real life wednesday

things have been going pretty routine around here.  how about you?  is your wednesday going normal, routine?

we are potty training around here this week, round number two for our sweet Laine.  you'd think that since we're on our third run of potty-training that we'd be pros by now, but in reality i have come to dislike potty-training more and more with each child.  i'm secretly hoping that kiddo number four will just magically teach herself how to use the toilet.  ya, i know that isn't really going to happen...but a momma can wish, right?

well, when Laine was on the potty this morning her hair barrette of course came out of her hair and fell into the toilet, yuck!  i might have been more inclined to just flush the thing down the toilet, but it used to be one of my barrettes when i was a child.  so, i ended up sticking my hand down in there and getting it.  really it sounds worse than it really was, if anything, Laine only tinkled in the toilet a tiny bit...could have been much worse.

the boys had a minimum day at school today.  so i decided to surprise the kids with an impromtu trip to the park.  i loved hearing their excitement when they found out what we were doing today. 

that's about it for this wednesday.  i enjoyed surprising the kids with a park trip.  now it's back to normal again...laundry, dinner, dishes, stories, bedtime, and getting ready to do it all over again.

happy wednesday to you!

another one bites the dust

as a kid, i don't think that this grows old, ever.  Tanner lost another tooth this morning, the excitement is the same with every lost tooth.

this is a short post, but i will be back tomorrow for real life wednesday for sure!

not a baby anymore

we are officially out of the baby stage at this point.  a part of me has been looking forward to this day, but then a huge part of me is already missing the baby stage, the tiny little person stage, the figuring it all out stage, the just-let-them-be-little stage.

our little Averie turned one yesterday.  a few tears fell from my eyes the night before her birthday as i went in to check on her before i went to bed.  i have a very huge sentimental side that likes to remember dates and my mind takes me back to those places and times.  as i brushed her face as she was sleeping there soundly in her crib i was taken back to the night of being in labor with her.  it was a cold january night, my water broke at 10:30ish like i had wanted it to (it took four pregnancies to experience that one), contractions were coming like crazy, my husband rushed me to the hospital.  i remember looking at the clock in our car on the way to the hospital and the time either read 11:04pm or 11:06pm, oh how i wish i could remember for sure.  the nurses and my doctor were great that night.  they got me in a room right away, prepped me for a c-section (this was my fourth, the only way i know birth), and at six minutes past midnight Averie was born, a small 4 pounds 10 ounces.  all of these thoughts rushed through my mind as i watched her sleep on the eve of her first birthday, the eve of the end of my baby-mothering years.

Averie had a fun birthday, not that she even knew it was milestone yesterday. 

this weekend we will celebrate this sweet girls first birthday with a few family members and some great friends. 

8 is great!

our oldest had a birthday over the weekend.  he has been waiting for this day for quite some time, it was pretty exciting to have a birthday on a saturday.  the day went somewhat like this:

his choice of breakfast, cream of wheat and english muffins
baseball tryouts with dad and brother
back home, playing in the yard (it was really warm here)
lunch
more playing outside and waiting for his friend to come over
friend got here, they played
we went out to a dinner of his choice, souplantation
back home for dessert (angry bird themed chocolate cake) and gifts
reading some of his new books (i really enjoyed his presents this year)
bedtime and friend spending the night!

oh the life!  Tanner really enjoyed his special day.  i can't believe he is already eight.  it feels like such a short time ago that we brought him home from the hospital, but at the same time it feels like we have been parents all along. 

happy 8th birthday to our intelligent, caring, handsome, fun, outgoing, strong, loud, crazy, lego-building-master, baseball-playing, fact-loving son!

