Our New Arrival

Another little miracle - Thank you Lord!

John Michael Phares

born August 11th, 2015.  8lb 2oz of chub and cuteness.

(Notice I put the YEAR there in the birthdate - that's to avoid any confusion since my blogging schedule seems to correspond with my babies births ;-)

~ one day old at the hospital ~

To make up for lost time, and to tide you over until I post again, I'm going to go ahead and post an abundance of photos of John's first few days...

A very happy mamma - and baby John even looks smiling and happy

                  baby John                                      me, 36 years ago

See any resemblances there?

Grandpa (John Michael), Grandma, and baby John Michael

Helen Sue ~ my other look-alike

Paul Benjamin ~ very happy to have a little brother!

At this moment Susie and Paul were more intrigued by each others funny faces than by John....

our bright eyed Susan

Our five children, 5 years old and under. We are sooooooo blessed!

My wonderful husband Ben ~ who humored me and let me take this photo of him

and of course, a pajama picture ~ Lucy gets the first turn while everyone else
wait for last baby cuddles before bedtime

Due to the excitement and fullness of "normal" life with five young children I have barely taken any photos since these first few days, I'll try to do better for my next bi-annual post ;-)


"O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever."
Psalm 136:1

Sweet Susie

Welcome Susan Faith

Susan Faith ~ Born March 10th, 2014

7lb 4 oz (my smallest by far!) 19" long

12 hours old - so peaceful

Ben and his three girls

Paul seems to like Susie, but he's not sure how to react when she cries.

Grandma helping with Susie

Helen Sue has been waiting for Susan's arrival
almost as impatiently as I have been!

Lucy is my big helper
(and Helen is not thrilled about giving Lucy a turn to hold Susan) 

Me and my sweet baby girl

Baby Susie still mostly keeps those eyes shut during the day and wide open all night.
I'll have to take some night pictures soon to show you her awake ;-)

Proverbs 30:18 ~ Through a Mothers Eyes

There are three things that amaze me—

yea, four things that I don’t understand:

The way of the bottles to all disappear at once;

 

the way one meal can transform an entire face;

the fascination of a toilet full of toys;

 and the way of a very young man with a maid.

  

All inspiration thanks to my sweet, one year old boyish-boy.

Cozying up for the Cold

My children think it is so exciting to put on coats and hats and go outside in the (literally) freezing cold. Left to myself I might think it was exciting to cuddle up on the couch in front of the fireplace in the warm house, but they get me out so I get them bundled. I do love the look of warm winter coats :-)

I actually got a photo with all three children smiling!
It took clicking away about twenty times but - Yay!

A very sweet (and warm) pass-me-down "cozy coat" for Lucy
from a good friend (thank you Kathleen!)

Helen now get's Lucy's pass-me down "Lizzy Coat" - named thus
because cousin Lizzy gave it to us and has a matching one.
(What, doesn't everyone name their coats?)

Lucy definitely has a certain "mom is taking too many pictures" expression.
Hmmm. Her daddy gets that expression as soon as he sees the camera
pointing anywhere near his vicinity. 

At Last...

A Phares family photo. Paul is now 9 months old and we have our first photo of us all together since we took one at the hospital the day after he was born. Ben has a strong dislike of posing for pictures but he was being very kind to me by allowing us to get this photo taken at a wedding we attended this past Saturday. As you can see, the children have changed quite a bit :-)

May 2013

August 2012

Our Midnight Marauder

No, I'm not referring to this big guy. We have our own little just-turned-three midnight marauder who waits until all the house is sleeping and then tiptoes (or "tips-her-toes" as she puts it) out into the living room, gets out all her toys, and plays happily until she falls back to sleep.

