Shutter Bug and Mommy Love

MIlestones I don't want to forget!

2012-01-27T10:33:00.001-06:00

So, this post won't be eloquently composed, and there will be no pictures, but I know if I don't write this down, I won't remember it in a few weeks and I want to.

Wednesday ( Jan 25) Asher got his first tooth! We've been watching his gums for a few weeks now and wondering when it would finally pop through. They were so swollen for the last week or so I knew it had to be soon, and boy am I glad it finally did. That kid was GRUMPY the few days leading up to it! I hope this is no indication to how the rest of teething will be for us!

Also, since Wed. the little booger has been standing holding on to something and tried to take a step toward me. He's no where near ready to walk, but these are the beginning stages! He will be running around before I know it!

And his newest trick this week is, nodding his head yes. He's so stinkin cute when he does it because his whole body moves with him haha. I love it!

As for the other kids, this week Kyley had a milestone of her own, she finally decided to stop writing I love you on every drawing she makes, and yesterday drew a cat and labeled it with it's name "cat" . For those of you who've followed my journey with trying to get her to read and spell, this is HUGE. She has sat down many days this week even during 'non' school hours and written words she can remember on her dry erase board, and practiced reading them to me. What a refreshing excitement in her, I love it!

AND Elijah, has learned not only to spell his name, but can write it! I will post a few pictures later on this weekend hopefully. He is so cute, when I ask him "Ok Elijah, what letter does your name start with?" He always tells me "Straight line down and three lines over" Hilarious. Then I'll ask him, well what letter is that? And he screams E!!!!! lol He can also spell his name we did it something like this as we were teaching Kyley to spell it, and so I taught Elijah the same way "eli jah" so he learned it in sets of 3, and that made it so easy for him. He can't recognize all of those letters yet, but he knows what makes them up. He'll talk about the hook in the J, and the dots on top of the i and the j. and the circle in the a (not like in this font apparently!), and then the straight lines and humps, etc. He can't draw them from memory yet, but he's doing great!

Elijah has also been counting really well, and practicing singing his ABC's correctly. I'm so excited that he's finally interested in doing a little school with us!

Anyhow, sorry for the bland post, but I didn't want to miss out on documenting our week!

Be blessed!

A bride and groom.

2012-01-24T13:59:00.004-06:00

I posted this quote on Facebook earlier today.

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Mignon McLaughlin

In 30 minutes time I got more responses via likes and comments and shares, than almost everything I post put together. (ok so that's not ALWAYS true, but sometimes I feel like stuff I post doesn't get seen, or people just don't care)

Marriage is so beautiful. Marriage is sacred.

But I don't want to talk about that bride and groom. I want to talk about the church as Christ's bride. Waiting eagerly to spend eternity with each other.

Anticipation is a beautiful thing. I remember the day I married my best friend, and the anticipation of walking down the aisle and seeing his face, as he awaited his bride. The joy on his face, and the tear in his eye. I can only imagine what it was like for him.

We must wait with eager anticipation for our Christ. For the time that He will step out on the clouds in the eastern sky, and we will walk down the aisle to be with Him forever.

Now back to that quote I mentioned.

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Mignon McLaughlin

Do we really grasp what it means to fall in love with Christ over and over, and over again? Are we waiting with anticipation, and falling in love more and more with each passing day? Are we fighting for our 'marriage' and spending time with Him, even when we feel like we don't have the time. Are we doing the things that please Him even if we feel like we are not good enough?

What are some ways you fall in love with Jesus all over again?

10 months old!

2012-01-19T16:48:00.002-06:00

My oh my, where is the time going?

This little man is TEN months old!

He is just such a joy to have around, we are so blessed!

He just recently learned to say "ball" , and he loves to talk and giggle at Kyley and Elijah.

He is pulling up and cruising all over EVERYTHING!

He walks with his walking toy all over the livingroom.

Some of his favorite things are the scale in the bathroom (who would've thought!), a little yellow ball that rattles, and a foam sword. He plays with them all the time!

