Snow Day!

So . . . I'm kind of ready for spring. But it appears that Mother Nature has other ideas.

This morning the girls were a little more than excited to wake up to this:

It didn't take long for them to haul out the snow bibs, mittens, hats, coats, and boots . . .

. . . and settle in to some fun with the white stuff.

My little budding photographer. Sierra always has her camera with her. I love it :)

Kam was immediately intrigued by the snow.

Hmmm, what can I do with this stuff?

A little taste perhaps?

Ick!

After an hour or so of traipsing through the "forest", making snow angels, and other such fun, we were ready to go inside . . .

and enjoy some hot cocoa.

{And y'all can refrain from commenting on how grown up Kam looks in this photo, k? Where did my baby go???}

Oh, but before I go . . . see this? This house here . . .

It's finished.

We're just waiting on a heat vent or two, a couple of inspections, and {oh yeah} the appraisal to come back.

Prayers for all of the above {actually, no need to pray about heating vents, lol!} are always greatly appreciated. I probably don't have to mention what a stressful time this is for us as we await a whole bunch of decisions that we have very little control over.

Give it to God. Give it to God.

I'm really trying.

Happy Birthday Kenna!

This tiny little bundle turns 6 years old today. Seriously? Six? It's like she's a big girl now, or something. :(

Kenners is definitely her own girl. Kind of caught in the middle right now, she's stuck between wanting to be a big girl, and rather liking to pass on the responsibility that it entails.

Makenna, you always find joy in the little things. You handle disappointment the best out of all of us. If something doesn't work out, no sweat. You just go about your business.

You continue to make us laugh {or scratch our heads} daily. I would love to climb inside your head for just a day to see how your mind works. You have this refreshing way of looking at the world.

You share my love of food ;)

And you're growing into such a beautiful young lady.

Inside and out.

Love you, Bug! Happy 6th birthday!!

It's Kind Of Like Craftsman

We celebrated another birthday over the weekend.

Miss Makenna turns 6 years old tomorrow. Sigh.

Because her birthday falls in the middle of the week this year, and because we have family members who live an hour's drive away, we planned the party for Sunday. And we enjoyed a fun-filled, very busy day!

That morning, Jeremy took all three girls down to our creek to fish, and Kameryn caught her first fish ever. So very exciting! And the rest of the day was spent preparing for the party.

Kenners insisted on a simple Fun-fetti cake. She was in charge of the sprinkles ;)

And then she set to work opening the presents. Makenna received quite a few new items from American Girl. In our house, American Girl is a BIG DEAL. Papa, Jeremy's grandpa, was trying to figure out what all of those AG boxes were about, and I overheard Jeremy whisper "It's kinda like Craftsman. There are a lot of accessories." HA! I don't know why, but that just cracked me up.

Poor Kam, she wasn't sure what to think. First came Christmas. Or rather, several Christmas celebrations in a row. All including gifts for her. Then came her birthday. A day specifically to celebrate her. Shortly after was Valentine's day. Each of the girls received several little presents. And then . . . Makenna's birthday. And poor little Kam couldn't figure out why she wasn't the one receiving the presents!

Here Kenna, let me help you with that.

Poor little thing, it's a tough lesson to learn, isn't it? Luckily Kenners is pretty good about sharing.

Put On Your Dancin' Shoes

Dance Team season is upon us! I think I've mentioned before that I would love to get involved {again} in activities and events that were once a big part of my life. Sometimes I feel sad that I've let such a huge part of me slip away. But then I remember that I *have* been pretty busy the last 8 or 9 years ;) This may not be the best year to add more to our already full plate, but eventually I would love to introduce my girls more fully to interests their Mama had years ago.

Luckily we haven't strayed too far from dance. Sierra has been taking lessons regularly since she was 3 years old, my older sister is a dance instructor, and my little sis took over coaching dance team for me when I got married. Awwwww.

Last weekend she {little sis, Annie} was up here for a competition, and we got to go watch!

I LOVE it!

The music, the costumes, the makeup, the themes.

I love it all.

And apparently so do my daughters. Even Kam sat intently watching {and every once in awhile whispering "Ooooooh pretty".

Excuse the bars in every.single.photo. We didn't have the greatest seats.

And while we're ignoring things, can we agree to ignore the partial head in the above picture? Mkaythanks. That's my sis, Annie, up there on the far right. She and Beesh {middle} were on the team together when I coached. And now {or actually for many years} they coach together.

And this is their team. The theme this year is the fine line between dream and reality. I have to say, it was a little spooky.

But not spooky like Scappoose's team. Oh no. They're clowns. And I don't mean the happy, friendly ones.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Sunshine!

Just One Of Them Days

You know the ones . . .

When everything seems to line up, and you just go "Ahhhhh. Thank you God for this glorious day!}

That was yesterday.

We had to go grocery shopping. No, we *got* to go. Got to. Right, Connie? We got to the grocery store, found a cart, and proceeded to shop. We were stopped by a very nice woman who told my girls they all looked beautiful.

By the time we were ready to check out, it had gotten quite busy. There were long lines. I picked one, and as soon as I did, a checker came right up to me and said he could help me on aisle two. Thank you!

