pretending babies

the girls are SOOOO into real babies right now. the second they see baby no no they need to be by him, touching him, holding him, etc. here was a little visit they had with baby no no.

I love how they gaze at him. he was checking them out too.

oh no! is that hand coming to get me?

to control where their hands were going becca smartly started playing the “where is baby no no’s X?” game.  they were probably pointing at his nose here.

cheek maybe? (ellie is in the yellow top)

I love you ellie.

look at all those sweet hands.

claire is so gentle and sweet. she just waits patiently and admires him. only touching him when she is allowed to.

a quick squishy face from claire.

ellie is a little more aggressive with her hand touching.

claire showing how you should gently pat his chest.

ellie giving her pat.

claire asking to hold baby no no. they wave their hands back and forth and say “hol hol”.

they love that little boy. such sweetness.

when baby no no leaves they pretend babies. here ellie is being a baby and claire is holding her. the bapoos were part of the pretending.

 

claire checking on her baby.

a little naptime kiss.

NZ housing

God continues to be SO faithful. He continues to pave our way to NZ and to make it easier than I ever imagined. to make a long story short – I was connected to a sweet women named Hope through a mutual friend. We have been emailing lots about NZ details, hooking us up with their household items, etc. The latest thing we have been emailing about is housing. Hope & her family had initially signed a 7 mth lease so they were searching around for another rental in the same little beach area they originally rented in – St. Heliers. It was a difficult thing to come across a some what affordable, in a good area, right size, willing to take a shorter lease, etc. We were praying for a perfect scenario where their family would rent this house and then we would sign the lease and be able to just move in when we arrive. It was definitely a stressful time for Hope since she was the one under the moving time frames, but we were emailing constantly and praying constantly. Here is an email Hope sent her “prayer warriors” after a very crazy 24 hrs.

To: My prayer warriors,
I have no words for what just happened tonight. As you all know we have been praying for months about where to go. We have gone in so many different directions (high rent to stay in St. Helliers vs. low rent & saving $$). It has been so emotionally & physically exhausting on both me & the kids. I woke up this morning so confused with no clear direction. All that i knew was that we had both decided that it was more important to stay in St. Heliers and to not uproot the kids - no matter what the cost.
9:00am - called a realtor about another property that was down near the beach that I did not really want but Chris wanted me to look at. She said she was on her way to see a house on my street if I wanted to tag along on that appointment instead. I had already seen that house & decided that it was too dark & a weird layout so I did not want it. However, I was desperate so said I would meet her there in 15 min. I did another walk through & decided that it would have to do for 5 months. Very sad b/c I knew that it would not work for our friends who were coming after us (Stephanie's family) but we needed something as we are due out of here in 9 days.
4:30pm - I emailed Stephanie to tell her that we were going into a 5 month rental - not so happy about it & not ideal for us but we just needed something
4:40 - got an email back from Stephanie that was so encouraging, saying she understood that we needed to do what was best for our family, etc. but still made me sad. In it she said "is this the house you are going to sign?" and sent a link.  It was not at all the house but another one on our street that just so happened to come up this evening for $$160 less for week!!! Not only that but it is RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET!!!!!! I totally freaked out - had not checked the website in a few hours b/c I had agreed to sign the other contract at 11am tomorrow.
4:45 - called realtor, told her situation, told her I must meet her tonight at the house b/c was due to sign tomorrow at 11 am.
5:00 - met her across the street. It is perfect. I am freaking out. Told her our situation - how we were 5 months then our friends another 12. She said it was late & she was in meetings most of the day tomorrow but that she would try to get a hold of him tonight.
5:30 - realtor rings me - house is OURS & our friends from US are welcome to move in after us.
I seriously have no words for what just happened. I just went upstairs & cried my eyes out. God is SO good. Isin' it just like him to take us out to the very last moment just so we have to rely on him every second? This was such a faith builder. In my prayers I had been feeling like He was telling me that this was less about me having to move & more about me building up my faith. I also heard Him say that HIs ways are not our ways & His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. I felt a strange inner peace in the midst of this craziness. I know that He cares for the details of our lives but I have never experienced such precise details - I mean, RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET!!!!  Do you know how easy it will be for me to move???  Thank you to all of my prayer warriors. He heard our prayers & I am ever so grateful. Love to you all…

 

Basically – I had checked out the website and saw a different, great looking house and thought it might work and emailed Hope. this is the house below and the plan is for us to MOVE RIGHT IN! how awesome will that be. oh – it also has 4 bedrooms which will be great for guests. I am getting so excited for next year! oh and it will be about a 5 minute walk to the BEACH!!!

 

 

 

 

  

everyday goofin’

here are just some regular happenings from our house to yours.

every time we finish up with a meal lily comes over to help me and the girls clean up. ellie and claire help me out by propping themselves up on their highchairs and moving their butts off the chairs so lily can swipe morsels of food out. the girls get a kick out of it.

claire giggling.

lily waiting patiently for approval.

ellie found her swim suit in her closet and insisted that SHE put it on! well – this is where it got stuck.

confused, but totally unwilling to have any help.

a little pre bed leap frog or madagascar. can’t remember. I am sure bill was late or I was delaying the kids from bed so he could see them. I don’t love that I get to the end of my rope after dinner and bath time and then use TV for a little refocusing/calming the craziness, but sometimes it is all I’ve got!

I think they sat like this for 4 minutes. 4 minutes! sometimes you just need to take what you can get.

 

oh and when a little music comes on – you have to dance! go ellie. go ellie. go!

  

ellie having a little snack. love those brown eyes.

kinder’s lashes. love. them.

charlie. my almost 4 year old! ahhhh – when did that happen?

a little tupperware playing. my favorite is when the nose get squished up. I missed it on this shot.

more little chitlins in a row. here they were all pretending to be babies. maybe even baby no no himself.

I was trying to get both girls to give charlie a kiss on the cheek while having him look at me. hard to do.

love this grin c is giving claire.

sibling love.

he is such a loving big brother.

“oh look! there is the baby claire!”. we play this a lot currently. they prefer real babies instead of fake ones. even if the real baby is the same age as them.

 

ellie going deep on her honey badger. this is her look when she is mad about something that has happened. whether it be not getting something she wanted or getting in trouble for something. she will hold this stance for 30 seconds or so and will not budge unless you physically move her.

if you haven’t noticed by now – most of these pictures show the girls in onesies. it is january and we have had sub zero temps. why would they be in onesies? well – because they are CONSTANTLY taking their clothes off! ugh. I have to convince them to put their clothes on when we leave the house, but I only demand that they keep a onesie on at home.

here is claire goofin’ with her shirt. it got stuck. ha – the shirt won that battle!

 

one last attempt!

claire working on her car skills.

trying to encourage sibling play time. this lasted about 6 minutes.

bill captured these real bath time shots. ellie is spitting water out of her mouth. a normal bath time occurrence.

claire also letting water run out of her mouth. what is it with kids and putting bath water in their mouths (worse yet – drinking it)?

“look dad!

lily has a car on her head!" charlie exclaimed one saturday morning. we looked over and sure enough she did. I love how she just continued to stay on her bench as if nothing happened. she is a rock star of a dog. now if only she could start cleaning up her own hair.