Preschool Graduation

We had our first of many graduations last week. Nate graduated from preschool. No, I didn't cry. But I was there for all of the graduation rehearsals since I teach at his school, so there were no surprises. My baby boy is headed to kindergarten, and he couldn't be more excited about that! I'm so thankful that we've had this extra year together, but I have to admit I'm really excited about kindergarten too.

I've been teaching music the last few months, so I was sitting on the front row to help the kids with their songs. Nate kept me entertained with silly faces. He's his father's son!

We can't seem to get Simon in our pictures. He was too busy socializing to join us. :)

Evie's 4th Birthday

Evie started talking about her fourth birthday as soon as her third birthday was over. She made it very clear that she wanted a butterfly birthday cake. She's been waiting, not so patiently, for an entire year for this cake. That's a lot of pressure for her cake baker! I should've known she would love it no matter what, but I was pretty stressed out when it wasn't turning out like the picture in my head. When will I learn?

Evie loves being four! She keeps us laughing, and most of the time we're not sure if she has a quick wit or if she's just a little ditzy. I'm hoping it's the former. :) She's effortlessly creative, loves to dance and sing, and lets her imagination run wild. I'm blessed to watch this sweet girl learn and grow. I can't wait to see what she becomes. Happy Birthday, Evelyn Ray!

I love her silliness!

 We took her picture with one of her brothers. 

The other one was too hard to manage for a picture. Oh well!

 

 Last year we celebrated her birthday at the park, and it was too windy for candles. She started asking weeks ago for there to be candles on her birthday cake - ones that she could blow out. She was pretty excited about those candles!

Tea Party

All Evie wants to do these days is play "baby." She must be mourning the loss of her days as the baby of the family since Simon has replaced her. Because ALL she wants to do is play "baby." At least ten times a day she comes to me and says, "Mom, let's play you're the mom and I'm the baby," and she proceeds to tell me exactly how we're going to play. I've tried and tried to explain to her that I play "baby" all day long and it just isn't a very fun game for me to play. But she doesn't understand.

So, on Tuesday I thought I would distract her from this obsession with the baby game by playing "tea party" instead. That's something every little girl knows how to play, right? Wrong. Evie kept serving me pretend rice. Who eats rice at a tea party? I realized I had a huge task ahead of me - to teach my daughter how to host a tea party.

I promptly scheduled a real tea party for Wednesday afternoon. Nate and Evie looked forward to it all day. We made cookies and planned what snacks to have. I told them stories about when we lived in Turkey and the afternoons I spent with my neighbors drinking tea, eating snacks, and passing the time together. It was a lot of fun. And hopefully by the end of the day Evie knew how to host a tea party. I guess we'll find out tomorrow when she asks me to play "baby" and I offer a game of "tea party" instead.

 We had popcorn cookies from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook (a recipe I've had my eye on for a few months), popcorn, dried apricots, almonds, pistachios, and cashews. We used our Turkish tea glasses, but I admit I served their tea with milk, which isn't very Turkish. That's how I grew up drinking it, and they like it better that way too.
Stephen thinks it's silly.

When Evie was finished with her tea and snacks, she went off to play.

 But Nate and I sat and chatted for a long time. It was the best part of our little party by far. The dirt on our playroom floor (someday I'll have time to clean my house again) reminded him of the story about God turning the dust to flees, but how Pharoah still didn't let God's people go. And then he told me the rest of the story, which led to a conversation about following Jesus and our need for Him. I often forget that my rambunctious little boy has a very tender heart inside of him.

 I left our little party refreshed and reminded to be thankful for these days
with my little ones, as hard as they sometimes are.

I think Simon had a good time too. 

I had to keep him at a distance so he wouldn't spill our tea or sneak a cookie. :)

Soccer

Because we love to torture ourselves, Nate and Evie both played soccer this season. Evie was begging to play, so we finally gave in and signed her up. As much craziness as it added to our lives, the joy of watching them play definitely outweighed the pain of two practices and two games every week.  Evie thought she was big stuff! We were SO proud of her. She listened well to her coach and never cried or wanted to stop playing like we thought she might. She wasn't very aggressive - she mostly trotted along behind the crowd - but that's what Nate did the first time he played too.

