Full of more blessings than we can keep track of.
The Atlantic, with a view of the boardwalk in the distance.
Sassy pants with her new watering can.
The stud enjoying his freshly caught Maryland Blue Crabs.
My blessings relaxing with a snack.
SHE has very strong opinions about her clothes. Poor thing wears a uniform to school so the first thing she does when she gets home is change into something pretty, usually one of her princess dresses.
SHE wants to do everything herself. She is strong willed and very independent.
SHE loves imaginative play. While we were at the dollar store the other day she picked out a crown with earrings and then a new princess wand. I have enjoyed listening to her play mommy. She told me several times to be quiet her babies were sleeping. I can often hear her singing random made up songs while cooking dinner at her Dora kitchen.
SHE says “yes, please” & "no thank you" more often than not – some of the best words in the English language.
SHE loves the colors purple and pink and blue.
SHE has the best giggle. She finds humor in so many things and laughs right out loud.
SHE loves to try and read books and has even started reading some on her own. Her current favorite to try and read aloud is Go Dog Go! She loves to listen to me read to her this gigantic princess book.
SHE is sassy, soft, curious, cuddly, creative, confident, courageous, and wonderful.
SHE is an awesome little four-year-old.
Idea borrowed from Ali Edwards blog
We are so blessed to know and love the Feldman family. They are even joining us for a week of our summer Jersey Shore vacation this year. I can not wait for that. It will be so much fun sipping yummy adult lemonade on the beach with Tina. Today, she let me bring the rascals over to swim all while she prepared herself for a staycation at The Four Seasons. What a life huh? 
After a very entertaining pasta dinner we loaded all four children into Mo's truck and headed to the 6 o'clock service at Canyon Ridge. Amaya and Reece had a blast in their class. Amaya said she wanted to come back again. We returned home and started getting everyone ready for bed. They had a blast monkeying around and giggled for a long time before falling asleep. My kiddos were a bit shocked when they woke up and their friends were missing. Rebecca & Joe picked them up at about 10pm. It was the easiest babysitting night I have ever had.
Yay for Friday night sleepovers and Saturday play dates. Raine was super excited to be invited over to Kaylee's house. She hasn't been feeling well but this is such a special treat that I couldn't say no. She was so excited she helped pack her backpack with all the necessary supplies. Except a pull up and her toothbrush. I woke up at 12:00 worried she was going to pee all over her girlfriends. Thankfully she told Deidre she needed a pull up for bedtime.
Reece was bummed but we arranged for his friend Jalen to come over on Saturday for a fun boys only playdate. Daddy worked on our front yard while the boys played. I had to run out and pick up Raine. Then we met a friend and her youngest kiddos for lunch and play time at BK. It was great catching up with her, poor Raine was so exhausted and fell asleep within 3 mins of our car ride home. Deidre said she asked to go to asleep at 8 pm when all of the other girls stayed up until 9 or so. All in all she had a blast. Reece and Jalen were starving by the time I made it home. They created their own lunch menus and then checked off what they wanted to eat. It was very cute and they sure did pick a lot of food. The boys jumped on the trampoline, built a fort, created Ben 10 aliens with legos and ran around like wild little animals. It was very fun and I would have Jalen over again and again. 
"I realized that I already know the things I need to do, which is different from all the things I could be doing. And here’s the trick: it’s more important to actually do those things that need to be done than to pursue the shiny new idea right around the corner.
Do fewer things.
Do them better.
It’s become my personal motto for the year. And the really great thing is that it extends to every area of my life: Work. Home. Personal life. Family."-Meagan Francis
I just read this on the Happiest Mom's blog and it made take a deep breath in relief. I have been trying so hard to focus on finding Peace and doing only what is necessary in 2011.
President's Day weekend was spent with my in law's visiting but was very uneventful. If I was feeling better I would have loved to venture out and play in the snow or take a hike at Red Rock but nope, I napped and layed around quite a bit. I didn't even go to church on Sunday but I did push myself to get up and meet the family for breakfast at Ihop and go out on a double date Sunday. We introduced the rents to Aliante Casino and saw Liam Neeson's movie Unknown then headed to dinner at Outback. We checked out the restaurants in the casino but they were a bit too pricey and the elder Hauguel's love Outback. It was a fun date but I had to call it a night at 9:15 because the sangria was kicking my tush and I could hear my bed calling my name. I carefully drove Syd the sitter home and crawled into my cozy bed (because mo bought me a new fuzzy green blanket) with my hot hubby.
On Monday I wasn't feeling very well at all. I stood in a steamy hot shower, ate some cereal and then crawled right back into bed. Mo was very busy creating a masterpiece in our front yard the entire weekend so after making the kiddos eggs in toast he went right back out to play in the dirt. Shortly after lunch, the grandparents loaded my kiddos into their rental car for a trip to the Shark Reef. As a mom, I was a bit taken back because it was the first time my kiddos had gone anywhere alone with their Noni and Pe Pere. I wasn't worried, just unclear of what I should do with myself. I curled up on the couch with my laptop and did what every good mom should do, watched some missed episodes of TV!!! It was very relaxing and just what I needed. I did feel guilty I was missing a fun trip with the kiddos but extremely glad they were able to have that special time with the grandparents from P.A.
Everyone came home happy as can be and with little souvenir turtles in hand. Pa Pere quickly offered to assist his son with the yard and Noni was headed to the store to buy food for dinner. I put Raine down for a nap and joined Noni for a trip to the food store to purchase some staples for the short school week. She was in search of all the ingredients to make a ham and baked mac n cheese dinner but had no luck finding a canned ham so she switched gears and bought a roaster chicken, fresh green beans, stuffing and rice. A meal we all know very well and love even more than ham. I ran around the store grabbing things here and there, feeling a bit of pressure to hurry up. After unloading the groceries, we started preparing the evening meal. I always enjoy cooking with my mother in law because she has super yummy meals made with the simplest ingredients. Reece can't get enough of her cooking either; he raves about them every night. The meal was wonderful once again and we all found some coloring or bible lessons to complete afterwards.
All of that to say we had an amazingly relaxing visit with the grandparents this past week. I feel like it was more meaningful than other visits they have had with us. I guess I am doing well doing fewer things and doing them better. Let's hope it continues ;)
