Donuts with Dads

In honor of Father's Day, Forrest's 4 year old class at preschool put on a "Donuts with Dads" program today. Since preschool ends before Father's Day, the class did this for their daddies. So sweet. Forrest was sooo excited he could hardly stand it. As they were driving to school he said, "Dad, my cheeks are hurting from smiling so much. I am so excited." It was 100% adorable. My favorite part was watching Forrest and David this morning while taking pictures in the backyard before they left. Forrest didn't take his eyes off of his daddy the entire time. He was so proud that he was there for him. He presented him with a drawing of his daddy that he made for him and "My dad is..." here is how he filled it out in his own thinking.

The tears came down when I saw this, "My dad is handsome when... he goes on an interview". Tears of sadness but mostly gratitude. There is something about the innocent in a child's eyes. I laid in bed next to my Forrest watching him breathe as I read a book to him this evening. His love for his daddy is insurmountable. Last july David got laid off from his state job. All of us in our daily routines until this unexpected change of life was thrust upon us. This experience has touched our whole family. Forrest loves his time with daddy. To say that he adores his daddy would be an understatement. The bond between these two have grown deeper over the last several months which I am deeply grateful for. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for our family. I still have my little family. And that is the most important thing to me. This has been a faith promoting experience for all of us. Even our sweet Summer has gained a greater appreciation for prayer. David is going to come out of this stronger. I think we all will... We know that we are being watched over and we will be forever grateful to the countless number of people that have been so mindful of our little family. My eyes well-up just thinking about how our family has been through... with love.

It is also interesting how the hardest periods of our lives end up being the experiences that enable us to be or at least be on the road to becoming the kind of person that we want to be. This experience has done that for me. As hard as it was, I have learned so much and now have a new heightened awareness of how truly blessed we are. Life is such a precious gift.

Porch

Our front porch had a facelift this weekend. The kids love to eat their breakfast on the front porch and so I decided to fix it up a bit for the Spring. I painted the posts and railings a coat of white paint to freshen it up. The biggest difference happens to be our new door mat. Extra wide and extra soft. That I love. Later in the day Summer went with me to get ferns to hang and we came home with four of them.  I love how it looks from our front door. I also love Forrest in the background playing on his scooter.

~ Happy Spring ~

Saturday

Now that the kids are back in school after their Spring Breaks I am loving our Saturday mornings. David leaves early for his bike rides which leaves me with the kids. We're super lazy and I love it.
Now let's talk about Summer's hair. How amazing is her long hair?! Her hair keeps growing like a weed. I've trimmed at least 4 times in the last two months. I think it's time for another trim.

Easter Morning

The kids were so adorable when they woke us up to go downstairs on Easter morning. The carrots and water they left for the Easter Bunny were gone. He really had been at our house! Very exciting.

Here are my Summer and Forrest in their Easter best. I couldn't get over their cuteness.

Happy Easter!

Happy Day

We had such a nice day today. From start to finish it was so great.

The Easter Bunny made a visit to our home last night. We woke up to LOTS of chocolate and an easter egg hunt. After church we came home and had Easter dinner on our back porch. I did take lots of pictures but am just too tired to even look at them right now (I am in the middle of a painting project, more on that later) except for this sweet one my David took the three of us right before we left for church. The kids had a very happy Easter. And yes, Forrest got his haircut. I cut it the other day and it's just adorable.

Easter Tree

I try to make the holidays fun around here. Just a little effort goes a long way with little kids. The kids get so excited about everything. For Easter, I love Easter trees. I have bought a few of them over the years. I kept buying them because they were never really what I was envisioning. So this year, I decided to just make one that was exactly what I wanted. I ordered manzanita branches from a florist in California, sprayed them white and then arranged them in a big pink vase. Summer helped me decorate it while Forrest was at school. We were pretty proud of ourselves. It turned out just as I had hoped. Our other tree I moved up into Summer and Forrest's playroom. And let me tell you, they LOVE having it in there. They decorate and re-decorate it daily. Having their own tree also keeps them off of our dining table playing with (in Summer's words) "our fancy tree". It's a win-win for sure.

