Thursday, December 15, 2011

Merry Christmas from L

I don't have much time to write, but wanted to share this story.  Warning, it is about pee.  I think it's hilarious, even though I did not enjoy cleaning it up.

Little L still has a hard time with diaper changes.  Now that he's stronger, it seems impossible sometimes.  He has been extra feisty lately, probably due to teething. While changing his diaper, he got away from me.  It happens often and isn't usually a big deal.  He ran right over to our tree, which is currently his favorite place in our whole house :) and peed all over it.  Sometimes I think I'm raising a pack of animals.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Sick

Ha!  It seems like all of my recent posts have been related to sicknesses.  We have, once again, been hit HARD.  Both kids came down with sicknesses last Thursday.  T had a cold and L had the stomach flu.  This stomach flu was not joke!  I know...because I caught it too.  So did J...and then T... then my mom and sister, and even my grandma had a touch of it.  It was brutal.  I still can't believe how sick we all were.  Poor, sweet, little L had it the worst, though.  It's so sad to see a baby sick.  It was his first stomach bug, and in all honesty, he still isn't over it.  He has had diarrhea for 10 (TEN!!!) days.  Thankfully it's not bad now and he hasn't thrown up in almost a week, but still, it's been rough on his little body.  His little tush broke out in a rash, complete with blisters.  Into disposables he went.  With all of the throw up laundry, and everything else, I wasn't dealing with diapers.  Plus, I can't use the really powerful rash cream with those.  I finally had enough yesterday and made the switch back to cloth.  YAY!!!  It was a very exciting day for me.  The disposables smell awful, not to mention I felt guilty every time I put one of those chemical filled pieces of garbage on my child.  Disposables don't contain the poo like cloth diapers, either.  They leak.  A lot.  I figured, if I'm washing poop out of clothes all day long, I might as well put him back in the cloth!  At least then, he wont need a bath every time.  Anyway, back to the sicknesses.  I do have mono, but it's not as bad as I was expecting.  I guess I have a pretty light case.  It really feels very similar to the very beginning of a pregnancy (No, I'm not pregnant).  I'm tired all day long and have a hard time getting out of bed, and often go to bed early, but I still function throughout the day.  I'm grumpier because I'm tired, and I've been getting head aches from the sleepiness.  All in all, I can't complain.  I seriously thought I wouldn't be getting out of bed for a month and I'm very pleased with the way it's working out.  I can't wait for it to be gone, still :)  I tried to blog early last week, or maybe the week before.  Anyway, our situation was very funny to me when this sickness started.  I was stressed about mono again, we were hit with the flu again, and a little girl at church came down with Chickenpox, so we were on chickenpox watch again.  Sound familiar?  It's the EXACT same thing as a month ago.  Mono, Chickenpox, flu.  Yep, exactly the same.  Ha! 

That's it for the night. I'm hoping to blog more this week.  Key word is "hoping."  L is still very clingy and doesn't like me to put him down, so I might not be able to get on again.  I have some fun things to share (like our Christmas tree pics).   Good night!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Mixed up!

This morning I woke up and though, "wow, it's only Friday?  Wait!  Yesterday was Friday.  That's why I posted my Friday blog."  Ha ha ha!  Oops, I guess yesterday was actually Thursday!  Today is, in fact, Friday.  I guess I'll post about the condition of my home today :)

Where shall I start?  I guess I'll start by saying that my mom and grandma called this morning asking if they could take T out.  As fast as I could, I got all three of us ready and out the door to meet them before they had the chance to come inside.  That pretty much gives you an idea of how well I've been doing :-/  In my defense, J has been working late every. single. night. this week and my grandma notices every small thing out of place.  It's a bad combination and one I wasn't interested in seeing mix.  Not today at least.  I have stayed on top of laundry and dishes, though.  Those are two areas that I usually leave for J.  I absolutely hate dishes!  But he's been so busy with work lately that I feel like the best thing I can do for him is to help him out a little more than usual.  The last thing he needs right now is a sink full of dishes to attack before bed.  I have also recently put pictures into all of my picture frames (including the one we had to replace when T stepped on the original frame.  Little stinker!)  It's nice to see pictures of our family instead of the random people who came in the frames, lol.  J told me this week that he noticed how hard I've been working to keep things straightened up (even though I said I didn't want my grandma coming over when the house looks like this, it actually looks better than it did a year ago).  Oh, and I've had 6 kids in my house two days this week on top of J being gone and not able to help out.  Basically, all that to say the house is a mess, but not terrible.  I am proud of the progress I've made.  Now, time to force myself off the computer so I can go get some more cleaning done.  Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Car Seat Safety!

It's Friday, but honestly, I've done very little for my fitness goals this week.  However, I would like to post something that's sort of related... Car seat safety tips.  Being safe is a part of staying healthy, right?  This is also one of my top pet peeves.  I absolutely cannot stand to see a baby not strapped into a car seat correctly!  So many people do tons of research to find the best car seat with the top safety, but then do not use it properly.  Guess what, all that money you just spent on the top car seat out there won't do you any good if you're not using it the way it correctly!!!  So, a few tips:
1. This should go without saying, but I have a seen people totally skip this... buckle your child in.  Those straps DO need to go over your baby's shoulders. 
2. The top buckle should be at baby's arm pits, not his belly button.  A baby can fly right through those two straps if the buckle is too low.  Keep it chest level!
3. You should only be able to fit two fingers between your child and the strap.  If you can fit more, it's too loose.
4. A child should NOT wear a coat in the car seat.  Wearing a coat requires you to loosen the seat belt.  If you were in an accident, the fluffy part of the coat would squish, making enough room for the child to fly out.  This is important.  Many, many people don't do this and it has been fatal.
5. As much of a pain as it is, it is safer for your child to remain rear facing for as long as possible.  His legs are long and you're worried about him breaking his legs in an accident?  Better his legs than his neck.  Rear facing is safest!
6. The base of your car seat should not wiggle more than an inch.
7. Get your car seat inspected.  Here, the firemen do it.  I've read several statistics that say 80% of car seats are installed incorrectly.  The fireman who inspected mine said he thought that statistic was off...he thought MORE than 80% were installed incorrectly. 

