If You Give a 2 Year Old Bubbles...

...They may end up in your fountain; which isn't all-bad. It is kind of cool, really. Leave it to a 2-year-old to know how to have fun. Ha! Oh, Sierra!

Malachi 3 Months

Dear Handsome,

• You are 3 months old, today!

• You love to talk more than any other baby I remember -- I think you are getting ready to live in this crazy house of girls!

• You have had a bed time of 7:30 for about a month now, and only wake-up once or twice; THANK YOU!

• You are losing your hair rapidly, and I am guessing you will be bald by next month's picture.

• You have not once made yourself a fountain, and I don't even bother covering your turtle anymore. Please don't start now!

• I am so in love with you, and so are your sisters and your Papa. You are one special boy!

And now to totally embarrass myself with babytalk just for Grandma:

Lessons from Sunday School

Up until last year, it was like pulling teeth to find out what the kids learned in Sunday School. Perhaps they were just too young to articulate it; I don't know. Somehow, it all changed once Allison was moved to the first grade classroom this past summer. Now we get bombarded with verses, stories, and tales of games, snacks, and friends the minute we pick them up from Sunday school. I LOVE it! What I love even more is when the lesson "sticks."

Yesterday, Allison told of how she learned to share. Today, I found this upon returning from Costco:

I had to smile!

Then there's our artist. She told us how she learned the story of Jesus calming the storm. She explained the whole deal to her dad while he questioned her. I say she got an "A." Today, the picture she painted was this:

Yup, that's Jesus in His pink robe calming the storm. Makes me smile.

Spring Surprises

We've been in our new house now for almost 8 months. Time flies! Needless-to-say, this is our first "spring," (though it's technically winter), living here. While the girls and I were enjoying the beautiful spring weather and some yummy smoothies the other day, I noticed a strong fragrance. I walked around the corner, and found these beauties:

I think they're jasmine? Anyone know for sure? Oh, how lovely they smell! At least that is my opinion, I was informed... Allison thinks they smell disgusting! Ha!

Inside we've discovered a little spring, as well. Our curriculum had us creating a little flower garden...
...As well as a little herb garden. I learned that an herb is just any soft-stemmed plant. Bet you didn't know that! :) First grade has sure taught me a lot.

Looking forward to spring and planting a real herb garden; and lots of veggies! First we have to find a spot. Melissa, I need your HELP!

The American Flag

Do your kids always ask for stories of you when you were a kid? Mine do! And, I am realizing just how bad my memory is. But, when I do think of stories it is fun to share.

This entire year we have been studying early American history. Allison is absolutely fascinated with the Colonial times, and would tell you that history is her favorite subject. I have loved the books we have been reading and the true stories of history that I don't remember hearing about as a kid.

This past week we hit the Revolutionary War. We marched around like we were the "Red Coats," learned all about the American flag, and every day we sang the Star Spangled Banner. I told my girls I cannot sing that song without crying thinking of all the patriots that have gone before us to give us our freedom. (I've actually been moved to tears on many occasions with this history curriculum!) And then I thought of a story to share with them. I told them of how we were in a bus driving home from a field trip in 5th grade, and I will never forget being reprimanded by our teacher, Mrs. Cummings, for starting to sing our national anthem without standing up. She explained we needed to stand and honor those who have died for our freedom. So, we stood up and sang it once we got back to our classroom. And, this week the girls and I stood and sang it each morning. Thank you for instilling honor in us, Mrs. Cummings!

Discussing how blessed we are to have freedom to worship, I was even able to share of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani in Iran, who has currently been sentenced to death for apostasy by the Iranian government. Even at the tender age of 6, Allison was moved to tears and has been praying for his freedom. Please join us in this prayer!

We finished off this flag week with an edible flag! Sugar cookies are the best. For frosting, I used a Martha Stewart recipe we got from our friends at Keepers of the Home. It's a cinnamon-honey frosting, and it is soooo good! (And easy!) You can get the recipe here.

My New Pillows

So, by any chance did you think I was busy crafting all week? Sadly, no... the truth is my computer was in the shop! Thankfully, all is well and it is back home now. (I am embarrassed to admit how clean my house is and how much I got done around here while it was gone; It obviously takes up way too much of my time!) This week I needed

• an address to send a friend a card
• to check the weather
• to look up recipes
• to send an important e-mail to someone whose phone number I don't have
• a plethora of school ideas to browse through
• my dinner menu so I knew what I was suppose to be making

And a whole lot more... I TOTALLY missed my computer! But, I digress... would you like to see what I was crafting last weekend? As you may know, I have a bunch of ideas for my bedroom that are slowly getting done. First was my wall... you can read about that here. Next came my painted dresser and shadow box you can see here. And now, here are the pillows I did last weekend:

Not the best picture, I just realized. But, you get the point! I sewed the orange and brown pillows using cheap blankets I found at Ikea. I just went to take another picture up close so you can see them better: (Don't mind the adorable baby sleeping in the middle of our bed!)

