status updates

a return to normalcy after 4 long days of diarrhea characterized by middle of the night waking and a special treat of vomit in the backseat.

a 5 year old sassy-pants tries assigning punishment to her crabby, swollen, tired mom-
'only daddy can put me to bed for 3 days!'

a free bike upgrade thanks to some thoughtful neighbors

an extensive diagnostic after stover boy pointed to the interior of the muffler and stated 'i put rocks in there'

stover girl actively attempting to learn all information she supposes she might need to know for kindergarten.

stover dad successfully attempts a braid for stover girl while mom's busy at church

stover mom races to finish the sewing projects she acquired from an amazing crafty friend before her hands are FULL!

beloved friends

behind the lense, my heart jumps for joy to see the close connection between these two!



ps. this sunday stover boy stayed home from church due to illness and in parting, stover boy whizzed past mom to hug stover girl goodbye.  on the ride to church, stover girl stated 'i miss him' repeatedly.   

5 and full of heart

'i woke up when it was 1:00 and then 4:00 and then 6:00' 
'can i open my presents now?'
'i'm so excited for my hearty party'   
'am i going to go to school now?'
'look at how much taller i am today'



'now i can buy anything i want at the store'



'and it has a p on it for my name'

'my friends are so nice'

'if you make it in the big heart you get 1 point and if you make it in the small heart you get 2 points''

 

'can i have another one?'

'see how big i am'

what 32 looks like...

what 32 and pregnant looks like...

grandparents are parents with lots of frosting

the kids were thrilled to have a quick visit from their grandparents.  they enjoyed: cheering for their aunt in tennis, mountain-topping climbing, 'riding' four-wheelers at the bass pro shop kids night, icecream for dinner, and swimming.  the visit ended with a few train rides down the slide and lots of smiles.   

nose picker vs. booger pusher

stover girl has recently begun to experiment with nose picking and sometimes excessively so.  stover mom was horrified to walk by the CTR class and notice her little girl with a finger up her nose.  stover mom is disgusted when she's handed a picked goodie to dispose of while walking through a store.  and stover mom is a bit perplexed when stover girl has accidentally given herself a bloody nose.

...yesterday, stover boy demonstrated the opposite extreme and stover mom was equally horrified, disgusted and perplexed.  while wrestling vigorously with dad, he ended up accidentally blowing a booger to the edge of his nose.  stover dad reports not having a second to respond before stover boy instinctively pushed that booger right back up his nose not wanting to be bothered by it.

what's worse- nose picking or booger pushing?   

meet 'leanie'...

leanie is the name of stover boy's remote controlled car who's treated as an indispensable member of our family.  stover kids play with him in a parental role and take turns getting upset with the out of control, naughty, scapegoat named leanie.  essentially the game goes like this- they take turns driving him or her (the sex of leanie remains disputed- 'she' per stover girl/ 'he' per stover boy) into walls and over feet and then call out commands and disciplines to leanie about his negative behavior.  you'll hear stover boy firmly ask leanie 'can you be good?' while stover girl yells 'no leanie' and interrupts brother by saying 'let me talk to her'.  stover kids even use time outs in an effort to correct his behavior! 

 ah leanie... thanks for the catharsis! 

so glad when daddy comes home

these two kids

(yep, the cute ones hiding behind the bush as is custom every time a car drives down the street)

were so happy to see their dad tonight after a business trip to mexico city.  they'd been missing 'standing on daddy's shoulders'. 

and needed reassurance that he'd come back still speaking english.

(the first call home stover girl laughed and said 'i thought you'd be talking spanish to me')

their smiles brightened even more when the daddy that came home presented the perfect gifts!



(a UFO for stover boy)



(jewelry for stover girl)



apologies to savanna

who's savanna you ask? she's the unpictured older sister of this baby surrrounded by the stover kids. 

both savanna and her infant sister came over for a playdate but the entire first hour sounded something like this:

S: when are you gonna play with ME?
S: who wants to play with ME?
S: will you play with ME?

followed by responses from stover girl that sounded like this:

'in a minute'
'no, not right now'
'no thanks'

and stover boy's chants of 'Lexa, hey Lexa'

sorry savanna... apparently stover kids are ready to welcome stover baby!

a patriotic bath

"and i gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today cause there ain't no doubt i love this land....God bless the USA."

one night stover dad used this song as a cue for getting the kids out of the bathtub.  they loved it immediately and began requesting it nightly.  it has now reached tradition status at our home and if dad isn't around to sing it (or play it blaring from his phone)... they sing it themselves.  in fact stover girl is overheard singing it at all times throughout the day.  stover boy enjoys it too but doesn't need a special song to love a bath.  (in this picture, while supposedly occupied by a movie, he had overheard mom and dad discussing bedtime and was found undressed and running his own bath!)