Beau's Favorite Game

When you get giggles & a smile as sweet as this, it's hard to resist playing pat-a-cake over & over again!

Three Under Three

Three under three. Our family will have this distinction for approximately three more weeks. I know that many mothers have experienced similar times with their young children, but for us, I can definitely say that these past few months have been more than a little crazy.

Before Beau's arrival, our household certainly had our fair share of chaos. Most families with even one small child have that at least some of the time, & it's probably a given for those with multiples. Even through that chaos, however, I considered myself overall to be fairly organized, productive, efficient & generally "put-together."
Moving to a family of five has challenged all of those things that I believed to be true about myself & has humbled me to admit often that I'm so not "put-together." As much as I love my life, & as much as it is totally what I wanted, I find myself feeling like my head is detached from my body a good percentage of the time.
I suppose it comes with the territory, & I would venture to guess that I'm not alone in my feelings. Still, since I'd prefer not to feel totally scattered for the next eighteen years, I struggle to achieve a good balance. Yes, I know it's not the end of the world if our clothes don't get ironed, or if we miss a night of tooth-brushing or even if I don't get to read quite as many books to each child as I'd like to every day. But the overachiever in me can't resist trying.
I know in my head, & am slowly beginning to learn in my heart, that I just have to turn it all over to God. He has blessed me with these three precious ones, & has charged Justin & I with the task of raising them up for His service. He doesn't make mistakes, so He apparently knew what He was doing in giving them to us. Now I just have to let Him equip me & lead me in this journey.

Blast Off to Cosmic City!

Last week, the kids & I participated in VBS at our church. This year's theme was Cosmic City, & our stories each day focused on the wonders God has created. I taught a class of 4-year-olds with my friend, Holly, & had a great time.

Here's a few pics of our cosmic classroom:


The decorations in the rest of the building were pretty amazing! Here's the walkway where the "cadets" entered each morning.
Each day, our cadets had snack time...
craft time...

& music class.
In our classroom, they learned about God's wonders through stories, crafts & games. The two cutest cadets there!Jake & Mal with Miss Sydney, one of their great teachers
Beau attended VBS as well, & had a great time in the nursery. Regular VBS ran Monday-Thursday mornings, & then on Friday night there was a family celebration. Jake & Mal weren't too interested in performing one of the songs they'd learned for everyone. See them standing back to back on the stage while they're supposed to be listening? (yellow dress & blue shirt)
Their little group performing
The evening included a pizza dinner, games for the kids & free sno cones for all! It was a very busy week, but we had fun & I know the kids learned a lot!

Beau Harrison at 4 Months

Beau passed the four-month mark on Sunday & had his check-up today. Here are our little man's current stats:

Weight: 14 lbs (25%)
Height: 25.75 inches (77%)
Head: 17 inches (90%)

Obviously, the little man is not so little any more! His percentage on weight came down from last time, but he's still gaining well, so I'm sure he's just evening out to the track he'll be on in the future. He is one long, tall Texan, though! No wonder he's busting out of a lot of his clothes. They all end up being too short in the stride.
Beau really is lots of fun these days! He gives me big grins all day long, laughs & talks, plays with his toys & is generally just a pleasant fellow. He likes his bumbo seat to help him sit up to see his books.
Love that glint of mischief in his eyes!He spends a lot of time on one of his two play mats, & can now pull the toys off if he wants to.The exersaucer, & more recently the jumperoo, have become favorites. He loves for Jake & Mal to push all of the buttons to make the music play & has started figuring out how to do this on his own.Last Sunday, July 3rd, he rolled from back to tummy for the first time, so he can now roll either direction. I see steamrolling as a means of mobility in our near future.
Beau is sleeping at least seven hours at night before waking up to eat, & many nights he makes it all the way through. The doctor said today that he shouldn't need a night feeding any more, so we'll be cutting that out, along with swaddling. I may have some long nights coming as we adjust!

Beau Harrison, we love you & couldn't feel more blessed to have you as a part of our family!

Chew on This

Last Wednesday, I took the kids to McDonald's for the very first time. I know, what deprived children!

I had made it a goal to hold off on the golden arches for as long as possible since I figured we'd eventually end up eating many meals there in their childhood years. But it was the easiest option at the Galleria food court after some time spent in the play area.

They were quite pleased with their chicken nuggets, milk & apples, but Mal did ask,"Now where are the hot fries?". Next time perhaps.

Sudsy Siblings

I know that eventually the twins will have to start bathing separately, but I'll be a little sad when that day arrives. They have so much fun together in the bath each night!

