This past weekend rivaled the weekend of my sister's wedding when I was 37 weeks pregnant with Theia. But we all had a good time and made good memories. We had 6 adults and 5 children staying in our teeny house overnight, and a total of 17 people here for a cookout on Saturday. Everyone brought food with them and helped out a lot, so I wasn't too overtaxed. Still, no more activities till we leave for our babymoon, please! We went to the zoo with our guests on Saturday, where we received more attention and comments than any of the displays there because of this stroller:

Cousins: Tucker, Theia, and Kadyn

We've always gotten more than our welcome share of attention when we've used the Runabout in the past with just our two in it (people are just magically awed by this stroller for some reason), but try putting three 2 year olds in it at once and you spend all your time maneuvering around gawkers who want to believe you have triplets. My sincerest congratulations to anyone who has multiples and has the courage to take them out in public more than once a month. I think people must believe that parents of multiples are also stricken with deafness.

"Can I offer you some foffee?"

I don't think Theia has a very high opinion of my hosting skills. My cousin Bree was over this afternoon with her girls for a visit and had been here for about an hour when Theia went up to her and timidly asked "Want foffee?" I wasn't sure, but I asked her to repeat herself, and sure enough, I'd heard right. As it turns out, Bree did want coffee. Its a good thing my two year old is on top of these things.

Tag, I'm It.

Nyla, who is a friend of my big sister's friend who has become my faithful Scrabble buddy, just tagged me in this tell-all expose (and when I say "expose" I really mean "ex-po-zay", I just can't figure out how to make the little squiggly). What were you doing 10 years ago?: I was participating in a mission trip with my youth group, and incidentally meeting my husband for the first time. My first impression of my husband was that he was a single dad, because he was 5 yrs older than me, seemed somewhat older than that, and always had his 3 yr old sister tagging along after him. I believed this for the first few days of the trip. 5 years ago?: After seeing my future husband while participating in his cousin's wedding over the summer, I realized, yet again, how much I like that man and what a great husband he would make for ME (it had happened a few times over the previous couple of years) and fell into deep pining from which I did not recover until the man finally realized, several months later, that maybe there was something there, and decided to do something about it. 5 months ago?: I decided it was about time I stopped trying to fit into regular clothes and went public with my third pregnancy. Well, almost public. Just yesterday someone I know who has seen me multiple times in the last 5 months asked me "are you expecting again?!" My answer: "We had all better hope so!". 5 things on my to-do list for tomorrow: 1 - Order the birth kit that my midwife requires. Do you think I should ask for a frequent customer discount? 2 - Wash a load of diapers 3 - Take inventory of what we need to haul across state with us for our vacation/baby having trip. 4 - Prepare my house to be descended upon by a (same above-mentioned) cousin of my husband, my sister-in-law, and their respective husbands and children for the rest of the weekend. 5 - Enjoy myself with my friend/husband's cousin who I have not seen in over a year. 5 things people don't know about me: 1 - I have 6 brothers and 3 sisters (obviously some people do know this about me, but I bet Nyla didn't). 2 - I am a pianist. I feel like I should say "was" instead of "am" because my hands have spent much more time in the toilet than at the piano in the last 3 years (rinsing out diapers, people! I don't just play in the toilet for fun). 3 - I have an obsession that involves guessing people's country of origin by their features, dress, posture, and overall "vibe". I am usually pretty accurate. Yeah, nerdy. I honed this skill while working as a cashier at Costco in this culturally diverse area. 4 - I always expected to have only boys (don't ask me why I'd have such an irrational expectation), and didn't know what I'd do with a girl if I had one. Now I know:). 5 - I hate baking desserts. I'd hazard a guess that the majority of desserts produced by our family were actually made by my husband. 5 Bad habits: What, I don't have any bad habits, let alone 5! Actually, these were shockingly easy to come up with. 1 - I do bite my nails, still! I've stopped multiple times, but this is not one of those times. 2 - Like Nyla said - not replacing the toilet paper on its roll - guilty here too. 3 - Jessie claims I have a habit of dropping the toilet seat lid - I didn't think I ever did this till I caught myself in the act about 10 minutes after it was brought to my attention. 4 - I procrastinate just about everything that can be procrastinated. For example, last night, conversation between me and Jessie: Me: "Don't fold those clothes!" Jessie: "Why?" Me: "Because you shouldn't have to, and I really am going to do it tomorrow." Jessie: "I don't mind, you're going to be really busy tomorrow." Me: "No, really, I LIKE folding clothes!" Jessie: "Um, then why are they still here?" Me: "Well, you know, anticipation is half the fun." 5 - I talk before I think. But God is helping me with this one. 5 Places I have lived: I can't really say because they have all been in the same state.

Summer Fun Photo Contest

This is my entry for the Summer Fun photo contest hosted by 5 minutes for Mom. I picked up the idea from Liz's blog. It was a scorching hot day in the Midwest and my husband was spending the afternoon watching his cute niece and nephew play at a park. His niece, Chanty, went for a drink of water after totally blowing herself out from all the running around under the hot sun. Jessie zoomed in and started snapping away because she was so darling with her hair up and her rosy cheeks. She did him the unexpected favor of squirting the stream in her flushed face and this was the result:

I never pass up an excuse to post one of my favorite pictures, taken by my favorite man :)

It Has Begun...

I sometimes wonder if my house would ever get anything resembling a spring cleaning if I didn't have a baby every year. Last week the nesting urge really hit me and I know that I simply have GOT to get all my windows and floors washed. Every day that passes in which my windows and floors go un-washed is excruciating at this point. So I was thrilled when my wonderful sister-in-law, who usually takes Theia to play with her girls for a few hours on Monday, offered to take Eliza as well today. I feel very accomplished when I manage to actually be caught up with dishes AND the laundry when I have both girls all day at this point, so embarking on a larger project with them home was not an option in my mind. Jessie flat out ordered me NOT to mop any floors, so I satisfied myself today with getting out my vacuum attachments and vacuuming all the molding, baseboards, trim, and windowsills (old, nasty windows they are) in the house, and vacuuming all the floors, including using a crevice attachment in all the cracks in the old hardwood floors! I'm sure the baby will really appreciate the absence of dirt between our floorboards. It was one of those amazing "Domestic Goddess" type days. When the girls came home, they'd already had lunch so they went right down for their naps and slept for hours so I was able to finish up my project AND make supper (its sad when making supper starts to seem like a bonus accomplishment). It was really good, too. And wholesome and healthy, with vegetables from my very own garden. I felt like I should be wearing a black and white-checked dress and heels, maybe with a kerchief on my head, when Jessie got home. Anyways, that's enough ego-stroking for now. Jessie is mopping the kitchen and dining room as I type this. What a guy :).

Last Week - The Week of Many Photoshoots

After going through all the [absolutely adorable] pictures of our [breathtakingly beautiful] girls from the past week, I realized that it looks like our poor girls have a camera stuck in their face just about 24/7. This is not really the case - this week we've just had photography on the mind since we were gearing up to get the girls annual birthday shots done.
I have to post a few of my favorites to show off the girls, not to mention Jessie's mad photography skills. I think he's just so talented, and dreamy *sigh*. Ahem. There are more on Jessie's blog as well.







Some of these were taken at the gardens we went to for their "official" 2 and 1 year pics, the first two of Theia were taken in our backyard by Jessie. I've noticed that our backyard always looks a lot better from the perspective of Jessie's camera lens.

Sacred Sunday

Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a safe refuge! ~ Psalm 31:19 - 21 ~