Book Recommendation

I had no idea that when I stepped out of working during the day and staying home with the kids full time… that I would be beyond busy!  I don’t know what we are doing but holy wow!  I can’t find a moment! 

I don’t know what I thought would be different – I guess I thought I would have more time.  LOL!  I know!  You can laugh at me!  That was totally crazy thinking! 

One day I did have a moment, during nap time, and I got on my kindle and I started searching for a book.  Not just any book.  I wanted a mom book.  A book to help me with all these duties that come with being a stay at home mom.  The title of this book spoke to me.. The Heart of Simplicity: Foundations for Christian Homemaking 

All I can say is – read it!  Read it!  Read it!

I’m only about 3 or 4 chapters into the book – because apparently I still am working on this time management and I am not very good at taking my quiet time.  : )  But I am a huge fan of it and I want to tell every single mom out there to read it!   

I’m even highlighting in it!  I never highlight!!  Two quotes that I highlighted…

“Marriage-center, not child-centered, moms usually exert the greatest influence on their children for Christ and his kingdom.  This means that your weekends away with your husband, alone, might influence your children more than all your teaching and discipline combined.  Your children are watching, and it gives them great joy and security to see their parents loving each other.”

I so needed that!  I always hesitate and feel guilt whenever Jesse and I go away.  Right now Jesse wants to go away for a long weekend – and I keep pushing it off and off and off.  Ugh!!  I don’t want to leave the kids.  Plus I do not like asking people to watch our kids.  Even grandparents.  I get anxiety when I have to ask them to watch the kids.  I know.  stupid.  Grandparents love to have their grandkids.  I’ll keep reading this quote and I’ll book our trip away!!  I will.  After the holiday.  : ) 

“Being a mother requires much sacrifice; there is no other profession that takes more physical, emotional and mental strength than that of being a wife and mother.” 

I know some of you will not agree with the above.  But I really like that quote!  : )  That three year old, Mallory, has required more physical, emotional & mental strength from me then I ever thought was possible!  If I thought the three year old was tough, the one year old, Maxwell – much more physical, emotional and mental strength!!

Okay one more quote and then I’ll stop.

“Did you ever think that you never had an anger problem until you had children?”

I told a friend one time, that I never swore… until I had kids!  Swear words fly out of my mouth now!  It is the strangest thing!   

Okay I’m done telling you moms to read this book!  : )  (Let me know if you do read it though!)

One last quote to leave you with, sorry can’t stop…

“Busy lives do not lead to more productive people.  We hardly have a chance to grow or enjoy family if we are constantly dealing with commitments.  Busy days turn into a badge of courage or, worse, idols in our lives.”

A New Cousin!

My little brother, Adam, had a baby!!  Little baby boy!!  Named after himself!  Baby was born very early Monday morning.  I had planned on going to see them Monday night – however.. SNOW STORM!  Big surprise, huh?!  So I couldn’t get to them.  My brother kept sending me texts about how snuggle he was!  He is not nice!

Tuesday morning came – sun is shining and it is not snowing!  I’m outta here!  Going to see a baby!  Mallory was just as excited as me!  The day before she kept looking out the windows telling me the roads looked good we could go see her new cousin now!  : )

When we got there – she wanted to see him and she did want to hold him.  Is that face of… I think I want another little brother/sister?  I can’t tell…

Sorry I was so excited about this little man I left my camera in manual mode and didn’t even think about it – so we have washed out pictures.  Trust me!  He is beyond adorable!  Beyond snuggly!

Adam & Monica were hungry and Monica thought she wanted to try a little walk down to get some lunch so they left me and Adam’s buddy in charge of little AJ.  AJ was camped out in Adam’s buddy arms and they were having a good little snuggle/get to know each other moment!  While the kids drove cars all over Monica’s bed.

Mallory actually drove the cars under the blankets and then left them there.  I found them when I went to sit on her bed one last time to gaze at that sweet boy before I left.

He is beyond cute and super snuggly!

Snow Snow Snow GO AWAY!

It just won’t stop.  One day we got 7”… I know because I was outside attempting to shovel it and the neighbor was out with the yard stick measuring it and we were yelling back forth!  Then they rescued me with their snow blower!  (ours broke – good timing, huh!?)

Couple days later 3”

Couple more days later 3” more!  STOP!

