In Case You Were Wondering...

Yup. It happened.We are expecting our new little one at the end of February. For the first few weeks, I was feeling fine and nothing out of the ordinary. For a short time there, I was starting to feel a bit guilty and was wishing for just a slight tinge of morning sickness just so I would be absolutely certain it was true. (Like the positive pregnancy test wasn't enough or something.) Stupid me. What was I thinking? I had it so good before, and now I am just nauseous all day. The worst part? This is just the beginning of it. Thankfully it hasn't progressed to much more than nauseousness, but it still sucks. Now here I am sitting and wishing for those days before where I felt absolutely nothing at all. The good part? I should *hopefully* be done with all the nauseousness by the time school starts. Unless I am one of those unfortunate ones who have to deal with the constant urge to vomit their entire pregnancy. Kinda makes teaching a bit more challenging.

Considering this will be my third baby, I guess you can say I am a veteran to all the pregnancy ailments. Not really. It is so true that EVERY pregnancy is SO different. I just hope and pray that this one goes just as smoothly as my other two. Just like my other pregnancies, I can't stand the taste of crackers. So my food of choice to combat the nauseousness is: It's light enough to keep me from making a fast run to the bathroom, but enough to make my stomach think it's had something to eat to keep from making me take yet another quick run to the bathroom. The heartburn has already set in, so it's my normal routine to just pop a couple tums as I'm getting into bed each night.

The girls are pretty excited. They are thrilled to be welcoming a little brother or sister this winter. We'll see how quickly the novelty will wear off once the baby arrives.

The funniest part was how my parents found out about the baby. We were all camping over the Independence Day holiday weekend. One of the days we were out there, I was stranded in my sister's RV with my mom because of the rain. We were in there playing cards while Meghan, Audrey, and my nephew were playing to pass the time. While we were in the middle of a card game, my mom overheard my girls telling their cousin about the exciting news.

Audrey: "We're going to have a little brother or sister!"

Meghan: "Yeah! Our mommy has a baby in her tummy!"

My mom then looked at me in utter shock and disbelief and desperately looking for answers. I didn't know how to respond to that, so I just laughed. My uproarious laughter then caused my sister, who is deaf, to be very confused and absolutely frantic and desperately wanting to know what was so funny. My mother then told my sister what she heard and then I had two sets of eyes staring me down and intent on finding out the truth. While still laughing, I just shook my head, "yes." They were quite excited. Seriously, who wouldn't be excited?

Considering we hadn't quite figured out how we wanted to tell the grandparents about the baby, I think that turned out well....and quite memorable.

Pinch Me, I Must Be Dreaming!

I'm actually in my new house. I can't believe it.

A whole week later and many unpacked boxes later (and many more to go), I finally have the normal necessities I have grown so accustomed to...except for my dinner plates. Those are still proving to be quite elusive. I was getting so tired of eating off of little kid plastic plates that I went to the Dollar Tree the other day and purchased some dinner plates. They aren't all that bad for spending only a dollar per plate.

I just now got my Internet set up or I would have posted sooner.

Our closing went VERY smoothly. Almost too smoothly. We were in and out of there in less than an hour. I take that as God's final blessing to reassure us that regardless of all we had been through with the banks and underwriters, He wanted us to have this house in the end. Boy, was this whole ordeal quite the headache. There were a few times throughout this whole process where I was starting to doubt whether or not we were supposed to get this house after all. Looking back to how things were for us a year ago, I NEVER would have guessed in my wildest dreams that we would end up here in this city with these jobs and a house that by far exceeds my expectations on what we could qualify for. God has been so good to us.

My parents were such a great help for us during the move. They took the girls for the entire weekend so we could move without worrying about the kids being underfoot while trying to get things moved into the house. One of the most exciting things about all this was being able to go through boxes of stuff that we hadn't seen since last October! That might also be the reason why I can't find my plates. We did have to move quickly, so we weren't really thinking about putting things in boxes and in ways that would be easy to find.

It was so exciting bringing the girls back home to our new house. Jason and I were looking forward to that the entire weekend. We just couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces when they saw their rooms with their beds set up, and all their bedding freshly washed and waiting for them.

