Sisters Playing

A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. ~Marion C. Garretty

It's not always roses and sunshine around here.

Our life is not perfect. It's perfectly imperfect.

And I'm so thankful for the gift of living this life; my life. And not just living it as merely to survive it. But, living to embrace it for all it's perfections and imperfections.

Praying that in the perfect moments I overflow with thankfulness.

Praying that in the imperfect moments I produce growth.......and humility. By His grace alone.

I captured one of those "thankful" moments the other day. I'm trying to be better about that and seizing the opportunity to just stop. and. pause.

"Take it ALL in and slow down," I have to remind myself.

Looking through the lens of a camera helps me do that. I see things I want to forever remember and never ever forget.

How little chubby knuckles held both Thomas'.

How her face was fixated when caught in a moment of creativity.

How sister smiles and belly button parties looked.

Snapshots that I want to etch in my memory when the years have gone by and I'm trying to remember how it once was in this season.

These pictures will one day make me cry- I'm sure of it. What seems as "everyday" now, will one day be but a memory and a photograph.

There is so much more life to behold and take in. But, I want to pause and remember the moments as we meander through it.

Happy Birthday Little Lovey

Happy Birthday Ruthie Claire!

Today you are 2.

You have an exuberance that is unlike any other.

Your face is full of animated expressions.

Your eyes catch everything in sight. You are the most observant child I've witnessed.

Ruthie, there is excitement and laughter in your soul. It's so sweet to watch you get worked up about something.

The words you say are music to my ears. You are talking so well. The other day I was helping you do something and you blurted out in full sentence,"I can do it."

No doubt there are some quirks about you that are to be mentioned. You aren't a fan of water (i.e. bath time). You can't stand stuff on the bottom of your feet. You get this from your momma.

And "I ont some" ("I want some") is your favorite sentence.

You love to sit and read books. And you are already such a little momma helping out with your baby sister, Exie Jo. Your favorite toy is your stroller and baby doll. And the pig is still in your arms 24/7.

Ruthie, I pray sweet blessings over your life and that the Lord would grab a hold of your heart at an early age. I pray that His kindness leads your little heart to repentance and a saving faith. And that the same exuberance you have now as a child, would be used in ways unimaginable as a daughter of the King.

"The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace."
Numbers 6:24-26

Here are some cute photos of your sweet self.

A common face....

This is you in your "pig coma".


Our sweet big 2 year old! Look at those curls!


Daddy and helping his excited princess!




Mama helping you open your presents because you were more interested in the cake.

Your family loves you so much Ruthie Claire!

When the baby becomes a big sister.....

Where do I even begin? Life has been a wonderfully sweet roller coaster that hasn't stopped since our new little girl, Exie Jo, has made her presence known in our family.

She was and still remains a wonderful little infant.

Today, Ruthie brought me to Exie Jo in her swing in the living room. I found her just like this.


Her outfit was unsnapped and her diaper was halfway off.

Ruthie proceeds to tell me,"Poop momma." So I bent down to take a whiff and sure enough, there was a filled diaper.

Whoever claims that breastfed babies don't have stinky diapers are not telling the complete truth. I can smell them and so can the other 3 mini-mommas that live in this house.


Ruthie left the room and came back with her cotton ball, alcohol, wipes, and a diaper. She was determined that she was going to change Exie's diaper.

But, I'm not quite ready for that just yet. So, Ruthie settled on changing her pig's pants.



And then I managed to steal a photo of Ruthie's new favorite face to make. How funny! She is one very animated little girl.


And this is one to grow on.

A snapshot of my day

The girls and I loaded up in the "farm buggy" and drove around for a bit today.

As we were driving around, I was taken aback by the glitter, cheetah print, and PINK!

I snapped this photo to remember this season of life.

Little girlie feet out and about on an adventure. Oh how I love those little feet!

And this photo serves as a reminder to never ever ask my girls to say "CHEESE" to capture a photo. It just doesn't work in these parts.

When a pig gets a bath.....