The brown one is a sweater-type fabric, and the orange is a shiny quilted fabric. So, it was just a few straight lines, but it was a big deal for this non-sewer. I was happy to finish them!

Once I finished sewing the orange and brown pillows, the white pillows suddenly looked way too white. Then I had an idea; why not stencil them? I decided on our names and half of a heart for each one. My goal was to get them all done and the bed made before my husband got home the next morning. So, after dinner with their jammies on, I loaded all 4 munchkins in the car for a trip to Michael's. It was to be a quick trip -- some fabric paint, and a quick look at the Valentine's clearance items, and then home! We were doing well until Sierra muttered something I couldn't understand, and them proceeded to throw an all-out 2-year-old-laying-on-the-floor-screaming temper tantrum because I couldn't follow through with her incomprehensible request. Ha! But, I digress again...

We made it home with the fabric paint, the munchkins were quickly escorted to bed, and I stenciled away. I highly recommend this fabric spray paint. It made the job super fast and easy. All I had to do was wait until morning for it to dry, and then make the bed. I must tell you, my husband noticed the front pillows, but thought the orange and brown ones had always been there. Men are so funny!

Busy Crafting...

Can you think of anything more fun to be busy with? Here's a hint of what I'm doing... it involves this:

Of course, even with the coffee it's a little slow-going. I find things like diaper cream mixed in with my bobbins...

I trip over dolls and such...

I peak back at this little one to make sure she's still on this side of the railing...
(I even let her skip her nap today to watch me sew! I felt like Mother of the Year until she threw her roll-on-the-floor-because-I'm-so-exhausted tantrum at Michael's)


But, I wouldn't have it any other way! I even have my grandmother's sewing basket: (LOVE!)


Ok, time to get back to work. The Littles are asleep, the house is quiet, and it's me time! Now, where is that coffee?

Life is Messy

I just love doing posts like the one I did yesterday... where there is a theme and lovely pictures, and you can almost feel the warm sun on your face and the sand under your toes. Then there are posts like today. Reality. Messes. Life.

There is a little girl who colored all over herself, her clothes, her desk, our fireplace, etc.

She may have also discovered her mom's dot stickers and an open cupboard that contained Doritos... Her hat is most certainly on the floor somewhere waiting for Mom to trip over it!

Her big sisters had fun playing with bears... and left the evidence to go do something else!

Our days are full. We do things like weave potholders...

...Wear balloon hats and jump on the couch!

...Color on potted plants outside until Mom looks up from making lunch and notices!

Sometimes we eat lunch on the barstools because the kitchen table is way too messy for a change of scenery.

We swing on the swingset and tell mom to take a picture because it would be so cute on the blog! (Yes, my girls really tell me that!)

We relax...

We paint...

We jump on the bed (often!)

We color...

We ask for tea like our big sisters and then don't drink it!

... And we brush our hair!


We live life, day-in and day-out. And we enjoy life. The good, the bad, and the messy! And, as much as I love the posts like yesterday's, I love the ones like today even more. It's in the simple things... the day-to-day things that I always dreamed about before becoming a mom that I feel so blessed. These are the snapshots in my head that I'll remember. When I take pictures of them, I can smile instead of getting overwhelmed by the circumstance.

This is life. It will always be messy. The kids will grow-up. The messes may change, and the antics may not be as cute or funny. But, if I take pictures of them and caption them in my heart, suddenly I am overwhelmed with joy and gratitude when I realize I am living the life of my dreams. I shouldn't be surprised to find my kids being kids -- arguing, creating messes, hugging each other, making me laugh, making me cry. I pray that God will allow me to see beyond the mess and smile because He gave me life. And, He gave me these 4 precious lives:




And I am living the life... a blessed life... the Yeh life!

Valentine's Day at the Beach

One word: Glorious! It was a glorious day. A perfect gift. It rained the 3 days in a row prior, and poured the day after, but we were able to spend a glorious day at the beach as planned! I'll let the pictures do the talking... I'm off to bed!