Most of my week this week has been consumed with various unpacking and cleaning. I was so overwhelmed with all the unpacking. I didn't seem to be making a dent in anything; after all, I did rearrange my closet six different times this week! I decided that yesterday would officially be "do nothing" day. We ran a bunch of various other errands, but with regards to unpacking or rearranging, I did not do it. It was a nice break. The one thing I have been dreading most is getting the girls' stuff in order. They have SO MANY TOYS! It seemed like a lot when we were living in the basement, but that was the basement. That was 1/4 the size of my whole house now! Now they have TONS of toys that they have recently rediscovered that were hiding in storage for the past eight months.

That has actually been a blessing in disguise. The girls have been so well entertained by toys they haven't seen in months, that they are so consumed with playing that I don't hear from them for hours at a time! That has been nice when unpacking, but they are also leaving quite the trail of various toys behind them. We'll have to re-train them to keep their toys in their rooms instead of strewn all over the house.

Today Jason decided to take the day off work and help me out with the unpacking. We also got a lot of other things done, too! We bought an over-the-stove microwave, and we even got to install it. We also got a great counter-height table for our little nook in the kitchen. We needed a little something for the girls to eat breakfast there instead of going into the dining room to eat. This table is so cool. I'm going to have to take a picture of that and the microwave and post them for next time.

We are also in the middle of our painting project. The family room was pumpkin orange when we bought the house, and now we are in the middle of painting the room in normal colors. What took so long was painting the walls with primer first so the orange doesn't bleed through and altar the color of the new paint. I will have to post a picture of that too when we are done. This has definitely been a busy week, but I am so grateful to be here now. Now this whole move, eight months later, seems real.

Happy Birthday Meghan

Today is Meghan's 5th birthday.

I can't hardly believe she is already 5 years old. I know that doesn't seem very long to some people who have kids who are much older, but these past few years have gone by so quickly.

Meghan has grown up so much just in this past year I am excited for what this year has in store for her. Every day she is amazing me with something else she has learned or with her ability to charm me with her great personality. I know many parents feel this way about their children, so this shouldn't be anything new. I was reflecting on what I had to say about Meghan on her birthday last year, (which you can read here) and I would have to say that Meghan continues to grow in her compassion and love for others, her desire to learn, and being such a good friend to anyone who is around her.

Lately one of Meghan's favorite things to do is to draw pictures for people and to roll them up like a scroll which is held together with a rubber band. It's pretty cute. She LOVES to play on the computer on this website which is great for early literacy development. She is ALWAYS asking me to spell words for her as she has come to the realization that words contain letters and that each letter in a word work with the others to create specific sounds. This is a very exciting age.

I am so blessed to have her in my life. I am so excited for what God is doing in her life and how she is continually learning more about Him and what it means to love Him. I just pray that Meghan continues to learn more about all God has to offer us and that she will learn to listen to God and how to follow Him in everything in her life. I love you, my Meggie Beth. Happy Birthday.

Where Has The Time Gone?

I can't believe it's already December.

I am sitting here reflecting on how drastically my life has changed since September, and I can't believe all this has happened and that I survived it all. Jason quit and started a new job, the girls started at a new daycare, and I quit my job. Most importantly, we have sold our house and we have moved past that obstacle so quickly it sometimes doesn't even seem real. I didn't get much time to process that part. That's what happens when you sell your house in only 4 days.

I would have to say that the most stressful thing about selling our house was having to deal with the petty demands from our buyers. I don't know if those people had ever purchased a home before, but I was getting really sick of them demanding silly little things and making it sound like such a big deal that it would cost us the sale of our house.

Seriously, there are thousands of houses in the world that are in worse condition than ours was in. The things that needed to be fixed were so minor, they had nothing to do with the integrity of the structure itself which would be a greater concern than making sure there was a carbon monoxide detector by the bedrooms. After we had the inspection, I was very pleased to find out that the things that needed to be taken care of were extremely minor and fairly inexpensive. Especially considering the state of the house when we purchased it as a foreclosure over 5 years ago.

I would have to say that the most frustrating thing we had to fix was putting a cover on our window well that lead to the basement. This was something we looked at purchasing a few years ago, but we soon discovered that there is no standard size for window wells, nor did we have a normal size that would fit just about any cover that could be found at your local home improvement store. We ended up purchasing a cover that was more than we wanted to spend, but it was the ONLY one that would fit our obscure size as the cover was adjustable.

