It's not goodbye!

Our dear, dear friends are moving to Texas. These are some people we are really going to miss. We have thoroughly enjoyed our relationship with them, and really... they are more like family than friends!! Our community group had a little send-off for them, and we had a fun week of several guys/girls outings just to have some extra time with them before they leave. I kept telling Laura "It's not goodbye...I have to just say I will see you soon..." :) They are coming back in the fall for a visit, so that makes saying goodbye a bit easier. Will miss these guys BIG TIME. Love to you Payne family.

 

 

Baby Z with his little milk mustache :)

 

Zoo fun

I haven't been to the zoo in FOREVER!! I have been too scared to go with four kids :) But thankfully, Nana came along with us, even treated us to our day at the zoo (including our very first zoo train ride!!) ~ What a fabulous time together... We braved the spring break crowds, and zipped through the zoo in about 4 hours... the kids could have kept going, but I know when to say when :) It's all about finding the sweet spot before meltdown occurs.

 

I had a hard time getting good pictures, but here are few...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marcus was keeping his eye on those lorakeets :)

 

 

 

Moneybags

We had a special outing this weekend. A trip to our credit union to open savings accounts for each of the four kids. The older three have been in regular practice of "share, save, spend" whenever they receive money, and they had accumulated enough to warrant a savings account. Their Dad surprised them with a little "extra" just as a starting bonus to encourage them on a path of saving.

 

We were both extremely blessed to be raised with strong financial values, and it has made that part of marriage so much easier. We have the same values and tend to handle money pretty much the same way. It is exciting to be able to teach our little ones the blessing money can be, as a resource to use and not be mastered by, as a tool to accomplish important things, as a way to bless others, and ultimately as something we steward as it is given to us from above.

 

Of course I had to take a picture in the bank. Poor Kyle, he sometimes (often) gives me these "oh seriously, you are taking a picture right now??" looks... But i know deep down he is glad we have the memory, even if "Banker Greg" had to wait a few seconds while I have my way with the camera.

 

Let's go little savers! Learning to handle money God's way :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twin Day at school

The girls school had "Twin Day" on a recent Friday. Lucky for them, they are the exact same size and have several matching outfits :) Marin even pulled out her fake glasses to wear, so they would match in every detail. SOOOOO exciting!!

 

These girls, they are a riot. One minute they are hysterically laughing at their own inside joke, but just as quickly switch into beast mode if someone gives a dirty look or advances too close into personal space. They are just too, too much. I pray all the time for their relationship to stay close, that they would love and take care of eachother their whole lives long. They are very different, and yet I see them developing growing respect for the other's strengths. They are learning from eachother, and learning to appreciate differences.

 

On the other hand, did I mention beast mode? :)

 

 

 

 

 

St Patty's 2013

We've now got FOUR little Irish Corrigans to celebrate St Patty's with :) We had a fun celebration with all the Corrigans in Vancouver, and I even happened to randomly have two matching shirts for the boys. They came from two different people, both for Max when he was younger! What perfect fortune that they both fit into them this year. Some little leprechaun left gold coins on our front door step too! That's the first year he has done that, so that was quite a fun treat :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Busdriver

Each day when Marin gets home from school, we sit down on the couch with a snack and cuddle. She tells me about her day, the highs and lows. We have about 15 minutes of alone time before the other kids start getting up from rest time. On this particular day, she told me that her low was regarding her busdriver.

Marin: "Mommy, my busdriver had a hard day today"

Me: "Oh that's too bad. What happened?"

Marin (dramatic retelling, big eyes, big gestures): "Well, Mommy. The WHOLE bus was being SO naughty, NOBODY was listening to him. He was getting REALLY frustrated, he even had to stop the bus and say that if the kids didn't be quiet, he would find a REALLY mean busdriver to take his place. He TRIES to be nice, and the kids STILL don't listen. They were SO loud, and I felt SO sad for him. He couldn't even hear, when he had to stop at the train tracks, Mom. HE COULDN'T EVEN LISTEN FOR TRAINS MOM!!"

Me: "Oh dear. Poor busdriver! He is a nice man too, we should pray for him that he would feel better"

Marin: "Yes fine, you pray for him. I am going to write him a card."

Me: "Alrighty then, sounds good. He will like that. What are you going to say?"

Marin: "You'll see. Can I have one of your cards? You can read it at the end."

Me: "Sure, babylove"

So anyway, enough of my writing out scripts... That is hard work :)

Here is her card she made for Busdriver. She said he was very glad and thanked her a few times. I did actually pray for him. It's a hard job, and I pray her sweetness brought him a huge dose of joy that day :)

 

What she wrote:
Dear Busdriver,

I'm sorry that some of the kids on the bus are not listening to you. Thank you for driving our bus. I think you are a sweet busdriver.

