Swim Day

A couple weeks ago my little sister visited from her home in New York and I wanted to think of something we could all do that didn't involve us being cooped up in our living room. So we headed to the Y for a swim. We were even blessed by the front desk gal that waived the day pass fee for us and let us go on through. Woo Hoo!

First, I had to search about the house to make sure we had a swimsuit that still fit everyone since we were all different sizes from the summer. Here's A trying her's on.

Umm...has there ever been a cuter rolly polly body in a suit before?! She was pretty excited!

Getting everyone changed and ready in one of those creepy tiny tile rooms at the Y was no easy feat but we were finally ready. Bring on the pool!

That blur is Brecken. She jumped at least 100 times.



Aunt Kelsey joined us!

Basically the same thing they do in the bath for 30 minutes only on much bigger scale.

It was a great activity for our family and ended with warm baths, snuggles and a movie at Nana and Papas.

Dancing Queen

The same evening we B and Z2's Birthday party Taryn got to dance with the High School dance team at a basketball game halftime. She had practiced after school each day that week and ws ready to showcase her moves.

She's in the white pants.

Since all the extended fam was in town for the birthday parties they were able to join us at the game to watch T. She had quite the cheering section.

It got pretty late. Sweet Paige ended up falling asleep and Brecken was in some sort of strange trance.

I was so proud of my big girl!

When 2 Turned 2

Been a kinda quiet blog lately. The days have just been so full and non-stop that taking a break to journal some of what we've been up to just hasn't fit in. When given the choice of sit at computer vs. sleep, sleep always wins. Hands down. But, I do want to get some of these memories down before time gets too much ahead of me.

I think I mentioned back in October that we had a little foster boy join our family. Z is 5 and in Kindergarten just like Taryn. Well, just after Christmas we were insane crazy obedient to God and went ahead an added Z's little sister, Z2, to the family. I had seen her a couple times and, because of her height, always assumed she was 2 or maybe even 3. When the talks started about her moving in with us I asked her age and they said she was 1. Immediately my mind when to the two darling, adventurous, strong-willed, blessings that I had a home...who were also 1. Three one  year olds. If you know me at all you know I've ALWAYS wanted twins. I liked to think that God, in his funny way of creating our family thus far, had given us Aven (who is 7 months younger than Brecken) as that gift. I most certainly do NOT recall every wishing for triplets. And, in a coincidence that seems too crazy to believe, B and Z2 had the exact same birthday! So, while for a few weeks I was a mother to 2 five year olds and 3 one year olds, that has changed.  Because Brecken and Z2 are now TWO! 

That morning the girls opened their presents from us straight out of bed because they were so excited it was their birthday. Ok fine, they didn't have a clue but I was really excited for them to open their stuff so I could play. They! So they could play. Ahem.

I spy a little stalker in the background!

Post-Christmas Brecken is a present-unwrapping pro.

Ok, so they both are.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Modeling a new spring outfit.

Z2 is seriously tall.

Yes, my just-turned-two year old built that tower. She may be a prodigy.
Ok, fine, her contractor daddy did it. She may have a career in demolition though as it wasn't there long.

Is there any toy better than a Little People set?
And how did we make it this far into child-rearing without the farm set?

When I tried to think of some of B's favorite things pizza came to mind fairly quickly. And, since our Pizza Hut has a great back room you can reserve and it left me exempt from any pre-cleaning or post-cleaning we went with it.

My favoriate kind of pizza. One that tastes like cake.

To help entertain the kids we had these cute pizza crust prints and they could create their own pizza with stickers toppings.

Everyone ate pizza and cake to their heart's content. Or at least until it was gone. One of those.

Oh my, I love her. I'm so not ready for her to be 2.

This is my "don't bug me I'm shoving my face full of pizza" face.



Get it girl! B kept yelling out "It's yummy mommy!!" all throughout the night. It was so sweet.

I also set up a little cookie-pizza station for B and Z2's friends to decorate a cookie like a pizza, put in the cute little box and take home.

Grab a "crust", spread some "sauce" and layer your toppings.

In case you're wondering:
Sauce = icing that was supposed to be red but I only managed to get pink.
Cheese = coconut shreds
Green Peppers = Cut up green candied cherries
Pepperoni = Sliced thin twizzler's nibs (the kind w/o the hole in the middle)
Hamburger = mini chocolate chips

I think the girls had a great time. Brecken seemed to really enjoy everything. Z2 is pretty reserved in public places but I pray she felt loved and special too.

I always thought maybe 5 kids would be in my future. It never crossed my mind that they would all be 5 and under in age. Aside from the crazy amount of time it takes to get everyone in their shoes and coats, buckled into the van, most things feel the same. We're a "big" family of little kids. And I think it's pretty perfect. We never know how long placements will last but we're doing our best to find joy in this crazy hectic time while we have them.