When the buyers did their final walk through, they were very upset with the cover we purchased as they didn't feel it was secure enough. It was strong enough to support the weight of two adult males, but they were concerned their toddler would fall through. Give me a break! They also said that it was too loose. Well, Mr. and Mrs. Buyer, first of all, the cover was installed per the installation directions, and you also need to consider that if there is a fire and you are stuck in the basement, you need those little gaps to grab hold of and push the cover out of the way and escape safely. They first asked us to return it, but we refused as all packaging had been disposed of. They then had the nerve to ask us to fork over another additional $500 to have a cover custom made. I don't think so! There were a few other petty demands, but thankfully we were able to get past them and close on our house on the 24th of November.

Here we are living in our new city, but still homeless. We are grateful for wonderful family who have opened up their home and graciously allowed us to invade their home and temporarily call it our own. I have been unemployed for about a month now, and I am definitely feeling the strain of needing to get a job. I adore my girls, but I am not made to be a stay at home mom. I enjoy our summers together, but just about when I am feeling the need to be back at work, the summer is winding down anyways. The girls are also feeling the strain of fewer opportunities for social interaction. The job market isn't really very promising right now. Especially for teachers. Not many teachers leave in the middle of the school year. Except for me.

I do have a job interview set up, but I am feeling somewhat anxious about it. I know in my heart that this is something God had showed to me over a year ago, but I am still struggling with where he is leading me. The job I am interviewing for is basically THE ONLY position available right now, but I am not fully qualified for this position. I had a dream last night that I was basically laughed at during the interview due to my inexperience in this particular field. I know my dream was due to my anxieties and feelings that I am not qualified for the job. I really want this job. I know that if I do get this job, it is yet another confirmation of God's promise for my life and that all we have put our family through in the past few months would all have been for this job and where God is leading me. The other good thing about getting this job is that we would be that much closer to getting our new house. I can't wait to get back into our own place again. Life has been everything but normal for the past few months. I almost forgot what normal looked like.

Audrey

Today is Audrey's 3rd birthday. It's funny how quickly I am able to remember the exact details of the day she entered this world. From the exact time my water broke, to the clothes I wore that day, to the last moments before she was born. She has touched me in such a way that only a parent could understand how a child can affect their life. Forever. I am truly blessed to be her mother. Audrey is such a sweet little girl. I remember what life was like before she was born, and I remember wondering how she would fit into our existing family. It's funny because now I can't imagine what life would be like without her. She is such an important piece in our lives that there would be an Audrey-sized hole in our lives if she were not here with us. There are so many things I love about her, but here are some of the main things that melt my heart:

1. Audrey will melt your heart no matter what she does. It doesn't matter what she is doing--she puts her own flair into the things she does that amaze you and leave you in a puddle of mush on the floor. Like when she takes off her shirt only to the point where the head hole is stuck around the top of her head so that it looks as though her shirt is her new hair. She is then often found prancing around showing off her new hair while flipping it around. It doesn't matter how angry you may be with her at a particular moment because she will just look at you with those big blue eyes and your heart will be hers. Thankfully, she is unaware of this power she has over us because I can definitely see her using it for evil if the situation presents itself. One of my favorite things she does is when she clacks around the tile floor in my heels. Yes, I do get annoyed sometimes at the noise, but it's just so cute how her little feet are swallowed up by my size-10 heels.
   
2. Audrey is super lovable. She is such a bundle of energy and so full of love that you can't help but to fall in love with her. She is ALWAYS willing to give hugs to anyone even if you don't ask for one. I know that after a long day at work, I can always depend on her to make me feel better with an Audrey hug. She just has that way about her that you can't help but to be drawn to her. Another thing she does that just melts my heart is when she calls me "sweetie". She will mimic what I do and how I talk, and then she will talk to me as if our roles had switched and then I am the sweetie. Too cute.
   
