the first picture from the slumber party.....

and then the rest-

the party went GREAT. every year it gets easier and easier- a very good group of girls.

i love each one so much and am already thankful for the role they play in my girls' lives :)

and here are the house pictures i promised-

back at my mom's this morning with 2 little girls on my lap. one of whom has been crying all week and challenging my authority and one who has been asking me hundreds of questions regarding getting bigger and grandma meiss.

after the visitation tekoa wanted to know all about heaven and where grandma's heart is and where her body is.....i thought we had it all straightened out until later that night. we got a call from destiny (my goddaughter) and tekoa was taking a turn talking to her and said, "well, we went to heaven tonight to say good-bye to grandma meiss....."

and she is still telling me everyday that she doesn't want to be a kid anymore. she just wants to be big. don't quite know how to get her to let go of that one.....

wren has an ear infection and is not herself. she's been crying a lot and getting into a lot of trouble.
apparently she has discovered the spot where i keep the dishwasher detergent cubes because i keep finding clusters of them in drawers or sacks or toy bins.



my parents watched her the other night for me during team kids and they found one in the bottom of her footed pajamas- along with a little toy horse....

i do watch her. seriously, i do....

and the other day shaeya was in the shower with her clothes laid out on the floor (i cannot convince my kids that the bathroom floor is not the best place to lay anything.)

wren was in and out of the bathroom, and when shaeya finished she yelled out, "MOM!! WHERE'S MY SHIRT??"

long story short, we could NOT find the shirt. we looked everywhere. wren's cupboard, the toy boxes, laundry room....

and it was the only shirt shaeya could possibly consider wearing. you know how it is.....

the next day we were eating lunch and suddenly wren climbed down from her chair, walked over to the heating vent on the floor by the front door, lifted the top off, and pulled out the shirt. she walked over to us and said, "here."

we all had a good laugh....

i realize that the 2 littlest get a lot of the blog spotlight. i need to add a bit more of tyden and shaeya.

they are just so easy and good that they get looked over quite a bit in the midst of the chaos of the other 2. but i love their hearts, i love their stories, i love the dynamic between the 2 of them.

tyden would be lost without shaeya. she tells him what to say, do, and think. and he goes right along with it. (he will make a great husband someday, right??)

the other day dave and i overheard her telling him, "tyden, how many times do i have to tell you that you have to keep better track of things in your brain."

they have shared a room since they were 2 and 4, and they will be separating when we move to the new house. shaeya is fine with it but tyden is not so sure. he gets scared at night and he HATES to be alone (wonder where he gets that??) but it is time. he will be 10 this year and needs to learn not to depend on his little sister for everything.

i wish i had more time to spend with just those 2. and i've been feeling the need to talk with shaeya about her faith and find out what she's thinking and feeling in that area, but it's surprisingly hard to catch her alone.

gotta work on that cause i'm sure it only gets harder....

unfortunately i made a very impulsive decision on valentine's day that i have lived to regret. after the volleyball games with my family i decided since it was a holiday and all that i should treat myself to a movie. so i watched one online which i have never done before and right as the movie ended i was informed that i had used up my internet allowance for the month.

i didn't even know i HAD a monthly allowance. but apparently i do and it is all used up.

so i'm without internet at home which is extremely frustrating because i am in the middle of shopping for appliances and hardwood and a gymnastics mat for tekoa's birthday. not to mention the blog and the constant e-mails dave and i send each other to stay connected.

i'm at my mom's right now with my sisters and their kids and a few extras since tonight is our annual "little girl's slumber party," so i'm going to try to fire this out quickly.

i'm feeling very encouraged the last few days with the progress we've made on the house. getting closer to drywall everyday and starting to get things straightened out with cabinets, appliances, and hardwood. it will be a HUGE relief when we finalize those 3 decisions.

yesterday i spent the whole day there cleaning and cutting boards for dave. it felt so good to be able to help him a little.

we had a birthday party for little drake the other night at our house. lots of fun and lots of chaos.

the next morning my kids were playing with a leftover balloon. tyden and shaeya had taped a note to the balloon and asked if they could go outside and let it go for someone else to find. i told them to let wren and tekoa play with it for a couple days and then we could let it go.

as i was fighting the big balloon on my way out the door, i took a quick look at the note they had attached.

it said, "READ THE BIBLE."

so cute....

and then as i climbed into the van to take all the kids to school i noticed that tekoa had her treat bag from the party in her hands. i looked back at her and she quickly said, "there's a sign at my preschool that says, 'candy is allowed.'"

still have some work to do with that one....

and while we're on the subject of tekoa......she is SO EXCITED to turn 4. she just really wants to be bigger.

