::milk & honey ::

back to the bows

2012-01-27T01:36:00.000-08:00

Our Ella bean is at a stage where she WANTS to wear bows again. Yay! Now it's mostly clips, but she picks them and brings them to me. It's probably been about a year since she started fussing over bows in her hair ... I'm glad to see a comeback. Speaking of hair ... ladies and gentlemen ... we have curls in the back. There is enough that I have to put something in it or she literally looks like a frizz ball! Like she stuck her finger in an outlet. So we finally found something to "tame" her and there's little curls back there. Maybe she'll have pigtails by the time she is 3 after all?

{Unrelated, but she is also TALKING up a storm. She really went from behind to speaking full sentences. This afternoon she walked up to Jason and stated "Daddy, tonight I go to Nana's and Ampa's house and I eat ice cream, okay?" ... this is such a difference from the quiet little bean we had awhile ago! She also wants to count everything}.

What do you want for your children?

2012-01-20T22:27:00.000-08:00

Photo source

I will start by telling you I had a crappy evening. I almosttyped day, but it wasn’t ... it was just the evening. There are times I can bepatient. And then there are times my 6 year old likes to define the worddisrespect and it literally KILLS me because it is not part of who I am. Who weare. Sometimes I remember what he’s going through. And sometimes I expect toomuch. And then there’s today when I get caught screaming at him while my pastorswife is about to knock on my {open} front door. For reals! {Luckily she knows*us* and I was really just screaming his name as I caught him doing a circusact on my bed and I feared for his sisters little life, so we’re good! Ha!}

We talked about respect and what it means to us this morningin Josiah’s therapy session {sans Josiah, sometimes just mommy and daddy get togo and vent and today we talked about adoption and respect}. We talked aboutinstilling it into our children.

Several months ago we had a speaker at my MOMS group whosuggested we write down the things we want for our children so we can beintentional about them. Together as a group we came up with many words.Generous. Honest. Hard working. Loving. Strong. Compassionate. Secure.

Good things. Things I do want to pass on. Things we probablysee as weaknesses in ourselves.

But there’s something more. Something greater. The one thingI feel I cannot fail at. The one thing Imust be intentional about. The one thing that is my purpose.

What do I want to give my children?

I want them to have a faith that stands strong in their ownhearts. I want their foundation in Christ to be so sure and secure that whenthey step out on their own and the winds blow they will not be knocked down. Iwant them to know Jesus. Like really, personally, intimately KNOW him. I don’twant them to live through our faith – I want them to own their own.

That is my goal.

So respect, yes I’ll take it. I might even yell for it. Orbeg for it. Honesty, Security, Generosity. I want these things to be woven intotheir character, of course. But I hope I never dishonor an authenticity in myown model of a pursuit of Christ while pursuing these other things.

I want to intentionally train them in the way they shouldgo, so they will not depart from it. {Proverbs 22:6}

They are watching me.

Nerdy!

2012-01-14T20:16:00.000-08:00

We've been really busy lately! Mostly just getting into the groove for the new year {and major purging on my part!}. It's been refreshing! Jay's crayon removal procedure was marvelous! Will show you a pix of the poor boy soon, but for now ... us, in our nerd glory!

It's a red violet crayon, in case you're wondering!

2011-12-30T14:52:00.000-08:00

We planned a little trip to the tri-state area {NV, AZ, CA}to visit with my dad for a couple of days. It went nothing like I imagined.

Tuesday:

11 am – leave, finally after car issues

2:30 – Sonics! Wish they had these closer to us!!

3:00 – Stop for potty break. Josiah takes {I kid you not} 40photos that look just like this.

4:00 – Josiah tells us he has a crayon in his ear. A what? Acrayon. We pull over to look; at first can’t see it; oh, yup, there it is; hefreaks that it’s in so far. We wonder if other people’s lives are really thisrandom!? Take note that everywhere welook we see this

4:30 – contact doctor friend to see if it would be safe totry to get it out ourselves. He says only if we have the right tools. I vote abobby pin, Jason and dr friend veto that and put the ER on the table.

7:00 {now, AZ time} – stop at Dads to say hello and askwhere the nearest ER is. {Hospital and Dads on AZ time, Our hotel in NV and uson Cali time}. To make this short: They attempt to push it out with warm waterwhich just melts it. They see him screaming and decide to sedate him … they dowhich involves 5 people and him screaming so loud you at home probably heard it… after the shot he screams “SUCKERS!! ARE THERE SUCKERS IN THIS PLACE?” Nursesturn heads to muffle laughter. He’s out, several tools are used and the crayonis still stuck. He wakes up and starts puking {which continues until about2am}. Around 12:30 we leave for dinner and to check into our hotel in 38 degreeweather! Brr! We decide to not tell Josiah that the crayon is still in his ear.

Wednesday: Everyone sleeps in … yay! We decide to eatbreakfast at our hotel, a lady comes over to compliment us on how well behavedour children are. Makes mom happy! We spend the day at dads!

Thursday: Lunch at dad and a drive back home … after thebackseat has been removed of all crayons.

I don't know what Josiah's face is about here, lol!

Once home on Friday we visited an ENT specialist who hasdecided to book Josiah in his OR this Thur. to surgically remove the crayon.INSNAE! Really! I couldn’t make this stuff up! I tell him he gets to have a crayon in his ear for 2 years! {2011 and 2012!} :) ... not many people can say that! Ha!

Hope your New Year is enjoyable! We're just going to relax with some peeps we love!!

Our Christmas

2011-12-27T20:15:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas was nice, even though Jason had to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning {I guess the most important day in a pastors work?}. Christmas Eve we joined him for service and then Christmas morning we allowed the kids to open their stockings and Jason headed to work and we headed to my moms. We had a great relaxing morning there, and then went to Jason’s mom for food & family time. Jason had picked up Andrew {yay!!} and after a few hours we headed home for *OUR* Christmas.

Here are my highlights:

- We really enjoyed our Christmas advent. It went really well, and I’ll use it again next year.
- We stuck to the 3 presents per child. It has really been on my heart/mind lately {the last 2 months or more} about the sense of entitlement that our children’s generation is being raised with. It saddens me at the disservice we as parents are handing over to our kids. I do fully realize that it starts with us as parents, and I am not sure how much attention I’ve paid to it in the past, but Jason and I have already been discussing ways we can be intentional in instilling gratitude and humbleness in our children. Do you think it’s a big issue? {We omitted letters to Santa, trying to take the emphasis off gifts, but he obviously still brought them!}
- Jason got an awesome bonus from the church and we were able to get Drew something he really wanted {after heading out in Black Friday madness, standing in line for 2 ½ hours … but scoring a great deal that allowed the purchase!}. It was exciting to watch him open it!
- On Christmas Eve we watched the Nativity Story with the kids. I always love that … brings us back to the reason we celebrate. Then Jason and I watch White Christmas while we play “Santa” {all on our computers}. I love doing that year after year!
- Ella *got* the whole present thing this year … and the best reaction of all was when she opened her Veggie Tails Princess Castle. She made this huge surprised face and said “OHHHHHHH!”. Priceless!
- I finally made our whole family {wearable} Christmas PJs. Oh yes, I am very aware of how nerdy they are!!
- When we were driving from my mom’s to Jason’s moms I asked Josiah if he was having a good Christmas and he said “It’s okay. It will only be great when our whole family is together. We need Daddy and Drew.” Love that boy!!

Ella is thrilled to be taking this photo! ;)

At grandmas

At Ampa and Nana's after Christmas dinner

I pray that you had a blessed Christmas with those you love and glimpses of His peace in each moment of celebration!

I {heart} this man!

2011-12-24T02:00:00.000-08:00

We got to go on a {kind of} date, and had a very enjoyable evening! :)

a kinder Christmas show.

2011-12-23T23:30:00.000-08:00

So sweet. Right? How can a kinder Christmas show NOT be sweet?

Below are some memories ... the videos are really for my memory keeping, but I'd bet they make you smile too.

For his classmates we gave them this little gift ... it's a glowstick! What 6 year old doesn't love a glowstick?

Pin It

lights, birthdays, strep and broken TVs.

2011-12-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we did a little light seeing. We got a bit of alate start, but it still satisfied my light viewing check box. In our town they do a boat parade and all ofthe boats “dress up” and go through some of the town’s canals. We mostly lookedat the houses, not the boats … but it was all pretty!

We also finally got the chance to celebrate Andrew’s birthday, sowe did that by taking him out to dinner. We took the kids to my moms, so itcould just be the 3 of us. I seriously dislike taking my little kids to restaurants.Unless it’s a restaurant made for little kids! Anyway, it was a nice dinner! Wehad cake back at my parents with the littles & Ryan.

Sunday night we noticed this major rash on Josiah, so I didmy Dr. Mom research and decided he had scarlet fever. A visit to the doctor the next day confirmed this. While we werethere they checked Ella as well and she tested positive for Strep A! I couldn’tbelieve it, since both of the kids seemed only mildly sick. Both had a lowgrade fever, runny nose and a bit of a cough and that’s it. It’s a good thingfor the rash or I probably wouldn’t have taken them in! They got shakes and antibiotics and a few daysat home.

We’ve been over a week without a TV. We’ve been talkingabout dropping TV for quite some time, and then we were at Walmart last Fridayand Jason says “I think we should get a bigger TV” … and I say “I thought youwanted to get RID of the TV! You need to make up your mind!”. And guess what happenedjust a few hours later? Our TV blew – haha! {Well, I guess it wasn’t very “haha”in the moment}. It’s funny how you want certain things for your family, ideals,morals, etc. … but then we have to battle so badly with society, with thebigger and better and the “you must have” that gets pushed in our faces atevery turn! It's called media exploitation and we're so accustomed to it now that we're being de-sensitized to the toll it's taking on our families. So a broken TV is always a fix to that I guess. I no longer heararguing from Josiah … “But WHY can’t Iwatch TV?”. Jason did hook a projector up, so we’ve watched some movies hereand there and I think we are planning on purchasing a new TV when financesallow, but for now maybe we’ll learn some lessons. J

those mandatory Christmas pics.

2011-12-15T15:12:00.000-08:00

I made my kids go to JC Penny for Christmas photos {they all were pretty okay with it, tho we had SERIOUS melt down right before we left and I was ready to nix the whole thing, but somehow once we were in the studio they were ALL good! Ella even half-smiled this time around!} ... We joined the photo club way back when, so really all I have to pay is $3.99 a sheet. I should really take them more. Ella at least, since she has no school photos.

Anyway, I am happy with the results, and I present you with my sweets!!! :

My scanner is having some issues. Jason cleaned the screen but I think everything still looks smudged!

This just makes me laugh. Ella is such a goof ball!

The lady told Drew he looked "GQ" here.

Josiah is such a good little model. I seriously have not gotten a BAD photo of him, even from the school!

And for fun, here's me and my mom, Christmas 1982 ... I was nearly 2 1/2 here, just a few months older than Ella is now. But I had hair! ;)

Advent update

2011-12-12T15:11:00.000-08:00

We’re on day 12 of our advent and so far so good! We’ve doneabout 80% of our service acts {just keeping it real for ya’ll!}, and Josiah’sfavorite was giving the care package to the homeless man. He has talked aboutit every single day. We’ve done about 95% of our ornament crafts and have made our own felt Jesse tree to put them on. And we’ve done all of our readings, because that’swhat we’ve made the priority. It really has been going well {aside from Josiah’scommentary … at age 6, mind you “Mommy, I know WHY Mary was so afraid when shefound out she was pregnant. It’s because she has never had sex!!!”

Sex? What doyou know about sex!!!????

…. Turns out he knows nothing about it, just heardthe word in the context of the nativity, so we had to have a little pow-wow andhave decided maybe it’s time to start sex ed in our home again!}. I reallythink this is the same advent system we will use next year as well! It doestake some effort, but I really want to instill these things in my children!