3. Audrey is a girlie-girl. She LOVES anything that is deemed "girlie". She is a princess--that is in her own opinion. Audrey will wear a dress everyday if they don't all get dirty first. She will take all her baby dolls everywhere she goes if allowed. Her favorite game to play with Meghan is mommy and baby where Audrey is the mommy most often. She is often found sleeping with her dress-up dresses over her PJ's. She would wear her play heels to daycare if she were allowed to do so. Audrey loves to sit next to me on my bed while I put on my makeup. She likes to play with all my brushes and to "put on" makeup of her own. Audrey got three different types of dress-up clothes for her birthday and couldn't be happier. If only there was a way she could wear everything at once.

Here's some of my favorite pictures of Audrey:

Audrey was born a week early and she was so tiny compared to her sister.

Audrey's first Independence Day Parade. I had too much playing with her to care about the parade.

Audrey's first daycare photo. I just love the look on her face in this picture.

Audrey absolutely LOVED this giraffe costume. She would wear it all day for several days if I let her. She was so upset when she grew out of it.

I adore this picture of Audrey. I took it while on our vacation this past summer. She just looks so grown up here.

Meghan and Audrey will always be the best of friends. It makes me so happy listening to them play together. I hope Audrey knows how lucky she is to have a sister who is her best friend. It's pretty special.

I love my Audrey so much. My birthday prayer for her is that she will continue to grow and learn more about the love God has for each and every one of us. May she continue to be blessed with good health and that she will one day hear God's calling in her life and that she will willingly follow His plan. I love you, Audrey. Happy Birthday, sweetie.

Audrey's Turn For Curiousity

I was upstairs on the computer yesterday with Jason researching information for our upcoming family camping trip.

After a few minutes being upstairs, Meghan informed me and Jason of something that had occurred that needed our attention. I quickly ran downstairs to find this:

Audrey had found some scissors that were left on the table and cut her hair. I was definitely less than pleased, but what do you expect? Thankfully she just cut some hair in the front that didn't look TOO horrible and not some hair near the top or the back of her head. The funny thing is that I can't exactly pull more hair from the top to hide it and make it look like she has bangs. Then she would be the only 2-year-old I know with a comb-over. I had a feeling it was going to happen eventually with one of my girls. I just didn't think it would be now. Oh well. At least it will grow back.

The Curiousity Of A 4-Year-Old

A couple weeks ago we had quite an adventure.

I went to pick up the girls at daycare the other day only to find Meghan in tears when I got there. Her teacher was quick to point out that Meghan's curiosity got the best of her when she ended up getting a little pebble stuck in her ear. Great. Just what I needed. Didn't she learn her lesson this summer when she stuck a bead up her nose??? Not only did she stick the bead up her nose, but we were on vacation at Lake Tahoe!!! Thankfully, with a few nose blows, she was able to get the bead out, but seriously! What is it about little kids and finding strange body openings to stick obscure objects in?

I look in Meghan's ear, and yup. There it was. A nicely shaped square rock that had wedged itself nicely right in Meghan's ear. I had always heard that it isn't always the best idea to stick anything in your ear. Not even a "Q-tip". I called the doctor's office, and just my luck; they just closed the office for the day. Jason was out donating plasma (a nice $30 twice a week), and he isn't able to answer his phone while donating. I call my mom to ask her what to do. I get her on the phone and explain the situation to her, and her response was somewhat surprising, yet quite predictable. "Just use the vacuum hose," she said. Oh my goodness!

This comes from her experience from over 20 years ago when my younger sister got a little people stuck in her forehead from a wipe out on the driveway. My sister would not let my mom use tweezers to get the pebble out, so after a few days of struggling and some beginnings of puss, my mom finally decided that it was time for that rock to come out and the vacuum hose was going to make that happen. Sure enough, the rock popped out with very little effort or pain, so obviously, my mom thought it was a simple answer to use the vacuum hose to get the rock out of Meghan's ear.

The only problem I had with this solution is that I had heard stories that you could even blow out someone's ear drum just by giving them a peck on the ear. Just a little amount of suction can cause some serious damage. I know not everyone loses hearing from a ruptured ear drum, but that is something I didn't exactly want to risk given my sister's profound hearing loss. I would blame myself forever if something like that happened because of some poor decision I had made.


