Claire cries and screams the whole time. But despite the drama, all three girls have learned how to swim free-style in one week. I love it. I'm hoping by the end of next week I'll have a couple of beginner divers.  Next week is our last busy week where we have to be gone every day. Hallelujah. After that, the gym activities will all be at the same time on one day and the rest of the days we can stay home if we need to and I can get caught up on the housework and the laundry. And then, in three weeks.......we start school! I'm so ready and so excited and so eager to get started. I am ready for routine again. We have traveled so much this summer and had a great time but I am sufficiently traveled out.

Well, I am signing off since we once again have to get out the door and go somewhere.

Oh yeah. And I got a haircut that Jason deemed "the best haircut I've had in years." :)

Eeyore's in the house

Elaina, my generally happy, content, easy-going child has been rather hum-drum and emotional these past few weeks.

Tonight, as we were getting in the car to come back from church, I snapped two little twigs off a tree and gave them to Eily. As we were driving, Eily said, "Tonight my dreams came true. I wished for these two sticks to take home and I have them!" Claire then piped up and said, "Well I wished that after we slept at Dan and Caitlin's house that we would go to Lillie's Gram's house and look where we are! My wish came true!!"  Then Eeyore, Elaina mumbled, "Well my wish didn't come true." I asked her, "What was your wish?" She replied, "I don't know. But it didn't come true."

Here we go again.

The girls and I are on our way to Texas. Well, actually we are already in Texas but we still have a ways to go. Last night we stopped in Dallas at my cousin's house. This morning, sadly, we woke up. And we are about to head out the door and travel to Lockhart. This part of the trip *should* be an hour less than yesterday's trip.

Caitlin's house is gorgeous. And her hostessing is immaculate. We had a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and breakfast sausage. Our beverage was served in delicate little tea cups which of course my children found to be the most delightful thing. Caitlin also had two tubs full of her dress-up clothes. If you know my children then you know how exciting that was to them.

Well, I need to round up the troops get out the door. Goodbye cute little yellow house. We loved staying here and we'll see you on the flip side.

3 very uninteresting things

It's been anything but newsworthy around here. We did have some water come up from under the carpet yesterday. A lot of water actually. So by 11:30 last night we were finally saying goodbye to the carpet cleaning men and bunking down for the night. We had to sleep all over the house because the bedrooms are being dehydrated. Eily and Claire were in our bed, Nora James was in the pack-n-play in the studio, Elaina was on the mattress from the crib on the living room floor and Jason and I took the couches.

We've eaten a lot of fresh pineapple lately.

I'm in love with Basil. I think it's time for Rosemary to feel threatened.

This is really neat. This girl is wearing the same dress for 100 days straight to raise money for orphans.

For me to remember

1. Eily came in the kitchen crying. "I got water in my nose!" Me: "You got water in your nose while brushing your teeth? How did you do that?" Eily: " I was trying to goggle and I put the goggle in my nose."
Translation: I was gargling and some of it splashed into my nose. .

It was good for a chuckle.

2. The girls were looking out the front door. Claire, in a sweet, soft voice that one might use to talk to a baby: "Elaina, look! There's the dog that pooped on our tree the other day. Awwwww." 

Really? Awwww??

3. (My favorite moment of the morning) Yesterday Claire was recovering from a little fever and was still in a very emotional, cranky mood. At one point she was sent to my bed and after a while I went in there and we talked about having a christian attitude and how that means we should strive to be like Jesus. We are human so we will make mistakes but we should always try to do what Jesus would do.
I overhead Claire talking to Elaina this morning. (This was right after the pooping dog came to visit and probably make a deposit.)
 "Elaina! I was about to grab that stelecope out of your hands and I remembered, be like Jesus! So I took my hand back. Momma told me yesterday to always do what Jesus would do. And I did!"

As a side note I would like to state that Elaina, hearing what Claire said, smiled and said, "Here Claire, you can have the telescope. I'll be sweet too!"

It's been a good morning.

And a shout out to Aunt Sarah for the "stelecope." It's been a very popular toy.

Fashion Show! Fashion Show! Fashion show at lunch! (What's that from?)

We love our girls and how they make us laugh.

Let's just go until someone guesses correctly.

Here is the category:

Plant


1.Is it a flower?  NO
2.Is it something that has blood and bone? NO
3.Is it a type or class of thing as opposed to a specific individual thing? NO
4.Is it an herb? NO
5.Is it a plant you would find in a garden? NO
6.Can you see this item and not just the effects of it? YES
7.Is it a building? NO
8.Does it bear fruit? NO
9.Is it in its natural state or form? NO
10.Is it poison ivy? NO
11.Is it harmful to humans? NO
12.White processed flour? NO
13.Is it primarily made of wood? YES
14.Can it be used as a medicine or remedy? NO
15. Is it used by a well-known person? YES
16. Is the person known through a movie? NO
17. Is the person known through a book? YES
18. Is this person from the past? YES
19. Is it the Ark? NO
20. Is it the Hundred Acre Wood? NO
21. Is it Aaron's rod? NO
22. Is it in the Bible? NO
23. Was this person a real person? YES
24. Was this a series of books? YES
25. Was the person the author? NO
26. Was this person related to the author? YES
27. Was this person the main character of the series? NO
28. Little House books? YES!
29. Is it Pa's fiddle? YES! YES! YES!

That was fun. Did you enjoy it?




Congratulations Mom! Good guessing. :)

You know what would be so much fun? Playing 20 Questions through Blogger. I think how it will work is I will give you the category and then the first person to ask a question will be the question I answer. The questions have to be yes or no questions.

Here is the category:

Plant

Ready? Set? Go!!

We have been gone for a week and I will post some pictures from that trip soon. In the meantime, I'll show you what happened this evening...

A piece of us.

I always feel like a refrigerator is a good reflection of the family in whose house it resides. I usually spend a good 5 minutes just standing and looking at the notes and pictures covering its front and sides. I decided to give you a peek at our refrigerator and its decorations. Feel free to take 5 and analyze.

Shall we delve in?

Here we have a magnet that I bought for Jason on our second anniversary. He was finishing school and the future was somewhat of a question mark. We also see a note on a napkin. A few months ago, Marketplace was running a special where kids ate for free during a certain time of the day. Jason met us in Fort Smith and we had a yummy meal. When the waiter brought us the payment booklet, this napkin was inside instead of a receipt. If you want to read it just click on the picture. It was a pretty cool night.

This little section of the fridge is fun. There is the first picture Jason and I ever took together. Jason had it in a little frame for years but it finally broke and the picture earned a spot front and center. There is also a fortune that came out of a fortune cookie that reads, "Your financial outlook is great at this time." It always makes me laugh because at the time our financial outlook was the exact opposite. There is also a comic strip that my cousin, Kathryn, mailed to me a long, long time ago. It's pretty funny and a good example of our mentality during the time we opened that fortune cookie. There is a Lucy magnet from my friend, Kayla. It represents my college life when, more than once, I performed the Vitameatavegamin routine in their kitchen. And there is a sweet picture of Claire that my cousin took while she was babysitting so that Jason and I could go to Jason's biological father's funeral. It was originally placed there to get it off the bar and throughout the years it has become a fixed item. And last, there are a few of my George Washington magnets I bought last year when Kathryn and I visited Mt. Vernon. 

There's not a lot to say about this section. A few magnets that I loved and a picture of me from college. That's to remind Jason that inside this worn-out, fatigued body is a skinny, well-rested, kept up lady that has a personality. In other words, don't despair. :)

These are just my super cool grocery/menu pads.

Now in this section of the refrigerator we have a picture of the girls from a few years back. I love how fat Eily looks in this picture. There is also the List of Attainments to remind me what to work on with Elaina.

I love this. It's a strip from a photo booth in the mall. The girls did this for Jason's father's day card last year.

This picture is pretty obvious. I have small children.

What might be a bit of a puzzlement is the white scarf placed over a majority of the magnets.

I have no explanation.

Rosemary Casseroles

I just took a pan of yeast dinner rolls out of the oven and Eily came running over.

E- "Mmm, I just love casseroles!"
Me- "You do? Well these are dinner rolls, not casseroles."
E- "Oh. (little laugh) well, I just love dinner rolls."

Then she watched as I sprinkled a little rosemary on the top of the rolls.

E- "Blech. I don't like sticks. Do you like those sticks?"
Me- "These aren't sticks, these are little pieces of rosemary and I love them."
E- "Hey! You're married and you like casserole rosemary! That's hilarious!"

And then she ran away.

Oh Happy Day

Jordan Ferney at Oh Happy Day is doing a giveaway for a trip to Paris, France for two. Wouldn't that be lovely to win?

This was one of those things that was really funny but now that I'm trying to type it out as a story it's sounding a little boring and not at all funny. But it really was. Really!

Elaina hates to get in trouble and there are times when she says something a little rude to one of the other girls, we get on to her for it and she says, "Well, I was just joking." Yesterday, while driving home from Fort Smtih, Jason was trying to explain the difference between a joke and a lie to Elaina.  First, he gave her an example of a lie and then he started to give an example of a joke.

J- "Elaina, why did the chicken cross the road?"
E- "Where? What chicken? I didn't see the chicken! Girls, did you see the chicken? Daddy just saw a chicken going across the road!!"

Woosh! Right over her head.

We have a winner!

Congratulations CELEBRATED. You are the only person to get the answer exactly right.

Daddy, Elaina loves you. Elaina is proud of all paintings.

Email your address to jaybeksacran@gmail.com and I will get the card in the mail. By the way, I enjoy keeping up with your blog. Who would have thought that years down the road I would be mailing you a Starbucks gift card? :) Life is fun.

First pool day of the summer

Nora's first stroller ride

No one has gotten the answer to the contest exactly right. I'm keeping it open until we have a winner.

http://bekahsacran.blogspot.com/2011/05/you-know-what-this-picture-means.html

Nora Quotes

Eily, holding Nora this morning,
"I love you baby. You're just so....babyish."


Elaina, watching Nora eat at 3am,
"Once I put my eyes on her I just can't get them to turn away. She's so cute and little and, well, (laughing a little) fat."