Things were a bit fast paced in the beginning of December,but they are slowing down now and I really hope to enjoy these days! What aresome ways you ensure that you and your family enjoy this season and not rushthrough it?

In other news, our Elf On A Shelf {aka: Joe} has several times tried to trick us by NOT MOVING AT ALL during the night! Does this happen at anyone else's house or are we bad parents?! lol! It has been a fun tradition though! {We do the Santa thing in our home, and basically he is a "servant" of God who helps celebrate Jesus' birthday by blessing people. I don't think finding out Santa is fake is going to have any more of an impact of the kids then finding out Buzz Lightyear is fake ... so Santa it is!}

A 17th birthday.

2011-12-09T11:24:00.000-08:00

Andrew turns 17 today! That is insane. INSANE. At his age, Iwas dating his father.

Since we weren’t able to spend the day with him the kidssang him a little song for a virtual greeting. Ella insisted on wearing these glasses all day {so no, she did not getglasses – so many people have asked me, lol}. She just likes dress-up!

Drew did have a game late tonight, so his Daddy did get to hug him on his birthday at least!

We plan on celebrating with him next weekend. 17 seems soold. Sigh.

Christmas Tea

2011-12-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

This year our church took part in a Christmas tea {somethingwe used to do all the time, but haven’t done in awhile}. I love, love, love,love the Christmas tea. It was a 4 night event and I “hosted” a table with afriend one night, and the other nights was there as a logistics person for ourchurch ladies. My husband worked his booty off and was there all 4 nights too!It was beautiful, and it was fun to see people I had not seen in years! Severalof our “sister” churches joined in to do the event together, so I got to spenda lot of time with some old friends {I ADORE our old church, and the group ofsweet friends who go there!}. Anyway, here are some pics of the beauty:

The was our table. We used cranberries and candles - that's all! But I love it. To make the balls we used Styrofoam balls and spray painted them red. Then we poked toothpicks in and topped it with a cranberry. It was easy, but time consuming to squish all those cranberries in. For the stands I bought glass candle holders at the dollar store and spray painted them in a champagne silver color. The cranberry balls are still holding up pretty well in my house, but I don't know if they will last through Christmas.

Eileen and I - my "co-host"

Nicole, one of our teens serving at the tea, and her mom.

Ella on the ride home the first night. It was around 11pm and she was giddy. She only lasted one night in the church daycare.

Us with Drew, the night he served.

Just another pretty table!

Finding your prince this Christmas

2011-12-04T00:40:00.001-08:00

Princes are found in monarchies. You don't vote for a PRINCE.

If you are a love-less young woman of great beauty you may be desperate enough to kiss a frog and find your Prince...

Or you may have shoe problems and meet one when a traveling shoe salesman comes by your house and disses your ugly sisters in order to put the slipper on your foot.

Or maybe you just find your Prince in the music industry but then he goes and changes his name to "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince" and you are out of luck again.

But in the Bible it is different. There is a Prince. He is available to all. AND you have to choose to make him YOUR PRINCE or NOT.

If you do choose him and really become one of his loyal subjects you notice that a transformation begins to occur. You get more PEACE in your life. Why? Because His kingdom is marked by PEACE. He is the Prince of PEACE.

... via Larry Walkemeyer.

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
^{Of the greatness of his government and peace}
there will be no end.
Isaiah 9:6-7

How I am showing my kids to love this Christmas! {child-friendly, service advent}

2011-11-28T23:25:00.001-08:00

I had this talk with my 6 year old last week:

Me: “What do you want for Christmas?”

Him: “MOMMY! Christmas is NOT about toys. It is aboutfamily. Being together as a family is ALL that is important”

Me: “Well, yes. It’s really *all* about Jesus. And He wantsus to celebrate His birthday with Him … which means you get presents! Whatwould you like?”

Him: “MOM!” {now sounding like a annoyed teenager} “It’s notabout TOYS!!”

So Thanksgiving night I gave him a Target ad and told him to“want” away ... I need a wish list!! J

Sweet boy … what aproblem to have, right?

For advent this year, we are using this: Truth in theTinsel. Click on it and read.

I love, love, love, love me some of this as well: A Jesus Advent, but if I am honest it was often difficult last year to take it tomy preschoolers level. The Truth in the Tinsel eBook was MADE for mypreschooler {now kinder and a added toddler}. Bible. Talk time. Crafts. Um, yes please. I think we are even creating a special placefor our advent ornaments.

In addition to the readings and crafts we will also be doingservice projects. This is something we started several years ago, and I adorethe idea of showing my kids how to LOVE. We talk a lot about what Jesus wantsfor his birthday … what can we give Him? Well, we can love his people. So, I’vereworked our servant calendar and have attempted to make our service acts correlatewith what we’re learning about {for instance one day we talk about the censusand how people traveled, so that day we will be blessing our crossing guard}.Some days are random acts, but the majority has a tie in.

Our servant acts look like this:

Day 1 – be a light by making somethingfor your neighbors

Day 2 – give a care kit to a homelessperson, include several names of Jesus in it.

Day 3 – use your mouth for good.Compliment 3 strangers today.

Day 4 – go shopping for food bank

Day 5 – take a meal to a family inneed

Day 6 – actually go donate food to thefood bank

Day 7 – write a letter or song tosomeone who makes a difference; mail.

Day 8 – take flowers to an elderlyperson

Day 9 - write daddy a letter tellinghim 10 things we respect about him

Day 10 – leave a thank you card &candy for the postman

Day 11 – pay for the order behind usin the starbucks drivethru; asking the clerk to pass on a card where we explainthat Jesus means “God saves” and Immanuel means “God is with us”.

Day 12 – take some goodies to ourcrossing guard.

Day 13- make homemade bread for a busy family.

Day 14 – make Christmas cards for theNICU parents.

Day 15 – take cards to hospital

Day 16 – take a stuffed stocking tothe LB Rescue Mission

Day 17 - Do a 30-minute beach clean-up.

Day 18 – Leave $1 bills w/ “MerryCHRISTmas” post-its on them in hidden places at the Dollar Store

Day 19 – Make thank you cards for ourfiremen & deliver them

Day 20 – Collect & return carts atthe grocery store.

Day 21 – Sort through old toys todonate {if you read above, you’ll realize this will be a HARD one for my boy! Lol}

Day 22 – take goodies to Daddy’soffice {aka: the church office} for staff

Day 23 – donate a toy at a toys fortots location

Day 24 – buy homeless guy by thechurch dinner / make Jesus a b.day cake.

I have said this before, but at the end of the day *all* thatmatters is how we can answer the question “Lord, did I love well today?” …

How will you love & share this Christmas season?

Thanksgiving!

2011-11-26T20:15:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday Josiah had his kinder Thanksgiving feast, whichwas adorably awesome!

In case you can't read the turkey, Josiah put he is thankful for:

home, God, sister, brothers {we have a friend he calls "brother"}, parents and church. :)

We did Thanksgiving at our house and Josiah and I had fundecorating the table.

I saw this idea on Pinterest ... using popcorn kernels to plant a candle for harvest time. I love how it turned out {b/c sometimes you try these DIY things and it ends up awful!}

There are Josiah's pilgrim cookies he made for all of us! Aside from cute, they were yummy! {a striped cookie upside down, colored icing, topped w/ a mini reese's cup and a sprinkle. }

This is the only photo I took of people ... I guess that means we were too busy with each other!

We roasted our turkey Barefoot Contessa style {thanks FoodNetwork} and stuffed it with lemons, onions, garlic, and thyme … rubbing itdown with butter, salt and pepper. Yum! My favorite is my moms marshmallow yams;it’s like dessert. For dinner.

Late that night we took the kids to my parents and Jason and I did the whole Black Friday thing. We usually don't, but it seemed convenient. It wasn't ... as you know, it was crazy! We did get good deals at Carters! Ha! And we braved Target. It was pleasant ... literally, our Target was awesome, even at 2am! We did stand in line for an hour and a half there, but it wasn't too bad. We really wanted to get Drew something for Christmas and the only way we'd be able to pull it was to take advantage of the midnight sale, so we did! Jason stood in line while I walked around the store looking at everything that said "Door-buster" and then we switched. Walking around Target ALONE is a teeny joy for me, so maybe that's why I found it pleasant - ha! We did finish all the shopping for the kids {3 gifts each!}. {{We did score an awesome Melissa & Doug gift certificate, so I did do some online shopping}. I am so glad that is out of the way!

I get soooooo excitied to put up fall decorations each year ... I do it mid-Sept. All of it has been homemade crafts. This is a bit of what we had going on round here this year.

In the top photo is a lighted pumpkin I got on clearance at Target one year, and then I applied rhinestone stickers to a brownish charger to get the pumpkin on the left. The middle photo is fall subway art framed {I love subway art!}. And the bottom photo is just a side shot of our mantel.

I made this by raiding my moms button collection and hot gluing them to a piece of scrapbook paper, then added a frame!

First off, excuse my ugly security screen. {I think they are SO ugly, but so wonderful and practical at the same time. I know they have actual cute ones, but we rent!}Anyway! This a tu-tu wreath. Same concept as a tu-tu ... wrapped onto a piece of plumbing foam from Home Depot {.97 cents!}, with a little flower bang added.

This is from pinterest, but the idea I saw said Thankful. Which I actually prefer, but I only had 4 wine bottles on hand and my goal was to not buy anything. The inpiration pic also used wheat, but I had autumn flowers on hand, so there ya' go! I used my Cricut machine to cut out vinyl for the fall letters.

Josiah learned about the wishbone at school, so he was excited to break it.

A new little friend came out for a visit Thanksgiving night. We named him Joe the Elf. Such a great story/idea!

And today we put the tree up and decorated for Christmas. It was 80 degrees here! Insane! The kids painted all of our pumpkins red. I am not sure what {if anything} I am going to do with them, but they enjoyed it!

We hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving! Our pastor played off a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote at our Thanksgiving Eve service ... he said

“If the stars should appear but one night every thousand years how man would marvel

and stare.”

What a great reminder to be thankful for everything! Including all the small things we take for

granted daily!

the things we do to keep them entertained.

2011-11-17T17:02:00.001-08:00

We built a "race track" out of painters tape all over our living room today. HOURS of free fun. Somehow tape makes the cars more exciting!

If you'll notice Ella is wearing her "princess" dress over her regular clothes. I happened to be at Target last week and noticed ALL Halloween stuff was 90% off. HELLO! I bought all the costumes I could find that fit the little's {there weren't many} ... and paid $1.40 each for them. And for some random reason, Kleenex was on that aisle, also marked down to 14 cents a box. So you can imagine how full of Kleenex my cart looked, but we need them with all these colds and I stocked Josiah's teacher up. Anyway - Ella has been determined to wear a princess costume daily. "Princess dress ... Mama ... pleasssseeeeeee". So, looks like we're in the dress up stage. :)

And a complete side note: If you visit Trader Joe's soon, do not miss out on the Peppermint Pretzel Slims. I'm not always a salty & sweet person, but the guy there talked me into them and I caved. And seriously, when I took a bite, angels in heaven sang Hallelujah. For Real. They are that glorious!

sick days

2011-11-15T09:16:00.001-08:00

A weekend inside, PJs, and ...

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

2011-11-11T09:49:00.001-08:00

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!

We are big Melissa & Doug fans here! A favorite in our home right now is the Cutting Food box ... which both Ella {at 2} and Josiah {at 6} LOVE! We also love the castle! They are great educational toys that will last! And don't need battery after battery replacement!

We also use the family dinner questions at the dinner table!

The foil lining.

