oh my...

Dorothy red ruby slippers, no pants, Hulk hands, pirate shirt over tshirt, football helmet. 

What am I supposed to do with this kid?  

Laugh? 

Cry? 

Bury my head in the sand?

Send him to military school?

Thankful Thursday

1. I'm thankful that my family is healthy.

2. I'm thankful that the weekend is almost here and its supposed to be sunny!

3. I'm thankful for my brothers...I've been missing my dad a lot lately and whenever I do I have a terrible homesick feeling for each of my six brothers. 

4. I'm thankful for my mom and how much she does for me, every, single, day.

5. I'm thankful for friends that I've had for a 'lifetime'.

6. I'm thankful for all the things we have to look forward to this summer - walks, parks, picnics, trips to the lake, weekend get-a-ways, the pool, the sprinkler, corn on the cob and fresh fruit. 

7. I'm thankful for my Savior. That even when the world seems to be spinning into chaos and panic... He is steady, constant and unwaivering. His promises never change, never fail. He is the same, Yesterday, Today, Forever. I love that and I place my Faith in that. 

Read Psalm 136 for encouragement today! 

Twitter

One more thing for the night...

I don't get Twittering or Twitting, or Twitts. 

Don't get it.

But I also dont get Facebook...so I guess I'm way behind the times.  

I believe it was yesterday that I thought, "you know, I dont think I've done laundry since before I left for Chicago...like Thursday morning."

I walked down to the laundry for the first time in almost a full week tonight. 

Uh, I'm in trouble. BIG trouble.

(p.s. I have to state, this is NOT a slam against my husband...I basically ask him not to do laundry, I have a sickness and a certain way I like it done...he cleaned and had the entire rest of the house picked up for me when I returned and even the kids were clean...the laundry is my own fault.)

Ok, off to switch loads. 

If the shoe fits...

Last week Lauren said to me out of the blue, "Mommy, sometime I'd like to have a pair of sneakers. Maybe next year for my school shoes."

I said, "Well that sounds reasonable but first you are going to have to tell me what 'sneakers' are...because I thought you wore 'sneakers' every day."

She explained to her totally un-hip mother what sneakers are...come to find out, 'sneakers' are Converse tennis shoes! 

So you can imagine how happy I was when I found a bargain at an outlet mall near Chicago this weekend. And I was even more excited when we discovered they actually fit. 

As I've mentioned before this girl asks for nothing. There are constant requests coming from her little sister and brother but rarely anything from her. (the other two need to learn that if they'd just stop asking they might actually get something!) She was SO excited to see these shoes.  And look at this face...try and tell me that smile isn't worth it...

Better

You know what's better than a fun weekend in Chicago with the girls? 

Coming home to these five people who I am blessed to call MINE!

And it was also really nice to come home to a completely CLEAN house AND bathed children who were ready for hugs, kisses and hopping into bed! 

Thank you Jordan, you are the best husband and dad in the world! I am blessed. 

Girls Weekend!

I'm home from my weekend with the girls. We left Friday around noon and headed for Chicago. We shopped, went on walks, looked at art & history & fashion, ate yummy food and just had fun pretending that we did not have kids for over 48 hours. 

We really had a great time and owe our husbands for a weekend to rejuvenate and relax. I feel great! 

Here we are at the 'bean'. Some crazy Chicagoians wanted to get their pictures taken with us...

Having fun with a bull...Jen's telling it a secret. 

Out practically in the middle of the busy road you can see Melanie...trying to get in a spot for the Garmin navigational device to pick up the satellite. I told her to get onto the yellow line in the street...but she just wouldn't do it! 

Best friends for 20 years...is that possible? Man, we are old! 

Going out on the town! 

Chicago-style pizza! Yum!

Daddy Daycare

What are the top three ways to show you always have your way with daddy?

1.  Bedtime gets pushed back 2 hours

2.  Even with bedtime pushed back, he will let me into bed because I'm scared of the thunder

3.  When I want a midnight snack, I just scream out like someone took me from my mom's arms in the grocery store parking lot.

All three happened!  I was okay with #1 and 2, but # 3 was a little much.  What baby wakes up at midnight screaming, has a full diaper, and wants a bottle?  That never happens when mom is around.  I don't blame her, if that were my diaper I would have been screaming too.  It just proves, what you put in them does come back out!  Here's the thing, at 7:30 I tried putting her to bed and changed a full diaper, then I put her down at 8:30 and changed another full diaper(mostly dirty).  I can't tell you how many diapers I changed in 24 hours.  Where is Becky? 

Candyland

So it's a daddy weekend, Becky has a girls trip and I'm in baby jail(as a co-worker of mine would say).  Our weekend isn't going as planned with all the rain, but we are going to make the best of it.  Tess woke up early today, the girls were excited to be out of bed, and Sully woke up with a runny, yucky diaper.  There's been many more since, ughh!  By 10:00 I've changed six dirty diapers between Sully and Tess, washed my hands a dozen times, and gotten the febreze air freshener out only once because the stench consumed the entire room.  

Avery, Sully and I just got done playing Candyland.  Avery won, as she always does.  Sully ended the game by slamming his tippie on the board and splattering grape juice all over.  He takes losing like his mother.  Ouch, that has to hurt Becky!  She's known to end card games by screaming out "You cheated," slamming the door, and leaving me at her parents house.  Lauren refuses to play Candyland because Avery always wins.  Here is how the game went today: I got the rainbow trail, followed by getting the lollypop, the game was over as far as I was concerned.  As she always does, Avery gets the ice cream cone followed by double colors, and it ends with me and Avery both on the red spot one spot short of winning.  I'm up, and all I have to do is draw a color, any color!  But no, I get the peanut and she ends up winning.  I always hope one of them wins, and usually make sure they do win, but this was unbelievable how she came back.

We are off to have fun that you just can't have with mom around.  We are going to make a fort out of the couch cushions and watch a movie.  That never happens with mom, she's chief no fun.  Sorry you all have to deal with my posts over the weekend!  Got to keep this diary going.  Note to the girls - someday when you are older watch the video of you dancing to Paula Abdul's Forever Your Girl and Cindy Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun.  Hilarious.

Thankful Thursday

My list of things to be thankful for could be really long today. 

I'll try to keep it to the ones at the front of my heart:

1. We have a special birthday in our family today, we'll be celebrating tonight. Lets just say I'm pretty thankful that 32 years ago a certain baby boy was born.

2. Its going to be in the upper 70's today.

3. I leave tomorrow for a girls get away to Chicago!!! I'll admit I've been struggling with 'momhood' lately. About a month ago I was in a weepy stage of feeling like I just couldnt mother 4 kids. That has gone and been replaced with this horrible feeling that while I know I CAN do it, there are a lot of moments that I just plain dont WANT to do it. Selfish. Horrible. Being completely ungrateful for the 4 most amazing blessings I've been given. I know I need a break. I think this weekend should help. A lot. I plan to laugh and forget responsibilities for 48 hours! 

4. no tv. we switched our cable off this week and I'm already loving it. I love that there is no temptation to turn the tv on. Last night after the kids were in bed we just read. I cannot tell you what that does for my heart. 

5. This is a big one too...its these 4 little feet - belonging to Avery and Sullivan. They are having a blast outside today and even though I mentioned some frustrations I've been dealing with, we are having a great day. We've been dancing, singing and laughing. And oh how I do love them. Their smiles bring tears to my eyes and a lightness to my heart. While the things they do raise my blood pressure, they also give me a fullness of life that I would never have known without them!

 

Big boy room

With all the baby 'stuff' out of his room I made over Sully's bedroom to a big boy room over the past couple weeks. 

He's been loving his car bed and just the room in general. He loves to kick the girls out of it and have boy space. 

I guess he has a transportation theme!...

 

These license plates are my favorite part of the room (etsy purchases...) The bottom one says, Heb 12:2 - "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

I also love the sign below the shelf - its not close enough to read but it has a few different funny sayings, Look mom, no hands. No Girls Allowed. boi; noise with dirt on it (another etsy find).

Sully loves this traffic light...I thought he could use it as a night light but its more like a disco light when you turn it on. So I guess its just for fun! 

Kind of love him

A natural...

I have a secret dream...

It is that one of my children will follow in my foot steps and become a record holding hurdler. 

Um, I believe my dream may become reality with Contessa...She sits like this constantly. 

She is a natural.

Mommy's pride and joy! 

Ready

Jordan should be home just in time to say good night to the kids tonight. They are thrilled. 

We had a great weekend and today I vowed to do no cleaning and just play. And I believe we have officially done every puzzle we own at least 2 times and we have played most of the games in our closet. 

We had a lot of fun. But Daddy can come home now! 

A couple more...

My diamonds

Gifts

Jordan and I worked pretty hard to come up with the top 5 gifts we felt God gave each of our girls. It was a lot of fun. 

Lauren and Avery we are so proud of the young ladies you are becoming. Never forget where your true beauty comes from, that God created you EXACTLY the way He planned. You are each one of a kind, treasures, both inside and out. 

Avery

1. Sense of Humor. Avery you have such a fun sense of humor. You can make people smile like no one else I know. You are just plain fun and people always laugh when talking with you.

2. Zest for Life.  Avery you dive head first into everything that you do and you do it all with Gusto!

3. Tenderness. Avery you have a heart of gold and your hugs, smiles and snuggles could melt even the hardest of hearts. 

4. Fun-loving. You look for the fun in every situation and you're always trying to turn the mundane into fun!

5. Prayerful. Avery, we love that you are the first to ask to pray for someone that you know is hurting. You always volunteer to say our evening prayer and you just love to talk to Jesus. 

Avery we know that God has special plans for you. You have a gift to attract people's attention and give yourself a stage. We pray that you will allow God to show you how to do that to His Glory!

