Forever.

We got to visit one of our favorite places last week. The flowers were beautiful and so was remembering that our family can be together forever.

Honestly?

Have you ever seen anyone more darling?

This crazy little monkey man is scooting his sweet patoot all over this house. I was REALLY hoping for a child that would you know, make my life easier by slowing things down a little. HAH! I need to give that dream up. At 5 months the boy is trying with all his might to crawl. It won't be long now. The honeymoon is over, my friends. The real insanity of three children is about to begin!

Tomatoes.

The summer routine we have fallen into has been Marty going out to work in the garden between 6 and 6:30 while I man the house waiting for our sleeping beauties to stir (or sleep another half hour or so myself--no complaints here!). Lucy tends to wake up a little earlier than the rest of the kiddos, and when she sees her daddy (and often grandpa as well) working out front she tells me she is off to get her shoes and help in the garden, too. Marty is good about keeping her busy with all sorts of toddler-appropriate jobs, and she feels like such a big girl she just beams.

It just so happened that our first big heirloom tomato was ripe enough to pick the other morning, so one of the chores papa passed along to Goosey was to bring that lovely garden gift inside to mama. Well, something got lost in translation, or my sweet produce-loving girl just couldn't help herself, and by the time I saw that tomato it looked a little something like this:

I love this girl:) Marty even tried to let her redeem herself a day or two later by giving her the same job to do. The results? The same. We decided that Lucy can no longer be trusted for safe transport of ripe tomatoes into the house. Luckily I caught her a little earlier the next time, and we all got to have a few slices of cherokee purple with our hash browns and eggs that morning. It worked out perfectly:)

To my children

After a busy evening of getting ready for Sunday--the cleaning, food prep, bathing, etc.--we finally got you all into bed. You girls were quick to fall asleep after a long day playing in the sun at the beach, with baby boy not far behind. A few sweet minutes of nursing and snuggling and the house was finally quiet.

I came downstairs, feeling a little weary, but knowing that a clean kitchen is much more welcoming in the morning than a pile of crusty dishes. Slowly, I moved all the dirty dishes to the sink, checked on the baking granola, and organized all the garden produce of the day.

After everything else was done, I went into the dining room to wipe down the table and finish up for the evening. As I scrubbed away leftover maple syrup from breakfast and noodles and sauce from dinner, I was overcome by my joy of being your mother. I was literally almost in tears as I pictured your sweet faces--and then pictured them again a few years from now--and it was just too much for me. As hard as these days can be with you three (my three, three and under), I never want to leave these sweet, innocent days. I love the moments where you want to play with my hair and read stories together and tell me I am the most beautiful mama in the whole world. I look forward to your smiles and kisses and cuddles every day. I adore hearing you sing made-up songs, creating new games to play in the yard, and helping daddy in the garden.

My mind flashed through all the meals we will eat together at that table, all the phases we will survive together, and then how one day you will have your own table to wipe down when your little ones have gone to bed.

Oh, how I pray to savor these days, to find clarity amidst the chaos.

  Thanks for choosing crazy old me to be your mommy.

I love you. 

Even Better!

Piano Guys anyone? Love.

On Wheels.

The Dot is officially too stinkin' old. She is a big girl who can ride a big girl bike (with training wheels, that is). We found this beauty (the skeedaddle) on the side of the road last fall. That man's junk has certainly become Dorothy's treasure--and Lucy's envy. Lucy can't wait to grow another inch or two so she can reach the pedals as well! Hopefully by the fall we can move Dorothy up to something else and let Lucy have at the wheels.

To the Beach!!

We live near a state beach, so the beaches in this area are swamped with tourists this time of year. However, we have found that opting for the early evening hours to hit the beach rather than mid-day gives us a lot more room to move around and explore.

 Ezra especially loved his first toe-dip into the ocean water! And I love having somewhere to let these wild ones run free! I'm thinking tonight may have to be another beach trip--we need to escape the 87 degrees that is the inside of our house. Oh, please tell me the heat is breaking after tomorrow!

Have I Done Any Good?

Christmas in July

Every night at bedtime I let the girls choose a few songs for me to sing to them as I tuck them in. For months the favorites have been "Latter-Day Prophets," and "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam." A few days ago they wanted a nice quiet song. The first one that popped into my head was "The Christmas Song"--you know, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."--and now it is requested every night over and over. I think we may be singing this one for the rest of the year!