"how old do i have to be before i'm big, mom? like 14? then will i be big??"

"am i bigger today, mom?"

"4 year olds are bigger than 3 year olds, right?"

i keep trying to tell her that it is much more fun to be little than it is to be big.....

we got a call this morning to let us know that dave's grandma passed away.

we knew it was coming, but it is still sad to say good-bye. we loved grandma meiss very much and will always treasure our memories of her. we had lots of "sunday dinners" together and last sunday we went to visit her for the last time. she did not wake up while we were there but we sang to her and said good-bye.

we are waiting for details on the visitation and funeral.

don't know when i will make it back here to blog again but i do have some house pictures and i'm sure i will have some great slumber party pictures- and stories :)

should be a fun night :)

shaeya keeps asking if they can stay up LATE.

"can we stay up late, mom? like 8 o'clock?"

"we can???? YES!!!"

today is a momentous day for little wren.
she drank her first bottle of straight milk.
i have been adding sugar to get her to drink it at all, and slowly putting in less and less sugar and today was the first time i gave it to her without any and she didn't even notice.
relief. AND she has FINALLY stopped asking to nurse. just within the last few days.

so i am officially through the nursing and asking for nursing phase of life..... and will soon be moving on to potty training. maybe when wren starts going on the toilet she will finally quit playing in it.

she is turning into a really funny kid. she is high energy and very vocal and opinionated.
her newest phrase is "MOMMY, WHERE ARE YOU?" any time i am out of sight- which is cute and annoying at the same time.

she is always wrestling with tyden, playing with shaeya, and fighting with tekoa.
and the fights are truly funny. i'm never one to get too involved in the kids' fights- i figure it's good for them to learn to work things out on their own- but i am always listening and laughing to myself when i hear wren yelling at tekoa to "GO AWAY!!!" and then when tekoa comes up to me and says, "mom, she's ruining my life....."









and lastly- the timeout step....



and one other funny thing.....we have a cupboard in the kitchen that is "wren's cupboard." it is full of toys and wren loves to just sit in there and close the doors on herself. apparently it's a good place to go for some peace and quiet.
so she spends long amounts of time just sitting in there alone in the dark which i think is really funny.
oh, and the other kids wouldn't dare try to go into or touch the cupboard or they would hear, "MY CUPBOARD!!!!" from the top of wren's lungs.









i love my baby but it has been a long week.

she is getting her eye teeth and has been crying for a week solid. and not sleeping well and crying and pounding on her gums with her fist and drooling.

and then right after we got over the flu tekoa started getting tummy aches and she has been SO HARD the last week. i think her stomach truly does hurt her because the girl is just not herself. she wants me to hold her all day. she will not play- she sits at my feet and whines and says, "i just feel like i need to hold you, mom." and she is also waking up at night.

so between the 2 little girls i am already in over my head, and that is only a fraction of what i have on my plate.
trying to juggle that and everything for the older 2 kids and homework and school projects and valentines parties and cleaning at the school and a big fund raiser and shopping for appliances for the new house and trying to stay on top of the cleaning here....

maybe i'm just feeling really alone and that is the main problem. most nights i just can't stay awake long enough to see dave when he gets home.
so i go to bed alone every night. and it's wearing on me.
i miss having help and feeling supported and having someone to share what goes on during my days with.

we'll get through it, right?
things are already looking up because i think it'll finally be warm enough to take the kids out to the house tomorrow AND dave has a few carpenters coming to help him for the day.
a boost for us both.
and i get to have dinner with some friends on sunday to celebrate a birthday so there is a break in sight.
AND some of my extended family is coming to play volleyball in the barn on monday night so i don't have to sit alone eating too many chocolates on valentine's day :)

and hopefully after tomorrow i will have some new house pictures to post....

it's this time of year that i'm SO THANKFUL to be living next to an indoor gym. we've been having a lot of fun out there.