 

 

ssmt #2

"Bear with each other and forgive another if any of you has a grievance against someone.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you." -Colossians 3:13 (NIV)

this new memory verse seems fitting for right now, especially when i look back at my previous post.

that's it for now, short and sweet.  it's been a long day around here, time to rest.

sharing my heart

it seems that i have had this sentence stuck in my head all week.  i am finally going to just write it out and share a bit of my heart this week.

sometimes, disappointment runs deep.

there.  there it is. 

there are times when you feel disappointment.  then, there are times when it just feels that the disappointment just keeps coming, almost to the point of overwhelming.  can you relate, at all?

i will spare you dear reader on the details, especially because some of you actually know me.  here are a few things that i will share:  on top of the disappointment that seems to be bothering me in so many different ways, it seems that when i have tried to share with a few good friends that my words have gone completely unrecognized, unnoticed.  this makes me think that i for sure don't want to brush off someones words the next time that they try to share their heart with me.  if only i can be such a friend to live that out.

anyways, it feels like i just keep having the sentence disappointment runs deep going through my head over, and over again.  in sharing with my husband what i have been feeling he helped me to realize that i need to forgive those who have hurt me lately.  {insert loud sigh}  i've been all wrapped up in thinking about my disappointment that i have let it get to the point where i need to forgive, he is right.  as christians, we are called to forgive those who hurt us, over and over again, time and time again.  even if they don't realize they have hurt us, even if they never know what is going on in my heart. 

so, i choose to forgive.  and with that doesn't mean that I won't feel that pain of disappointment again, because i know i will, and probably sooner rather than later.  maybe i'm a little more sensitive than i thought, or maybe this mother-heart of mine is just recognizing it more, feeling more.

i pray for you dear reader to let things go.  to pray a prayer of forgiveness and really mean it.  to set yourself free and those who hurt you free of the disappointment that you may be holding in your heart today.

real life pictures for a {real life wednesday}

here i am, keeping up with my real life wednesday post!

so, Jason had a rough day at school.  i don't want to make excuses for his behavior, but a part of me wonders if his antibiotics had anything to do with it?  anyways, on the way home from school i asked him if he felt okay and he told me that he was tired.  well, i thought okay he should take a nap this afternoon.  after all, he has a double ear infection and possibly a sinus infection, i think extra rest is called for.  he proceeded to tell me that he wasn't in fact tired, he didn't need a nap, and all that other jazz that comes along with not wanting to rest for awhile.  well, wouldn't you know it...he's been napping for a solid hour so far without a single peep or noise coming from his room.  i just love those days when the children tell me they don't need something like say a nap, and then they go sleep for hours.  makes me know i'm doing something right as a mom, and that i can in fact read my children and i know their needs.  maybe makes up a little for those days when i wonder if i'm doing anything right.

with all of that said, our day was pretty routine around here and so is our afternoon.  our oldest son is working on his homework, i have three napping kiddos today instead of only two, and i hear the dryer going in the laundry room.

not much else to say today, mostly just pictures about our day...

morning bath time for Laine.  she loves the bath.  what kid doesn't?!

Little A tried blueberries for the first time today and it was such a joy to watch her experiment with something new to her world.  i ran to get my camera because it was just too much to not take some pictures of.  i ended up having so many good shots that i just put them into a collage instead of flooding this post with huge pictures.

after trying multiple blueberries i can't really say either way if she liked them.  i have a feeling she liked the sweet ones.  then you know as you eat blueberries sometimes you get some that are tart, i'm thinking she might have had a few of those and that's way she was making some funny faces as well.

here is Averie's episode with blueberries.

the girls and i also spent some fun time in the bathroom as i was doing Laine's hair for the day. Averie was being silly as she sat on the stool.

i'd love to hear about your wednesday.  was it normal, routine, or was it a day of being flexible and just going with it?  leave me a comment and let me know!

moms need to be flexible

the title of this post...nothing new, right?  as moms we know this and we are reminded of it more often than we realize probably. 

my monday was going great.  dropped the boys back off at school in the morning, the girls and i did the grocery and household shopping, washed a few loads of laundry, etc.  then i call our doctors office to get an appointment for my son sometime this week, in hopes that there was an opening either with our primary doctor or his pa, hoping to avoid the after hours urgent care...really trying to avoid the after hours urgent care with all four children right at dinner time really.  anyways, the pa had an appointment at 9:50, perfect.  perfect, until i realized that was when i have my once-a-week women's small group bible study. 