We strolled out to the car, unloaded the bags, and then I proceeded to put the cart away. On the way back I was stopped by *another* lady whom we had run into {not literally} several times in several aisles. She just wanted to tell me that my girls were so well behaved and sweet. She said "you don't often see that nowadays". Awwwww.

By this time, it was lunch time. There is a McDonald's across the parking lot. {Don't judge}. We were the first ones in line at the drive thru. By the time we were leaving the parking lot, there were seven cars in line, and more waiting to turn in.

We drove down a little further to the gas station. This gas station is notorious for taking *FOREVER* to receive help {we live in Oregon ~ no self-serve pumps}. As soon as I pulled up, someone came right over. I was in and out in a jiffy.

I had one more stop on the way home, to pick up an ink cartridge for our printer. We got a parking place right.up.front.

~~~~~~~

Now, don't get me wrong. We had our fair share of frustrations yesterday too. Life is especially stressful right now with our new house, appraisals, inspections, and the interest rate climbing every single day. But sometimes I think that if we stop and take note of the little, precious, day-today things that make us smile, we will find a lot more joy.

It's really all in how we view it, don't you think?

~~~~~~~~~

Now, what's made *you* smile recently?

Ultrasound News

It's been a loooong day. A long, emotional day. Is it just me, or do emotions wear you out too? I'm so ready for bed, but Kam took a surprise nap this afternoon, so she is still WIDE awake ;)

Besides, if I'm going to mention that Wednesday is ultrasound day, I shouldn't leave you hanging.

This little pumpkin here . . .

{Yes, the one yawning. Isn't that the cutest??}

Is . . .

another girl.

It's been emotional. We are so blessed to be having another, healthy girl. I know this. And I love girls! The pink, the frilly, the bows.

But I always thought we would have a son too. That's all.

It Is Seriously Difficult To Take A Picture Of Oneself

Okay, so I heard ya. You want a "belly shot". Would you believe that I haven't taken one yet? I don't think I ever snapped one when I was pregnant with Kam . . . or Kenners. And the one and only shot I have with Sierra was on our way to the hospital. Sad.

Anyway, I attempted to take one today.

By myself.

No easy task, let me assure you.

First I ended up with this one.

Oooh, nice face there Liz. Do I look like a deer caught in headlights, or what?! Apparently it is much too complicated to hold a camera, press the shutter button, and look human all at the same time. And let's not focus too long on all my beautiful pregnancy hormone induced acne.

Alrighty, a little smile. That's better. Of course, the head-on shot makes me look twice as huge. Plus, I'm still feeling a little spacey in this one.

Okay, three hundred millionth time's a charm. There we have a bit of a smile, not {quite as} spacey, and look, I'm even turned to the side a little. It'll have to do.

Now, to answer some questions:

I am about 20 weeks. {I say "about" because by my calculations ~ um, hello, I've had three children, I think I know when I got pregnant ~ I am 21 weeks, but by the midwife's calcs I'm 19 1/2. I'm just going with somewhere in the middle}.

Yes, we are planning on finding out whether we'll be having a boy or girl. The big day is Wednesday!! Any guesses? ;)

And those are the only questions I can remember being asked right now. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Other things we've been up to . . .

Sunday school crafts.

Is this the cutest Moses craft ever? We thought so too.

We picked out our appliances, and they have been delivered.

So happy to have this done!

And clothes rods and closet shelves are done! At least, they're done for now. We'll likely be putting in more shelving in the future.

We even made time for a quick library trip after the carpet store today. It has been way too long!

Better

Our week has definitely improved, thank you SO much for the sweet comments and emails. I miss the blog world so much. I miss documenting our lives, I miss checking in on y'all. But I am trying to make peace with the fact that this just happens to be a very very busy season of life for us. We are officially in the final stages of house building. We still don't have an exact move-in date, but it has to be soon. Our microwave was just installed today, for heaven's sake. We're equipped to pop popcorn, I'd say we're ready to move in! ;) In all honesty, we probably have a couple more weeks. The way things have been going, maybe even a few more weeks. Everything takes so much longer than you anticipate. But it's just around the corner.

Other things that have been keeping us occupied:

All of the {horribly frustrating, time-consuming, and stressful} aspects of dealing with refinancing and mortgage loans. Prayers would be greatly appreciated, if you feel so inclined.

A new bible study. I started Beth Moore's ~ Esther. Oh how I love it! Seriously, this is my favorite so far. It seems that some of y'all have done this one. If not, I HIGHLY recommend it. And I'm only on week 2.

The {FABULOUS} Photographers' Workshop ~ with Karen Russell. Did I mention I won an auditing spot in this class? I have wanted to take a photography class/workshop for a long time. And I'm THRILLED to be enrolled this session ~ even if it is during the busiest time of my life, lol! Hey, giveaway winners can't be choosers. ;)

And, of course, this happens to be a busy birthday season for us as well. We had a lovely birthday celebration for Kam last weekend. Everyone was feeling better, and ready for some partyin'! :) I'll leave you with a couple of pictures: