Family Feud

Have you ever seen the game show "Family Feud"? The host asks a team a question and says "The top 5 answers are on the board!" I thought it would be fun to do some Family Feud styled surveys about our family.

Top 5 Reasons Liliana Gets Out of Bed After Being Tucked In:
She's thirsty.
She forgot to go potty.
Her undies are bugging her.
She can't fall asleep.
Her eye hurts. (Yes, the eye with her finger poking it.)

6 Popular Breakfast Items on a Weekday:
Cheerios
Pop tarts
Eggo waffles
Oatmeal
Fruit Loops
French Toast sticks

Top 7 Places You Can Find Drake Throughout the Day:
At the living room window.
Pulling all of the movies off of the DVD tower.
Crawling up on the fireplace.
In his highchair, with his apple juice.
Standing between the sliding door and the curtain.
Crawling towards the stairs.
Screeching at the open washer.

Top (AKA: Only) 5 Dinners Cadence Will Happily Eat:
Macaroni and cheese
Hot dogs
Chicken nuggets
Pizza
Spaghetti

Messy Thoughts

Fold the laundry....check.
Load the dishwasher....check.
Pick up the living room...check.
Clean girls' bathroom...check.
Get Cadee's snack for school...oh crud..is that tomorrow? No, I think that's next week. Where is that schedule? I think it's in this drawer. *dig, dig, dig* No, Drakey, you can't have that pencil. Ooo a coupon for laundry detergent. We are almost out. What else was I supposed to add to that list? Toothpaste? No. Dish soap? No. Let's go look upstairs and see if I can remember. (Standing in my room, thinking real hard about what I might need) Hm, I should make my bed. It always looks nicer in here when the bed is made. That reminds me, Drake peed through his jammies last night. I need to strip his bed! (After loading the washer with his bedding..) Drakey? Drake! Oh, hey buddy. What are you doing in my bathroom? Oh yuck. I need to sweep this floor. C'mon. Let's go get the broom, mister. (Open the pantry to get the broom) Ooo! Hot chocolate mix. That sounds good. (Looking for milk in the fridge) Shoot. Not enough left for dinner tonight. Where's my list? I need to get groceries. Oh yeah, Cadee's snack. C'mon, Little Man, let's go get you dressed. 

Dear February

You have brought some heartache, death and sickness to my life. But I choose not to dwell on the bad. I am forcing myself choosing to be joyful and reflect on all of the good that our family got out of this month. 
You have brought us abundant family time. With both of my families. I was able to endure and enjoy a car ride with my kids to Nana and Bapa's- 3 hours away. We spent time with friends, family and the great outdoors. Hubby and I were able to make the trek to visit his family for his brother's birthday as well. 
You developed my son in leaps and bounds! I was almost kinda concerned that he wasn't crawling much, waving or pulling himself up yet. Now he does all that and more! Including sitting up in the tub, transitioning from standing to sitting, crawling to sitting, entertaining himself in his room, and so much more. What a blessing to be here and see all of these changes.
You have given me a million reminders as to why being a stay at home mom is exactly where I'm needed right now. With all of the sickness, I have been here. Snuggling my kids, wiping their noses and fetching them water. 
You have dropped alot of snow on us! It has been so fun watching the girls play outside together. Giggling and wrestling in the snow. In fact, the most recent snow storm brought the perfect snowman snow! Plus, a half a day off from school! 
You have prompted a most perfect date day with my oldest daughter. That day will be forever in my memory. And hopefully in hers as well.
You held a meeting with some very special women in my life. I was honored to sit in a circle with all of them brainstorming about the future of Des Moines Moms Blog. And sip a latte. 
You were the first date night Hubby and I have had without a baby present since before Drakey was born. I spent the entire day prepping for it- doing my hair, nails, make up and picking out my clothes. I love getting a little fancy for my hubby. 
You hosted my dad's and nephew's birthday celebration! While we did miss my sister for this, we enjoyed pizza and yellow cake with peanut butter frosting (Dad's fave!). Lots of kids in our home, and we didn't see them very much! It's awesome to have several levels for entertaining. 
Ok, February, you weren't so bad. But, I will gladly welcome March tomorrow with the hope of spring and sunshine. Thank you for the sweetness that you filled my life with. You can keep your hardships. Please don't infect March with them...give Her a chance to be beautiful and blessed. 

