First Day- April 2013

This is our first day...unfortunately it took me until the fifth day to post it!  I have a little less free time on my hands at the moment.

Hope your April is off to a great start!
Make a point to enjoy your weekend!

Diggin' my new shoes.

Since two days before this I was down on my hands and knees cleaning the floor, they were were given rags to clean up their own messes!  

Chris and his mom took the kids to the zoo. :)

Notice how my child is moving in all three of these pictures?!  She makes it  so hard to get pictures!

There's not much sweeter than that!

Goins' On

The Leprechaun Trap

Part of Christian's homework last week was to make a Leprechaun trap.  Really a cute idea...and one I happily shoved off as a "Daddy project."  Chris said that when he walked him in last Friday morning there were a lot of traps that were more cutesy, but his is functional!  Boys are funny, no matter the age.

New Friends

I'm not really a super friendly person...knowing is the first step right!?  Chris generally makes a point to introduce himself to neighbors.  I, on the other hand, mostly make a point to stay away from neighbors.  We bought our house back in September and wonder of wonders, our family has struck up a friendship with our neighbors across the street!  We (adults and kids) are having such a great time hanging out!  I'm pretty sure I wasn't missing much in the other neighborhoods we've lived in, but I'm so happy I decided to go out on a limb this time.  And, hopefully no one moves for a very long time!

Date Night

Last Friday night and the Friday night before that we had date nights.  We don't do anywhere near as many of these as we'd like to, but life happens right?  It worked out that we had two in a row and it was lovely!  The first one was a double date with Andrea and Dusty.  Then last Friday Chris and I went out to celebrate our anniversary.  :)  Our anniversary was actually last month, but since we both had the flu we didn't acknowledge those dates at all really.  We'll take a month-late celebration of dinner and a movie.  We're not particular.  

What I'm Lovin' Right Now:

  Living so close to my sister.  The older we get, the more I value this relationship.  Running together, trading off childcare, singing, laughing, and then add in that our husbands like each other too?  Way more than I could ask for.

Growing food.  Chris built me some boxes and I'm trying to see if I can grow some strawberries.  I can't wait to see if this works...this is our first go round with strawberries.

My people.  They slay me.  They are gifts that I don't deserve.  They make me laugh.  They make me crazy.  I'm planning to use this cool and possibly rainy weekend to fill my tank with as much of them as I can.  

Happy weekend y'all!

tidy...mostly

My dad is a pretty tidy guy.  Ok...some might even go so far as to say he's a neat freak.  Since I've lived under the same roof as him for all but a handful of my 33 years, I've picked up a lot (but definitely not all) of his tidy habits.  I vacuum weekly with some serious vacuum lines. I do not leave the sink full of dishes overnight.  Our children's toys do not take over our entire house.  I do not play the trash game.
One thing that didn't stick is making the bed.  Dad has made his bed daily, I would say for at least the last fifteen years.  I don't get it.  I don't like to do it, and really I don't see the point if we're not having company.  I didn't really think about how this translated to my children until last week.  We were having friends over, so I made the bed.  Audrey walked in our room, looked at the bed, looked at me and said, "why is your bed like that?"  
Sunday I was in the process of making the bed since we were having small group.  Christian came in to ask for a snack.  He said, "when you're done (pause as he tries to figure out what to say) setting up your bed can I have a snack?"
Alright, so they don't get it either.  I guess maybe I'll need to work on that.
Next week.  Or something like that.

First Day- March 2013

Hiya and welcome to March.  
Geez it's cold for GA! 

Here's our first day.  I worked with Chris and then we had some extra littles for a spend over.

That's right- meatloaf.  Don't knock it
until you try it!!

He takes his vacuuming (with her vacuum) quite seriously.  