Jane Magnolia

We were checking out the nursery at our local home improvement store and Summer yelled, "Mom, come here!" She was looking at a tree. Remember now, she's only 6. I walked back and asked her what she needed. She said, "Mom, isn't that the most beautiful tree in the world!" Ahhh, my heart sang! When I had Summer, not only did I get a little girl, but i got a girl who loves all things "girl". She will flip through my home magazines and find her favorite page. It really is so cute. The jane magnolia tree Summer saw at the store is now standing next to her. She loves it so much because it blooms pink and purple flowers.
Here's to many years of watching Summer and jane magnolia grow together.

Forrest

 

Yep, my boy is growing up too fast. In less than two months he will be 5 and that is so hard to believe. I regretfully didn't have a complete baby book for this one so here are a few things I don't want to forget...

Forrest's favorite song in the whole wide world is called "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" from the movie. It's on repeat at our house. I go to itunes, put the song on repeat and he's happy as a clam.

Every night before bed he always asks "When is it going to be (a holiday or day of the week)". Together we count down the days or months to that particular holiday or day of the week.

He's a daddy's boy. If he's in the room i might as well be chopped liver.

And speaking of food, Forrest's favorite food in the whole wide world is macaroni and cheese. And if he's able to be picky he LOVES the kind from Annie's.

Before bed he LOVES to have Dr. Seuss' The Lorax book read to him.

Forrest gives the world's best hugs and kisses. I get them all day long.

The best is when he gives me leg hugs. He just walks up to me and snuggles on my leg. I love it.

The main purpose of this blog is to keep a record of our family. Someday I hope Forrest will read this and know not just some funny things about his preschool years but how much his Mama has loved and adored him, even from the beginning.

I love you, sweet Forrest. I'm glad you're mine.

Dear Leprechauns...

Here was Summer's attempt this morning at what she called "A leprechaun jump kick". She was jumping and trying to click her heels together. Apparently leprechauns do that. Who knew?
  Before bed last night Summer started writing a note that she said she was going to leave for the leprechauns. She had a lot of unanswered questions. She asked me for an idea of something to ask them and I said to ask them how old they are. She looked at me with a confused look on her face and said, "Moommm, everyone knows all leprechauns are the same age and they are all 105." I had no idea! I then offered the idea to ask them if they go on vacations and if so where do they like to go. She again said, "Moommm, they stay at their rainbow and St. Patrick's Day is THEIR VACATION and the place they go is to all kids houses all over the world". Ok, then. She then sat at the table and carefully thought up her own questions. This morning, the first place she ran to was her note. And yes, the leprechauns did respond to her... in teeny, tiny writing since leprechauns ARE teeny tiny. Here were her questions and the leprechauns' answers.

(I can not even describe the pure joy that came over her when she looked at the paper and saw that the leprechauns had answered all of her questions.)

Are you a boy or a girl? A boy

When do you take a bath? At night before i go to bed

What is your favorite song? It's not easy being green by kermit the frog

Can you swim? No

How many houses do you visit on march 17th? 63,000,000,071 houses in one night. I'm tired.

How do you turn over the chairs? Lucky magic

He then wrote to both kids and told them to have a lucky day, not to forget to wear green to school and signed his name, Leo Leprechaun.

I love my Summer. She is the cutest, happiest little 6 year old. So imaginative and wide eyed about life.  Did I mention that I really love her? I do. A lot.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The leprechauns came to our home in the night. It was pretty exciting around here at 7:30 am. You would have thought it was Christmas morning. Last night before bed the kids made sure they had on green, they did NOT want to risk getting pinched. This morning they went downstairs to see all the rooms messed up. The chairs were tipped over, all the pillows were thrown off of the sofa, the kitchen cabinets were all opened and the leprechauns left rainbow jelly beans on the kitchen table. And let me tell you, the toilet water mysteriously turned green! Last night Summer wrote a note to the leprechauns.  I have the cutest pictures that I need to upload. Forrest made this leprechaun mask at school and this morning I went outside to find Forrest playing with it. Oh, how I love this boy.