Lauren:

1. Compassion. Lauren you are one of the most compassionate people we know! It seems that you instictively know when someone is hurting and in need of a hug!

2. Thoughtfulness. Lauren you love to leave notes for your family and you are so good at sending cards and letters to relatives who live far away. What a special gift to think of others before yourself so much! You just love to make people happy!

3. Patience. Lauren you are so patient with your siblings and we are so grateful for that. Way to go!

4. Friendly. Lauren you make friends so easily and you give your all to those friendships. This might make your heart easily broken at times but never stop giving 100% to those you love. Don't be afraid to love with all your heart. 

5. A Thirst for Knowledge. We love how you love to learn! You work hard at learning new things and to gain knowledge on things you already know about. We love to see how hard you work at school, and Awana. We also love it that you are always asking questions. 

Sweet Lauren, God has something big in store for your life. He will no doubt use you wherever you will let Him. Continue to crave the knowledge of Him and to give 100% to your passions and He will surely answer all that you ask.  

God's Little Princess Tea Party

Today we attended the party that the girls have been excited about for what seems like weeks!

Grace and Mandy coordinated it for a group of eight little princesses. In Grace's words, the purpose was to combat all the lies the media and society tell our girls (and us) about what is beautiful. To share with the girls that God knew exactly what He was doing when He created them and He was very intentional in His creation. And to back-up what Scripture says about true beauty beginning on the inside and making itself known in our treatment of others and our love for God. 

The girls were told to dress up in their party girl clothes and come for fun! 

And boy was it fun! When we arrived Grace placed a beautiful corsage on each of their wrists. Then they had to find their place at the beautifully set table and think of one thing that they consider themselves to be really good at. 

Each girl, ranging in age from 2-7, took turns introducing themselves and telling what they were good at.  Avery said she was good at coloring and Lauren said golf. 

Next they had lunch of fancy sandwiches, fruit dipped in chocolate, cupcakes and fancy tea! And each girl was told the tea cups and saucers they were using, were theirs to keep!!!

 

 

After lunch the girls moved to the living room to create fancy crowns. And then the visitors arrived!

Princess Jen was very fancy indeed! But she was also kind of snotty! She only cared about being beautiful on the outside. About jewelry and fancy hair and make up and she just couldnt believe that none of the mothers at the party had on dresses or fancy jewelry! 

Next Princess Mindy arrived. She was beautiful as well but she knew the truth about beauty. That God teaches us about our inner beauty and about how He created us each beautiful in our own special way. She read a story about a princess who learned this lesson the hard way and then shared some truths from the bible. 

The girls listened great and I think it even sunk in a little at least for the older ones. Grace made sure to point out that we can still have fun and get dressed up and play...but to remember the important part of ourselves which should be beautiful...the inside. 

After the story Grace presented each of the princesses with a gift prepared ahead of time. Each set of parents was asked to compile a list of 5 gifts that we felt were given to our daughters. The girls got a card listing these gifts. And the back of the cards gives this truth from I Peter 3:3-4

"Don't be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God."

Then each princess received a plain brown box. Inside the box was a DIAMOND! Grace explained that no matter what the outside of a package looks like, the inside can be a diamond if we are a child of God. 

Thank you Grace and Mandy for this incredible day. I know that we will keep many of the pieces from today, both material and in our hearts, for a long time to come. What a great encouragement to not only the girls but to us mom's!! You are truly Princesses of the King. 

Hair and Make-up

This afternoon the girls and I attended a God's Little Princess Party. 

I have much to blog about that but for now, you get the pre-party preparations...hair and make-up.

Oh these two are fun! 

Pathetic

So we woke up to a rainy, overcast and cool day. BUMMER!!!!

We were attempting to watch a couple of Saturday morning cartoons and quickly discovered that things aren't what they used to be. 

Eventually Lauren said, "Why is EVERY cartoon about dinosaurs? They're extinct!"

And she is so right, we saw 3 different cartoons about dinosaurs and one about some alien type being. These cartoons are pathetic. I cant say I've really tried to watch Saturday morning cartoons in like 20 years. And I can see that is a good thing. Just give me some Smurfs and He-Man. 

So the tv got switched off and we are doing puzzles instead...and praying for some sunshine outside this afternoon. 

Alone time

I'm not very good at alone time. I never have been. I come from a large family and it just didn't happen. We were rarely alone if we were awake. 

The older I've gotten and the more of my own children I've had, the more I've come to crave some alone time. 

But I'm still not very good at it. 

Tonight I'm pretty excited though. 

The kids are all in bed...I've got the first disc to my FRIENDS series in, I'm surrounded by unhealthy snacks and I'm setting out to put together Sully's new book case while I watch and eat. 

I'm going to take full advantage of my quiet evenings the next few days. 

Here's to some alone time...

Maybe I'm better at this than I thought! 

Thankful Thursday

Pictures are speaking louder than words again this morning...

Handymanny/the Cowboy in sandals making muffins in my kitchen. 

LOVE IT!