birthday fun

We have celebrated two very special birthdays this month - Sam's dear friend Finley turned three at the beginning of the month and my amazing sister's birthday is today :)  

here are some pictures from two birthday celebrations:

Sam enjoyed her sucker for a long time - they are quite the pair with her boots and his hat.  

 kisses for Clara - precious (Conner is Fin's little bro)

 this picture captures the moment.  Sam has a cold and is so much in Danielle's space.  She is such a good aunt - (not being a fan of germs) but allowing Sam and her sickness to be close while she opened her gifts.  Her first gift - Clorox wipes.  perfect.

Sam has been way into birthday parties and birthdays lately.  She regularly is singing me "happy birthday" and it is almost always one of her toy's birthday party.  We are constantly talking about who's birthday is next and how old Clara will be on her birthday.  So when a birthday party rolls around she is pumped (cold and all).

tooth brushes

Clara loves toothbrushes.  She loves her own toothbrush and she loves my toothbrush.  Whenever I take a shower I put her in the bouncer and give her a toothbrush.  (I realize you aren't supposed to give your children your toothbrush to play with because of bacteria or something like that - you also aren't supposed to kiss them for the same reason... we do both).

Yesterday I heard Clara sucking away and playing with a toothbrush.  I didn't think too much of it as this is typical in our house.  Upon closer look however, there was a problem.  She had a toothbrush in her mouth I didn't recognize.  Not hers, not mine, not sam's, not tim's.  No, thankfully it wasn't a toothbrush I use for cleaning.  but yes, if you haven't guessed by now - Faith dogg's toothbrush.  Gross.

(And yes, there was a small period of time I brushed faith's teeth.  It was shortly after the vet said I needed to brush her teeth or she will need some expensive surgery down the line.  For the record that didn't last long.  Poor faith.)

time with kurtis and erin

kurtis and erin were home for a few weeks this summer for kurtis to teach hebrew at regent.  they came down to bellingham for the weekend of my birthday.  being with them was such a gift!!

 

out by the lake near my parents' house

 dress up with towels :)

 puzzels with kurt

 bonfire in the backyard.  tim was/is very proud of himself for his low-budget fire pit.  i think the most expensive thing was the water tub - $7, everything else was free. 

(i promise clara was also present for the weekend....)

adventures at home

birthday parties with animals

 lots of crawling

 finding a flower for her hair

 and almost everyday we are a cowgirl

swim lessons

are the bomb to samantha jean.  it was such fun seeing her joy and improvement in a few short weeks.  granted she will be in the same level class next time but i was so proud of how she did! 

 

timid at first....

 but not for long... :)

 floating - her favorite part

 learning the "ice cream scooper"

old pics cont

feeding chickens

 BUBBLES :)

such fun with meema and heeho.  samanntha is daily planning our next trip telling me, 'mama - today we go high in the sky.  on an airplane.  see meema and heeho and cousin ellis.  ok?!'

old pictures

hanging out with daddy

 birthday girl playing air hockey (told you they were old)

 colorado springs zoo.  wearing glasses her own way. 

 feeding giraffes lettuce

 sweet clara

 joy

more catch up pics tomorrow :)

mike's wedding

tim and i spent the weekend celebrating with our dear friend mike as he promised his life to his now wife, bekah.  i spent the weekend talking and laughing with lisa and bekah moser.  tim and i left the weekend with hearts full of gratitude for our dear, dear friends.  bekah, as she does, has proptly posted pictures of the time here.  enjoy. 

yesterday's thought for the day

"well at least two out of the three of us are dressed pretty cute.  if i didn't shower and took two, maybe three, seconds for myself that seems good enough.  i mean i did wash my face.  and lets be honest - when i am with the girls no one is giving me too much attention."  :)

my inner dialogue on a day cleaning dominated the morning and finally sam asked to go for a walk.  i had to say yes for all of our sakes.

