A million ....

I've thought about blogging again.
I've begun blog postings in my head
I need to apologize.
Other things I should be doing.
The times I've blown it today.
The pictures I have taken and not printed or blogged with.
The amount of times I've looked at my facebook status page.

Ok so maybe this is all a slight exaggeration and completely blown out of proportion but you have to start somewhere, right?

Not sure if I have anyone that will still even check here because I haven't posted in almost one year now but I do know that a few of you would like this to continue because it helps you stay connected with the growing little people in our family. So, so, so sorry that I have dropped the ball for a year now.

I should probably try and make up for a year of not blogging but instead I am going to pretend that it didn't even happen and pick up where we left off. So much has happened and not happened that it isn't even funny. Well, some days I don't laugh but most days I do!

All three girls with Cinderella! Couldn't have been happier!

Meg with Mary Poppins.

Hannah with her namesake (Mary Poppins).

Meg and Grandma on Dumbo. One of our two favorite rides at Magic Kingdom.

Hannah and Daddy on the Dumbo ride.

This is the splash park at Sea World. We went back to SW many times during the week. Turns out that when you buy a ticket to SW you can use that same ticket for the next 14 days. They had a ton of cute shows, many rides for our children and we were able to just stay on rides because it was so empty!

Our first of many rides on the carousel. I mean many, many rides!

My new skinny mom playing in the pool with Han and Meg.

Enjoying the Kiddie pool at the resort in FL. They could have spent all day every day there!

While Grandma Linda and Grandpa Bob were here for Thanksgiving, they brought with them a tradition that Charlie used to do as a kid with his mom. It's basically a sugar cookie that you paint with egg while and food coloring. They didn't taste the best but there sure were pretty and fun to decorate!

Meg LOVED decorating the tree this year. She loves to do special activities. She was very careful and wanted to know the story behind each one that she carefully placed on the tree.

Kate on the other hand enjoyed decorating the tree but didn't prove to be so careful. We lost four ornaments this year to her decorating....there's always next year.

Here is my beautiful Hannah decorating the tree. Oh so careful and intentional about where she places her treasures.

This is Kate and this is Lucy. They have a "love/hate" relationship. Kate loves Lucy and Lucy hates Kate. Clearly here Kate is antagonizing Lu. If I showed you the whole series of pics that I took you would see that soon Kate gets bit.


The girls were in their very first concert. It was a Thanksgiving program with their preschool. They did great and here is a family pic we captured afterwards. Did I mention it was nap time?

An abnormally warm day in November blessed us with an opportunity to take some family pics. Thanks to our friend Beth, who captured these and the pics on our Christmas card!

We had an awesome time trick or treating this year. It was freezing and windy but we still had a blast. Kate is an elephant, Hannah a monkey, and Meg a cowgirl on a horse.

I was gone on Kate's birthday at a ladies retreat for church. So this year she got to celebrate twice. This pic is a few days after her birthday.

Thankfully Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Peggy came up to spend the day with Charlie and the girls. They went horseback riding and make cupcakes together.

Carving pumpkins with daddy on the deck. Everyone got into it this year. I didn't even ask them to pose for this pic. Isn't it precious?

Kate blowing out the candles of a cupcake that the girls made with Grandma Peggy on her actual birthday!

Remember that fall is my favorite time of year. I think my excitement is contagious. The girls loved it too this year. We raked up the neighbors leaves (note: not because we are great people but because ours hadn't fallen yet and we wanted some to jump in).

Yet another one...

The game "don't break the ice" isn't just a test of skill but also of patience.

That's why Mr Wonderful plays with two three year olds and a two year old.

Confessions Cont.

I screen my telephone calls. I love caller ID.

However, most of the time I screen them because I am trying to do you a favor. No conversation is ever pleasant when a child is screaming in the background or the person is too busy multi tasking to concentrate on the conversation.

Plus...I am not really a "phone" person. I'd rather our conversations be interrupted IRL (in real life).