Perfect

Just because I know God's way is perfect doesn't mean I always remember it in the day to day.  
I have had an attitude problem for the last couple of weeks.  Not being ugly to everyone...only those I hold closest, love most.  I hate that.  The worst part is that I wasn't really frustrated with them, but with things not going my way.  In essence, frustrated with God- you know, the one who can see everything.  The only one who knows what's really and truly best for me and mine.  
I even prayed for peace a couple times.  The problem is that I wasn't really seeking it out.  I just wanted it to be given to me. 

It just so happens I came across this: 

This God—his way is perfect;
 the word of the Lord proves true;
 he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
Psalms 18:30

The Bible isn't so much a looking glass through which I can see the future.  I can't see what our family will look like in another five years or where our business will be in terms of its success.  I can't see our wins and losses before they happen. 

Rather it is a mirror so that I can see a little clearer what I'm doing or not doing right now.  Like, oh hello, your fly's down and you have spinach in your teeth.  Or maybe how I'm trying my dead level best to get my way when scripture so plainly says, "his way is perfect."  How I'm asking for peace instead of actively taking refuge in Him.   

Today I'm thankful for grace and love.

I'm thankful that God's word is true.  

I'm thankful for all He's given me.

This and That

It has just really been down and dirty at our house for a solid week.  Chris and I both had the flu...thankfully not at our worst at the same time.  The kids have been snotty so I took them to the doctor Monday.  He's got bronchitis.  She's got an ear infection.  Breathing treatments and antibiotics for both.  Sheesh. 
Seriously, it sounds like a nursing home here.

Sometime in the last ten days Audrey has begun to actually pronounce Christian properly...instead of the "Chrisshen" that it's been since she started talking.
And, little miss sassy pants has also begun to ask for showers instead of baths. 
She just gets more grown up all the time. 
Get me a tissue!

I finally started watching Downton Abbey.  I'm now addicted and cannot seem to stop watching it, reading about it, and watching interviews.  It's SO good.  I'm really glad that I finally gave it a go!  

I made brownies with my boy yesterday...and by that I mean that we opened the box and followed the directions. :)  I love it that they appreciate even the small things, as long as we are together.  Christian said several times how happy he was that we made brownies together.  Then again this morning he reminded me with a smile.   

I've attempted to keep these little busybodies busy since they're out of school this week.  They tend to stay out of trouble a lot better when they have different activities to do.  Not even necessarily extravagant things.  Just things we have here: puzzles, movies, games, coloring.  The key seems to be changing the activity before too much time has passed, and moving them from one place in the house to another.  Whatever works, right?!


Looking forward to warmer temperatures.  Or maybe a good dusting of snow.  You never know around these parts.

Happy Wednesday.




Butterflies

 

Math Practice

The Weekend Update

We really had such a nice weekend!  Friday afternoon after school, Chris took Christian to get a haircut.  That boy loves when he has short hair...I'm pretty sure this is mostly because we don't have to "fix" his hair when it's that length.  

Friday evening we played outside and visited with our neighbors and then came in for a dinner of country fried steak and crockpot loaded mashed potatoes...oh and some green beans which I most certainly didn't eat.  

You know at the end of Ratatouille when Ego eats the ratatouille and is sort of transported back to his childhood?  That's what happens when I have country fried steak. :)

Chris had some work to do on Saturday, so the kiddos and I spent the day missing him.  We played some kid Uno, they made cards, toss in some tv, and the morning was gone. 

I usually roll our change about once a year.  When Christian saw what I was doing, he wanted to roll his too...and of course whatever one does the other has to do so the girl wasn't far behind.  

Audrey had about $10 or $15 all total.  Let me just tell you that there was over $60 in that boy's piggy bank!!  

After lunch and naps, we headed straight for Berry Mango's and Christian treated us to some fro yo.  He was so cute about being the man with the money!  After our ice cream he asked if he could buy a drink.  Regrettably, I let the child buy a Coke.  My children don't usually have caffeine, so within about 20 minutes they were both acting like they were high!  I figured the park was the best place to work some of that off.  

Cap the weekend with church, small group, and wild flowers in a pilsner and I am one happy girl.

Happy Monday.