Sticker system

Apparently, Marielle has put both herself and Genevieve on some kind of Rewards sticker-system. Marielle rewards herself with a Strawberry shortcake sticker when she does her morning chores, and Eve seems to earn one every time Marielle is made aware of Eve obeying her
mom. :-) Perhaps Marielle is feeling like something's missing from my parenting? Observe Genevieve choosing a sticker to her liking....

Caught on video: Eve on the harmonica

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Auggie dancing

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Big boy

August is 18 months old! He rang in this momentous occasion by beginning to tromp around in the backyard all day, digging in the mud whenever possible. What a boy!





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Walking

A couple weeks ago we took what I thought would be a quick "jaunt" to downtown Cary to get stamps at the local post office and mail Marielles 5th birthday invitations! After a leisurely walk there, periodically stopping to pick flowers and watch the birds that have come home for spring, we were all tired and needy for some energy for the long walk home!
My solution? Ice cream. Not just any ice cream, mind you. Ice-cream from the old fashioned soda fountain and pharmacy called Ashworths. It was just what everyone needed. Plus, they gave us balloons!














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A "mother"s work is never done...

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I'm officially in the 21st century!

I finally learned to post a video on the blog!
In january, Marielle began nightly violin lessons with her dad! She looks forward to them all day, and as you might imagine, Philip is an excellent teacher; very patient and encouraging. Enjoy this video of one her very first lessons. I apologize in advance for my annoying commentary! The girls have watched this on endless repeat for months now, so I am newly insecure at the sound of my voice!

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Location:Earhart Cir,Cary,United States

Marielle: mom, can we go to Disneyland?
Me: I don't know, sweetie, maybe someday.
Marielle: Big girls go to Disneyland, you know.
Me: hmmm, who told you that?
Marielle (in faraway, wistful voice): Someone in my dreams told me....

This morning as Marielle unloads the dishwasher, she is having trouble getting a bowl out that is tightly wedged, and grunting about it:

Me (coyly): "Are you a drama queen?"
Marielle (matter-of-factly): "No, I'm just a princess."

A picture of the "princess" in the princess costume she picked out this morning (note the partially-covered, yellow Big-Bird unitard she's sporting):

And one of Geneveive, just because she felt like saying cheese too:

Summer Recap

Boy, its been a long time since I've posted any pictures or stories of my dear ones. . . We have been busy growing three kiddos over here! To give you a taste of just how they've grown I'll give you a few stats:

-Eve grew out of TWO shoe-sizes in two months. (Thank goodness, because she really needed a growth spurt!)

-August grew 3 pounds in 2 months, which puts him (today) at a hefty fighting-weight of 20 pounds flat! I am particularly proud of this one considering his weight was the 3rd percentile at 9 months old, and has now inched his way into the 10th. Its all the scrambled eggs, avocados, oatmeal and sweet potatoes he's been eating these days.

-How has Marielle grown, you ask? She continues to grow like a weed (the most rapid of all 3 kids), and she learned both how to swim and how to pump her legs on a swing this summer!  I would say that its my Marielle who has truly blossomed this summer. She vacillates pretty fluidly between a little lady with impeccable manners, to a bare-footed and sweaty nature-lover who can spend hours outside collecting leaves, insects, picking flowers and watching butterflies. Simply put, I adore having a four-and-a-half year old!

8 months old!

Well, 8 months has proved to be quite the age for young August. A few weeks before it he started crawling, and within just a week or two he was pulling himself to a stand on just about any furniture he could find. He also learned to clap last week, and has been marvelling us all with his new trick.

Conversations with little Genevieve.....

Eve: What's for dinner, Mom?
me: Salmon Cakes.
Eve: Ohhh, salmon-takes. I loooooove salmon takes.....
me: Oh good, Im so glad!
Eve: That's my faaaav-ewite dinn-oh, Mom....That's my MAGIC dinn-oh!

                              Unrelated, but funny: Genevieve, having put on her dad's dress socks and shoes.

Let it be said: Genevieve is a very humorous child. Impish has been a word to describe her on more than one occasion, by more than one relative. :-)

Strawberry Picking!

 Genevieve was the quickest picker, and the most dedicated eater. It was remarkable how quickly she filled her bucket, and how fast she could stuff those strawberries in her mouth!

                        Marielle was more 'meditative' and wistful in her own strawberry picking.

Im not sure which is funnier -- that we actually have a bib with "Macho" printed on it, or that of all the bibs we have, Genevieve insisted upon wearing that one this morning.

6 months old

Because one purpose of this blog is for posterity, I must include some details that may be of no interest to anyone except August's grandmothers. :-)
At six months old, this boy is weighing in at 14lbs. 13 oz, and 25.75 inches long. In other words, he's a bit of a peanut. But a very very charming peanut, at that.

As for what he is like these days, I'll let the pictures tell you....


Sweet and tender.

Jumpy and vigorous.



Playful, flirty.




And at times, concerned. :-)

August is a deeply sweet-natured little boy, and by far, our most laid-back and content baby. He adores his sisters, loves to laugh, be tickled, and say "da-da" constantly (and indiscriminately). He likes rolling across a room, and is getting close to crawling too! That will open up a whole new world of crazy for this household once I start having to chase after him. :-) 

Surgery and the return of Bear-Bear

Genevieve had surgery three weeks ago to correct a deformity in her left thumb. It went shockingly well, so much that, not a tear was shed from the time we entered the hospital to when we arrived home. God was so good to spare Genevieve from a traumatic experience! The surgeon informed us that she apparently walked herself into the O.R. and even laid herself down on the operating table before being put under. Pretty amazing, this girl is! Apparently she is such an extrovert that she'd go and hang out with the strange-looking grown-ups in green pajamas and masks, rather than stay with her own parents!