These pictures are from I don’t know when… maybe the 7” snowfall.  Yes because it was warmer then.  Actually I think it is snowing in these pictures!  Look at me, so much snow lately I can’t keep track.

Last year at this time… um… we were blessed with grass & 80 degree weather!!  Dang blog!  I would of never knew that if I didn’t go back the other night to see what we were doing last year at this time.  I found pictures of us playing outside in t-shirts!! 

Mallory talks a lot lately for “when it is summer” she’ll say… “Mom, when it is summer we can wear flip flops.”  “Mom, when it is summer we go barefoot out in the grass.”  “Mom, when it is summer we can water the flowers.”

And now we are back down to really cold temps!!  Spring will come… right… right… right…

Favorite Color?

Mallory will be old enough to attend preschool this fall, if we wish.  Which means I have been on a school tour the last few weeks.  It started with visiting an open house at a private school.  We really enjoyed the school and feel it might be a great fit for us.  However they didn’t offer 4K and when I spoke with the kindergarten teacher I asked her how many of her students went to 4K, she said… all of them!  Which means that her kids attended the public school 4K program.

Two weeks ago we went to the school in our city.  We went to the open house and I filled out some paperwork and we toured the classrooms, met some folks and we left.

Because of open enrollment now, I decided to visit another school in the next town over (10 miles away).  This was totally different!  Mallory had to visit 16 stations and get a sticker on her chart at each station.  At each station they had something for her – whether it be a snack or a craft project or a hearing test or a pack of Band-Aids or a jump rope & apple.  Everyone was very welcoming of us.  We met the 4K teachers.  They told us about their program they offer.  They were really into their students!

By the time we got towards the end of the stations – they were starting to giggle at her and asking her if her favorite color was green?  Everything she did she picked green!

I got home and had to take a quick picture with some of her green items she received that day!

Mallory picked out her shirt for attending her new school.  Then she picked out Max’s shirt.  She always picks out a matching shirt for him.  If she wears green – Max has to wear green.  If she wears her dance shirt – Max has to wear his guitar shirt.

Then once I took their picture – I realized I was wearing green too!  *blush*  Not on purpose!  I tried to get a picture of the three of us in our green!

Well I have toured three schools now.  The whole time I had this feeling of – I don’t want her to go to school.  I want her to stay with me.  I seriously had anxiety over it.  I sent text messages to a close friend, who is going threw the same process with her little girl, and said… I don’t want to do it! 

However, after I left this last school on Friday (the one 10 miles away) I had this feeling of… peace.  This was the school for us.  I liked it so much!  Not that they just gave us two grocery bags full of stuff.  : )  But that they took the time to do this.  They wanted us to be there.  Everyone had a smile.  Everyone was more then happy to talk to us.  I felt comfortable there – which will make me feel comfortable sending Mallory there. 

So… she starts this fall!  Eeek!!  I am so excited for her!  She is going to love every minute of it and eat it up!  It will be two [full] days a week.  Being that I am open enrolling her – there is no busing system so I will have to drive her to and from.  Which I am not worried about at all… although I should probably work on my get-out-of-the-house-on-time-skills!  Starting now!  : ) 

Blankie

I wanted to document how Mallory has to be completely under blanket.  Nothing but her head peeks out.

See that hole in her blanket?  That happened on Thanksgiving.  It was really warm here that day and the guys had a campfire and she went out to be with them and needed her blanket.  A spark landed on her blanket.  No one knew.  Hole appeared!  The tears!  Oh the tears!  She didn’t get hurt.  But her blankie was hurt and would never ever be the same again!  For awhile she found two stickers, she put one on each side of the hole.  She eventually got use to the hole and it doesn’t bother her anymore.

I keep asking her what is she going to do when she doesn’t fit under that blanket anymore?

She seems to think that she will forever fit! 

Pajamas & Glitter

It just happened to be pajama night at Awanas last week!  Guess who was totally excited?  You got to bring your teddy bear and blanket!  Guess who was totally excited?

This girl!

She doesn’t have a teddy bear but she has this kitty she wanted to bring.

This kitty is pretty neat.  It is a heat pack!  The belly is filled with rice and some calming/relaxing scents!  We stick him in the microwave and heat him up when she isn’t feeling the best and send her to bed to snuggle with him!  She likes this kitty so much that sometimes she will wake up in the middle of the night and request her kitty to be heated.  So there I am standing in the kitchen watching this cat spin around in my microwave for a minute and half in the wee hours of the night!