Again, this is your child's life you're protecting.  You must use the car seat correctly if you want it to work the way it's designed.  YOU must be the one to protect your precious children.  Even if you are the best driver in the world, there are crazy, stupid people out there.  Your child relies on you 100%. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Feeling Good!

It's been a while since I've updated on our sicknesses.  I'm still waiting to see if Mono strikes (should know in about two more weeks...), but the boys did not get the chickenpox!  Hooray!!!  I'm so excited to write that :)  Little L got a fever around the time he would have with the pox, but it ended up being roseola.  Poor guy has been mr cranky pants since then.  I think he's working on some molars on top of that, because the rash has cleared up and he's still cranky. 

It's nice to not worry about anything major right now.  I know things could change in two weeks, but for now, I'm enjoying our health :)  My grandma is in town for three weeks so we took a family trip.  It wasn't the whole family.  J and my sister had to stay behind to work.  But my parents, kids, grandma and I all went to Luray caverns and then to a hotel with an indoor pool.  We didn't realize how much walking was involved at Luray so now my grandma is a little sore and exhausted.  Oops!   Sweet T's favorite part was the pool.  It was FREEZING though, and this mommy did not enjoy it as much as he did!!!  Thankfully, his grammy and pop pop were better sports and went in with him twice.  L loved it too!  Those kids are little fish.  The next day, we went apple picking.  It was fun!  My poor grandma had to wait in the car, though.  It was fun.  My boys love picking apples.  These apples were withing reach.   I'll try to post some pictures when I get the chance :)

That's all for now.  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well. 

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Tasty Tuesday: GF Apple Crisps

If you're gluten free, have you visited the Gluten Free Goddess?  Her recipes are amazing.  I haven't tried anything I don't like, and that says a lot because I'm picky :)  This week's recipe comes from her cite, kind of.   Part of it comes from my friend's house. 

Cut and peel about 6 large apples,  put them in a baking dish, then sprinkle with cinnamon (this is from my friend)

For the top part, (this is taken from the Gluten Free Goddess blog, with minor changes that meet my family's taste)
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup gluten-free pancake mix (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3-4 tablespoons butter
 
Mix together, pour on top, then smoosh it down.
Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.
 
That's it!  Easy Peasy and SO good!  It's the perfect fall dessert.  Enjoy!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Update to Our Sicknesses

The last post I wrote was last week when we had a ton of illnesses.  I thought I should give a quick update.  The chaos continues :)  But, we are handling it with grace... for now.  My mom still has the flu.  Yuck!  Can you imagine getting sick for this long?  But, overall, she feels a lot better.  T also caught the flu, but he had the 24 hour version.  Thank God!  It wasn't fun,  though.  Little red spots keep popping up on Little L, but so far, none of them have been chickenpox.  It's very strange.  He gets a red bump, I panic and think "here we go!"  Then they're gone within a few hours. 

Besides sicknesses, we also had a day where the kids were determined to head to the ER.  They tried their hardest to either get themselves there, or to send me there with a heart attack.  Sweet T is 3 and perfectly capable of going up and down the steps correctly.  He's been doing it for a year or more now.  On Friday, however, he decided it was boring to walk down the stairs.  It was way more exicing to go down on a boogie board!!!  True story.  My crazy 3 year old went down the stairs while STANDING on a boogie board.  Don't worry, though.  He informed me that "it's safe because (he) was holding onto the railing."  At least he took safety into consideration, right?  (insert eye roll here)  No injuries there, as crazy as it was.  Then while I was cooking dinner, the kids were playing in the living room.  The rooms are connected by a doorway and I can easily see them.  When you first walk into our house, we have an entry table leaning against the back of the couch and L likes to play with the stuff in the drawer.  I'm still not sure exactly how he did it, but he managed to pull the entry table down ontop of himself!!!  I completely panicked!  Of course the first thing I did was run and pull the heavy table off of him, and then I ran to grab my phone, ready to call 911.   God protected my baby, though.  Before I even got back to the living room with my phone, L had rolled over and stopped screaming.  I decided to call a nurse line instead of 911 because he was up and moving on his own and didn't seem too injured.  It should have been a lot worse than it was!  I don't know how he was able to bounce back like that!  After checking his tummy, running over to my neighbor's house to have her check his tummy, and calling a second opinion from another nurse line, we decided it was fine to stay home instead of rushing him to the ER. 

Now that T is over the flu and no one is hurting themselves, we wait to see if I have mono or if the kids have chickenpox.  J and I are cleaning like crazy to prepare for my grandma coming this weekend, and things are going smoothly.  I'm thankful for nice weather and plan to get out and PLAY with the kids while we still can.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

SICK!

Between my parents' household and mine, we're surrounded by sicknesses.  Since YESTERDAY, we've been diagnosed with possible yeast infection (Little L, but it cleared up soon after on it's own, I'm thinking it was more likely teething related),  the flu (my mom), I'm being treated for a sinus infection while we wait to see if I have, ready for this?  Mono.  And if that's not enough, my dad was diagnosed with shingles.  Thankfully he can't pass shingles on to anyone, but he CAN pass the chicken pox around.  Not cool, especially since my kids, who spend a lot of time with their Pop pop, haven't had the vaccine and I might have mono.  My poor hubby, he will have his hands FULL if he has to take care of a wife down for weeks with mono and two boys sick with chicken pox.  Normally, I'd think, "No big deal.  If they get it, we'll deal with it and then they will be immune for life.  No need for the vaccine then!"  But this is really, really bad timing as I am pretty sure it's mono instead of a sinus infection :(  On top of that, we have one neighbor who also has the flu, one with pneumonia, and a girl at church last night threw up.  She was in Sweet T's room and her sister was in L's room, and she was super cranky too, which makes me think she's also sick.  Oh gosh, what if we end up with the flu (exposed to by my mom, neighbor, and these girls at church), chicken pox and mono all at the same time?  Please pray for my sweet little family!  We need it. If you don't see me blogging for a while, you know why....