it's amazing how long 3 (okay 4) girls can be entertained by half a wagon and a box :)







tyden looks like he's really getting all that his dad is trying to teach him about basketball, doesn't he?
he's more of a soccer kid....
and you can have really fun games of soccer in the barn too- if only we had a few more players, right dave??



note that the snow is over their heads.
it took dave 3 hours on a tractor to dig us out.



real snow cones!



wren got to eat hers in the shower.
she was in the shower because while i was making the snow cones she got into the toilet.
wet, soggy toilet paper in her hands and on the floor and rug. i'm not sure whether the toilet paper was used or not. i think it was- but i'm just telling myself that i don't know.....



remember that snow pile that was over their heads?
that was nothing!





and remember when i mentioned that dave dug us out with the tractor?
well, i'm thankful and all, but unfortunately the stomach flu hit at the same time as the snow storm.....which was truly unfortunate- especially cause we had just had it at christmas time.
so although we are freed from the snow, we have not been free to go anywhere.
except for a half a day of school yesterday- by that time the flu had gone through tyden and shaeya and had moved on to me.

fortunately my husband was snowed in from work so he was home to hold things together while i was sick. and i was VERY SICK. nothing i ever want to live through again. ever.

i don't know how the kids bounced back so quickly, but after a night of throwing up every 45 minutes i was down for 2 days.
through a sick haze i have vague memories of dave feeding the kids and dave cleaning up after them and dave putting them to bed.
i think i remember hearing him say once, "WREN!! WHY are you getting into the toilet???"
and then another time, "WREN!! did you poop again? WHY??"

have i mentioned that he's a great guy? he does such a good job with them. too bad i was too sick to enjoy the break.

thankfully i'm feeling much better today. i finally had the energy to catch up on laundry and then wash everyone's sheets and then clean all the bathrooms with bleach.
and dave is back at the house. today he is setting our fireplace.
so ready to get winter over with and anxious for the time when i can help dave again. should just be about 1 more month for both, right?

i tacked on a few pictures from camera day at gymnastics on monday.
sadly, tekoa may only have one more month left of her true passion.....loan payments on the house have officially begun. so with rent payments and loan payments and such there will not be much leftover for things like gymnastics or my monday morning coffees.....

i have been spending every spare moment practicing worship songs for the women's retreat and i just want to say that the power of worship is incredible. i feel God's presence each time i start to sing and i feel Him pulling me in and teaching me and chastising me. it is beautiful....why did i ever stop? how did i let myself quit doing what God has called me to do?

if only there were more hours in a day with nothing to fill them with but worship!!!!
someday there will be, right? when the kids are more independent and when i have a husband around again?
or at least there is heaven!! when i get there i think i want to spend the first few years just resting at Jesus' feet. resting and soaking in His presence and enjoying my freedom from the world- and then i have about a million and a half questions for Him and after i get to ask those i want to WORSHIP. forever and ever.

my fingers are so sore and my voice is tired but still i practice because i don't have all the chord progressions down or all the words memorized.
and while i practice my kids are either fighting or emptying drawers and cabinets or asking for help with homework or standing beside me yelling "MOM!!" over and over....
but it has been good for us.

if you think of it say a prayer for the retreat tomorrow.

i know, i know. it has taken me way too long to get to this post :) i've been swarmed with kids and laundry and gamenights and football parties.

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!

seriously, we had the time of our lives.
the resort was so BEAUTIFUL and the food was amazing!!!

we spent our days playing beach volleyball and lying in the sun.
we went kayaking on the ocean and we made lots of friends.
everyone thought we were on our honeymoon, and it was so funny to see their reactions when we told them our honeymoon was 10yrs and 4 kids ago :)

checking in. we got there and ate and then slept for 12 hours straight. heaven.




ahhh the sweetness of doing nothing.




cece...excellent volleyball player and fellow believer.


and the FIRE app on the ipad :) it even crackles.
the fire went with us to every dinner and while we laid by the pool at night. our waiters and fellow diners thought it was hilarious and one of them even touched it to see if it was hot.


our private dinner on the beach....unforgettable!!








las vegas night. fermin always had us laughing- especially on the volleyball court.












kenneth and evelyn. they called us the modern day cleavers. i think it was a compliment??












my karaoke buddy. we sang a duet together- a song i didn't know which made it all the more fun and entertaining i'm sure.











fermin on karaoke night- i was not the one who inspired the napkins in the ears- just so you know.












these ladies were SO FUNNY!! and the one to my left was an amazing singer!!!


and last but not least.....the volleyballers. spent lots of quality time with these guys but we couldn't converse cause they don't speak english. they even kept their own score of the games in russian :) a beautiful sight, aren't they??


mexican night :) how do you say, "this hat is too heavy" in spanish???


