Sunday Letters... late again!

Sorry! I have been so sick the past few days... like, not get out of bed sick! UGH! But, I am feeling better and wanted to get my Sunday letters in even if they are a day late! Make sure to check out Deidre's blog to see her Sunday letters and link ups! And my friend Jessica has started doing Sunday Letters too! I love Jessica. I tell her that her family is the North Dakota version of ours because our kiddos are the same age difference and gender order and seem to have very similar personalities!! Ha!



Dear Max,
You have been cracking us up lately. Your imagination is so WILD! You are something different every few minutes! My favorite was when you were being Gaston last night (from Beauty and the Beast) and you had on a cape, t-shirt, and a sword... tucked in the side of your underpants! Ha! It was just too cute! Your Daddy told me you were SO excited to go to school today because it was FINALLY your turn for Show and Tell! You took your stuffed dog named Buster. I can't wait to hear all about it when you get home!

Dear Sophie,
Your Daddy and I joke a lot about how old you act for your age. But, this week you have made sure that we remember that you are only 2! Lots of tantrums when you don't get your way! You and your brother have been fighting a lot and while I usually stick up for you I am starting to notice that you are becoming the instigator more and more often so those days might be coming to an end! Ha! You said the cutest thing at church on Sunday. When we were sitting in the atrium before church and an older man with a cowboy type hat with a feather in it and you said, "It is Captain Pirate!" Then you looked at your Daddy and said, "I didn't know Captain Pirate went to our church!" You are precious!

Dear Jack,
Well, you are still perfect. Please don't grow up! Ha! You are sitting up for very long periods of time now and you look so cute. You like to sit in your high chair and eat snacks. You are still sleeping through the night although the past few days you have been waking up a little too early for my tastes! I can't believe you will be 7 months old this week!

Dear Nick,
Thank you for being awesome this week. Thank you for encouraging me to grab coffee with the girls on Friday night! It means so much to me to be able to go out without feeling guilty! And then THANK YOU THANK YOU for taking care of the kids while I have been sick and staying home today to take care of them... and me! I love you! I will make sure to take extra good care of you this weekend after you get your wisdom teeth taken out on Friday!! :-(

eating big people food

Yes, this is my little BABY eating big people food! Cue tears. My friend Heather reminded me that Jack is old enough to start eating real food. My first thought was, you are kidding me! He is a newborn! But then I remembered he is almost 7 months old. Why when I was 9 years old waiting for Christmas did the month of December feel like it lasted an eternity and now that I am a mom the past 4 1/2 years have flown by at almost lightning speed!?

My little girl

I was never one of those women that "had to have" a daughter. Honestly, I thought I would have three boys. But, oh my goodness am I so glad that God knew better and gave me a little girl! I still wouldn't consider myself a great "girl" mom. I don't really love to do crafts and do doll's hair. I would much rather play with trains, make dinosaurs knock down blocks, and have improptu rounds of "dodge the pillow" during the day! But, I don't mind playing super girly things if it is for this sweet girl! She is so much fun and is just a perfect piece of our family. Plus, even though we are still outnumbered by boys in our family of R's, I am glad I have at least one partner in crime!

And I look forward to the days of shopping together and girl's weekends and talking about boys (when she is 30 of course)! I am just so thankful for this precious little girl! I have no doubt that God has increadible things in store for our little princess! We love you Sophie!

He cracks me up...

Last night we told Max it was time for bed and he told us, "No! I don't need to go to bed! I am nocturnal!" 4 year olds are weird... Here is more proof...

Happy Monday

Good morning! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Ours was too short! The kiddos don't have Mom's Day Out because of President's Day (but the hubs is working, boo!) so we are hanging at home in our p.j.'s on this rainy morning waiting for the dryer repairman to come at some point!

I love the Menu Plan Monday Posts over at I'm an Organizing Junkie so I am linking up there today with our menu for the week. I was very proud of myself because I actually stuck to my menu plan 100% last week. That has never happened before! I usually slack off at least once! Anyway, here is our plan for this week!

Monday: Beef-broccoli stir fry and cantalope (making a double batch and taking half to a friend who just had a baby)

Tuesday: bar-b-que chicken sandwiches and sweet potato fries

Wednesday: make your own pizza (on tortillas) and salad

Thursday: Tenderloin steaks with green beans

Friday: breakfast for dinner

Saturday: dinner with friends, I am bring dessert

Sunday: Brats, chips, and salad

Sunday Letters: February 20, 2011

Dear Max,

You got a good report in Sunday school today! Yay! You have been doing well in the Monkey room but I think you are still grasping the concept that your teachers there are in charge of you. I am glad you have another year before kindergarten starts. You have been a mix of being super challenging and super snuggly this week. I think this next week is going to be great! I feel like every week God is teaching me a little more about how to be a better mom for you. Thank you for being our little parenting guinea pig! We love you sweet boy.


Dear Sophie,

You are cracking us up lately. You talk and talk and talk some more. You don't like to be left out of conversations. This week you have started showing a lot more interest in toys. Thank goodness! You spent a lot of time on your own in the playroom playing with your little princesses and your Veggie Tales toys. You have been pretty mischevious this week too. At nap time this week I found you had snuck out of your room and into mine and gotten into my make-up. I found my brand new lipstick in the carpet in your room. ARGH! You are lucky you are so cute little Miss...

Dear Jack,

I am hoping you are going through a growth spurt because the last two nights you have woken up in the middle of the night and insisted on eating. Please don't make this your new habit!! Mommy is so spoiled with this sleeping through the night thing! You are getting so big! Today when we were out to lunch with the family you sat in a high chair at the resteraunt and I just couldn't get over the fact that you aren't a newborn anymore. Time needs to slow down! I am so thankful for your constant smiles and your laid back personality!

Dear Nick,

Thank you for a great week! I have loved our evening talks and I feel like I learn more about you all the time. I didn't think that was what year 5 of marriage would be like! Thank you so much for such a fun datenight last night. It was so good to hang out together. I am so glad that you are enjoying your job and I love hearing how excited you are about things at work. I love you!

Wednesday...

I have been trying to put together a blog post for almost a week now and I keep starting and deleting them. Sometimes there is just so much to say that it feels like you can't say anything. So, excuse this very random, unorganized post... but then, that is me most of the time... random and unorganized! 

So, I need to start out by saying that I am going to try much harder to be a little more "real" in my blog. I know we all want to put our best foot forward and that has certainly been my intention with this blog. But, the past few weeks I have found myself unsubscribing to a lot of blogs because I just couldn't handle reading how perfect and together everyone else seems to have it! It was giving me a major complex, and who needs that?? Ha! So, let me know if I am still coming off that way. I am going to really try not to! Overall I am a pretty happy person, but some days you just have to call a spade a spade! It doesn't mean we aren't thankful for what we have or that we don't have joy... it just means that sometimes people have hard days, weeks, seasons... and I want to be honest about that. Now, with that said I don't like to be TOO personal so I am not saying that I will share everything for the sake of honesty, but I don't want to give people the wrong impression of my life... which honestly, is pretty messy sometimes! 

So! We celebrated my birthday this weekend which I am SO thankful for because on my actual birthday my husband was super sick and I wasn't feeling 100% amazing by the end of the day either.

Saturday we had a little family party for me and my momma to celebrate our birthdays. Almost the whole more clan (minus Uncle Ed, Lauren, and Blake) was in attendance and I got some stellar gifts! A Home Depot gift card, a Massage Envy gift card, a bottle of wine, Pyrex glass storage containers, and a Cuisinart Food Processor! Oh yes! I was THRILLED! I have been coveting wanting one for a loooong time! Then Saturday night we went out with my sis and soon to-be-brother in law to Kitaro (a Japanese steakhouse place). It was pretty good and fun to be out as grown-ups. Then we all came home and watched The Big Bang Theory... and I may or may not have fallen asleep on the couch. Was I turning 27 or 87? Ha!

On my actual birthday I woke up to my husband-o telling me he had a fever. Thankfully the big kids had Mom's Day Out and my friend Heather invited me over for lunch so we cleared out and he was able to get some rest. We made pink pancakes for dinner and finished off Valentine's Day all feeling a little under the weather :-(

Today was Friend2Friend day. I have a love/hate relationship with Friend2Friend day. It is mostly love. But, I am almost always guranteed that getting there will feel like a climb up Mt. Everest with at least one of the children. And today was no exception. In fact, both of my big children were screaming when I dropped them off. Just delightful! But, I think they were both just fine within seconds of me leaving because they were both perfectly happy when I picked them up. Of course! But, let me just say, I am SO excited about the class I am taking!! It is Discipleship 101 and I just already feel like this is going to be SO good for me! Just this week I was thinking about how I am in such a Christian bubble and I hardly ever talk to people who aren't Christians... and then our small group discussion today was all about that very topic! Plus, the women in my small group are all just amazing and I feel like we can be totally real with each other. I can't wait to go back next week... even if it means dropping off three screaming kids, I will be there!

