Volunteering

 Eden and I were able to have a little mommy/daughter date on Saturday.  Our ward gave us the wonderful opportunity to do some community service.  A Lutheran church group in Kansas City holds a service project every year and they ask the LDS church to come because if there's a service project that is child friendly, you can count on us to be there.  They take food from a food pantry, fill up bags of Thanksgiving-ish food, and give it out to those who are less fortunate.  We put the food in bags, decorated the bags, and also made Christmas cards.

When we got home, Eden went to work decorating our refrigerator in the same way she learned to decorate the Christmas cards.  I love it.

What's Going On

Walking...that's what going on.  And boy does she love to be "big" like everyone else.  She also blows kisses which is one of our favorite things in the world.

We also added a few new members to our household....fish.

Eden has been BEGGING for pet fish for ages and we kept saying "When we move to Kansas City" and then we got here and we had to pay for this and that and fish kept getting delayed.  But we could break her heart no longer and finally got her fish.

We ended up getting guppies from a neighbor after her fish had babies.  So, they are teeny, tiny little guys....six of them to be exact (obviously they are small since the first picture looks just like an empty tank.  The biggest one (shown above) is named Bruce.  He is the only fish with a real name, partially because he's the only one we can tell apart from the others since he is quite a bit larger than the rest.  Eden is pretty insistent that she wants to name one of them Gloria...but we are unsure which one.

The girls love their little fish.  They supposedly get their fun colors as they grow older, but for now they are pretty colorless.  Eden doesn't seem to mind.  She loves feeding her fish and being with her fish.  It was well work it to get these fish.

Halloween...and the Rest of October...

Its strange how Halloween ends up a bigger and more exciting holiday for us.

Perhaps its because its the beginning of the BIG holiday season events...and its time to get our craft on.

Monsters...

 "BEWARE" signs (I wish you could actually read them...the kids made them up.  They say things like "Beware!  Vampires and Zombies live here!")

 Other little critters and creatures to decorate our windows.

 Pumpkin muffins with spider cream cheese frosting.

 

 Laura, Eric, Trey, and Ramona were able to come visit..which definitely added to our fun and excitement.  The kids were thrilled to see cousins again!

 We celebrated Tyson's birthday.  For his birthday present, he got 2 days off of work!  Wahoo!

More crafts...

 There were a few Halloween party get togethers that we had and were tons of fun.  With face painting, tons of candy, games, etc.

 Lady bugs are now EVERYWHERE.  The girls had a hay day trying to look at and collect ladybugs.  Although, we were warned to NOT touch the yellow ones cause apparently they bite.

 I end up making all food with a Halloween theme.  I actually made these with eyes...then Eden took one chocolate chip out of each and said, "they are eyeballs!"  I actually think her idea was better than mine.

 I found this online for meringue ghosts and wanted to try them.  They were fun and cute.

Daddy took them out trick or treating in the neighborhood.  Eden was a ladybug, Leila was a doctor (which she was SO excited to be able carry around daddy's real stethoscope around the neighborhood), and Molly was a little Indian (which she never keeps things in her hair...but for some reason she KNEW she was supposed to keep this Indian headband on and she kept it there the entire time).

Its all been fun!

The Important Things in Life

I feel like I only blog about my children.

I suppose they are the important things in life.

So, I'll continue to blog about them.

I could sit here and tell you all about Kansas City and how truly wonderful it has been here.  Like the incredible rain storms that seem to come and go occasionally creating my favorite smell in the world, wet cement.  Then the kids begging me to go outside in their umbrellas and boots to go puddle jumping.

 Or I could tell you an story about how we get through "those days" using food for comfort.  My chocolate and ice cream addiction has definitely hit a few peaks and I'm sure that it is all rubbing off on Molly who gets great joy out of new foods like pretzels, avocado, pancakes,...small rocks... etc.

 I could sit and tell you horribly negative things about how my children are monsters.  But really that's just not true.  They are wonderful kids.  I admit I often am glad when it is bedtime and I have a few moments of silence to enjoy, but I often enjoy more those times when I overhear them playing nicely together and becoming more than sisters, they are becoming friends or those times when they want me to read book after book after book after book to them or when Eden uses her drama to say things like "mom, this is the BEST meal I've EVER had" or when Leila makes a discovery and simply states "yep, that's pretty cool" or when Molly blows kisses over and over and over again.

 Or I could tell you about our adventures meeting "the stars".  Talking about how we went to a mermaid party and Ariel (not just this tablecloth you could pose in front of) actually came to read the children a story and Eden's face lit up and followed her...EVERYWHERE.

Hmm....well, I guess I did tell you all those things...

I'm so lucky.

I've been studying a lot about the role of women and while I am far from really understanding everything, I know that I'm blessed beyond measure to have the opportunity and ability to be a wife and mother.  God has already blessed me more than I can imagine.

"School Pictures"

Since I'm homeschooling this year, I decided to do my own version of "school pictures".  Definitely nothing fancy because I don't have a camera (except on my phone) and I don't want to spend the money for a professional.

We actually are creating a "Me Book" and I took a bunch of pictures this day of their favorite things and I'm in the process of putting it all together to create a little book.

My last post had Molly's school picture.  So, here are Eden and Leila's.

I love these girls.  A little about each of them...

