A Blessing

Today Nathan blessed Scarlett and it was so beautiful. I managed to get 2 of the 5 pictures we took with the tri pod to turn out. I am glad we took pictures before church because it started raining once we actually got there. :)
I am so glad that Jared and Ben could make it for Scarlett's blessing, the only Witte missing was Liz and if you ask Lucas---Cory was missing too. :)

I even got one of the Ryan and Veronica's family, yup I'm that good! Haha. (this never happens)

I did think it was funny how 3 people told me my brother was so hot even though "my brother" was actually Jared. I guess I can't blame them Nathan and I sat in 2 different rows and Jared and I wrangled 4 kids on our bench...it probably looked like they were mine and Jared's kids. Haha.
Scarlett looked so precious in her blessing gown, It reminds me of Bridget in this same gown. Aww. I am so grateful to have a mother in law who smocks such beautiful things and that Nathan's family is close. We are so glad that Andy Loughe, and Kerry Pabst were in the circle for the third time and also glad that Matt Porter was a part of her day as well. We are lucky to have such great friends and family and I think blessings just remind me of how great it all is.

Uncle Jared

Uncle Jared came to visit for a week. Jared is #2 in the order of the Wittes.

The first thing Lucas said when we got to the Wittes was "Hi Alex this is my Daddy" I laughed and told Lucas that Daddy is Alex's brother. Lucas looked so confused. I could see him thinking "How can my daddy have little brothers? He is big and I don't get it." Needless to say I didn't explain to him that daddy has lots of brothers and Liz is his sister...I will save that talk for when he is 3. Haha.

Lucas and Bridget had fun wrestling and giggling with their Uncle Jared. When Jared went into the kitchen Lucas asked Alex and Nathan where Uncle Cory was. Haha.

Uncle Jared held lil' Scarlett for a while and then tossed Lucas into the air a few times. Lucas threw his head back and hit the wall so Jared "rubbed" it and made it better. We had Grandma Witte's Lasagna and Chocolate Cake for dessert. It was a fun little Witte get together.

Tomorrow is Scarlett's blessing so I should hit the hay...

Instead

Well, I REALLY REALLY wanted to go to the zoo today but had no one to go with. :( I thought today would have been a good day because it was going to be 70 and breezy, but no one could go with me. I have to admit I only asked like 4 people but, who else is available on Friday at the last minute? Anyways...

I looked out the window this morning as we were all in our pajamas eating breakfast, and thought what could we do instead of going to the zoo? Lucas asked what instead meant. So I told him and he said "we could ride our bikes with no clothes on." Now I know this may sound fun to anyone under the age of 3-BUT-to me, I can only imagine what my neighbors would say as they were taking their kids to school and all 3 of us were outside riding bikes naked! In fact, I don't think I would really want to know what my neighbors would say if they saw me naked! Hahaha! When I told Lucas NO, there would be no naked bike riding, he said "Why cant you just try to be nice, Mom?" I said well instead of riding naked we could ride with our swimsuits on and play in the sprinklers. Bridget ran upstairs and grabbed her bathing suit (we just got it a few weeks ago) So that is what we did...

Then I told them to come inside for lunch and Lucas said "how about instead we eat outside" I said great idea. Then I said it was time for nap and Lucas said "how about instead we do not nap" I said nice try. He stuck out his bottom lip and I said after nap we can go back outside and play. This made him pretty happy. So we did. On our way inside the kids discovered something...

FOOTPRINTS

So we talked about them for a while and then they saw this funny bug...

ROLY POLYies!!! They thought they were so cool.
We then counted all of the bugs on the way into the house.

Scarlett just watched from the boppy on the porch...

I could tell she wanted to join us, but the water was a bit cold.

After nap Lucas wanted a tub like Keegan's so I filled up a cooler so they could play in that.

but really they just drank from it...GROSS!

When it was time to come inside and get ready for Daddy to come home
He said "how about instead we go to California"
I said what about Daddy?
He said "Grandpa Horn is not Daddy's Grandpa instead he can go to Grandpa Witte's"
I said Grandpa Witte is Daddy's Daddy.
He said "instead, I am tired of instead, I want to go inside and wait for my Daddy"
I said okay.


So that was our fun day instead of the zoo!

Chaaak!

I swear sometimes my kids have such a thick accent I can't even understand them! Today their accent was from Boston. "Chaaak!" Yes we are making chalk. "Oh Mommy I love Chaaak." Okay, lets get our towel aprons on and have at it.