She even let me braid her hair!!  So special!

Glitter shoes are a must when you wear your pajamas in public!

We almost had a crisis after Awanas… we forgot her blanket and kitty!!!  I thankfully remembered before we left the building and drove an hour home!  : ) 

The Performer & Her Brother

I told you I took a video of them singing the other day in their swim suits…

I decided that this one was totally worthy of being posted.  Enjoy!  If you watch it to the end – you’ll get a last minute laugh!  I couldn’t help but laugh out loud myself while I was recording.  So mean mom laughing in the background! 

Swim Suit Season… er…

My kids do not like to get dressed.  Well I take that back.  They want to stay in their pajamas ALL DAY LONG!  I’m not that kind of person.  I get dressed in real clothes every single day – even if I am not going anywhere.  My kids don’t like this.  Mally is getting better at getting dressed these days because she can do it by herself –and she is now liking to pick out her own clothes and oh my!  That is another post in itself! 

Max – I’ll get him dressed but I’ll have to convince him that it is either a totally comfy outfit or that he will look like daddy when he wears it!  But about 1/2 or 3/4 of the way threw the day he will be digging in his dresser drawers for pajamas and will bring them to me and beg to wear them!  I found a huge stack of footie pajamas the other day when I was bringing out his next size of clothes and OhMGee!  Now he really won’t get dressed!! 

This day I was in the shower and Max was crying outside the bathroom door.  Like full on crying.  I open the door and there he is standing there with his swim trunks and swim shirt in his hands.  He wants to wear his swim suit!  Really!?  In the bathroom he comes with me and he starts taking off the footie pajamas and waving the swim suit around.  I put it on him.  I’m not going anywhere today and it is not a battle I’m willing to battle today.  : ) 

Well then Mallory sees Max in his swim suit and she runs off to her room closes the door and comes back out with her suit on!

Here she is doing some homework in her suit!

And Max doing his homework in his suit.

He only sits for a short while before he runs off to play with toys.  He has a touch of a cold so he was quick to find his way to my lap with a couple of tractor trailers he wanted to drive all over Mally’s homework.

Then it was off to band lessons.  ; )  We kept rotating stations.  Max on the drums, Mally on the guitar and signing and I was playing the piano.  Then Mally wanted the piano and I was to sing and play the guitar.  Then Max wanted a turn at signing.

I’m guessing you wanted a closer look at that handsome boy, right?!  Yes his shirt is WAY too small – but does it look like he cares?  Nope!

Mally on the drums!

One drum stick is being used as a mic.

A group shot!

I took some videos which I will try to upload later.

Yadda Yadda

It is the same old same old over here with us.  Nothing new.  Nothing exciting.  We are totally loving this new lifestyle/schedule of not working every hour of the day!  I’m totally loving working two nights a week.  I love my work life so it is a perfect balance for us!  Jesse loves having those two nights a week with the kids and the kids eat it up!! 

The first day he was with them they went out in the RZR and got totally stuck!  Stuck – Stuck!  Had to get the winch out and the kids got a lesson in winching and getting out of too deep of snow.  I just shake my head and giggle when I hear these stories.  Only Jesse!  : ) 

When I ask the kids about it their eyes get big and they can’t tell me the story fast enough.  Even little Max can give you the play by play on how to get the RZR out of the snow bank!  He paid full attention! 

I have taught the kids naughty things when riding in the RZR.  I’m a screamer!  I can’t help it.  I try not to be – but it just happens.  Have you ever rode with Jesse?  The other night we were all out there and he was literally flying threw the woods and doing donut after donut in the fields and then would take back off flying threw the woods again and I yelled “Jesse!”  He stops and looks back at me and says, “What?”  I said, “Are we in some sort of competition I don’t know about?”  He says, “Why?”  My response, “Why are we driving like this?”  He replies, “This is off roading – it’s what you do.” And we blast off again! 

So now Mally screams!  And Max yells “Jesse!  Jesse Frey!”  It is hilarious!  I can’t help but giggle between my own screams and Jesse!  Jesse Frey! 

For some reason staying home now I forget to get the camera out and take pictures.  I do have a few that I took towards the end of last week.  Max had lined up his trucks and tractors.

Then in typical boy fashion – he crashed them all!

Mally was down with a head cold watching Tangled.  She really enjoys that movie.