Forgot About Me

I was recently emailing with our new LINKS missionary president.  We've never met before, in fact, I've never even been to her state, but through emails we're getting to know each other.  Todd directed her here for pictures and what-not of the kids and I received an email that basically said, "I feel as if I know your whole family, their hobbies, interests, personalities, but you seem to always be behind the camera!"

I was sitting at the kitchen table late this morning, after cleaning for what felt like forever, trying to get a handle on the coming days and the food the family will need.  After 11 days back, we're officially home... which means we've eaten all the food friends brought by for us because it takes a while to get "back home."  While in the States, I was given a few new cookbooks and I've been itching to try some of the recipes.  I sat down, with my handy helper and new hoard of recipe cards, to see what looked good, what looked divine and what had ingredients that I could get or at least substitute for.  That's when it hit me, I really do forget about myself sometimes, just as my new friend said.  I think it happens to all of us at some time or other, and to varying degrees, but this is my attempt to remember.  Remember what, I'm not exactly sure, but I love baking, I love blogging and I love taking pictures, so in the time it took me to drink one glass of orange juice, I was able to write this random bit, take a picture or two, and dream of wonderful things to cook.  Someday, soon I hope, things will be back to normal- I'll be able to find my kitchen counter (and my carpet for that matter), I'll be blogging and writing routinely and it won't feel like such a guilty pleasure, but for today, this is as good as it gets... and this picture of Coop was too cute to not put into the public domain!

Fiesta

Wednesday was Em's official birthday.  We spoke at a church a fair distance away, and so we wanted to do something "special" to celebrate her birthday.  What we came up with was going to Chevy's, a local Mexican restaurant.  The best part of Chevy's though, is that they have this great tradition of gifting a sombrero on a birthday person and the staff sings a cute little song.  Em loved her hat.  

 She also loved her special strawberry smoothie.

 Between the drink, the hat, and the endless free chips, I thought she may never want to leave!

 As a parent, I was a bit concerned that having a birthday away from all her friends was going to be a bit of a let down for Em.  This face, however, showed me that even just family can still be great.

 After the two-hour drive, we got into the town a bit early and decided to explore a bit.  We found a fabulous park and Em had such a fun time.  She kept showing off her "happy" shirt and new shorts to all the park attendees (thanks Auntie Kim!).

And somehow, we even managed to get a single picture of all three kids, looking, smiling and happy... and then somehow managed to delete the original image from the computer and camera.  *D'oh!*

Paper Airplanes

Last night we all got back to 'the farm' and had a bit of time to kill before bedtime.  The kids are feeling much better (although not 100% yet) and thus had a bit of energy in them.  I was watching them play when this face made me go in for the camera...

 And then I was blessed with this one...

 And Cooper, who needs a hair cut, was as cute as they get with his BIG TRUCK up and down the grass.

 Poppy was just sitting with me when he had a 'great idea' which the kids agreed was indeed a great idea

He pulled out some paper and made paper airplanes.  

Cooper loved sitting in his lap while the plane was thrown and then running across the lawn to get it and start the whole process over again.

I don't know when he started to think this is a "smiling face" but somewhere along the way, he got that idea in his head.

 Em decided SHE needed to personally throw the planes, but didn't want a flight lesson on how to launch them.  My independent one...

But even she loved chasing after the fallen aircraft to have it be thrown again.  I can't believe how grown up she's looking these days... 

GG and Grampy's Place

This past Monday, the kids and I spent a good part of the day with Great Grammy (GG) and Great Grampy in Sacramento.  Todd flew in that afternoon, so we were already going to be in the area and I knew this would be a much less rushed and more enjoyable experience than driving and hour and back to and from the airport.  By the time we'd driven the 45 minutes, Cooper was fast asleep and stayed that way for our first 2 hours at the house.  That meant the girls and I could enjoy some outdoor time with GG and Grampy.  Em fell in love with Grampy's workshop and his latest creation of a miniature ark, complete with rainbow.  She also fell in love with the dress up workshop attire.

 Handy girl Emme is ready to work!

 Helping Grampy install a wind runner and ready with her tools should his fail.

 Em was all too happy to share her new-found tool expertise with her little sister, but unfortunately, Harper only wanted to eat the screwdriver... so we let her.

 But in the end, GG's one little puddle was discovered, and Harper (after transplanting some dirt into it) had a nice mud puddle to wallow in.  Cooper eventually woke up and Em eventually took a nap, but it all happened when I was fetching Todd, so we'll just have to go back over to get more pictures of Coop with his GG :)

Struggling with the Number Four

I've been struggling ever since we landed in the United States because I knew, before I got back on an airplane, my baby would be four years old.  Four.  Years.  Old.  