2011-11-10T17:31:00.001-08:00

One of the things I love about Josiah’s new school is thatwe walk there. In other words, I am forced to talk that daily walk. Ella ridesalong, I eat my apple, and sometimes Daddy even joins us. We stop and talkabout the trees changing colors and every day see “new red”. We find funny thingson the sidewalk {poke-y type balls from trees}, we linger to watch theconstruction crew fix a sidewalk. Ittakes 8 minutes to get him to school. We give kisses, and then we continue on,a long route home – I try to make it a minimum of a ½ hour a day, sometimes more.

Sometimes we even pull over to sit in the leaves, becausethat’s just fun! I am glad God saw it best to send Josiah to this school &to his particular teacher, rather than the school I was pulling for – good thingI am not the one in charge!

In which we learn to store the baby powder HIGH.

2011-11-09T08:12:00.000-08:00

In the last week BOTH of the littles have taken the bottle of baby powder and proceeded to empty it all over the hard wood floors in my bedroom.

The guilty party, in this instance, left some clues....

I forgot to share this photo, but it is too precious to not document!

2011-11-07T23:31:00.000-08:00

Thenight of the kids birthday party Ella would not remove her hands from the birthday balloon strings. She had a death grip on them, and fell asleep on the couchwith them attached. A. She NEVER falls asleep on the couch on her own and B.how cute is this … ?

Halloweenie.

2011-11-06T23:25:00.000-08:00

Apparently,Ella got over her Halloween fear, because by the 4^th house we wereat she was running to the door with her brother and a big “Trick or Treat!”. I was amazed at how much she enjoyed it. Ihave been sick, so her joy brought me joy! And Josiah says it was super fun, soI am marking it as a success.

MyBatman and Minnie!

The weekend prior we ended up at a local pumpkin patch. We missed our annual apple & pumpkin picking, so this was my way of making up for it. There's something to be said about getting at least one pumpkin from a patch {rather than Sprouts!}.

I carved just one of our pumpkins,and the minute I cut it and took the top off Ella glanced inside, proclaimed "EWWWWW .... YUCKY!" and ran off to play. Josiah decided he was going to take his sisters side and told me it looked gross before he ran off too! So, I sadly, carved our stupid pumpkin by myself. I would typically get creative and find some joy in this, but I felt sick as it was and was only doing it for them. Sigh.

When Jason saw it he laughed and said that was how I had looked all day. {I think I have better teeth!}

I crafted all of our fall decorations this year {thank you, Pinterest!}. This year I did some specific Halloween stuff, which I don't normally do ... but it was fun ... {top pics are milk cartons that we drew ghost faces on; cut a slit in the back, and slid white lights in them. the kids LOVED making these and turning them on every night. we called them the BOO BROTHERS, I have no idea why. bottom pics are a little spider web wreath and a whimsy Halloween quilt I made this year. I love this blanket!}.

Ella, you are 2 years old!

2011-11-05T17:08:00.000-07:00

Ella, you are 2 years old!

And just typing that makes me want to cry!

Youwear 24 months/ 2T. You are about 34 inches tall, and I am actually not sure ofyour weight right now.

You sayMANY things, some of which is not understandable. The cutest things you sayright now are: “Uh Oh, Spaghetti-o’s” and a big “HEY!!!!!” when someone doessomething you don’t like. You say your name as “EL-WA”. You can count to ten with help. You say “thank you” over and over untilsomeone responds with a you’re welcome.

You’rea girl of many faces. And moods. Drama Queen!

Butmost of all, you are just fun and goofy.

Youlove to dance, and you love gymnastics and you love getting stamps on yourhands. You love to color and play with bubbles and take your baby doll in thebath with you. You love make-up and dresses and shoes. OH MY WORD … I neverimagined how trying it would be to argue over shoes with a toddler! You LOVEnail polish and will literally bring it to me and say “nails”. You also love puzzles and playing with yourbrothers cars. You like being with older kids, but have found a sweet friendjust a few months older than her and you two are adorable together! You are aclimber … on and over everything.

Youlove books, your favorites being Goodnight Moon, Teddy Bear Teddy Bear, andDaddy Loves Me.

Yousing along with songs … Twinkle Twinkle and others. You like arts and craftsand Minnie, and Baby Bop and Bob the Tomato and, most recently “PRINCESSES!!!!!”and “Dee-A” {aka: Dora}, which is funny b/c she has never seen Dora until veryrecently.

As fortoday, you will not take your “princess dress” off or let go of your dolly. J

A farm birthday bash!

2011-10-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy lately actually DOING things I pin onpinterest. Imagine that?

We are in full fall mode and I love it so very much. I sortof want to smell it or eat it or something! I think I mentioned my dear husbandvolunteered himself to chair Josiah’s schools Fall Festival. Two days beforeJosiah and Ella’s birthday party. And we survived. The kids had fun at thefestival, but I am pretty certain Ella HATES Halloween. She hated seeing Josiahin his costume. Then she hated seeing all the little boys in their superherocostumes at our MOMS group Halloween party {the girls were mostly princessesand she was good with that!}. And then she freaked out at our MyGym Halloweenparty and refused to participate. She loves MyGym and I have never seen her NOTwant to interact there, so the only logical connection is Halloween, right?Josiah had a blast at it all though, especially MyGym since he’s one a hiatusduring soccer. He got to zip line, twice.

Here are some shots from our MyGym party:

And our school Harvest Festival:

And all smiles at the MOMS party:

Today was the kids birthday party. Josiah really wanted to havea party this year, so we decided to do a joint party for the sake of ourwallets. They’ll each have their own special meal {his was John’s IncrediblePizza, hers will be next week} on their birthdays, but the party was together.I always hate how after when I look at the photos I realize that I barely tookany!

We did a farm theme. A friend from church so very graciouslybrought over some hay and her farm animals!

{Almost} All the kids were afraid of thepony tho! Unbelievable!

Another friend made this amazing cake! Seriously, isn’tthis the cutest thing ever!!!? She has such talent! And if you're local and in need of a awesome cake, hit me up ... I'm making her start a business! :)

We had a great group offriends and played a cowpoke game for candy {instead of piñata}.

All the "kids" ...

I love this shot!

I made Ella's b/day outfit. I was happy with the way it turned out! This is really the only pix I have of her in it tho!

Josiah and the horsey!

I loved opening gifts with Ella. With each new thing she said "OH!" or "WOW" and all the girls surrounding us would AH in unison. It made my heart happy. Josiah and Ella opened their gifts at the same time and Jason sat with Josiah, so I really didn't get to see what he got until after the party ... and that was a lot of fun too!

birthday boy!

2011-10-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

On Josiah's b.day he got to be little king for the day! Donuts for breakfast, cookies for friends at school, and John's Incredible Pizza for dinner! He had lots of fun {I think, anyway!}.

Josiah is the star student at school this week, and this is his poster: {side prop for me, but I'm getting good at letting him "do" and just standing by. The perfectionist in me wants to be the "doer"}

Here is a few of my cuties! Josiah and Ella at a soccer game, and Ella and Daddy dancing around!

Blessing those who curse you {or washing Judas' feet as my husband would call it}

2011-10-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

So, I am going through my old draft file in my posts bin ... and I have 18 posts never published! This one is from 2006!! I have no idea where I was taking it, but the word still spoke to me today. Enjoy! :)

Blessing those who curse you. Do you have someone who you know curses you? I do. How to bless them? Fakeness, ignore them (thus blessing them by not saying the things you are trying so hard to keep inside your mouth), etc., etc.???? It's hard when someone contiunally takes advantage of you or uses you or tries to manipulate you - are you to allow them to do it time and time again?

Let's not misunderstand blessing. If we say something we don't mean, our blessing just turned into deception. Blessing is never fake flattery. Blessing can never be deceiving. Blessing runs the gamut from encouraging others, to praying for one another, to speaking the truth in love.

Read this: (A definition of eulogeo (Greek word for blessing), from the Complete Word Study of The New Testament)
"Of God toward men, to bless, i.e., to distinguish with favor .... When the subject is God, His speaking is action, for God's speech is energy released"

Consider how we might occasionally take God's example. As parents, for instance, sometimes we bless our children by not letting them have their own way. However we are wrong to speak unkindly or abusively to them in the process.

I read a quote this morning that said "It's okay to make mistakes, it's only failure when you start blaming other people". I cut it out and put it under my mat on my desk; I think I need the daily reminder. I'm learning a lot about the power of my tounge - that what I say can be a "blessing" or how my careless words can actual hinder. I don't ever want to stand in the way of God.

Josiah, you are S.I.X.!

2011-10-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

You are in your second month of kinder and you love it.

Your favorite movie is Toy Story.

Your favorite place to eat is John’s Incredible Pizza.

Your favorite foods are Mac n’ cheese and pizza {thus theabove}.

Your favorite thing to do is puzzles. You’re rockin’ 300piece puzzles right now.

You love cars. Race tracks. And dirt.

You love playing in water.

You love reading books {and being read too}.

You like to do crafts.

You mostly play well with your siblings. And friends.

You like to build. And help bake.

You are wearing some 5Ts and some 4/6 big boy clothes!

This year has been challenging and lots of fun. You are somuch more independent and like to do things on your own which has been fun towatch. You recently had 2 diagnosesadded to your bill {ODD and RAD … funny how everything is initialed}. We thinkthese {and the others} are things you can overcome and make you part of who youare and someday you will do amazing things in spite of and because of the challengesyou face. You love Jesus so much and there really is something to be said forthe childlike faith that fills your heart. You preach to others, uninhibited.You care so much for other people and really think about things that you can doto bless others. You use really big words that make me smile constantly. Right now, you say that when you grow up youwant to be the person who looks after Ella … that is your current career ofchoice. ;) You love your morning snuggles. And your Ampa’s eggs {not Mommy’s!}.And best of all, you love to sing and play music and dance. You make US fun!

I love you buddy and am so excited to watch you grow!! I am SO thankful that God has entrusted you to us!!

Summers End

2011-10-09T00:23:00.000-07:00

I FINALLYgot my laptop back from my familiar friends at the Geek Squad! I thought it’dbe a good time to document some of favorite memories from the summer …

I canshare with you what I learned about our summer bucket list … make it smaller!We missed several items, and while I could have pushed for them, I didn’t. Iam happy with what we did, and just know that next year we’ll make it smaller.

tye-dying!

School forJosiah has been wonderful! I big happy heart love his teacher thus far – she isperfect for Josiah. Jason and I jumped in to the new school community {this isa new school for us}, and although I was hesitant, we really enjoy it. The PTAcrew is great and Jason somehow ended up chair of the Fall Festival {ha!}. I amdoing my own things, but the word “chair” is not involved in any of it!! ;) Theclass is going on their first field trip this week to a farm. I think last yearof supplemental kinder was perfect for Jay, and gave him the time he needed tomature, progress.

Theweekend prior to school we decided to have a backyard campout. It went allwrong, but I swear it was the most memorable thing we did all summer. The kidswere in heaven. We talked and sang and did a billon tent things before theyfell asleep, and then … it started raining. Crazy rain! And Jason and I couldNOT sleep. I was in and out all night. Around 5am I heard thunder andlightening that sounded as if it were right on top of us so I asked Jason if hethought it was safe out there. We decided to carry the kids {and dog} insidefor a little more sleep. We’re pretty certain it is something we want to doevery Labor day weekend. Minus the rain. And crazy thunder and all.

The dayprior to school Josiah and I went on a date and we headed to a miniature golfcourse. Fun!

I told youbefore that Ella loves handing me the camera so she can get her photo taken …

Wewelcomed fall with pumpkin spice bars for our neighbors. I am love with thistime of year. Have ya’ll become addicted to pinterest? It’s like all of thebest ideas in ONE spot, and I have been crafting and baking and making likecrazy – thanks to all of the amazing creativity found on Pinterest.

Ourschedule has being running smoothly … gymnastics, MOMS group, soccer. Soccerseason started with so much excitement from Josiah. Karate is on a hiatus {wetold him he couldn’t do both and he choose soccer}.