Eden - She's a sweet spirit.  She loves playing with friends, "riding" her bike (put in parenthesis because more often than not, she is WALKING her bike), drawing, and talk-talk-talking.  She loves homeschool and primary.  She most recently told me that when she grows up she wants to "draw pictures for books".  She is my cautious child that will never overeat sweets for fear of getting sick and will never ride fast on her bike but is constantly pushing the breaks.  If you've ever read the story "Chester's Way" by Keven Henkes, she kind of reminds me of Chester...with a slight bit of Lily in her.  If you've never read the book, we like that one.

Leila - She's my spunk.  She loves candy, fruit, and most anything dealing with food.  The way to Leila's heart is definitely through her stomach.  She is daring and fun, has a smile that will brighten any day, and she finds pride in "doing" things (which Eden takes advantage of because Eden doesn't like to do things and will always ask Leila to do them for her...and Leila almost always does).  Leila has a really funny sense of humor, is very good at puzzles and figuring things out on her own.  She also has a die hard love for the color blue.

Molly - I already wrote about her last post.  But in new news, she's grown in two teeth!  It came along with a fever and earaches, but her teeth popped up!  She has also learned how to blow kisses and loves throw her arms in the air and say "BOP!"

Tyson has also been doing well with work.  I can't complain really...I'm totally spoiled thus far.  He works from 8-6 and never weekends of holidays or on-call.  But he does start doing a few days of weekend on-call starting soon.  He does need to "hide" for a few hours a day to study, but I'd rather him be home (even if studying) than to just have him be "at work".  For a resident's wife, I'm happy with the schedule thus far.  We are anticipating a few upcoming months where I'll be practically husbandless...but at least I know its coming.

I've been doing well.  I keep myself busy with the kids, school, cleaning, cooking...you know, the motherly stuff.  Today was a proud moment...I got a pass to the YMCA and exercised.  My first spinning class.  I plan on making this a regular event.  There's no excuses now, they give me free childcare while I exercise.  And they also have an exercise class for kids.  I'm taking the kids tomorrow and they are excited, hopefully they stay excited about it because my kids could probably use a little bit of exercise in their lives...

So, that's life.  Things are great.  Life is great.  We have our ups and downs, but our ups outnumber the downs.  Heavenly Father has blessed our family more than words can tell.  I'm grateful.

Molly...and ONLY Molly

My intent was NOT to only post about Molly...

Seems my computer has a bias and I can't seem to locate where the pictures (that I KNOW I took) of Eden and Leila have gone.  For some odd reason, only the pictures of Leila seem to appear.  I guess it just knows a cutie pie when it sees one.

Molly has quite developed a fun little personality over the past few months.  She's now 9 1/2 months old and she's a whole lot of spunk and a whole lot of fun.  She sits, crawls, walks when you hold her hands, can say a few things, and is always willing to try and try again.

She definitely knows what she likes...for example...when Leila sits on my lap, she knows that she DOESN'T want Leila there...because obviously mom's lap is her territory.  She loves musical toys and dancing and singing.  She love water and taking tubs.  She loves Sandra Boynton books, especially "Moo. Baa. La La La." (which was also an Eden favorite long, long ago).  She loves her mom and often when dad takes her away you'd think that he pinched her by the way she gets upset.  She also loves food...but she can only feed herself...heaven forbid anyone try to help.

But man she's cute as a button.  We love her so.

What's Going On?

I feel so distant from everyone....

Guess that's what comes from moving to a different state.

Life's been great here in Kansas City.  We have been blessed with a wonderful town home in Riverside with 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, and A BASEMENT.  That's quite an upgrade for us.

Tyson did TONS of work on the house before we got here.  Tearing down wood paneling, tearing up carpet, and tons of electrical.  Not to mention that he unpacked most everything before I even came to Missouri.  Yes, I have an amazing husband.

My parents drove out with me and the kids (thank goodness I didn't have to make that trek alone).  It was an incredible blessing and so fun to have them with us for a while to explore.  We went to the zoo and Oklahoma Joe's...between those two things, who could ask for more?  Seriously, the zoo was WAY fun and Oklahoma Joe's...well, let's just say that if you're initial thought was "what's that?" then you are missing out.  Missing out on the best BBQ ever.  And its even inside a gas station...yes, that's right, a gas station.

I didn't take enough pictures...like usual.  But here are a few.

 Molly is as cute as ever.  She insists on being big and will pretty much only eat if she can do it herself.  I can't believe she's 9 months old.  Time flies.  She crawls, stands, walks along furniture, says a few animal sounds, and loves the dishwasher.

 Eden found a book full of fun little activities for kids.  This is one she found and REALLY wanted to do...so I said, "sure, why not"  Blue jello and swedish fish.  Their own ocean in a bag.

The zoo...and my kids are possibly wilder than the animals.  Actually, I KNOW they are...the animals at the zoo tend to be pretty tame looking creatures....these girls don't look so tame to me.

What else have we been doing while in Missouri?

Homeschool.

There...I admitted it.

Its hard for me to admit because I get various opinions and facial expressions when I let people in on the secret.  But I had to admit it eventually.  But the girls love it.  If you want to ask me questions about why, how, when, or what I do...feel free.  I don't mind at all....but I prefer if no one stones me for it.  Just know that I'm not doing this to be "anti-public school" or to create "genius children" or because we are "better than everyone else" and we feel good about this decision.  We are not sure how long we will home school, but we plan on it for at least a few years.