Dancing for Him!

I haven't written a blog in a while because, well, I am too busy having so much fun and enjoying these three girls! They are all amazing and sweet and so easy. They have a tremendous amount of love for each other and they are such good girls. Caroline is almost crawling, but can easily and quickly scoot or roll to anything! Her sisters are very protective of her, and try to clear a path for her or take away anything they think could hurt her! So sweet. She gets tons of kisses and hugs, probably more than she wants. ;) She loved food of any kind, and has tried rice cereal, baby crackers, avocado, black olives, mango, grapes in a food feeder, banana and carrots. She's an easy, laid back sweet thing. I often times can't seem to get enough of her. She is just the definition of sweet and easy!

We love to listen to worship songs at home, and dance and sing together. One of my favorite things about going to church now on Sundays is the worship time before we take the kids to nursery. They stay with us for about 3 songs, and they dance their little hearts out. It is so adorable and heart warming. Lil and Elle held hands today and danced and danced, kissing and hugging randomly. Daddy got some good Eleanor smooches on both cheeks, ending with an "I love you Sooooooooo much daddy!" Lillian is starting to recognize some songs, so hearing her sing praise to God is pretty amazing and sweet. She is full of love for God. She told us yesterday "mommy, some people do not have God in their hearts. I have God in my heart. Even some people who have a house don't have God in their heart, and that is very sad. ". That is very sad little one, because the joy of knowing God, and the peace that comes from him is amazing. We should pray for those who don't know Him!!!!! The song Lillian really sang loud today was about all the things we should thank Jesus for. There are SO many things. We are so blessed. I love my family, I love my life, thank you Jesus for everything.

Lillian decided she really wanted to take the school bus to school! I have been so reluctant to let her, but it is only for preschoolers SO I told her we could try. She was incredibly brave, so excited and did so great. She jumped on the bus, smiled and waved goodbye, and didn't look back. She came home on the bus too, and told daddy she wanted to take the bus every day, and didn't want mommy and daddy to drive her anymore. Hee hee. Adorable! So proud of that little one! Lillian loves to color and draw, and can easily spend close to an hour and a half drawing! She draws the cutest stick figures I have seen, and is starting to try to draw animals and other things. We recently wrote a book together (I put her words on paper and she drew) and she named it "so many monsters". It was very creative and had a great story line! She loves to learn, and loves to play. She is incredibly independent and helpful. She loves her "suggles" and wakes me up in the morning by kissing me gently and repeatedly on my cheek. Then she heads into her room to play until Elle is awake, and goes to get Elle once she wakes up. (Of course mommy is there too!).

Elle is such a sweet and funny little girl. She has a giant vocabulary, and says the most hilarious things! I love that pony tails are called "hairy tales!" When she climbs into her crib at night herself (saying no no no, me me me! If I try to actually put her in), she has to give a kiss on each of our cheeks. She says the word "yummy" so adorable and she knows it cracks me up, so she does it randomly now. (Yummmmm meeeeeeeeeeee!) She loves to sing, loves to laugh and make others laugh, loves to give kisses and hugs, and loves to do things all by herself like a big girl. She's amazing!

So really and truly, thank you Jesus for the life you have given us!!!!! We are blessed.

Lovely Lillian

I just love that if Lillian is no where to be found, you can likely find her in her room ripping through her closet and drawers trying on as many outfits as possible. She is so cute, and loves to come model them for us. She has also started "reading" books with us, which is more of a mumbling as you read to her. It is quite distracting to have a little voice mumble random words when trying to read, but so so adorable. Love that girl!

Hairy tales

Elle belle never ceases to crack us up. She loves making us laugh and has an adorable laugh I hope she keeps. She recently just started calling pony tails "hairy tales" which is hilarious! Daddy also taught her to yell "trust fall!" As she jumps or falls into someone's arms unexpectedly. Laughter follows. Such joy she brings. She has also been randomly kissing and hugging us and telling is how much she loves us. Sweet sweet girl.

On the move!