Side note. Just because the phone rings and rings and rings in my house doesn't mean I am on the other line. It usually means that my beloved two year old has pushed the orange button to turn off the answering machine. It's her fault, not my dislike of your phone messaging skills!

Confessions of a Closet Eater Organizer

I am eating Coldstone cake and watching The Biggest Loser...in my bed.

How do you like them apples chocolate covered oreos!

Not really even sure

where to begin. Because I live and die by lists, maybe I will just do this in list form-maybe. If I so choose not to at any point-well...I can because it's my blog and well....if I only want to blog once every two months-that's ok too. But I am really sorry for those of you who are my faithful blog readers-all two of you-Abby and Charlie.

Since my last post...in no specific order

Kate has started talking-mostly in sentences, usually yelling or bossing someone around.

Picked pumpkins at a local farm.

Charlie and I snuck away for four whole days, boarded a plane, drove through mountains, golfed in snow, slept in, had complete conversations without interruption, called home five times a day, worried unnecessarily, ate breakfast in bed, attended a beautiful wedding, met some fun new friends, and got away...really for the first time since having kids.

-note to self-bring the camera next time-
We returned home to find three children extremely well cared for who didn't miss us an ounce and two very tired Grandmas. Our amazing mom's carried off no small task in caring for our very busy ladies!

Celebrated a certain Daddy Man's 32nd birthday.

Camped with some friends (8 Adults+12 children under 8=a time we'll never forget). Our first real time camping in our new camper, thankfully we had very experienced campers with us who could show us how to turn everything on in our camper. It was a good thing too because we needed the heater every night. Thanks Mike!

Started our first year of preschool (just one morning a week is enough for this mom).

Had countless picnics down at the waterfront (I love my life and where we live).

Hannah and Megan started a real Ballet and Gymnastics class-they love!

-pics to follow.

Went apple picking with Uncle Wes and Ms. Meggie.

Visited the library countless times, walked downtown to visit daddy at the office, started riding bikes with training wheels, flown kites, made smores, gone fishing in grandma's lake, played in the warm sand at the beach.

Happy Birthday-Big B

Dear Dad,

I know that it's a day early but Happy Birthday. You're getting so old, or would be. I would love to see what the last three years has changed about you. Would there be more gray hair or just less hair altogether? Would you and mom have bought a little home on the big lake, been getting ready to retire, or take your birthday off to go and play golf?

Mom and my family will be heading to your brother's house for a little T Family get together. Your oldest brother is in town on business and well...your parents aren't getting any younger-so we need to make the most of the time we have. I'll think of you often as I look into their faces and listen to their conversations.

The last couple of weeks have been rough, haven't been feeling myself-easily irritated, aggressively driving, impatient- you know, all those lovely traits I learned from you. I not trying to excuse it but now looking back I can say it's probably in anticipation of your birthday. I think mom is sad too. We got her a pretty sassy bike for Christmas and she rides it all the time. You'd probably laugh at the funky teal bike-but we love it.

While summer is always fun-it's always the hardest too. The anniversary of your death, your birthday, your and mom's anniversary are always written on my calender but it's the impromptu things like Abby's family coming up for a week, camping with my family, baking in the sun, eating blueberries and washing the cars that make it the hardest. All of those things you loved to do.

You would die, forgive the expression, to see all seven of your granddaughters play together. They can hardly wait to see each other and they all love the time we get to spend together. When Abby and Brandon came up a couple of weeks ago the very first thing we did was pick blueberries. It would have been so much fun to have you there. The girls searched for the biggest and bluest berries for their buckets-while Kate searched for the fullest bucket to consume it's contents. She ate them almost as fast as we could pick them. Ab made the best blueberry pie with them-she even put vodka in the crust-she says that makes the crispiest crusts. Thought you might like that!