kindergarten

so Sam is a couple of years away from her kindergarten debut but my dear friend from college - Christina - sent her daughter off to kindergarten today.  (sigh).  and lets not even mention how old ben moser is :)

for some reason seeing the picture of makenna's back as she walked towards the entrance of the school almost brought me to tears this morning.  Christina wrote under the picture, "I guess we r doing this."  yup.  and there is me - a puddle on the floor.

it probably didn't help i spent last night working on a scrap book from the year sam was born where every other post was about a 'trip to the midwife' and there was a constant blog post stream on the state of my pregnancy.  (bless you all for sticking with me).  these posts are followed, obviously, by thoughts and pictures of sam's first weeks of life.

flash forward to today when she is boldly climbing on ropes and quickly making her way down slides at the park.  (deep sigh).  where does the time go?  (how cliche am i? - smile).

i think seeing the picture of Christina's little girl walk to kindergarten reminded me of the reality that this is my last school year with Sam at home full time.  and there is such a sweetness of our days together.  i don't want to stop her from growing up because her growing up is such fun.  i love her as a toddler, most days.  the picture was a good reminder for me to cherish these fleeting days and to take advantage of my teaching moments with Sam, for there are many.  and to give her as many hugs as she will let me.  and to read her as many books as clara will allow :)

man - I am glad Christina is ahead of me on this one.  lead the way dear friend.  lead the way.

we have a computer!!!

After hours and hours and hours we have a fast, working, new computer!!!!!!!!!!! 

Be on the look out for some awesome posts...  well not really... but look for some updates :) 

hope to be back more regularly in the blog world now that i don't have to pull my hair out when i use the computer. 

in the mean time - this verse has been my morning companion these past few weeks - a great encouragement to me to see as i start my day. 

Isaiah 33:2

Lord be gracious to us, we long for you.
Be our strength every morning, our salvation in times of distress. 

The Lord is faithful

and Tim no longer has an appendix.

after a few days of stomach pain tim went to the doctor yesterday - then had a cat-scan - then met with a surgeon - then had his appendix out - then went into recovery - then came home.

it was a bit of a crazy day - only made possible to be smooth by the help of many and the grace of God.  I also managed to see a new eye doctor (who actually knew what was wrong and am now on an expensive but helpful eye drop) and get a hair cut :)  (yes - my mom again the champion of the day - along with a few others).

but seriously - tim has had on and off stomach pain for a few years (and most recently while he was in plymouth indiana for the day visiting his grandma).  we are incredibly thankful it did not burst and he was SO well taken care of yesterday.  he did not have to wait all day - and saw people he knew everywhere.  it was amazing.  the surgeon was a Christian - such a kind, kind man.  and all the nurses were like angels.  the day was crazy but the Lord was SO faithful to surround us by such wonderful care.  especially after such a hard month of so with my eyes this was such a gift.  i started the day feeling really discouraged and by the end was  overflowing with peace and gratitude.  The Lord is so good and so I have to give Him honor for the way He revealed Himself in profound ways yesterday.

and really - it blows my mind how tim can have surgery at 4 pm and be going home by 9 pm.  he even walked to the car by himself.  granted it helps that he keeps himself in such good shape but we are so blessed to have this kind of medical system.

there you go.  that was our day.  tim and clara are asleep upstairs. he is recovering well and knowing him will try to play soccer next week.  sam is having a party at nana's house and i am going to go take a shower.

thank you, thank you, thank you for praying and loving us well!!!

life is a blur

remember when i blogged regularly...  yeah i don't really remember either :)

there are a few reasons for this most recent fast.

1. we were traveling alot at the end of june/begging of july. (yeah for trips to indiana and coloardo!!).

2. our computer is dying and that is being polite.  we are waiting for the new computer to come and in the mean time tim has asked i don't add anything new (as in pictures) to our present computer.  i am hoping once the new computer comes i will actually enjoy spending time on the computer again.

