Three Girls His Way

Three girls was not our plan. It was the Lord's plan. I trust He knows what He is doing and that is such a good feeling since I can often become plagued by thoughts of inadequacy and down right ignorance. Sometimes I hear, 'but you're a girl....you'll know what to do' in response to my musings of mothering three girls and I just want to scream 'I'm an ONLY girl!' Growing up with two brothers did not fully prepare me for this. There are tears, drama and hormones in such doses that they cannot be quantified. And the girls are only 2, 4 and 6.

String Bean, Girly Girl & Samoosa - March 13, 2012

I know I will not be a perfect mom to these three unique little girls. I choose to believe that God will be faithful to equip me to fulfill my role in their lives. I choose to allow God the freedom to make them into the women He designed them to be. I choose to not mother them in my own power. These choices are the only ones that will allow the four Lino women to thrive amidst the tears, drama and hormones.

His plan. His way. Not mine.

Must Take Pictures

three Parker kids: Derek , me and Drew - August 2011

I understand now why we always saw our parents taking pictures with their siblings whenever they were together. As time goes on, we get busier and our time together just doesn't come as easily. Now, my two little brothers and I take pictures together whenever we manage to get us all three in the same room. I love these two guys and wish we saw more of each other. They are both fabulous little brothers to this bossy big sister.

The Fancier the Better

the fancy birthday girl and her big sister

Samoosa should probably be called girly girl. She is the one who really likes the girly things. She plays in my make up, is always wearing jewelry, wants plenty of accessories and loves to carry her purses everywhere. Her birthday was no exception. She has fallen in love with the series of Fancy Nancy books, so we threw a birthday soiree. The Fancy Nancy tea party was a big hit with this little birthday girl. I took many of the ideas from the books and she loved being fancy with her friends. The little people did beautifully with real tea cups and saucers - some even tried tea in addition to apple juice. The fancy cupcakes and cookies went perfectly with the parfaits, jelly rolls and tea sandwiches.....all eaten with 'pinkies up'.

Samoosa is growing into such a beautiful girl. She is a precious gift that brings such joy and excitement to our family. There is nothing she won't try and no opinion she won't express. She is confident, loves life and absolutely adores her big sister. She speaks the same language as her daddy....they are on the very same page and completely 'get' each other. She requires very little sleep and has enough energy for the six of us. She is our little lefty and thoroughly enjoys learning new things. She firmly believes she can do anything her older siblings can do and will go down trying if necessary. Her will is strong and determined. She has a goofy side that sucks you in to her world of dreams. She is spectacularly perfect in every way.

Only Three Times

only two were happy to be here

I have recently come to the conclusion that I will say or think "we get to do this three times" more times that I can count in my lifetime. Having the three little girls is just a big thrill. I love it. It is a bit petrifying a times, but absolutely fabulous. Girly Girl is showing us the ropes and Samoosa is not far behind her. Right now, they are age 6, 4 and 2. With each new dramatic moment or great memory I remind myself we have three amazing girls that we get to do life with. I wouldn't trade them for anything! I love these three.

Life on the Beach

Six Linos on Navarre Beach - July 2011

Such good memories were made and lessons were learned on our 2011 beach vacation. Of course there are too many to include them all, but to name just a few...........

Heading out at 430am with four young children is the best idea - they sleep for half of the 9 hour trip.

Cooking in your condo is much better than going out all the time. Yes, I know it takes effort. I cooked some food ahead of time and took it with us. I also had a menu for all three meals each of the 14 days we were gone. We made several trips to the local grocery store. The trade off is that you don't have to spend them time getting the family of six ready to go out and risk poor service and bad food. We had great family meals around the table or on the patio that were not interrupted by waiters and trips to the restroom.

Ask the locals where to eat. We had super recommendations from the locals at Navarre....Shrimp Basket and Flounder's in Pensacola were our faves. Flounder's has great atmosphere and enormous amounts of good food!

Lino family walks on the beach are never dull. We usually don't go anywhere unnoticed. How can you when you have four young children? But our walks along the beach definitely turned a few heads. In the evenings, were were loaded down with buckets and nets to catch whatever was swimming by and all of the crabs racing around on the fine, white sand. There was often a spectacle when one of us spotted the smallest of crabs and then the boys went dashing to catch it. I know Samoosa and String Bean enjoyed the evening walks better than the laborious half mile walks to the pier. Those walks to the pier with this family of six took forever! You could see all the sympathetic moms sighing in exhaustion with me as I carried or urged the little girls to keep up with us. The promise of ice cream on the pier was the only motivation for Samoosa.

Vacation does not require doing 'stuff'. Over the course of two weeks, we managed to 'entertain' ourselves quite well. We made one outing to the Gulfarium in Ft. Walton where me met our friends from Arkansas who were also on vacation at the same time and then we went on a drive one afternoon where we found a British specialty store that made Nathan's day. Other than that, our family time was on the beach or in the pool. Each of the kids went on outings with Dad - to get a sno cone or watch the pier fishing. I went armed with library books and a DVD library with microwave popcorn for the rainy days.

4 little Linos and 4 little Piles at the Gulfarium

Reading on the beach is only done without children. I tried to read on the beach. It's much more fun to play one-on-one volleyball with the 7 year old boy than read about Hillary Clinton's time in the White House. I'd pick building sand castles with the two year old or floating in the waves with three little girls over any of the books on my night stand.

There are many more memories to be made on the beach.....I can't wait for the next family vacation!