you never forget your first

pigtails

K.I.T.

since we live far away from both of our families that we love SO much, technology is our best friend when it comes to keeping in touch with them.  cell phones and text pics are a blessed thing.  I've never counted, but I am sure my sister sarah and I send an average of 4,000 texts per hour.  how else could I see my nephew Jackson's latest firetruck, or what he is having for lunch?
texts and chats are great, but our most favorite way to talk to the fam of all is SKYPE!
we skype the grandparents, aunts, uncles, best friends in england...even our cousin amy that lives a few miles down the road.  I know I am a big dork for this, but it just amazes me that you can just open the computer and call someone and see them moving around in chilly england when you are in the sun city of the ELP.  yesterday, eden and her cousin Jackson danced around together in their living rooms to apple bottom jeans.  aunt sarah chatted with charlotte as she chewed on a plastic black and decker hammer. mimi watched charlotte play with lightning mcqueen, and got to see eden's new wind-up seal (that she calls a fish).
it is just so nice to have our families and friends voices in our homes even though they are hundreds and thousands of miles away in other states and countries.
thanks skype inventors for the free gift of keeping us all together.

 

what's up aunt sarah?!

cousin time

ahhh, Jackson, so much older and wiser. (they are 15 days apart)

oh. and p.s. my oldest sister is due to give birth to my new nephew/niece in a few days and my dad is going to skype me in the hospital so I can see him/her just after being born!  yahoo!

free reads

yesterday I took my beauties to the library.  the esperanza acosta moreno regional branch library. can you tell we live in el paso?  it is about half a mile from our house and a little bit of heaven on the east side.  eden and I used to go almost every day before charlotte was born.  we passed by it and the giant perfect playground behind on our morning walk.  the weather is just now starting to be magnificent for walking again so it's time to begin our frequenting.  this library is only a few years old and is SO so so cool.  it has this neato swirly roof that is red and one of the walls is bright yellow.  certainly doesn't look like the libraries that I grew up visiting.  eden has always been obsessed with reading and books, so it is one of her favorite places to be.  she just had a new book shelf made for her by papa because her little red one could no longer house her growing libary.

this trip she found two free bookmarks and you would have thought they were made of gold.  she could not believe that she could keep them and use them in her books.  she sat in a big swivel chair with her huge hard back olivia book and used her bookmark on each page.  I don't think she understood it's purpose at all, but it sure was cute watching her use it.  charlotte crawled around pulling books off of shelves and drooling, and I followed behind replacing them. 

sometimes I get teary just taking in moments like that.  well, a lot of times.  it is just hard for me to understand why God would let me mother these two girls and teach them things and take them to libraries.  seems like a gift that should be reserved for someone far more worthy than I could ever be.  but then...none of us are worthy of his love or gifts or goodness.

baffling.

on a much lighter note.  eden LOVES where's waldo.  isn't that hilarity?  pete's parents got her into finding that striped sweatered guy while we were visiting GA over Christmas. so, of course we had to check out a where's waldo that I found.

this is what charlotte does while we read at home...if she isn't trying to tear the pages...

why, yes that is a snow globe.  my oldest cried tears of anguish at the mention of me boxing it up with the Christmas decor.  so now, we get to hear jingle bells year round.

  

cannot even wait to hear big sister reading to this little sister one sweet day.

here's to free books, and library cards, and reading with your children.

the princess bride

 

and...

her little sister

thirty-one

happy birthday to peter thomas.
who loves Jesus, hot wings, gadgets, coffee, transformers, mexico, steak, tools, sunflower seeds, toms, casas por cristo, his family, cakes from vista market, lightnin' mcqueen, target, twix, japanese steak houses, willie nelson, the book "pigs love potatoes", the georgia bulldogs, his mom's chocolate pie, sweet tea, dwight schrute, jack bauer, pulling weeds, raisin cream pies, and loofas.

eden adeline,
charlotte mae,
and for some reason,
me.

i love you and look forward to this thirty-first year of your life on planet earth.  and the next thirty-one.

charlotte's fanny

 

so, a few weeks ago I decided to go cloth.  cloth diapering, that is.  I had always wanted to cover eden's booty in cloth, but used the excuse that I was in nursing school, and didn't have time for that hoo hah.  and then I got freaked out by it again when we were pregnant with charlotte.  thinking about newborn squirty breast milk poo and the many thousands of diaper changes.  but a few weeks ago I took the plunge.

and my friends.

it is easy!  it isn't a big deal!  it isn't gross!  and I LOVE THEM.

my cousin (3rd or 4th) named amy has been using them on her little birthday boy jonas for awhile now.  after seeing his cute little bottom in them, and watching her be a real cloth diaper mom I realized it can't be that horrible.  she helped me figure out the cloth diaper lingo, and gave me her opinions on the different types (she'd tried a bunch).  I bought two different kinds and ended up loving one called bumgenius all in one organic something or other.  I don't care that they are organic, I just like the snaps and that the diaper is one big thing...no inserts.  although I hear some insert diapers are super.

