The Difference a Year Makes

 Around this time last year we were getting used to little baby Thomas...

I'd say we have adjusted pretty well...

We love LOVE this guy! And can't believe he's one year old already! He is in training to be a great mountain climber, he seems to think everything is meant to be climbed on. If he would spend half as much effort into walking he would have it down in no time. He's all smiles and adventure, loves to be with his brother and sister, and gets tons of kisses from his mom. What else matters?!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women who mother in their own special way! I am so thankful to be a daughter of God, knowing that I have an important work to do in nurturing and loving those around me. 

The errand of angels is given to women;

And this is a gift that, as sisters, we claim:

To do whatsoever is gentle and human,

To cheer and to bless in humanity’s name.

 (Emily H. Woodmansee, “As Sisters in Zion,” Hymns, no. 309.) 

 

 And oh, how thankful I am for my own wonderful mother! With my kids now I am frequently reminded of moments with my mom when I was little. Sneaking chunks of cookie dough when she was baking, feeling so excited when she let me "clean" with her, loving her attention when she tucked me in bed. So many things she taught me, and words of wisdom she shared. And I'm still learning from her, she amazes me. 

 

This morning in church a very shy woman spoke and shared an outpouring of love for her mother - "I love my mom from the bottom of my heart. I'm crazy about her. She's my best friend and always looks out for me and cares for. I miss being with her all the time. I miss her cooking. I love my mom with all my heart from the bottom of my heart."

 

Oh so true! I love my mom! 

5 Years Old

Our own little John is 5 today...I'm stunned! It's been 5 years of joy with this sweetheart. He's such a big help around here, and the best big brother ever. I'm amazed by him every day.

Just as sweet as can be

Out of this world enthusiasm

Has a knack for Legos

Nice to everyone - seriously!

Celebrating

We love our Evelyn! It has been three wonderful years with her and we look forward to many, many, many more! What a sweet heart she is! 

Everyone's favorite girl!

Very determined and independent

Endearing

Loves to color, paint, cook, create, make messes, and sing ABC's

Yes, she also loves to watch "shows"

Nice to puppies

Getting Used to Things

It's been 6 weeks since sweet Thomas joined our family, and we couldn't be happier!

And we are slowly getting used to the other stuff that comes with that happiness. The main one for me is lack of sleep. 6 weeks of waking up every 2 hours (or less) at night is taking it's toll. I think I'm past the grouchy phase and moving into the "can't-concentrate-or-function-properly" phase. He's in another growth spurt right now, so I think things will be better once we get through it. His little midnight smiles keep me going and I can't help but think how blessed I am to be able to care for this little guy!

The kids are loving their little brother too. Thankfully we haven't had to deal with jealousy or angry feelings that sometimes come with new family members. We do have to remind them to be careful when they play with him, but they are learning and really having fun with him - especially now that he smiles more, coos and does a happy little dance when he gets their attention. I'm pretty sure I have the best kids in the world!

Another thing we're getting used to is almost total disarray. John and Evelyn have been so good about playing together and entertaining themselves while I take care of baby, but that means the place is pretty much wrecked all the time. I try not to go in their room if I can help it! In order to stay somewhat sane I have to have a clean kitchen so I've made that a priority whenever I can. We finally got some Christmas stuff out the other day and we might get our "tree" today. With such little space we really have to get creative in finding solutions...or we just live with it, which can get very frustrating!

Also, I'm re-learning things like, not trying to do too much. Mostly I get the kids fed and maybe start some laundry. I feel triumphant when I get a shower! I go through moments of despair, thinking I'm not getting "anything" done, but right now I'm content with it, and even amazed at the healing and energy I've been blessed with. I tend to see "negative" more easily, but have been trying to focus on the positive and it helps allot. We really have so much to enjoy and be thankful for.

6 weeks! Give us some more time and we might have our life a little more organized. Right now we'll just enjoy our slow creep toward a new normal. 

Look Who's Here!

The 26th of October was an exciting day for us. Thomas Drew was born! 

 Such a cutie! Of course he looks so different now, I just haven't taken the time for a recent close-up. I'm too busy hugging and kissing and loving him! And when I'm not doing that the "big" kids are! They really love their little brother, it seems so natural to have him with us.

Subservient? ... Really!?

 I'm finding myself quite annoyed with a misconception held by one of my husbands co-workers...and possibly allot of other people in the world. Because I spend my time taking care of the kids while dad gets a few extra hours of sleep (he works second shift), making home-cooked meals, and other "menial" tasks the said co-worker thinks of me as "subservient".

Here's a definition for you:  Subservient - useful in an inferior capacity : subordinate

Okay, I just lost all my steam for this subject. Honestly, I was all ready to rant a rave on how I'm a homemaker by choice, and I like it! But now I just feel sorry for him, and anyone else with this misconception. Maybe especially for women who feel that caring for their family is "inferior" to any paying job that someone else may have. My husband tried to explain to his friend that I am not subservient. That we work together and help each other because that's what you do when you love someone. He had no response to that. Again, sadness. Are there really people out there who don't have that kind of loving relationship with their own families?! Of course the answer is yes, I know that. And I know everyone has their own problems in their own situations. I guess I just wish people wouldn't label me (and all homemakers) with such negative connotations.

While my wonderful husband goes to work to support us I stay home to take care of and teach our children, make sure we all have food to eat and clean clothes to wear. I clean floors, the bathroom, get rid of cobwebs, wash dishes over and over and over again, and occasionally I even wash the windows. Sometimes I get burnt out by it all and need a break, but do I ever feel that the work I do is inferior or subservient? No. For the most part I love it! I love spending time with my kids and creating a clean and relaxed atmosphere in our home, where we can all feel safe and happy. I am so happy to help and, dare I say, serve the people I love! How enlightening and uplifting to know and feel that our marriage is one of equal partnership. We each have our different responsibilities but they are equally important as we work together to teach, nurture, and protect our family. I freely choose this life of mine, and I think it is of the greatest importance. 