Ainsley and Kate viewing the bunny house at Lewis Farm Market

We then took all of the girls up to Rainbow Ranch to ride. Hannah and Meg have been looking forward to this since their birthday in Jan. This year they got to ride their very own horses. They even got the chance to trot a couple of times. After an hour long trail ride we were ready for lunch and what better place to eat then the local dairy. Pretty sure you would have enjoyed the hamburger I got there-not many can appreciate my love for burgers like you.

Mom, Abby and all of your granddaughters at the ranch.

Ainsley and Brandon trying one on for size...

Megan, happier than can be with her horse, Eclipse.



Mom, strapping Kate's helmet on her before joining me on our horse, Rudy.

Georgia found her courage.

Sophia and Grace on their horses.

Hannah is ridding, Chief.

Your mom and dad came out for an afternoon too. I've got to be honest and say that it's pretty comical to watch them try and communicate. Grandma can't hear for anything and Grandpa's voice is very weak so Grandma just shakes her head and continues her conversation despite Grandpa's effort to say anything. Bless their hearts, their house to has to be quiet.

Kate feeding a cow at Country Dairy.

I sat at the beach the on Tuesday with the girls, watching them play. They are all so very different-maybe you were watching them to. I'm not sure if that is how it works up there or not. I digress. As they all three made sandcastles Hannah, my industrious little girl, made the most and spent her time instructing her two sisters how to make theirs as well. Megan, she's my orderly one, had to have the most level area to turn her bucket over on and would perfectly space them. Kate, she's my "walk to the beat of a different drummer" child, she just stuck feathers and sticks in sand and called it good. She had more fun crashing her sisters castles then anything else.

I miss you dad. I miss hearing your voice, talking to you about what's going on at work, seeing you out washing your cars or sit in the sun. I wish you could see me be a mom and Charlie a dad. He's the best, you know, he's always coming up with something special for us to do. He makes life so fun and yet he works so hard. You would be so proud of him but you might get ticked because you still couldn't beat in a game of golf. I've even converted Charlie to camping (or Ludington did it for me). We now own a camper-never thought the day would come. He loves it but I love it even more because most of my best memories come from our camping trips to Ludington. I love you, Dad.

Praise the King,

Linz

I think this is becoming a habit

SO SORRY but I am the worst blogger. I have no motivation then horrible guilt for not blogging and it is just a vicious cycle. Every time I blog I vow to myself that I will start doing it regularly again, once a week, but it never happens to work out. So...no promises until Aug 20th.


On my last update I don't think I mentioned that I ran my very first 5K. While I don't believe you all check in here to read about me, but more so about my children-I use this blog like a journal for our family. Not only did I run that day but Hannah and Megan ran their first race too. They had a kid's fun run in which every child received a ribbon. The girls were so excited to run like mommy and get a ribbon-they were flying high all day. My first race time was 28.55. Since then I have only run a few times but I did run a Patriot Day Race on the 4th of July. That time wasn't so great-so we'll just skip right over my time on that one. This weekend marks the large festival in our town so the girls and I will be running again on Saturday. Wish me luck!

The week after Father's Day I asked the girls if they wanted their ears pierced. Hannah was my only taker. Isn't she lovely?!


The weekend before my birthday we had a very fun and hot weekend in Chicago and the suburbs. We got to see G&G B's house under construction, visit a precious friend of mine and her little Logan, see G&G L's new house in the country, celebrate a 50th birthday with a friend of ours in the city and stay at Great G&G L's house while they were out of town. The girls had a blast going to the splash park, seeing all of their grandparents and just hanging out with us. Charlie and I enjoyed a nice evening on a boat for the surprise 50th party, meeting some new friends, fireworks from the gay and lesbian parade and a super late dessert at Grand Lux after midnight.

It took us a week to come home and recover before our fun filled week up at the cottage with Aunt Kristen and Uncle David. We, meaning I, was especially spoiled to have a week of many helping, willing hands, not having a meal to think about or prepare, great conversation like the old days, and I never left the house except to go fishing or on a golf cart ride. My kids couldn't get enough of Austin, Katherine, Alex, Nicole, Squish or Morgan. Every time they turned around their was a creative activity, hair style, or set of arms to hold them. Thanks for taking such great care of us and loving on us. We had a blast!