I will leave you with a few recent pics! Because we all know, that is why most of you come anyway! Have a great Wednesday!

Wednesday Bullet Points

• Yesterday I went and got my hair cut and colored! It had been wayyy too long! Special thanks to my Grandma for watching the "big kids" and to my friend Heather for watching Jack so I could spend a few glorious hours pretending to be a real grown-up!
• Friend2Friend started today and it was SO good to see everyone again. I am so glad that Heather, Jenn, Steph, and I decided to "put on our big girl panties" and finally take Discipleship 101, I think it is going to be AWESOME!
• Saturday we are going to my parent's house for lunch to celebrate my mom and my birthday! And then Saturday night Nick and I are going out to dinner with my sister and her fiance! Yay for birthdays.
• I keep stealing candy from my Valentine's Day display... oops.
• I am doing a Biggest Loser competition that starts next week and it is REALLY hard to not eat a lot in preparation.
• My coffee is warming up... I love coffee a whole lot
• I think I found a preschool for Max next year and I am really excited! I found out Mom's Day Out wasn't going to work (they didn't have room for him in the two day a week class) and I am feeling a huge relief that I found an option that I think is going to work out great, a HUGE answer to prayer!
• I can't believe it is only Wednesday! I am ready for the weekend!

Sunday Letters

Deidre, over at For Such a Time as This, has been doing Sunday Letters for a long time. She writes a little letter to each of her family members about their week and what is going on in their lives. I thought it was such a neat way to document life, something I am not great at sometimes so I kept wanting to give it a try! Then she created a link-up and button for it so I felt like this was the time! So, to check out her fabulous blog or see other Sunday Letters go to the link below!


Dear Max,

You are getting so big! I was a little nervous this week when your Mom's Day Out was cancelled and then I found out we would be snowed in most of the week! You get a little bored these days at home. I try to keep you entertained but I think you are just a little smarty-pants and you get bored with me sometimes!

Your Dad and I have been cracking up because we realize how much of your crankiness and fits sometimes are totally food related. The past week or so when you have been freaking out we have forced you to eat something and after one bite you are your happy, sweet self again! It is the craziest thing!

You have had some super sweet moments this week wanting to snuggle with me and sit on my lap. I know my days with you wanting those things are numbered so I try to take them in so I can keep them forever. My little man is growing up too fast.

You crack me up at bedtime because you are being a "typical little kid" and you try to stall. You know that one surefire way to get me to stay in your room is to recite all of your Bible verses to me. So far, we have learned together Genesis 1:1, Colossians 3:20, Phillipians 4:13, and 1 John 3:11. I am AMAZED at how quickly you learn them... you already know them when I am still having to double check my Bible!

Dear Sophie,

Ahh... my sweet Sophie. What am I ever going to do with you? :) You have been a little bit of a handful this week... it is like you are 2 or something... okay you are 2, but you act like you are much older so it is so easy to forget. You knocked over a book case which almost resulted in serious injury and then yesterday I found you on my carpet with hot pink nail polish painting your toe nails! Surpisingly, the carpet survived just fine! And honestly, you were doing a pretty good job and gettign decent coverage so it was hard to be too upset!

We are working on potty training these past few days and you are doing a pretty good job. You love your big girl underwear. The thing you love most is when we all praise you after you potty on the potty. Last night you had me, your brother, and your dad all in the bathroom singing and dancing and jumping around for you and I could tell you were in heaven! You love to be affirmed and I need to remember that more!

Dear Jack,

What can I say? I have always thought you were an amazing baby but since you started sleeping through the night a few weeks ago you make my heart soar! Ha! You bring every member of this family so much happiness Jack-Jack. Last night you had your Daddy, brother, and sister all on the floor taking turns trying to make you laugh. You are such a happy baby... as long as you aren't too tired.

One of your cutest features right now is your crazy baby hair. I have been taking pictures of it lately because it is just too much! It is up and everywhere! I get asked when we are going to have it cut... well, I think you need to learn to sit up first so you can actually sit in a chair to have it cut! Ha! But, then I don't know. I am not in a hurry to have my baby look grown-up!