He loves his daddy, and gets so excited when daddy comes home!

He's wearing mostly 12 months clothes now, gosh HE WILL BE 12 months in 2 months!

Don't you just love this?

We are so blessed to have this little man in our lives. Asher, you are so dearly loved.

Silence.

2012-01-13T14:23:00.002-06:00

Well hello there my dear blog.

Forgive me for abandoning you for so long.

As the new year has began I've chosen to take the time to refrain from blogging and be silent. I wish to use this blog to record our family life, but I also want to post what God lays on my heart, and I've spent these first few days praying for just that.

Often we get busy with life and forget to be silent.

One of my favorite verses is this :

Psalm 46:10   Be still and know that I am God.

There is so much wisdom in this.   Be still.

Oh my, is life busy sometimes, we want to go, go, go, and do, do, do. But all God asks us to do is BE STILL.

In my life this means a lot of things, it's a time to quiet my mind and my voice and just listen.

Have you ever laid outside and just listened to nature. One night, I went outside and laid on the front porch and just enjoyed the cool breeze on my face and listening to the sounds around me. Now I live in the city, but late at night when the city life settles down you can still hear the beautiful sounds of crickets and frogs, and the stillness that comes with night.

I kinda feel like that is what God is asking us to do. He speaks with a still small voice, and sometimes we just need to get alone, somewhere where the "city life" is still and asleep. Where His cool refreshing wind can fall upon us and we can hear His voice.

I didn't really set any resolutions this year. But this is one goal I hope to achieve with His help.   To be still. To walk in His presence and feel His cool breeze on my cheek. To hear His voice.

2011 in review.

2011-12-31T23:37:00.004-06:00

So a quick recap of the year... there were many highs and a few lows, but either way we are blessed indeed.

This year:

Kyley lost a few teeth

We had a beautiful homebirth and welcomed an amazing new member to our family.

We had a DHR case filed against us for said homebirth (no I haven't blogged about this before now)

Elijah turned 3

Elijah also finally decided he wanted to be completely potty trained! .

We made the hard decision to leave our church home.

We found a new church home.

And with that brought new opportunities, and a new ministry.

Kyley started first grade!

Derek and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. (I love you baby!)

A pirate slayed a monster.

Kyley turned 7!

Kyley also sang her very first solo (and Derek preached his first "sermon" at our new church!)

And here were are, at the end, and we know that God is good.

Happy New Year yall! May your 2012 be blessed beyond measure.

SMURFS!

2011-12-29T22:53:00.002-06:00

Have you seen the Smurf movie yet?

The kids just giggled and giggled over this clip.

I think they'd watch it many times a day if I'd let them haha

I had the opportunity to check out some sneak peeks before the movie was released thanks to Crowdtap, and the kids loved getting to play the games online!

We really enjoyed the smurf movie, and hope you guys did as well!

Here I am to Worship

2011-12-29T16:22:00.000-06:00

My sweet girl sang her very first solo last weekend at church, and I couldn't be more proud. So without further ado, here are the Lakewood Kids (and myself).

This year.

2011-12-28T16:19:00.000-06:00

Well, I figured since I shared last years Christmas Card recently, I would share this years as well, now that I'm finished handing them out and Christmas is over.

I am once again so pleased with the job Shutterfly did to make them the best cards they could be!

For Unto Us Religious Christmas Card

Find unique and Personalized Christmas cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

I hope each and every one of you had a blessed Christmas!

Just some sentences?

2011-12-27T05:42:00.000-06:00

I've had many titles for this post flowing through my head tonight, but I felt it was better to just leave it at that, and write. Forgive me for this will be mostly rambling stream of consciousness.

My heart hurts.

And you know what, I'm angry.

I'm angry at Satan for thinking that he has control over this world. I'm angry at people because they let him. Shoot, I'll be the first to admit, I'm one of them. Sin is fun, right? But that doesn't make it right.

Is nothing sacred anymore? Where do we draw the line on what we will allow Satan to control in our lives?

