Addie's 1st year pics

So here are Addie's 1st year pictures from her latest photoshoot done by David Cheney. We actually did these over a month early so she is really about 10 months and 1 week old but nothing has really changed much since then, although her hair is much curlier now...but I think that is caused by all this rain!

Her birthday party is this Sunday and I have finally given up on the dream party. I always have grand plans but when I actually set out to accomplish them I realize I have no time, energy or talent to do so. But that is okay because I am the only one that even cares...and even I don't care any more. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can extend the party to the back yard or at least the deck. So far the hardest thing about planning this party is having to limit myself. My cousin, Stefanie, and I have made several trips to Hobby Lobby(she has also been party planning for her daughter, Lorelei, who turned one yesterday...Happy Birthday little L!) and I have the hardest time turning down things like pink feathers, crazy glitter flowers, and basically anything pink. I'm really looking forward to the party but mostly I'm looking forward to about 4 hours after the party when I'm in bed and I know I have a full 6 months before I have to throw another one. At least my brain will have room to start planning for Christmas now. YIKES!!! Check back next week and hopefully I'll have birthday party pics posted.

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell

A few weeks ago we took Addie's 1 year pictures and were fortunate to have an awesome photographer, (Thanks David Cheney!) that allowed for some halloween costume pics as well. I'll post Ad's 1 year pics later but for now here is Peter Pan and Tinkerbell Pope.

My super kids

At a very young age we convinced Jack that he had super powers. It was my way of getting him to take his vitamins because that is one of the sources of super powers along with eating fruits and veggies. The concept of super powers also helped us explain God and Jesus in terms he understood. For example, God gives us super powers such as courage when we ask Him through prayer and Jesus had super powers to heal sick people. It has also comes in handy when he needs to do something and he doesn't want to such as putting his clothes in the laundry. I just tell him to use his super powers and do it super fast and all of a sudden he has a mission and the clothes get put in the hamper. But this super powers idea has also led to a few problems. The main one being that my sweet little boy thinks he is invincible. His favorite game is jumping off our bed onto a pile of pillows. But he doesn't do this cautiously AT ALL. He starts at the headboard and runs to the end and then leaps off as if he could fly. I'm a little concerned that he may really think he can fly because the other day he asked me when Addie Grace (that is what he calls her) is going to learn how to fly. Hmmm...I think we need to have a serious talk about his human limitations soon.

Addie has acquired her very own super power lately and it is about as terrifying as flying. My baby girl is climbing on everything. She can literally scale anything. Levi found her just sitting on our bed the other day which is amazing and horrific at the same time considering the height of our bed. She is constantly climbing onto their table in the playroom and into their play sink in the kitchen set. She will also climb into every bucket, basket, truck, and tote that she can fit into and then find herself stuck. She doesn't seem to care much or has no short term memory because as soon as I pull her out she is climbing right back in again. She has no desire to walk and I'm afraid she is going to soon be overdeveloped in her upper body but then have these little stringy legs because they don't get any use. I'm just kidding of course but it is kind of funny to picture her with huge arm muscles.

This was Jack teaching his cousin, Rylan, how to fly. Sorry Stef. =)

Jack had made up silly names for all his different flying poses. This was called Crazy Chicken.

I'm still not really sure how she gets up here...maybe she uses the shelves?

Addie climbs into Jack's Tonka truck and Jack pushes her all around. They have so much fun!

