A Fabulous 3 Years!

Kelly Anne Foster *Bo Belly, Bo Bell, Smelly Kelly, Kell Bo Bell, Daughter Dearest* came into our lives 3 years ago at 10:53 a.m. I didn't know how much I wanted a daughter until I had one. She is everything I imagined a little girl to be. She is full of life and emotion. She loves her brothers, dancing, dressing up, princesses, superheroes (particularly Scarlet Witch and Storm), snuggling with an animal at bedtime, snuggling with Mom and Dad anytime, playing with Max, coloring, squealing, singing, having her hair done, showing Dad how pretty she is, playing games on our iPhones, and being a mom to everyone.

I love how emotional she is (most of the time). She gets so excited and squeals over the simplest joys. This morning there was lots of squealing when she got a Supergirl shirt from Max and colorful socks from Everett. "Oh! THANK YOU, Max! THANK YOU, Everett! That is SO cute! Oh, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!" (yes, I did need that many exclamation points...trust me)

Her main request for the day is to have colorful milk each time she needs a drink, which consists of dropping food coloring into a cup of milk. This morning she exclaimed with surprise, "Yellow milk tastes just like regular milk!" She has asked each of us at different times to tell her Happy Birthday and when Max said it multiple times at once she insisted that he say it "just one time". (to my siblings and parents...is she my daughter or what?)

I will also be picking up pink tempura paint to write a birthday message on our sliding door like I did for Ev's birthday, because red and orange would never do for this pink-loving sista. In a little bit she and I will be venturing out on our date to pick out a new shirt and get our nails painted. Most of the festivities will be tomorrow since today is a non-Dad day. And she's requested that her party consist of "just our family." *I wrote this this morning...it's all been accomplished but I'll blog about that later...*

I love my little woman...oh so very much! Thanks for coming to our family, Kelly Anne! You light up our lives.

Home Stretch?

When I ran my marathon, I thought that I would feel like the last 3 or 4 miles were cake. It would mean that I was almost done! Plus 3 or 4 miles was nothing...those were my easy training days. But I was wrong. Those were some of the hardest miles I ran. I got teary-eyed, discouraged, and hit a major wall. Thankfully a good portion of that stretch was kind of downhill and so my body couldn't help but keep moving even though everything was screaming for me to sit down!

The last 3 or 4 miles...the downhill that saved me

That's how I am feeling about these last months of Ty's school. Everyone keeps telling me, "Oh! You're almost done!" (Like the well-meaning lady who said, "Just 6 miles to go!" at mile 20...I'll let you imagine how I felt about that) But I just feel like I want to cry and I feel discouraged. Thankfully I have kids and regularly scheduled activities and a calling in church to keep me moving forward each day.

I didn't know that help was on it's way...

Remember how Tyler joined me the last mile + of my marathon? He was what saved me. He pushed me and believed in me and motivated me to the finish.

I think this is my favorite picture in the history of pictures

We've been running side-by-side this whole time while he's been getting his MBA but sometimes we get separated because there is just too much on our plates that we have to focus on. That's how it feels right now. It feels like we are too far apart. It's nobody's fault, it's life. We are pretty darn good about making time for dates and time to talk, but for some reason I feel like I need a date every other night right now and three-hour meaningful conversations every night, which isn't at all practical or possible, especially since there are essentially three days a week that we see him little or not at all. Maybe it's the winter getting to me (I did, after all, grow up in Vegas and right now in Vegas it's park-going weather). Whatever it is, I'm not loving it and I need to get back on top of my game. I will. I'm just having a moment.

I finished my marathon strong. Tyler left the course for me to finish it out on my own so he could cheer me along from the side as I crossed the finish line. The needed surge came, adrenaline came from somewhere, and I felt so good about my finish. I was elated, actually. I also collapsed into my mom's arms and let out a sob from deep inside me that I didn't even know was there. Like, for a long time. Oh, that finish was so sweet.

I'll finish strong . But for this moment it's hard...and that's okay, it will make the finish that much sweeter. Ty gives me the support I need, but sometimes I need to run on my own too. And the help will come from a known source, my Savior.

B-Day, V-Day, and Kelly-isms

Little dude had a birthday, which I mentioned, but I did not post anything about his little bash. We basically invited just a few people over, had some pizza, opened a few presents, and ate cake. I so love this little man. He is delightful and I am super lucky he's mine!

