The Hein-ies Visit the Purds

We had a v-e-r-y special visitor come our way this past week. We could've smooshed and smooched those smooshy smoochy cheeks all day long! (Well, I could have).

We were lucky that Henry brought his parents to see us, too! We have sure missed them.

I love how Kevin is looking at Rikki in this one.

Emery has a new best friend. His name is "Bo Bo!"

Here she is telling everyone, "No no no no no," with her finger pointed. (Pardon Dallas. He is showing a little skin . . .)

Lil' Miss Personality.

We made and ate some great food together. We went thrifting.

My mom and Rikki got adventurous at the thrift store and tried on some clothing in public because they didn't want to wait in line. My dad, Choobers, and I created a little "privacy" for them with jackets we were holding up and a shopping cart. The whole time I reminded them that this was a great lesson in trust . . . and then when Rikki decided to try on a top (and not just bottoms), I inadvertently yelled out, "She's taking it ALL off!" and realized once again that there were shoppers walking by. They both found some great treasures.

We celebrated Kevin's upcoming grad-jee-A-shun from Law School with a little get-together. We ate some GREAT old-family-recipe meatballs and spaghetti from Kevin's mom, Dale. And then we played a rousing game of refrigerator tag in the backyard. That game is becoming a classic.

The way to play: One man stands in the middle of all of the bases and yells out a food. Everyone runs to a base of their choosing, depending upon how they feel about the food: "Love it," "Like it," "It's okay," "Never tried it," or "Hate it." Am I missing any? If you are "It," you can always get people out running a certain direction if you know how they feel about a food. Or better yet, you can do like Kevin did, and call out, "Boogers!" and send everyone in a whirlwind of indecision. Most of us chose, "Hate it, " except for Rikki who has "never tried it," and Laura Jane who "likes it." I think it was Kevin's finest moment of the evening! Wait! Was it Kevin who also called out dog food, and Rikki and I were on "Like it," and "It's okay," all by our lonesome? At least it's better than cat food! Hee hee - fun game.

But the BEST part of the evening for Kevin, I think, was opening a surprise gift: the brand new IPAD that just came out that day! My dad had gotten up at 5:00 am (as a favor for Rikki) to pick it for him . . . what a lucky grad-jee-ut!

Gadgets, gadgets, gadgets . . .

Happy Graduation, Kev!

Love, Your Crazy In-Laws (and Laura Jane)

P.S. - Gunnar, we loved talking to you, too! Thanks for calling us! You are one cute kid.

Don't Ever Call Him . . .

Dallas Palace.

See yesterday's post.

Poofers and Doo Doo

I've said it before, and I will say it again, "A well-loved daughter has a thousand names."

Our girls are well-loved.

And Kensington has picked up my habit of using pet-names. She calls Raleigh "RaWa," Madeline she calls, "Matt-O" or "Madge," and Emery . . .

She calls Emery "Poofers" or "Poofie."

I don't know why. There are no origins to the name.

But I guess that's okay. Because Emery calls Kensington, "Doo Doo." It's her baby-fied way of saying, "Choo Choo," which is what I call Kensington.

Would anyone like to be enlightened on the evolution of the nicknames around here?

Kensington used to make a sound like this when she was a baby: "BRWAAAAH." Like a train engine. So I started calling her "Choo Choo." Of course, that evolved into Choobie, Choobers, Kensington Lou Choo, and all sorts of Chooberlicious names. Most people, adults and friends at school and church included, call her "Choobers." The best was when we first moved here, and I was registering the older girls for school, and I called across the room, "Choobers!" as she was running away from me, and two people looked at each other in disbelief, and one of them mouthed to the other, "Choobers?" My mom and I were laughing so hard we were crying. It was funny. And of course, there's Miss Erika over at Creekview Elementary who calls out "Choobers!" as soon as we'd walk in the door, and she would make Kensington her own tardy slips like this: "Chubbers." I never had the heart to correct the spelling. I mean, how can you really determine the spelling of a nickname like that? Would I be like, "Um, no, actually, it's spelled like this . . . "

Raleigh's first nickname was "Turtle" because of how she would stretch her fat little cheeks out from her neck. It was the cutest! One time we were having family prayer, and Dallas accidentally called her, "Crawleigh," which was actually pretty accurate since she was learning to crawl at the time. I busted out laughing, and teased him for a long time. I just do that. So her name evolved from Crawleigh to Kroggies to Krogs and then on to Miss Krogsworth and other names like that. It just fits.

Madeline is our Miss Murfle. Dallas wanted to give names to all of the girls' Little People in a train set that Aunt Trina gave us (before he knew they already had names.) He named the brown-hair-and-glasses girl "Miss Murfle." Madeline had this wild curly red hair, and our good friend and next-door neighbor Chris started calling Madeline "Miss Murfle." It was hilarious, and it stuck. She's also our Miss Middle Critter.

Emery began as "Sister Sue" because she was the new sister. That turned into Sue Sue for short. Don't you love nicknames for nicknames? Sue Sue became Shoo Shoo and then Sushi Pie. We still call her that sometimes, but the most recent is Moo Moo, which is short for Moo Cow, which is what I started calling her for awhile. I don't know why.

