from my loving husband

The other night Jordan said,

'The thing I love most about you is how psycho you are...(pause) I mean passionate!'

He then proceeded to dig his hole further by saying that I am a combination of these three characters:

Monica Geller

Claire Dunphy

Elaine Benes

Yep, that's me.

Jordan says the people that know me best will understand this the most.

He is expecting to be backed up by most by my brothers, Melanie, Cassie, Jerod & Angie & Kelly W.

Really?!

to quote my dad

one of my dad's favorite sayings was, "There will be ____ in heaven"

He would fill that ____ in with whatever was making him the happiest at that moment.

Most frequently he would say, "There will be stick onions in heaven"

The man LOVED stick onions.

So tonight, in honor of him and in honor of what is making me the happiest...

I would just like to say, 'There will be bonfires, sweatshirts, cool breezes, snuggling and long weekends in heaven."

(and possibly blogging by the fire...)

Sully fully agrees with me.

My Shield of Faith

I came across this verse the other day and it spoke right to my heart:

Hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.

Ephesians 6:16

I love that imagery.

I like to picture the devil flinging his arrows wildly at my heart.

And I hold up my shield and 'ping, ping, ping' ... those arrows bounce right off.

Faith is so powerful.

But its not easy.

I let my shield start to droop quite easily. Or I push it to the side a bit and the devil gets even one arrow to hit its target and suddenly I throw my shield of faith to the side and I'm left with the devils lies.

That has been on my heart a lot.

How easily I can lose heart...let my faith be silenced.

I'm so fickle.

Then I found a great message in my in box this morning from

Purpose Driven Life Devotions.

And it contained that same verse from Ephesians.

I decided that I needed to listen to what God was trying to tell me.

I'll paraphrase some of what the devotion said.

The writer talks of days when we feel that 'life' and the devil are coming at us from every direction...thousands of arrows are aimed directly for us.

What are some of those arrows?

The writer describes them as: doubt, depression, discouragement, delay, dead ends & despair.

ah, yep, Satan uses those against me...daily.

The author goes on to say that Satan has been casting doubt on us since the Garden of Eden when he asked Eve, 'Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? (Genesis 3:1) It worked on Eve...and he's been using that tactic ever since.

And the moment we open the door to doubt - even just a bit - the moment we move that shield aside - Satan will CHARGE IN.

And this is why we need faith.

Relying on and trusting all the promises of God even when everything is going wrong in our lives.

The bible says in Matt 9:29 that 'Because of your faith, it will happen'

So believe in God's promises even when they dont appear to be true in that moment of despair, doubt, depression...

And really that promise alone...'it WILL happen' ...is simply amazing and such a testament to God's love for His children.

So take that Satan!

CLASSIC Sullivan

Sullivan has been so excited this week because he has his first REAL loose tooth.

As you remember his missing two front teeth came out as a result of falling out of bed!

So last night he said, 'I think its ready to come out, you can pull it mommy.'

So I go to pull it out.

Uh, its not even in there.

So Sullivan starts freaking out!

Then his older sisters tell him he probably swallowed.

Thanks girls...that will help.

By this point he is flipping out big time.

Swearing that he could feel it cutting his throat.

Then suddenly it made its way to his brain...and he was screaming.

This is all so classic Sullivan.

Over-reaction much?

Eventually he calmed down and I convinced him that the Tooth-Fairy would indeed still come even without the tooth under the pillow. Once he found that out all seemed to be good.

Phew!

So now he's missing three teeth...cute as ever!

Torrance's favorite time of day.

Torrance's favorite time of day is when the 'big' kids get home.

She squeals.

And I mean squeals when she sees them.

Especially her Bo-bo.

I love watching them together.

Tori basically attacks Lauren for awhile and they both just giggle and giggle.

Its so fun having them 9 years apart.

It makes them the cutest friends.

And helps me out SO much!

And in my book there is nothing better than watching your kids love each other.

Freckles

At some point this summer we got a pet.

We didn't choose him, he chose us.

And apparently he has chosen some other families in our neighborhood too!

We named him 'Freckles'.

I hear another family calls him 'Morris'.

He is totally the nicest cat. So sweet and cuddly.

Contessa is in love with him.

She wants him to live in our house.

He did get in our house once...but was quickly removed!

When he comes around all other action stops.

You'd think they'd never seen a cat before!

And Torrance basically just wants to maul him to death.

Thanks for making us so happy 'Freckles' but no, you cant live in our house!

Fun with Gma & Gpa & Cousins!

A few weeks ago Grandpa decided he wanted to take all the 'big' kids

on a day of fun to see the Icubs play, try some mini-golf and out to eat.

Grandma decided it might be wise for her to tag along.

Very wise!

These 5 were completely spoiled ALL DAY LONG.

And loved every second of it.

It is rumored that they tried to make Grandpa go broke

with all the snacks they consumed at the ball game!

I love Lauren's form!

Thanks for such a fun day Grandpa & Grandma!

sad discovery

We headed over to Gladbrook for some kayaking and fun tonight.

Really trying to make the most of what is left of this amazing weather.

Tori of course stayed on shore with me...but she doesnt really stay with me.

She is going to be trouble I tell you. T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

Throwing stuff off the dock might have been their favorite part.

When we first arrived we discovered that our usual spot to put the kayaks in was closed. As was the beach. There were trees down everywhere. But it looked it needed some clean up work and then would be fine.

