a place for happy

 sometimes they need to jump.  

sometimes they need to sit on the kitchen floor and pound on some pots as loud as they can.   sometimes it turns into musical pattern and sometimes it is just noise.   

sometimes she just needs to try.   and i just need to let her.   

sometimes, this 6 year old still needs to collapse in her dad's arms.   

sometimes they need to spend an afternoon making mud cakes and pies.  sometimes those muddy buckets need to enter the kitchen sink for water refills.   

sometimes it is too darn cute to change.   

sometimes i need to sit on the floor and patiently watch her grow up.   

because when i can sit and let her be independent i get the joy of seeing her joy.   

life

things on my mind:

my sister is supposed to have her new baby any day.  i am calling her nonstop and probably driving her crazy.

my other sister is moving to washington dc in a week.  having her and my nephews and niece so close (6 hours) is a game changer.   can't wait to spend long weekends and holidays with my family!   

starting to plan and get excited for next school year.  

we are watching the bible series on the history channel.   it is so very good.   we have had awesome overlap with our history lessons along with sunday school and bible time that the girls are especially familiar with the old testament.   kinsley and hallie watched the first episode which included the stories of abraham and moses.   the girls were wide eyed the whole time.   we had neat discussions about the angels and the pillar of salt.   seeing these stories woven together and come to life has been so powerful.   (the girls were so excited to see the 2nd episode but we previewed it and it was super violent from top to bottom)  

aside from flurries, this is the first and only time it has snowed since we have lived here.  every child in our neighborhood was outside playing in the dark.  it was such a treat.  

kinsley celebrated her 100th day of school with a friend.   

 

the hershey kiss hunt took the prize for the kids favorite part of the day.   

the best part about read alouds is watching the matching movie. (the cute popcorn buckets are complements of my mom)  

and now, i need to spend a little time on life with caroline.   

she still prefers to have her diaper changed on the staircase.  

without a doubt, she gives the best hugs of anyone i have ever known.  she races to the door when ben arrives and squeezes him.  "miss you, daddy"   "daddy home now"

   she is a light and she blows us away with the fierceness of her love.  

ben texted me the picture above when i was running errands.  someone had a fierce reaction to being in time out.  stinker emptied everything from her dresser while wailing at the injustice.   

caroline bit hallie.   hard.   they were playfully wrestling and she took defending herself to the extreme.   not tolerated.   i include this picture to simply show what sweet hallie had to endure.   

each of my girls have loved their passy more than the sister that came before them.  i thought hallie was addicted then along came caroline.   one passy is just not good enough.   she sleeps sucking one and holding at least one.   5 in this picture.  and a peanut butter face to boot.   

the above picture is what i showed to the children's museum staff when caroline went missing and the place went into lockdown.  "you need a description of her?  here are 20 pictures i've taken in the last hour."  i turned my back to help hallie and the child was gone.   the first couple minutes were nerve-wracking but the remaining 7 minutes until we kinsley found her were terrifying.   when every staff member is looking and no one could find her i thought my heart would beat out of my chest.   i thought she would be so scared.  certainly she would be desperately searching for me.  nope.  just happily grocery shopping.   my core was shaking and she was shopping away.   

can't express how much i adore this picture.   my girl.