When do we say enough is enough and stand up and fight for what God has called sacred.

I'm watching marriages crumble. And it hurts.

People close to me are hurting because of footholds satan has wormed his way in and destroyed what was once called GOOD.

I see it everyday. Not just in those close to me, but all over the world.

Divorce is rampart. Just down the street from my house, you can drive down the interstate, and the billboards are like an auction on who can sell you a divorce the cheapest.

But why?

When did we decide that our spouses aren't worth fighting for?

God and Derek know best, that I'm not a perfect wife. I fail. And often I fail miserably.   Do I often wonder if all of my stupid mistakes will make him love me any less? Sure. I'm human. But I know better. You know why? Because we talk about it. We talk about what our friends are going through, and we talk about how to avoid it. We pray for each other. We vow to fight for each other.

Marriage is hard, y'all. Life is hard. We are far from having it all together.

A few months ago, Derek and I had a conversation that revolved around this issue. We expressed our fears regarding watching so many marriages around us crumble. "This is happening to people we would've never expected... what says that it won't happen to us one day?" These are VALID concerns. It is scary to think that people we know who we SAW completely in love with one another, living in one accord, can suddenly be on the brink of disaster. It can happen to anyone. But why?   WHY are we letting satan gain control over our families?

Why aren't we talking about this stuff with our spouse? Why aren't we fervently praying together for the protection of our marriage? For the SANCTITY of our marriage? I don't know about you, but I'm going to pray harder than ever for protection because satan wants to kill, steal, and destroy, and that means my marriage, my family, my friendships.

I'm going to continue to talk about the hard stuff with my husband. And sometimes that's hard. I'm going to admit my mistakes. I'm going to ask for forgiveness. Most of all I'm going to trust God. I'm going to pray and pray HARD. And I'm going to FIGHT.

And it doesn't end there. Talk to friends. Talk to your kids. Pray for their marriages. Pray for their families.

Satan wants us to think that we are alone in this fight, but we're NOT.   I often wonder how many of the situations I've seen unfold in the lives around me could've been avoided by some accountability.   I'll be the first to tell you, that part is HARD. Who wants to run to someone else and talk about how they've failed? I sure don't. But I make myself. My husband guides me to as well when I'm being stubborn and need some reminder. And I try to be the same for him.

We need each other. We need our friends, we need our families to bind together and pray. We need accountability, and we need support.

We aren't fighting this battle alone.

9 months old

2011-12-26T16:12:00.003-06:00

With all of the craziness that surrounds the holidays I forgot to post this, so even though I am over a week late I want to remember!

You are growing up right before my eyes, my sweet Asher!

You are a fast crawler now and you know just how to find mommy when you can't see her.

You love to play with your toys and with Kyley and Elijah.

The one thing I think you enjoy most is playing in the box of blocks or with the basket of weebles, though that may change now that Christmas has come and gone.

You still love to eat. I can't eat even a bite without you trying to steal it. You are still eating baby food but will pretty much eat anything we eat as well, even with no teeth yet!

You love your paci, and are picky still and it has to be a certain shape and size.

You are pulling up on everything and you love to stand. You got a push walker toy for Christmas (thanks Nana & Paw!) and you've even tried to walk with it and push it across the floor. I have a feeling in a few weeks my hands are going to be REAL full!

You can wave bye bye, and clap, and say mama and dada, you are learning to say 'uh oh'. You also say bye bye on occassion.

You are such a little joy and I cannot believe how fast you are growing up. In just a few short months you'll be celebrating your first birthday, and that seems impossible to me!

I love you my sweet man!

My princess

2011-12-12T06:29:00.002-06:00

This sweet little girl turns 7 today!

Where did all the time go?

Kyley is learning to read (FINALLY!) and working hard in school and I'm so proud of her.

She loves art. She loves to draw and color, and make 'books'. She loves to make things for others.

Right now some of her favorite things are Hello Kitty, Barbies, and drawing pictures that say I love you mom or I love you dad. (I wish I had a picture of some of these to show you, I'll have to work on that)

Her favorite subject in school is penmanship.

