In case I haven’t told you yet today…….I LOVE YOU!

Somehow a random card showed up in our collection of things. It is just a little pink card with two birds on it. The outside says, “Just in case I haven’t told you yet today…..” Then you open it up it says, “I love you.” This card has been around for A LONG TIME. At least 5 of the 7 years of our marriage it has found its way into our day, week or month depending on how long it takes us to find it.

Neither of us are quite sure when it started but we like to hide it for each other to find. When we happen up on the card it always brings a smile to our face. I have tucked it in Luke’s lunch bag, backpack, shoes, and coat pocket. I recently found it in the medicine cabinet and on top of the blender I use to make our smoothies each morning.

Sadly it was “LOST” the longest when Luke hid it in the case that holds my weights I use for my workout videos. He had asked me several times if I had found it but I couldn’t think of a place he would have put them that I hadn’t been to.

Just tonight I was going to take a picture of this special little card and it has moved out of the spot Luke last discovered it so I am on the hunt for it once again.

It really isn’t a big deal but it has been a fun game that continues to brighten our day when it is discovered.

Lucky me, I opened the dishwasher and found the card so I could take a picture of it…..

Crazy hair…..EVERYDAY

My sweet little girls aren’t waiting until spirit week in Elementary school to have crazy hair days. I have the hardest time keep their hair under control. Even when I spend time curling Micali’s hair and put hairspray in it, it is really hard to tell. Her hair is so fine I don’t want to have it constantly pulled back in a tight ponytail because it breaks off. So most days you see Micali her hair looks OUT OF CONTROL. It is kind of her signature trade mark. Actually come to think of it---when we take Luke lunch during the day and we see the older girls at the high school---she might just fit right in!

A Sleepy Little Boy

About two weeks ago I had a busy day and didn’t get Eli down for a nap. He did really well through the evening but was ready to crash by 7:00. Since then I have decided it is nice having him go to sleep so early so I have for the most part just stopped giving him naps.

Occasionally he looks like this:

But will say “I not tired, I want to stay awake”

 

He then gives up trying and ends up looking like this”

As soon as this picture was taken I did lay him down and let him sleep for awhile. He obviously needed a little pick me up.

Today it looked like this:

Really he does do pretty good most days without a nap. This afternoon since he was up before six he just couldn’t quite make it through quiet time.

Our Littlest Valentine

The Thumb-sucking Saga Continues….

 Isn’t this an ADORABLE sight???

Micali visited with the Doctor on Monday and he talked to her about how important it was for her to stop sucking her thumb so the bones in her face and jaw didn’t change their shape. She gave him a high-five promise and was again determined to NEVER suck her thumb again. It only lasted a couple hours. We have tried lots of things and when I told the Doctor all the things we have tried he said, “Wow, I don’t have any other ideas for you!” Luke had the idea of putting food coloring in the “THUM” polish that you can buy at a pharmacy. Micali was excited to have pink fingers and it worked great for two nights. Then she realized that pink didn’t change the taste at all and she could still just suck it off. Her thumb was in her mouth this morning when she woke up much to my dismay. Hopefully we can figure it out soon, kindergarten is only 6 months away!!!

Abigail’s Special Day

Micali was ready to celebrate Abigail’s birthday with in minutes of her waking up. First things first her present that came in the mail the day before. The poor girl had just woke up and she had a present in front of her and the flash going crazy. She was thrilled with her present though, A cute baby doll and bath toys. She also got a new sippy cup from her very caring family but used it before her birthday so there aren’t any pictures of it.

  

Since Abigail is too small to choose what she wants for her birthday dinner mommy and daddy chose for her. BREAKFAST!!! She loves pancakes and eggs so we went with that, and added bacon for the ones with teeth. She loved it and ate it right up (the sprinkles were cute for the picture but a BAD idea she kept gagging on them---we scraped them off and added syrup instead).

 

She ended the night taking a fun-filled bath with her new bath toys.

Happy Birthday to you princess!

I could not stop LAUGHING!

This funny story to follow happened yesterday morning. Micali, Eli, and I were just having an innocent conversation. They were completely confused at why I started laughing.

Eli was going to the bathroom and was asking me about his "peanuts" (we have told him the real word many times--he has just changed it a little recently) He was saying does Uncle Austin have a peanuts? Does Uncle Derrick have a peanuts? Do you have a peanuts mommy? I told him No, I don't have a peanuts. Micali said Eli girls don't have peanuts only some boys do. Some boys do some boys don't. I said actually Micali all boys do have one. She was like oh ok,  Eli, all boys have a peanuts.

Then a little alert went off in her brain  and  she was like UH OH!!!! Elephants like peanuts---Eli if an elephant comes after your peanuts I will get a gun and try to shoot it and protect you so he doesn't eat your peanuts. That would HURT!

Happy 1st Birthday Abigail!

 

 

 

 

We LOVE you little Abby-gail, Abs, Abigails, Splits! Looking forward to many more to come!

