Daryl's Week in Haiti

While Daryl was doing this . . . .

We were doing this . . . 

Daryl had a great week in Haiti and was able to get a lot accomplished.  We also had a great week here at home.  My parents were a huge help.  They were either over here or we were over there every night for supper.  My Mom often helped with putting them all to bed and they watched all of the kids (and took them to Church!) this morning while I went to Detroit to pick Daryl up at the airport.  We had a lot of people praying over us for good health and we did all stay healthy!  Praise God!  We apparently forgot to pray for our house though because we suffered through a few house "mishaps": a broken water softener (water kept running through it constantly because the timer got jammed - my Dad had to come over late one night to shut off the valve so the water would bypass the softener), a garage door that wouldn't shut (again, my Dad had to come over around 9pm to figure it out for me!), and then the worst of the three - a miniature flood in our storage area in the basement.  I was getting Hope ready for dance on Friday morning when Samuel went downstairs into the storage room to get his little basketball hoop.  He came upstairs and said, "Mommy, I think my basketball hoop is leaking because there is water on the floor downstairs!"  Heart sinking, I ran downstairs to find water all over the storage room floor.  It could have been so much worse but as it was, I called my Dad again and he came over and cleaned it up with the wet vac.  The water was under heavy filing cabinets that I couldn't move and there was no way I could spend the time needed on the clean-up while taking care of my kids.  So thankful that my parents live close and that they are both willing to pitch in and help when I need it!  I'm also glad that Samuel went down to the storage room early on Friday morning because who knows when I would have noticed it!  Probably not until hours later - especially because we were getting ready to bring Hope to dance class.  My major lower back pain has also disappeared this week which has made it a lot easier for me to keep up with the kids.  So thankful for the prayer warriors that prayed us through this week!

Prince Charming

Hope loves anything and everything about Cinderella right now.  She likes to put on her Cinderella dress and quote lines directly from the movie or from the book.  It's pretty cute!

The other day, she asked Daryl and me, "Will I still be 3 1/2 when I marry Prince Charming?"  We both assured her that she will most definitely not be 3 1/2 anymore when she gets married!!

On Sunday we were sitting in Church and she whispers in my ear, "When I marry Prince Charming will I have a baby?"  I nodded my head and said she could have a baby after she gets married.  Then she said, "And childrens too?"

She also told my Mom that she can't wait to have a baby.  She is a little obsessed with having a baby!!  She loves to put her lovey or a baby under her shirt and pretend like she has a baby in her tummy.  She even tries to move her tummy in such a way that it makes it look like she has a baby in her tummy that is kicking.

I was getting dressed the other day when Hope walked into my bedroom and said "Wow! Cool belly button!"

I put a hair tie with a lot of ribbons tied to it in her hair the other day and she excitedly said, "My hair looks like a carnival!!"

More Snow!

Of course, the day after Daryl leaves for Haiti,w  we get dumped on!  This happened last year too!  Thankfully my Dad came over and helped dig us out.  He and Samuel decided to try shoveling the driveway in a different way today.  Samuel thought it was hilarious!  Samuel loves to be totally covered in snow and he doesn't (usually) mind if he gets some in his face or on his head.  The girls enjoyed sitting on the front step and "making food".  

Later in the day, we went to Abigail's birthday party and then Samuel had a special treat of going to the WMU basketball game with Grandpa and Grandma and then going over to their house for a sleepover.  It was so strange not to have him around in the evening - he is my "busy" child and I'm always trying to keep up with him.  To have just the girls around was very different.  We painted toenails and read books and did . . . quiet things!  Ha ha!  It's great to have boys and girls. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm not one to make Valentine's Day a huge deal, but this year I felt like doing something a little extra for the kids.  When they woke up, they all had a balloon tied to a little crate with a few odds and ends in it.  The kids loved it!  The $1 balloons, of course, were the biggest hit!  Next year I'll just stick with that. ;)  For lunch I made heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Those were also a big hit with all three of them!  I forgot to use the heart paper plates that I bought . . . I guess I'll save them for next year!

Happy Valentine's Day to my wonderful husband and to my 4 precious children!!

Kid Creations

Samuel's bath tub art this morning - a snowman, snow, and God way up in Heaven sending the snow!! 

