A Glimpse...

Our house has been bustling as are all houses at this time of year!  Here are a few pictures to give you a glimpse into what the last few weeks have held for us.

These moments continue to make my heart melt. I absolutely love seeing all three of our children playing with and/or next to each other.  If my memory serves me correctly there have been more and more times that I peek into the porch to see Braden and Olivia playing the same game rather than fighting.  Those of you who know our family well know that the two of them tend to be oil and water so when they are loving each other I try to slow down time and soak in the conversation, sound effects and happiness that can be heard.  At church this week Braden ran into Olivia's classroom to pick her up and surprised us all by attacking her with a bear hug.  So sweet. :)

Norah ... is having so much fun playing with all of the dishes in Olivia's kitchen.  Her favorite thing to do is empty out the cupboard!

 Ava visits our house two mornings a week before preschool.  We love having her!  It's really fun for Olivia to have someone to play with but the best part is that Braden enjoys her company just as much.  This was taken one evening when her mommy Sara came over for some good ol' mommy time!  Nothing is better than having a good friend over and talking about life over a bottle of wine.  Especially when it ends up being the entire bottle. :)

Braden is a really into building and creating things.  This is a suit of armor, a shield and a sword or ax he built out of tinker toys. I love toys that inspire creativity and can be used for so many different things.

Braden is having a family feast today at school.  I showed him a picture of these adorable turkey's off of a blog that I follow.  We gave it a try and made 26 for today.  They were a lot of work but turned out really cute.  Don't you think?  We have a week full of baking because we have his birthday treat for school on Thursday and then cupcakes for his party on Saturday!  Good thing I enjoy working in the kitchen. :)

 Norah had her adenoids out at Children's Hospital last week.  This was a before picture of she and mommy cuddling.  I could go on and on about how much I love that we have Children's Hospital close to us.  It's truly a blessing.

Daddy was able to join us just before they took her away.  She was very excited to see him and it helped me to have him there.  I was having a hard time keeping myself together when they took her away.  Thankfully she had, "goofy juice," so she didn't mind someone else holding her.  

This was a picture from afterwards...obviously.  UGH - this has been really hard on all of us.  She continues to struggle and is only sleeping 3-4 hours at a crack before becoming very uncomfortable at night.  She has had a few times each night where she is inconsolable.  It breaks my heart.  Now she is also fighting a low-grade fever and a cold so the poor child just can't catch a break.

My parents and Steve's came down on Saturday for Braden's family birthday party.  Norah liked the wrapping paper and bow!

As usual Braden chose the menu.  This year we had brats, home made baked beans, home made apple sauce, french fries and a wide variety of cupcakes.  Yummy. As you can see he enjoyed the entire day in his PJ's.  I can hardly believe he is going to be six years old.  I'll post more on that later!

This was taken before church on Sunday.  It was an awesome service and we were very excited that Judy was able to join us.  The sermon was entitled, "Rain is my choice."  It was all about complaining and about making a conscious choice to be positive.  She talked about the importance of making changes if we find ourselves in situations that don't make us happy rather than complaining about it.  She gave us a challenge to live complaint free for 21 days.  We received purple bracelets that we are to switch from one wrist to another each time we catch ourselves complaining.  Steve and I have each had to switch it one time so far.  If you're interested in learning more or taking the challenge yourself check out the website by clicking on this link: A Complaint Free World.

That about sums it up. I am not sure where the time goes or why I can't stay on top of things. I know I owe a ton of people return emails and I will try to catch up this week.  Thank you all for being patient.  Until next time...