Six weeks....

Someone is six weeks old today!!! I can't believe it's already been six weeks. The time has just flown by....

Anne has just fallen into life here like she was always here. We have just been eating up her smiles, her sweet newborn skin, that fresh smell after her nightly bath, the way she studies your face with her deep blue eyes, her tints of red in that brown hair, the growing rolls on her legs and arms, and even the poopy diapers and fussy times. It goes so fast. Too fast.....

Just another day....

June 15th was the "official" start to the monsoon season here. I say monsoon with tongue in cheek because I know the rest of the world thinks of monsoon as devastating storms...we call monsoon season out here the time when we get our rain. Pretty much the rain for the year. Yes, we average only 8-10" of rain year. Crazy, isn't it? Where I grew up got that in almost three weeks during May.

The kids got up from their naps and we could smell the rain in the air. There was distant thunder and the excitement grew...would it rain? Would it? My girls started doing their rain dance, hoping it would come.

And then it started to sprinkle. The kids ran outside and danced in the sprinkles. I wish I could have caught that on camera, but I was feeding a hungry baby. But here are some afters....

 I love this picture of Alaina. That song "I'm singing in the rain" comes to mind!

Landon sporting his diaper and rubber boots. Yes, that's how we roll 'round here during monsoon!

Storm in the distance. This is one of my favorite times of year here. Actually, it's my favorite time of year. Because we live in the valley, we have a great view of the storms coming over the mountains.  You can actually see several different storms at once from the porch. Here's to our first rain of the season.  I am just praying the rain comes to Colorado........

Summer days.....

Last night I noticed my kids had put on their rain boots....this could only mean one thing. They were playing in the mud.  Out here in Arizona, we must water our yard, everyday, because we live in the desert and we are hitting triple digits right now. The water runs off the yard and pools at the bottom of the driveway, making a nice mud hole for the children to play in.

I have been trying real hard to have a good attitude about this mud hole. It provides long playing time for the kids. And they are outside, not inside begging to watch TV. So last night I posted on a Facebook a status "Thou shalt not be mad when the kids are outside playing in the mud....at least they are outside." (or something to that effect).

OH! If only I could have seen what the outcome was going to be....

I didn't realize we had our own spa here at the Zuck's! We are now offering exfoliating mud baths at a very reasonable price!

I must confess I didn't have on my happy face when I found this poor boy! His over zealous sisters decided he needed a full on mud bath. I will be washing sheets today because I am pretty sure there will still be little particles of dirt on his pillow. Not that dirt hurts anyone. I just prefer not to sleep in a crusty bed, so I am thinking he might like a clean bed as well.  I also made sure the girls understood that if they ever coated their brother in mud like that again....this mama would be coating them in mud....which, surprise, surprise! They didn't' like the sound of that.

Oh summer, summer....thou art so messy!!!!!

Summer Fun

My three older girls are 8, 6, and 5 and afternoon naps don't always happen here for them anymore. I usually have them lay down for a "quiet time" but that doesn't always mean they sleep.  But usually after some down time we can then make it through to the evening without any major breakdowns or drama.

One day I had the idea to write down some fun ideas for the girls to do on those afternoons when they don't lay down or  if we have some extra time and they seem bored. My girls don't know that word yet, or what it means, but I can tell they are feeling bored when they are asking to watch TV. All.the.time. They can be relentless.

We wrote down some ideas and then put them into a big glass jar. Today we tried it for the first time. They are now out in the kitchen creating masterpieces with play dough. Here are some of the ideas we wrote down....

-send grandma an email
-bake something
-puzzles
-swimming
-painting
-make a card
-legos
-nap (my personal favorite!!!)
-read a book
-play a game

and the slips of paper go on. There are some chores thrown in there.  Since Landon still naps in the afternoon, that time is great for the girls to do some more "grown up" things that little Brother can get in the way of.

Our jar of fun

On a side note, I was outside this morning and saw a hummingbird at my hanging basket of petunias, so of course I grabbed my camera.

Butterfly

I think hummingbirds are so neat. I have a feeder and there are usually a half dozen or more flying around there in the morning and again in the evening.  This one was really working the petunias over.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a great week!

Bath time

Anne is not a real big fan of her bath....yet. But I am sure that will change soon. I love how sweet smelling a freshly bathed baby is! There is nothing quite like it.

 Here is Grandma holding her in the sink. Bathing Anne has become a two person job because she arches her back and pushes against the sink, making it hard to hold onto her and wash her at the same time.

"Okay mom, I've had enough!"

  Once she bathed and dried off, I put lavender lotion on her, and we also dab some lavender essential oil on the bottom of her feet, and I also put frankincense essential oil along her spine. She smells so good once she's all done! And once Anne is finally dressed and snuggled, she calms right down and is usually ready to go to bed shortly after. This has become a great bedtime routine.

It's hard to believe our baby girl will be a month old in less then a week! The time has just been flying by. I still am waiting for life to fall into a routine. It usually takes about six weeks, so I still have two weeks to find it! ;)

I have been rereading "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp (LOVE her. If you don't read her blog, you need to), and "The Mission of Motherhood" by Sally Clarkson (LOVE her as well). It's been a good reminder to slow down and look for the gifts, however the "ordinary", and also to remember my ministry to my family and what that should look like.

What it's really like to have a basketball team in your house....

So I don't actually have a basketball team, but I have enough players to make a basketball team. Not that they understand the game or could play anytime soon, but it feels as though my five kids have enough energy to play the game.  Especially this one.....

In one day, my little Huckleberry Pie dumped an extra large box of Nerds all over my tile floor, in which I will probably be finding little nerds under my sofa in three months from now! He then continued on and put a crayon in my dryer, which I didn't find until AFTER I had washed Anne's clothes and had red crayon smeared all over them. Praise Jesus for Oxi Clean, which took it out! And then he also put potatoes in my dryer. After learning to check the dryer with the crayon incident, I did find the aforementioned potatoes before they became baked! But it's hard to stay mad at the little boy. He is, after all, the lone boy in the bunch.

Anne is doing well. It's hard to believe she will already be three weeks this Friday. Time is just flying by so quickly. My mom came the Monday after Anne was born, and my dad and brother came out a few days later......

There was lots of singing, dancing, playing instruments, wrestling, swinging, and baby time. The days went much too quick. My mom's time is ending this week. Different times I ask myself how in the world I will do this on my own, but we will find a new rhythm to our days as we go along. I should try not to look much further ahead then a day at a time. And my husband has finished all the baling and the corn will be planted by the end of the week, so he shouldn't be as busy either, until barley harvest at the end of the month.

So I must be content with life moving slower, making sure kids are given the attention they need, baby is settling into routine, and this mommy is getting more rest. That is the hardest for me to adjust to; the not as much sleep. :)

But the kids are doing great with Anne Noelle, and I am so thankful that the adjustment in that way hasn't been too hard.  But that is what is new around here. The house project has been moving slow, but our steel roof has arrived and we are waiting on installation. The HVAC guy is out today to install our unit too. I will start getting more excited once we get the drywall done and I can start painting! But progress is being made. Hopefully I will have more pictures of that soon.

Hope you all have a great week!