Aliyah's duplo house.  Made with help from Mommy. Anything with houses, babies, and mommies and this girl is happy! She's just like her Mommy!

Hope's creation.  Done without any help at all! And I have absolutely no idea why she has her sleep hat on . . . I'm pretty sure this picture was taken during the middle of the day. :)

I have no words . . .

. . . to describe how blessed I am to be raising these beautiful children!

Dark Skin, Baby Names, and Camels

I stayed home from the Wednesday night programs at Church so that Samuel and Aliyah could go to bed on time.  They were both cranky and tired and sound asleep by 8:00pm.  Hope went to her class at Church while Daryl went to his class.  Samuel and Aliyah waved to them out the front window when they left for church.  I asked Aliyah if Hope was waving back at them.  Samuel told me that they couldn't see Hope and Aliyah chimed in with "yeah, cuz her has dark skin."  Samuel corrected her and told her it was because the van windows were dark. ;)  Always the big brother!

Friday night at supper, were talking about boy names and girl names.  Samuel said, "How about if it is a boy we name him Kaelyn?"  (Cute name for a girl but not a name on our list!)  I told him that was a girl's name.  He said, "Then how about Boy-lyn?  Is that a boy's name?"  Ha ha ha!  Maybe we should put it on our list. ;)

I bought both of the girls a little cami to wear under some of their thinner shirts.  (And just because I thought they were so stinkin' cute!)  They both love to wear them, but Aliyah loves to wear hers.  This morning, I convinced her to take it off so that I could wash it (she had worn it all day yesterday and then slept with it on too).  Tonight, I was putting her pajamas on when she kept asking to wear her "purple camel". It took me a few minutes to figure out that she meant her purple cami!  Needless to say, she is sound asleep in her bed tonight with her purple cami on. :)

My little copycat :)

Today was "hair day" at the Huinink house!  I was busy doing Hope's hair when I looked over and saw Aliyah doing this:

She set it all up by herself and was very busy doing Callie's (or Laila's - her name goes back and forth between the two) hair.  She was pretty proud of herself!  

** I love to watch Aliyah play.  Daryl says that I love it so much because it's probably exactly how I played when I was little.  I think he's right!  She will sit and play with her dollhouse or with the little people or with her babies for a long time.  I'm fascinated by how she sets the dolls/dollhouse up or with how she talks and "interacts" with her baby dolls.  She'll play by herself and be lost in her own little world for a good 20 minutes - sometimes longer.  Yup, she definitely plays like I used to when I was a little girl!

Best Friend

Samuel tells me all of the time that his best best friend is Savannah.  I love how much fun they have together!

27 weeks

It's fun, for some odd reason, for me to compare my pregnancies and how fat I am with each of them.  From left to right: Samuel, Aliyah, Little Peanut.  

My conclusion from these pictures?  I'd have to guess that I'm having a boy and he will be between 9lbs 11oz and 11lbs 11oz.  I feel like I am carrying this baby a lot like I carried Samuel but I'm not as big as I was (at least at this point!) with him. 

I'm getting anxious to find out if we will even the score with 2 boys and 2 girls or if the girls will dominate!!

Water into . . . what?

Samuel's Bible story at class today was when Jesus turned water into wine. He came out of his class telling me about how "Jesus turned water into grumpy". Can you tell what kind of *whine* we talk about around here?!?  He said it twice before it dawned on me why he was saying "grumpy".  I love my precious boy!!


A few other "Samuel-isms" from today:
Samuel: "Mommy, today in class we talked about the story from next week"
Me: "So what story are you going to have next week in your class?"
Samuel: "No, the one down" (meaning: last week)

We pulled into the Church parking lot today and Samuel always likes me to park next to Grandma's van.  Today Grandma's van was in the very front row right next to the handicapped spots.  She never parks up there so we were all confused about why her van was there!  I wondered out loud to the kids, "Huh. I wonder why Grandma parked up there!  We are going to have to ask her."   Samuel immediately replied with, "I think Grandma is getting old!" 
We've talked about the handicapped spots before and who they are for - Samuel must have associated those spots with older people and assumed that since Grandma was in the very front row, she must be getting old!  

Snow Fun!