Severalweeks ago we took Ella to get her ears pierced. She did soooo well! HOWEVER, oneearring fell out and I couldn’t get it back in. SO, I had to take her back toget it re-pierced, and that time around she knew *exactly* what she was headedinto, and we had to hold her down. Poor girl! Andrew had gotten his earspierced the same weekend. :)

The bearElla is holding here was given to me by my great grandma when I was a littlegirl. So glad ONE of my children still loves her photo being taken.

the truth!

2011-09-19T00:04:00.000-07:00

When people find out my husband is a pastor they seem to think we are some super spiritual family. {And then they have these unreal standards for us, but that’s a whole another post}. Anyway, I wanted to share how incredibly not spiritually {anything romotely close to} perfect we are.

Exhibit A

I was over 45 minutes late to church a few Sundays ago. I was headed out the door and ran back in my room to get my sunglasses. In the super mini second it took me to do that, Ella managed to do this.

{And as a side note, the youth pastors wife does typically drop her kids off in kids church LATE. Every week. Can you believe that??}

Exhibit B

The other night during bible time Josiah spent about 15 minutes in prayer about bad guy transformers, the dog kept bringing me a wet chew sock to play fetch and Ella spent the whole time trying to pull my top off. I have no clue what scripture we read.

But we’ll try again each day. And that, I think, is what *really* matters. God's not looking for perfect anyway.

{Currently, we’re using this and this for our family bible time. Great resources!}

{{I realize our blog layout is a tad screwy right now ... working on it!}}

kinder.

2011-09-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

Josiah started Kindergarten last week. He is at a new school {which at first I was bummed about, but have since made peace with}, and because it is so close we can walk there and home. He was very excited that he got to each lunch at school {not something he did at Preppy K} and that he got to play on the playground. Ha!

For the first day parents are encouraged to stay for the morning, so Jason and I tagged along. We did several activities with him and it was really nice. When it was time for the parents to leave, his teacher made the announcement and all these little kids broke out in tears with a general unison cry of “Mommy, don’t go!”. Josiah gave us a hug and was pretty much like “peace out parents!”. Ha! I have a feeling that Ella is going to be the exact opposite of that.

Anyway, he’s done well since and I really like his teacher. We have 6 moms that stepped up for room mom {as opposed to last year = 1!}, so I am really excited to be working along side them and the teacher for a great year! Jay and daddy planted a flower in the kinder garden, so pray it blooms nicely and doesn’t end up a dud; I think *that* might make him cry! ;)

And just for fun, here’s last year and this year:

{I'm having uploading issues obviously. So, until I can get these photos rotated, please turn your head when viewing! :) }

The best homemade graham crackers!

2011-09-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

We’re still with computer issues so I don’t have any photos to share tonight, but I will let you on the best recipe in the W.O.R.L.D …

Whole Wheat Graham Crackers. Since I’ve stumbled upon the recipe I’ve made it a dozen of times. The crackers are so seriously yummy … and wholesome. I adapted it a tad, so here’s *my* version.

2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
¼ cup pure natural cane sugar {don’t ruin it w/ white refined sugar PLEASE!} :)
¼ cup brown can sugar {wholesome sweeteners is my fav!} 1 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¼ t. cinnamon
4 T. pure raw honey
¼ c. water
1 t. vanilla
1 stick butter, melted {actual butter here people!}

Now … follow the instructions at Heavenly Homemakers {she includes photos, much better than I can do for you tonight}.

If you like thin crackers you might want to separate the dough into 2 batches and roll it thin. I love it thick and warm right out of the oven. It’s a great snack for lunches!

Enjoy!

{this posting comes with many requests from those who have tried the crackers and loved them, so you should go make them and share them!}

See you summer!

2011-09-05T23:40:00.000-07:00

Heres a few end of summer photos. I have a lot I need to catch up on photo wise, so I can keep our memories recorded … but for now …

Drew started his Jr. year last week. That’s just crazy. We were just talking about how he was exactly Ella’s age {a few months shy of 2} when I met him!

Ella has this thing where she puts on an outfit {and she always want to wear frilly skirts}, and she gets the camera and stands up and says “I smile”{thus mommy take a photo NOW}.

We painted rocks {per Jay’s summer bucket list}

And we *made* kites. My kids are easy to please!

Josiah’s psychologist has us using a “calm down corner” {think time out} … but Ella always wants to join him and I find them like this!

On this week’s agenda: kindergarten!! I’m trying to settle on back to school traditions. One thing I can’t wait to start is this: Minus the whole kissing hands book. My vision is to trace his hand on each day of his first day of school, from K to Senior year and having them on a ring. Cool, I think! I wish I had done it when Drew was little! What do you do?

Indio!

2011-09-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

Our favorite timeshare {Worldmark} location is Indio. There is nothing to do and that is exactly the point. It is a beautiful resort! My mom had booked it for the 1st week of August with a friend as a guest of ours {as she does often!}, and her friend had to cancel, but mom still wanted to go. So, she asked if we wanted to go down {up?} with her … and we did! The kids and I spent the first part of the week and Jason joined us for the latter half once he finished off some work. My mom absolutely spoiled us! It was so nice to relax and do nothing! We spent hours in the lazy river each evening. Awesome! Thanks mom!

This is Ella waving bye bye to the ducks after we fed them a whole loaf of bread!

On our drive back home we stopped at my favorite place {like I sort of covet it and want to move in and live there} … Rileys Farm. The kids picked Strawberries and I daydreamed about having my kids grow up in a place where they could swing from a rope into a water hole {b/c you can do that at Rileys!}. Sigh …

Josiah showing off the strawberries he picked.

Summer camp!

2011-09-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends back we took the youth to summer camp at Forest Home. I personally had a lot of fun, and I think the youth did as well. Josiah and Ella stayed with my parents, so I felt a bit free :) … and I used that freedom to go ziplining. I won’t lie, I was scared to death {super afraid of heights and the process of climbing up to some super high platform and then JUMPING OFF = no fun!}. But I LOVED it, and had no problem going off the 2nd platform. Jason and I went side by side, but I don’t have any photos … am waiting on those from another youth leader! The campground was beautiful!

The girls in my car for the ride home ... we completely missed our freeway b/c we were taken by the huge sign for a pot expo. Really? A pot expo!!??

Us & Drew {who I really didn't see ALL weekend!lol}

Mi Amigos {youth leaders}

Excuse my super sexy look here; my eyes were burning like crazy, thus no make up and glasses!

Me & one of my oldest friends Cara - we camped with her church.

The girls!

It's zipping by!

2011-08-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

How is summer almost over? For real!?

Josiah got “promoted” from the pre-school area to “big kids” Sunday school at church. He’s a tad older then the other kids {cuz we held him back}, but he will be entering regular kinder next month, so upstairs he goes. At first he was very hesitant, but apparently they celebrated their first day up there with cake and candy, so he left a very happy camper. He has such a love for God’s word and it makes me so full of joy!

And what would be summer without the fair? The OC fair is always a favorite of ours, but the more kids – the different feel it takes on. We fed animals, saw baby pigs, paid one dollar to see a GIANT alligator, went through a ice castle, rode one 1 ride, played 2 games, viewed the photo constant {note to self: you must enter this sometime in your life!}, and ate fried Kool-Aide {not bad!} … thus completeing the *full* fair experience – lol! Drew and I really wanted to do an elephant ride, but everyone else was a no go, so we didn’t BUT I am all over that next year! Hello? How often do you get to ride on a elephant!? We went in the evening and Josiah and Ella did SO good that we were able to stay until elevenish … not the norm for our 8 o’clock bedtime kids! Sweet memories!

Here are a few random photos from the zoo and home:

Things I will never understand this side of heaven.

2011-08-02T01:37:00.000-07:00

You know those times when you are breathing in something A W F U L and everything inside of you tells you to stop for your own sanity or peace of mind or something but your heart tells you that you must keep pressing through because this is R E A L?

I read this blog.

From start to finish.

I couldn’t stop. But oh, how I wanted to. I cried. I neared anxiety. I thought about the casket I picked out with my husband and wondered why they weren’t offered ones just as precious.

I hate hearing about things so terrifying and so heartbreaking and so horrible because I don’t want to believe they happen. It’s easier to chase butterflies like life is a happy place.

But there is a mother tonight who is missing her beautiful boy. Who did things I cannot fathom a mother actually having to do. And so I read. And since then, I’ve prayed.

I’d ask you to do the same. Because some stories need to be shared. And breathed in.

I am holding my kids a little tighter tonight.

whenever you say "picnic" do ya'll think of Yogi bear?

2011-07-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

After our crazy week at VBS we had our church picnic! To be honest, I was exhausted and not really feeling well … I could have napped if they’d let me {they didn’t}. BUT, my kids had so much fun … and that is what matters! Jason worked 9 straight days and finally is off to r e l a x. I bought Ella’s Gymboree watermelon shirt at a yard sale with this picnic in mind … I am a nerd. But it’s cute!

God is wild about you!

2011-07-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

Last week was our church’s VBS and it was exhausting and wonderful all at the same time. Our church ran the “Pandamania” curriculum … and my husband was Panda Pete. Such a trooper is he {shhh … I think he had a blast himself!} Jason and I along with one of our youth leaders ran the drama/ story time room and we showed those kids what it was like to sit inside a the belly of a {stinky} fish {pretty certain I stunk of sardines all day}, to hide from Roman soldiers, to have empty arms like Hannah, to build an alter and make a sacrifice {of candy, of course!}, and to create as God did when he breathed this world into existence. We {as in, us adults} had a lot of fun!

This is the drama / story time room leaders! We rocked!

Jason dressed up a Peter for one of our dramas.

Ella is laughing here! She loved Panada!

Ella and Josiah had fun too … it is so fun for me to watch Ella with other people. She did so well with her crew and they got a kick out of her dance moves. {I guess ya’ll don’t believe me when I say we dance at home pretty much daily!}. Ella however, did NOT like watching her daddy get pie'd and it was the one and only time she cried and needed mommy! Ha! Josiah wanted to know why he didn’t get to be the one to push the pie into daddy’s face!

And the most fun??? Shoving a pie in my husband’s face. The girls brought in more tithe than the boys … thus Panada Pete got to meet a pie.

a photo dump.

2011-07-24T00:35:00.000-07:00

Backyard smores!

Snoopy kept trying to steal some!

We completed a couple of our summer bucket list items. Flying a kite for one!

And here's some shots of Josiah at karate last week.

the perfect 10.

2011-07-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

About 6 weeks ago we started a “diet” … I use the term diet loosely, because it is more like a change in the way of eating then a diet anything. Our friends had read this book and were in week 3 or 4 of it, with very obvious results. We typically only purchase whole foods for our house, but we did eat out some {low cost fast food = bad!} and we didn’t “plan” lunches well. Jason ate out a lot with his co-workers. Soooo … we needed this to give us a more defined track.

Jason has been working out constantly for like the last 2 years and was at a weight loss plateau and while I am at a weight I like I do have baby belly still and more importantly am still on a very high dose of my thyroid hr drugs {I’ve stayed at my 9 month pg dose}, and I very much want to change that!

So, we caved and bought the book … The Perfect 10 {as in balancing your 10 key hormones}. The book completely discusses how processed foods affect our hormones which affect our weight. I really like how we took the time to learn about foods prior to starting the diet.

Jason has had awesome results and has already reached the half way mark to his goal weight {he’s lost about 20lbs, wants another 20 off}. More importantly, we FEEL so much better! And I am finding myself craving the “good” food.

A lot of people have been asking about what we’re doing {since my hubs turned into his skinny self} and then they ask “is it hard?” … he will tell you NO! So, will I, but I totally cheat on this plan!! {While the majority of my food intake is whole natural food – I do eat sweets when brought to me, not in home, but out. And I haven’t given up my creamer in my morning tea!} … but Jason is sticking to his path {with a slight bite here and there} and it has been easy. The foods we’re eating at home are wonderful and healthy and yummy. I am sure the fact that we’ve been whole and organic mostly around here made it an easy transition.