And now she is "Poofers" to Choobers.

Quick sort-of-related trivia . . .

What name did the kids use to make fun of Dallas when he was little?? (Those little meanies . . . ) I will tell you tomorrow!

A Bunch of Somethings

When the girls were younger, if they called each other "a bunch of nothing," that was the ultimate insult. "You're a bunch of nothing!" That is mean. Good thing they're past that.

Here are a bunch of everyday somethings.

I've mastered the waterfall french braid. Here it is on Raleigh's hair.

Madeline, did you forget to put your napkin on your lap??

Choobies and Dallas enjoyed some bonding time during Valentine's Day week over a homemade apple pie (homemade crust!) that I made with love for Dallas.

Raleigh and Madeline loved their little cakes and treasures for Valentine's Day. (I will never buy the "Red Velvet" cake mix from ALDI again, even though I still love ALDI. It causes cancer - I just know it - because there was hardly one recognizable ingredient in the whole thing, and it tasted terrible. Don't ask me why I bought it in the first place.)

Food just tastes better when it is a monkey food face.

Grammy and the girls enjoyed looking at my old scrapbooks. We couldn't believe how much Emery looks like me when I was her age. I love your new haircut, Mom!

Raleigh can do the splits! Dallas can, too. See him in the back?

Dallas and Madeline changed the brake pads - woot woot! I love a man who can take care of his family!

Raleigh put Emery's swimsuit on over the top of her sleeper, and she felt beautiful. She went into the living room and spun in circles.

Mirror tricks . . .

Raleigh

Choobers

Madeline

Raleigh's always up to something. Emery is clueless here.

We had a really FUN, well-done talent night for the Activity Day Girls called "Talents, Skits, and Banana Splits." And that's what it was - a night showcasing the girls' talents, mingled with corny skits, and then we had banana splits for dessert. It was such a low-key, great activity, and our wonderful group of girls did an amazing job! Raleigh and Madeline performed on the piano, and here is Raleigh with her friend Caroline.

It's been awhile since I worked on a creative project, but last week, a couple of hours before a baby shower, I made this:

Outside

Inside

And this:

She had a nautical theme, so I went all out - down to the packaging:

The label is from The Graphics Fairy.

Lue Lue had a big-girl birthday . . . she's TWO!

She's holding a cute dress that Grammy made for her.

But I have to say that this owl (also made by my mom) is even cuter. And so is Kenda's new haircut!

Emery had some good bonding time with BoBo. Can't get that girl to hold still sometimes.

The birthday beauty.

I thought I was such a cool mom that I had to take a picture of this one. We had our first warm-weather-Saturday with nothing scheduled, and we were all home all day long. The girls went outside to play around 9:00 a.m., and to encourage them to stay outside and BE KIDS (and not have to rely upon Dallas and me for entertainment), I brought them and their friend Priscilla a picnic on the trampoline. They devoured it all and stayed outside until 5:00, even helping our neighbor prune trees and bushes and haul branches out into the woods. Those Matthews girls know how to work!

And that's what we've been up to.

Do They Know?

One thing I love about when Ray and Lisa (Dallas' parents) visit is that our girls know how much their grandparents really enjoy them. They cannot soak up enough of the girls' unique personalities and individuality. Ray, especially, takes such pride in each of his granddaughters. It is very endearing.

I cannot remember where or when I began thinking about this idea, but I do remember concretely last year at our old apartment thinking, "Do my children know that I enjoy them?" Not just, "Do my children know I love them," but do they know that I enjoy them? And what do they see in my words and actions that shows them this? I'm not talking about entertaining them here. I'm talking about showing them love in how I respond to them, the thoughts I have about them, the way I parent them, and how I spend my day. Am I trying to hurry them along to get to "better things," or am I showing them that THEY are the better part of my day?

I am a Martha by nature (or was it nurture, Mom?), and I love to have a smooth-running household. But I also think and philosophize a lot, and I recognize that each day I have what feels like such a short window of time with each of our daughters. That is why I frequently make new resolve to hold each of our daughters in my arms, look into their eyes, and listen to them. Daily. It sounds so simple, yet I have to really plan on it and think about it to make it happen. I am not always successful.

I have certain times in my day when I have more energy. That is why I make dinner around 10:00 am. And I have finally discovered the power in making three dinners at once. It goes a long way to help me be more effective and present when the girls bound off of the schoolbus, which, unfortunately, is the time of day when I have the least energy. I miss the times when they were little, and we would check out 30 books from the library each week and read and read for hours. I hope they remember those days. I find myself trying to reawaken old traditions (like reading for hours) with the younger two now. I can learn a lot from the mother I was just a few years ago. I think as the years have passed, I've become more tired. :)

I found some old pictures I had flagged in iPhoto that I don't remember blogging about. Some of them are from a year ago. I hope that when the girls see these pictures, they can feel how much Dallas and I enjoy them.

We love you, girls.