Ty took care of the cake and got the house ready (including decorations) while I was at a Zumba class that morning...I sure love that man!

Yeah, so most people decorate the cake for the baby all cute. Not us. Put the frosting we tried to make black for the wheels on top of some of the leftover cake and let him dig in. He's my first babe to dig in, actually. Not a ton, but a lot more than Max or Kelly. He's a good eater...and has the cheeks to prove it!

Max & Kelly's friends who came

If you want to kiss your computer screen right now, I totally understand. I just did.

Everett D is a lover. And we love him. Lots.

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This is the text we sent out to some family for Valentine's Day. The kids LOVED having me write one their faces (for real). "Mom, can we play with it on for a little bit?" Kelly sobbed dramatically when it was time to wash it off, even though I did let them play with it on for a long bit.

Hope your V-Day was a sweet day! Ours was very fun and simple...lots of red food coloring in milk, heart-shaped food, making valentines for Dad, heart-attacking some of the kids in Primary, decorating cool cupcakes with Jennifer and her boys, and then we had a candlelit dinner of salmon (my first time cooking it...'twas a success!), garlic mashed potatoes, and broccoli. I was going to have a romantic fondue dessert with the hubs after kids went down, but we were so stuffed from dinner and other treats people gave us that we decided to leave that for another romantic night. I like dragging things out anyway...we're throwing a Valentine's part-ay this weekend.

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This was a snowstorm back in January...I love this little woman's guts!

Today at lunch the kids were having a pizza that had sausage on it. Kelly asked me to help her "take the yucky stuff off." I told her that she used to LOVE sausage when she was younger (like, 1) and so she decided to give it a try. I turned and got more food for Everett and was paying attention to him for a bit when I remembered that she was trying the sausage, so I turned around and excitedly asked, "Kelly, did you like your sausage?!" She looked up at me with her giant blue eyes and then glanced sheepishly down at her plate where there was a big pile of sausage and then said, "Ummm...maybe later....(long pause)....when I'm 3." That's next week, sister. Get ready for some sausage!

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While I was making dinner tonight Kelly wanted to sit on the counter. I said, "Actually, I would love your help setting the table!" She super sweetly and happily responded, "TOMORROW!" The way she said it made me think she hadn't understood me, so I said, "What?" And she said again in the exact same tone, "TOMORROW!" So I said, "What about tomorrow?" "Tomorrow I will help you set the TABLE!" I'll take that over, "NO!" any day.

Kelly's First Haircut

I'm sure you're thinking, "She must mean Everett's first haircut...Kelly's almost three." While Everett did get his first full-fledged haircut last week as well, this post IS about my girl's first experience under the scissors. Why did I wait so long? Good question, thanks for asking. I can't explain what it was because on a conscious level I wasn't overly attached to her hair. But maybe under the surface getting her haircut made her seem too grown-up? I don't really know why, I just wasn't ready for it. I noticed split-ends a few months ago, though, and decided it was time. I have a wonderful friend Jennifer who cuts my hair and has a salon in her home. I cut boy hair, but I don't dare do girl hair just yet, so off to Jennifer's we went!

Pre-cut

Such a Kelly face. This is when she wasn't sure about the whole thing...

...and this is about two seconds later :)

Jennifer wanted to do Kelly's hair fancy - she just had her first baby girl a few months ago so she likes the practice :)

Kelly loved the experience and couldn't wait to show her dad!

I think you should know

So I've started another blog. I don't have time for another blog, but it's something I am really passionate about and so I'm going to make time.

Check it out!

Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Become a follower (sometimes it's okay!), put it in your Google Reader, and check in for pretty regular posts. We'll see how it goes...I'll consider it a success if more than two people (namely, my sisters) read it. Sure do 'preciate ya!

Quick Kid Project

I wanted a place for my kids to hang up their art and stuff. We have a stainless refrigerator so the ol' fridge display is out. I had a bunch of clothespins from a previous craft, bought some ribbon on sale for $1.49, had the kiddos paint the clothespins, attached the clothespins to the ribbon, nailed the ribbon to their wall...and voila! Cheap, super easy, and got the kids involved. My kind of project. PLUS it turned out pretty darn long to accommodate all of the painstakingly perfectly painted pins so it's been inspiring my little people to do more drawing/coloring/painting to fill up each clothespin. I like it.