Blythe is five!

It's ridiculous and sad and sad some more that I haven't posted ANYTHING since November. It's almost February, people. This is borderline depressing. I love to write and in the past this blog has been so cathartic, as well as just plain FUN as a place to document all our silly (and serious) little family stories...so. This year, I've re-dedicated myself to writing here once a week. A story, a short post with photos, a long, drawn-out digging-into-my-soul...this place has been and will always be first and foremost for me, my family, and the friends who want to keep up with us.  And I'm bummed I let "busy" get in the way of that. So, now....

                                                               Blythe is Five!
(please pardon the watermarks on the photos-I'm testing out some new software before I buy it ;)

 Clockwise from Center: B at 2 months, 1 year old, 3 years old (her first Daddy-Daughter dance!), 2 years old (on her first trip to Paris-I miss those sweet, crazy curls!!), 4 and happy in a mud puddle, and FIVE!
We celebrated her birthday 2 days early, on the 17th of January, with a morning "tea" party. True to her nature, she wanted to be sure every detail was just as she'd envisioned it; so we had planned every detail together on a mama-daughter date in Durango over New Year's (thank you, Pinterest). She wanted a Frozen-themed winter tea party, complete with petite fours... and it was so much fun to bring that to life! I'd never done a party like this before, but my parents were in town and Grammy was, of course, a huge help.

 We hunted in our backyard for branches and pine cones and then proceeded to cover them with glitter...messy, but fun! Good thing it's nice enough here in January to do the glittering outside-my marriage may not have survived that much glitter exploding all over our house :). We (I) also strung cotton balls onto thread and hung them up as "snowflakes" falling; and baked teeny Russian teacakes (which my kids call Snowballs). I made a delicious white cake, half of which we filled with homemade lemon curd (again, thank you Arizona winter/citrus season!) and half which we filled with Nutella, before cutting them up into small rectangles and drenching them with frosting. Maybe not the prettiest, but they sure tasted good!

We'd asked the girls to come in "fancy dress", and then Grammy and I helped the little girlies make Fascinators one by one with tulle, ribbon, fake flowers, and gems on headbands while Adam led the rest of the gang is assorted Olaf-themed games. They had a blast and it worked out perfectly! After games, they all put on their fascinators and sat down to "tea" (peppermint hot cocoa). The cutest part was that as soon as those bouncy girls sat down at the elegantly-set table- they all got quiet. And showed beautiful manners. They knew it was special! Pax, with a vest and tie on, served the tea sandwiches (cut in crown and snowflake shapes), and everyone feasted. It was so much fun! Our first "kid party" was an easy, stress-free success. And our little girlie was thrilled beyond belief!
Blythe Linn, Daddy and I love the vibrant, fancy, twirly, graceful girlieness you bring to our family. Your passionate heart and strong will will carry your small-but-mighty body far in life! We love seeing who God has made you to be continue to develop each year; and helping you pursue the things you love is a joy to us. We pray you would never forget who created you the way you are, or how very much you are loved-by God first of all, and also by us. I had so much fun planning and creating this party with you, B.B. Doll!

Seven.

Three and lovin' life...with teeny B :)

   Somehow, my Small Son
went from 3 to 7 in a blink of an eye.

This is from the crazy rain a few weeks ago...my boys LOVE mud.

Seriously, that's what it feels like. The past three years (THREE!!) since we moved to The Valley have literally flown by. Perhaps that has something to do with adding another baby to the family...and all the sleeplessness that goes along with it. For me, at least, that makes the days long but the years short. So, that accounts for the first year. And then Adam started school-- which has been it's own crazy time-warp. And so, here we are, October of 2014-with a SEVEN YEAR OLD. Who, by the way, had "the best birthday EVER!!" And now, a break for a stroll down memory lane...  

This is from 2 days before my due date; 4 days before Pax was born. We were the youth pastors at our church at the time and we were headed to a high school football game. It was very, very uncomfortable to sit on those bleachers if I remember correctly. (side note: for some reason, this picture always reminds me of a stuffed turkey...I carried him SO far back!) And then- there he was! One month old.

6 months old

13 months old...I miss those teeny chocolate Chucks!!

This is from a little photo shoot I did with Adam and Pax right before the Pax-boy turned two. Love it still.

Four years old. Our first Thanksgiving in Arizona!