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Thoroughly Clean: More progress!

Well, October is almost over and it seems like I'm finally figuring things out!  Remember my goals from January?  One of them was to do a better job at keeping my house fairly clean.  With two young sons, it's pretty much impossible to keep the house perfect.  I realize that and I'd like to think I'm a pretty realistic person.  So instead of perfection, my goal has been to keep it in a way where I wouldn't be embarrassed if someone stopped by unannounced.  This week, that happened :)  Someone called and said, "Hey, I'm driving by your house.  Do you mind if I stop by?"  I cheerfully said, "Nope!  Come on over!" and was happy to know that my house looked decent.  Were there dishes in the sink?  A few.  Were there toys on the floor?  Yeah.  But it was minimal.  Overall the place looked good.  I was so excited :)  It's kind of a mess again, but that's ok.  It's nothing like it used to be on a bad day.  I can get this straightened up before J gets home :)  Yay progress!!!  Thanks, Lord, for helping me do this :)

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Thanks, Lord, for working on me :)

As I said in the very beginning of my blog, waaaay back in January, one of my goals is to become a more loving and wise mother.  For whatever reason, that has been a very hard thing for me.  I love my kids, I really, really do.  But my goodness they can dance on my last nerve!  Disciplining in a loving and controlled way used to be a strength of mine, but once L joined our family, something in me changed.  I still desire to discipline my children that way, and I certainly believe that's the best thing for them, but it's just seemed impossible.  For a while, I tried to fix my attitude on my own.  I'd wake up and say to myself, "Today is going to be a great day!  I will not yell, I will remain calm even when the boys are out of control, and everything I do will be in love."  Those very same days, the boys would wake up and seemed to say to themselves, "Today is going to be a great day!  I'm going to scream, hit, bite, and throw the biggest tantrums the world has ever seen!"  It was two against one.  They won those battles.  That's when I started praying about it.  Yes, I prayed for my boys attitudes, but I mainly prayed for mine.  I needed to learn how to respond in a calm manner, to think before speaking (yelling?), to show them the grace my Savior showed me.  I prayed more out of desperation than anything.  Why do we wait so long before handing things over to God?  We think we can handle things on our own, but we can't.  I should have placed this in His hands months earlier.  It would have saved us all from unnecessary frustration and anger!  But anyway, back to the point... finally, FINALLY this week, I feel like I'm starting to get it back.  My old, calm parenting style, that is.  I have been able to handle situations with love instead of anger.  I was able to discipline while using self control instead of lashing out.  I know what the difference is...it's the fact that God is answering my prayer.  He's helping me learn how to be a better mother, a godly example of how a Christian should respond in hard times, how a child (I am God's child, after all) learns by following the Father's advice (the Bible).  I'll keep praying because I have a looooong way to go, but it's encouraging to see God's work in me :)

Friday, October 21, 2011

Tons of pics from T's Party!


                                    












Wednesday, October 19, 2011

This is my ministry

We started a new Bible study at church last week.  It's something that's been missing for a while and it's nice to have a woman's Bible study during the week again.  The book we're studying is called You Matter More That You Think, by Leslie Parrott and it's all about how you are able to make a big difference in other people's lives.  It's nice to hear that sometimes, but it also got me thinking about where I am in my life.  Sometimes I think I need to be serving more.  Maybe I'm not doing enough for God.  That's how I felt after our first meeting.  They encouraged us to mentor those who are younger than we are, which I agree is extremely important, and Biblical.  So it was on my mind for a while.  Am I truly serving God the way He has commanded?  Do I need to start teaching Sunday School again?  Or do some other type of ministry?  I've actually stopped going to another study recently because I felt like it was more important to have that time with my family.  Maybe that was the wrong decision?  Those women are all at a stage of life I've been through (dating, engaged, or newly married) and I could definitely offer some of the things I learned by going through those stages.  I questioned my decisions and my ministries for a few days until Sunday during Church.  We had a guest singer and I completely forget what she was singing (it wasn't a song I had heard).  Whatever it was, it had me feeling even more like a spiritual slacker.  Then it hit me.  Right now, at this point in my life, my primary ministry is to my family.  I don't need my focus and my energy spread out thin in a thousand different ministries.  My children and my husband deserve more than that.  The difference I'm making is in their lives.  I'm teaching them through our daily routines and interactions.  Hopefully they see my desire to serve God and others.  I am exactly where God wants me to be.  Sure, some day He might want my back in a Sunday School classroom or encouraging younger women (well, these women aren't that much younger...just in a different stage I guess), but for now, my place is here with my boys :)

Monday, October 17, 2011

Monday Madness! Birthday party weekend

T's birthday is on the 20th.  As I shared yesterday, we had his party this past weekend.  It was a blast!  I  really can't believe my first born, my sweet T, is 3 years old!  How did this happen???  He's becoming such a kind hearted little man and I love him to pieces!  In honor of his birthday, today's madness will be focused on T and all the things he loves:

Favorite foods: string cheese, tacos, chicken nuggets (!!!), fruit, fruit snacks, and chocolate milk.
Least favorite foods: still pasta, pretty much all veggies, peanut butter, and meat loaf
Favorite toys: cars, trains, firetrucks, he's all boy.  He loves to line them all up.  He also loves anything that involves climbing.
Favorite games: he loves to pretend his brother is a monster and run away (surprisingly, L loves this game too), he loves Hide and Seek, and races.
Favorite TV shows: Backyardagains, Fireman Sam, and Veggie Tales
Best friends: the little boy my sister nanny's for and two of the neighbor girls.  We see all three of those kids often!!!
Favorite places to go: Ikea, Chuck E Cheese, and Target (hahaha!  He seriously loves Ikea and Target!)
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite songs: Oh No, You Never Let Go is probably his #1 favorite.  He also loves the Veggie Tales worship cd in our car.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Weekend fun!

