The Lamz Family

This Mother’s Day was extra special because it was the first time I was blessed with three kiddo’s making me a momma (four if you count my hubster some days   I remember last year this time, we were packing things up to get ready to board that plane to meet our daughter for the first time.  THIS year, I am so blessed to have her home with us and for her to be calling me “Ma Ma!”  As special as that was for me yesterday, Emmarie and I did say a little prayer for her sweet birth mother before bed, who like me, loves this little girl with all her heart too!  It was a bitter sweet moment but overall, the day was great, and we got a lot accomplished yesterday!

My balloon!  I also got to head over to the nail salon with my Mother-In-Law for a spa pedicure in the morning.  Not to mention, a date night on Saturday with free babysitting!  We went to the best restaurant in the whole world – we actually waited over and hour and half just to be seated!

My first little rascal who made me a first time momma 5 years ago!

Oh but 21 months later – there were two of them!

And a few short years after that, this precious little spunk-ball completed the circle for us, making me a 3rd time momma!

Caleb’s parents were here to enjoy the weekend with us.

We’ve been indulging ourselves with Starbucks Happy Hour for the past 10 days (not every day) – guilt – free on the pocketbook since all Frappacino’s were half off.  My Owen has a sweet spot for his fraps!  Asher could care less and would rather opt for a smoothie of some kind. Mother’s Day was the last day for the Happy Hour special, so of course I made a stop for us all.

EmB – well she LOVES LOVES LOVES her some frap as well, actually, if I let her drink coffee in her bottle she probably would ask for it “dark!”

We are surely going to have some good momma-daughter dates at the cafe in the future!

Running away with her strawberries and cream.  I love her face!

This was just way too cute as well.  She is is just one of the boys!

Happy Mother’s Day to all my friends and family!

Not much to post on today.  We had a great weekend filled with beautiful weather, some visitors, a soccer game, first t-ball practice, Emmarie’s first molar, painting, yard work, and a trip to the boys favorite – Steak and Shake (kids eat free on weekends).  I have no pictures to show for it, but I did find these three pics on my card this morning.  We’ve cracked out the Play-Doh for quiet time when Emmarie is napping.

Owen’s favorite thing to create….. a volcano!

He’s very proud of it.

And of course monkey see monkey do…except Asher called his a mountain.

Now, we no longer have separate colors of doh – we have about 10 tubs of multi colored Play-Doh!  They don’t seem to mind!

I’ve been busy painting away at our house.  I have 3 rooms on the MUST get done FAST list.  Therefor, all the tiny little time slots I have in a day to myself, which is not many with the three kiddos, is spent cracking open the paint lids and slapping some color onto the walls.  I will have to post a pic of them all when I am done! Anyways, that is my excuse for not blogging as much as I normally do.  My apologies to you faithful followers that just need an O, A, and E fix more often than that.

We also have been busy getting paper work done, gathering documents, and writing checks out for summer camps and the upcoming school year – ALREADY!!!  (Gosh, that almost sounds like we have been busy working on a dossier – which will not be anytime soon!)  We had Owen’s Kindergarten orientation last week.  He rode a bus and had a fun filled morning with the teachers and other Kindy-beaners while us parents sat through a power point presentation.  Afterwards, Owen told me, “This is the best school I have ever been to in the whole wide world! And, I was not even scared to ride the bus and I want to ride the bus everyday!”  OK!! I would call that morning – successful!

A cute pic before we left of my first soon-to-be school aged child!!

We enrolled this little character into a 4 year old preschool this coming year.  Due to Michigan’s age cut-offs for school, he skips the 3 year old preschool he would have normally attended first in Wisconsin and goes straight to 4 year olds, like a pre-K class.  He technically could go to Kindergarten the following year, but our school district offers a unique class called Early Five’s.  This is a class just for children who are at the end of that cut-off that would benefit from a modified K class before heading to Kindergarten.  We will be doing this the following year.  So, for the next 2 years Asher will be in Funshine Preschool.  This coming year he will go 3 mornings a week. Next school year he goes ALL day, EVERY day! (for the record, that is a whole year sooner than Owen for all day school!)

While all that stuff is exciting for the kids and (somewhat) for Mom – we FIRST have a fun filled summer packed with SO much to do! Our calendar is filling fast!

Emmarie Birtukan is 16 months old today!  I just can’t believe it, although I am not sure why that is?  I mean seriously, she is really 16 months going on 2 years old!  Most days she keeps up with her two older bros – no problem and if she can’t do something that she has set in her mind, she throws herself into a drama queen tantrum! The girl gets so easily frustrated with her own self.  Her coordination floors me.  It does not take more than 2 times for her get her little chubby hands to do what her her mind is already set on.

Recently, I have had to start mini time-outs with little miss EmB.  It seems absurd to most, as she is only 16 months, but she is completely aware of what she does and how she is acting. I don’t actually call them “time-0uts” for her like we do the boys.  We just tell her she needs to go and take a break.  She gets all caught up in the constant action of the boys and trying to keep up, that sometimes she gets carried away and loses all control.  So, I make her sit close by to me if I am folding laundry, switching it over, unloading dishwasher, or whatever.  So far, she responds well but also is aware that she is being somewhat disciplined.