So, if you’re interested in my “professional” input {ha!}, here’s what I love most about this plan

• Simpleness. Whole, natural, real foods. If you don’t know what’s on a label don’t buy it. You should only be eating “real” foods. I love this because it makes it easy to include my children in our food plans – we all eat the same thing. And in the midst of that I am teaching my kids about being healthy and the benefits whole foods. {foods are also okay for pregnancy, etc. … giving the best from the beginning}

• Realness. There are no crazy food gimmicks … what we’re eating now we can literally eat for the rest of our life. It’s a way of eating, not a diet. It’s not full of weird ideas that can’t be continued years down the road. There is no special food to buy, no points, etc. It is not expensive. Healthful eating is a habit, and this book teaches about the whys and how’s of what we eat.

• Fat. It’s not about weight. It’s about being healthy. Feeling good. Natural energy.

The hardest part, honestly, has been the planning. Plan ahead. Pack lunch. Etc.

So … I’ll share with you some of my favorites. This is one of our fav dinners. SO Y U M M Y!!

And one of our constant lunch cravings is a recipe straight out of the book, but I’ll give you my verison, since I make it so often we don’t really look up the recipe anymore.

{Chicken wraps}
I cut up and grill small pieces of chicken {and I mean tiny!}. Mix with about a half cup of sour cream, some fresh parsley, a small handful of sunflower seeds, chopped green onions, a tad of Cheyenne pepper, a bit more than a tad of nutmeg {told you I don’t follow a recipe! Ha!}, cranberries, hmmmm … I think that’s it. So mix it all up and throw it on a big ol’ piece of lettuce {Romaine or Butter lettuce, no ice burg!} and eat it like a taco. SOOOOOOOOOOOO good. And I seriously crave it!

And for dessert/ snack/ something we just eat once a day when it’s hot …
We call it {banana cream}! A frozen banana {I freeze them in the morning, and they’re good by night … just pull the peel off and stick ‘em in a freezer bag!}, some coconut milk {do you know how good coconut is for you?} and some cinnamon to taste {cinnamon too!}. Blend to the consistency of ice cream. Yum!

And I leave you with some of my favorite whole food blogs … {these have nothing to do with this particular diet, these are just blogs that have been some of my food go-to's for the last few years!}
Keeper of the Home
Passionate Homemaking
Small Notebook
One Hungry Mama
The Nourishing Gourmet
Like a Bubbling Brook

And lastly, here’s a great post on switching to whole fat, like we have.

Happy eating!

Have I talked about birthday’s yet? ;)

2011-07-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

Jason’s birthday was one week ago; we took the 2 youngin’s to my moms and Jason, Drew and I went out to dinner . It was a beautiful night w/ a full moon!

We have a friend who had a birthday two days prior to Jason’s so on Friday night we went out with them for another birthday celebration. It was fun! I don’t have photos of that night yet …

The kids and I decorated Daddy’s office at church for his b-day! I love celebrating this man!

the birthdays continue!

2011-07-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

We’ve been keeping it low key since getting back from the mountains.

I love that when I walk in the room, I often find Ella in her bed, doing this:

Last week we did a sunscreen craft where we finger painted with sunscreen on construction paper and set the paper out in the sun for several hours. I wanted to teach Josiah about the importance of sunscreen and show him the power the sun has. The construction paper faded big time except where the sunscreen was applied.

We had planned on meeting some friends at the beach for our family outing, but opted to stay home and swim in the backyard instead {and it seems like that was a good decision b/c our friends told us after that it was super windy at the beach and they couldn’t even get a bonfire lit. }

Last Thursday my girlfriend Rebekah and I had plans to get a sitter and have lunch {adult talk, yay!}, however she ended up treating me to lunch on the beach in Crystal Cove and some girl time at Roger’s Gardens for my birthday. {We even got to watch dolphins out in the water as we waited for our table!}

On Friday my family made us dinner and surprised us with an awesome birthday gift that we can’t wait to use! Has anyone ever been in a hot air balloon??? Together, we're 68 this year!

Saturday we went to the wiener dog races {for real} with some friends and Sunday went swimming and had another birthday dinner and cake, thanks to our sweet amigos! Can’t have too much cake! {I had to post the pic of the shirt below ... the whole row of people in front of us were wearing it ... cracked me up!}

I can’t believe it’s already mid-July :)

4th of July on the lake

2011-07-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

Some sweet friends invited us to their vacation home in Big Bear to celebrate the 4th of July/ my birthday. We {of course} accepted! {side note: 4th of July is my one of my favorites, aside from it being my b-day! I made both of the kids outfits ... loved 'em!}

We left Sunday after church and got to their house early {they didn’t arrive until late that night}, so we explored and ate dinner at a local place Jason and I eat at whenever we’re there. This was the first time Jason & I had ever been at their house up there, however Josiah went with them last winter to decorate their Christmas tree, so he eagerly gave us a “tour”. In one of the guest rooms they have this full mirror which Ella got the biggest kick out of. At first, I think she was confused, then she noticed if "she" danced, then the "baby" danced too! Soooo funny! Can you see her kissing the baby?

On Monday we had a leisurely breakfast, the girls napped {it was my birthday, I am allowed a nap!} and then put the boat in the lake for a day on the water. We spent all day out there – anchoring to eat and then again to get our perfect spot to watch the fireworks. I had previously read about the fireworks show up at the lake, so I was really anticipating it – and it did not disappoint! The finale was not like anything I’d ever seen before, and because we were in the mountains the sound “effects” were awesome! I do get motion sickness {can’t get to Catalina without puking! – tho I’ve always seemed to do okay on the lake}, but we said a little prayer and I didn’t feel one ounce of sickness and was able to enjoy the whole thing. I was really thinking Ella was going to freak when the boat first took off – I was ready for her to need to adjust before enjoying the ride … but true to her water baby ways she was laughing hysterically from the get go. The faster we went the more she laughed. Cracked us up! And I am pretty certain the highlight of Josiah’s LIFE was driving the boat. Our friend Andy is a police officer, so Josiah keeps telling everyone he drove a police mans boat. Ha!

We got in late that night, and thanks to the hubs and our friends, ate some b-day cake. {Oh, I left out the part where I got a new swimsuit – thanks Sandra! – my first non-maternity swimsuit since Ella. Last summer I didn’t buy one b/c weight wise I was still off. This year, things are better – ha!}.

The next morning we had breakfast and planned on boating again, but on our way back in from town we hit some serious rain and a thunder storm, so the lake was a definite out!

We got back home late Tuesday, relaxed and happy. Their home has no media {TV, radio, phone, computer, etc.} AND our cells didn’t work up there – and that was just wonderful. We’ve been meaning to incorporate no media days at home, but it never happens. So we finally had it. :) Josiah did throw up on the way home {apparently the motion sickness reverted to him?}, but he was fine once we got to the bottom of the mountain. Of course, I could have done without the cleaning up of vomit, but that’s what being a parent means, isn’t it? And I’ll take it!

We arrived home to our house looking like this, thanks to Drew& a few youth peeps {Ryan, Kelli, Annabel? …. I am not exactly sure who!?}. Jason had been “gifting” me with sweet little things for days prior to my birthday … lotions and sprays I would never splurge on for myself but make me feel pampered and pretty! So thankful to be surrounded by wonderful people who made my birthday a special one!

31 years down!

Romans 1:19-20 { ¹⁹ They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. ²⁰ For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. }

ending of June, begining of the fun ...

2011-07-09T00:57:00.000-07:00

Summer started with a busy bang, and I must admit that it’s been energizing for me. Above, my friends, is our summer bucket list {it includes 16 items, things like kite flying, camping, learning to ride a bike without training wheels, a waterpark {{someone JUST gave us 4 tickets to a waterpark – isn’t that awesome!}}, tye-dying shirts, etc.}. Yup, we framed them for the wall! ;}

We hope to randomly get through these things before school starts. Our summer days need to be somewhat structured for Josiah’s sake. We both are more sane and productive and happier if things are planned. So, for his sake, he’s sticking to his “routines” … morning routine, bedtime routine, quiet time routine, etc. Every day we’re doing 4 worksheets of school work {or “summer work” as Jay calls it}, as well as our character training when Daddy get’s home {we are using Our Family 24 Ways}. Every week we have a movie day {the $1 theatre for summer}, craft day {which sometimes takes 2 days depending on the craft}, cooking day {where Josiah helps/ makes the meal}, and family outing day. As a family, we also try to hit up a movie on the beach or a concert in the park each week. We also like to do at least one day playing with friends. It sounds like a lot now that I am typing it … but my first rule is that we NEVER HAVE to do anything we’re not up for … it’s summer! And some days you want to drink lemonade and sit out back until the sun goes down. More than anything I want a memorable summer and opportunities for us to have fun; rather than days of boredom and us all staring at each other, or worse ... at the TV.

In addition to that we have also joined My Gym, which I cannot speak highly enough of. We first visited the facility for an open house and fell in love. My parents did as well, and they came to us, offering to pay for both of the kids to be enrolled through summer … thus the new gymnastics class and the karate. Aside from the scheduled classes we are allowed to attend free play during the week, which both of my kids LOVE so much.

Here is a sample of last week:

We went and saw Charlotte’s Web at the theatre. Josiah cried. Twice.

We made crafts

We planted pumkin seeds

We went to a concert at the park with neighbors

Ella started bycotting the high chair

We had a family outing to Independence Hall {& then lunch at Johns Incredible Pizza}

We cooked inside out turkey wraps and worked mainly on –an words {pan, man, etc.}. Good times! ;)

Other summer stuff includes Grandma’s birthday

Drew’s bball summer league

And lots of snuggles

Girl Days!

2011-07-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

I had some friends {girls I serve in ministry with!} come visit So Cal for 5 days in the last week of June. They came from everywhere {one from Spain – an American serving as a missionary}, so we did some token Cali stuff {beach, In N Out, Disney, etc.} It was such a nice time to just chill and be. I haven’t been without Ella for that amount of time ever {which means Daddy had some extra work!}, but I loved every minute of my “girl” time. These girls are a blast and I am so thankful to know each of them!

Father’s Day

2011-07-06T23:32:00.000-07:00

After church on Father’s Day we headed out to our timeshare in Indio and we were greeted with HEAT! Oh, it was so hot! That night we went out to dinner, but literally spent the rest of the few days there swimming, eating, playing games, watching movies and more swimming. We never left the resort. It was wonderful! Except it was hot. You stepped out of the lazy river and had no need for a towel … you’d be dry in minutes!

We played some Minute to Win It games as a family … if I recall, Dad and Drew tied, but I must say I rocked the cotton ball on the nose game. I don’t know what that says about me.

We had some friends who came up for a few days as well and Josiah had a blast swimming with them. I think it made him feel like a “big boy” in the pool. Ella LOVES the pool and wanted nothing to do with her floaters, much to my dismay. Drew tried to sleep the days away {breakfast, nap, swim, nap, etc.},, but his pops wasn’t really having much of it. I made this for Jason for Father’s Day, as he was looking for a way to keep photos of the kids at his office. I really liked the way it turned out {and I think he did too!}.

This was the drive home … perfect timing for an air conditioner to go kaput {it has since been fixed, praise Jesus!}. It was HOT. {In case you didn’t gather that from the first 50 times I said it}.

I am so thankful that my children have a man like Jason to sheppard them. Whenever I find myself getting frustrated I just need to take a quick look around and see how blessed we really are. He is completely devoted to his kids & to being open to growth as a man, as a Dad. He invests himself, not just to sit at sports games or wander through open houses … but to fully devote himself to the character of these little people who adore him. You know what they say … the best thing a man can do for his kids is to love their mama, and that he does well!