Modified Fourth of July

For the past couple of years, we've chickened out of taking our kids to see fireworks on the 4th because we figured they'd be too cranky to enjoy it from missing their bed time. This year, I was determined that Jake & Mal would finally see fireworks, so we planned to go to the Richardson show Monday night.

We had a very low-key day on Monday, just enjoying the day at home together. Justin won the best Daddy award on Sunday when he built this kiddie car wash for the twins. (Thanks, Cassie, for the idea!)
Monday morning was spent playing in the water & having a grand ole time!

We continued our fun with snow cones that afternoon & burgers eaten on the porch for dinner.But in the end, we decided once again that the kids might not do so well staying up for the fireworks. Maybe next year! As a consolation, Daddy went & bought Toy Story 2 (we previously only owned #3), & the kids watched it in their pajamas while eating popcorn. Everybody wins!

Don't worry, this little cutie had plenty of fun, too!I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday, traditional or otherwise.

False Alarm

My morning started off with a bang today. Actually, it was more like a slow beeping.

I wanted to get a shower before Beau woke up, so as soon as the twins were up & had gone to the potty, I parked them on the couch in my bedroom for a little Veggie Tales before breakfast. This is a pretty regular occurrence if I want them to hold off a bit on breakfast, & they're usually pretty well behaved.

Halfway through my shower, my cell phone, which was on the bathroom counter, started ringing. I assumed that it was Justin & decided I'd wait until I'd finished showering to call him back. When he called four times in a row, though, I started to worry that something might be wrong. I hopped out & snatched up the phone, dripping all over the tile in the process.

He asked if we were okay & then informed me that our alarm company had called to let him know that the medical emergency button had been activated on our home alarm. Since he hadn't reached me on the first call, he was now in his car headed home, & an ambulance had also been sent our way by the alarm company.

I didn't even hesitate to wonder who the culprit might be for pushing that button. In cases like these, this guy is pretty much always guilty:
I told Justin to turn around & go back to work because we were all fine, & I entered the code to turn off the beeping that I could now hear coming from the alarm box. But when I called the alarm company, I was too late to cancel the ambulance call. Thoroughly embarrassed, I answered the door in a bath robe & shower cap, with shaving cream still on one leg, when the EMTs showed up a few seconds later.

Needless to say, we had a long talk about the purpose of the alarm, what firemen, policemen & EMTs do to keep people safe & why we should never waste their time when we don't actually have an emergency. Jake has also been banned from sitting on my couch for the foreseeable future since standing on it is how he reached the alarm. Buzz Lightyear & Jake's bag of ocean animals are currently in time out.

Good grief.

Yummy to My Tummy: Sizzling Flounder

*This delicious fish, from the March 2010 issue of Southern Living, was dinner tonight, along with Carmelized Green Beans. (Thanks, Rachel!) It was a crowd pleaser & was really easy. I used frozen flounder fillets that had the skin removed & were pretty thin, so I cooked it a couple of minutes less than directed. Enjoy!

Sizzling Flounder

1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp paprika
4 (6-oz) flounder fillets
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 C butter
2 T fresh lemon juice

Place one oven rack 5 inches from heat; place a second rack in middle of oven. Combine Parmesan cheese & paprika. Season fish with salt & pepper.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Heat butter in a broiler-safe 9x13 baking dish in oven 8 minutes or until butter is melted & beginning to brown. Place fish in hot butter, skin sides up.

Bake at 450 degrees on middle oven rack 10 minutes. Carefully flip fish, basting with pan juices. Sprinkle with lemon juice & Parmesan mixture. Bake 5 more minutes or just until fish flakes with a fork. Remove from oven; increase oven temperature to broil.

Broil fish on oven rack 5 inches from heat 2-3 minutes or until bubbly & golden brown.

Arts & Crafts

On days that we're at home, the kids need projects to break up their day of playing, especially when it's just too hot to stay outside all day. So lately, we've been doing some paint with water...
making red, white & blue bead necklaces...& painting original masterpieces.

Jake informed me that his is a picture of a skunk:Mal's, in case you can't tell, is a portrait of her Daddy:

Fashionista

You have to be really cute to pull off this look. Luckily, she fits the bill. And she's surprisingly talented at walking in Mommy's wedge heels!

Best Seats in the House

I walked into the kitchen the other day to this scene:
My little rebels decided that they were plenty big enough to climb up onto the bar stools by themselves & enjoy their drinks from a higher vantage point. Obviously, they're almost three years old, so it's not surprising that they are able to do this, but up until now, they hadn't tried. Mallory already fell off once, mid-dismount. I see injuries in our future.