Ruthie has a stuffed pig that she is VERY fond of.

Actually, it's not just a stuffed pig. It's an "Aurora Lolly Gagz" pig to be exact per a phone conversation with the manufacturer of this pig.

This desperate momma phoned the company last week only to find out that they quit making this pig in 2009. Bummer- in a major way. The last purchase of this pig was by "Tuesday Morning".

Consider this a plea if you will.

If you see this pig, please buy one. Or better yet. Buy two. I will pay you back and pay the shipping.

This pig goes everywhere with her. When it's out of her sight, her radar goes off. She knows. He/she has no name other than "pig". It's easy for her to say.

She always insists that I give her pig a kiss goodnight too. There are times when I cringe and hold my breath in order to grant her request.

Sometimes, her pink pig turns into a brown-ish pig.

I think (actually pretty sure) I traumatized Ruthie today when her beloved pig got a bath today. After searching for near an hour, she found her pig like this.......


I decided to air dry the pig and let mother nature's sunshine do its disinfecting magic. But, little Miss Ruthie discovered that her beloved pig was literally being "hung out to dry" and she was not a happy girl.

As a matter of fact, this is as tame as it got......for almost an hour. She never left the porch.


So, as you can see. I'm desperate and dreading the day that our beloved pig is no more or lost or decapitated. I tremble at the thought. Our whole family shudders even thinking about this. We are all conditioned to perform a "pig check" when we get in our vehicle to go any place.

Who would have known that we should have scurried down to the local hospital gift shop and purchased everyone of these pigs because she would love it so?

Consider this alerting the masses....

Ruthie:::: ONE year

Wow. How does a month go by so quickly??

Or rather, how does a whole year go by this quickly??

My baby, Ruthie Claire, is ONE today.

This is just crazy. I can still smell the hospital room where I held her for the very first time.

I was smitten over this baby from the moment I laid eyes on her.

She is summed up in one word; sweet.

Ruthie Claire,

We love you so very much. I could hold you in my arms forever- and you'd let me.

You have taught me how to slow down and enjoy each moment.


You have 3 mommas- bless your little heart. That explains why you aren't walking yet. You get around just fine doing your commando crawling; no worries there. And I'm perfectly fine with not rushing things. I want you to be the baby as long as you can be. And your other 2 mommas "oooohhhh" and "aaaahhhh" over you all day long. It's pretty special for this momma to watch.

I pray that Jesus would capture your heart at an early age and that you'd fall deeply in love with Him and His unfailing Word.

Happy Birthday my love.
Momma

Ruthie and the sink bath::::: 11 months

My sweet Ruthie Claire is 11 months old today.

I still can’t believe in one month she will be ONE!

I’m really digging the sink baths after messy meals these days. It’s so easy. I seriously thought I’d never be a sink bath kind of momma (you know… because of the germs), but it sure is looking that way.

I can do dishes, clean the highchair out, sweep the floor, and bathe my baby at the same time. How efficient is that?

I give my sink a good scrub down before I put my little one in it. And before you start lecturing me about the sink being dirtier than the toilet, I’m not scared. Poop is my life.

And besides, I’ve never even understood how a sink could possibly be dirtier than the toilet.

Back to Ruthie. She is as sweet as can be in every sense of the word. Her sisters are smitten over her. Her daddy and I adore her and love to sit and talk about how wonderful she is.

She is clapping. Saying “momma” “dada” “tae tae (KK)” “ni ni (night night) “da (dog)” and “ni (no)”. Ruthie is sorta kinda crawling…..show the girl some love. She has two older siblings who do EVERYTHING for her. And she is eating everything in sight. I haven’t found one thing that she doesn’t eat. We are still nursing. But, I think she is starting to taper off big time on her feedings since she has developed an insane appetite.

Here are some sink bath photos!

Leave a comment if you’ve ever bathed your children in the sink!

Bluebonnets:::::The Keepers

Because the post below is freaking me out on a whole new level, I now bring you, "the Keepers."

