Its getting Pink around here...

Brinley settled on a Pinkalucious 5th Birthday Party so lets get the party started... Welcome to Brin's Pinkilicous Party...

All the festivities started with reading Goldilicious (Pinkalicous' Make believe Unicorn)! Thanks Grandma Otis.My baby turned 5 can you believe it?!

My aunt Kristen made this amazing cake ...Next the girls stuffed the most adorable pink Unicorn's and added a heart and a wish...

After that, the girls moved on to the dress-up cart for wings, tutus, crowns, & rings!

Brinley had the most wonderful time (at least thats what she keeps saying over and over.) We are all so grateful for the most amazing support system of family and friends.

Thank you Brinley...

Five years ago today I took a road that I will be journeying for the rest of my life... My baby girl made me a mother. On a very raining day in Monroe, LA ,overlooking the Ouachita river at St. Francis hospital, I delivered our sweet Brinley Ella. As soon as her tiny self saw this world she literally cried ONE time and I don't think I heard a peep from her for days. She just sat there taking it all in. Straight from the hospital she slept 6-8 hours through the night. She was a perfect baby, and she continues to make parenting relatively easy on her mom and dad. Our little rule following daughter loves to help others and cares so deeply about others feelings. We are surly blessed to have her with us and cant wait for many more wonderful years to come.

Happy 5th Birthday my sweet Brinley Ella!!!

I love this parenting thing!

Fun Facts

One fun fact about each of my kids,

What shoes to wear today???...

Brin and I cleaned out her room the other day and as we approached her shoes I felt very overwhelmed I mean how many shoes can a four year old really need??? ...

Okay I counted, dare I say, 40 pairs of shoes. Not just shoes that all fit now or are for the spring and summer. Yes, I am a little ashamed of the indulgence of these cute little shoes but I am not the only one to blame I do have a very generous family and Brin is the only girl on both sides (not for long lone Princess your going to have to share the crown;) but for now 40 pairs of adorable shoes for one little Princess. Hope you’re not the only one!!!

Owen and his obsessive behavior...

Owen is in love with Spiderman. Yes, I choose my word carefully he is indeed in love! He carries a toy around with him constantly unless Spidy is tired then you can catch him tucking him in to bed, kissing his tiny plastic face, and telling him gently "goodnight Spidy I LOVE you." Not for long though guess Spiderman with all his Spider powers doesn't need a very long nap because Owen can’t let him alone in there for more than a few minutes. We have to watch at least one episode of Spectacular Spiderman each day (only thing he sits through) they are just 20 min cartoons. And it seems Owen may just have some "Spider-senses" of his own. Anytime we are out he will be able to spot any Spiderman book, paper, toy, ad that may be around and then yes we do have to stop and gawk at it.





A couple of stories I don't want to forget...

1) Me-"Owen did you dump all these crackers on the floor after I told you no more snacks?"
Owen- "I am not Owen call me SPIDERMAN!"
Me- "Okay, Spiderman did you do this?"
Owen- "yes"
Me- "Then you need to go sit in the corner!"
Owen- "Silly mom Spiderman doesn't sit in corners"
and turned around and off he was before I could figure out what just went on. Spiderman obviously does sit in the corner he did have to serve his time for dumping out the crackers:)


2) The first Sunday after the Spiderman discovery I was prompted to let the Nursery leaders know that he may just let loose and web every kid in the room. (Let me back up we did have a long conversation that Spiderman doesn't come out at church and that for that day he is to be Peter Parker) But I didn't know if he could contain himself. So after talking to a leader in the hall I decided to just peek in and check on him. And there he was with a kid in the corner pretending to shoot him with webs. (Sorry Carson Man) I walked pulled him to the side and told him we don't do that at Church "but mom he is the Rino Guy and I had to get him." Oh, the imagination.

So if you see something like this...


He just probably thinks you are, The Green Goblin, the Rino-Guy, Black Cat, Sandman, Dr. Octopus or several other bad guys he just has to take care of:)

Had a Dr. Appointment and they told me that my placenta is in the front so that I may not feel movment until 24 weeks, grrrrr!!! And she seems to be sticking to that, no movement yet. Still feeling sick but the days are getting better and we finally setteled on a name just have to work out the spelling and a middle name!!

What have we been up to?

I suppose I could say that its been a long few months but that would be an understatement. I have neglected many things including my little blog, but not being as high on my list of have to’s I felt it ok to abandon the blogging world to try and survive life for a while but hopefully with less episodes of throwing up and more good hours I will be able to journal “The Lensch Life.”

