Peanut butter sandwich made with jam...

Is anyone still out there? I know, I know it has been a long time since I posted last. Common occurrence with this blog lately. Having two kids is a busy job! Haha! Things are so different lately yet so much the same. Daily doings are pretty much the same. School, clean, work, babies, sleep. Marlee and Lily, however, are growing like weeds and never cease to amaze me. Marlee is closer to her fourth birthday and is SOOO excited! Everyday she asks me if it is her birthday yet. She loves to be with her friends and cries everyday when she is not allowed to go over to their house Literally! Sometimes she will say, " first we will eat dinner and then we go to Elly's house....does that sound fair mom"? Haha she always makes me smile!

Lily is also getting to be such a big girl! She is just about crawling and loves being more mobile. She really just does it if she wants to. Sometimes she will just plop on her belly and start swimming with her hands and tears in her eyes. She melts my heart with each smile and curious look. She is so content and we all love her so much! She says "mama" and claps and waves hello. She LOVES food! She doesn't get a lot of it but when she sees it her whole body shakes and she gets this look like, " get in my belly"!

So, more news to share, but in due time! take care!

Flying by

So much has come and gone since the last time I had a chance to write. Let's see if I can catch you up in 10 sentences or less. I last wrote right before Christmas and Lily was so small! Now she is a giant and almost 6mths old!! She sits up and plays, loves her sister, and has two teeth! They aren't all the way in just yet, but are making their way. She eats baby food along with her bottled feedings and we just moved her crib into Marlee's room. She is a happy baby and I am so thankful for that. She has her moments, but teething can be rough! Marlee is so good with her! She talks to her and plays with her. Lily just looks up to her already. She is amazed by her big sister! She just laughs and smiles at her and Marlee loves it! She is able to interact with Lily more and has so much fun with that.

Marlee is still in school and will be until June. She loves it so much. It can boring here at home, i'm sure. She is doing well with her peers and talks about them all the time. She is going on a fishing field trip in a couple of weeks and Zach is going with them. You have to be livescanned in the school districts system to go and we finally got him in. They will have a blast and I can't wait to hear all about it. I am a nervous nelly anyway when it comes to some of her field trips. They are like 30min away and I am just a wuss.

We are going to be doing some traveling coming up here soon! My sister gets married towards the end of April so we will be back in Texas for a few days. Can't wait!! We will also be going to Indiana this summer. Marlee will have a blast being able to see her family in both places! It will be great!! I wish we didn't have to fly. That is the only part I am not fond of. Oh well, I know everything will be fine. I wrote most of this yesterday so I am trying to get back in whatever groove I was in yesterday, but can't seem to. Not much else to report for now! Pictures to come soon!

play with me

Marlee: "Daddy will you chase me"?

"I can't right now"

M: "Mommy will you chase me"?

"Not right now babe"

M: "Aww, why not guys"?

oh

Marlee, Lily and I went to visit Susan today. Susan works in the builders office for the Woodside Homes where we live. When we went into the office Susan wasn't in there. So we sat and waited a few minutes. Marlee saw Susan across the street. She was walking with a Realtor and a young couple.

Marlee: "There's Susan....there she is"!!!
"She's coming, she's coming"!!

Susan kept walking down the street with the young couple and passed the office.

Marlee: "oh no...She's not coming"

Love my girl

Marlee watching her movie in the car....

Laughing....

Screen goes black and no movie

"Hey I can't see anything....That's strange"

If only life was this simple

Marlee: Can we fly a kite outside?

Mama: Well, not today. It isn't as windy as yesterday.

Marlee: Turn on the fan.

All over the place

So I just wanted to say that I am so excited for Christmas this year! I get excited every year, but this year ... it just feels complete. With Lily's arrival to our family, life feels full! Our family is like a series of really great novels. The stories are great, but the sequels just really complete the original. And I know Christmas isn't about presents, but looking under the tree and imagining the look on Marlee's face just makes me smile. I just wanted to thank all our family for making this year great! We didn't go as overboard as we have in the past, but we got Marlee some things that I really think she will love. I hope anyway... Lily got some pretty great things too, but she is still too young to really enjoy them just yet. She will though here very soon. She is growing so fast. Marlee seems to be growing even faster! Everyday she wakes up she is even more of a little lady. She will be taller than me before she starts kindergarten! We will wait and see!

Marlee is also on vacation starting today for the next three weeks! She has already asked to go to school three times this weekend. She is not going to be a very happy girl for this vacation. I keep telling her that her teachers are at home and school is closed. She just replies, "no, not yet". I will do my very best to not be a "boring" mommy while she is home. She likes to be doing something most of the day, whereas, I am running on fumes...so I am trying to relax in between cleaning and doing house stuff. Last night I was literally up every hour so I am such a sleepy mama this morning. Lily wakes up and needs something...then Marlee wakes up and needs something. They were a tag team all night. Thank goodness Zach took tonight off so I can try and get a little sleep. I hope!!

Something else I wanted to write about was that I don't know if it is because it is the Christmas season and it is about family or what exactly, but I have really been missing my Oma and Opa the last few days. You know sometimes you watch a sweet commercial or just think of something that makes you just cry. You don't mean to, but the tears just come anyway no matter how much you fight them. Well, I dropped Marlee off at school the other day and something I saw or thought about led my thoughts to my Opa...I just started crying for some reason. Then, I just thought about how much I missed both of them. Memories were flooding in and emotions. I remembered Christmas with them. My Opa would always ask me why we celebrate Christmas...and it wasn't the present part. They would have me watch the story of Bernadette. I actually enjoyed it very much and caught it on television not too long ago and watched. I tried to explain it to Zach and made him watch part of it with me :)
I remember my Oma painstakingly making cookies for hours...days even. Her little Christmas tree in the corner of the living room by their front windows. Us all going to midnight mass and her always looking beautiful to me, but especially at midnight for church she was just beautiful! Midnight mass was always my favorite mass. Maybe it was because it was a full house and people were singing, or that we were all up at midnight. I just miss them so much and haven't really cried about it in a long time, but this time of year is particularly difficult. Also, bringing Lily in this world and not being able to share that with them. Marlee was the same. I remember being this way when Marlee was born too. I know they are watching over them and are their angels, but... Not a day goes by without thinking about them, but sometimes I have to think harder about what they looked like or what they sounded like. I mean, I always will remember them, but small details fade in and out at times. I wish that Marlee and Lily would have gotten to know them and felt the love they showed me. I love my parents and all, but Oma and Opa were always there and always made me feel special and even when they would discipline me it didn't matter. I hope I am making them proud. Love you guys!