Look who came to visit!

We just finished a wonderful week of having Nana & Papa for a visit!  The time went way too fast and the list of things we wanted to do is still too long BUT it was a glorious time!

The week started with taking the girls to ballet (note how hair gets done when there are extra helping hands around!)

Of course no trip to San Antonio is complete without the Alamo and time on the Riverwalk.  We went to a Children's theatre production while downtown as well.  Beautiful sunny weather ~ a good day for exploring.  We stopped for lunch on the Riverwalk and ate outside.  All was going well until a pigeon decided to land on Abigail's shoulder in an attempt to share food.  I sat across from the table and was rendered speechless other than to cry out "mom!".  Poor Abbie was rather frightened by the experience but recovered quickly once we actually got the bird off her chair.  So much for a quiet time on the Riverwalk :)



Outside Children's Theatre



Lunch on the Riverwalk (minus the pigeon)



Yes - that's us in front of half the Alamo (don't worry...it is the better half)

Really, I shouldn't be joking about the quality of these photos as over 1/2 these pictures would not even be here if it were not for Papa!! (**THANKS**)

In addition to exploring the city - we also had some nice quiet days around the house.  It was so nice to have extra helping hands and truly amazing at how much MORE I was able to accomplish?! Best of all was just being able to share quality time together and have Nana & Papa be part of our everyday lives.  Papa had fun helping Libby with a couple of math lessons and building towers with Emily.  Nana & Abbie were quite the cleaning team and Britta loved playing baby games with both Nana & Papa.  She now is great at "So Big" and loves waving.   

We took walks to the park and enjoyed a nearby duck pond:

Hanging out at the Park

Zoom down the slide!

Feeding the ducks

Seriously folks - this kid does not stop smiling!

Dancing with Papa

My Cleaning Team!!

All too soon it was time to say "good-bye".  What a blessing to have such a special visit!  Thanks so much Nana & Papa and come again SOON!!

And the gardens grow!

Look at the crop of carrots the girls picked!!

We still have more to harvest....we also have some spinach & lettuce still coming up!  After all the carrots are out we'll let the garden rest until spring.  All in all - it has been a good first go and we've learned some good lessons. 

And now, here's how my little garden of girls are coming along.....I snapped this pic today:

Sweet Abbie was having one of those days where she wasn't big enough to play with the big girls and mommy was busy with the baby.  She laid her little head on my shoulder and I said "Oh Abbie, you need a little extra TLC don't you?" She replied, "yeah mama, I need some XYZ". 

More later.....I'm off to get some ZZZZZZ! 

A day in the life.....

Being blessed with four little girls, I guess it shouldn't surprise me that my Saturday mornings are spent at dance lessons.  What I am never prepared for is the massive amount of energy it takes to get 4 little girls out the door and ready to actually ATTEND the dance lessons. 

This past Saturday started out great!  In fact, I was even hopeful that this may just be the day we have it ALL together:  Kids are up and in a good mood; breakfast completed; there are even clean dance clothes where they belong! Jackets & shoes put on and belongings gathered.  Snacks and books for toddler & toys for baby packed.  Grab the keys, out the door, everyone buckled into their seats.  Uneventful drive to the dance studio; Motherly glance in the rear view mirror to announce our arrival only to find.....HAIR A COMPLETE MESS!!  What?! How on earth did I forget to brush EVERYONE'S hair? 

The parking lot is full of little girls clad in pink and hair done up with bows and buns.  Search car for some sort of hair twisty.  Find crumpled purple hair band on passenger side floor mat.  Rake fingers through Emily's hair and fashion pony tail.  Put on big smile - "It looks great! Now go have fun!".  Open door to dance class and deliver sweet, oblivious happy child.  Think to self...."maybe they'll notice the dance leotard & tights are clean."

Multitude Monday

#8 dancing feet on Saturday mornings

#9 uncombed hair

#10 forgotten twisty on car floor

#11 fingers that comb

#12 baby and toddler content to wait

Happy New Year!

My goal is that THIS (have I said this before???) will be the last of the massive blog updates and, instead, I will have more frequent short blurbs. A girl can dream right?

 

I like to keep this blog for multiple reasons:

1. It is a great way to keep our far away family & friends up to date on our little family
2. It allows me the chance to capture & write about our comings and goings for the kiddos. As (let's be honest) the baby books are getting sparser and sparser to non-existent!
3. While dear friend Lisbet has inspired me with her version of "scrapbooking"...I'm still not good about getting those pictures slapped onto the page AND (this is a shout out to you Lisbet) it just isn't as fun alone!

SO....blogging it is. Plus, I like the chance to just sound off on things – you lucky readers you!