His smile is the best! Just shy of five.

        Six! The night he lost his first tooth...it got knocked out by another boy during games at Awanas. Seems about right....

                                 ....aaaand....seven. Early-early morning breakfast date with Daddy.
     oh, my Small Son...there is NO one quite like you. Your joy, your warrior-ness, your protectiveness of your siblings, your love of people (to the point of me having to ask you just a few weeks ago not to tell every.single.mother you met at barre3 our address just in case they wanted to drop by and play...) and of books; your silliness, the way you're the king of goofy faces and weird, made-up knock knock jokes. Gifts are a major love language for you-to get, yes, but also to give. You bring Daddy and I special "snacks", thoughtfully prepared, on the weekends during quite time-and there's always a little surprise included. It's so much fun-and so thoughtfully sweet, too. But my favorite thing is the way you make sure we have something with us "to remember you by" or to protect us when Daddy or I leave the house without you. A clone trooper, C3PO, a truck, a lego lightsaber....whatever you think would protect us the best that day, you make sure it's tucked in our hands before we walk out the door! You have absolutely NO personal space. And you've officially made me the mother of "that kid" in the best of ways-the kid people remember because you stand out and make them laugh. I can't tell you the number of times people at church have said to me, "Oh, you're PAX'S mom!" or "Oh, we know who your kid is!" or "I have to tell you what Pax did today in church...." it makes you live in a state of constant fear/hilarity as a parent. And while it's not always a cake-walk parenting a strong-willed kiddo; you're always up for an adventure. Which is what this life is, Pax-boy...a beautiful, crazy, sometimes-confusing adventure that we're on together-for now. I know someday you'll wave goodbye and head out bravely on your own. And your Daddy and I pray every day for the wisdom and grace to prepare you for that time, to become the young man God is making you to be. I know you'll do well. But for now....I'm glad you still reach for my hand in the parking lot when we're alone; that you still want to snuggle up next to me and have me read to you, even though you can read to yourself...and that you always, always want just a few more minutes of snuggling at night.I'll take that as long as it lasts.
               We love you so much, Petey Petey. You're my favorite Big Kid--and you always, always will be.

a Baby no more.

April 5th, 2012. Meeting big brother at one hour old.

 Our fierce, loud, sensitive, musical, crazy, snaggle-toothed builderfixerguy is TWO. No babies in this house anymore...the week before his birthday we started potty training and the week after he lost his plug-and that was it. Bam. Big kid city. This particular two-year-old has brought us challenges that we've not experienced before; but it's still just such a super-fun stage of life. I have two good friends who also have three and we all agree:  third baby=game changer. He's crazy :) New words, new phrases..getting in between the two bigs when they're arguing and shouting out "Pax! Stop! Now! One...teww..." and then "spanking" his brother (that's a hard one. Defending his sister vs. hitting. See? the kid is a conundrum!) Getting put in his crib for a timeout (for hitting said big brother) and subsequently pulling his pants off and peeing all over his bed to show his displeasure. The kid is smart and very, very aware of EVERYTHING. Pax has nicknamed our good friends "the Behs" because littlest calls all of them (including the dad) "Beh". He can say Loren and Cora and I've even heard him say Charissa. But, no, they are all "Beh!" After their mama Beth, whom he loves. A lot. 

He knows he's funny and frequently plays the ham to make people laugh-especially his big brother and sister; something he's done from a very young age. And he's still the biggest sweetheart, running to the freezer for a "col pool" (cold pack) if his sister or brother (or anyone else) hurts themselves. (Beth is pretty sure he's gonna be an athletic trainer based off of that one!) He gives the biggest and sweetest hugs, frequently sprinkles French words and phrases in among the English, and wants to do exactly what Pax is doing. I cannot believe how much I love him or how much joy he brings to our family-we are so thankful for this silly little blessing!   

April 5th, 2013-first birthday!

We had a small family party at home this year, just my folks and I-Adam had a clinic he had to work in the morning, so we spent the morning getting donuts and shopping for new boots for the birthday boy (one of my folks' gifts. Blaise looooves his boots and was so sad when he outgrew the last pair!). After naps, we had a little party with balloons, presents, and-of course-cake! By far the biggest hit of the day was putting all of the balloons on the trampoline. The kids jumped and bounced for at LEAST and hour and had a fantastic time! Seriously... this might be an every-year occurrence!

 

                         Pure. Joy. This prettymuch sums up little Adam Blaise's personality perfectly!
                                                                   April 5th, 2014.
                                                                 and now, he is Two.

And then she was four.

 I think this about every birthday any of my littles have...but HOW IS SHE FOUR already?? No longer a baby, even a little bit (although the 18 month old who talked in full sentences didn't seem much like a baby at the time, either...).  
      It was so much fun to listen to her plot and plan with Pax about her birthday; about having a little party and who would come, what cake she'd like (a dollcake again-surprise!), what they'd eat (enchiladas-yum!). She's always enjoyed her birthday, of course, but this year was the first she really got super excited about everything. So, we had a little party the day before her birthday with a few little friends. Thanks to my dad, there were streamers and balloons to please any little girls' heart; and between my mom and I a dress fit for a princess was whipped up the day before. Blythe chose the fabric and the pattern herself-which will come as no surprise if you know her at all! She's definitely sure she's a princess right now. Or a ballerina. Or a ballerina-princess! I'm pretty sure "ballerina-princess-doctor" was the future career of choice last time I checked.

 The gold crown was part of her gift from Adam and I. This dress...I didn't think she would take it off even to sleep! And she's worn it almost constantly since. I got so much joy out of watcher her joy over every little thing-I remember how much I loved twirly dresses and sparkly anything as a little girl, too; and I sort of get to relive it all with B.

We had cake, of course; but she needed Pax's help with the candles. She was a bit too shy to blow them out with all eyes on her! A funny mix of sweet-and-shy and crazy emoter right now, our girlie is. I'm never quite sure what to expect; but I love the way she always looks to him for protection and help when she's feeling uncertain around others.

The next day, on her real birthday, we had a little family celebration-the "flatted-out" tutu was a five-star gift from my folks. Adam had made her a balance beam, so we spent the morning playing on that after church; and then went to our good friends' house to watch the Broncos. Hey, it was playoffs!! and she got to play with their two girlies, whom she loves. So really, it was like a second birthday party for her. We even had enchiladas again-leftovers from the day before :)  Their youngest girlie commandeered my dad as her third grandpa; and wanted to cuddle with only him when he was hurt, which was totally adorable. I managed to snap a picture of my dad, Cora, and Blythe watching the game together...but it's on my phone, and won't upload, and as it's the end of February and her birthday was last month...I think I'll just post this now and save that for another time. First world problems...




oh, and Little Brother loves the balance beam, too! He's pretty good at it, too, when his big 4-year-old sister isn't trying to "mother" him along :)

Now he is Six.

I realize this post is a month late. But- Pax turned 6 on October 2nd. SIX. I won't say it's crazy, even though it is; I will say that when the kids and I watched the little video my dad had put together of his birth and the days immediately following; I felt a strange sense of nostalgia and even got a bit teary...not that I want to go back to those days. The kid didn't sleep through the night until he was 15 months old, no matter what we did. And really, he's such a fun BOY that I can't imagine missing tomorrow to go back to then! The kid was BEYOND excited for his birthday; begging us to let him open his gifts as soon as they started showing up in the mail and changing his mind 5,000 times about what kind of cake he wanted, what kind of party he wanted, what he wanted for dinner that night....all the fun stuff. Finally, he settled on a vanilla cake with salted caramel frosting (the kid has good taste!!). Yum! don't know how to make caramel frosting? Neither did I! and the first batch turned into caramel candies....with lots of extra sugar. But the second batch was gooooood. He helped me make the cake and frost it while the littles napped...he was, of course, thrilled!

 My folks (Grammy and Grandaddy to the littles) came to visit for the big day; and my mom mostly spent her time freezer-cooking with me and putting together the seventy-five thousand pieces of a starfighter Lego ship. Seriously, it took her (with some help from Pax) hours....my dad spent his time helping us find an affordale pool-cover-removal-device and turning an old planter box into a sandbox for the kids. They're good to have around, those grandparents! I would apologize for the fact that I have only a handful of camera pics of his celebration-but I was spending time with my boy, and carring his cake in while everyone else sang, and playing lightsabers and making pizza for when his buddy spent the night (his "party" of choice) and so really-I don't feel bad about the lack of photos at all.


Here's my mom with the compleated (finally!) Starfighter, and Pax about to enjoy the cake!