How is that possible?!?!  I know that she's now officially at the point in her life where any moment could be one of those moments that she'll remember for life.  I still remember my Nana taking me to the mall for my 4th birthday to get my ears pierced.  I don't remember screaming.  I don't remember it hurting.  I just remember my Nana and the mall and the shops and the experience.  Normally, with birthdays it's all about gathering friends together and having a fun time hanging out and trying to keep things as low-key as possible.  

This time around, however, I know the days of "low-key"and "friends/family" oriented events are fast approaching the end.  So I wanted to do something special, something family-geared, and something she'll remember.  Thus, the trip to Chicago was born.  We took the train up and even though it took too long for Todd's liking, the kids were thrilled to be on an actual train.  We got out and hit the city, going to a great restaurant on Michigan Ave, and then hitting some of the sights.

 Aren't they just the cutest ever?

 We went to The Bean and had a lot of fun waiting for a large group of teenage girls taking pictures on each of their iPhones.  But once they were done, the kids had a blast seeing themselves in the reflection.

 Cooper couldn't stop laughing, which made for some great pictures.

 And then, the ponce de resistance... We planned it so that Cooper fell asleep on Todd's back and Harper was fast asleep in our borrowed stroller.  He took them off while Em and I went to the American Girl Store.  It took nearly 15 full minutes for her to be able to grasp all the dolls, all the dress-up clothes, and all the girliness.

 We went to the Bitty Baby section and found a baba for her.  She had a rough time choosing because she  wasn't drawn to the dolls who looked like her, but all the dolls' hair was a part of their head, even the Indian and African-American dolls.  Em knew that those babies had proper hair and thus, the dolls weren't "right" which made me laugh and left the little sales boy scratching his head.  If you could have seen my little girl explaining how she knows that the babies that look like this (the Indian one) have their heads shaved and babies that look like this have curls that their granny puts into little twists, you would have been laughing too!

 We got hungry in all our shopping and had to stop for a special treat... which Em was so excited about!

 Em decided to name her dolly Abby, after her friend in South Africa.  I was surprised she remembered Abby because it's been a long time for a small kid.

 The last part of the day with just her and Mommy was to share tea in the special Tea Room.  I have to admit, I felt a bit out of place in my denim with all the pink and other girls and their mothers who were all dressed up, but this girl is worth it.

Best part of the day for me?  Em asking our server for Rooibos tea (which they didn't have) but then settling on herbal and making the tea all herself.  She's so big, so grown-up but at least I like the grown-up version she's becoming... this beautiful, sweet, independent proper big girl of mine.

Daddy's Birthday

By the end of this time in the United States, everyone in our family will have celebrated a birthday except for Cooper.  Mine was back in January, Harper's was a two weeks ago and on Monday, it was Todd's turn.  There was a scheduling conflict between a number of churches in Arizona and a family wedding.  Since we didn't feel that it was acceptable to not participate in either, the decision was made that the family should split for a few days and the kids and I would be in the wedding and Todd would fellowship with the AZ churches.  The unfortunate part was that our planned split began on Todd's 33rd birthday.  

Normally I'm terrible at remembering Todd's birthday, but this year, I was determined that since we'd miss most of it, we'd celebrate somehow.  So, instead of normal breakfast, we celebrated with a B&R Ice Cream cake, complete with all 33 candles!  The kids were still in their jambes (or lack thereof) as we ate the ice cream, but it was a great treat.

Todd complained about the amount of heat produced by that many candles while I wondered if I'd be able to fit them all onto the small roll cake.

 Having helpers with the candles always insures cake much faster!

Strawberry Birthday Cake

Yesterday, we celebrated a first in our house- Baby Girl had her very first birthday! We decided that with everything else, we would just hang around with one other family and enjoy the day rather than plan anything. Low-key or not, we still needed cupcakes and something for Harp to mash into her face (if she so desired). The missionary house we're staying in has these cute little strawberry painted plates, so between that and the pink theme dictated by Emme and Harper's love of the fruit, we seemed all set.

Harper's mini 'strawberry' cake she had all to herself.

The cupcakes for the rest of us, and boy did my older two LOVE these!

Harper seemed to relish being in her pretty party dress and the center of attention... I don't know where she gets that need for attention from :)

Her favorite thing, much to our surprise, was not the cake but the candle ON the cake. Todd had to save her little fingers a number of times while we were singing to her because she just wanted to grab the flame!

But in the end, she played with the frosting, liked the strawberries around the edges and LOVED her two new baby dolls. I still can't believe it's been a year. Nor can I believe she's running and talking. Em is already gearing up for her "big birthday party" at Grammy's house next month, but for now, we're just enjoying our house of pre-schoolers and one official toddler.