Today Caroline rolled over the very first time. She is now on the move! She can only roll from her back to belly but once she can roll the other way too, watch out because she will be on the go. ;)

Thank you God! Day 2

Tara- today I am thankful for our three sweet little girls and all of the laughter and giggles they bring to our house! Even on challenging days, they light up this family!

Lillian- hi God. I'm thankful for Eleanor. I like that Eleanor is so sweet and she's so nice!

Eleanor- I want milk. Thank you milk.

Thank you God! Day 1

Tara - today I am thankful for the husband that God has blessed me with and all of his support. I couldnt ask for a better person to walk through life with than him.

Waiting for the calm amidst stormy seas!

O<p>Life is absolutely amazing but at the same time totally crazy. I love having three girls but since Caroline has been born, we have had nonstop storms. Nothing big, thank God!!!!!! At three weeks, we all got sick. The house was a whirlwind. At 7 weeks, Caroline caught her sisters virus and got a fever, sending her to the er with mommy. She got poked and prodded (I wanted to punch the nurse, she was so upset!), for them to tell me, it is just a virus. If you have ever seen just how tiny a 7 week olds veins are, just imagine how difficult getting an iv in is. It was extremely upsetting to watch and more upsetting for Caroline.  Ugh!!! Then all got colds about two weeks later! Eleanor got an ear infection and had to use a nebulizer to help with breathing! Just as everyone was getting better, we got some sad family news. And then, two days later, tom rushed to the ER to have an emergency appendectomy (by far the biggest scare we had!). No picking up the kids for 4 weeks! Eeek! Poor guy is finally feeling better. We did our best to take care of him!!!! I thought we were done but that same day Caroline was diagnosed with rsv, a virus that can be very dangerous in infants. And now, a few weeks later, everyone has colds again. Elle was up all night so we went to the doc and she has a double ear infection. What is my point to all of this? We are in the middle of a storm, and I really feel like there are so many blessings to come from this!!!!!!! For one, I learned how to take all three girls places myself! I look like a madwoman, but now I have the confidence to do it! We have all gotten plenty of cuddly movie time, which is also so nice. I have needed help, so we have found a few good babysitters that are so needed. Eleanor has learned to walk everywhere and lillian helps when we are all out by holding eleanors hand and my hand!!!!! Our pastor and his wife are going to meet with us to help teach us to be good spiritual leaders to the girls! We have had so much sun our outdoor play has been incredible. I learned to cook enough one night to last the next night or two. I have had a friendship really blossom, and received much needed support from her! I buckled down with sleep training with lil, I had to!, and she is doing great with it. We have had more dance parties together in the last few weeks than I can count, more pizza and movie nights, more staying home and playing and less running around. We got our first smiles and giggles from sweet Caroline. Would any of these things happened if it hadn't stormed? I think not. Does God always have a plan and purpose? Of course. While we are in the middle of a storm it is incredibly hard to see the clearing in the sky. It is always there though, especially if you have faith. I learned how to really pray these last few weeks. Sometimes ridiculous prayers (please God, let lillian go back to sleep! It is 2am!), sometimes prayers of desperation, but also prayers of thanks. I also had numerous prayers answered, more than I can count. The point of this entry is to remember that God cares about you and what you're going through. You're never alone in a storm, in fact you're never alone period. It I'd also so humbling and so sad to think about how the things we went through really were little things. I pray for really sick babies and kids, little ones who have become angels all too soon, wives who are alone in raising their families while their husbands are fighting for our country, or wives who are alone because they have lost their husband.  I'm so thankful for the craziness we have had because it has made me stronger as a mom and wife. It makes me realize how precious each second is, and I'm trying to be better about appreciating each moment, holding toms hand a little tighter.and snuggling the girls a little more. My girls became stronger in their relationship with each other and more confident in their independence. Most importantly, my relationship with God even stronger. I wouldn't want to go through this storm again, but I do know more storms will come. I'm not afraid though, knowing God is by my side. Thank you God for these storms, to help me appreciate the calm, and to have even more faith in your love.

"For our present troubles are small and won't last very long.  yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever." 2 Corinthians 4-17

'Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear or be afraid of them. For the Lord your God, he is the one who goes with you.He will never leave you nor forsake you"  deuteronomy 31:6