Blessings

I am a lucky girl. I get to stay home everyday with my little youngins and learn from them. I haven’t always thought of staying home and doing mommy duty as being lucky.  The thought actually scared me after I finished my second year of teaching and was awaiting the arrival of Micali. Those first few days by myself after Luke went back to work were lonely, repetitious, and left me jealous of my husband as he was able to leave and make a difference in the world. Now I feel comfortable in my place as a stay at home mom and enjoy being the CEO of the Peless home.

In church on Sunday my friend got up and bore her testimony on prayer. She explained how God hears and answers our prayers, even with just little things. She had prayed and was able to find a few things she had lost. I had been missing my wallet for about 3 weeks. I checked our accounts to make sure there weren’t any charges on my card and really thought my wallet was somewhere that it could be found. I prayed starting on Sunday to be able to find it. I told Luke that I would probably find it after I had taken the time to go through everything in the house and cleaned and organized. The past few days I have let the kids watch more TV and really taken time to go through everything in bedrooms and closets in hopes of finding it. Today I took a break from that and decided to take the kids to story time. We made valentines there and stopped to drop them off to Daddy at work. As I was waiting I looked in the door of the van---a place Luke and I had looked many times and found it slipped right inside next to a canister of wipes. I was so happy to have finally found my wallet but even more happy to have my prayers answered and my testimony of prayer strengthened.

 

Micali

has recently crowned me as “THE BEST MOMMY EVER!” When I do most anything she will say “Thank you Mommy you are the BEST MOMMY EVER.” It melts my heart and I get the biggest hug. She is quite the helper and loves helping in the kitchen, feeding Abigail, and sorting things. She loves the job of matching shoes in the entry way. She is also getting pretty good at making her own bed. She loves to pretend that she is a puppy and will often put a leash on and have me tie it to my belt loop so she can follow me around or just be close to me if I am sitting down. She also loves listening to books and really enjoys her alone time with me while the two little ones nap.  

Elijah-

Is adding many new words to his vocabulary everyday. When he wakes up in the morning instead of crying at his door he will say “I said GOOD MORNING, MOM??? I said GOOD MORNING!” He loves putting all sorts of things in his bed at night, DVDs, random toys, balls, stuffed animals and a flashlight. He is learning his boundaries and doesn’t aimlessly wander off in public places now. It is nice but, if he does decide to leave my side he does it to be ornery and really likes it if I run after him so I try not to do that. He loves playing Candy Land, he can recognize his letters, knows all the letter sounds, and also his shapes. I gave him a cookie that hadn’t turned out quite right today and he said I don’t want a square cookie—give me a circle one.  He loves singings songs especially the wheels on the bus. He sometimes is a mommy’s boy!

(Conversation between Eli and his daddy while I was in the middle of writing this post and and ignored Eli’s requests to come back to his room for at least 15 minutes. Daddy comes home from class and goes to his rescue only to hear:

E: Where’s mommy?

Daddy: She is in the livingroom.

E: Why are you home? You go work?

D: I just got back from class. I don’t have to go to work until the morning.

E: (all sad) No snuggle me WANT mommy snuggle me!)

 

Abigail-

just went to her one year appointment and is appearing very healthy. She is 21lbs. We turned her around in her carseat a couple weeks ago and she thinks it is pretty great. Micali sits beside her and fills her full of snacks. She follows me around the house every where I go. She said “mama” for the first time about two weeks ago. She was outside the bathroom door and wasn’t happy that I had closed her out. It was so cute. It is fun to see all three of the kids play together. They will give her things or try to include her in their pretend play. She loves getting in the middle of the wrestling matches of Daddy vs. The Kids. She will growl and head-butt her daddy in the stomach like she is a really tough.

 

I am so grateful that Luke is able to provide for the family and is happy to let me be at home I really see it as one of my greatest blessings now.

A little craft project

It has been super cold here. It actually appears that it has been quite cold, snowy and icy a lot of places. But anyway, because the kids haven’t made it out of the house at all we decided to do something crafty.

I found this crayon melting craft and thought it might just be perfect for them. I imagined a long period of time with them just sitting at the table pulling paper off of the crayons—then putting them in the paper muffin liners. Eli sat down and held a crayon in his hand, he watched me peel a few and then asked for paper to draw a picture. After a few seconds of scribbling he was gone.

Micali was SO excited. She pulled the paper off a few crayons and, kept telling me that this was such a great idea and she couldn’t wait to show her daddy. After three or four crayons she decided that I would be the peeler and she would decide which cup to put them in. She took the role of a cheerleader and kept telling me I was doing a great job and to keep going…….only a couple more. She loved moving the crayons around until they were just right.

We put them in the oven and watched them melt,

then set them outside because it was just as cold as the freezer. While they were getting hard we brought out the paints to help entertain Micali while she waited for the new crayons to set up so she could use them.

We didn’t get pictures of the finished product but they turned out good and we had fun scribbling with them.

---Just as a side note—this doesn’t happen everyday. That is why I have to take so many pictures when I decide to be brave and try new things with the kids. Lucky for me the pictures don’t show the 4 loads of laundry on the couch waiting to be folded or the dishes in the sink waiting to be loaded. Sometimes it is better just to ignore that stuff and spend time being creative!