Score! I love this one of all three girls.


Little Miss Ruthie....


Minus Laney Rae....she wasn't feeling this at all.


My fun one!


And THIS is totally her smile and the way I think of her.


So sweet of these two!


Watch out Little House on the Prairie. Ha!


She has got this down!


And this!




And she is just herself. No matter what.


Ruthie sitting in a suitcase.


So sweet!

The Smile

I can't even really articulate what all is stirring in my heart right now- good things, hard things, truth things.

But, I know that when I look at these pics, I just smile.

I'm so glad that I was able to capture this smile on camera. I heard her doing this while she was playing in her room so I peaked around the corner quickly with my camera to snap it.

Ruthie has this smile that cracks me up. I make a big huge deal and cheer with laughter each time that she does it. She doesn't smile like this all of the time. Just to be silly every once in a while.

Ruthie closes her eyes tightly "squinched" together, pants out of her nose in a repetitious pattern, and opens her mouth to reveal her mouth full of teeth- all of which are at different lengths right now.

Jason and I are hoping she maintains this smile throughout the teen years.

An unsuspecting teenage boy might decide to ask her out on a date (over her daddy's dead body) because he thinks Ruthie is cute.

Ruthie thinks a moment and then flashes this smile back at him.

The boy runs away shocked that this beauty can contort her face to such odd proportions.

Date avoided. Mommy and Daddy are relieved.

See??? Win win.

And this baby head.....sigh.

I wanted to remember what her sweet little head looks like for years to come.

I want to smell that head and press my cheek up against it.

She has a precious head.

I just love this little girl. She is oh so sweet.

Ruthie Claire, Naked, & Sunscreen

Ruthie is 9 months old today. Wow!!

She is pretty much eating everything that is put in front of her.

Ruthie has started feeding herself.

Here's the little doll enjoying some raw milk cheese and bananas.


and her chubby hands....


I love all of my girls' mouths. They've all managed to come out with the same lips.

"Kramer girl lips."

Isn't this mouth just too much??


I had a loser mom moment a few days ago. You know, the kind of moment when you literally want to call CPS on yourself......

You've probably never had a moment like that.

A few days ago I was outside working in the yard.

Kaylyn and Laney Rae had came in the house to play while Ruthie was in her room taking a nap.

I had the monitor on in the house and about every 10 minutes or so I'd open the door to see if I could hear the baby. I did this numerous times.

About the last 3 times of peaking in, I had noticed that Laney Rae was awfully quiet. I decided to take off my rubber boots and go look for her in the house.

I walked in and towards the back of the house where the girls' bedrooms are. When I arrived to the hallway I heard the most adorable giggling from Laney Rae and Ruthie.

My first thought was,"How sweet. Their having a sweet sister moment."

But, my second thought was,"OH DEAR. Laney Rae alone with the baby is NEVER a good thing."

I turned the corner into Ruthie's room. My second thought came full circle at that moment.

Ruthie had been stripped NAKED and Laney Rae was sitting in her crib with her. They were both smiling at one another and having a big time!

"Laney Rae, why is Ruthie naked?" I asked my 2 year old calmly who was beaming with pride.

"Diaper and clothes wet momma," she explained back to me.

"Oh, her diaper leaked and you were trying to change her diaper?"

"Yeah," in her cave woman laugh. If you know Rae Rae, you know what I'm talking about.

At this point, I'm taking everything in and trying not to overreact or burst into laughter. After all, it was my fault.

I notice that Laney Rae had gotten out an old package of newborn diapers, opened them, and had them scattered in the crib with them.

I also noticed that Ruthie had a mohawk with some sort of goo textured and flowery fragrance in her hair.

Upon further investigation, I found out that Laney Rae had rubbed sunscreen all over Ruthie's head- Laney Rae had taken it upon herself to also put "lotion" on the baby while she was changing her.

At least it was "organic" sunscreen, right??

Laney Rae helped me give Ruthie a bath. I helped her finish changing Ruthie's diaper....wink, wink.