March Treasures

I love, love, love to see them playing cooperatively, enjoying each other's company, sharing, assisting, showing kindness...really, is there anything better??? 

Beautiful spring weather! I can't help but think of titanic when looking at Gabriella here...

Yes, you are quite the heartthrob, Josiah! 

Enjoying another beautiful spring day outdoors...

I don't remember giving him permission to grow so quickly...

Uncle Phil is just the best! 

Mommy was feeling a bit ambitious and made shapes/letters with the pancake mix...

Michael was in heaven with his ABC pancakes! 

Smiles from mommy and Gabriella...

A sweet angel, namely, Josiah...

Happiness is playing with a sink full of water (and a few ice cubes)...

One of their favorite things to do! 

Telephone, with two cups and a string...

Gabriella nursing her Kitty...

Surprisingly enough, Kitty is the first ever to be nursed by mommy Gabriella! 

I love everything about this picture...the neon skirt, the green tights, the rainboots, the umbrella and the fact that there's not one rainy cloud in the sky. Childhood at it's finest...

Sharing personal bunk bed space is a big deal these days. Capturing moments like this makes my mamma heart do triple flips. I adore the two of them!

Josiah loves this blanket! He will drag it around the house and lay all over it. It really is a super soft blanket, I don't blame him one bit. :) 

Saying goodbye to our second (and last) fish who went to heaven be with Jesus...

All three in pajamas! (Gasp!) It is such a rarity to see this, I just had to capture the moment! 

For the record, they prefer to be in undies at bedtime. They are just more comfortable that way, all cuddled up with their blankets. They only wear pajamas if they must, on occasions when company is around. 

Getting their sillies out before bedtime...

Gabriella and Alyana posing before dance class...

Sweet dreams, sweet Josiah...

Josiah eating an apple, skin and all, like a pro...

He was really working those six little teeth of his! 

Mikey loves mommy's lasagna :) 

Josiah was a huge fan of that rice...

Aunt Alice came into town for a short visit and invited us over to grandmas to spend some time together. She made a delicious dinner for all of us and even brought a sticker project for the kids to play with. It'd be an understatement to say they loved it! 

After we got home Gabriella set up a station for Josiah and helped him with his own...

A little Spielgaben fun! 

They loved it :) 

FINALLY, after over 15 years of working in children's church, I got my first pie! It was way overdue! 

A little watercolor...

Gabriella said the bottom fella is her as a baby with one curl on her head, just like Brayden. She said the top right fella is sad because he doesn't have mommy. 

Quite talented, if I do say so myself :) 

I know what he thinks when he looks at her...adoration. 

They are beautiful! From the tips of their curly curls to the bottom of their toes. 

Precision and fine motor...

Gabriella LOVES getting mail from her pen-pal! She didn't even make it into the house before she had the envelope open reading her sweet letter! 

Mikey caught a little snooze while visiting a friends house. Just look at that sweet face! 

I caught Gabriella (and Mikey) "listening to her heart bumping"...

{Sigh} The 9,999,999th thing about her that I love so much...so patiently teaching her brother how to button. 

I want to be just like her when I grow up! 

The littles were so excited when Mikey's twin mattress, sent from Grandma June, arrived! 

(Yes, there really was a twin mattress in there, haha! I was so amazed!) 

It's seems like I exhaust so much effort in trying to keep the kitchen "clean" yet it NEVER seems to be. If it ever is, it only last for moments. I felt so accomplished after walking away from the kitchen like this and just had to take a picture. I know that's lame, haha, but maybe the picture will help the moment last a while longer. :) 

Whenever we bake chocolate chip cookies we never use measuring cups to add the chocolate chips. :) We use the Sanchez standard unit of measurement; one Gabriella handful of chocolate chips and one Mikey handful of chocolate chips. Here, Mikey was admiring the left over bits of melted chocolate on his hand.  Apparently neither he, nor Gabriella felt they should be wasted.  

Geese, I love them!!!! 

Talk about my heart melting!?!? This will do it for sure! Found them both sleeping here, just like this, instead of on their beds...

I glance over from across the counter in the kitchen and just feel so blessed. Blessed to have the three of them. Blessed to have them call me mamma. So although this picture is nothing extraordinary, no one's even looking or smiling... it's close to my heart. I love it! I love them! 

March you have been more than Marvelous to us!

March Story Times

I really like taking pictures of our weekly story time so I thought it may be nice to have a separate post including all of them for the month. We are so blessed to visit a wonderful library. Ms. Debbie and Ms. Rita do a fantastic job with story time and the library, also, almost always has other exciting events going on for the children. They are already getting things geared up for this year's summer reading program, we are excited about that! 

Here's a snippet of what our month at the library looked like;

Waiting patiently and reading before story time...

Finding the numeral representation...

Leprechaun story time...

Dr. Suess story time...

(Gabriella got one of her hoops around the hat!) 

Gabriella and her sweet friend Ayla were both chosen to be mermaids (which made for very happy four and a half year old little girls :)) ...

Dirt

It's one of those incredible sensory experiences that are absolutely free...dirt. 

Dirty dirt. 

The smell of earth is such a wonderful smell. Ahhh, it brings me back to the many days my cousins and my brother and sister and I would spend playing in the creek behind Grandma and Grandpa's house.  For what felt like hours and hours at a time we'd sit with pots and pans and dirt and water. We could not have been any happier. 

Yes, (a thoughtful, reflective yes)...that was the life. Not a care in the world. 

I read this article, What Should a 4 Year Old Know, a few months ago and it really resonated with me. It reassured me and gave me such peace. It helped to remind me of the instincts God has purposefully placed within this very mother's heart.

I think of that article often, especially when the devil places seeds of worry or doubt in my mind. I, too often, find myself watering them and allowing them to sprout. Sometimes I get so caught up in trying to be the perfect mother for my three little ones that, simply put, I miss out. 

To my precious three, I am so sorry. I speak to my spirit during those moments full of worry and doubt...

• Worry about nothing (be anxious for nothing), instead by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your request known to God. Philippians 4:6

There is so much joy to be found in this mothering experience but with all the effort exhausted in trying to be prefect, I'll be sure to miss it. 

So, on March 10th we dug a hole, together. That hole that represented a letting go. Letting go of perfectionism. Letting go of worry. It symbolized perusing my little's lead. It represented an imperfect mother surrendering and allowing God's grace to do its perfect work. There have been so many days full of wonder watching these three play with dirt.  

Earth. This moist, soft, crumbly, compact, brown(ish) dirt has brought about so much happiness. 

In the top left picture Mikey is crumbing dirt rocks between his fingers while declaring "It's a rainy day"...

Making mud was a hit! 

Gabriella's little friend...

It's getting pretty deep!

At the heart of the matter, this hole represents a new beginning (for me). An exciting adventure with my littles and I where the pages ahead are blank and eager for the stories to come. 

If all we do today is count the rocks or worms we've found while playing in the dirt, I'm OK with that. Because today, I see a bit clearer what really matters and, to me, happy, dirty children are one of those things.