Nate also had a great season. His age group was much more competitive this time, but he played really hard and was always right in there getting after the ball. It's been so much fun to watch him improve with each season. Here are some of the highlights:

 I don't think this smile left her face.

 Evie's coach was SO good, and she loved having a girl coach. I think that had a lot to do with how well she did this season. I'm really thankful she volunteered to coach!

 We got a picture of every time Evie had the ball. This was one,

 two,

and three. :)

I think this is the best picture we have of Nate all season. The field he played on was bigger and it was really hard to get a decent picture of him in action.

 So we'll move on to the cute baby pictures instead. Simon mostly hung out with me during their games. We're learning quickly that his life these next few years will be spent on the go.

Such a good little sport!

Just for fun

Some recent pics:

My favorite little pirate.
I got these hair bow headbands for Evie for Christmas, but they don't stay on well,
so she mostly uses them to be a pirate. At least they're getting some use.

Nate made a grocery list using creative spelling:
bananas, apples, pears, bread, strawberries, grapes, cuties, and corn on the cob.
I'm impressed by his healthy choices. Maybe one of the things
we've told him a thousand times is actually sinking in.

Happy Easter!

I actually remembered to have Stephen take some Easter pictures while the kids were dressed for church on Sunday. My brain doesn't work well lately, so that in itself was amazing. And then the pictures even turned out well. Who would have guessed?

Nate and Evie smile on cue, but Simon isn't so easy. To get that priceless smile on his face it took me singing a very dramatic interpretation of "Pattycake." 

No, we didn't get a picture of that. :)

Our first picture as a family of five. No time to set up the tripod.
A TV table worked just fine.

Garden: Round Two

Last year's garden was one big disappointment learning lesson. We planted too many tomatoes, so as they grew they shaded all the other plants and kept them from growing. We had tons of tomatoes, but lost most of them to blossom rot. There were a few that turned red, but then squirrels stole them just before we were going to pick them. They even left one sitting on top of our fence to taunt us. Basil was the only thing that did really well. It seeded and I ended up with basil growing in four of our buckets. It's a good thing we love basil pesto!

Anyway, we're starting over, but this time with much lower expectations. We planted fewer tomatoes,  bought some treatment for the blossom rot, and we're planning to get chicken wire to keep the squirrels out. If I get to eat at least one homegrown tomato I'll be satisfied.

 Spring Break gave us some beautiful days to work and play outside.

Evie working in her own "garden."

Four Months

Four months have come and gone! Simon is trying hard to catch up with his brother and sister. I took him to his four month check-up last week, and he weighed in at 17.5 pounds. No wonder I struggle to carry him around in his car seat these days. He's fat and happy. Except when he's teething. Today I'm waiting for tooth #2 to make its appearance, so he's fat and fussy instead. With Nate and Evie I was oblivious when their first teeth poked through at four months. I just thought they were fussing to fuss. Now I know to expect teeth at four months. Simon is falling right in line with my expectations. Here's a picture of our sweet boy. He's looking a lot like Evie these days.

Elizabeth, does this remind you of another picture?

Ten

 If you had told me on our wedding day what the next ten years would hold, I think I would've left the altar. I never could have imagined, after all the changes of the past ten years, that I would find myself on our tenth wedding anniversary happier and more in love than ever. The Lord has been kind to us. He has knitted our hearts together in a way that we never could have imagined. I'd love to write a long post about the past ten years and how much I love my husband, but there are no words for this. Happy Anniversary, Stephen Blan! Here's to ten more ...

 

 Who were those people? I barely remember.

Hodge Podge

Have I mentioned that it's been a hard transition to three kids? It's been a hard transition to three kids. And you'll probably hear that again in my next post - whenever that may be. Anyway, since I haven't had much time to post I'll just post a hodge podge of recent pictures.

I was sitting across from Stephen at lunch one Saturday a few weeks ago and had to take this picture. It reminded me so much of this one from when Nate was his age and we traveled to America for what would be our last Christmas with Mom. Simon wearing Nate's clothes has reminded me a lot of those days. It's strange how that happens.

Rise and shine! Simon loves being greeted by these sweet faces
first thing in the morning.