This kid LOVES her brothers. She is such a big helper (and has even learned to balance that out some and when her help is too much) She likes to help me with Asher the most, but I think that's because Elijah is Mr. Independant and doesn't need a lot of help. She still loves to spend time with him and play with him though!

Kyley also loves to cook. She said several years ago in her K4 graduation that she wanted to be a famous chef when she grows up and if she continues on with her love of cooking and baking, I think she just might be!

She is growing up so fast, and I cannot believe how quickly these last 7 years have gone by.

Kyley Grace, I love you to the moon and back. I can't wait to see what this next year holds for you.

Happy 7th Birthday Princess!

Christmas Presents

2011-12-07T23:09:00.001-06:00

I wrote this years ago on my myspace blog, but wanted to revisit it here.

Christmas Presents!!!

Why is it that we give presents at Christmas?
We all know, that Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and that we give "gifts" to symbolize the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus, and the gift Jesus gave to us through his birth, death and resurrection, however what is it, that we consider a gift?
James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
Our holiday season is busy- there is no doubt. Parties, Christmas plays, family gatherings, you name it, it happens in December! But do we get so busy that we forget that our earthly gifts could never compare to the gifts that God has given us?
God has given us so many blessings in our lives.... and so many of us (myself included) tend to take them for granted! But God's Word says that EVERY good gift and EVERY perfect gift comes from above- not just some, but EVERY!
For me in my personal life- God has given me a wonderful husband and beautiful children to come home to, a warm Godly home that is filled with happiness and laughter, and His Spirit dwells here among us! How awesome is that gift in itself?
You see, Christmas isn't about how much money you can spend on your loved ones, or even those you don't love so much... But it's about HOW MUCH LOVE you can show! God has given us all the ability to LOVE and that is His greatest gift to us-
John 15:13 "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends"
His Word says that greater love has NO MAN than this... that he lay down his life for his friends... NO MAN...NO WOMAN... NO CHILD.... NO FATHER... NO MOTHER.... NO SISTER.... NO BROTHER.... NO AUNT.... NO UNCLE.....NO MAN!!!!
The greatest gift of love is that of laying your life down for your friend- and Jesus laid down His life, for not just me, but for every single being on this earth! How much more then should we love our brothers and sisters, friends, neighbors AND even our enemies!
So this CHRISTMAS season lavish your love upon those you are close to, and on those you are not! Don't worry about how much money you spend, how nice the gift is, and don't worry about the things you are given by others.
Instead, rejoice in the fact that we have life, and life more abundantly through Jesus Christ, first and foremost, but also that EVERY good and perfect gift comes from Him... He has given us health, family, friends, even worldly things He allows us to possess... but no matter what...they come from him- and it all boils down to one thing...

LOVE
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cards

2011-12-05T14:45:00.001-06:00

Ok so we went out this weekend to try to get some family pictures for our Christmas cards.

This is what our cards looked like last year, and I LOVED them!

Christ Wishes Religious Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly for unique,Christmas card designs.

View the entire collection of cards.

Shutterfly does such a great job, and I will be using them again this year as soon as I pick out pictures to put on our cards!

Here's hoping to finding JUST the right picture!

Ballet.

2011-11-21T13:45:00.001-06:00

Today I am thankful for this sweet girl & her love of music and dance. She has such a heart for dancing and praising God while doing so. I just love it! These pictures are from her recital last week. Enjoy.

My little man

2011-11-19T14:41:00.001-06:00

My little star hanging out with mommy before a photo shoot.

8 months old

2011-11-17T16:42:00.001-06:00

Today I am thankful for this sweet guy, and the last 8 months.

Asher, you are a bright light in this beautiful world.

This month you have started army crawling, and just today crawled a bit the "right way"

You've learned to clap your hands, wave bye bye, and shake your head yes.

We've finally graduated full time to size 2 diapers. You are wearing 6 month clothes and some 6-9 and an occasional 9-12 if it runs small.

You discovered balloons recently and you LOVE them.

