12

Twelve years ago, we did this:

Somewhere along the way, he gave me them:

These last 12 years have been some of the best times of my life!

Seriously, I love this man more than he will ever know.  He inspires me to be better every day.

Happy Anniversary, Babe.

The Peach is 3

What?  You are 3?  I know that this is my reality, but seriously.  Three?  This blows my mind.  In one year, sweet little Peach, you went from attempting one word phrases to speaking in full sentences.  This growth, alone, astounds me.  You are rockin' it on a daily basis and I couldn't be more proud.

Today, on your 3rd birthday, I would like to share some things that we are loving about you these days.

You like to call your brother, "Elster."  No one else does.  You came up with that all on your own.  And I love it.
You love shiny and pretty things.  Necklaces, bracelets, rings, pretty much anything that sparkles.  As long as it is mine.  You like to wear my things, not your own.
You love your squirt bottle.  With that and a rag, no dirty surface is safe.  You will clean it and anything else you can squirt.
You LOVE spending the night at your Amee's house.  When I ask if you want to go, you promptly say, "Two nights?"  You would move in if you could.
You are still an amazing sleeper.  When you wake up in the morning and from your naps you wait quietly in your room until I came to get you.  You even knocked on the inside of your door once.  I tell you all of the time you can come out when you are ready, but you still wait.
I love watching you play with your dolls.  You feed them and talk to them.  I also love it when you bring out all of your "hairdressing toys" and do the dog's hair.  Jane loves that.
You love to go outside and ride your scooter.  I am pretty sure you could do that all day long.
I love how much you love your brothers.  As soon as you wake up you ask where they are.  You really enjoy walking down to get them from the bus.  You always give them hugs.  Also, when it comes to your brothers, you HATE it when they lock you out of your room.  You always use the same excuse to get back in, "I need my guy!"  Your "guy" is any Lego Dude.
You love to go out to lunch.  You think that is special and fancy.  And I love taking you.
You currently can't say words that begin with "S" and some of the words you say are really funny.  I know you will figure all of that out soon.
You are still very much quiet and reserved when it comes to new situations.  You like to get your feet wet and see what it is all about before you open up.
You recently were introduced to bouncy houses and you think those are the bee's knees.
For being 3, you have an amazing grasp on how an iPad and an iPhone work.  You can navigate to exactly what you want, every time.  You are exceptionally good at taking pictures.  And watching "my Mickey" and "my Doc McStuffins."
You have figured out that if you screech real loud and kind of throw a fit, your brothers will give you anything you want.  They hate it.  I kinda think it is awesome.
You love all food.  Especially blue cheese.  And you always try any fermented food I make and you always love it.
You like having your hair curled.  My favorite part is when you look at yourself in the mirror.  You think you are pretty and it makes you smile.
You think I am really cool.  And it makes my heart sing.  I hope you always think I'm neat.  I know I will always think you are.

Happy Birthday, my girl.  Three will be a terrific year for you.  I just know it.

Song: You make me Happy by Lindsey Ray

And the award for most broken bones goes to...

The Peach!

A little tumble off of the couch led to a broken clavicle.  Poor little girl is in a bit of pain, but rest, lots and lots of homemade bone broth, and plenty of ibuprofen should have her feeling better in a week or so.  She really is a trooper and it hasn't slowed her down too much.  

She is currently leading the pack with the most broken bones in childhood - 2.  Remember the broken wrist?  E has broken his foot, and B has all of his bones in tact.  Hopefully this is the end of broken bones in the house - but probably not.

**On a side note, I seriously don't know what my problem is.  I have totally neglected this space and I really shouldn't.  I love going back and reading what we have been up to.  Honestly, I have been lazy.  Lazy and busy.  I have tons of great pictures from our trip to Yellowstone that I had planned on editing and then writing a great post.  Honestly, there are so many pictures, I am thinking about just throwing them up here.  I need to get back to this place.  I like it here.  This is my plan.  Ask me in a week how I am doing.**

Time for School!

I can't believe that school has started already.  I also can't believe how terrible I am at updating this blog.  The kids got out of school May 18th, we went on a big vacation to Yellowstone, spent a lot of time in Pinetop, and now the kids are back in school.  I have a lot of catching up to do here, but first, back to school pictures.

E was super cute last night.  He laid out the clothes that he wanted to wear for his special day today.  I made both of them pose for pictures and in hindsight I should have had one of them together.  Tomorrow perhaps.  :)

The Peach insisted it was her turn after I finished with the boys.  She wasn't making her "smile face" so I snapped a few shots for prosperity.  She wasn't making a cute face either, but I worked with what I had.

I can't believe I have a third grader and a first grader!  Both boys were very excited to start in their new classrooms.  They were even more excited to take the bus home.  This year, since school starts an hour earlier, they are released during The Peach's nap.  

After school, we walked to meet the bus and we waited.  And waited.  It was hot.  The Peach was sweaty.  She told me so. 

Turns out the bus was about 20 minutes late.  As soon as the boys got off they informed me that they do not like riding the bus.  I guess the ride was too long and they missed the novelty of being picked up and coming right home.  

From what they told me it was a great first day.  E was ready to climb in bed at 7:15pm and he did.  He was asleep not long after that.  While both of them are glad to be back with friends, neither are too thrilled about homework.  Neither am I.  

Happy Back to School Day!!

Back to School for me!

Today I head back to school to complete the second portion of my human lactation education.  For the next five weeks I will have my nose buried in books learning all that I can about the ins and outs of breastfeeding.

While I am organizing everything to get done while I am away, like who will watch the kids, etc, I feel fortunate that I don't work full time.  Last night while I was getting organized, I found myself up late making sure everything was taken care of.  How do working mothers do it all?

I am pretty sure that all mothers are Type A in some way shape or form so it gets done.  Mothers are amazing.  Period.  And all of you working mothers out there?  You must be super heroes!

This is what half a cow looks like...

In my freezer.

Well, in my parent's freezer.  Thank heavens they had the cubic foot real estate because that is a lot of meat.  A lot.  My husband and I have been wanting to do this for a while and we figured that spring is a great time to go for it since the grass that the cows graze on is amazing right now.  So, there it is - 216 pounds of beef.  What I loved the most was speaking with the butcher.  She customized the cuts for me based on our needs.  We have a lot of ground beef, many roasts, and even round roasts prepped for jerky making!  I'm pumped.

I really enjoy knowing where my beef comes from.  I know that it was grass fed, enjoyed acres of grazing and sunshine, and this cow never saw a feed lot.  Half of this happy cow will hopefully feed my family for a long time.  I am thankful that I don't have to deal or worry about this stuff anymore.

For those interested in purchasing shares of beef in Arizona, check out this directory over at Eat Wild.  There are a lot of farmers out there!  My particular cow came from Double Check Ranch.  I know the farmer and hope to tour the ranch soon.

And so it begins

Little league season.

We just got the schedule and since E isn't playing this year (he prefers the monkey bars) the schedule isn't as insane.  Fortunately the games are during the week.  B has two games per week and most are at the reasonable hour of 5:30.  Yes, this requires picnic dinners, but it also allows for a normal bedtime.  He does have a few that are at 7pm.  My boys go to bed at 8, but The Peach is in bed by 7.  One of two things could happen: she will either crash and be cranky, or be SO excited she is up late that she will have the time of her life.  I will let you know.

For now I need to work on coming up with meal ideas so that we don't have PB & J's two times a week for dinner.  Hopefully I will come up with some nourishing meals that are easy to pack up.  Stay tuned for that post!

Play ball!!