We celebrated Sweet T's birthday this weekend.  I'll save most of the pictures for his actual birthday, but thought I'd give a sneak peak (but I think most of my readers are FB friends and have already seen our pics, lol).  Here is my favorite...or at least one of my favorites. 
And a verse, because I like to type out a verse on the weekend :)  I'll write T's favorite, the first one he learned and one we've probably all memorized:

John 16 (T's way of saying John 3:16)

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that who so ever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Just Shut UP!

Today is Wednesday and this is what God is teaching me this week.  I fail miserably at it!  Sometimes, I just need to stop talking and let God do His thing.  But I'm too much of a control freak to do that.  I also need to stop talking and be obedient to Him.  I don't know why I feel like I need to say everything that I'm saying, whether it is loving and kind or not. 

Another thing that I've been thinking about a lot lately, and I might have blogged about it, but I can't remember, is that the only things in this life that truly matter are the things that make an eternal difference.  I drove past a grave yard once and thought about all of the lives of the people in there.  Who were they?  What did they do for a living?  What kind of difference did they make in their lives?  I'll never know.  The people they left behind know the difference they made, but then those people die too and the memories and the difference made no longer matter.  My great grandma made a difference in my grandma's life, and in my mom's life, but I never knew her.  What she did has little impact on me.  And she will likely have no impact on my children, who will probably not remember the stories my mom tells of her.  Her legacy ends there.  BUT, she was a Christian and the lives she touched for Christ, now THAT makes a difference!  People will spend eternity with Christ because of what she did on earth.  No one cares now what she did for a living, but there are certainly people who care that she loved them with God's love.  I guess I don't really know how to express what I've been thinking, but it all makes sense in my crazy mind.  We need to stop focusing on stupid stuff, selfish stuff, stuff that seems so, so important but won't really matter in 100 years, and focus on making an eternal difference.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Visiting B!

I went to visit one of my best friends this past weekend.  There are two girls who will be my BFF no matter what.  They have been there with me through the thick and thin, years and years, which is rare for a military brat.  One is D, she lives on the other side of the country and is the complete opposite of me.  I love her to DEATH though.  We've been best friends since we were 4.  Yep, this military brat has had a friend for all her life.  I only see her once every couple of years and we only talk a couple times a year.  It's sad, but I know that she is there for me in a heart beat.  The other friend is so much like me.  We met in high school when our dads were stationed here around the same time.  She came from the far FL and I came from CA, both warm climates.  We experienced our first winter together (I've lived in CO too, but I was little...cold weather was still "new" to me).  We were both extremely shy, silly, boy crazy, have ADD, the same goals in life, and we were a little ditzy.  We were instantly best friends.  Her dad stayed in the military and moved again while my dad retired here.  She married military, I married civi.  While we are still so, so similar, our lives have taken different paths.  Her parents are currently stationed about 2-3 hours from here and plan to retire there.  Her husband... IS STATIONED THERE TOO!!!!  YAY!!!!!  I get to visit B now :)  She's been there for about a year, and has about a year left, but I am still so excited to have this time with her.  She was pregnant with me.  She was due more than a month before me, but her little guy was born late while mine came a month early, so L is actually a week older than G.  My sweet friend is pregnant again.  With another boy!!!  We will both have two boys close in age :)  I love it!  I love that we can have such different lives, but still be so similar.  This past weekend, I took my boys down there (my momma came too, she visited B's momma) and it was just so wonderful to talk and spend time together.  I feel so blessed to have wonderful, life-long friends like her and D.  I think a friend like that is rare.  I guess there really isn't a point to this post other than to brag about my friends :)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Apple Picking

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the Apple Orchard!  We all had a blast and can't wait to go again :)  I LOVE FAMILY TIME!!!








Saturday, September 17, 2011

Busch Garden Pictures








These are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip to Busch Gardens last week.  I have a ton more that I thought about uploading, but I figured this is more than enough :)   Needless to say, we had a blast!  I wish every weekend could be like that! 

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Tasty Tuesday: Meatloaf

Have I done meatloaf already?  I can't remember.  It is a favorite at our house, so I might have done this one already.  If so, I will try to delete this before any of you see it ;)  I used to hate meatloaf.  The thought of it was disgusting enough.  But when I started cooking more, J asked me to try to find a good meatloaf recipe.  I didn't want to, but he missed having it.  So, like a kind and loving wife, I found a recipe to try.  Surprisingly, I loved it!  It's easy too.  J loves it.  I love it.  T refuses to touch it (but that's pretty normal with all things other than chicken nuggets...).  L seems to love it too.  Three out of four, not too bad!  :D

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, it's by PTRULL.

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds lean ground beef
  • 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon steak sauce
  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 3 tablespoons prepared mustard

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, combine ground meat, soup, chopped onion, rolled oats, eggs, steak sauce, ketchup and mustard. Mix well.
  2. Shape into a loaf, and pat Into a loaf pan.
  3. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 1 hour or until done.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Monday Madness: Change of plans....

I was getting on here to blog about our trip to Busch Gardens.  We went over the weekend and had a blast!  But Blogger seems to be joining the other sites that have issues.  Oh well, pictures will have to wait.  And so will this blog post :)  Instead, I'll share about my crazy dream.

