Catching up: Halloween

It's been a busy time in the buzzmeo house these past several weeks. We've had a lot of visiting family from out of town and we are so grateful that so many loved ones made the trip!

Buzz' mom and sister's family were here for Halloween. It was great fun to round up all the kids and hit the 'hood together!

Sparkle dressed up as Cinderella, and the younger girls were her little mice friends. I wasn't sure Sunny was going to make it very far...

...but once she figured out that candy was involved, she perked right up and persevered along with the other kids.

Doesn't our family look big?!

Special thanks to mom who stayed at our house to hand out the candy!

And props to Aunt Bean for making a super cool Halloween dinner!(I told you that Sunny was having a rough night!)

Surveying their haul. Not bad!

From the mouths of babes...

When putting Sparkle to bed tonight...

Sparkle: (Looking thoughtful) Mom, can I tell you a secret that T (cousin) told me?

Me: Sure, what is it?

Sparkle: Our president thinks it's okay to... the babies in mommy's tummies... to... to give them bad medicine... to kill them. That's very bad, Mommy.

Me: Yes honey, some people think that it's okay...

Wow.

The discussion continued with me telling her about how God creates each and every baby and how sad it is when people don't love those little babies like He does. I also made sure to tell her how excited I was to find out that she was in my tummy and how I loved her and wanted to protect her so that she would be healthy and strong.

What heavy bedtime conversation! What a world we live in that I would have this discussion with my daughter at the tender age of five. While it saddens me that my baby would have to think about such weighty issues, I am proud that she recognizes the value of life and glad that she felt that she could come to me and talk about something that was difficult for her to think about.

What a good reminder for me to pray for wisdom! Lord knows that many more conversations like this one are in our future. What a daunting privilege motherhood is!

Mmmm...

Have you ever seen such scrumptious cheeks?

I didn't think so...

Yum!!!

Oww!

Sunny asked for a bite of one of the Milk Duds that I was enjoying earlier today. I bit one in half and she opened her mouth so that I could put it in. She bit down hard, but missed the candy that had landed on her tongue...

"OWW!" I yelled. "You bit my thumb!"

Sunny looked startled and confused, then disgusted, and finally worried as she very carefully leaned over to spit out...

what she thought...

was my thumb!!!

We've been laughing about that one all day. :)

SO good...

...to see my friends again!

This past weekend we had a visit from two of our favorite ladies and their sweet little babes.

Isn't she beautiful?

I'm sure there has never been a more happy little guy!

So thankful and touched that they and their families made the effort to get them out here for a visit!

Thank you girls for all of your help! I don't remember the last time that I got to shower two days in a row. :) Thank you for loving my family and spending so much time playing with my girls. Thank you most of all for just being here with me, nourishing my soul. I've missed you so much and it was beyond good to spend time with you again. Looking forward to the next time!

And finally, a picture of sweet Clara for those of you who have been asking. :)

Pizza party!

Just a few pictures from when we had the cousins over earlier this week for pizza and Wii. Fun times!

On a side note, I'm really enjoying being able to see my feet again!

Adjusting...

The past couple of weeks have been a sleepy, happy, snugly time for our family. Buzz' program has been wonderful about getting him time off to be with his girls and we've loved all the time that we've been able to spend getting to know our sweet little babe.

I won't lie. I've been a little sleep deprived. I even told another mom at Sparkle's soccer game that we had named our baby Julia. I was more than a little embarrassed when I had to tell her that I had gotten it wrong! You see, we didn't have a name picked out before Clara was born. We took a full two hours to spend with her and decide on a name before we even called anyone to tell them that she had been born. Rest assured though, almost two weeks in, her given name has stuck and now the only name that we call her besides her own is Sunny's. Still not sure when that issue will resolve... probably we shouldn't have given all three girls such similar names!

Sparkle has taken the addition to our family in stride. She's in school much of the day anyway and has been through this before, so she seems to be doing very well. She runs home every day and washes her hands so that she can touch and hold her sister. Look at her smile... she just adores her little Clara!

Sunny has had a harder time adjusting to her sister's homecoming. She was a bit mopey the first week or so, but she's coming around nicely and marches around the house saying, "I am [Sunny]! I a big sista now!" She loves to sit next to her baby sister and do puzzles and read books. Clara has been busily wrapping us around her tiny little finger... she has a the sweetest little smiling expression on her face much of the time. Not to mention to most fuzzy little head of hair ever! She is perfect in every way... or at least she will be when she is sleeping through the night! :)