  

This blog IS NOT in any way meant to give the false impression that we have it all together. On the contrary! Laundry (my forever nemesis) piles as I post this and the girls would probably delight in doing a reenactment of my latest “mommy meltdown” this past weekend! This blog is called “In the Palm of His Hand” for a reason! My feet cannot even think about swinging over the side of the bed in the morning and hitting the floor without first placing the mountain of a day before me into God’s hands ~and miraculously (seriously folks it is an EVERYDAY miracle) He pulls me through! Some days are prettier than others. But there is Joy in the Journey and it is this Joy I hope to share in this Blog.

 

So….with all that said….I give you a recap of our Christmas:

 

I don’t think the reality of having 4 kids sunk in until Paul and I went to hang our Christmas stockings. “Um, Honey….these don’t all fit on the mantel”. Thankfully, our rental home came complete with a lovely staircase banister that did the trick! Here they are:

Mantel decorated for Christmas

Christmas Tree

Britta helps to wrap presents :)

Each year we work to create traditions that keep the Reason for the Season always at the forefront of our Advent time. This year we added a Jesse Tree to our Christmas décor to go along with our Jesse Tree devotions. Ann Voskamp (A Holy Experience) gifted a beautiful Jesse Tree devotional this year to her readers.  It came complete with ornaments! The girls looked forward to dinner every night during advent because they really loved the advent devotions (and here I thought it was my cooking?!). We also really enjoyed reading Bartholomew’s Passage by Arnold Ytreeide.  I highly recommend this advent read. We are looking forward to doing Jotham’s Journey next year and Tabitha’s Travels the year after that! Check ‘em out.

 

Here is our Jesse Tree about one week into Advent:

 

After a fun season of preparation, we were excited for Paul to complete his last day of work on the 23rd and be home for 11 straight days over Christmas! Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. Paul was bedbound with horrible stomach flu all day on the 24th and most of the 25th. A very Merry Christmas!

All dressed up with nowhere to go! :)

I match my big sister Abbie!


Thankfully, he made a speedy recovery and the rest of us avoided or had much milder versions of the illness and we were able to celebrate a fun New Year’s Eve together.

 

As you can imagine…the days passed quickly and all too soon we find ourselves back into “routine”. More to come…..

 

Girls enjoying time with daddy home!

The older girls loved helping to decorate the table

Happy New Year (Abbie didn't quite make it)!!



2 month update?!?!

Goodness - so much to update - so little time.  Here are the highlights:

OCTOBER:
Sweet Libby turns 7!!

We were blessed to have Grandpa & Mumzie (Paul's parents) come down to celebrate with us and enjoy a week in Sunny San Antonio.  We had a wonderful time exploring Sea World, the River Walk, Children's theatre and most importantly just spending quality time together!  

Mumzie was SO brave!!

Feeding the dolphins:

We also had our Homeschooling Texas History festival:

Just because they are so darn cute:

And I believe that pretty much sums up October!

NOVEMBER

In early November, Katie celebrated another fantastic year on this earth.  Sadly, we don't have pictures but it was a wonderful day complete with the girls decorating the kitchen & hanging balloons along with a wonderful surprise phone call from Norway to catch up with her college roomie!  HOORAY!

Here are a couple shots of the girls after church on Sunday (birthday weekend):

Our fall garden was somewhat successful!  Lots of lessons learned and we are eager to give it another go this spring!  Here is the first harvest we collected in November (crazy huh?!)

And.....onto THANKSGIVING!!  The girls helped decorate and plan our Thanksgiving day menu.  I think our paper banner turned out pretty cute!  (Please pay no attention to the plant that has still not been potted in its pot....of course now I just drew attention to it....)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day together and have so very much for which to be thankful!!
Of course, no Thanksgiving is complete without creating the traditional Gingerbread house. 

 And then....the aftermath:

Phew!! Sorry for the monster post but good to get that done before December is over as well! 

Much Love to you ALL!!

Our Garden Grows

It has been over 3 weeks now since we've planted the garden and we have completed 3 wonderful weeks of Homeschooling.  It has been fun to watch & observe the growth in both gardens!  My what an Awesome God we have who causes life to spring from such little seeds.  With tender care, fertile soil, sun & rain, roots are sent down deep and growth begins.  How very blessed I am to experience the joy of tending the gardens!!

"The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."
Isaiah 58:11

Singing in the Rain!

It has been HORRIBLY HOT here in Texas.  The girls have not been able to play outside for weeks (with the exception of a few nighttime romps in the backyard with stars out and PJs on).  So, while Tropical Storm Hermine was not so kind to all, you can see just how very much the girls enjoyed getting the rain & relief from the intense sun:

Apple Tree House

After many countless hours of carefully following instructions, searching for just the right piece (and needing very little help from mom & dad) Miss Elizabeth Ann has completed her Apple Tree House Lego Project!!
Here are some pictures: