Growing so fast

Here are a few pics of Naomi.

Eating, drinking and being merry.

Fall concert

Nemi's favorite day of the semester, the concert. Although he never actually sings at the concert. We sing at home for days before and after the concert, but he never sings the day of. Too funny. We love going and supporting him. As soon as he comes out the kids begin to scream his name and he loves to see us in the audience.

Go Nemi! And baby boy, you sing when you are good and ready. As long as you are standing up there you will always be the bravest boy to us.

Library outing

Here is Daniel doing this peg puzzle all by himself. He was do proud and so was I.

Team work

Recently Kim was helping Dan find a toy to go to bed and together they were rummaging through the you box.

Dan picks up a toy and says, "this one Kimberlee?"

Her response, "no, that one is too loud and noisy!"

I laughed so hard at that. Here they are still looking for something. I think they ended up agreeing on his Easter bunny, which he never took to his bed anyway.

Brotherly Love

Daniel is so in love with his baby sister. He wants to hold her hand any chance he gets. I took this picture today in the car. They were both taking a nap while we waited for Nemi to get out of school. So sweet the two of them holding hands.

My Daddy and Me

My Dad recently came to visit so we could attend my nephew's graduation from the USCoast Guard.

I enjoyed having him here those few days. Every time he comes he gets sick and I was hoping this time would be different. Unfortunately, it wasn't and he spend a day a bit out if it.

The last two days he was here I decided to pick his brain and had him help me with a couple if projects I'm working on. We went to Home Depot to buy some crown molding to frame a picture Kimani painted. We measured and cut that piece of wood until we were both sore. All this while we had the four kids in two carts I the store waiting for us. I kept wanting to leave and my Dad would say, 'don't worry about them. They are fine lets do this now when we're together so you don't have to do it alone with them'. So true.

As the time got closer to take him to the airport I realized how alike we are. We love to do little projects like that. We will get an idea in our head; think it out and figure out his to get it done and then we get to working to brim it about. It may work it may not, but at least we went for it and tried.

Our picture frame didn't work out as we thought. Somehow the measurements were off a bit and it ended up being too small. In a few weeks I'm going back to start over and try again until i get it right... Just like he would do.

Happy Resurrection Sunday

What an amazing Easter Sunday morning. To be honest I have never done anything celebratory on this holiday. We just pretty much go to church and back. If the kids happen to have a nice outfit great if not that's great too.

However, this year my father purchased for the kids some nice dressy clothes and I decided to go with it.

Saturday night I had the kids plant 'candy seeds' in the hopes they would grow into lollipops in the morning. Lo and behold they did. Lol. Kimani placed the lollipops and in the morning they were so excited when they found them :) that was cute.

Sunday morning was so impactful. I made breakfast and shared with the kids the real reason of Easter and they actually listened and participated in the activity (resurrection rolls). At the end we all gave a loud shout to thank Jesus for dying for us.

We took some pictures of the kids dressed in their Sunday best. After that we went to have an early dinner.

Finally, we got home for the Easter egg hunt and basket reveal.

I had gotten a different puzzle for each kid and took the pieces and placed it inside different colored plastic eggs to distinguish it from the others. So Kimberlee's puzzle was hidden inside pink and purple eggs. Nehemiah's in blue and orange. Daniel had to find yellow and green eggs. When we came upstairs they opened the plastic eggs that contained their specific puzzle and assembled them together. As we were doing that Daniel said, I had a great day Mommy.y heart melted and it made my backache worth it.

I am one exhausted Mommy, but I feel like the kids had a well rounded day.

Happy Easter my children.

USCG Graduate (Cape May, NJ)

Last Friday my nephew graduated from the United States Coast Guard. We are so proud of him. He made it through boot camp. We have had some really cold weather up here in Jersey the past few weeks so I am quite sure it wasn't easy for this Florida boy. I tried to write him once a week to keep him encouraged. I missed only one week - and the week of graduation I didn't send one out because I knew I'd see him. I was quite proud of myself for accomplishing that goal. Sometimes life gets busy and I don't get to do as above and beyond as I'd like, but this time I actually did it. Go Titi!

I knew the ceremony would be quick and my favorite part was when the cadets received their completion diplomas. Many of them had family members in one of the military branches and would be presented the certificate by those people. I thought that was beautiful, but the real surprise to me came when I saw my niece, his sister, getting ready to present him with his diploma when it was his turn. She is a corrections officer and was also in full gear. I teared up. I had no idea she would be doing that in his ceremony. Wow! What a way to share the moment with those you love most.

I was so proud of them for making such great career choices, but I was also super proud of my brother and sister in law. They have done such a great job with those kids. I look forward to learning a lesson or two in parenting from them. They definitely have proven results in their approach. No one is perfect and no two kids are alike, but it is good to glean the things you can from those who have succeeded around you.

Congratulations Mikel! The future is bright before you. Keep trekking ahead.

Love you!

A Man's Love

I have heard many times that there are women who get jealous of their "daughter" taking too much attention away from the husband/dad. I never really got that. I just don't quite understand how jealousy could make its way into that kind of interaction.

Tonight Kimani and Naomi were just falling in love. They stayed comfortably in cloud nine as she babbled to her daddy and he showered her with kisses. It was so beautiful it moved me. I was in heaven too, but in a different way. I was so glad to see them bonding and connecting.

At that moment I got it. When a marriage is rocky, unstable, or a woman is unsure and vulnerable it can be easy to feel like the daughter is taking attention and maybe even 'love' away from her.

The sad part is that they are two separate relationships. Totally different and apart. Fulfilling different needs and needing different things to make them successful.

When those lines/boundaries are crossed I can then see how a woman may feel jealous of her little girl emitting so much love from her father when she, as a woman, is having difficulties in the relationship and may yearn for such responses.