I see summer!

2011-06-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy start to the summer for us! {This was our summer countdown, obviously a few weeks ago ... }

We had mom & dad date night to magic shows

Graduations

Graduation parties

Sr. Night out

Family Movie Nights {have you heard of familymovienight.com?}

Karate classes and more gymnastics

Father’s Day & a mini trip. I have been so bad at photo taking as of late … ! Today starts our official summer schedule{since we’re all home}, but I feel like I am still playing catch up!

I am most looking forward to nights out in the backyard … what do you love most about summer?

end of year teacher gift.

2011-06-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

I have actual news to share with you someday, but while my Mod Podge is drying I thought I'd give you a little somtin’! Plus, it’s rather hard to work on a computer that looks like this:

Yes, that blackness that is spreading across my monitor would be cracks in the screen b/c I decided to save my baby from chocking rather than catch the falling laptop. Luckily for us, we ruin computers often and opted to pay for the 'we can do anything to it and you’ll fix it' warranty. Sadly, the fixing takes 2 weeks and we have some stuff going on before we can turn it in.

ANYWAY, 2 more days of school {I have a whole slew of summer stuff to share with you!}, and tomorrow is Jay’s last day with his actual Preppy K teacher { Preppy K is a kinder intervention program in a public school; same curriculum as Kinder, just different grading and next year he’ll be in full day kinder}. Thus, the end of the school year gift.

First, Jay painted a ceramic pot black. I used a white pen to write on the pot … trying to get a chalkboard affect. {A+ teacher and her name}

We glued a tape measure around the top {I actually purchased a tape measure from the sewing section of the craft store b/c it was cheaper!}.

Made little circle tags with the printer and some cardstock. Glued them to pencils.

Made a school type ruler … did it this way b/c we couldn’t find a simple one at the craft store, and again … it was cheaper.

Bought a flower with a 2-day .79 cent coupon at Armstrong’s. Used potting soil from home.

Stuck some extra pencils in the soil along with our tags.

And ta-da!

All for under $10.

I actually saw something like this in a magazine once and I tried to burn it in my head, thus our own creation.

Hope she likes it!

lingering spring

2011-06-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

And a step by step how to ... steal your brothers hat.

6 years. In heaven.

2011-06-04T23:41:00.000-07:00

The man in the flower shop overheard me saying something to Jason about kids in the car, so he gave Jason these 3 hearts ... one for each of them, to leave. I thought it was sweet.

The day that ended much better then it started!

2011-05-31T22:27:00.000-07:00

First off, Snoopy’s 3rd birthday was earlier this month and we celebrated Sunday night {Josiah doesn’t know the difference}. She got a doggie cake and a doggie beer {to celebrate “21 years”}. We sang! The kids loved it.

However, Monday morning … Jason opened the garage to get the pool stuff out and Snoopy flew out the door. Jason tried to track her down, she ran quickly and finally turned to look at him as he called her. She decided to come back and crossed a semi-major street and got hit by a SUV {who didn’t stop}. To us {and neighbors} it appeared that she was hit in her head, and she flew and twisted from the SUV to the grass. She seemed … okay!?! We took her to the emergency vet immediately, b/c no way could she have been okay with what had just happened. A huge bill later and x-rays & exams showed that she was fine. I can’t understand the what or how of it all, but aside from being traumatic for us, everything turned out good.

We had some friends come to hang and BBQ. The kids loved the bubbles. And the pool. Lots of comfortable chat and little kids laughter … a great ending!

life.

2011-05-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

Josiah had missed some school because he was sick but we still went to open house. He was our “tour guide” and was excited to show us his work. While looking through his journal we saw a day that said “Mommy and Daddy went to a new psychiatrist" and then we turned the page to the next day which read “Mommy and Daddy told me they are getting married again” … oh, we laughed. {a. Josiah was accepted to a new therapy center and we did meet with his new psychiatrist and b. we renewed our vows}.

Friday was Jammies for Japan day {the kids got to wear their PJs if they collected money to send to help with Japan’s relief fund}.

Yesterday, Jason and I went on a movie/dinner date. I haven’t seen a movie in a theatre since Toy Story 3 last summer. Ella was a little jealous I was stealing her prince.

Today we hung out at the market place and chilled!

And I leave you with a memory from last weekend …

I had two little boys in the backseat of my car the other day {one being my son}. Suddenly I hear Josiah telling his buddy that he’s adopted {now, he never used the actual word adopted … he said something about coming out of another lady’s belly and she gave him to us and now we’re his family and I am sure this boy who knew nothing of any of this was wondering what on earth Jay was talking about and why I wasn’t interceding, but his only actual verbal reply was “oh, that’s cool”}. THEN, a minute later I hear little boy voice ask “Well, where do babies come from?”.

Silence.

Especially from me.

“I think mommy’s tummies.” , some nodding of the heads I see happening in my rearview followed by a “ah-ha” in agreement.

And then further silence,

followed by “well, how do they GET OUT?”

{oh, dear Lord, please don’t let them ask me, please don’t let them ask me}.

More silence.

Then a thoughful reply of “I think Ella got out of your mommies tummy because some one karate chopped her and the baby flew out” Josiah corrects with “No, that’s not right. The doctor cut open my mommy, pulled out Ella and then put my mommies belly back on”.

Silence.

{Oh my word! Why I am always alone when this stuff happens? Maybe I should turn the radio up}.

“So, you wanna play football when we get to the park?”

Thus, the moral … babies either come from removing of the belly or karate chops. Take note.

Can I brag for a minute?

2011-05-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

This is what I got for Mother’s Day. I love my family big time. Specifically my hubs who had this necklace designed for me.

Jason has been working for a long time {like a decade} to pursue ministry and over the last few years we’ve been able to witness the fruit of that {in many different ways}. One of those ways occurred last weekend, when Jason was presented to our conference as a CMC {which is basically step 2 of 3 to became a ordained elder of the Free Methodist Conference}. It’s cool to see things we prayed about years ago become reality!

{As for the weekend, we have a sick boy and have had some more insurance frustrations. Insurance companies kill me, seriously. This is the biggest hurdle we have in the world of ministry … no employer provided insurance, which means companies can deny you and decide to charge you outrageous amounts of money for monthly premiums} BLAH!

Growing children.

2011-05-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

2 Timothy 1:5 (New Living Translation)

I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you.

This was one of my verses for the week {doing an awesome study of scripture … find out more, like the “plan” here}. At first I thought I looked up the wrong verse, but I as I SOAP’d it, I began to see the beauty in it. And I got a little intimidated. I admit!

All that my younger kids know about being a Christian they learned from me. At this point in their lives, anyway. Therefore, how I behave in turn teaches them how to be a Christian. Follow me?

My attitudes, my choice of words, my temper, my forgiveness, my peacefulness, my ability to give grace freely, my reactions, my anger, my actions, my willingness to work, my voice when speaking to others, my serving my husband, my choosing of how to spend my time, my Bible reading, my desires, my jealously, my confidence, my meekness …

All of this, it teaches my children about faith. How I live each moment impacts them. If I proclaim to be a Believer … if I talk the talk … then I best be walking the walk.
My children are watching.

Blame it on the hormones.

2011-05-17T21:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in an incredibly bad mood and knew you were wrong, but you kept up with it anyway? We’re women; we should be allotted grace for our moodiness and emotional-ness {word!}, right? In all fairness you do warn your family that the hormones are raging, so they should just steer clear.

It doesn’t seem equal, really. How as women, we’re bombarded with PMS, periods, medications, whatever … and they change some little chemical in us and all of the sudden we’re feeling like an ocean storm is about to take down a small city – inside of our beautiful God crafted bodies. So if we have days where we are inconsolable or irrational or straight out rude, others should just take it in stride and deal, right? It’s not our fault. We can’t control ourselves. It’s the stinkin’ hormones! RIGHT?

Or is it? Right, I mean.

Turns out the Bible teaches that we don’t have to be controlled by our emotions {note to readers: do not rely this back to me while I am PMSing. Kidding. Sorta.} I am about to have a moment of period talk, so if you’re a man you might want to just click the back button and continue reading the sports recaps. Almost a good 6 months after Ella, my cycles returned and OH MY WORD. I was taken over by some awful, emotional woman. Things were different post pregnancy. I actually had a very bad situation occur that 1st period weekend that sadly I am still paying for. {Proof that there is no human grace for hormone related events}. ANYWAY, it has been interesting to me to seek out and see what God thinks about my excuses and how “symptoms” of anything cannot be “excuses” for sin.

So, how do I NOT be controlled by emotion? Well, 2 Corinthians 10:5b tells me to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” We need to focus on Him and bring every thought and word obedient to Him. He can bring our emotions under control, thus allowing us to choose how we respond. That angry outburst at my husband? It’s not okay. Unkindness to my child? Not excused.

By nature, I am an emotional person. I bawl at any episode of Extreme Makeover any edition. God made me that way, and for sure, it can be used for His glory! It, however, cannot be used as my “excuses” for my attitudes, aggression, outbursts, etc. The Bible is clear about self-control. As women, our minds are always going, but we need to control those thoughts so they don’t control us. 2 Timothy 1:7,13-14 tells us that the faith and love of Jesus Christ can help us exercise self-control in our attitudes and behavior, even when our emotions feel out of control. Isn’t that refreshing?!

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

This post is linked up at GMG.

Snoop D O double G

2011-05-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

This is Snoopy.

She’s awfully cute, ain’t she? {I feel a little shame using the non-word “ain’t”. Moving on …}

Snoopy came to us about 4 weeks ago in the form of a quickly made decision. We’d spent many a days at the pound looking for the “perfect” dog for our family recently, without much luck. Then one day, Jason called me and asked if I was interested in a beagle. I laughed at him because once Drew saw “Underdog” many years ago, he decided our next dog should be a beagle. As it turns out, my husband wasn’t kidding and once I said sure I was instructed to pick the dog up. Like, right that minute.

Snoopy is 2 years old {almost 3, I think we see a doggy birthday cake in our future} and a full bread female beagle. Her momma had been incredibly sick and sadly died yesterday after a long battle with cancer.  We choose to keep the name “Snoopy”, but it sounds more like Snoop Dog ‘round here. She is fully house and cage trained. She can sit. And boy, can she bark; which I am sure our neighbors LOVE!

Josiah is madly in love with her and they often sleep together. Ella was terrified at first, but now uses Snoopy as a pillow in the living room and I’ve caught her a few times taking Snoopy’s lips and pulling them far apart. And Snoopy just licks Ella; I am not going to lie, I think I’ve caught a few french kisses. Bless that little beagle heart for being so amazing with my kids. Jason loves that she plays fetch and is so playful and then so calm. But when it comes down to it, Snoop has attached to me. She’ll sit on the bath mat while I shower if we let her. I think it’s because she is used to a woman. But she is such a sweet girl.

the truth about babies.

2011-05-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

Not exactly what I planned on sharing, but it’s the first thing that came to mind upon reading the prompt “deep breath …”

2:35pm

Maybe because a deep breath is what you do before you jump off a diving board, or step into something scary?

I had an appointment scheduled in March to talk to Dr. T {our wonderful baby doc, if you’ll recall} about having another baby. Yes sir’re. Did we attend that appointment? Nope.

A – Would it be easy to get pregnant again? Would we even be willing to do infertility treatments at this point in life? Are we setting ourselves up for disappointment?

B – And if we did get pregnant we know very well what it entails! We had to fully rely on SO many people for SO long last time around. How could we ask that of them again? And if the bad stuff happened again, could we handle that? AGAIN?

C – It’s scary. Do we want to put US through that again?

D – Infant adoption has been brought to the table as a discussion point. So has waiting another year. So has sticking my head in the sand and refusing to talk about it all.