And upon our return home, there was this large, wonderful, fully assembled swing set. Here is the girls reaction to the surprise of their very own playhouse. Pure joy. We play on it every day, multiple times a day. Now if only a swing pusher came with it!

I can't get any of my pics from Conover to load right now. I need to seek some prof help. But Katherine posted some pics from our week on her photography site here.

I believe the real reason that Meg chose not to get her ears pierced was to see if her sister would survive the ordeal. Hannah sat still, never shed a tear and even had a grin from ear to ear by the time it was over. After seeing that Hannah didn't die-Meg chose this week to get her ears pierced as well. She chose her birthstones (red) and Kate chose her birthstones (pink). Both M and K did really well too. Kate whimpered a little but was quickly soothed with a yellow sucker. Meg was very brave, like Hannah, and was very happy after she saw the result in the mirror.

(haven't taken their pics yet, I will add them when I do. Bad mom-I know)

So now we are all pierced (in our ears that is). However, the other night while reading stories...Hannah asked if she could get her nose pierced. Thanks Kayce!

World's Best DaddyMan

Hannah and dad watching Meg swing the bat!

This year the girls made daddy a card. I asked them what their daddy did that they were thankful for and here is their response:

Daddy, thank you for...doing special things with us, going downtown, for picnics, walks, making pennies (working and making money), making little schievers (filled pancakes), pancakes, waffles, reading us stories every night, for giving thanks with us, helping us, bringing us to church, being kind to us, taking us fishing, taking us to parks, for your hugs, kisses, nose kisses, ear nibbles and for all of your love.

Daddy has me wrapped around his little finger hairy leg.

I am thankful and grateful for Charlie. I know that God has richly blessed me and my children with a man who loves the Lord, loves us, sacrifices for us, works so hard to provide for us, hugs us, plays with us, teaches us, carves out time for us and makes us a priority, makes breakfast on the weekends, has not just one hand but two hands in helping me with the kids, does activities that we like to do, plays games, reads, plays with chalk, takes us fishing, reads to us from the Bible and thinks up very creative things for us do. I am amazed at the daddy Charlie is, not because I didn't think he was good with kids (I've always known/seen that) but because being the father of three small girls who like to talk is exhausting and he is the most patient, gentle and loving man I know. Thank you, Babe for loving us so much!

This was one of the gifts that the girls picked out for daddy, funny how that works-really being a gift for them.

I am also thankful for my dad. Sadly I didn't tell him that enough. But I hope he saw how much I learned from him in my 27 years of watching. He taught me how to work hard and value it, how important it was to be a part of a church body, to give generously, to respect others, to be disciplined in whatever I do, commitment, how to love my family, to take care of my car-by parking way out in the end of a parking lot so as to not get a door ding, and speaking of parking lots...the value of a well designed parking structure as opposed to one not done by Walker PC. All that to say, I never got to give my dad his last Father's Day gift-he died one week before I could have him unwrap it. It was a shirt that I very carefully picked out. So instead I gave it to Charlie that year (he knew that it was intended for my dad) and I can think of no one that my dad would rather have it then his Chaz. To this day I don't know that Charlie would ever let anyone call him that-except my dad. My dad loved Charlie and I know he would be so proud of him too.

We had an awesome weekend together as a family. Yesterday Charlie and the girls watched me run my first 5K then we headed to the beach for the afternoon with some friends. Today was church and a picnic on the beach tonight with some other friends from church.

This is how we start out most of our weekends. After everyone wakes us, some how we all end up in our bed-even Rudy and Lucy. You can see just a little of Charlie head sandwiched in between Kate and Megan.

Then daddy makes us breakfast-we help him, of course, by sitting on the counter, asking questions, telling him how mommy does it, and spilling things...