More teeth for Jack-Jack

I'm not sure what's up with Jack's mouth because his teeth are breaking through in a funny order. He now has four teeth on bottom and only one of top. That other one on top is about ready to break through, and sometime we even think it has, but no such luck so far.

Tunaomba Mungu Atawale

Mara sang in church again today. This time, they sang a song called “Tunaomba Mungu Atawale,” which is Swahili for "we pray God to reign."

And here is a video of the song.

Mara's Princess Makeover Birthday Party

We decided to have a more low-key birthday party for Mara this year so we could do a little more, and I think it worked out really well. Mara invited a few friends from school, and she had her cousins over as well. Since we were doing a princess makeover, all of the boys went to go see a movie instead of sticking around for the party.

The decorations included items from both of her favorite princesses – Ariel and Rapunzel. We started off doing hair, makeup, and nails. Then, everyone snacked, and Mara opened her presents. She received a lot of the things she wanted with no duplicates. We then celebrated with brownie cupcakes.

I kept getting errors on my camera all evening, and I didn't find out until after the party that no picture was taken any time I got the error. That means that I completely missed out on getting pictures of Mara with her brownies despite trying to take several as well as some of the pictures I tried to take with her and some of her friends. :(

While I didn't get any pictures of Mara blowing out her candles, here is the video. You can tell that I attempted to take several pictures based on the number of times the flash went off.

Growing Up

Monday, March 21

Jack had been trying to clear out under the coffee table himself, so I decided to help him. He now loves to crawl through the coffee table to get to where he wants to go. He looks so big in the second picture. I think it's because his hair is starting to get long, and we're going to have to decide soon what we want to do with it.

Tuesday, March 22

When Mara was selling Girl Scout cookies, she didn't know what her favorite cookie was because she hadn't really tried them. After sampling all of the flavors, she decided that the Trefoils/Shortbreads were her favorite.

Wednesday, March 23

This was the last night Mara went to sleep as a 5-year-old, and of course Doxy curled up with her.

Thursday, March 24

See Thursday's post here.

Friday, March 25

Jack is now on his last can of formula. He's a little more attached to the bottle than Mara was, but I don't think it will be too difficult to get him off of formula. I guess we'll find out in the near future.

Happy 6th Birthday, Mara!

Mara woke up a few minutes early today so she had time to open a couple of presents before she went to school. She got to open the rest of her presents after we picked Jack up from school. That evening, we went out to Steak 'n' Shake for dinner.

Mara – 6 years old

We've now made it six years as parents, and our little girl is quickly growing up right in front of us. :)

Mara is our little tomboy princess. Some days, she want to play with cars and trains, and other days she wants to do the princess thing. She like getting down in the dirt and planting her dandelion seeds.

We went through a phase this past year where she had bangs, but both of us agree that she didn't look like herself. So, we are now in the process of growing out those bangs.

Mara and I butt heads sometimes, but that's mainly because we are so much alike. I usually know why she does things before she even knows herself. She's a rule follower, especially when it applies to someone else, but she sometimes has a hard time remembering what she's supposed to do at school. She knows that her bedtime is at 8:30, but she doesn't always think that time is convenient.

Even now at only 6, she sometimes wishes for things to be how they used to be. Playhouse Disney recently changed to Disney Junior, and she pines for the days of Playhouse Disney and the monkeys Ooh and Aah.

Mara loves all animals and is constantly asking us if we can add another pet to our family. She still wants to be a whale trainer when she grows up, and I don't know if she'll ever change her mind since that's what she has been saying when we went to SeaWorld for the first time in October 2007.

Some of her favorites haven't changed since last year, including some of her favorite songs.

Favorite colors: Purple and pink
Favorite princess: Still Ariel, but Rapunzel from Tangled is starting to get up there
Favorite TV shows: Zevo-3, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Chuggington, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Favorite movies: Tangled, Barbie and the Mermaid Tale, The Little Mermaid
Favorite singers: Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift
Favorite songs: "Who Says" and "Naturally" by Selena Gomez, "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift, "Queen of the Waves" from Barbie and the Mermaid Tale, "I See the Light" from Tangled
Favorite activities: Playing Wii Party on the Wii, going to Girl Scouts, swimming
Favorite subject in school: Art
Favorite animals: Whales, any type of sea life, cats

Everything will work out, right?