E – But … for some reason baby fever is looming. Little tiny baby fingers everywhere. Sigh.

Maybe the most important point? If you would have asked me prior to Ella if I wanted to get pregnant, my answer would have been a firm NO {= fear}. But God had other plans and now I would not, could not imagine one single second without my Ella girl. Good thing I don’t make the final decisions around here. Fear and doubt is all that leads to the above questions. Maybe we should just take a deep breath, let go … and jump.

2:40pm

Made by Mom!

2011-05-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

I went to a quilt show in Jan {I think?} and fell in LOVE with Izzy and Ivy patterns! So, I bought one and am so happy to have finished it! {so many projects go left undone in my house, let me tell you!!}. It was the first time I smocked anything and I love how it turned out, it makes me want to smock all day. Because who does not big time heart smocking? Personally, I think the straps are too bulky, but I can adjust that.

I think Ella likes the results!? Ha!

We had friends over today to play! Yeah, us!

For the love of mom!

2011-05-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

Is this photo just amazingly beautiful?? Not because we look all pretty and smiled {some of us, kind of} … but because I get to sit on my grass with my beautiful children! They each have such a special and unique place in my heart and I am soooooooo grateful for the opportunity to be called Mommy.

I can’t wait to show you what I got for Mother’s Day, but that’ll have to wait!

In other news, please scroll up to view photo#1. It was Mommy Day at school and Josiah and I had a blast. It was also the day we officially became the parents who forget to pick their children up at school. Yes, we did. Now, we didn’t “forget” he was at school …. We forgot that this particular minimum day ended at 11:30am, not 12:30pm. Thus in the middle of yard sale-ing {yes, we were!} we got that phone call from the not so happy teacher “Um, I have Josiah here … “. Thankfully, another mom that I car pool with was nearby, so I called her cell and she quickly turned around to go get my poor boy. Sigh. Good thing children forgive so easily! I should win an award I tell ya! :/

I pray your Mother's Day was peaceful, regardless of your stage in life. Be blessed, friends!

Motherhood Should Come With …

2011-05-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

6:38am

Maybe a person who comes in once a week and lets you sleep?

I happen to feel that motherhood pretty much came with everything. Everything I wanted and dreamed of and hoped it would be. Is it perfect? No sir! There are tears and yelling and some serious lack of patience. But it is absolutely worth every single minute.

I waited a long time to be a mom. So all of those bumps in the road can approach full force and I would still be beyond thankful for the journey.

But sleep, I can use uninterrupted sleep. Especially in the baby days. So, that I’d take.

I can think of many things that could finish that statement, but if I am honest … the moment I became “mom” everything wonderful and beautiful and miraculous in the world also came into my life.

6:43am

Ella bella, my dear. You are 18 months old.

2011-05-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

And oh how my mommy heart wishes I could hold your 5 pound little self again, just for a minute.

You can say several words. You are still “behind” on a speech level – in fact your ped wants to possibly look into speech therapy for you! But I think we should just let you fill your shoes in your own time … and not obsess over it! Currently you say “Mama, Dada, Daddy, Brother {okay, you don’t actually say brother, but you say some sound that we know implies brother}, Bottle {same as with brother, but you use this sound for anything from water bottles to cups}, dog, eat, duck, baby, tea, tree, more, shoe, no, Minnie {that’s pretty much all you yell at any Disney location. MINNIE!},Barney, “Ta-da”{with the proper V shaped arms} and “dance”. You can make roar sounds for a lion, bark sounds for a dog, and MOOOOOOO for a cow.

You are in gymnastics and LOVE it. You literally throw a tantrum every time it’s time to leave. The nurses always told me you were a gymnast when I was preggo, b/c you would summersault around so much they couldn’t keep you on the heart monitors. Apparently, they were right.

You weight about 25 pounds and are in size 4 diapers. Size 5 shoes. Size 18-24 month clothing. You have a long torso {like me, sorry}, so larger shirts fit better.

You sleep about 11-12 hours at night and take one nap {1-2 hours, sometimes as long as 3}.

Your favorite food right now is absolutely strawberries. You amaze me by how much food you can down.

You are so funny and so much fun!

that little thing called Spring Break!

2011-05-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

We pulled Josiah out of school for a week for vacation, because his and Drew’s school breaks were different weeks – and it is a heck of a lot easier to have Jay miss a week’s worth of school then it is Drew. Though Jay’s teacher did send us this mega packet of work to be completed and a small part me wondered if she understand that “vacation” does not equate to “homework fest”. But I caved and we did it.

All to that to say, THUS once we got home from vacation I still had another week to play activities director. Which essentially is a job I love, however Josiah has entered the stage of “I’m bored” and it can get trying.

Loving that my husband’s days off are during the week, we embarked on some mini adventures.

Biking at the harbor

Craft time!

The zoo with the girls!

Our house got "tagged"

The beach and car show ...

Now begins the countdown to summer. The kids are going swimming today, so it already very much feels like summer … but this is the first year I get to do something fun to celebrate the last day of school. Ideas?

Maybe God is punishing you and that’s why you can’t have a baby.

2011-04-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

Ouch.

I’ve heard similar.

Maybe God doesn’t want you to have kids. Maybe the babies you’ve lost had something “wrong” with them {they didn’t} and that’s why God took them. Maybe God is trying to teach you something. Maybe there is sin in your life that needs to be resolved before you’ll get pregnant. Maybe you’re not good enough to be parents … actually, I don’t recall anyone ever saying those particular words, but I think all of the above makes you feel like you’re hearing that last one.

Infertility is a disease. To the people involved it feels like: An unworking body. A worthless uterus. An incompetent cervix. {Yes, that is a term I must fill out on all insurance forms I will ever complete for the rest of my life}. Call it want you want, but it is an awful disease that does not discriminate against age, religion, sex {men can be infertile too!}, etc. No, it is not life threatening … but it is life altering, it is hope stealing, it is heart shattering.

Would you tell a person with Downs that they are being punished for some sin?

I didn’t think so.

On the other side of it all I can tell you that God did in fact teach me a whole mess of beautiful heart wrenching lessons while I was popping Clomid pills and picking out caskets for my babies. Because of His sweet grace I was able to emerge stronger and deeper. But He did not cause my journey as a form of punishment. He was not holding back because I was a “sinner” or undeserving. He was the same then as He is today … and that my friends, is Good.

There are many options for couples facing infertility. Thankfully, it is not such a silent topic anymore. There are medical treatments and avenues outside of pregnancy that can lead to the road of parenthood. None of the options are easy or guaranteed.

If you happen to cross paths with someone on the road of loss or infertility … my advice: don’t offer ignorant platitudes. I know it’s uncomfortable for you, but it’s also painful for the person who’s enduring the circumstances set before them. Just offer a hug, a prayer, or a simple I’m sorry. As my friend Thelma recently stated … compassion does not need understanding.

Another myth: standing on your head after sex doesn’t work either. It’s been tried.

It’s National Infertility Week. If you or someone you know is enduring the disease of Infertility take the Break A Myth challenge and share your heart!

If I knew I could, I would ...

2011-04-28T22:25:00.000-07:00

For five minutes straight we write, straight from the heart. No edits, no thinking. This weeks prompt: If I knew I could, I would ...

10:27pm

Move my family to a house in the country where I would milk my own cows {or goats?}, raise my own chickens, and have a big enough back yard that my kids could ride quads around. We’d be able to afford it because it would be smack dab in the middle of beautiful nowhere. I’d have to walk down the long driveway to get my mail. And I wouldn’t miss Target. {They ship anyway, right?}

And the most important part: this house of mine … lots of rooms. Rooms of which can be filled with children who need a home. Especially teenagers ready to age out of the foster system. They could come in, mend hearts and leave with a place to always come back to.

I would not be afraid of the unknowns. Of a new place. Of my skills as a mother. I would give all the love I could and not fear hurts I can’t control. I’d teach about Jesus.

10:32pm

Easter.

2011-04-26T22:59:00.000-07:00

I hope ya’ll had a great Resurrection Sunday!

Personally, I love how Josiah is starting to understand more and more. He was super stoked that he got The Jesus Storybook Bible in his basket … but I cannot tell you how excited I was!! I have wanted that Bible for us for so long, and when we bought it it took all I had to not just give it to him right then! I love that my kids share my love for books.

We dyed eggs, Jason read the Easter story out of the NIV and then we headed to bed. Because we just returned from vacation our home celebration was low-key. The next day Jason worked a long day {little confession: it makes me sad that pastors busiest days are the holidays! I want him home with us!}. He left for work at some awful hour and the kids and I followed for the later service. We do our Easter meal at our house, so I came home right after to continue preparations. Another confession: Sunday was my very first time cooking a ham. I’m not a big ham fan, but for some reason decided to make it for Easter. Check out my table centerpiece … apples and flowers from my garden! I loved it.

At the end of the night we re-read the Easter story in Josiah’s new bible and it was awesome! {Have I mentioned how excited I am about that book!?!}.

In David Platt’s book Radical, Platt speaks about Jesus’ time before the cross. When he is in the Garden in agony and pain, it is not because he fears the crucifixion ahead of him. He is not afraid of what the soldiers are about to do to him.

“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.”

The cup is God’s wrath … all of God’s holy wrath and hatred toward sin, stored up since the beginning of the world, is about to be poured out of him. There lies the agony. All wraths due your sin and my sin came down on Christ himself. The just and loving Creator of the universe looked upon hopelessly sinful people and sent his Son. He showed his power over sin in the Resurrection and all who trust in him can now be reconciled to God forever.

Is that not A.MAZ.ING {!!!!}, my friends?

Blessing to you this Easter.

2000 miles and one left turn.

2011-04-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

We took a family road trip last week – after Jason and I decided to forgo our larger anniversary trip we opted to use that earmarked money for a small family getaway.

It was nice for me, in the sense that I love driving through beautiful country and we saw A LOT of it! Our timeshare was on the lake, and if I am honest … I probably won’t visit that particular time share again; but for a first visit it was well worth the trip to just get away from the routine of life. We brought along a family friend - a youth leader that Jason is mentoring and one of Drew’s friends … Josiah refers to him as “brother 1 and a half”. So, the 6 of packed into our newly repaired {after a biziollon dollars and THREE different stays at the mechanic} truck and off we were.

Highlights:

- We went to see Bison and since we were in complete hickville we first got lost and then found a tree with a sign nailed to it that said “hitch post” {in English: park here}. We didn’t see a thing, so I made Jason and Drew get out … they find this old man who tells us that him and his son killed all the bison b/c of some situation with dope growers. And then he follows by telling us he thinks they shot the wrong ones. Um, okay? Thanks, we’ll be leaving now!!
- We took a day trip to San Fran and had about 10 stark naked old men ride by on bicycles. Neekkeeddddd! {I’ll spare you that photo!}
- We found a farm in our farm trail drive where everything was on the honor system. You picked what you wanted {in our case, onions} put the money in this bucket in the front of the room and took your change. It was just crazy to me that there really are places like that still. Apparently they don’t have the same issues with the dope growers – ha!
- I learned that the more children you have the harder it is to get everyone looking at the camera at once. Josiah is over his photo being taken, Ella wants to poke at the people standing next to her and Drew has pretty much gotten down the whole "just look at me and smile" thing.
- We grilled steaks and sleep in and went swimming and did all of the fun stuff that comes with just relaxing. But now I have to figure out how to get Ella back on her nap schedule. Boo!

And now I leave you with all the many amazing photo moments I had with those I love the most:

{also know as the man who shoots things!}

This face makes me laugh so hard!

Our state capitol.

You can view the full album here.

race cars and ear plugs

2011-04-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we cashed in our Free Friday tickets and joined the crazy masses at the LB Grand Prix. It's something our city takes so much pride in, not to mention it is so fun!

As soon as we heard the loud cars around us Josiah was in awe and Ella was uncertain. Once she saw them she was in!