As for me... I'll stand a room away for a little while longer and watch the loves of my life fall in love with each other again...and again.

Challah bread

My good friend Leah brought her awesome bread maker over and we made this delicious loaf of bread (below).

It tasted so good. I'm gonna try to make some bread without the machine and see if I have any success.

Baby or Not!

I was feeding N in her feeding chair recently, which was D's chair for the past two years. Once done eating her carrots I took her out of the chair and D squeezed himself past me and sat on it.

- "I'm a baby mommy!"
- "you are. So I have to feed you." I took a spoon of the left over carrots, began the airplane sound towards his mouth. He quickly covers his mouth. "Come on baby, time to eat."
- "no Mommy it's just pretend."

Ha ha ha!

I chased him for a bit 'trying' to feed him. So funny.

Tutu... and it's cute too!

I made this cute tutu for K and she absolutely loved it. She wore it all day...literally!

It was so easy to make. The only reason it took me a couple of hours to do is that I started right at bedtime and the kids kept interrupting me. Other than that easy peasy!

When I finished I put it on N to test it out and she looked so cute! Now I'll just use the left over tulle to make her her own.

Applebee's

Tonight we were invited to an adult birthday celebratory dinner. We were actually quite excited to go, but of course with no sitters to call upon we had the crew.

Wow! Did we turn that place upside down. Our kids had a bad case... a very bad case of cabin fever. So when I say they went wild at that restaurant it may be a little under statement.

Somehow or other Kimani and I got home full of joy having had a really good time out with the kids. Yes we did it to ourselves by giving the kids ice cream at 8pm. Yes we had them walk 20 laps (from couch to kitchen) once we got home to burn off the sugar high, but even in that we laughed the whole time. Below are the 'sane' pictures before the desserts arrived.

Fun night for sure!

Sister Love

Tonight Naomi had finally fallen asleep while at the same time Kimberlee woke up. Unfortunately, I HAD to take a shower. So Kimberlee was sitting quietly eating her cereal next to Naomi while I hurried to shower.

I get started and what do I hear, N crying on and off. i also hear K talking to her, trying to keep her quiet. I begin to really hurry and finish up my shower when I hear K say, "no N don't touch my cereal". I then jump out of the tub and peek out at the girls and I see K holding N on her lap and trying to sooth her. That touched my heart so much. N was being a true baby and tried to take K's bowl of cereal, but it was so beautiful to see how K just took it upon herself to help her sister while I was in the bathroom. That girl is a true gem of a daughter and sister.

Kimberlee's First Cake

Very many times when we go to the store with our children they add items to our final order not initially in our list. However, at a recent trip to Shop Rite Kimberlee saw this cute piggy spatula that she said she would make me a cake with.

How can I resist such cuteness? Well we finally got the chance to make the cake and she did quite well. We had a good time.

******Kimberlee you did a great job with the cake today! I'm so proud of all your enthusiasm and abilities. The cake was super delicious.

cheerleader

(this post is so old, but I thought I'd put it up anyway)

Kimberlee is the sweetest sister ever. The greatest  cheerleader. Recently she would break out into a loud round of applause when ever Daniel would sing or hum or stumble through the ABC song.  Such a supportive sister.

Egg-citing Projects

I recently ran across this lovely Egg Candle project on Pinterest and have been wanting to do it for a while to see how easy it really is to make. (Sometimes people have projects online and claim they are super easy and it turns out that they are more cumbersome than the author lets on).

Well, I got a chance to work on making the eggs and it was actually fun to do and quite easy.  I am now thinking of the next step.

I (of course) made my own adjustments. I used scented, colorful candles (not crayons). I used the wick that came inside the purchased candle for the egg I was creating.

Next time I plan to do four colors simultaneously and alternate the colors throughout for a striped look.  I may not be able to use scented candles for that as all the scents may not blend nicely together.. We will see..

Anyway here is a picture of the first two candles.  Mountain Green and Clean Linen scents.

Poopy talk

Naomi is such a sweet happy girl. Actually all our kids are happy sweet kids.

After four kids I find myself a lot more versed in the unspoken language of babble! So it is so cute to see Naomi smile when I approach her to sooth her cry and discover she has a surprise for me. I can see in her smile that she's thinking, 'yay! Mommy understood me!'

My own

I think since Kimberlee began to speak she has always said how she wanted her own things when she gets big. She is very expressive with get desires. Here is a list of things she wants when she gets big.

"When I get big I:
Want my own house"
Will have my own kids"
Will clean my own dishes"
Will drive my own car"
Will get my own makeup"
Will drink soda"
Will get my own husband"

And so on. You get the picture. Recently she came to me and said, "mommy can daddy be my husband?" I said, "no sweetly. Daddy is my husband but we are gonna ask God to lead us and get you your own husband".
"Ok. Can it be Daniel?"
"No mama, Daniel will have his own wife!"
"His own wife????!!!!!" (Almost with horror)
"And God will do that (with a bit of relief)
"Yes love"

I laughed so hard at this conversation.

Morning Announcements by Nemi

What an amazing Tuesday we have had.

It started with an amazing event.  Nehemiah was selected to read this morning announcements at his school for the entire school.

What an honor! I was so excited for him and practiced the words that he was given. We talked about what to do and what not to do.

"Ok Nemi, you have to speak loud.
"You have to make sure you say ever word.. do not mumble.
"If you get nervous, that is ok. Just read all the words and then tell Ms. Doering you are nervous."

Since I was home with the kids I was not able to be there in person and see him. Kimani recorded this video for me and when I saw it I cried so much - I was so proud of him.

Anyway, after school we all went to the movies to see Rise of the Guardians and celebrate Nemi's big day in school.