I eventually decided to take Meghan to Urgent Care to get the pesky rock removed. After A LOT of tears and persistence (the rock was the one being persistent), the rock finally came out. The next question from the doctor shocked me almost just as much as what my mom said earlier. "Do you want to keep the rock?" the doctor said. What??? Why would I want to keep something like that? I want to keep any sort of temptation like that as far away from my girls as I can! I did end up taking the rock home, but only for the purpose of my blog. How crazy is that?
I think I'm going to go throw this rock away now.

Disney on Ice

Today Jason and I took the girls to see Disney on Ice with my parents. It was a blast. I love being able to share these moments with our kids. I forgot my camera, but at least I had my phone! These pictures aren't that bad for being taken from a phone.

It really made me want to go to Disneyland really bad. We will go sometime, but we want to wait until a time where the girls are old enough to really enjoy the rides without needing a nap. Here's some pictures of our day.















Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisey, Pluto, and Goofy joined in the parade too!Mr. Incredible plays the drums with Baloo the bear.Cinderella in her carriage in the parade."It's a small world, after all..." My brother Ted's not so favorite ride at Disneyland.Minnie is trapped in one of Syndrome's chambers before the "Incredibles" saved her and Mickey.Audrey was starting to lose patience. She dropped her gum and was VERY upset. The bummer is that this show was totally during nap time.Meghan and I pose for a picture during intermission.Meghan and my mom are having a great time at the show.Once the bad guy was defeated, they had an old school light parade Disneyland style.Audrey was so tired, she didn't make it to the end of the show. Poor baby. She was so tired.The end! What a great show! Both the girls were asking to go back again sometime. Maybe next time Audrey will be able to stay awake the entire time. We'll see.

Meghan

Tomorrow is Meghan's 4th birthday. I know she has only been in our lives this short period of time, but every day I thank God for the blessing she has been in our life. It's hard for me to look back and remember what life was like before she was around. Sometimes I find myself just watching her as she plays in her own little world and many times I find myself welling up with tears because I am so grateful that God has blessed me with the privilege of being Meghan's mother. Now I have a better understanding of how my parents felt about me and my siblings and how much they love and adore us. Meghan is an amazing little girl. Here are some of the things I love most about her:

1. Even at 4 years of age, she is considerate and always thinking of others. Whenever Meghan asks for something, she always asks for another one for Audrey. She always remembers to say "please" and "thank you" even without being prompted to do so. When there are times that I am having a hard day, or may be not feeling well, Meghan tries her best to find ways to make me happy. It may be by coloring me a picture, singing me a song, or even playing with Audrey to distract her because "Mommy is a little bit sad," she says. She is so thoughtful.
2. Meghan is full of love. She is always going around telling us that she loves us and that she loves her sister too. It's not just the "I love you, Mom," but it is truly sincere. It's interesting to see that she does know what love means to her and that she knows how to express and show it to those around her. She's one of those kids whose eyes twinkle not out of maliciousness, but out of the love she has to share. Meghan is always looking out for her sister and tries her best to take care of her the best she can. They are great buddies. It's precious to watch the two of them play together and to tell each other that they love each other.
3. Meghan is a great storyteller. She loves to be told stories and she enjoys re-telling stories to anyone who listens. Just the other day she was telling me and Jason the story of "The Three Little Pigs," and she even went so far as making all the little voices for each of the characters. She was hilarious! We couldn't stop laughing.
4. Meghan is my little buddy. We love to go run errands together. Just the two of us. I remember how much I looked forward to having "date night" with my mom, so I know how much Meghan must enjoy spending time with just the two of us. One of my favorite things to do is to sit and cuddle with her. Of course our cuddling sessions quickly turn into "tickle time" instead. She is so irresistibly tickle-able. I can't help myself. That little giggle of hers is so hard for me to resist.
5. Meghan is so smart. She is always coming home from daycare with something new she has learned. It amazes me sometimes when I hear the things she has learned. One time while driving home from daycare, she started singing the song, "Jonah Didn't Listen," in Spanish! I couldn't believe my ears! She had sung that song numerous times at home, but then all of a sudden she started singing it in Spanish. That was totally cool. It is so exciting being able to share with the excitement of learning new things. I think that part of that is because learning is pretty exciting for me already considering the fact that I'm a teacher.

Here's some of my favorite pictures of her:

Meghan was born on her due date. That doesn't happen often. She was so precious.