{golf, race cars, football, bouncy houses ... Josiah loved the expo center!}

{Another example of Ella's "stinky face" which I adore, but hope she decides to stop it before her kinder photos, b/c the minute you tell her to say cheese, you get this!}

Yesterday {prior to the races} was Josiah's Jog-A-Thon .... here he is at the finish:

Lastly, I want to share with you my excitiment about a upcoming adventure of a ministry that is dear to my heart. Next Friday, Held, a blog birthed from Hannah's Prayer Ministires will launch. A lot of people have put a lot of hard work and love into this project, and I can't wait for you to see what they have for you. Check it out!

My Thursday night Friday ramblings.

2011-04-14T21:44:00.000-07:00

9:22

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near

We sang this song on Wednesday night – an unusual week where the youth were in “big church” for worship. I must admit that while we were singing I was thinking “Is this even true for me?”

Is God all I want?

No.

I want to have a house with a wraparound porch someday. I want to live to see my babies have babies. I want to pay for a Jeep with cash. I want another healthy pregnancy. I was to spend a few weeks in Ireland. I want to celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary. I want to see my daughter pick out her wedding dress. I want my family safe and well.

I want these things badly. Is that bad? No. But is my desire for God greater? Sometimes. Sometimes not.

Help me find the way
Bring me back to You.

9:29. That was more than 5 minutes. I may stink at this. Granted I ran outside to watch the Altas 5 above my home. Because it’s not every day you see a super secret government rocket fly through the sky, my friends.

Happy Friday!

If only I had a glass of lemonade.

2011-04-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

I love long days, my backyard, a good book and my kids laughter. We are eagerly waiting for you, summer!

His “letter” and more.

2011-04-11T00:34:00.000-07:00

This week the kinder and preppy K room moms hosted a spring teacher luncheon. Since I am in the first part of that equation it meant some school time for me. How sweetly surprised was I when my husband … uh hum, volunteered to spend his day hanging out at the school too. Love that man! Our teachers had made for them these really cool flowers with quotes from the students. The lady who wrote them was telling me that one of the students said “I love when Mrs. M puts on me red {read: bad news!} and keeps me on track” … now I am not for sure, but that sounds like my son! Ha!

Josiah had a dentist appointment and he was SO excited to go because A) they have video games and B) he gets to watch Sponge Bob while his teeth are being cleaned. I must confess I am the TV Nazi and don’t allow Sponge Bob {disrespectful words} in our home. Or Pheines and Ferb {bad sibling relationship}. Or pretty much anything I have not previously Tvio’d from PBS or Qubo or TBN {yes, they play great character building cartoons}. I have friends who tell me I am ridiculous. And I don’t really care … because I also have a son who, like Bob, is a sponge and will repeat and reenact anything and everything he hears. Anyway, off my soapbox … he was cavity free and left with a new passion for flossing. He was super proud! Although he did tell the dentist he eats 10 spoonfuls of salt a day {!?!}.

Ella has been such a goofball lately. Her personality is sure coming through and it’s big. This is her sitting inside the hamper. She wants to sit in anything and everything.

Andrew was awarded his Varsity letter and most improved player at his basketball banquet this year. As a sophomore on the team I think it speaks volumes to be recognized on a personal level! He has talent, no doubt.

On the drive there we saw this amazing rainbow ... beautiful!

As for me, I am debating making Flaxseed cookies. Any experience out there? The cookie part sounds great, and I put flaxseed in everything without much notice, but a whole cookie? I am just not sure how I feel about health desserts. Because sometimes you just need your husband to come home from the cutest little place in town and say “I picked up a cupcake for you b/c you’re my cupcake” then adore you as you shove dark creamy chocolate in your face. Just sayin’

just stuff.

2011-04-05T00:09:00.001-07:00

It’s been busy around here. A week ago Friday night we went to the drive-in; just typing that makes me smile! I remember going when I was little and snuggling up in the back of our car. We unleashed the masses of pillows and made ourselves at home. Just makin’ memories.

Sunday we had a birthday party for Ella’s BFF. Miss Ella is just in love with Isabel. She see’s her daily b/c Isabels mom and I carpool for school … and no one can bring on a Ella smile like Isabel can. {tho of course she's not smiling here ... she's wondering why her brother is beating a round thing with candy stuffed inside with a stick}

I am so excited it is spring! We’ve been wearing shorts, and I’ve done a bit of spring crafting {I still had Valentines Day up, tisk! }. I love my little topiary{below}. You don’t even want to know how much glue was involved in that! I picked up these wreaths but I am not yet sure what I am going to do with them. I bought 3. And ... oh, how I love the gardens this time of year!

On the home front, we’ve had some trying days with Josiah. He constantly challenges me {yes, in the sense that he doesn’t listen for beans but that’s not what I am talking about here} … he seriously teaches me things daily about myself. We’ve been meeting with a new therapist for almost 2months now; we’re very happy with the dr. But with Josiah, I am not sure what it is – he is very sensitive to disruption in his schedule and I am not sure if something triggered something or what, but boy has he been coming out in full force the last week or so. I fully believe that what we consider to be his “hindrances” will someday be his strengths – and what we call his “special needs” will empower him to be greater … but until then could you please pray for patience for us. Especially me, on Jason’s long work days {usually Tues – Thur}. I so want to parent him in a way that will mold him and disciple him, but sometimes we all get overcome by the emotions.

On a lighter note, Ella has taken up biting. I am officially parent of the year. Thank you very much.

Enjoy the sunshine friends!

Real life.

2011-03-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

A weekend away is a wonderful thing.

Getting back to normal after the fact, is not.

I've been staring at this pile for far too long. I HATE folding and putting laundry away. I'd rather scrub the bathroom clean with a toothbrush. Or have a root canal {oh wait, that's happening tomorrow - lucky me!}.

Ella saw me taking a photo, so she cheesed it up for ya'll.

Good times, my friends!

She’s a girl. A girl. Pink shirt. A girl!

2011-03-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

I decided it’s time to break out the bows again. Or make new ones. Or something.

4.7 times a day someone calls her a boy.

In pink. With ruffles.

And I officially chickened out at getting her ears pierced.

And her hair is in this growing puff ball stage, but it’s going to be a long while before we can pigtail it.

So bows.

They’re coming back.

10 years of marriage .:part three:.

2011-03-27T00:44:00.000-07:00

We originally planned a actual vacation for our anniversary, but Ella is not at a place where she is ready to be left for a long stretch of time, so we just stole a few days. I was bummed, but I am pretty certain I wouldn’t have been able to be away any longer myself … apparently, I am one of those moms.

Anyway, we had a nice little getaway. We were able to completely relax in an amazingly beautiful atmosphere. We had several really nice, long meals – you know the kind where you don’t have to fight over peas or clean up piles of something orangeish that ended up all over the floor. The kind where we could sit at a courtyard table for hours and some person kept refilling our tea cups and offering us more dessert. Those kind. Also the kind where you just put on a robe and everything you ever wanted for breakfast is brought to your room patio on a bed tray, like … at 10am. After you’ve just rolled off the most comfortable bed ever. Yup, those kind. We never once left the resort, there was no need – plenty of beauty to explore and spa’s to entice us. Here’s to another 10 years!

Family Day.

2011-03-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

The day after our renewal we wanted to do something together as a fambam, so we headed to the zoo. It was crazy packed, but we still enjoyed ourselves!

10 years of marriage .:part two:.

2011-03-20T00:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I wrote a whole post about our Friday night and it disappeared! I hate that!

Jason and I decided to renew our vows on probably day 3 of our honeymoon! We had so much fun planning our wedding – it was something we totally did together, so the idea of doing it again seemed exciting {or maybe we were just sad it was over – ha!}!

But … as the years progressed that idea faded and the thought of choosing to renew our vows, or rather making a re-commitment of our convent with one another and God … and do so in front of people who are invested in our marriage came forth. So, what we did was something simple. We invited only our families and a few people who actively hold us accountable to God and each other.{If you don’t have an accountability partner you should get one!}. We wanted something intimate, casual and comfortable … something that didn’t represent a wedding at all.

We asked our pastor to open by speaking about the importance of a covenant and what exactly it entails. We exchanged our “vows” to one another. We wanted to include the kids, but Ella had fallen asleep and Josiah decided he didn’t want to come up, so it was just us and Drew. ;)

We had a friend sing Train’s “Marry Me”, and another friend close in prayer.

Jason said a few words, thanking those who pray for us and listen to us and love us and asked them to hold us accountable to our vows and the words spoken as we endure the next 10 plus years; then we asked everyone to join us for dinner {catered by Wood Ranch, so yummy!!}.

We choose Rebekah’s backyard as the location and her and Greg did SO MUCH {as always!} for us. I told her that when her and I first talked about using her yard I never realized how much actual work it would put on them … but they are such gracious people! She made sure every detail was taken care of so I could just sit and talk and enjoy myself. I love my friends!

Rebekah and I also had lots of fun creating … we wanted a rustic picnic feel. And lots of lights and candles. It was beautiful, in my opinion anyway!

We didn’t want a “guest book” per se, so we had each person fill out a sheet of paper giving their prediction for something that will happen in the next 10 years and we gave them a space to write a message for us to read on our 25^th anniversary. Then they were to roll up their paper and drop them in an empty wine bottle, which we will crack and read years down the road.

I am so thankful for the night and for what it meant for us and that our family surrounded us and we were able to bless them a bit.

This is us with my maid of honor {from our actual wedding} and our babies who are exactly 3 months apart!

Here's a few of Ella and I. Josiah had all of his bestie's running around with him AND his favorite babysitter on hand, so he didn't want much to do with us!

It really was just a great simple night. We are SO lucky!

::milk & honey ::

back to the bows

What do you want for your children?

Nerdy!

It's a red violet crayon, in case you're wondering!

Our Christmas

I {heart} this man!

a kinder Christmas show.

lights, birthdays, strep and broken TVs.

those mandatory Christmas pics.

Advent update

A 17th birthday.

Christmas Tea

Finding your prince this Christmas

How I am showing my kids to *love* this Christmas! {child-friendly, service advent}

Thanksgiving!

the things we do to keep them entertained.

sick days

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

The foil lining.

In which we learn to store the baby powder HIGH.

I forgot to share this photo, but it is too precious to not document!

Halloweenie.

Ella, you are 2 years old!

A farm birthday bash!

birthday boy!

Blessing those who curse you {or washing Judas' feet as my husband would call it}

Josiah, you are S.I.X.!

Summers End

the truth!

kinder.

The *best* homemade graham crackers!

See you summer!

Indio!

Summer camp!

It's zipping by!

Things I will never understand this side of heaven.

whenever you say "picnic" do ya'll think of Yogi bear?

God is wild about you!

a photo dump.

the perfect 10.

Have I talked about birthday’s yet? ;)

the birthdays continue!

4th of July on the lake

ending of June, begining of the fun ...

Girl Days!

Father’s Day

I see summer!

end of year teacher gift.

lingering spring

6 years. In heaven.

The day that ended much better then it started!

life.

Can I brag for a minute?

Growing children.

Blame it on the hormones.

Snoop D O double G

the truth about babies.

Made by Mom!

For the love of mom!

Motherhood Should Come With …

Ella bella, my dear. You are 18 months old.

that little thing called Spring Break!

Maybe God is punishing you and that’s why you can’t have a baby.

If I knew I could, I would ...

Easter.

2000 miles and one left turn.

race cars and ear plugs

My Thursday night Friday ramblings.

If only I had a glass of lemonade.

His “letter” and more.

just stuff.

Real life.

She’s a girl. A girl. Pink shirt. A girl!

10 years of marriage .:part three:.

Family Day.

10 years of marriage .:part two:.

How I am showing my kids to love this Christmas! {child-friendly, service advent}

The best homemade graham crackers!