Date Day with my Peanut

Today, I did something that I hadn't done in a long loooong time. I took my daughter on a date! She didn't go to school this morning due to an orthodontist appointment (yes, ORTHODONTIST! Aaa!!). We were able to extend our time together this morning and have a date. It was so nice to hear her giggle, see her silliness first-hand and listen to her go on and on about how great her day was this evening. My little peanut is growing up so fast. I cannot believe she is 8 years old. I loved being able to sit and chat with her over lunch and talk about school. About her friends. About what she likes to do and eat. About her having her own room again. About everything Cadee. 
See, no one tells you about the bittersweetness of motherhood. And even if someone had tried, you have to experience it yourself to truly understand. About how I'd give anything to freeze time right now, but also, I love seeing the little woman she is becoming, and I am anxious to see the grown woman she will become. It is so important to me to live each moment IN the moment. Because, yes, I would love to go back to the tiny cuddly 2 year old days, but I absolutely adore taking my big girl to lunch and chatting about life. 

Precious time with my little girl

A girl after my own heart! She chose
Chick-Fil-A for our lunch date.

Confessions

Some confessions about my life right now...

~Giving up sweets is proving to be quite difficult.

~I still rock my 8 month old baby boy to sleep each night and I am not ashamed. (Yes, tomorrow is his 9 month birthday, but today, he is still 8 months old!)

~Turns out, an 8 year old with an iPod is *okay*. It gives me something major to take away when she is grounded. 

~That moment when all of my kids are snoring in their beds is pure bliss for me. I love my kids. I also love them when they sleep. 

~I feel like I've won the lottery when I wake up in my house each day. I love it here.
~My son finally likes bath time! He gets to sit up, splash and play! 

~I am concerned Lili will be more wild than we can imagine as she grows up... Praying NOW.

~I love to cook and bake for a crowd! I'd love it even more if the dishes magically cleaned themselves. 

~Lili's Bieber fever is rubbing off on all of us... Especially JB's Beauty and a Beat. It gets the whole fam dancing.

8 Months Old

This handsome little boy is 8 months old today. On the eve of his 8 month birthday, he decided he was going to not only crawl across the room, but also, pull himself up on his Little People house. I about freaked out. Then I realized, this was a glimpse into what our future holds. That he is not only going to accomplish the norm, but go even one step further. A show off? Perhaps. An overachiever? Most definitely. He also tried some green beans last night and actually let me put them in his mouth! I am feeling rather rested because our little man slept from 7:45pm-4:45am STRAIGHT THROUGH. That rarely happens! Then he ate and fell back asleep until 6:30.
Our Drakey.... Loves to watch the washing machine. (We have a front loader that fascinates him!) Squeals when he sees the bus, knowing his sisters' hugs and kisses are not far behind. ADORES his daddy. Each day that Daddy comes home is his favorite time of the day. He squeals and reaches for Daddy and won't let go for a very long time. He thinks he's all big and loves to sit, crawl, roll, scoot around the living room, finding new things to get into. He doesn't care for baby food, but we are trying everyday! He sits up in the bathtub now! He loves to play with the toys and fling his arms around to splash Mommy. Peek-a-boo still makes him giggle. He has a really ticklish back! He squeals and giggles when I tickle it with my chin.
We are unbelievably blessed by this little guy and the way his smile makes all of our grumpiness go away.
We love you, Drakey! 

Little Mister

Our little man is growing up so stinkin fast! It is unreal to think about how tiny and dependent he was just 7 months ago. I can hardly believe it's the same little baby. He is amazing. He scoots, almost crawls, babbles, plays with toys, sits up, wiggles into small spaces and gets stuck, eats baby food (kinda), and says Dada and Mama ("Mama" is mostly said when he's tired, hungry or sad. But I'm ok with that!) Lately, he has been grinning and then squinting his eyes and scrunching his nose. It is adorable, to say the least. He cheers all of us up with his squeals and giggles. Even his sisters. If they are having a rough time, all it takes is a hug or a giggle from their brother and they are smiling too. We are so blessed by our little mister.

1. Already driving! ;) 2. Rolling around 3. Smiley boy 4. Sitting up like a big boy! 5. Eating some sweet potatoes 6. How he tells me he is ready to be picked up. He looks like a skydiver. 

On his hands and knees! I tried to tell him crawling isn't allowed in this family. But he is determined!

He really wants to crawl! And everyone encourages him to do so! I tried to explain to the girls that they will be sorry when he starts getting into their toys because he can.

We love our smiley guy. He melts our hearts.