So after kayaking from a different point we went to our favorite spot.

We come here all the time. We take family pictures here.

And my brothers and I had countless evenings spent here with my parents growing up.

It is so amazing and special to us.

The waterfall is so fun and the creek.

But tonight we found this...

no waterfall...trees down everywhere.

Here's the most evidence that things are different...you can see the sky.

Before it was completely a roof of trees.

And this was when I literally started crying.

The path back to the BEST hiking and rock throwing was closed.

Truly, truly it will be YEARS before the park recovers.

Like 20 years or more.

I was so sad. The kids were sad.

Jordan and I both said that the next time we go back our kids could be

too old to remember the fun we had here and the amazing place this was.

The sheer number of huge mature tress that were lost in the storm is just heart breaking.

Here the kids are expressing their disappointment.

Good-bye for now Union Grove State Park.

We hope you recover quickly.

ditto

Sullivan, 'Mommy, sometimes when I'm at school, I think about you and I get sad. But then I just go play with my friends and I feel better."

Ditto buddy. Ditto.

my lunch date

Its ok, you can be jealous.

How is Kindergarten going?

Sullivan, 'well mommy, I'm going to tell you this, two girls have told me I was cute this week. So now I have four girl friends! Its a lot of work. But dont worry, I havent kissed any of them...yet.'

Um.....

Joshua

Seriously, he really is this cute!

And are you kidding me with these curls?

Weekend Recap

Since its Tuesday and Im doing my weekend recap I guess Im a little behind on blogging.

Really does life ever slow down?

Anyway, we invaded Joe and Amy's place this weekend to celebrate a certain little boy who turned TWO!!! Hard to believe.

And really he's about the cutest thing in the world. And so very sweet.

Little Hudson was also one of the main attractions.

We finally got to meet him at 7 weeks.

Lauren could not put the poor child down.

If he was sleeping in his bed she was asking, 'When is he going to get up?' repeatedly.

She loves babies...got a little of her daddy & grandma Cindy in her!

I kind of enjoyed the snuggle time too.

(And what is going on with my hair here?!)

She was just cute.

These two together were quite the pair.

They should never be trusted together I know that much!

And speaking of trust.

Dont trust this guy if you leave your house for the weekend.

We went to check out the Curren's new place & Jordan left some scary messages for the kids all having to do with 'Old Man Zenor'.

Im sorry Brad! I hope you've been sleeping ok!

Thanks for a great weekend Joe & Amy!

Celebrate

Today my dad would have been 65.

I have lots of thoughts in my head about what this day would have been like if he were here.

About how we would have celebrated him.

What kind of party would we have had? My dad loved birthdays...especially his kids' and his own!

Would we have thrown a surprise party with all our family and friends? My dad loved nothing more than being surrounded by his family and friends.

Would he have gloated that he just gets better with every year? He loved to gloat. Modesty was not one of his strong points.

One thing I know is he would have been beaming all day. I would have hugged him like 65 times and we all would have remembered this day for years to come.

Happy Birthday Daddy.

I'll never be too old to stop missing my daddy.

We wish you were here to celebrate.

I hate how much I miss you...but I love knowing I'll see you again.

We are roasting some marshmallows in your honor tonight.

I'll try to make them 'perfect' just like you tried to teach me.

a couple extras!

We've had the privilege over the past few days to have a couple of extra kids under our care.

Thanks Troy & Amy for trusting us with your precious kids.

And no, it was not always this controlled!

couldn't have said it better myself

I saw this on a blog yesterday and its kind of my motto for life right now:

We used to want it all.

Now we just want to pee alone.

Can I get an amen?

The Kindergartener

Oh boy.

It hurt. I wont lie.

I cried.

This isnt something that gets easier with each child.

I felt my heart get really tight and my stomach lurch.

I wanted to grab him and race back home.

But he went. And he was excited.

After breakfast he told Jordan:

Well, my head wants to go...but my tummy doesn't.

FAVORITE QUOTE EVER!

Then he told me that he was 2 nervouses and 1 excited.

But when we got to the school he switched it and was 1 nervous and 2 exciteds

See...these conversations are why I almost drug him back home!

I MISS HIM!

We went to hang up his bag and he shares his cubbie with a girl.

Well she had her bag on his hook.

He whispers...'Should I move it?'

I told him that was fine. He said, 'Phew, that was close'

SEE He's Hysterical!

At this point there was no way I was going to get a decent smile.

So we went and found his teacher.

I said, are you ok buddy?

He looks at me and says, 'I need a hug'

ugh.

I gave him a huge hug and my tears started.

The sweet kid patted my cheek, whispered 'I love you' and turned to play with his buds.

ugh.

I have a feeling he's going to give me reassuring face pats a lot in life.

It felt SO good knowing he was going to be with some of his best preschool friends.

1st Grader.

Avery was nervous this morning.

Her excitement over the past couple days gave way to nerves this morning.

I was expecting this from her.

As Trina would say, 'She's got the worry-gene'.

But man, alive she looked adorable!

She was nervous about her new teacher.

She was nervous about kids she might not know.

She clung to my neck and whispered, 'Mommy, I see so many kids I dont know.'

She sounded scared.

And so I was crying.

But I turned and pointed out all the kids I knew by name and she spotted Brooklyn and we were good to go. But she turned and hugged me one more time and quietly whispered, 'Thank you mommy, I love you.'

Ugh.

Brooklyn & Avery

Stop it girls...just stop!