3. i cant see.  i know i am prone to being dramatic sometimes but unfortunately this isn't a huge exaggeration.  my eyes were somehow irritated in both indiana and colorado.  after indiana they seemed to recover but since returning from colorado (2.5 weeks ago) they have not improved.  well they have improved a little.  they no longer hurt and the redness is gone.  but my vision hasn't returned.  i have been to the eye doctor 5 times in the last two weeks and have another aptmt on wednesday.  he is a bit stumped by me.  the best guess is something seriously irritated my eyes in colorado and they got so dry the dryness kept irritating them more.  dryness leading to more dryness.  perfect.  now i am wearing special contacts to help keep moisture in place and am using drops like every 5 seconds.  slowly, slowly it is getting better, but as i type this the letters are a blur.    my vision is best in the morning and at night and after i wake up from a nap - when i can get one.

for you praying people i would covet your prayers.  i would love my eye sight to return - thankfully there is no permanent damage - just the top layer is a wreck.  more than my eyes though is provision for my spirit.  some days it doesn't bug me too much - others i feel like i am at the end of my rope.  this spills out as impatience at tim and the girls and a general lack of motivation to do anything but the basics.

i must say that the Lord has been faithful in my moments of frustration/discouragement.  i have found joy in my time with the girls (for the most part) and tim is beyond gracious with me.  the other superhero worth mentioning is my mom.  she has been the biggest life-savor of all.  i seriously could not have survived this last few weeks without her!!  she has helped me with the girls, brought me treats, run errands for me, taken sam to her swimming lessons (a topic worthy of its own post - so proud of her!) and just in general been an incredible encouragement.    the Lord has used her significantly to remind me that i am not alone.  thank you mom from the bottom of my heart again and again!!

so there you go.  someday - maybe- i will blog more regularly.  i am hoping.  but no promises.
bye for now - kristi

almost 8 months

Clara is as smiley as she seems.  which is a great thing because she is also a lot harder baby than she first appears...   she is delightful in so many ways.  as she grows she continues to be happier on her own - playing on the floor for maybe 10 min at a time :)  she would still prefer spending all day in my arms.  she is eating a wide range of solid foods and so far as long as they are not in "baby food" form she consumes them with joy.   she is getting used to more time with her dad as tim takes the girls for 45 min in the morning so i can catch some extra sleep.  tim also has been putting the girls to bed monday nights so i can participate in a bible study at church.  (he is as great of a dad and husband as he seems).  

currently we are doing some sleep training to eliminate the middle of the night 3 am feeding.  she is after all almost 8 months old...  she isn't super pleased with this idea and it has left tim and i feeling exhausted.  last night was the first night all week tim has not ended up on the couch.  slowly slowly we are making progress.  the night she goes from 11-5 without a sound will be heaven!

oh - and one more important note - she is crawling.  she doesn't stray too far - heaven forbid she go about 3 feet from me - but she gets where she wants to go, much to the frustration of her sister.  clara is totally a second child and wants whatever sam is playing with.  

now to the fun part - here are some pictures from a few weeks ago - 

clara louise - we love you!  all of you!!  we are grateful for the gift you are to our family.

a birthday celebration with nana, papa, dee dee and jacob

Sam turns three next week!  We celebrated her upcoming birthday with my family last night.  She has been to a number of birthday parties in the last month with all of her friends turning 3 and she was so excited it was finally her turn.  she kept saying, "MYYY birthday party!"  i don't think she stopped smiling all night.  

when sam opened up this present from our family friend tim said, "jeff foxworthy - that is surprising" :)  he has written a great kids book and our friend even had it autographed by the illustrator.  very cool! thanks so much mark and marilyn!!  

 all the time people compliment sam's hair.  she is of course wearing her birthday bow (something she has worn on each birthday).

 belle dress from dee dee and jacob - so excited!!  we had to convince her she needed to take it off to sleep last night.  first thing this morning she wanted it back on along with the crown.

 reading books with nana

 "3 is going to be awesome!"