We have been living day to day sometimes hour-to-hour or minute-to-minute for about 4 months. This little life I am growing has endured many things already she must be a little fighter;) I think just about every other week I would get news of something else that was causing a complication or just causing me anxiety. Justin and I spent many nights turning to the only place we could for some peace PRAYER lots and lots of PRAYER. Nothing better than personal experience to help gain a testimony of something. Its been a learning experience for sure but I have the best support system I could ask for especially my little 4 year old, I don’t know how I would have gotten threw without her getting me water, the phone, everything and , scratching my back, also, on several occasions seeing how sick I was telling me I would be okay because “momma I just prayed that you and the baby would be okay so you don’t have to worry anymore!” The faith of a child is amazing and my little son who was not quite as helpful at least didn’t kill himself as I lay on the couch most of my days, from him I couldn’t ask for more. No, but he is quite a little cuddler I could count on about an hour a day from him, those are great memories. Justin is my lifesaver the one that has had to carry so much for so long I literally have only done one load of laundry in about 3.5 months and dinner I have only made it a handful of times. Not only does he do all of it he is so thoughtful making sure the cars are stocked with air freshener (my stomach is weak for car smells) and leaving me uplifting notes or texts to help me through my days. And my dear momma herself, listening to my concerns (whining) about 3 times a day I bet she got tiered of my phone calls but she never acted like it. She came over a few time to help if I had a Dr. apt or a particularly bad day and I would come back to my couch's vacuumed under, kitchen chairs outside drying from her scrubbing them, floors spotless, & kitchen mopped, oh how Justin loves when my mom comes over she is like drawn to our Windex caring around the whole time shes here!!! She also takes the kids for walks and plays with them how does she do it all in just a few hours magic of a mother I guess!?!?! Also,my father in-law who would drive over to our neck of the woods at a moments notice to watch the kids for emergency Dr. apt's the kids just adore him. Thanks to all our family and friends for their prayers we sure felt them!

I wont get into all the details of the pregnancy this far but I went in to the Dr. this week and ALL complications GONE God willing we will have this little fighter in July. My heart is full of gratitude for the opportunity to be a mother and I don’t know why I need to be reminded all the time but I don’t take it for granted it has been a struggle to get all my children here OH BUT THE JOY!!! So I continue to be sick and not with morning sickness with 24/7 sickness but I will forget the pain and embrace the result.

Oh yeah, and IT'S A GIRL!!! We couldn't be more thrilled, I love my sisters and am excited to know Brin will have the opportunity to have a dear sister!

Finally

We finally have our camera YEA!!!! I just cant believe how detrimental it was to not have it. I figured that I cant go back and blog about EVERYTHING so I will just touch on some fun things and start fresh from here.

Camping
We got to go camping in the beautiful pines of Prescott with some awesome friends. I think that it had to be one of the more relaxing vacations we had been on for a while. Let me clarify, I had to work until later on Friday night so when I got up there the set up had already been done (thanks guys) and our tent and stuff was already organized (thanks Justin) so I didn’t have to do much work. We watched the kids imaginations come to life as they had fun with sticks, dirt, and trees. They played for hours with just nature and each other. It was nice to catch up with some friends and always nice to EAT and we did that with lots of yummy food. The kids and I LOVED it, so now I am trying to convince Justin to make this a semi-annual event (we will see;)

Brin and Owen
I am in a huge dilemma…. How do you freeze time? I would like to know because I am living the days I always dreamed of and they keep on passing me by. I have realized that time just keeps slipping away from me and as hard as I try it’s just not listening. I have begged my children to “STOP growing” and they are just NOT listening to me either.

Owen
Owen has been fun to try to figure out and we are still in the stages of doing that he is confident and independent yet he is sensitive and clingy. I know I just totally contradicted myself but that is sort of what we are dealing with. One thing is for sure his is a bundle of energy and you can help but get sucked into his funny little world.

Vacuum’s are his game, don’t believe me sit with him for two minutes and guaranteed he will have asked you if you own a vacuum and what color it is, and don’t think he doesn’t remember how many and if you own your very own vacuum. Owen talks about his Grandpa King almost daily (he is a legend to Owen) because Grandpa King has multiple vacuums. And our favorite Chinese Restaurant has 4 vacuums that he gets to see before he eats and once after he is done because he asked our waitress (Mei, we just love her) if she has a vacuum. I would venture to say that he plays with “his” personal "Blue vacuum" (a real one that Grandma & Grandpa Sage got him) for about 3 hours a day. Every store we go in I am asked “ Do they got vacuums here?” with a twinkle in his eye. Oh my sweet vacuuming son how I love you!!!

