"I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition."
- Martha Washington

(I believe George heard Martha utter these words from the bottom of an enormous laundry pile...)

Spring Birthdays

We celebrated two birthdays this spring. Hannah turned 11 on April 18th, and Rachel turned 8 on May 2nd.

Neither girl is particularly fond of traditional birthday cake, so I asked them each what they would like for a birthday treat.

Hannah chose homemade snikerdoodles...

...while Rachel chose cannoli!

Teeth!

The Tooth Fairy made a couple of visits here this spring!

Abbie lost her first tooth...

And Rachel lost a top front tooth (one of my favorites to see missing!)...

Just Another Day...

I think I've had trouble keeping up with the blogging because I want to write beautiful posts that capture the essence of life in this busy, loving family, illustrated with gorgeous photos of my children taken with my new camera. But that takes time. And in the mean time, the days are just rushing by, and I know that in months and years to come, I will wish I could look back on what our daily lives were like during this wonderful time.

Then I read this blog post by Rachel at Stack of Plates and decided to re-think what I want this blog to be. Yes, I want to share the latest photos of the children and all the interesting stuff we're doing. That's for the friends and family who read this blog. But I also love the idea of being able to just look back at a journal of our everyday life together and remember and treasure these ordinary days. Because they are flying by much too quickly. And I don't want to forget how precious they are as I race around from one task to another.

So some of my posts may be pretty dull to my readers. But I bet that those will be the posts I cherish the most...

So here's how my day went today. Very busy, and the kind of day that has become very typical for me...

Got the big girls off to school in the nick of time. Grabbed a shower for myself, then bathed David and Abbie. Tackled laundry and dishes and wrapped a birthday present. Then vacuumed the main floor and did some serious tidying, as David had his first speech therapy session here at the house today. During that session, I slipped into the kitchen to give Abbie her lunch. After the therapist left, I got Abbie on the bus to school, then headed to my friend Cindy's for David's first haircut. Took pictures and kept a lock in a ziplock bag. Stopped at Target on the way home to return five (count 'em) pairs of shoes I had bought for Abbie to try on and that were all too narrow (why do I even bother?). Made it home in time to meet Hannah and Abbie getting home from school. Headed back out a half hour later to pick Rachel up from after-school art class. Got home, supervised homework, and threw something that resembled dinner at the kids. Got back in the car and took Hannah to a birthday party. Took Rachel, Abbie and David to two different shoe stores before finding a pair of sandals that Abbie could squeeze her feet into (they are needed for Sunday). Got those three home, gave Rachel and Abbie snacks ("We're staaaaaarving!). Told the girls about 2,472 times to get into their jammies and brush their teeth while changing David's diaper filled with toxic waste and getting him into jammies. Then Hannah was brought home from the party and I had to tell all three girls 8,270 more times to quit fooling around and go to bed. Got David settled and asleep, and here I am blogging instead of going to bed myself...

Honestly, the best part is that I get to do it all again tomorrow!

And We're Back...

Yes, yes, it's been too long since my last post. This is a busy, happy time of year for our family, and I'm scrambling just to keep up. But we're enjoying every minute of this whole "Family of Six" thing!

Here are a few of the goings-on of our family since my last post:

• Hannah's 10th Gotcha Day
• Hannah's 11th Birthday
• Al's and my 13th Wedding Anniversary
• Rachel's 8th birthday
• Daddy Daughter Dance
• Kaneland Fine Arts Festival (Rachel and Abbie both had works on display)
• Open House at school
• Two lost teeth (Abbie and Rachel)
• Art award for Rachel
• Awana Awards Night for Rachel
• Hannah's fourth grade recorder demonstration
• Rachel's second grade Tea for Two
• Rachel started speech therapy
• David started speech therapy
• David's Dedication at church
• Mother's Day
• A virus for Abbie and strep throat for Rachel and me
• Attended a First Communion and a Baptism for two different China friends
• Hannah finally cut her hair for Locks of Love
• David's first haircut

Not to mention day-to-day living details, like food, laundry, and getting to a million places on time with all required gear and snacks. All washed down with gallons of coffee...

In the next couple of weeks we look forward to:

• Abbie's Kindergarten Graduation
• Portraits done of the girls
• Get-together with David's China group
• Mom's night with Hannah's China group moms
• Abbie's Bible Sunday at church
• Long overdue visits/play dates with good friends
• The Last Day of School!

Many of these activities have included/will include haircuts and shopping for clothing, not to mention finding shoes for three pairs of size Wide feet!

I'm living my dream!

Stay tuned for photos...