Nate has really taken off with his reading. He tries really hard, and we're really proud of him and the progress he's made. Yesterday morning he picked up "Little House in the Big Woods" (yes, he knows how to steal my heart!) and read the first page of chapter one. It's not exactly an easy reader, and I got a little bit angry at the English language while he was reading. I sure wish words could sound like they're spelled!

 When we decorated Christmas cookies I froze half the dough to save for Valentine's Day. I was really glad I thought to do that! I put the dough in the refrigerator a couple days before so all we had to do was roll, cut, bake, and decorate.

 I can't decide on my favorite decorating method for the kids.
This time I made royal icing and put it in ziplock bags.

 Evie ended up decorating with her hands anyway.
I set those specially decorated cookies aside for HER to eat. :)

3 months

It's hard to believe Simon is almost three months old. Not because time has flown, but because it seems like he should be a year old by now! Seriously, it's been a harder transition from two to three kids than I expected. But Simon is a very healthy and happy baby, and for that I'm thankful. He gives us lots and lots of smiles and coos, and he's starting to giggle. I had forgotten how sweet baby coos and laughs are. We could just eat him up! Here's our sweet boy enduring some tummy time.

Having a big brother to talk to makes tummy time bearable!

Tortilla Factory

Last week I had some leftover dough from our favorite butter dip bread sticks, and as usual Nate and Evie were quick to ask for it and start rolling out their own bread sticks. They LOVE playing with my leftover dough, as I've mentioned before, so I try hard to have extra for them. They'd been playing with it for a while when I noticed Nate had rolled his dough thinner than I've ever been able to roll mine. I guess he's had a little practice. But when I saw it I instantly thought "Tortillas! Nate can make tortillas!" We usually stop by Rosa's Tortilla Factory for fresh tortillas when we need them, but I couldn't stop thinking about making our own.

So we tackled them yesterday. (And from the looks of my kitchen afterwards, they tackled us back!) I mixed up the dough, divided it into 24 pieces, and covered the counter with flour. Then Nate and Evie rolled their little hearts out while I cooked them. Nate did a great job of getting his perfectly thin, but I usually had to finish Evie's after she gave it a good start. I have to call this one a success. Move over, Rosa's. The Blans are moving in!

Oh, and I used this recipe. I did substitute shortening for lard even though it says not to, but it didn't seem to matter. I also used warm water like reviews suggested, and I think that helped make the dough really easy to work with.

 Hard at work!

 Taking turns with my big rolling pin. They have a smaller one that is theirs, 

so it was a treat to get to use the big one for this.

 He did a good job of getting them perfectly thin. 

Getting them perfectly round might take some practice.

Our stack of tortillas.

What did we do with them? We made bean burritos. It's one of the only meals that both Nate and Evie love. Most of our meals one loves and the other doesn't, but this one is a hit every time, so we eat it often - probably once a month. I cook pinto beans in the slow cooker overnight and make a recipe of my sister's refried beans sometime during the morning. It's not quite like "day after" pizza or lasagna, but isn't everything better after it sits for a while? Anyway, usually the kids eat two burritos each, but last night they ate three each. I'll take that as a sign of success!

Christmas Snow

The entire week before Christmas the meteorologists here were talking about the possibility of snow on Christmas. I thought they were just trying to get people to watch the news. Texans go nuts over snow - especially snow on Christmas. Such a novelty! But I guess I was wrong. It really did snow on Christmas. And it was absolutely beautiful to sit inside all day and watch the rain turn to sleet and turn to snow. We sat at the kitchen table learning how to play the games we got the kids for Christmas (Spot It and Zingo - hours of fun for ages 3 to 33!) and watched the blizzard outside. Well, it was just two inches, but who's counting? Maybe I'm turning Texan after all. It's a far cry from our days in the mountains of Turkey where snow covered the ground from November to March!

 No, she's not in jail. I wasn't willing to take my slippers off and put
shoes on to go to the other side of the gate.

 

 Oh to be this carefree again.

 That looks really cold!

 Warming up with our favorite hot chocolate. I don't do all the fixins.
The hot chocolate alone is delicious!

 Can't take one of their pictures without taking the other!

 Simon didn't get to play in the snow. He stayed inside and helped make
the hot chocolate. :) Daddy needed to warm up too!