B gave it two thumbs up, too. Adam and Little Adam (Blaise, that is) both thought it was too sweet...more for the rest of us :)

 This is a little video of Pax and his buddy Baylor...they were up at 6 playing; by 7 they decided to take on the (chilly!!) pool. Silly, silly boys...I love them!

Oh, Pax..my small son who tests me, who has been used by God to teach me so much about being a mother; who must always, always know "why?"; who is always thinking and dreaming and planning...how your Daddy and I love you! I remember you that night, a grunting little baby boy struggling to breathe after a somewhat difficult birth; your Daddy's face radiated joy and pride..

You still bring us Joy and Pride today.

We love you, Small Son. Always.

tres.trois.THREE.

       Our Blythe-girl turned three yesterday. Which is just nuts to me because a) wasn't she just born?? and b) I very clearly remember MY third birthday (my mama made me an elephant cake-wish I  had that picture! My mushroom hair was amazing.) and it's a bit crazy to think my daughter is now that age. But she is....Adam brought her into bed yesterday morning about 6 (he got her up early for a daddy-daughter donut run) and she snuggled under the big comforter with me, and I sang her Happy Birthday (she sang herself Happy Birthday, too...), and then I told her again the story about the day she was born, and she was SO excited. And THEN....
"Mama, can I see my doll?"
I made her a doll cake this year per her request (anyone else remember those??) and the cake wasn't "dressed" last night when she went to bed. So I gathered her up and  we tiptoed down the dark, quiet hall so as not to wake up her brothers or Aunt C.C., who is staying with us this week. I didn't turn on any lights until we got to the kitchen. Then-
"Ready?" I whispered. A nod. I flipped the light on and pointed to were the doll now stood in her yellow-frosting-splendor in the middle of our island...and then just watched her face. She just looked and looked...and finally got the sweetest little smile on her face and sighed,
"Beautiful."
And all i could think was, "That's what your daddy and I think about you, little BB....beautiful. Inside and Out,"

After Adam and Blythe got back from their outing, we all got "fancy" (as Pax puts it), loaded up the cake and a few other things, and headed to the Lobmeyers to celebrate two special little buddies. Peyton is just 2 days older than B and although the two of them didn't ever really have a choice about being friends, they also happen to love each other and have such grand little girl adventures together that Nicole and I knew that they would love celebrating their birthdays together. And we were right! Between Nicole and I, we pulled off a pretty fun breakfast/birthday/princess party. And for two mamas that have never thrown a "theme"party before, I think we did pretty well!! We set up a little backdrop and had some fun with the camera.....well, Jade and Chloe and Peyton did anyways. Jade and Chloe were also my fabulous balloon-stringing assistants...

 

Peyton and her daddy, Jason....this is what our daughter was doing during the initial picture-wall time.

 Taking her baby for a drive in her princess dress. And yes, that's a bridesmaids dress I wore once-upon-a-time and retrofitted for her :)

Adam and Blaise enjoying the sunshine. It was 70 degrees! Perfect!! And Blaise loved crawling everywhere in the yard exploring.

 After cake, we had some fun with the birthday girls and the balloons (which by this time were disappearing quickly at the hands of the two brothers, a plastic bat, and a plastic golf club. I bet you can figure that one out on your own. They had fun, and they did it outside, so we didn't care! Although Blythe kept stopping her game with Peyton to pick up balloon pieces and put them neatly in a pile. I think she takes after her Daddy and Grandaddy on that one...it's for sure not her Mama!)

                                      

 I just have to say that this is what you get when you have Jason in the pictures. It's really almost a miracle their family session turned out as well as it did...

 LOVE her. And this next one is really just to prove that the boys were actually there. Although I know Pax is still MIA. They were busy! Wish I'd gotten a picture of the two of them in their vests, though...so cute!

Cake time!

This is actually the second go-around with the candles and singing...Peyton's a pro candle-blower-outer and had all six blown out before the song ended the first time :)

 I'm always thankful for the friendships that are in our lives. Today, though, I'm extra-thankful for these tiny girl friends...for the fun they have together as well as the mischief they make. I pray that, as the years go by, their friendship would only strengthen, and that they would strengthen and encourage each other to be the joyful, courageous, creative, beautiful women of God they were created to be-just as they are now. May they be blessed enough to celebrate many many more birthday parties together.