essentials of mama

kead has been into drawing puppets lately. lots and lots of puppets. She draws "mama" puppets and "daddy" puppets and "sayla" puppets....you get the point. Here is here "mama" puppet with only the essentials:

Yep! you read that right and she isn't making it up! There is a little baby in mama's belly that will join the Remke household at the beginning of February and we are one excited family!

Which, if you have been keeping track, means that kirst, keje and I are all preggers at the same time! FUN!

I wish someone would have told me..

Has it been 10 years since I was 18? I know to some of you I am still a youngster' and to some of you I am getting old, but the fact is: 10 years has gone by in a flash! So, to celebrate my birthday here are some things I wish I would have known at 18:

• You are actually far better off if you don't follow the crowd.
• High school-love works out for very few people. You are not one of them!
• College is NOT about the grade. Enjoy your classes, read your books, LEARN! 
• Just like your grandpa said when you were 10, you should pursue art. It isn't as impracticable as you think. And you will always enjoy creating
• You are beautiful, just how you are. You don't have to pretend that you like laying out and tanning.
• Jesus is totally worth it. All of it. Not just your camp-emotions and Sundays. AND- if you dedicate your life to pursuing Him and His glory, it actually brings you more joy. 
• Be careful with your heart. It is more precious than you know. And there is a great guy in the future who will give it more love than you can imagine!
• When you go to Europe, pay the money to go see how they blow glass in Venice!  And go to a pub in Ireland. The devil does not live in the pub. I promise. Also- never never take the bus. Just take the train.
• Spend a lot of time with your brother and sisters this year. You won't ever live in the same town as any of them again. (well, at least not for the next 10 years)
• Keep up with your friends from Argentina. It will be 10 years until they discover Facebook, and a lot can happen in 10 years.
• Enjoy all the green chile you can. No one does it like they do in New Mexico and you aren't going to have such an abundance again.
• When Kasi says "I have a guy friend you should meet." Don't make up excuses for a year. Just meet the wonderful guy and save yourself a year of heartache.
• You really really enjoy dancing, and don't do it enough. Go dancing as often as you can. It's a lot harder to do when you have kids.
• Save all that money you get for graduation. Or at least use it all to buy something really cool!
• Don't be so shy about speaking Spanish, use it every time you get the chance.
• Even with all the mistakes you make, you have a wonderful 10 years ahead of you and a great future! You are so blessed and have such wonderful friends and family that love you. Enjoy every minute you get with them. 

pop's boots

sayla has a passion for shoes. 6-8-pairs-a-day kind of passion, and the bigger, the better. She was giddy to wear these boots, and just kept giggling as she tried to walk around.

mischief

 these smiles just scream "mischief times two!"

that's right...

...that's a cucumber from our garden

and squash from our garden...

and pesto from our garden!

Plus, we are days away from ripe tomatoes and I can't wait. I love tomatoes, they might be my favorite food.

So fun to have a garden!

the stink eye

sayla gives this look on demand when you ask her for the "stink eye"- what a little ham!

I know, I know...

I said I was going to do was pay more attention to the blog. I have just had a real creative block over the past couple weeks. Not just from blogging, but from everything that requires creativity. This includes, but is not limited to: blogging, photography, graphic design, cooking, any paper craft, hosting parties, sewing, crafts with the girls, gardening.

I think I was just still tired from the two week trip to Denver while Drew was in China. He got back and we were both exhausted (him from 27,000 miles of travel!  and me from single parenting.) and then we had to hit the ground running since we had been away for two weeks. I don't think we ever got to re-charge. However, this past 5 days we have been in Dallas and Drew's mom has gotten up with Sayla every morning to let me catch up on sleep. I feel so refreshed!

So- I don't have much to show for the last couple weeks, but hear are a few pics from the last couple days as I have slowly come back to life and finally feel the creative juices flowing again:

1. Did you know that caterpillars love dill? I didn't, until a family of about 15 of them finished off our HUGE dill plant in one night! Luckily, they left the other plants alone. Kead loved it and wanted to check on them 10 times a day. Kind of fun in a "lost all of our dill plant" sort of way.

one near the bottom where there were still a few sprigs

all of those stems were full of dill. hungry little caterpillars indeed.

2. It has been hot these days and we have sprinkler time almost everyday.

3. Family time in Dallas

the girls in their little shirts we made for the fourth

loving granny

Fort Worth Zoo with uncle Dan

3.Also part of family time, but we had a friend of Dave's come and take some family pics. I will post those later once I make sure again from her that she doesn't mind me putting them on the blog. :)