I couldn't help but buy 2 that are pink.  they are just so stinking cute.  and for reals so much easier than you'd think.  gone are the days of our mothers pins and plastic diaper covers.  and it only adds a load of laundry a day.

so, three cheers for cloth diapers.  I am a fan for life.  I get excited about washing them and folding them, and putting them on charlotte's pudgy bum.  and about my new shower sprayer (for the poo) .  isn't that embarrassing?  and not throwing diapers into the trash, saving cash flow, and it is easy on the sweet baby cheeks.

in one hour

 

this is what happened today between the hours of 11am and 12pm.  no, I am not trying to be Jack Bauer.  I was just laughing about it and decided to blog it up.
before I begin you should know that I watch a little boy named Jax 3 days a week.  8am-3:30pm.  his parents are missionaries with casas and his mom works 3 days a week in the office.  he has juvenile diabetes and was diagnosed at 18 months.  he's 2 1/2 now.  to keep his little body working right he requires blood glucose monitoring and insulin shots multiples times a day.  the sweet guy hardly even notices a prick or poke.  so, now you know a bit about jax, and I will proceed.

pete called and needed something for our taxes.  it was in a safe that is locked in a closet.  charlotte woke up, and I changed her.  jax pooped so I changed him.  i got some toys to entertain charlotte while I tried to open the bleepity bleep safe...couldn't get it to budge.  pete called and needed the info, I got mad and said something like how about HE tries to entertain 3 kids and open a safe and blah blah blah.  he gets mad, I hang up on him.  eden and jax bring 85 toys into the room while I am in the closet working on the safe.  charlotte starts chewing on a my little pony's mane and gets upset because purple fake hair has encompassed her mouth.  I give up on the safe.  call pete back.  cry because I can't just drop everything to open a safe and he will just never understand and I need to chop the onions for the crock pot chili.  lencho vomits grass behind the couch.  charlotte somehow gets ahold of eden's hot pink lip gloss and squeezes it on the the carpet. I try try try really hard to get it up with good old spot shot.  (if you have a pet or small child....you NEED spot shot in your life).

i check jax's blood sugar. pete calls and we decide to be friends again.  get lunch ready, inject insulin, yell at eden because she accidentally pushed charlotte over and made her hit her head on the green coffee table.  I shove some left over annie's organic mac and cheese into my mouth that I reheated for eden's lunch.  apologize to eden for yelling at her.  and she says...

it's ok mom, sometimes people just have to get mad.

and that is what made me laugh and love her all the more and write this all out.

and there you have it people.  me.  I really don't cry at silly things every day.  and I try really hard not to yell at small children when they accidentally harm their younger sibling.  but.  sometimes I do. sometimes I am hungry or tired or just selfish and the little really not important things get to me.  thank goodness for grace, food, and perspective.

don't know why

i








I don't know why....I didn't blog.
thanks norah jones.

I really don't know why I fell off the blogger wagon these last few months. I just enjoy reading other people's blogs and not updating my own. that's all.

so. I suppose I won't try and recreate the last 4 months or so. we'll just start with what has happened as of late. my most fave event in recent dockery world was pete's 200th build with our ministry, casas por cristo. pete has been working at casas in some form for the last 10 years. 1/3 of his life. and this Friday he nailed up the plaque on his 200th home. to God be the glory great things he has done (sung with good harmony).

my parents and in-laws came down (or over) for the build. our girls also joined in...it was charlotte's first spend the night trip to mexico. she got to use her new passport and learn how to hammer with daddy. she was also passed around to many different sweet mexican ladies and kids. our blue eyed girls are quite the celebrities in the land where almost everyone has brown.
we had a little hot dog fiesta after the dedication and a good crowd from the neighborhood showed up to chow down. we didn't want to bring honor or glory to pete through any of this...we just wanted to have a little party to mark this pretty grand number of homes that God has allowed him to build with the help of many thousands of volunteers. we are so grateful to be a part of casas and showing people that God does indeed care for them and love them, and so do His people.
the dockery family hearts juarez, mexico. forever. we weren't scared. we didn't feel threatened. and we want our girls growing up serving in this city that is currently plagued by a bloody drug war. we pray that soon and very soon it will all be over. but there really isn't anything that would stop us from continuing to build homes for people and bring hope and love and Jesus. God doesn't call us to be safe. or comfortable.

so. there is the beginning of what I hope is a more current update-age of blogdom.
the girls are great. charlotte is now 7 months old. and I have no idea how that happened. she is seriously the smiliest, most happy baby I've ever known. eden is a pretty good big sister. sometimes a little rough with charlie girl, but mostly sweet. they take baths together every night, and we have to make them get out when the water is cold...they are having such a fun splashy time. eden is currently obsessed with playing pretend and I am almost always king triton, ariel, or some other disney princess character. the mean queen from snow white is another favorite character I portray.

I absolutely love being a registered nurse that stays at home raising her daughters. and I couldn't be more grateful.

p.s. sorry the pictures are first. I always get confused on how to fix that.