I am on the fence about potty training little Miss Independent.  I know she could do it, but I haven’t got the discipline in me to do it yet, especially with summer coming up and constantly going.  Emmarie goes on the big potty at least once a day with complete control.  She’s been doing this for 3 or 4 months now!  Recently, she’s been crouching down and holding her diaper and says “potty.”  As for poo-poo, it is so obvious to me when she is going, she practically removes herself from anybody’s existence and hides, returning with a bad stench!

Oh this girl!!!  Just getting way to big for her own britches and we love her so much!

Loving sitting on the big wheel, but then gets frustrated that she doesn’t move like her brother’s do.

I also love this hat on her! Easiest bed-head fix ever!

So determined!

Happy 16 months today Miss Birtukan!

Owen is playing soccer this spring on Saturday mornings.  He absolutely loves it and has so much fun.  He is not very competitive, but the smile on his face while he plays is just priceless.

It’s still pretty chilly out in the mornings this time of year.  I lent my chair and blanket to Owen until his practice started.

They practice for 30 minutes and then they play a 30 minute game.  My little soccer star in action!

I can’t believe I have joined the ranks of “Soccer Mom” already!  I can clearly see the next 18 years of my life unfolding.

Playing a little game with the coach before the real game starts.  That smile of excitement on Owen’s face is permanent the entire hour he is playing.  Such joy!

Owen in action!! He is #23 and he is in the black Ethiopia hat with big baggy navy blue sweats.  Make sure you really catch the ending. We find it to be so hilarious!!

In the midst of cleaning, organizing, disinfecting, and trying to get house life in order, we have been spending time everyday outside in our backyard.  My little backyardigans love it out there!  Our back yard is something we love most about our new home!

Boys will be boys – they love to dig around the tree in the dirt and bury their toys (or treasure as they call it).  They will play in the mud around the trees digging for hours a day.

And if they don’t look at least as dirty as Asher’s face in this picture than they didn’t play hard enough!

Owen is the leader of the dirt digging crew.

We will be filling our sand box up this weekend if at all possible, but something tells me that these two will want to  still play in the dirt instead?!?!?!?

Little Miss EmB loves her swing.  She would sit in it all day long if she could.  She screams, cries, and tosses herself to the ground if you take her out or don’t put her in right away when she walks over to it.

And while my kids are having their own fun, I have my own backyardigan fun too.  We have a ton of tall very mature trees in our yard.  We have all kinds of birds flying around, but we have one special little friend who tends to come back on a daily basis.  I’ve seen him a half a dozen times now in just the one week we have been here.  Meet Mr. Cardinal!

You know he is here because he is very loud and have a distinct sound.  Often times he is in conversation with another bird which I believe is coming from the neighbors trees someplace! As a matter of fact, I am in the front library room and I can hear him right now in the back of the house with all the doors and windows closed!

I now want some bird feeders and cute little bird houses in my yard to see what kinds of birds I can get snaps of.  I fear I may become a crazy old lady who watches birds on her porch for life!

Sorry, I have been absent for longer than normal.  We moved to our “new” home on Friday.  It has been a long 4 1/2 days of cleaning, scrubbing, disinfecting, chasing after the kids, unpacking, organizing, and getting settled.  Unfortunately, I can’t say I am close to being done, but maybe half way?  Its hard when you got three littles who need your attention all day long.  Fortunately, with all the help we had over the weekend from Caleb’s Mom, Dad, and Uncle Dave, we were able to get a huge amount of the bigger things done.  For example; the play set is up and more awesome than ever.  The beds, curtains, and dressers are all up, put together, and functional. We have couches to sit on and a TV to watch.  The heart of the home and most important, my kitchen is in complete working order!  So a HUGE thank you Chuck, Sharon, and Uncle Dave for EVERYTHING!

Once we get everything cleaned and organized to the point where I don’t see another moving box for decades, we can then start the process of making it “OUR” home!  (painting, carpet, wall art, cosmetic work, decorations, etc.)

Home Sweet (New) Home! We hope to see our friends and family walking through this door soon!

Easter Sunday morning started out with the kids finding all these eggs!  Yes, each one had something in it.  What fun is it to find an empty egg when you are 5, 3, and 1?  I think there were about 100 eggs.  Each year the pile keeps getting bigger.

The boys ready with their buckets!

It doesn’t surprise me one bit how fast EmB picked up the egg hunt game!  The first time she realized something was inside, she yelled at us until we opened every egg she found right away.

Asher collecting every egg on the stair case.

That is until Emmarie followed right behind him and started getting her own loot!

Look MOM!! He got that nice goose egg at church the night before.

Owen found the basket fairly easy.  Since I wasn’t all that prepared for Easter this year (remember we were suppose to be moving) the three kiddos had to share one basket.  Good thing they didn’t know any different and absolutely loved it!

Emmarie, later on in the day!  This girl is seriously a hoot!

Happy Easter to all this year!