I had my glucose tolerance test this morning (yuck!) so my Mom was over for a good 3+ hours watching the kids.  They headed outside right about the time that I got home, so I was able to snap a couple of pictures of the kids playing in the snow.  Samuel was supposed to be "helping" my Mom shovel but she turned around and found him sitting in a snowbank eating snow!  He loves the snow and is always the last one of the three to want to go inside.  He has a blast jumping into, rolling around, and sliding down snowbanks.  He is always covered in snow whenever he finally gives up and comes inside.  The girls also enjoy the snow but I think they get colder (or maybe just bored?) faster than what Samuel does.  Their favorite thing to do is eat icicles or snow.  They played together really well this morning - putting snow in their sleds and hauling it around, eating icicles, and "helping" Grandma shovel the driveway.  I was thankful for a little bit of time to myself after I got home from my glucose test.  I felt gross - very hungry but just totally "blah".  After eating some protein I felt much better!  Hoping and praying that I passed!

So full of compliments!

I love how kids just say it like it is!!  Today was a good example of that . . .

Samuel (laughing) to Hope when she woke up: "Your hair looks like shells" (Her hair was in 2 poofs and her sleep cap flattened them a little bit!)

Hope talking to me when I walked into the room: "Is that shirt from your drawer or from Daddy's drawer?" (And the worst part?  I was wearing a nice shirt b/c I was dressed and ready for Church!)

My Sweet Girls

Aliyah says the cutest things right now!  She is so full of spunk and fun and I never quite know what is going to come out of her mouth.  I wish I could videotape her all day long so I'll never forget what she is like at this stage because I absolutely adore her and her personality!

• Last Sunday morning, Daryl and I were having breakfast with Aliyah (she is our early bird! The other two were still in bed).  Aliyah's breakfast request was a boiled egg.  As she was eating her egg, I started pouring myself some cereal.  I hear a little voice from over at the table singing, "If you have cereal, I will have an egg!"  And then followed by, "Isn't that a great song, Mommy?"  She often does this - puts her thoughts to songs.  It is the cutest. thing. ever.  She is always singing - whether it be songs she makes up or other songs she knows.  I think she gets the idea of making up songs like that from "Daniel Tiger" on PBS.  She loves this show and Daniel Tiger always has little songs for different things that come up during his day.
• I was cleaning up the house an afternoon this past week.  My back has really been hurting me with this pregnancy.  I bent down to pick something up and when I stood back up, I grabbed my back and groaned a little bit.  As I'm walking to put the item away, I hear Aliyah say "Just go lay on the couch, Mommy!"  From the mouths of 2 year olds . . . . :)
• (Setting a cup of water on the edge of the bathtub) "This is for Samuel and Hope. I'm going to leave this here until Jesus comes."

Hope is my spunky, imaginative, and creative little girl.  She has a unique (and adorable!) way of piecing her thoughts together.  I absolutely love to listen to her and to try and view the world from her perspective!  I wish I could remember more of the cute phrases she comes up with, but here's a few examples:

• "I colored his smiler!" (after coloring someone's mouth on the coloring page she was working on)
• "My nose smells yummy!" (when she came upstairs while I was making supper)

Do they really have to grow up?

These are the things that make me wish that they could stay this age forever!  I want to slow down these precious years when my kids are young because I know they will be gone too quickly.  The days can be challenging and some days feel so very long but I love the ages that my kids are at right now!!

Learning About Australia

On Tuesday, Anna began her journey to Australia to volunteer for 3 months with Youth For Christ.  We are so proud of her and the awesome work that she will be doing!

So today . . . 

We learned about Australia! The kids were pretty amazed at how far it is from Michigan! They were able to grasp the concept of how far away it is because we compared how far away Florida is to how far away Australia is. They know that Florida is a long drive but to see how much further away Australia is was pretty amazing to them! 

Hope is pointing to Michigan and Aliyah is pointing to Australia. Samuel didn't want to join in (he was upset from injuries accidentally caused by his 2 year old sister).

Holding up their maps of Australia.
I asked them what they thought Aunt Anna would do on her LONG plan ride. They said:
Go potty (Samuel), Read books (Hope), Eating (Samuel), and "Want her to come to OUR house!" (Aliyah)
Then Samuel asked "At night time, will the airplane stop so Anna can sleep at a hotel?" They all thought it was pretty crazy that it didn't stop and that Aunt Anna probably (hopefully!) slept on the airplane.