And then there were 4

So almost 8 years later, or is it more?  I am so old now I cannot count. My boy, my bean, and my noodle. 13, 11, and 4.  Yes, 4. A fourth surprise and she is four.  I thought after Anaiya that I would have no more children.  But God had another surprise for me...in the form of a sassy, blond-headed girl who is determined to do her own thing.  She loves to snuggle, to wear shorts and no shirt (no matter the weather). She loves chocolate, and more chocolate.  She knows things that I have no clue how she knows them  For example, yesterday she leaned against a wall in a model-esque pose and said, "Momma, this is how cool kids look." as she turned her head to the side with a demure look. Yes, I said demure, and she was on point. Did she look cool? Not really.  But she thought so.  I asked her what cool meant and apparently it has a lot to do with poses and such. She then laughed and called me a "peanut."

She still says things like a little one would.  Like, "Momma, I wanna lay banext to you." A combination of beside and next. Of course she just three months into her 4th year. She has never had the pronunciation issues with "r"s like the other two. But if you count that her first real word was "suspicious" we shouldn't be surprised. She is my little noodle.

The boy is becoming all manly and my bean is becoming all girly. Granted, it is exactly as I had planned. But it is hard watching them grow up and realize that my time with them is getting shorter and shorter. I love these kids more and more. I pray that the will each pursue God and a relationship with Him over anything else.

It has been a long time. How about a quick catch up and then I can go in to more detail later?!

This past year has been eventful. We sold our home to move near Alex's school. Our house sold in a week. This was quite a surprise given how slow everything was supposed to be. It was just slow for us finding a place. Finally in March we decided to build. We now live just about two miles from school, church, and family. It is nice. I do miss our old home a lot but God certainly had His hand in this and I am grateful.

Alex is 6 and in first grade. He loves school but doesn't tell me when he gets in trouble any more. I have to ask. At least he still tells me. Audrey is 4 and acts as if she is 14 many times. It isn't a time I am looking forward to. Audrey misses her brother and asks EVERY morning, "So, Mommy, what are we doing today? Can we go to Aunt Em's? Huh? Huh? *whine, whine whine* Why can't we go?! We never get to go anywhere." Please note that during this exchange it has only been one-sided. I haven't had a chance to answer. Nevermind the fact that we are running constantly - to parks, to lunches out with friends, to shopping, to Young's Dairy, ... there's more, I am sure of it. But that is Audrey, my bean, my squirrel.

So that's the skinny. The very skinny. I shall delve into more later!

TTFN

Here is the scene as I saw it: Lorelai and Alex came running into the living room at Lorelai's house. I noticed that Lorelai had something white and fluffy. Cotton balls. Lots of cotton balls. She hands them to Alex and they start to throw them in the air, celebrating something very important. Ever since their Sunday School teacher led them on a Praise Parade 4 Jesus there has been lots of celebrating. So as I sat there on the couch, cotton balls are being thrown into the air, at each other, and all around. They are in plants, on the floor, in corners. It's really quite pretty, for me - winter without the cold. Apparently Lorelai had been told the day before not to do the very thing she was doing so when the mommy found out it was trouble time. She asked Lorelai to pick up the cotton balls and throw them away.

We left it at that.

I thought it was done. Then Alex shows up in the kitchen with a wad of cotton balls. "Where did you find those? Did you get them out of the trash?!" I asked. "Nooooooo! I diiiiiiiddddn't! Realllllly, I didn't. I found them under the chair in the living room!" He whined. Yes, he whined. Lorelai showed up just after this with a little grin on her face. "Why did you hide them?" I asked. "Because I was being sneaky," she whispered. HAHAHAHAHAHA! I loved it. Perhaps you had to be there but this story is hysterical because of Lorelai. This is not the princess Lorelai that I have known. And I have known her all her life, really I have. She has a crazy streak coming out in her. I must now tell my sister that I am sorry for all of the laughing I will be doing if she keeps it up. She is full of surprises! I would never have thought this princess would have this wildness but the girl definitely has a mind of her own. You go, girl! Sorry, Aunt Em.

And yes, Lorelai, in the human world we DO celebrate friendship day. Will you be my friend?

A lot has happened since the last post. The above picture is Alex and Audrey's new home. Right now it looks more like a swimming pool but Audrey would be okay with that. She is convinced, as she has been since January, that we will NEVER be able to swim this summer. We should be able to move into our new home the first of July - a fitting way to celebrate Anaiya's birthday, I suppose.Birthdays have passed for Alex and Audrey. Alex considers himself a "new" six year old. This only comes out when he is asked to do something he doesn't feel fits into a brand new six year old's agenda. For example, me: "Alex, It's time to learn to tie your shoes. You don't want to be in first grade without knowing how to tie your shoes, do you?" Alex: "Mommy, I never had to do that when I was five and I am just a new six year old."

Audrey is very proud that she is four. She was not liking it that Lorelai was already four. Now Audrey tells her cousin Alyssa that she is older than she is. Alyssa will be four in a couple of months and could not care less that Audrey is older - or so it would appear. Audrey is the only one counting. As of right now, Audrey is crying, and crying, and crying, and crying and crying...you get the picture...all because she had to pick up her room. For those of you who have had the pleasure of hearing the most fake cry in your life, you know what I am going through. For those of you who have no clue, give me a call and I will ask her to clean her room and she will start.

Alex just asked me if South America was real.
"'Cause I've been thinking about going there. It's like America. Wait, is it like America? Do we live in America?"

"No," said Audrey, "we live in a city."

"We live in North America. I suppose it is similar in ways to South America - buildings, trees. But there are lots of rain forests," I said.

"Audrey, guess what?! South America is the same as America and we live in North America. So it looks like most of the stuff in 'Up' is real."

Today we will be off to the library. Alex is on Spring Break. I can't believe just a couple more months and he is going into the first grade. My little boy!

I just found this movie while looking through Christmas pictures. I chuckled so I had to share.

Lorelai and Audrey really do love each other. In fact, they get along so well now that Alex has taken a backseat to Lorelai. It is sad to see but Alex is all boy and really has no interest in playing Barbies unless he is really bored. Lorelai and Audrey love to play dress-up. Alex does too as long as he can be a pirate or cowboy - not a princess. Plus Alex has taken very well to his role as a big brother and has begun to tease continuously. I can always tell that he is teasing not only by the screams of his sister and cousin, but by the sly look on his face. He doesn't realize who his mom is. (If he only knew - sorry Tom. But wait, Tom deserved most of it.)

And yes, it does look as if I am neglecting a semi-war in progress but in reality I was managing the war. I was making sure that it didn't escalate to a full war. Excuses, excuses.

Oh, and as always the pictures and videos posted are property of the owner of this blog site/post, inawink.blogspot.com.

Audrey was playing Barbies in her room today. Alex was helping me mend both his and Audrey's toys back to health - sutures all around. Alex became bored and went to Audrey's room to ask if he could play with her. Audrey said, "Sure. But only if you can talk in a girl voice." "Ok, how's this?" Alex asked in a high pitched voice. "Fine." And then they played. Too funny.

Let me paint a picture for you...

It is early in the morning, just after taking Alex to school. I am on my computer working. Audrey is watching "The Dinosaur Train". It is her favorite show. Wait, she was watching "Dinosaur Train". Now she is poised by Maggie with a big, blue, plastic bin over head ready to "catch" Maggie. Thankfully I turned at just the right moment before the bin came crashing down on the dog's head. I thought about asking her why she would do such a thing but I think there are moments that a three year old (about to be four year old) has no clue as to why she may want to catch a small dog that is sleeping quietly on the couch in a blue bin. It just is the thing to do.