Guilty Pleasures

Sometimes I laugh when I think about the mom I expected myself to be. I was going to never let my children watch TV and especially not anything that wasn't on PBS. I was never going to allow my children to eat sugar, hot dogs, Cheetos, french fries, or Cheese whiz. I was going to spend every second of my day reading to them, singing with them, and working on amazing craft projects that could later be sold as fine art, and teaching them to read and write before they turned 2. They were going to always be dressed in the very cutest clothes and of course always be clean and tidy without a hair out of place. I could just imagine a passerby coming up to us to compliment my children on their amazing displays of obedience and manners and my little angels would just look up so sweetly and say "Thank you. Our dear mother has taught us well."
Well, I'm actually happy to say that didn't turn out to be me. In fact, that dream is actually quite the opposite of my life. Granted, I still strive for less TV, healthier foods, more activity and learning time, cleanliness and obedience but those things certainly do not ever meet the standards my old self would have set. It is actually funny because there are several things that I remember saying that I would never allow and now that they do I actually love them.
One of those things happens to be my children's bad habit of sucking their thumbs. Yes, I know it is bad for their teeth and they take in more germs that way but ohhhhh I just can't think of too many things sweeter than watching my babies suck their thumbs. They both seem to get much more cuddly when their thumbs are in their mouths. They slow down and let me just hold them and kiss on them while they go to town on those shriveled up little thumbs. Jack likes to rub his ear or his tummy at the same time as sucking his thumb when he is sleepy. I just love it! It will be a very sad day when that stops. When Addie gets sleepy or cranky (which usually means sleepy) she wants her Cuddles. Cuddles is the most important member of our family right now because we cannot exist without her or him...I guess Cuddles is a girl because she is pink...so we couldn't exist without HER. She is this little blanket that has a bear head in the middle of it. It sounds kind of weird to describe it but really it is quite cute. It used to be super soft and pretty. Now Cuddles looks kind of dingy no matter how much I wash her and she has lost her super softness. But it doesn't matter to Addie. She drags Cuddles all over the house all day long and freaks out if we accidentally leave Cuddles in her bed in the morning. We lost her for about 10 minutes the other day before bedtime and it was definitely a scary time for the Pope family. We tore the house apart in those 10 minutes until I remembered that Addie had been playing in the pantry before dinner. I opened the pantry door and I think I may have heard angels singing because there was our dear Cuddles.
My latest guilty pleasure has been happening ever since Jack was sick a couple of weeks ago. We let him sleep with us during that time because it was just easier on me to not have to walk down the longest hallway in the world just to put my hand on his forehead to check for fever 500 times a night. After he was better Levi explained that he can't sleep with Mommy and Daddy anymore and only got to because he was sick. Jack seemed to understand and stayed in his bed that night...until about 5am. He came around to my side of the bed (which is empty because I sleep in the middle) and just quietly climbed in and went to sleep. I pretended like I had no clue he was getting in our bed because it is officially against the rules but after I heard him start snoring I pulled him close and got to cuddle with him...until Levi woke up around 6 and took him back to his bed. That has now become a regular routine and even though Levi and I remind Jack every night before he goes to bed that he is not allowed to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed, I still enjoy every time he does.
I know at some point I will have to crack down on the thumb sucking, take away Addie's Cuddles, and take Jack back to his bed but I don't think I'm at that point yet. It is weird because I dread the work it will take to eliminate these small habits and I hope they will dissipate on their own but at the same time I know my heart will break when my babies stop being babies. Maybe we need to have just one more... ;)

Addie has to have Cuddles to eat too!

My loves sucking away on their little thumbs.

No rest for the weary

I haven't blogged in ages it seems. Since our trip to Arkansas I have been running around trying to catch up on everything. I think it took me a full week to finally get all the laundry from our trip done and then it seemed like there was just one thing after another to focus on so I never got a break until this very moment...or so it feels. One of my biggest distractions during the last couple weeks was the Just Between Friends consignment sale. I have consigned in this sale before and I sold everything but a pair of slippers so I was really excited to make some extra money again. I worked so hard on getting everything ready. I probably put a good 12 to 15 hours into just tagging and preparing all the clothes but I knew it was going to be worth it because of the big check I would get in a few weeks. Because I consigned I got to go to the earlier sale and there I spent $200 replenishing my children's wardrobes. (Buying a complete new wardrobe for Addie every 3 months has been killer. So glad it stretches to 6 months now.) But what is $200 when I'm about to get a huge check for all the clothes I was going to sell? HA! When it came time later that week to pick up the items that didn't sell I realized that I only sold maybe a quarter of my stuff! I went home and calculated how much I sold and when all fees are taken out I only made $175 which really means I'm in the hole $25. Major disappointment. In fact, it kind of makes me a little nauseous just thinking about it again. Live and learn I guess.

The other major event in my life has been this onslaught of sickness in my family. Now because I run a health food store I feel this great burden to never get sick and to never allow my family to be sick. We are supposed to be the example of natural health through preventative methods. Well, not this last week. Last Thursday Jack was running a fever and so I had to keep him out of school that day. It was quite a disappointment because it was his day to be the line leader and I had to convince him that at some point in his life he will get the opportunity to lead again. Of course, I naturally start freaking out about the stupid swine flu and begin the ritual of passing out supplements and hand sanitizer to my family every couple of hours or so. I wear myself out by trying to sanitize everything in the house and washing all the bed linens because I do not want Addie to get sick too. Too late. She started running a fever the day after Jack was better. There wasn't much I could do for her except hold her all day long, which I did. I've got one Popeye arm and one Olive Oil arm now. But she too recovered very quickly and I was just so proud of my kiddo's immune systems for kicking this bug so quickly. I thought the worst was over because now I would no longer have to share my bed with a kicking 3 year old or a screaming baby. I was wrong...I now share my bed with a very sick almost 3o year old who is just soaking up all the attention and nursing he can get. I don't really mind too much though. My ultimate fear is that I will get sick and then I just don't know how my family will continue to function. Who will take care of everyone? Who will take care of me? How many days will it take for me to get my house back to normal after I'm better? How big will the pile of laundry be when I finally step out of my room? Will my kids still be in their PJs from the day I get sick? Do I even have enough cheese and bread for Levi to make grilled cheeses or cinnamon toast for every meal until I recover? I'm not going to let myself worry about that yet. I feel pretty confident in my body's ability to ward off this sickness. If anybody can it should be the Sunshine Shoppe Health Foods Store Super Girl. Hmmm. I guess we will see. I better go take some more vitamin D and C...and you should too! ;)