As you can see in the picture, her little hand had to be wrapped up until the stitches healed. Unfortunately, about an hour of getting home from the hospital, with her hand still totally numbed up, Genevieve deftly unwrapped it, and plucked a stitch right out. Back to the doctor we went!

And through it all, you know who was always there for Genevieve? (Assuming her Almighty Father in Heaven, of course!), her trusty and faithful Bear-Bear. . .. A floppy little pink bear whom Genevieve sleeps next to, shares her breakfast with, puts under her shirt and pretends is her unborn baby. And dear Bear-Bear, though Philip and I couldn't, accompanied her into the operating room and comforted her when we couldnt. I'm deeply grateful for him, though he causes me much trouble. . . . i.e. losing approximately one hour of my every-day searching for him under our couch cushions, in kitchen cabinets and our bushes outside when he's been misplaced.

Poor, dear bear-bear...We lost him at the orthopaedist's office just two weeks after Eve's surgery. I really cant even go into the details of how heart-wrenching this was for Genevieve, because its possible I'll start crying (again). But amazingly, after a week of searching, I found a new and identical Bear online!

We told her he would be arriving in the mail, and as we ran today to the mailbox to get him, Eve began chanting as we went, "I tiss Bear. I tiss Bear" (Her "k"s come out as "t"s.) :-)

And here's their sweet, long-awaited reunion:

A joyous day indeed!

Books and Music

Marielle attempting to impart her love of books on her baby brother.

A few weeks ago, Marielle began expressing a desire to "fly into the book" she is reading. This girl loves books, to be sure. And I think she reads them not just for the enjoyment of a good story, but also as direct fuel for her imagination. Yesterday, as we were reading Blueberries for Sal, which is illustrated in black-and-white, she very seriously informed me, "Its just a book; if you fly into it, it wont be black-and-white anymore".

Lately in her pretend world, Marielle has take on the roles of:
-an "angel of the Lord"
-a brave, young girl who walks on a high-wire (we can only hope that she keeps reality in check with this one!)
-a princess-wife (a phrase she coined herself),
-Mary-the-mother-of-Jesus (thus her doll has permanently taken the name of Jesus, in which someone is regularly wondering around calling out, "Where is baby Jesus!?";
-various older girl cousins whom she greatly admires;

-and often goes to a "land of horses called Christophi", and rides her favorite horse that she calls "Chumby".

Marielle also is spending much of her days donned in hand-me-down ballet costumes, and had the honor of attending her first dance class with her cousin Isabelle, on a bring-a-friend day. She was so full of fierce joy when she came home that she was actually speechless. Everytime I asked her about it, she would grab me and hug me choke-hold around the neck, but not utter even a word about it! I'm assuming she had a life-changing time at this ballet class.

Marielle has very eclectic taste for her dancing-music. From "Everything that has breath praise the Lord", to "Friday I'm in Love" by The Cure, she is often found dancing wildly and hopping around the room with remarkably-fast and coordinated footwork that seems more akin to Irish folk dancing (think Riverdance) than actual ballet. Recently during her weekly dance to the aforementioned "Friday I'm in Love" she called out vehemently, "This is what Ballerinas LOOOOVE to Dance to!". . . . I'm inclined to agree..at least the ballerinas in this household. :-)

What'a you lookin' at?

Tough guy.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Genevieve!

Genevieve is 2! She has been patiently waiting for her birthday for weeks now...well, someone's birthday, at least. This girl looooves birthdays...Loves singing about them, loves blowing out pretend-candles, loves birthday cakes. And I, as any doting mother would, wanted to make her birthday special while still keeping things simple, as she is just 2!

Enjoying her birthday breakfast of:

Baked Oatmeal Brulee. This was an AMAZING birthday-cake subsitute, since we were celebrating in the morning before Philip left for work. It had sliced bananas (Genevieve's favorite), with a sprinkling of brown sugar put under the broiler (hence, the Brulee), and a Peanut-Butter "Icing" on top, made of plain yogurt, maple sugar and peanut butter. Boy, was it gooood. And quite a hit with the girlies.

Showing off her new jewelry to dad. Yes, I broke down and bought her silly bands and kid's necklaces and bracelets so she would stop putting tiny hair-bands around her wrists and cutting off the circulation! All that to say, when she opened this gift she gleefully shouted "Rubber Bands!".

Enjoying her new wooden birthday-cake set, complete with candles and toppings. The girls have already had countless birthday-parties all over the house since this little gift came along. :-)

The birthday girl in her birthday-hat, with her sweet cousin Isabelle who came over later in the day to wish her a happy birthday and bring a present. Thanks, Isabelle!

And to conclude: some sweet and true words about little Eve that her father wrote in a letter to her to commemorate her 2nd birthday:

"Yesterday was your birthday. You turned two - a girl with a proper head of yellow hair, now, and opinions of your own, even if, to me, you still feel like a little bag of apples when I pick you up. I remember when you were born. You were a month early, and I think I got used to thinking of you in those first days as so fragile and delicate that I’ve never quite been able to shake that image, even as you tear around the house, now, climbing any and everything, and fearlessly thwarting whatever plans your sister has for you at a

particular moment."

Yes, you are our dear, opinionated, social, extroverted, joyful little girl. You find friends everywhere you go and are always eager to charm strangers, family, and friends alike. Rather than play with toys, you are much more interested in chatting with me, telling me everything that comes into your little mind (of which there is much!). You know how to make people laugh, and even at 2, you know you can, and relish it. We are so grateful that God gave you to our family, and your sweet and cheerful disposition is a daily blessing to all of us.

All my love,

Mommy