Now maybe it's just my laziness, or my tiredness, or my under-developed parenting skills, but as long as she's happy out there I'm happy in bed. There are enough little crisis' to rob a mothers sleep; hungry babies, sick toddlers, ferocious rats, etc. Besides, who knows, maybe, just maybe, she'll take a good nap tomorrow :-)

The kingdom of heaven is like…

There I was this morning, sitting at the dining room table with my daughters. As usual, my 1 1/2 year old was in the process of eating her eggs and using them as hair gel at the same time. Lucy, at the more mature age of almost-three, was busily multi-asking: eating toast while spilling her orange juice. Outside the window, the birds had started their breakfast at the bird feeders. Finches, chickadees, crows, a nuthatch, two woodpeckers and even a stray couple of pigeons. Then it hit me. Maybe the kingdom of heaven is like a bird-feeder. We could say church is like a bird-feeder, but since Jesus started this whole story telling thing, I’ll follow with his beginning.

Maybe... The kingdom of heaven is like a bird feeder. The seed is there for everyone to eat. There are no walls or barriers. It just sits there for anyone who is hungry. Whether you are hungry or not doesn’t matter, the food just sits there. Not every bird comes, but the ones who do come are usually quite a motley crew. There is the large assortment of chickadees. They can’t seem to decide if they’d rather eat or talk. Sometimes they just want to fly in circles and pick fights. Then there are the starlings. They can’t eat out of the small feeders, but enjoy scaring all of the smaller birds away so that no one can eat. They make a lot of noise, but don’t seem very useful to the bird kingdom. There are also the gold finches and house finches. They seem to be the quietest group. They usually play nice and even show a nice bit of color now and then.

The nuthatch likes to look down on the whole show from the tree for a while. Sometimes he will join in, but mostly he is just there to watch and inspect. The robins usually show up first, but like to leave when the riffraff arrives. The grosbeaks arrive when the warm weather of summer comes. They don’t come often, but when they do, you feel flattered to have them. There are still more; the hummingbirds, the sparrows, the pigeons, the sapsucker and the rest. One thing draws all of us. It doesn’t apologize for seeming to be the same every week; it doesn’t try to change and be what everyone wants it to be. It just sits there in the same place every day. If you are in need; take, eat, this is my body and blood broken for you. 

Eve Started it All

Prayer and Almond Roca

Lucy is learning to say her "Lord's Prayer". She pretty much has is down, although with her particular two-year-old's dialect it's possible only her daddy and I can understand her :-)

(excuse the video quality and angle, Lucy and I were laying on the couch

together while I held my phone up to video. Not ideal circumstances,

but I don't often get out my real camera these days...)

Now this little girl knows how to enjoy her almond roca!

One little piece provided about 45 minutes of entertainment and enjoyment :-)

Naughty or Nice?

What do I "deserve" this Christmas? Hmmm...

Certainly not a candy filled stocking.

 

Fall Fun

Lucy and Helen got to play in the leaves for the first time last week. Their good friend Joan came over and they all had a grand time in the leaves, then after playing outside we all came in and got warm and cozy. Here's another little video I made for my girls to watch.

Welcome Baby Paul

Baby Paul Benjamin arrived healthy and hearty, on Saturday night. (August 18th) He weighed 8 lbs and 14 oz, and was 21" long. We all already love him so much. Lucy and Helen try to share their toys and books with him, but we have to limit the amount of "loving" they give him. :-)

Big Foot

I'm sure every child since time began has at one point discovered the fun of wearing their parents shoes (or clogs or sandals or whatever the appropriate footwear of the age was)  Lucy recently made this discovery and there is never a day that goes by without her parading around the house "being" daddy or mommy. Helen just follows her around, still a bit wobbly on her feet but wanting to be in on whatever action Lucy is creating.

Girls being Girly

What is it about hair bows and little girls? Grandma Patty sent a package of bright colored hair bows and barrettes for the girls. (along with many other prizes, Thank you again Grandma!) and Lucy just kept wanting me to put in one after the other.

"Another one, please Mama"

Admiring the effect

Helen even wore one bow for about 2 minutes.