I just have to sit down and write a few things down before I forget them.

Nick told me about this conversation he had with J. Josh asked him, "dad? What does it mean to care about someone?" Nick told him you care about someone when you like to do nice things for them and you want them to be happy. Then he asked J if he cared about anyone. Josh responded, "Well, I care about Cora." When Nick asked him if he cared about anyone else he said, "Prob-wee"(Probably) and ran off to play. We know how much he loves that baby sister of his!

I was putting him down for a nap one day. You could tell he was thinking pretty hard about something and he finally asked, "what does it mean to miss somebody?" I told him it means you wish they were here with you and you want to spend time with them. He said, "well, I miss Daddy. And I miss Papa. And I miss Gramma." It was so sweet and so sad at the same time. He has such a tender little heart.

He has finally started to say his own prayers over the past few days. I love them! He always says, "Bless Cora to be safe." But he never asks for anyone else's safety. I still can't get over how much he loves her. Last night after prayer Maya yelled, "Hey! Why does he only pray for Cora? That's not fair!"

Tonight the older kids were looking at books and relaxing before bed time in their room. I was in my room across the hall eavesdropping on their cute conversation. Maya has the most beautiful skin. She is still tan from this past summer. Well some boys at school teased her last week and said she had a "brown face". This is the conversation she had with Josh.

Maya - Josh, do you think I have a brown face? Josh - No. I don't fink so. Maya - Well there are some kids at school who said I have a brown face and that's not very nice to say. Josh - Well, I'll kick their butts then! Maya - Josh. You can't kick their butts. They are older than you are. Josh - So, I'll STILL kick their butts!

I know it sounds dumb, but it made my heart so happy to hear him stick up for his sister. Not that we encourage violence or anything, it's just nice to know that he has her back and is looking out for her. What's up with these kids being so mean anyway? I know Maya is a little on the sensitive side and she's probably known as the "crier" in class, but it sure hurt her feelings. I told her they are probably just jealous of her pretty skin.

Speaking of Maya, we think she is going to be a party planner one day. On her last day of Christmas vacation she spent the entire day planning a party for when Nick got home from work. She is crazy about the details! She had games planned, goodie bags prepared, balloons blown up, etc. etc. She even had a milk-free goodie bag ready for Josh. I don't mind that she likes doing this, it definitely keeps her busy which is good, however, she expects everyone to be as into the party as she is. I feel like if the party doesn't turn out the way she played it up in her mind then she will be crushed. So much pressure! On Saturday she decided to throw a birthday party for our dumb beta fish, Max. By the way, any other day she would not even care if Max was dead or alive but you better believe that we all had to pay attention to Max that day. We were all required to make a card for him or find a gift to wrap. She is so funny. We love her so much.

Cora has become so much fun lately. She will be 6 months on the 23rd....time is flying by and it's bittersweet. I look forward to her being more independent but I know that she will only be this small for a short amount of time. I love this age. She is chubby, smiley, and just so sweet. She is starting to become more aware of her hands and is always sucking on them or bringing something to her mouth to suck on. She just learned how to suck on her bottom lip and thinks that's pretty cool. She was doing it today and the kids thought it was hilarious. She isn't really eating a ton of baby food yet, mostly because I am lazy and she is getting plenty of nutrients with the "booboo Nilk" as Josh calls it. She does like sweet potatoes when we give her those. She is a rolling machine now that she figured out how to do it. She won't stay on her belly longer than a few seconds before rolling over to her back. She is really strong and does great with putting weight on her legs. So far, knock on wood, she doesn't seem to have any food allergies and tolerates the milk-based formula on the rare occasion that we give her a bottle. Yeah!

I was just complaining to Nick that every day seems like "Groundhog Day". That movie with Bill Murray in it where every day is exactly the same. Every night I fight Maya to get into the tub, clean up toys, brush teeth, then we put the kids to bed, Cora screams, I clean up dinner, I make lunch for Maya, I finish folding laundry, etc. etc. EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. This is nuts! I don't know what I envisioned my life to be like but sometimes it just seems so mundane and monotonous.

Then I hop on the computer and blog about how sweet, smart, talented, and funny they are. What a wonderful reminder of why we do everything we do! I just love them so much. I love being home with them. It's not easy but it is such a blessing.