Put on your Sunday Clothes

We've been really into musicals lately. Although our favorite is Singing in the Rain, when we need a little pick me up we also love the song Put on Your Sunday Clothes from Hello Dolly!

4th of July

And with this post I think we are officially caught up on the blog! Whew!

It was a great holiday together as a family. I spent a little more time trying to help the girls start to understand the importance of our country and the freedoms we are so blessed to have. Hopefully over the years the message will sink in. I truly am proud to be an American!

We started off the day with some red, white, and blue crepes!

We stuffed those puppies with whipped cream and topped them with strawberry and blueberry purees. I think we may have to keep this tradition going.

We opted out of the town parade to let our little ones stay on schedule and get more rest. We ended our trip down south with fevers and puking--so lovely. But we are better and hope to stay that way! Hence, no parade and shortened/skipped naps. We opted for the just as frugal and perhaps even more fun hose and buckets of water.

After a little afternoon gardening, resting, and playing, we ended the night at Grandma and Grandpa Vieira's for a BBQ.

 And there you have it! A simple, wonderful day with my sweet family. I feel so blessed.

God Bless America!

North Carolina in Review

Well, it has come and gone: our annual trip to the great state of North Carolina. It was much shorter than my little heart wanted. I love being around my family, and it just doesn't happen often enough. Here are a few of the highlights:

Megamind. I had never seen this movie. I laughed--maybe even snorted a few times from all the laughter. Dorothy immediately became obsessed and ran around the house in various cape-like costumes yelling "MEGAMIND!!!" the rest of the visit. Here is our chalk tribute to our favorite blue guy.

My parents live right down the road from an old Grist Mill. There is a great little museum and hiking trails attached. It was a great morning activity for all the little girlies before it got too hot. We took to the pattern of morning outings, mid-day siestas, and afternoon pool time. Oh, it was heavenly.

Downtown Raleigh has a great hands-on, interactive children's museum called "Marbles." We left Marty with the two little girls, and the big girl cousins and baby boy came with the mommies and grandma for a whole afternoon of playing. I loved watching Dorothy play at the water tables, climb around a pirate ship yelling "arm-ah-teee!" (her version of arrr-Matey), pretend to groom all sorts of animals, make all sorts of meals for us (like pretzel, chicken, and bread smoothies) with all the plastic play foods, and just be a little girl! I know I push her too often to be the "big" kid because she is the oldest--but it is good to stop and remember that she is still just my tiny three year old girl. I need to let time slow down as much as possible, not speed it up.

And then there was (one of my personal favorites) the breakfast weiny and s'mores roast!! It heats up way too fast down south to even have the slightest desire to do a camp fire any other time of day. So, in the beautiful morning light we marched on down to the fire pit and roasted the obligatory summer foods of hot dogs and marshmallows. It was wonderful. And I hope we get to do it again next year!

Some of the non-photographed highlights were lunch at an awesome Turkish restaurant followed by chocolates at our favorite local chocolatier "Chocolate Smiles." Oh, mama, stop in and try a caramel cloud if you ever make it to Cary, NC. Please. We also loved going to the farmer's market, story time at the local library, visiting grandma's bookstore, and train, boat, and carousel rides at a local park. I can't believe I didn't take a single picture by the pool, but we spent a lot of delicious hours in the water. I know my girls miss that part of our daily routine already!

Man, I'm tearing up a bit just thinking about how much I wish we had had a few more days, but I will take what I can get. Til next year--thanks for the great kick off to summer!

Did I mention....?

That we cut the Polka Dot's hair? Just chopped those scraggly ends right off.

I love it on her. I think we'll rock it at chin length for a while. She did really well until she thought I was cutting her neck open with the blunt side of the scissors. So I'm sure it could be a little more even, but who is looking that closely, right? Oh, and did I mention how handsome those two boys are? Because they truly are the two most handsome men I know.

he just keeps growing.

I tell him to stop every day. 

Just stop and be as sweet as you are forever, Ezra!

But this big boy just keeps on growing. 

And, boy, do I love spending time with this guy. 

rainy Saturday

On the Saturday we hoped to go strawberry picking, 

the rains came down--and just would not let up. 

So what do you do with a bunch of kids with cabin fever?

We opted for the good old build a fort and eat treats route. 

And life was good.

Tea time

The other day I walked into the playroom to find this:

I could hear all sorts of moving furniture and the clinking and clanking of various toys. What a sweet surprise to find a full fledged tea party created by my big girl--with a spot for ME at the table. It was an honor to be invited:)