Conversations With A Three Year Old....

This conversation occured on an outing to the library.
Librarian: "Is this your little brother?"
Dawson: "Yes"
Librarian: "He is so cute."
Dawson: "Oh I know and he's so generous too." (I pretty sure he has no idea what that means)!

This conversation occurred when Dawson was showing me a picture he had colored at church.

Mom: "Dawson that is a nice picture you colored. Who is the picture of?"
Dawson: "Moses"
Mom: "Oh, so what did you learn about Moses?"
Dawson: "Mom, I will pretend to be Moses. I was walking in the sand and God made a fiery bush. I walked around in my bare feet because I didn't want to get burned. I got really scared so my mom came, put me in a basket and got a girl to come and watch me to make sure I was safe."

Hmmm... a little out of order, but at least I know he's mostly listening!

This conversation occurred between myself and the other three year old, Sophie, that I spend my days with.

Sophie: "Karalee do you know if the baby in your tummy is a boy or a girl?"
Karalee: "I don't know yet, but in a few weeks, I'm going to see the doctor and he will look inside my tummy with a special machine and tell me if it is a boy or girl."
Sophie: "I know how the doctor can tell that it's a boy or a girl."
Karalee: "Really"
Sophie: "Yep, the boys have short hair and the girls have long hair."

My New Job....

Over the past year, I've been trying to come up with creative ways to earn a little extra money while working from home. I looked into several different options, but found nothing that sparked my interest or that I felt I could fit into my busy day with the kids. One day I was praying about it and God brought this question to my mind, "why don't you start your day home again?" After having Cooper, I was convinced that running a day home would be too overwhelming. I was already busy enough keeping up with the house and the boys, how could I balance everything with more kids. But, I told God I would pray about it for a couple weeks and if I still felt like this was something He wanted me to do, then I would pursue it. 2 weeks passed and I still felt strongly that this was what God wanted. It just happened that my friend Heidi (I used to watch her daughter Sophie) was looking for a day home for her two kids in the new year, perfect timing!

Much to my surprise, but not God's, I thoroughly enjoy my new job (most people look at me like I'm crazy when I say that).

Why I love my new job....
1. It gives me a forced structure and routine
2. I am no longer the all day playmate for my 3 year old (which gets very mentally draining)
3. The kids are so tuckered out after a morning of play they all have quiet/nap time willingly. The 3 yr. olds for 1 hour, the 1 year olds at least 2 hours)
4. Thanks to this quiet time I take a 30 minute nap every afternoon and clean for 30 minutes uninterrupted!
5. I get to spend the whole day with my kids
6. Breathing room in our budget!!!

Don't get me wrong, my day is always guaranteed to have crazy moments. I have had to do some major "sharing with others" training with the 3 year olds. But overall the good outweighs the bad. And your probably wondering what I'm going to do in August when baby #3 arrives. I plan to take some time off and then start back up again. I need Sophie and Oliver here to entertain the boys while I look after the new little one.

Here are a few shots of the kidlets playing dress up.....

Oliver

Cooper


Sophia

Dawson

Playing Catch Up...

February and March have been busy months in our house, filled with lots of fun! Because I've been so bad at blogging lately, I thought I would bring you up to speed on what's been going on with one big, photo-packed blog!!

In February....

The snowplow came (that in itself is impressive for our city) and left a huge snow mountain in front of our house. (a 3 year olds dream come true)

A trip to the Tyrell Museum with G&G Andrus and the whole Peters gang!

Cuddles caught on camera

Meeting the first Andrus cousin, Sawyer Edison Olson

March.....

Cooper invents a new game: Potato Broom Ball

Spring arrives early!!!!