time, where'd you go?

I walk slower than Dan. But he walks fast in general. At church I slow down even more. I take a deep breath and appreciate the blessing it is to be there. The campus is gorgeous. And we usually see deer hanging out. But I also love seeing my church people. They are happy to see us too, and they know my kids' names. Many of them have watched us grow from a family of two to six. We get to drop off all four, one by one to their classes where amazing volunteers continue to tell them about how much Jesus loves them. 

Dan and I have been attending Church of the Open Door for about 10 years. I was pregnant with Mya when we met one of the pastors who happened to live down the street from us. The rest is history. It has become such a huge part of our lives, and many fellow church goers have become like family to us over the years. They have prayed with us and for us through every hard time and thanked God with us through the happy times. There have been so many prayers for my babies as they grew in my belly and continued prayers as they have grown outside my belly. What a blessing.

In 2008 when I was pregnant with Mya, they started building a Target just half a mile from my house. I cannot tell you how excited I was for that store to open. I dreamed of walking the aisles with my sweet little baby. I even told myself I would walk TO target with my baby in the stroller. I actually tried that a couple of times but it didn't work out very well. I couldn't fit enough stuff in the bottom of the stroller. I've probably spent more time at Target than any other place (besides my home) in my life as a mom.

I went to Target with Addie a few days ago. As she sat in the front of the cart making dinosaur noises, I got a flashback from when she was a baby. The worst baby to take to Target. She used to twist around in her seat belt in the front of the cart and get stuck backward or manage to get out of her seat belt and stand up. And when I would put her in the back of the cart, she would throw things out. She was the absolute worst. Many times you would see me walking down the aisles with Addie in the back of the cart throwing bananas or bread on the floor while I held the eggs in one arm and picked up stuff and put it back in the cart with the other, just trying to make my way to the check out without losing my mind. Many times I would pick her up out of the cart and try to hold her so she couldn't destroy anything while I slid my credit card through the machine. She would of course push buttons, cancel transactions and make me sweat like I had just run a mile.

Fast forward five years. We have come such a long way. She no longer throws things out of the cart thankfully. Now we are working on refraining from asking mommy for everything in the store.

This is how she looks walking into the store because she doesn't trust her mouth.

I've had this picture on the fridge for years now. Winter 2, Mya 3. Man they were the cutest. Winter was such a stinker and Mya was so patient with her and they loved each other so much. Of course they fought and made me crazy but I don't see that in this picture.

I'm not sure what happened to the time but now they look like this. Winter 8, Mya 9.

And this guy. This guy is getting big too.

I love my kids the most when they just get out of the bath or when they're sleeping. There is something about a clean little kid that just makes me want to give them a big squeeze. Probably because most of the time they are kind of stinky. Dan likes to brush the girls' hair when it's still wet. Addie kind of hates it.

Angus is examining his feet to see if he needs a bath.

Now he's trying to convince me that he does indeed need one.

They are always smelling their feet. Why. Just today we were driving back from school and I hear Addie say, "Eeeeeeeew!! Angus smell my feet!" And then he did. And then he too said "Eeeeeeww!

Also heard in the car: 

Addie: Play the Spanish song! (Despacito)

Angus: No baby yak do do!

Addie: No the Spanish song!

Angus: NOOOOO!

Me: Okay no music since we're fighting.

Addie: That's fair.

Angus: Yeah das faya mommy.

And we drove home in silence. Just kidding there's never silence. They giggled and shouted and argued. 

"Hold on Mommy, I'm dus gonna hug da doggy. Ugh! I needa hayacut!" Boys need haircuts way more than girls. Like every two months. I didn't cut Mya's hair 'till she was four. And they say girls are more expensive.

Also, glad he doesn't hug me like that...

Hard not to be thankful for the lovely winter weather we're having in SoCal. It was 70 degrees yesterday at the park and the sky looked pretty awesome. I know it's going to rain a lot the next few days. But it's been pretty nice out.

My friend came over yesterday and I could not get over the height difference between her 5th grader and my 4th grader. She's so tiny.

Some days, all four of them fight with each other all day. And some days they are all best friends, eating lunch together all four on one bench. Even though there are lots of seats around the table. My neighbor friend's teenage son saw the big girls walking Otter the other day and told her, "I'll bet the Wagenbrenner kids never fight." She and I had a good laugh when she shared that with me. They were actually outside walking the dog because I made them leave the house because they were fighting. We've been dealing with SO much of that lately. The bickering, the whining, the unfairness blah blah blah. It drives Dan and I nuts more than anything else. But it's nice that he thought they all get along all the time. 

The last fight was about Mya looking at Winter in the car. I guess Winter felt that Mya was not allowed to look at her OR her window since Mya had her own window on her side of the car. You see what I'm dealing with? So I told Winter that Mya was welcome to look wherever she wanted and if she wanted to look at Winter, it was because she is so gorgeous and her hair is so fabulous. Winter rolled her eyes at me and continued to yell at Mya. Finally Mya agreed to not look at her. So Winter stared at Mya the whole way home to make sure Mya was not looking at her... Does this make any sense to anyone? It's ridiculous. And I feel ridiculous writing it but this is life folks. Life with children. You know when we say to grown ups, You're acting like a child. This is what we're talking about.

I remember constantly fighting with my brother when I was a kid. So much that we made my mom say a bad word which was pretty much like seeing a unicorn. Well there was that one other time when she read Phuket (the island in Thailand) the wrong way and dropped the F bomb loud and clear and Wendy and I were speechless. But yeah, I know it's normal for siblings to fight so I'm not worried. And my brother and I never fight now. We hug and talk about our lives in a grownup civilized manner. So there's hope for these crazy little people.

Oh here's a pic from this week. A love note if you will. 

She was mad at me for sending her to her room. Do you see the broken heart at the bottom? I love her raw emotions. I entered against her will and gave her a hug and all was better. It's nice that she is always down for a hug. Pretty much no matter what.

May you all have drama free Wednesdays. ❤️