Why I do Housework

Today I heard my little boy walk into the bathroom, take a deep breath, sigh and say "What a lovely bathroom."

It was a nice pat on the back. :) It also reminded me of some really good blog posts that I read from Chocolate on my Cranium. Thankfully I was able to find them again, there's "Why Homemaking?"  and"Caring for your Family". They both speak on the same thing - the importance of homemaking, doing the little things over and over and over again. The part that really stuck with me is the excerpt from a talk about Jesus doing "homey" things and making His apostles comfortable.

Sometimes I am just way too tired and frustrated to remember how great this work of motherhood, wifehood, and homemaker really is. But I'm glad for little reminders given by thankful children, and happy family members being able to participate in the work, rest, play, and coziness of home.

What we did this Summer

Here is a pictorial review - 

We really had fun this Summer, going to parks and county events, playing in the back yard and chasing chickens! It seemed to go by so fast! Hope everyone else had a great Summer too!

Party People!

Yesterday was our awesome dad's birthday, so we had a party! Balloons, cake and watermelon, yum! We had one balloon for every year daddy has been alive and wonderful. That was allot of huffing and puffing! I planned to pop them all as a game but the kids cried when I suggested it.... So to keep them contained and out of the way I strung them all together. Great idea! If I do say so myself.

Honestly, the kids had more fun than anyone (isn't that always the case?). I asked my big birthday boy what his favorite part of the day was and he said it was the note I had slipped into his pocket that morning, and the Chinese food we had for dinner. Such a sweetie! And so easy to please! Love him! 

The Necessities

We were on our way out to somewhere, so of course I was walking back and forth trying not to forget anything. My little boy keeps asking "when are we going?" and I answer with "as soon as the bag is packed". Both little boy and little girl immediately pick a toy from the toy box and dump it in the bag. Done!

Hi! How are'ya?

Here are some random things we have been up to:

I turned 28! And this is what I look like - pretty much the same as ever.

We went to a thing put on by the county where kids could see fire trucks and such up close and personal. I was so excited that we could get on a school bus. Little John has been wanting to get on one for awhile. 

Of course the fire truck was awesome. John cracks me up with all his poses!

Obviously I couldn't resist sticking my kids in this huge tractor tire.

We have had allot of rain, so we have been doing whatever we can to stay sane!

This has included indoor water play...

Craft time, to make things like...

weather diagram things on popsicle sticks...

and painting paper plates to make them into frogs. Unfortunately I don't have a finished product picture, but Here's the idea from Family Fun.

Thankfully we were able to get out of the house yesterday and have a great day with some family. These kids LOVE their cousins! It was such a fun time! Evelyn especially enjoyed her first fire roasted jumbo marshmallow. Hilarious!

I love my family! And am kind of amazed that they love me back! Lately I have been really enjoying the daily, repetitive activities with them. Instead of seeing the monotony of it all I have been able to feel the beauty of these moments. I hope everyone is enjoying the beauty of their own everyday normal!!

We Had a Party!

This little guy turned 3 last Friday! So of course we had a party - he LOVES parties! Unfortunately I wasn't as organized for this party as I was for his sisters, but things came together and we all had a blast. It was a family affair and so mostly consisted of parents and grandparents comfortably watching the cousins "go wild". Here's a small re-cap :

It was a Robot theme, or maybe I should say Recycled Robot. I used a box and packaging material to make the above robots. On top we have robot bean bag toss (I made the bean bags too! I'll have to post about that later). You can't really see it's full wonderfulness because of the glare - but it was pretty much awesome! The kids seemed to enjoy throwing things at it. :) The bottom picture is a "bowling" robot. The kids got to roll a ball and knock all the pieces down. Another "hit"! Haha!

Next he opened presents, excitedly, yet with great care.

Of course we had cake...

But here comes his favorite part!

The face of satisfaction!

It was a great time! Mostly because we got to spend it with great people. Thanks to everyone for helping us celebrate our beautiful boy!

p.s. We are still getting good use out of the robot

Year One

My little baby girl turned a year yesterday...a whole year! And she is so grown up, walking everywhere, playing with her big brother, "talking" on the phone. We love her so much! Here are some pics.

Birthday Morning

Having fun tearing wrapping paper.

The Cake!

FUN!

Thanks to everyone for helping us celebrate our Sweetie-Pie!

The Park!!!!!!

Today we had sunshine, and it was over 50 degrees - amazing! It was so great to see little John's expression when I asked him "Do you want to play ball, or do you want to go to the park?". He paused, and slowly the corners of his mouth curved up and he quietly said "the park". He has been ready to go to the park for months now, and today we went! So here is our first visit to the park for 2011.

We did allot of coming...

and going.

We did some climbing.

We thought about climbing.

We hung out together,

made some faces,

and enjoyed every minute!

Posing

It had been awhile since I got the camera out (mostly because I didn't know where it was). My kids were looking too cute today so I started snapping. I told my little boy to "pose", thinking he probably didn't know what I meant by it. I was so wrong! He went from one funny move to another, always holding long enough for the picture to be taken. Super cute genius! Here's what it looks like:

Unfortunately my camera wasn't fast enough to get the part where he lifted his hands up and balanced on his head!

Watch out Robert Pattinson!

 

Of course we had to get sister in on the action. I told you they were cute!

But we all know she doesn't like to stay still for very long.

 

 

Oh, I love my life!