So I believe Jesus is coming back again some day.  It may be soon, it might be thousands of years from now.  No one knows.  I've been thinking about it a lot lately, though.  And it's now in my dreams...mixed with a little bit of Noah's Ark.  Yep, I dreamed about that strange combination.  In my dream, I took the boys to J's work because it was time for Jesus to come get us, but first there was going to be a huge flood.  I went with our pool toys, too.  I climbed to the roof of his office, where he was with his boss.  Did I mention I grabbed a table on one of the lower floors?  You know, because everybody needs a table to hold on to when it's flooding.  So I climbed up 7 flights of stairs, with two kids, pool floats, and a table.  J's boss was confused and made fun of me, just like people made fun of Noah.  But I knew what was coming and I was prepared :)  Sure enough, the waters started rising and I needed that table.  L and I clung onto it while T held onto one of his pool floaties. I woke up about that time, so I'm not sure what happened to J.  Maybe he was on the other floaty I brought that disappeared.  It was very, very strange.  I guess I've been thinking about the way I should spend my time here on earth to bring glory to my Maker.  I keep thinking about a quote I heard years ago.  I can't really remember much of it, other than the fact that it was about people who thought the rapture was going to happen any day and were obsessed with it to the point where they couldn't get much done.  The person who said the quote said something along the lines of if God comes today, I want Him to find me living a life that honors Him.  I want everything I do to be as if He's coming back now.  I want to be prepared.  I agree with him.  I want to be prepared for His return.  Maybe that's where the pool toys came from.  Ha!  A funny dream with a lot of powerful meaning behind it.  Are you prepared too?  Are you living your life for Him?  If He comes today, will He find you serving doing His work?  Or works that only bring you temporary happiness?

There you go!  Wednesday's walk with God on a Monday.  Let this week's madness begin :)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Remember 9/11

Sept 11, 2001.  A day that we will never forget.  The pictures still burn in our minds and the feelings come rushing back.  Sometimes I wish I could forget those images.  The people jumping to their deaths.  Air planes flying into buildings and then those buildings coming tumbling down.  The heroes who fought back in PA.  But most of all, for me personally, I will never forget hearing the Pentagon was hit.  The fear, the shock, the sadness... but mostly the fear.  Was my dad coming home that night?  Or was he gone.  Forever.  The fear that overcame me is still so real.  Praise the Lord my dad is here with us today.  He thought it was a fire drill, he had no clue what was even going on at the time.  But that wasn't the case for many other families.  I spent a good part of that day with friends who never saw their husband/father/brother again.  We sat waiting by the window, watching for his car to pull up.  His name was Eddie.  I clearly remember his daughter saying, "I can't work on my home work until daddy gets home.  Daddy always does my homework with me."  It was at that moment I knew in my heart he was gone.  I still cry for his two precious daughters who grew up without their daddy and his wife who was left to raise those girls alone.  It's good to remember what we're fighting for.  But can you imagine how hard it is for them to relive that moment year after year after year?  How can you heal from this terrible loss when the pictures, the videos, the memories are thrown in your face every year*?  We need to continue to pray for them.  For everyone who lost loved ones that day.  And we need to hug our children, our spouses, and all those around us a little closer today.

So, I was sitting in 12th grade English class.  Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?

I know most of this makes no sense at all.  I just really needed to write down my thoughts. 

*Please note that I think it's good to replay the footage, my heart just aches for the families. 

Friday, September 9, 2011

Friday's Looking Good: Walking

As I mentioned yesterday, I have started walking with my neighbor.  This past week wasn't great because it's been raining like crazy, but we faithfully went every single morning the week before that.  We're planning on doing it again next week.  A first I didn't think it'd be that much of a work out.  I was running three miles a few months ago, what's a little walk going to do?  I quickly learned that walking for an hour, up and down hills, with a double jogging strollers and two heavy boys is a LOT of hard work!  I am not sure if it's as good as my runs used to be, but it's definitely doing something!  I also enjoy the time to chat with my friend.  She's such a sweet momma and a good role model to me.  She loves the Lord and wants to raiser her children to be responsible, wise, and godly.  It's good for the kids, too.  I want them to see value in taking care of the bodies God gave them.  It's important to exercise and exercise can be fun!  If all kids are well  behaved and the weather is nice, we stop at a park and let them play.  All four of them love it.  The older two (Sweet T and her little girl L) go off and have some independent play where we can see them but they have some space too.  The younger two (Little L and her son, M) stay close to us and need our help to climb stairs and things.  It works out well.  The kids enjoy it and we enjoy it.  It's just a shame that the weather will be turning cold soon.  I'm so not looking forward to winter!!!  I really enjoy these warm summer days.  Not the hot ones, but the ones where you can go out and play without feeling nasty afterward.

As far as dressing up and looking nice, well, I haven't been doing the best job at that.  I'm sitting here in a nursing cami (IE, sooo unattractive!) and pj pants.  I may not look attractive, but I sure am comfortable :)  Have a wonderful Friday, everyone!  STAY DRY!  :)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Life as I like it...crazy :)