They weren't as dark as I would have liked.

It was VERY messy but they turned out pretty good. I should have let them dry a little longer. We started this project after Nathan left at 6:45 am. We tried them out at 11:30am and they were still a little soft. I let the kids use them and then I pulled out the good ol' crayolas. I now have our extra chalk on reserves for things like the park or what ever else we decide to use them on. I also let them sit in the sun for a bit to really dry them out.
We spent most of the morning outside.

We had a great time coloring and playing outside again today!

I even managed to convince Lucas into letting me trace him! This was one of my favorite things to do when I played chalk outside as a kid.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Plaster of Paris
• 1/2 cup of water
• powdered tempera paint
• Something to use as a mold *

Directions:

Mix the water, Plaster of Paris and powdered tempera paint. The more tempera paint you add, the deeper the color of the chalk will be. Then pour the mixture into you mold.

Toilet Paper Roll: A toilet paper roll works as a mold. Just seal one end with duct tape and pour the mixture into the mold and let it dry. You can line the toilet paper roll with wax paper so that the chalk will easily slide out.

We used film canisters AND Mini M&M containers as well as the TP Rolls... this made the chalk skinner and easier to hold. Plus the plastic made it non-stick!

Another successful Art Tuesday...(Fist clenched and swinging up and down with knee in the air)...YES!

Coral

I am OBSESSED with the color coral right now. It is everywhere I look. All of the typical children's clothing stores have coral in most of their stuff. It's a good thing that I like it!

I LOVE these dresses, but really the shoes are what make this outfit! :)
Yesterday was another matching Sunday and here are some of the pictures...

Scarlett was so hungry but I wanted to get pics after church before the sun went down. What was I thinking? It doesn't go down till 7:30! Oh well, I will remember for next time! :)

I think she is so cute when she is crying, probably because she doesn't cry very often! Haha.
Lucas didn't match us this time. He wanted to wear a short sleeved shirt so I let him.

Six Weeks

She is such a great baby. I can't even tell you how happy I am that she is a part of our little family. She is now on 4oz every 4 hours, sleeps 6-7 hours at night. Takes 3 naps a day. Doesn't mind being poked and prodded by her older siblings. She loves her daddy and will only smile for him. Her favorite thing right now is the music in the papasan (thanks Jeanette) and the swing (thanks Stephanie) and the crib lights and sounds toy (thanks Horns) If it lights up and makes noise she is so content. I just thought I would show her off.
Happy Saturday!

(in the last picture we took her pants off so you could see that she kicks herself up to standing position almost like she is dancing!)

When Life Hands You...

a day full of rain, then snow, then rain, then slush...make COOKIES!!!

We had a fun day planned and then it rained. So the first thing we did was get dressed and pulled out all of our games. Memory was the most fun for the kiddos.

In the middle of our game the power went out. So we pulled all of the blinds up and opened the curtains and continued to play our games with no television, no noise, it was so weird. Playing with the silent snow falling in the background.

We played Memory two different ways and then pulled out all of the other games.

When Scarlett woke up from nap #1 we fed her and then played with her a little. The kids also sang every song they knew to their little sister.

They took turns loving on her and kissing on her.

What I thought had been only 20 minutes turned into 3 hours of pure unplugged play. It was GREAT! I couldn't clean because we had no power so we embraced the sunlight a little longer and colored and cut and danced to our own music. I made peanut butter sandwiches because I didn't want to open the fridge and then it was time for nap. The house started to get really cold so I bundled into my bed while the kids were sleeping. I prayed that the power would come back on because it would be a Looooooooooong cold night without heat. I called Nathan with the last 2 minutes of power on my cell phone and told him about it and then all of a sudden the power went back on right after my cell died...go figure! So since this miracle of power seemed to be back to normal we decided with this crazy weather we would make cookies.

Bridget and I made cookies and Lucas who was all about Scarlett today read her some books. He told me that he would take care of his Baby Scarlett so she wouldn't bother me. I don't know where he got that but it was so funny to hear him say.

She totally watched him the whole time and cooed and was so quiet. I noticed that he was only reading her the Thomas books. I asked him why and he said it was important for every girl to know how important trains are. Haha.

It was a great day and I have to admit I liked having such a quiet day with the kids...it rarely happens you know with 3 kids under 3! :)