{insert flexibility here}

 i was envisioning a tuesday morning going something like this.  getting everyone up, everyone ready for school and the day, dropping the boys off, driving over to church with the girls, enjoying the short time with the ladies in my small group, coming home for lunch, playing with the girls, picking up the boys, and so on.  well that 9:50 appointment fell right in the middle of my bible study, there goes the tuesday i had envisioned.

i am not at all complaining, but just reiterating that fact that as moms we have to adjust to what our day hold, right?  sometimes they go as we planned, or darn near close.  then other days they don't.  so off we went to school this morning for one son, then to the doctors, then back to school to drop off son number two who had the appointment, then off to the pharmacy for antibiotics.  the rest of the afternoon has been pretty much routine.

there have been plenty of days when i would have gotten all upset about having to detour from the "plans" that i had set out.  wow, that sounds bad after writing just above here that moms need to be flexible.  maybe i'm slowly getting better at this mom thing, four children later.

i'm sure everyone can relate to this post.  just thought that it was a great reminder today of the constant reality that we face as we care for our children.

here is our Jason.  the end result of our appointment today was double ear infections and probably a sinus infection. 

today i am thankful for medical insurance, doctors that i trust, antibiotics for my little guy, and just for this precious son of mine.  he has a heart of gold, he loves people, always smiles, wants to constantly have fun {i'm hoping some of that rubs off on me}.

real life wednesday

we went to target today.  have i mentioned that i love target?!?!  i just can't do the walmart thing.  there are times when i need to go to walmart for something, but i do really try to avoid it.  another reason i love target, i really like their brand.  i buy a lot of target brand items and they are just as good, and often times better than a brand name item...and not to mention a whole heck of a lot cheaper. 

okay, so back to my real life wednesday post.  we went to target today.  "we" being all four kiddos and i.  now, i have three children who are capable of walking in the store, and only one who is not.  but to make the trip a little easier on everyone i opted for the "family" sized cart.  you know, the shopping cart that is about the length of my minivan.  yep, and i didn't even feel bad about it.  sure it may look a little funny to see a six year old riding in the cart, but at least the eight year old was walking and no one, not one child was causing a problem. 

i pick my battles, and that just wasn't one i was going to choose today.

a new year, day, & goal

we decided to get out of the house today and go do something outdoors.  the temps were a little cool, but the weather was great.  scattered clouds allowed for the sun to warm us up on and off.  we had a great afternoon together.  here are a lot, and i really do mean a lot of pictures to give you a feel of what our day was like.

 



 

 

 

last night as a family we wrote down some ways in which we felt blessed and thankful to the Lord during 2012.  everyone had a few things to put on the list, with the exception of Little A of course.  our oldest decided to get out his mini spiral notebook and copy down some of the things that we were adding to the list.  i loved how he got it when it came to writing these things down.  then as we drove in the driveway this afternoon from the park he had added another item to his own list and shared it with everyone before we got out of the car. 

this just melted my heart.  it was one of those moments when you sit back and think to yourself "okay, we are doing something right when it comes to this parenting thing."  then he helped his little sister by getting her baby doll out of the car and bringing it to her, without being asked to help out.  mark said something to me like "can you believe how sweet that was?"  we have moments like that more than i realize i'm sure, but lately it seems like the kids have been in this funk, arguing often, etc.  this was just such a sweet way to end an already great afternoon.

as this new year kicks off i'm starting something new, a goal for 2013 that i want to keep up.  two years ago i participated in the ssmt put on by Living Proof Ministries.  i had every intention in the world of memorizing the twenty-four verses of scripture and even trying to fly to Houston for the celebration at the end of the year.  well, the Lord had a different plan.  i found out that i was pregnant with Little A in june of 2011.  shortly afterwards i was hit so hard with morning sickness that mostly everything fell on the back burner, including my memorizing verses for the ssmt.  well, here i am starting again this year.  i will try to post all twenty-four verses here, the 1st and 15th of each month.  let me know if you are doing this as well, will you?!  here is my first verse for 2013, do you remember it from my previous post?  i loved it so much that i thought it was a great way to the start out the new year.  it's not too late to join in on the memorization team.  just follow the link above and join!

i pray that you had a great first day to the new year, and that in some small way you were encouraged as well.  i'd love to hear how you spent the day or about some new way that you have been encouraged lately.