The girls are growing way too fast! President Monson this morning mentioned that one day, we will suddenly realize we miss the mess and chaos and noise. I told Emma to stop growing up, and she told me, "I have to grow up, but I promise I will choose the right!" I'm okay with that.
This collection of pictures includes some that we have put together for our wall, a work-in-progress collage on the wall facing our dining room. Inspired by my wonderful mother-in-law, the hope is to get enough frames of enough sizes in a beautiful yet random display so that we can change out the photos as the girls grow and we always have a way to showcase our kids without pounding millions of holes into our walls.
Anyway, there is not to much to update. I don't post enough, and I'm not sure that more than a handful of people check this! But right now I'm bored, so I'll write. I love reading the blogs of old friends from high school who write so much about their lives and families and seem to update so frequently that it keeps me entertained!
There's nothing too entertaining about us, though. Other than the crazy things the girls say and do, life is so routine and wonderful. Emma has preschool once a week, and she lives for it. So do I, because I am able to have adult interaction for a full hour with the other moms, who are very intelligent and uplifting people, without too much interruption! Rachel has discovered how much she loves to sing. She even sang the entire "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to Grandma Tuckett on the phone last night. She loves to shadow Emma around but is coming into her own very nicely. I am so proud of her. Abby is sleeping through the night well, which makes me happier than anything! She smiles constantly, even at nothing at all. She is so full of light in her sparkly BLUE eyes. I have no idea where blue came from! She has brought with her a very unique sense of happiness and calm, hard to explain but easy to observe and very special to be a part of. I love being a mom, although I go crazy some times, and I know there is no greater blessing or calling.
Adam and I both enjoy our opportunities to work and provide for our kids. With the crappy economy, we can see how the Lord has blessed us. We both spend our free time working on the house (okay, cleaning up after the girls) or exercising. I have a lot of weekly and monthly goals in this regard, hopefully culminating in running a half-marathon somewhere in the spring. Every time I get close to a really serious training mark, I get pregnant! But not this time, I am determined! Adam has spent countless hours on the laptop moving all of our files over onto an external hard drive that we bought at Costco, which I highly recommend. We nearly lost 3 years' worth of pictures a few years ago and then realized that we need to back up our memories!
Emma is turning 4 in a couple of weeks, and she is having her first-ever birthday party, with a pinata and everything. We are blessing Abby the day before her birthday, so both of our families will be here for a wonderful weekend. Although, I've never prepared a dinner for a crowd this size. Does anyone have suggestions?
So many of our friends and family are doing this blogging thing, and since we don't live near anyone it's probably a good idea that we start one. I'll admit this is the first time I've blogged. Silly me, I thought digital cameras and email and internet phones were enough to stay in touch with those we love!
Although this is the Rodriguez Family blog, I'm sure it will end up as an online shrine to our kids because we love them more than anything and, let's face it, pictures of them are way more fun and interesting!
Adam and I met in 2002 and were married in October of that year. It seems like forever ago now, but I can't really remember life beforehand! Now after six years, nearly three kids (that's right, another coming and it's a girl, again), college and lots of moves later, life rocks more than ever and is totally crazy most of the time. It's a never ending battle with clippies and princess dresses and pink, pink, pink! And, the most dramatic, "GIRL SHOES!" when Emma chucks them all over the house just to get the reaction. Adam is the best, though, even when he has to perform weekly "surgery" on the vacuum to yank all of the long hair out of it. He says being the father of a bunch of girls make him feel "even more manly than I already am."
Adam loves his work at the station, which makes me happy because he is happy! He anchors the weekend shows and reports for the 5:00 and 10:00 news during the week. So he works late, but that means I get more time to myself at night, and who couldn't use that? We're excited to see where his job takes us in the future. It has been a wonderful experience to live out on our own and figure out our own family identity. That's not to say we don't miss our families, especially now that our girls know exactly who the grandparents are and that they get presents from them! But, Utah's news market is huge, and since you have to work up, if we moved back it wouldn't be for a while.
Right now, we're thankful for where we are and for things like a backyard and a pantry and a garage! We were lucky enough to move into our first house for Christmas, and now that the weather is warming up, I can't imagine how I ever did without a yard for two active, crazy kids! And that also means we got a puppy....
Emma will be 4 in October. It's hard to believe, really. She is so grown up and beautiful. She blows us away with how intelligent she is and how fast she learns. She especially loves to learn new primary songs and bear her testimony. She is very affectionate. I hurt my ankle once, so bad I actually cried, and she gave me a massage and covered my ankle with a blanket, brought me water and a string cheese, stroked by cheek, and gave my ankle a blessing! She's the one who taught Rachel how to give kisses. She loves the computer and could spend hours on the Disney website if we let her. And, like most little kids, everything has to be "all by myself!" She is a complete copy of Adam in both personality and manner. She's so full of enthusiasm and energy ALL THE TIME, I get to the end of the day and wonder how I kept up with her.
I know this is just a crop of one of the pictures above, but Rach's one-year pictures don't look like her at all anymore, and this is beautiful! Rachel is our light-bearer. So happy, so funny, loves to tease Emma by taking her stuff and running for it! She is the one that taught us that our family only gets cooler as it grows! She just learned to count to ten (her best numbers are 2, 3, 8 and 10) and say "Pete, no, no, no!" She is definitely the cuddly one, and I could hold her forever because she says "Ahhh. Mama!" After the kids go to bed, I miss her so much because I love being around her! (Don't get me wrong, I love Emma like mad! It's just more of a relief when her amazingly strong, unrelenting and determined-to-stay-up little personality finally falls to sleep!)
Abby was born July 17, 2008. She was very much our sweet surprise! I never thought we would have three midgets so fast, but Abby is a fabulous addition. Most notable are her blue eyes. Adam, Emma, and Rach have brown and I have green, so Abby's blue are truly striking! I love to look at them. She is so special! I'm excited to see how she grows and comes into her own over the next few months. It is already obvious how much she adores her sisters. I'm so thankful that she has come to our family!
