Wishing For Pine Needles

New Pants for my Girl

Today our Lena Jane is six months old.  

(Gasp!)

And to celebrate her half of a year with us, I thought some new pants were in order.  I have owned Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings for some time now and finally got around to opening it up and trying my hand at the quick-change trousers.

And I love them!  I just love getting to pick three fabrics from my stash to make these clever little pants, which by the way, are completely reversible.  What a bonus!  This fabric is from Sarah Jane's Children at Play line from Michael Miller fabrics. 

And as for this baby girl who is affectionately known around here as "the great bean", well I am genuinely head-over-heels for her.  We all are!  So far she seems to be our social butterfly who loves everybody and is always quick to flash her big, happy, adorable, toothless grin.  Sometimes I am quite certain that she is the most joyful little human on the planet. And she makes it seem so easy!

I truly don't know what we ever did without her.  Happy six months, Miss Lena Jane!

Thank Goodness Our Tooth Fairy Has Origami Skills

Have any of you been stunned by the going rate of lost teeth these days?  Five or even ten dollars per tooth?! 

If my math serves me correctly, at a $10 per tooth rate x 20 baby teeth per child, our tooth fairy would be spending approximately $800 on lost teeth for our four children.  (Our tooth fairy told us that she thinks not!)

So, in an effort to make the standard one dollar bill seem way cooler, our tooth fairy has learned the art of origami.

Over the years, since Rylen started losing her teeth, we have had a heart, letters of the alphabet, a bird, a church, and more I can't quite remember.  I never thought to get a picture of those sweetly folded dollars before they started to burn a hole in one said little girl's pocket.

Marianne is our toothless girl as of late and so far has gotten a jet plane and a butterfly.

It is always a thrill to see what the tooth fairy will come up with next...including for me.  You see, around here I am neither the tooth fairy nor the origami expert.

(Thank goodness for tooth fairies and for paper-folding daddies!)

 

 

She's Three Months!

Today, our sweet Lena Jane is three months old.  (Yep, believe it.  It's true.)  Isn't amazing how much you can grow to love someone in just ninety days?!

Lena Bean, we're sooooo glad you're here! 

 

Our Twelve Days of Christmas.....A Baby and a Tree

I've discovered that one of the joys of having a Fall baby is having a Christmas baby!  (I think Lena is smiling here because she loves her mama-made dress so much ;)

And the countdown continues.....11 more days!

Falling in Love with Lena

Lena is six weeks old already and I can't believe it.  When I was holding her in the hospital for the first time, I just knew it would go this fast.  And I was right.  Shucks!

But each and every day we're thankful for this process of growth.  It lets us know her.  We're beginning to know what makes her tic, what makes her mad, and what makes her flash us those gorgeous first smiles.  We have identified her favorite rattle, that she loves to hold onto any one of our fingers for as long as we'll let her, and that she isn't startled by loud noises. And we are quite certain, mind you, that she likes rocket ships and tea parties and Narnia.

And we (her built-in fan club) just can't wait to find out even more about this amazing little girl!

On The Go (on Car-Nursing)

Life, in all it's fullness, means that some things have to give.  And right now, those long, cozy, home-and-on-the-couch nursings are one of them.

Miss Lena has eaten many a meal in a parked mini-van.  My car battery has died twice already because of this.  Once because I unknowingly left my headlights on, and once because I used the built-in DVD player for my impatient young son without the engine running.  For a little too long.

(But most people are happy to help a lady with a newborn jump-start her car.  Thank goodness!)

Every once in a while, though, car-nursing can lead to something that makes everyone happy.  Like finding a parking lot right across from a state-wide marching band competition on a beautiful Fall day!

Dates With My Girls

 

Oh, how fun it is to spend time alone with each one of these girls of mine who have so much to say, especially to their mama's undivided listening ear.  It's amazing what kind of conversations can be had  just one-on-one, and how much they open up when no one else is around.  It's a sharing of secrets, really.

 

 

In the midst of a life that gets busier by the moment, I hope to always find one-on-one time with each of these special gals.

 

 

Just me and my girls.  One at a time.

Fall Farm Love

Loving Fall here!  How about you?

(Linking up with The Prairie Homestead on 10/3/11...check this cool blog out!)

Three

Yes, our baby boy turned three over the weekend.  Three!

We love everything about this big boy who is rough and tumble, rowdy and funny, cuddly and sweet all at the same time. 

And we celebrated!  First at home....

then at the pool....

with people who love him....despite all of his shenanigans.

We ate mama's baseball cake...even after it was blown over by a gusty wind...

and a football cake after an emergency run to the bakery.....(A bit more appealing for candle-blowing, wouldn't you say?)

A new light saber, of course!

Finally, a freshly-painted, new-to-him green bedroom complete with a big boy bed....

and one tired three-year-old!

(Our favorite words from this birthday boy?  "Now I can go to Costco all by myself!")

Happy Birthday, sweet Hans!  We love you so!

Back to School.....(already!)

Does anyone else feel like this summer has flown by faster than the last three summers combined?

Here, we are officially back to school!

Back to early bedtimes.....and early mornings.....

Back to packing lunches.....everyday.....

Back to homework......

Back to a routine!

Back to a school we all adore.....

and teachers we love dearly.

Back to friends who are more like a second family.

Back to learning....

about math, spelling, and grammar......

reading, writing, and geography.....

God and country.

Back to being another year older....

and another year wiser.

Back to knowing that by the end of this year,

my two baby girls will be 10 and 7 years old.

And wondering how on earth that happened.

(Hoping your school years are off to a great start!)