We have been super busy these past few weeks.  I wish that I had more time and motivation to blog on a regular basis.  I really do enjoy it!  But my "free time" is precious and like the title says, life has been crazy!  I like to be busy.  I really do.  And as long as the boys are well behaved, I enjoy the chaos too!  I think I'll take today to just recap what we've been up to.
Sweet T has been obeying much better lately.  It's such a nice break from the constant disobedience.  That was ROUGH!  He is growing up fast and is super excited about his third birthday party next month.  We have started buying decorations and have the...FIRE STATION...reserved for his party :)  He is learning to write his name.  He can do the first two letters, which look very similar to each other, ha!  But he actually does a good job, considering he's not even 3.  We have decided to start him in Cubbies this year at our church.  They usually want the child to be 3 by September, but all of his little friends are starting this year and he's very smart.  The leader thought he'd be fine starting early.  So, he's all signed up! 
Little L is busy walking, exploring, and getting into as many things as possible.  His favorite place to play is the toilet.  It's nasty!  My Sweet T often forgets to flush, put the lid down, and close the bathroom door.  Yeah, it's fun...  L is definitely more content to play at my feet than T used to be.  I was able to cook dinner yesterday without many distractions.  Both boys lost it at the end, but over all, I was pleasantly surprised at how happy L was to just play with pots and pans.  He said his first word on Sunday.  I'm sad to admit that he said "Dada" first.  T said "Dada" first too.  I was really hoping L would say "Momma" first.   Oh well.  He throws the cutest fits and is learning to express his thoughts.  I'm sure these fits would be as adorable in another few weeks, but for now, I just laugh.
My wonderful hubby had his interview with the Top Secret people.  I'm not really sure if that means he's getting close to officially getting his clearances, but it's nice to see they're working on it.  I saw a couple men walking around all dressed up a couple weeks ago and wondered if they were Top Secret people too, asking questions about J.  Good thing we know a lot of our neighbors and get along well with all of them.  J is exploring the possibility of going back to school.  He probably will, we just aren't sure when or where.  He has also been working hard to get home repairs done.  Poor guy has a list out to the moon of projects he needs to get done.
As for me, well, I'm back in school too.  I started my first class on L's birthday.  I've been able to keep up with the assignments so far.  I wouldn't say I enjoy it, but I really feel like it's important to finish up.  I have also started walking with my very favorite neighbor almost every morning.  It's been hard this week, with all the rain, but besides that, we have gone every day.  Oh, we also realized that we're cousins!!! How cool is that?  She has researched her genealogy all the way back to England, and my uncle has researched ours.  Our great, great, great (times however many) grandfather is Thomas Bingham, a 17 year old who came over from England with his mom.  Our lines split from there, but it's still really cool.  I have kept all of my goals that I set in January in my mind as I go about my day and overall, I think I've made a lot of progress.  I'm nowhere near where I want to be.  Not even close.  But I've stepped in the right direction. 
My Sweet T is craving attention.  The stinker seems to be ready to drop his nap :(   So I should run and show him that he is more important than this silly old computer.  Hopefully I'll write more tomorrow :)

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Tasty Tuesday: Lasagna Rolls

My dear friend sent me this recipe recently.  It's honestly amazing!  Yum yum yum!!!  I got my gluten free lasagna noodles from wegmans and they were great too.   I copied her recipe word for word, stick to it and you won't be disappointed :)

Serves 6
Ingredients:
12 lasagna noodles
1lb ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (26 oz) jar of favorite spaghetti sauce
1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grate Parmesan cheese (instead I used a mix of three cheeses they sell at the store...I think Parmesan, Asigo...and one other)
I also added
1 green pepper, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1- Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 13x9in baking dish with non-stick spray (I forgot to do that and mine were fine)
2- Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain. Lay noodles flat on waxed paper (I found that using tin foil sprayed with non-stick spray worked better).
3- Cook the beef, onion, garlic (and green pepper and zucchini if you use them) in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until meat is browned and crumbly, and veggies aren't hard (you don't want them super soft but not really hard either...they'll cook to soft in the oven). Drain. Add pasta sauce; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat. Spread 2 cups of sauce mixture in the prepared baking dish.
4 - Mix the ricotta and 1 cup of mozzarella in a large bowl (I also sprinkled some of the Parmesan mixture in here too). Spread about 3 tbs cheese mixture evenly over each noodle (I found it was easier to just pick some up in my hands and roll it into a long piece, then smush that on the noodle lol...this is where Kaleb helped. I put the long roll down and he helped me smush).
5- Roll up the noodles tightly. Place, seam sides down, over the sauce in the baking dish. Spoon the remaining sauce over the rolls. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake the rolls until heated through and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Happy 100th Post! Happy Birthday Party, Little L!








Just a few pictures from my sweet baby's birthday party.  It was a lot of fun and I'm really happy with how things turned out.  Enjoy!




And some from the tropical storm that blew through our area.  J and T went out to play in the rain :)  Those of you with boys know what it's like to try to keep them contained and calm for a long period of time!  He NEEDED to get some energy out.   It wasn't that windy, and since there wasn't any lightening, J took him out to play.  They had a BLAST! 

Friday, August 26, 2011

Baby boy is ONE!!!

Oh, hello again!  I don't know why I have such a hard time keeping up with this thing!  I really enjoy blogging, but time is precious and it seems to just disappear on me.  I guess that's what happens when you have two toddlers!!!  Yup, that's right.  I'm now the proud momma of two toddlers.  Baby boy had his first birthday on Wednesday.  I have to admit, it makes me really, really sad.  I love love love this stage he's in and I know what comes next.  I just want to keep him this way for a while longer.  He's my cuddly momma's boy who loves being held, being kissed, and being near me.  He also loves hugs, kisses, and rough housing with his daddy and big brother.  Oh my word how he melts my heart!!!  Sweet T is amazing in SO many ways, but he was never a momma's boy.  Never cuddly either.  I am loving this!  I love Sweet T too, he has many of his own strengths and amazing qualities.  But it's L's birthday week, so I get to focus on his strengths without feeling guilty that I'm not ooing and awing over T equally.  :)  For his actual birthday, we had a really nice, calm day.  The kids and I went out to breakfast with my parents (dad had off work due to the earthquake).  We then hung out at home until J came home.  Dinner was delicious, we enjoyed each other's company, and then went out to get ice cream.   Our favorite ice cream place is a little stand with some picnic tables and a big, grassy field behind it where kids can run and play.  Now that L is walking (have I mentioned he's walking???), we let him play too.  He absolutely loved it.  Here are a few pictures from our day:

See?  He's sad about turning one too ;)  I have an adorable picture from the ice cream place on my phone, but no clue how to add it to this blog.
    This weekend, we are having his first birthday party.  Nothing big, just our parents and sisters.  We are going to do a "little slugger" theme.  I have the cake baked and many decorations prepared.  Now I just need to decorate the cake, clean my parents' house (we're having it there due to more house projects...our ceiling leaked again), and set everything up.  I can't wait!  Hopefully I'll have lots of pictures to add later on.  Unless we lose power from this hurricane coming our way.  Actually, I think it's down to a tropical storm for us.  Nothing major.  Hopefully we wont even lose power.  I think the earthquake was enough natural disaster for one week and I'm thankful that God steered this hurricane away from us.  Be safe, everyone!  And check back for pictures of L's party!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

PRAY FOR LITTLE L!