Meghan's first Halloween. I love this picture of her.

Meghan loves hats. There's something about putting on a hat and feeling like you are a totally different person.

This has to be one of my most favorite pictures of her. I love how the setting sun made her little curls just sparkle. This was one of my favorite trips with the girls and how we had so much fun just relaxing and enjoying our time together as a family.

Meghan and Audrey are great buddies. I hope they learn to appreciate how lucky they are to have a best friend in a sister. I know I do.

Meghan is such a happy little girl. We are so blessed.

I love my Meghan so much. My birthday prayer for her is that she will continue to grow and learn more about the love God has for each and every one of us. May she continue to be blessed with good health and that she will one day hear God's calling in her life and that she will willingly follow His plan. I love you, Meghan and Happy Birthday.

No, It's Not Make-Up

I was playing "Guitar Hero" yesterday and Meghan was dancing to my guitar playing skills. Her version of dancing is turning in circles. Meghan got a not-so-sweet souvenir from that experience:

She got so dizzy she took a nice little header into our end table right in the eye. It looks a lot worse than it is. She cried pretty hard and it started to swell up immediately. Poor kid.

Pixie Dust

Yesterday my mom and I were hard at work re-doing the girls' room.

Shortly after Jason and I moved in our house in the summer of 2004, we did a lot of painting in various rooms throughout the house. That summer my mom and I painted one of the spare rooms and put up a nice border that helped it seem pretty inviting for a spare bedroom.

The girls have been using that room for quite some time now (it works wonderfully for their bunk bed), and I finally decided that we needed to change things to make it more like a little girl room instead of a spare room.

I found some adorable "Tinkerbell" border at Home Depot which matched wonderfully with our already green walls. My mom hosted an "Uppercase Living" party last month and got a wall decoration for free and decided to get something to go along with our "Tinkerbell" theme. The saying says, "All you need is faith, trust, and a little pixie dust." I am very excited with how it looks. Here is how it turned out:

This picture shows the border and some extra stickers I bought that went along with the border. I love the little saying. It is so cute and it works wonderfully for a little girls' room. Here are some more pictures of what we did:

I put these stickers on the wall by Audrey's bed. Meghan has one on her wall similar to Audrey's too:
The girls like how they each have their own Tinkerbell sticker by their bed. I am very pleased with how things look.

From Toothbrushes to Money

The other day Jason and I received a check in the mail for Christmas from his aunt and grandpa in California. It's kinda nice that they think to do things like this for us even when they don't have to. We ended up cashing the check and venturing out to find something on the day before Christmas. Thankfully it wasn't too crazy out there, but it was only 10:00 in the morning.

I ended up taking the girls with me to "Toys R Us" because I thought it would be fun for the girls to pick out their own presents. Not to mention I had no clue what to get for them. They have plenty of toys they don't play with as it is.

Here is my conversation with Meghan on our way to the store:

Me: Hey Meghan, do you want to go to a special store for Meghan and Audrey?

Meghan: For Meghan and Audrey??? Yeah! What kind of store?

Me: It's a surprise!

Meghan: Oh, I like surprises.

Me: Me too.

Meghan: What are we going to get at the special store?

Me: We are going to get a special surprise for Meghan and Audrey!

Meghan: For Meghan and Audrey??? All right! Is it food?

Me: Nope. It's better than food!

Meghan: Is it toothbrushes???

Me: No, Meghan. It's better than toothbrushes.

Meghan: Better than toothbrushes?

I'm glad to hear that Meghan sees her dental hygiene as something so wonderful and better than food. I couldn't help myself. I busted up laughing pretty hard at that one.

Then on the way home from the toy store, Meghan just said the funniest thing out of the blue:

Meghan: It's my money, and I need it now!

Me: Meghan, where did you hear that?

Meghan: From the TV.

For those of you who are not familiar with that phrase, there is this commercial that is on TV particularly early in the mornings when I am watching the news as I am getting ready for work. It's a commercial about this law firm that deals with helping its clients with structured settlements to try to get them into lump sum payments. Check out the commercial here. It's the last commercial at the bottom of the page.