LOVED the balcony


sad to leave...


missing the kids didn't really set in until our last day. then we could not wait to get home to see them.
we got in late wednesday night and they were all asleep, so we had to wait til the next morning. at about 6:30am i heard ty and shaeya talking in bed so i got up and climbed in bed with them and heard ALL about EVERYTHING they did.
i asked them if they missed me, and shaeya said, "yea, one night we laid in bed and talked about you for a really long time until we both had tears in our eyes...."
so sweet.

and then wren....i was so anxious to see her. as soon as i heard her rustling around in her crib i crept into her room and peeked my head around the corner. she looked at me, and i said, "wren, mommy's home!!!!"
to which she said, "NURSE."

i almost caved. i just wanted to hold my baby, but she proceeded to throw the world's biggest tantrum because i wouldn't nurse her.

and just so you know, it is still going on. everyday she climbs in my lap and says "nurt. nurt please."
and when i tell her that only babies nurse and that she's a big girl now she says, "no, a baby. a baby. nurt."
i am staying strong and trying to just enjoy my new freedom. :)

we decided that 10 years is too long to wait until our next get away. it was absolutely amazing and fun and rejuvenating. and it was great to remember that we are really fun people when you pull us away from all of our work and responsibility :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED WITH THE KIDS WHILE WE WERE GONE!!!!!!!

now it's back to the normal chaos.
and i'm leading the worship at the women's retreat for my church this weekend, and dave wants to be hanging drywall by the end of february.....



****this is my disclaimer for my grandma and my mom and a few others in regards to the pink dress and the necklace-
i was on my 2nd honeymoon. it only comes twice in a lifetime....****

tuesday night.....which means 3 days til MEXICO.
and this is not the time to be blogging.

i have koa climbing around on my lap and wren beside me getting into drawers and trying to take her diaper off. ty is listening to music full blast in the kitchen, and shaeya is writing something and constantly asking me how to spell words.

shaeya is really into the whole note writing thing.
she never directly gives me the notes she writes, she just leaves them where she thinks i will find them.
and they always make me laugh.





i have all the pre-vacation thoughts running through my head at a million miles an hour. thoughts like:
"clean out the van before you go so no one sees the kind of filth you drive in everyday"
"give warning of wren's passion for climbing into the bathroom sink and turning on the water"
"find passports, sunscreen, and that cute little black dress i bought 4 years ago and only wore once"

we've had our fair share of bloopers in the last few weeks that i've been too busy to write about:

koa falling in the toilet

ty brushing his teeth with soap (which may have been my fault- long story)

koa going to school with pink permanent marker all over her face and especially in her eyebrows

koa repeatedly telling me that she had to go potty while we were in a store. i kept telling her to 'hold it' until she finally yelled out, "OHHHH.....you're gonna be SO MAD at me when i pee my pants!!!"

and one of me getting completely stuck in a corset type top in a fitting room.
let me just say that if there really are surveillance cameras in those rooms like they say there are, then that clip of me will definitely end up on youtube somewhere. especially the part where i am pulling and twisting and flailing and jumping and then someone comes by to ask how i'm doing and i very calmly answer "great! thanks!"
i was very close to having to ask for help. praise the Lord that i didn't.

oh and the one where i attempt to go sailing through one of those revolving metal pole thingys that are in menards only to find (very abruptly find- i have a bruise to prove it-) that it doesn't turn in the direction i was coming from.

let's not forget realizing my licence is expired

and the 2 cases of credit card fraud on both of our 2 credit cards- nothing like having to freeze your credit cards right before leaving the country

and wren spilling her food and drinks. wren spilling everyone else's food and drinks. wren falling off tables and pianos and chairs......

and speaking of wren-
i'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that i am still nursing her- or "nurt" as she calls it.
and this is the last week of that since i'm leaving, and i am sad.
if i'm not nursing than that means i don't have a baby.....
but i figure this is the best way for us both to be done. and it's time. i suppose.
hopefully she still loves me when i get back....