You love to eat whatever we are eating, but you still like baby food as well.

You also learned to drink from a straw and you love your straw cups.

You are such a happy baby and you are such a joy.

And instead...

2011-11-15T12:01:00.001-06:00

Boy did that fail quickly?

I have attempted to blog my "thankful" posts from my new phone. Apparently they aren't going through. OOPS.

So quick recap:

I'm thankful for a sweet little man who's learning to crawl, and for huge tubs of army men that entertain my boys for hours.

I'm thankful for a wonderful Church family and an amazing thanksgiving dinner we had this weekend.

I'm thankful for a successful surgery for my daddy last week, and that he's healing nicely. PRAISE THE LORD!

I'm thankful for my mom and how hard she works to provide for their family.

I'm thankful for silly kids who like to do silly things and make me laugh.

I'm thankful for THE WORD.

I'm thankful for a new cell phone that hopefully I can figure out how to blog from and it actually show up.

I'm thankful for my sweet girl who is so super excited about her fall dance recital tonight.

I could go on and on, but I think I'll leave it at that.

We are spending our day getting ready for recital tonight. Kyley is stoked. I'm hoping to post pictures from that on the blog later tonight or tomorrow.

Little boys and chocolate pie.

2011-11-12T12:28:00.001-06:00

Today I am thankful for little boys and chocolate pie. And learning to blog from my phone

Old Navy Active Wear (Product Review)

2011-11-08T12:29:00.000-06:00

WOW.

Recently, I was afforded the opportunity to try out and review some Old Navy Active Wear thanks to Crowdtap.

Ya'll this stuff is amazing.

I fell in love with it before I even left the store.

I love the lines in it, it makes me feel like I look slimmer.

The colors are stylish, and there are a TON of options.

The material keeps you dry and cool no matter what you are doing. I really love that. I didn't feel like I was sweltering even though I was wearing a long sleeve shirt.

A few if the features I LOVE :

The thumb holes in the sleeves. Where have these been my entire life???

Small pocket on the back of the pants for a key or whatever you wish to put there I guess. It's not a big pocket so you can't put more than one thing in there really, but at least it's a place to store your car key or something of the sort while you are working out.

There is also a slightly larger zipper pocket on the side of the shirt, which is slightly bigger than your debit/ID card so that would be a great place to put something like that if you needed it.

Overall, I just love this line. The support it gives is great, and it makes me feel good about myself when I'm wearing it, instead of frumpy sweats.

The compression pants are amazing. I can't explain WHY they feel so great, but they just do. The way they conform to your body and don't sag but at the same time aren't tight and showing all the "rolls", is just simply amazing.

Overall, I just love how these give a freedom of movement without constricting and being unflattering. I Love that! Thank you Old Navy for such a great product!

*DISCLAIMER* These products were given to me for the purpose of review by Old Navy through Crowdtap and the Old Navy Style Council. I was not compensated in any other form, and all opinions and thoughts in this post are my own.

well some things changed.

2011-11-08T10:17:00.000-06:00

Originally, I had planned to write a post full of pictures and fun stuff for yesterday's post. Then life got in the way.

And I'm reminded of something beautiful.

I've already touched on this, but I feel it needs to be said again.

I am thankful for my marriage.

For one that is founded on God's grace.

I'm thankful that we work together and respect each other.

I'm thankful that life isn't full of ups and downs that we feel like we are fighting by ourselves.

I'm thankful to have him by my side.

oh how I am thankful that he just loves me. for me. wow.

another 2 for 1

2011-11-07T10:45:00.000-06:00

Today will be another 2 for 1 day. This time in two different posts though :) Hopefully now that the weekend is over, I'll get myself on a good schedule for writing these things on time!

If this had been posted yesterday, it would've went something like this:

Today, I am thankful for an amazing pastor and his wife.

I am thankful for a supportive church family.

I am thankful for friends & fellowship.

I am thankful for the joy in my husband's heart when he got to "shop" for my christmas present yesterday.