By Marin

ps. Maddy wasn't about to be outdone. She also wrote a similar note, but I was not allowed to take a picture :) Both girls got big smiles from their Busdrivers that day!

Two Peas in a Pod

Also caught reading together... These are my two newsies, poring over their Sunday paper! Kyle reading the news, Marin reading the funnies :) This is what they do every Sunday morning!

Caught Reading

Madeline has the BEST kindergarten teacher. Kids this age love to be read to, but can drag their feet about reading themselves... It is hard when you are first reading, having to go slow and sound everything out. It can be exhausting when all you want is a good story!

 

One of her recent tricks to get the kids excited and motivated to read aloud at home, was to do a little campaign called "Caught Reading" where the parents look for opportunities to snap pictures of their kids reading aloud at home, or just reading quietly themselves. And then we email them to the teacher, who made a big display at school. Maddy came home super excited about this, all rawring to go :) See what i mean, AWESOME TEACHER!! So I snapped a couple that week of her reading moments. My favorite was the one where I caught her mid-book, she had fallen asleep in her bed during rest time. The teacher was tickled by it, and she asked me permission to put it on her FB page for her teacher friends to see. There were a lot of sweet comments, and I read them to Maddy. Her smile glowed.

 

A very fun school-year moment :)

 

 

 

My little Maxy Valentine

Oh Max... he was the first baby boy to capture my heart. We love our time together while the girls are at school, and the baby is napping. He loves to wrestle or snuggle, both is even better! He loves to read, and he loves to sass me. That's what happens when you turn 3.5 apparently. He is totally snickery and outrageous, and I can't help but laugh. Kyle says I need to take his sass more seriously, and I've been working on it. Really I have. Honestly, it would be in MY best interest (because apparently it's all about me) to whip those buns right into shape. Again, I'm working on it. I'm pretty strict!! I am!! Most of the time... He just knows how to work me. Kyle just sighs and gives me those doleful eyes, saying "oh you Corrigan mothers and your boys"... This is a reference to his very wonderful, doting mother. Her kids can do no wrong! Not really, but you know what I mean. She REALLY loves her kids! Now Kyle is pointing out that I have arrived, and I am in the club. I think he's also giving me a hard time. Stinker. I can't help it!! Max is too much smoochy for me to handle sometimes.

 

 

 

 

 

Marcus, 7 and 8 months old

Marcus is growing and getting cuter, chubbier and just sweeter every single minute. Still not sleeping through the night though!!!! What the... oh well, it's a pretty painless experience getting up with him to nurse, just once a night... he is so snuggly, and i usually fall asleep in the chair while he cuddles in close. I love him!

 

Also he is enjoying solid foods, however he unfortunately inherited his Momma's sensitive skin, and seems to break out in a rashy rash after every meal. Working on trying to really pinpoint a food allergy, if that's even it. We're working on it.

 

Here is just some darling-ness to share:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Window love notes

Madeline has been practicing her writing. Found this little love note written out with window markers the last time my parents came for a visit. Love.

 

I love grandpa. I love nana.

Sledding with the (other) Oregon Corrigans

We had a blast going sledding with Drew & Sarah's fam up at Mt Hood! I know we have hijacked the term "Oregon Corrigans" but really, there are a LOT of us in Oregon :) It really isn't fair that we use the phrase. Somebody really should stop me from hogging it. Somebody stop me (name that movie)... But actually don't, because I don't want to stop! :)

 

Anyway, back to sledding... We had a fabulous day at their cabin in Welches, and enjoyed lots of fun cousin time... This was the first real sledding outing (not counting our backyard), and my kids are 100% hooked. There was nothing but "ooh" and "aaah" just driving up there, as we realized they have never driven up to the snow, therefore they could not make sense of these great walls of snow on the shoulders of the freeway :) So awesome!! They were completely giddy, and after the long fabulous day, they all kep repeating "that was the best day of my whole life". Definitely need to do this a ton more next year! Hopefully by then, the baby-child will enjoy the whistling wind a bit more :)

 

Thanks to Auntie Sarah for taking so many great pics... she's the best! She also cooked us a delish meal, including the unexpected winning side dish of... brussel sprouts!! THE MOST DELICIOUS THING EVER. I am not exaggerating, they were SO yummy. We have made them at home since, and I cannot get enough. I don't know how she does it ~ all I know she is an AMAZING cook. Even my foodie hubby agrees she is one of the best cooks we know.

 

Loved loved all the special time we got with one of our favorite families. How can I not love them - after all, they are also OREGON CORRIGANS. Har.