Dear Nick,

You have been a trooper this week. With all the snow and ice you had to work from home a few days which I know wasn't easy. Thank you for all of your shoveling and running to the store and dealing with my mini-freakouts! You are good at that.

I had so much fun with you on our little date yesterday! I forget how much I NEED our date time and it is so good to get out of the house and have one. At home it is easy to watch movies or get distracted when spending time together (I know I am the one that gets distracted!) But, when we are out we just talk each other's ears off and I love it! Thank you for wandering Lowe's with me and letting me get excited about all of our house projects coming up... I know they aren't your favorite thing but you know that they are my love languages and you speak to me... :-)


Here's hoping for a great week without snow cancelling anything!!!

Funky Friday

Ugh... I feel funky today!

• my two youngest are being crabs which is very strange because they are rarely my crabs!
• my to-do list is a mile long but my motivation tank is EMPTY
• I have gotten off track with my eating and exercising and getting back on track feels like a monumental task right now
• I realized I have been going over my grocery budget and now have to re-evaluate which is just no fun at all
• I took 3 kids to Target this morning... enough said

the kittens and their mittens

So, we get some little kids magazine, maybe "Turtle" or something like that. Anyway, there was a little story in the most recent issue about a mother kitten whose three little kittens are always loosing their mittens and it drives her crazy. They are always running and jumping and playing and they loose their mittens. She talks to one of her cat friends (obviously) who says that her kittens never loose their mittens because they don't jump and run and play. Honestly, I thought the story was pretty dumb! Ha! But, then Nick told me that he loved the story and explained to me that he thought of it in terms of our own kids. They make messes, get hurt, loose things, etc.... they do lots of things that drive us crazy! But, they do these things because they are active, imaginative, playful... and it really hit home. The things that drive me the most crazy about my kids are also the things I LOVE most about them!

Max can be very particular, very high energy, he always wants to wrestle and play rough, he argues everything... But, my favorite things about Max is how he is so smart and I find it cute that he remembers everything and can even be a little particular. He reminds me a lot of his dad, who happens to be one of my favorite people! And I LOVE that he is all boy. I always wanted a little boy and I think it is cute that Max is obsessed with dinosaurs, super heros, and playing like a BOY! I love that he is a little boy! And, honestly, I love that he is a thinker and has a hard time accepting things. While we need to work on teaching him to be more obedient and that he needs to respect authority I don't want him to become a person who follows the crowd or does things "just because". I love that he analyzes and thinks about things!

Sophie can be a total princess sometimes. She likes things a certain way and expects others to fall in line. She is totally girly and thinks that everything in the world that is pink belongs to her. She is NOT a people pleaser and is very strong willed. She loves to snuggle... but when SHE wants to. She is a DRAMA queen! But, I love how girly she is! And I love that she knows what she wants and speaks her mind. I love that she isn't a people pleaser and I pray that she never becomes one. I love that she is strong willed and I believe she will go on to use her strong will to do big things for a big God! And I think her dramatic side could come in handy one day! I believe she will have high standards when she chooses friends and one day a husband and I wouldn't want anything less!

And Jack. Well, he is still perfect. But, I know I will have a similar list in the years to come. I just hope that I remember that the things he does that drive me crazy will probably also be some of the things I love most about him.

I just pray that I can channel some of the negative things that they do in a better direction. But, I never want to crush or change who they are because it is who their Creator created them to be!

Project Life catch-up!

I am so behind on Project Life!! But, I am trying to catch up! So, here are the last two weeks...

Love it when my sister comes to hang out... even when I look SUPER SCARY!

Who wouldn't love to do laundry with such a cute little helper??

Little man LOVES his bath time!

Brothers!

Our Baby Be Blessed dolls/animals finally arrived! I was so stoked! I love having my kiddos scriptures on these special keepsakes!

Sophie and her friend Gabbie enjoying a mid morning snack!

My kiddos are hooked on smoothies so I decided to throw in  as many healthy things as possible!

I called Sophie Snow White and was quickly corrected and was told she is Cinderella

Love this "Future Rocket Scientist" t-shirt

I am not sure what this picture really is but gotta love a picture every day!

I did a little Valentine's Day decorating

The Little Man ready to help Em and Simon settle into their new casa

the "helpers" at Em and Simon's