cooking with the girls

ok, it still sounds SO strange to be able to say, 'the girls'. Holy cow, there's more than one! It's awesome! Of course, I always said 'the boys,' but usually 'the boys and Abby'.... wild.

anyways, back on track. Abby loves to help cook, bake, mix, pour, anytime I'm making anything. I usually try to let her have a job. Even if it's simple, or one stir or whatever. It makes her feel helpful. And I've been putting Emily in the carrier while I get dinner ready, but now she's started grabbing for everything. It makes me a little nervous for her burning her hands, so I have my arms way stretched out in front of me..... oh the things we mothers do!

here's a couple fun pics of late. I picked up this cute chefs outfit for Abby (and it's got a cupcake on it, which is so appropriate) at Kohl's on supersale for $6.

all is well

thanks for praying. he's home and doing well. he was super brave and really 'took it like a man,' so to speak. he's chillin' now, actually drinking a slushy and pretty excited to be having DQ for dinner....typical 8 year old behavior! please continue to pray for a smooth recovery; with Matthew things got worse before better, and right after was certainly a 'honeymoon' phase.

brothers

well, tomorrow we have a big day. one you can be praying for, actually. ben is getting his tonsils and adenoids removed. we are not looking forward to it. he's had lots of strep throat, so they've told us it needs to happen but jason and I are so conservative with things especially involving our kids and anesthesia. anyways, matthew just went through the same procedure back in april, but for other reasons. so last night, we tucked the boys into their beds and i was in our room down the hall rocking with emily. i overheard them talking, for quite awhile. but it was kinda endearing, and they weren't getting carried away or rambunctious, so i let it go. then this morning during school they shared that they were talking about ben's surgery. and matthew was explaining all about it, and (in not so many words) comforting ben and letting him know it's gonna be ok. ben is most definitely the worrier (hmm, wonder where that came from?) of the two, and he's been getting more and more anxious about the whole procedure. it just warmed my heart to think of the 2 of them talking it through....


so tomorrow @ 9:15 is when it's going down....please think of us and pray for ben's comfort beforehand, and for a surprisingly easy recovery after!

exercise your right

vote today because you should. vote today because you can.

halloween

we had a great Halloween. last week, the kids all had colds but they recovered in time and things went along as planned. we went to Sulwers, like we have for the past several years, and it was just as fun as usual. we all went out trick or treating around the neighborhood. it was a beautiful night. it was the first time we've ever gone the whole way. it's never so warm so usually it's a dash up and down a couple of streets before everyone's freezing. but this time we all leisurely strolled around, taking our time. it was wonderful! check out the picture of the whole group and imagine such a bunch showing up at your door! that's a whole bag of candy! oh yeah, forgot to mention, ben was a bears player, matthew a cubs player, abby a rock star, and emily a pumpkin.