In Paradise

The Saturday after we got home from Texas, we enjoyed a restful morning at home.  I worked on organizing my coupons (hence the big mess on the couch) and Brad enjoyed getting a little cat-nap on the floor, while the girls entertained us with their dancing, ball-chasing, and rolling across the carpet!  Oftentimes, our life feels just a little crazy with three little ones. It fondly reminds me of Phil Vassar's country song "Just Another Day in Paradise".  It's a special song to me, because while Brad and I were dating, he made me a Valentine's Day CD, and it was one of the songs he chose for the playlist.   It is truly sweet paradise to be in the presence of my family, and there's isn't any other place I would rather be.



Mimi and PawPaw gave Anna this ball while we were in Texas! Its a lot of fun to play with and to watch light-up!

I thought I was taking a photo (instead of a video) of Brad and Anna together and told them to "Smile!".   Anna responded by smiling and saying "Cheese!!!". We were shocked that she said "cheese" and were even happier that we had caught it on video-tape.

Faith giving cuddles to her daddy.




Jillian has grown up so much.  I love the "glamorous" photo of Jillian laughing and pushing her hair back with her hand.

Anna has very much become one of the big girls in our home. She wants to do everything that her big sisters are doing:

• She dresses-up like a princess
• Likes to eat, eat, and eat. At this time, she is actually eating more than either one of her sisters! We are thinking she is having a big growth spurt.
• She reads lots of books. Several times a day, Anna will bring me a book to read to her, then plop down  in my lap for cuddles.  Her current favorite is the Touch and Feel Farm book.   She thinks its fun to tickle the dog's belly! 
• She loves flying the Harris Teeter space-ship while at the grocery store. This last week, I let Anna hold the Dora yogurt, thinking she couldn't possibly do any harm to it.  Next thing you know, I find that Anna has put her fingers through the foil lid and is eating the strawberry yogurt with her fingers! :-)
• She gives the sweetest kisses and hugs.
• She is now regularly making the Holmes sign for "please" by touching her nose (we taught it to both of her older sisters too, for us, it just reinforces being polite and not whining). :-) 
• She likes to color with crayons on paper.
• Anna is also very much a mischief maker.  One of her absolute favorite things to do is to find my make-up (remember my post "Eye-liner on the Loose"), open it, and spill it everywhere! 
• Every day, when Jillian gets home from school on the bus, she will scream with excitement! She adores both of her big sisters.

That evening, I made Spaghetti Bolognese for our dinner. On accident, I didn't use the entire box of the spaghetti noodles and left a measly five noodles in the box. Brad discovered the box in the kitchen and was a little annoyed that I had been wasteful. He didn't stay upset long, but in these pictures he is trying to give me his most disapproving, exasperated looks. He wasn't too successful in his efforts; in a couple he looks a little scared and in the others, it was too difficult for him to hide his big grin!! :-)

After spaghetti, we joined our friends the Glenn's at Bruster's for some ice-cream and then went to the park to play with the kids.  Fun times!