Today's the day.  L's appointment with the eye surgeon is this afternoon.  Prayers please.  I'll update soon :)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

August 13

Romans 8:38-39And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is a picture of Sweet T on  his first day of swim lessons.  He's such a cutie!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Wednesday's Walk on Friday :)

Post #2 of the day!  Wednesday's Walk with God.

I'm still reading my devotional that I love so very much (The Excellent Wife).  I just finished reading the section on respecting your husband.  Once again, this topic is something that many people today would get offended by or get really defensive over.  Showing respect to your husband, especially when you don't feel like they deserve it, goes against every thing feminist believe and fight for.  But, it's what God commands of us.  I was really convicted.  Overall, I think I do an ok job at respecting J.  I'm by no means perfect, but I try not to talk down to him in public and I try to lift him up and encourage him.  There are many times, though, that I get angry and don't think he deserves my respect for certain things.  There are times when I feel like he's making a bad choice or like he should do something for me or treat me (or the boys) a certain way.  Please do not read this wrong.  My husband is amazing.  Seriously amazing.  He is so good to my boys and me and there is never a doubt that he loves us.  He's still human.  He still makes mistakes.  As my mom would say, he's a great guy, but he's not perfect (hi mom:)).  Those are the times when I have a hard time showing him respect.  When I feel like he's being selfish, I give dirty looks, raise my voice, say things I shouldn't say.  I am very disrespectful.  If you were to point it out to me at that moment, I would probably say something along the lines of, "Well I don't think he deserves my respect right now!"  And you know, that may be true.  The book even says there may be times when your husband doesn't deserve your respect.  HOWEVER, the Bible does not tell us to respect our husbands only when we deserve it.  It says to respect your husband.  Period.  There are no exceptions.  We should show respect to him all the time.  That does not mean that we have to let him get away with treating us badly.  In fact, there is also a section that talks about rebuking your husband... respectfully.  When I need to tell my husband that he's making the wrong choice or that he has a bad attitude, I need to do it in a loving way, to uplift him and help him to change his way to honor God.  I shouldn't be mean or anything like that.  I shouldn't act like I'm perfect and know everything.

I finished that section last week.  On Sunday, I saw an example of a wife who showed disrespect to her husband.  Out in public, at church even.  It made me sad to see her treat her husband that way, and the look on his face broke my heart.  How sad that even Christians act that way toward their spouse... in God's house!  As wives, we need to pray that God will help us to be kind, patient, and loving toward our husbands.  When they deserve it, and when they don't.  We have a responsibility to obey God regardless of the circumstances.

(Me and the man that I am choosing to respect and honor when he deserves it AND those rare times he doesn't)

Busy day!

The week ended up getting pretty busy and as you have seen, I wasn't able to post as often as I was hoping.  I've been waiting to post a few different things so I'm hoping to have time to do it all today.  Yep, that's right.  I'm hoping to post about three different posts in one day.  Ha!  I'm going to start with the one that I've been waiting for... my Thoroughly Clean post from weeks ago.  Last time I wrote, it was about the in door flood we had that destroyed our office area dry wall.  Since then, we have had the plumber come fix the leak (yay!
) and then scrubbed the entire top floor and most of the main level.  It looked great!  The top floor has stayed put together, overall.  At least our bedroom has (until right this moment when Sweet T has decided to build a fort, complete with every pillow, book, and toy from both his room and mine).  I have also made a huge effort to keep the main level picked up.  J has noticed my hard work and I think that my efforts have helped him since his job situation has been crazy. 

I also mentioned last time that watching Hoarders on Netflix has been a huge motivation for me to get rid of things.  We have finished the first season and while I'm not obsessive over getting the clutter out, I'm still on this "get organized" kick!  I have a difficult time figuring out where to put things.  I know everything is supposed to have a home, but where is that home when we have a townhouse with little storage space and four people with tons of stuff?  Another organization stumbling block is the fact that it's expensive!  Those adorable baskets that make things look clean and put together are shockingly expensive!  Between our tight budget and our lack of space, I've really struggled to figure out how to get organized.  I'm starting to get things worked out, though.  We have two walk in closets in our master bedroom.  I decided it was a good decision to just spend the money and get some shelves put in one of them (mine) so that we can use that extra space to store things like future birthday and Christmas presents.  My wonderful sister helped me install them (with pink tools none the less).  Here is a picture of the finished shelves in my closet:

I cannot tell you how excited I am about these!!!  After installing them, I walked around the house looking for baskets or buckets that I could use to keep things in on these shelves, and I actually found some wonderful things that I could use.  I found two very large baskets in the basement.  They are actually laundry baskets, but they work!  I found a few blue baskets that I bought on clearance several years ago, too.  They don't match, but they work and I already own them!  Then for my birthday, my grandma, parents, and in-laws gave me money.  I used some of that to put toward more little baskets that match better (two large cream colored to go next to the large brown, and then three smaller ones to go on a separate shelf, two cream and one brown for the middle).  I still have the blue ones that don't look great, but I just can't justify buying more when I already have some that work.  No one sees my closet anyway. 

In my kitchen, we have two smaller cabinets that I can't reach over the microwave.  They are hard to open and like I said, I can't reach them.  We didn't really use them for much, just stuff that we decided we didn't need to keep.  So now, those cabinets are home to small electronics that we rarely use (think waffle maker, larger crock pot, stuff like that).  It gave us a lot more room in our island, which is where we keep most of our small electronics, so we were able to move some things down there that used to sit on the counter (toaster, kitchen aid).  It's not much, but with the limited counter space we have, it made a pretty big difference.

I have found a ton of ideas on Pinterest that would work in our home.  I'm hoping to organize the home a little bit at a time (because we can't afford to do it all at once :)) and hopefully have this place put together soon.  I'll keep blogging about the things we do that help us out.  I'm excited to see the changes already.  Even just starting the process has motivated me and made me really excited to get it all done.  It really does make our home feel more peaceful and a place where we can just relax.  It's kinda nice :)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Monday Madness on a Tuesday. Again.