For the second year in a row, life has thrown us a curve ball in March. I called John during lunch today while I was out running errands for Mara's birthday, and he told me that he lost his job that morning.

The last time either one of us was without a job was before kids, so now we have to decide what to do with Jack and Mara's daycare. Just yesterday, Mara was asking me if she could be a walker on days that John doesn't work. I guess we'll talk to their daycare and see if we can pull them until John finds another job. I'm not worried about Mara, but I hope they can keep a spot open for Jack. At the same time, it might be best to keep Jack there for now so that John has time to look for a job.

I've been ready for John to move on from Home Depot for a while now. It was supposed to be a filler job that ended up lasting eight years. I'm thinking that this was God's way of telling John he was done with Home Depot, but we're waiting to see what some people find out since this came out of the blue. However, I don't think he'll be going back.

So, if anyone knows of any job openings in the DFW area, let us know.

Spring Break

Monday, March 14

After the kids' doctor appointments this morning, we met Shari and Allie for lunch. They brought Jack his birthday present since they couldn't make it to his birthday party.

Tuesday, March 15

See Tuesday's post here.

Wednesday, March 16

Savanna, one of Mara's friends and fellow Girl Scout member, came to spend the day with us. The girls had fun playing the Wii, going outside and discovering the wild onions we had in our backyard, and playing some board games.

Thursday, March 17

See Thursday's post here.

Friday, March 18

Lani came and spent the night last night, and the girls spent all day playing today. I'm glad that we now have the playset in our backyard so the kids can get outside some.

Saturday, March 19

Mara and I planted her tomatoes a couple of weeks ago, and Mara is excited that they finally started to sprout. Hopefully the plants will actually produce tomatoes.

Sunday, March 20

We finally installed the swing we gave Jack for his birthday, and the kids had a blast playing outside.

Mara's First Library Card

I took Mara to the library near our house today, and she got her very first library card. She was so excited to finally have a library card, and we spent about an hour picking out books, CDs, and a DVD for both of us.

Since the library didn't open until 10, we spent a little bit of time walking along a creek near the library and watching the ducks.

Another New Tooth

Jack got yet another tooth for his birthday. Instead of doing things in order, however, the third tooth on bottom has decided to break through. It's the one of the lower left side that you can barely see in this picture. (He didn't really want to cooperate for the picture.) We're thinking the next tooth will be his other one on top.

Jack's 1-year Appointment & Mara's 6-year Appointment

I took the kids in for their well visits today, and walked out with two prescriptions for antibiotics. Jack was in for his 1-year appointment, and the doctor said he has an ear infection. Mara went for her 6-year appointment, and she also tested positive for strep throat (again).

Jack's 1-year stats:

Height/Length: 30.5 inches long (75th)*
Weight: 20 pounds, 5 ounces (20th)
Head Circumference: 18.75 inches (80th)

*I have the feeling Jack is a little longer than what was recorded. On the first measurement the nurse took, he was only 29.5 inches. When she redid it, the line for his head was the same and the line for his feet looked to be 1.5 to 2 inches longer, yet it was only an inch longer by her measurement.

Mara's 6-year stats:

Height: 47.5 inches tall (90th)
Weight: 46.6 pounds (60th)

And here is a picture of my two March babies at the doctor.

Celebrating with Family & Friends

Clinton & Evelyn headed back up to Oklahoma this afternoon, but we took some group shots before they left. It's amazing to see how it has gone from the four of us to the nine of us. Mara also got to open an early birthday present from them – a Rapunzel doll that sings, which she loves.

After they left, we headed to Fort Worth to celebrate Robert's homecoming. It was also a late celebration of Christmas with him and an early birthday party. Jack was the center of attention when it came time to eat, and he also helped Robert open his presents. Robert posed for a picture with all of his siblings and cousins. Aunt Diannie brought Jack a hat and a couple of outfits that she forgot to bring to his own party the day before.