Brin
Brin remains our rule following helpful sister. She is full of logic and reasoning, and is trying to figure out why and how things work. She LOVES her friends and can never get enough of them. Even after hour and hour of being with them she is never ready to leave them. She just had her first Primary program and I was a BEAMING momma!!! So proud of my little girl even if she was yawning through most of it:)

Preschool

My camera is STILL getting fixed so I thought that I couldn't blog until then, however I am getting so backed up because I have been waiting so long to post. So until I get my camera back I guess no pictures (picture are always the best part:(

My baby is growing up...

About a week ago I dropped Briny off for her very first day of Preschool. I can honestly remember driving around with, my then two year old, Brinley in the back seat peering through my rear view mirror at her with tears in my eyes thinking "I only have 3 more years with you until school will take you away." My fears are not for the 2 days a week that she will be gone for 3 hours, they are because she is that much closer to the dreaded "Kindergarten" when I will be forced to just see her on nights and weekends:( And how about all the time that I have spent teaching her how to share, not to tease, to love everyone, to be honest, and then I throw her out into the world were who knows what is awaiting. Oh, how I would love to keep her tucked safe under my wing where no outside influence would hurt her. What I wouldn't give to make sure she was safe that she didn't have to feel any pain, or loss, or hurt. Now, I understand that this is not realistic and that our growth is developed by our experiences however it doesn't make it easy.

With all that in mind I did drop my baby off to Preschool where she promptly took her place and I kissed that sweet angel on her face and I too promptly took my place (outside in the car sharing tears with my son:) We had a good 7 min cry on the way home, I guess we both missed her. Things are better now, no tears as we drop her off but man am I excited when the clock his 10:45 and it time to pick her up.

Just Take a Moment

Today Justin goes back to work after a nice 2.5 month vacation. I wanted to take a "moment of writing" to morn my loss;) But really he has had summers off well... forever and being a teacher just insured him summers of for a little longer and through all the ones we have spent together this may just have topped the charts. Well this one and the one we got married and moved to LA! Thank you Justin for making this summer one to remember...

Date Days with Brinley

Summer Movie Fun

Morning Breakfasts

Sleepover

Colorado

California

Redbox

Late night snacks

Swimming (yeah Finally Brinley can swim all by herself now)

Games Games and more Board Games

Splash Parks

Crafts ( thanks for the built in bookcase:)

and I have to mention all the cleaning my little "clean freak" did... stem vac the whole house, cleaning the garage x2 and his desire to keep the floors raked made us look into learning to hover.

Just for memory sake,

DaNell

Vacation Report

We have had the most wonderful July EVER!!!


Disneyland

We got word that we were going to have a family reunion at Disneyland a few months back and instantly my excitement was overwhelming. As kids we were privileged to have family reunions at Disney World in which many WONDERFUL memories were created. I have since recounted these awesome memories to my husband and children recalling Splash Mountain, Aerosmith, Tower of Terror, late nights running through Disney streets, wonderful meals accompanied by my cousins, and so so so much more. Once more we were able to have that great experience except for this time it wouldn’t just be me I would have 3 tag-alongsJ

This trip didn’t disappoint, other than it’s a little more difficult to run as hard with two little kiddos to take care of and get ready in the morning. We did however run as fast as our little legs would carry us. Brinley and Owen enjoyed the nostalgic Disney rides little Dumbo, Tea Cups, and Small World. But she ventured out of her little shell and really enjoyed the Grizzle Mountain Ride, so much so that she had to go to Grandma and Grandpas hotel room to show of just how soaking wet she got. Owen found affection for Goofy and screamed in joy when he caught a glimpse of him though the park. Justin loved The Tower of Terror & the Scremin ride as they were the most thrilling rides he found there. I was content to see the amazing Aladdin show and to eat soup in a bread bowl on the pier. We all shared in each other’s joys and had a very smooth trip.

It’s always nice to spend time with family at the “Happiest Place on Earth.” I recognize just how precious our family relationships are, that we are as close and share as many memorize as we do. I just love my cousins and also share in their joys & successes as we all have grown up with each other.

We were able to spend sometime in the BUEATIFUL Durango, CO with both sides of our family. Most of our time was devoted to swimming, eating, shopping, and sleeping but we did a few other things. Aunt Jennie and I also took a nature walk with the kids, my family took a drive to Ouray (very cute town), celebrated 4th of July with fireworks, we watched Toy Story 3 in 3-D, Brinley and her Grandparents took a train ride to Silverton, and we enjoyed a day down the Alpine Slides after a morning of fishing WHEW, that was a well packed in vacation, we had a lot of fun.

Justin, the kids, and I just LOVE Colorado and are grateful for the opportunity as we look forward to it each year.