I would rather write about the fun things going on in our home than a tasty recipe, so I'm going to skip Tuesday's post this week.

J- Praise the Lord, he has a job!  It's not necessarily something he's excited about, but it's a job none the less :)  He was also offered a part time job working for someone from our church.  This guy is a fellow deacon and my hubby is so excited to have this opportunity.  Apparently, he is really smart and funny.  J thinks he will learn a lot from him, too.  At first, I wasn't thrilled with J taking a part time job on top of everything else, but he really wants to do it and the extra money will be nice.  He also promised to save Sunday for family days.
T- Another praise is that T is having good days now!  This is a HUGE praise because I honestly wasn't sure how much longer we would last with those constant battles.  He's still a typical two year old and we have lots of power struggles, but having good days makes the bad days tolerable.  Some day, when he's an adult and doing amazing things for God, I'll look back at these times and be thankful that God gave my son such a strong personalty.  He has also finished his swimming lessons.  I'm happy to have life back to normal, but I'm sad to be done with swimming.  T is so brave and had a blast!  He can sit at the bottom of the pool and hold his breath for a decent amount of time.  He can scoop his hands like he's swimming and kick his legs.  He isn't a big fan of floating, but he does it with assistance.  He was promoted to the highest pre school class :)  Too bad all sessions are over.  He'll have to wait until next year to take the last class.
L- My baby is growing up!  I can't believe he's going to be a year old this month!!!  His little personality is shining through more and more.  He has the best laugh in the world!  It's so funny.  He also gets into EVERYTHING!  His favorite place to play right now is in the toilet.  YUCK!!!!!  He is also trying to walk.  I'm not sure if he will be walking completely by his first birthday, but he can take a few steps at a time.  He has also started giving us the biggest hugs and the sloppiest kisses.  Is there anything better?  I doubt it.  No words yet, at least I don't think he's saying anything.  Sometimes I think he says something but I'm just not sure.  I thought he tried saying T's name today.  It was sweet!  But like I said, I'm not sure if he actually said it or not.  I also think he's trying to say "that."  He points at things and says, "da, da, da"  I'm wondering if he's asking "what's that?" when he does that.  I always tell him the name of whatever he's pointing at, so hopefully soon he'll figure out how to say real words.  I'm really hoping he says Momma first!!!
Now that I've said all the wonderful things about my sweet little L, I need to ask you to pray for him again.  It appears he has clogged tear ducts again.  I hate this.  Honestly, truly hate this.  We will be taking him next week to find out for sure what's going on and to come up with a plan.  If he does have tear duct issues, we will most likely have to take him to have surgery at the hospital, completely with putting him under.  There's a chance he will have the probing done again, but I guess it's rare that the doctor does that twice.  I heard an encouraging story after posting this on FB.  One friend said her daughter had a lot of problems like what L is going through.  After much prayer, her daughter's eyes cleared up on their own!  I'm praying for the same thing for L.  I know God can do anything!  I'm trusting He will do what brings Him the most glory...which is hopefully this miracle :) 
As for me, I have really been trying to be kind and loving to all of my boys.  My goal is, after all, to be a better wife, mother, and woman of God.  He has been working in me a lot these past few weeks.  I'm doing better cleaning, cooking, and using self control.  I still have a loooong way to go, but I'm thankful to see progress.  I am also officially 27.  Yay for birthdays!  I never really thought of 27 as a special year (I'm sure someone of you are completely shocked to read this...mom and sister...), but my friends, family, and especially my wonderful husband turned an ordinary birthday into an amazing weekend!  Coffee with the girls, lots of beautiful frames to decorate my home, a 'surprise" party, and a KEURIG made this birthday extra special :)  Can't wait till my sister gets home so we can celebrate some more!  Oh yeah, you read that right... the 27th birthday celebrations are not over yet.  Maybe 27 is a big birthday after all.  Ha ha!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Things I love: baby clothing and such

I know it's been a while since I posted.  Swimming lessons really messed up our whole schedule, but they were a blast!  T loved them!  To get back into the swing of things, I thought I'd do another one of these posts :)  Things I love!

First and Foremost, cloth diapers!  Yup!  I LOVE them!  I have two favorite brands of cloth, Happy Heiny and Tiny Tush.  The reason I love these brands is because they are made for bigger babies.  Have you seen L's chunky thighs?  They're nice and big.  These diapers fit him well.  If you have skinny little ones, you would probably prefer a different brand, but for us, these are wonderful :)  (The picture above is L in his Happy Heiny cow print, it's my current favorite!  Love the cow print)

Because cloth diapers make bottoms so big, I love these one piece outfits.  It's really hard to find shorts that fit my sweet guy, but these are perfect!  Another reason why I love these types of outfits is because they are SO EASY to get on and off.  Both my kids hate (hated) diaper changes and (would) fight them like crazy.  It's nearly impossible to get shorts or pants pulled up!  But in these babies, I can snap the snaps between his legs while he's on the move.  It's so easy and SO cute!  T wore a lot of shorts and pants when he was L's age, but L almost never wears them. 

Now that I wrote about my favorite type of outfit, I'll tell you that my favorite brand is Carters.  Just like with the diapers, I like Carters because they fit my chunky boys better than most brands.  They are excellent quality too.  They often have sales and they are not too terrible expensive.  The things we bought for T still look great on L. 

My newest favorite place to buy baby/toddler clothes is actually thrift stores!  I used to shop at consignment sales all the time, but even those places seemed overpriced.  Babies especially don't wear things very long so I find things that look brand new...sometimes I even get things with tags still on them :)  It's a little harder to find nice things for T, because toddler boys are hard on their clothes, but every once in a while I find something amazing.

I think this is all I'm going to write for now.  I'm hoping to blog every day this week!  I really want to get back to my weekly schedule, but we'll see :)  I'm excited for Thursday so I can share all of the progress we've made in cleaning/organizing/decorating!  Have a wonderful Sunday!