"Shupa"

My oldest daughter, Meghan, has an imaginary friend. Her name is Shupa. From what I understand, Shupa is like a shadow that can fit in your hands, but is every bit human as anyone else. I think Meghan got the shadow thing from watching Peter Pan. Shupa has been known to play with Meghan and Audrey, go to the store with us, and even share Meghan's bed with her. One time Meghan was "carrying" Shupa in her hands at the store when she had to go potty. Meghan handed Shupa to Jason and quickly made her way to the bathroom. When Meghan was finished, she remembered to ask Jason to have Shupa back.

Meghan continues to talk about Shupa and takes her along to many places. The other day when playing along with Meghan's stories about Shupa, I told her that Shupa came to school with me and got to meet all my students. Here's our conversation:

Me: Meghan, did you know that Shupa came to school with me today?

Meghan: Really? But Shupa's not here now. She's at home. She's a little bit sick.

Me: Oh, really. I thought she was fine because she came to my school today.

Meghan: Well she has a tummy ache. She's at home now because she needed to throw up in the toilet.

Me: Ew! Gross! Good thing she threw up in the toilet, huh?

Meghan: Yeah, and then she threw up on my bed!

Me: Ew! What are you going to do?

Meghan: And then she threw up on your bed and Audrey's bed!

Me: Well, I hope Shupa feels better soon. Maybe we need to give her some medicine when we get home, huh?

Meghan: Yeah. That's a good idea.

The thing that gets funnier with this is that when we got home and got the girls' jammies on to go to bed, Meghan insisted that she not get on her bed because Shupa threw up on it! The imagination on that girl is so amazing sometimes! Thankfully she was satisfied with my pretend washing and cleaning her bed so it would be clean enough for her to sleep in her own bed that night.

My Girls are Precious

I know it's natural for all parents to adore their children. There are many times throughout the day where I find myself thanking God for the wonderful blessings he has given me in my girls. They are so very precious to me. Maybe part of it is because I am such a HUGE sentimental person. I get that from my dad. Sometimes I wonder if he looked at me and my sister like this when I see my two girls walking down the sidewalk like this.

I picked up the girls from daycare this afternoon on my way home from work, and I couldn't resist the opportunity for a great picture.

The thing that makes this so precious to me is that this was all on their own. I didn't prompt them to start holding hands. They just did. The other thing that makes moments like this extra special is just that things like this happen all the time with my girls. They are the best (and sometimes the worst) of friends. They adore each other, and they play so well together. The other day they spent the whole entire day playing happily together. They were so content just playing with what they had and they didn't need me or Jason to help entertain them.I took the girls to a craft sale in town the other day, and they were so happy to pose for a picture like this. Many times they even insist on wearing similar clothes. It's times like this that I am reminded of me and my sister, Sarah. We were always wanting to dress up alike and act alike. I even used to pretend I was deaf just like her.

A couple weeks ago we were at my school for their fundraising event, the Harvest Festival. We all had a blast. They had a costume contest, but the girls were too interested in playing. The weather was wonderful, and I have no idea why the girls didn't burn up. Audrey especially enjoyed the tricycle track.

Meghan enjoyed stuffing her face with chocolate chip cookies.

The next day after my school's Harvest Festival, a family from church was having a party and BBQ at their beautiful place. They live on the east side of town on a 1-2 acre little farm. Their place was absolutely amazing, and definitely a place Jason and I have dreamed of having. They had a beautiful house which sat on this golf course of a yard. As the yard led to the back, they had a little play house village. They had about 4 different houses for the kids to play in! My girls were in heaven! Here's one of the houses:

As you can see, there is a balcony and from that there is a slide. On the other side, there is a swing set. The girls had a blast. Here's another one of the houses:

The funny thing about this house is the girls actually got stuck in it for a little while. Thankfully they weren't scarred for life from that experience. I don't even think they knew at the time that they were actually stuck. I had to get help from the man who built this house. It just so happened that the girls had accidentally pulled off the handle and couldn't get out.

We got to go on a hay ride, bob for apples, paint pumpkins, roast hot dogs, make smores, etc. We had so much fun that day. That is definitely a day I will remember for a long time. I am finding that the older my girls get, the more I am enjoying life with them and appreciating being able to share these little "firsts" with them.

I am so blessed.