God has certainly blessed our lives, and there are so many things to be thankful for!

Day 4 and 5 mixed in.

2011-11-05T23:30:00.000-05:00

So, I tried to post last night before I went to bed. And my firefox crashed and I lost what I was working on. I tried to post again this morning to make up for it, and I again failed. So tonight, I play catch up.

Yesterday's post would've went something like this :

Today I am thankful for surprise lunch dates with my husband, and paid time off.

I'm thankful for target clearance, and great friends.

Oh and I'm thankful for awesome food at San Marcos.

And today, there are so many more.

Today I am thankful for a relaxing day with family.

I'm thankful for great food, great company, and football that filled our evening.

I'm also thankful that football doesn't get me all worked up like it does a few of our "guests" (that would be my mom and brother)

So what if it's after midnight.

2011-11-04T01:04:00.001-05:00

Yall, today has been a LONG, but fun day.

Today I'm thankful for the little things.

Like throwing caution to the wind and feeding my kids what they refer to as "hodge podge" for lunch.

Chips & Salsa, Popcorn, Chex Mix, and M&Ms, washed down with a big jug of water. We threw whatever we wanted on the plate pretty much and just enjoyed it.

Having a picnic on the back porch.

Playing in the backyard for hours.

Still playing in the backyard for hours even when it starts to rain.

The joy on my kids faces when they realized I wasn't calling them inside despite the rain and their newly healthy bodies, just recovering from colds.

Awesome friends who we got to share a meal and fellowship with tonight.

Kids who have awesome friends to play with.

And other awesome friends who are willing to wait until after bedtime to come hang out since we had other company already planned to come over.

Accountability.

The Word.

Fellowship.

Late nights.

The end.

This guy.

2011-11-02T15:40:00.004-05:00

Isn't he handsome?

Today I am thankful for my amazing husband.

I've been known to do some STUPID stuff. And he loves me anyway.

I gained weight after having kids. And he loves me anyway.

He also likes to take pictures of himself , which typically results in shots like this. :)

His funny, quirky ways are another quality I love about him. He always has a way of making people smile, even if it's at his own expense, and he loves every minute of it.

He takes joy in making others happy.

I am so thankful for the love and support he gives me. His desire to be a man of God, of upright stature & righteousness is unmistakably one of my favorite qualities in him.

His role as husband isn't always easy, but he does what he has to do to provide for and protect me, and our beautiful family.

I couldn't have asked for a better person to spend my life with. My soul mate. My best friend.

I love you Derky and I thank God everyday for YOU.

November.

2011-11-01T15:08:00.002-05:00

Thanks.

Giving.

In honor of this fun holiday, I wanted to write a little about both this month.

Please don't be disappointed if I let you down, but I am going to try to post daily about things I'm thankful for.

Today, I'm thankful for God's grace.

I am such a no good, sinner, but He loves me for who HE created me to be, not who this world says I am.

This world tries to tell us we are no good, rotten, scoundrels, but God sees us through a different pair of glasses.

He sees us as pure, blameless, and holy.

Let's be real, yall.

I've often thought of my self as worthless and a failure.

I don't always have my act together.

Sometimes my house is a mess and school work barely gets done.

I am horrible at sticking to routines.

I don't always have the patience my kids deserve.

I don't always joyfully submit to my husband even though I know I should.

I don't read His word enough.

I don't pray enough.

I don't prioritize things the way I often think I should.

Have you ever felt that way?

I know I can't be alone here!

But something amazing happens when God looks at us. If we have asked Jesus to be Lord of our lives, and have pleaded His blood for our sin, God sees us as holy. righteous. pure.

Thank you Lord for your grace.

If you haven't experienced that grace in your own life, PLEASE. Contact me. I'd love to share more about it with you.

HI bubby!

2011-10-27T16:15:00.001-05:00

The pirate slays the monster

2011-10-27T10:58:00.000-05:00

I could come up with many clever stories to accompany this post, but the pictures say enough :) enjoy.

7 months.

2011-10-25T20:30:00.000-05:00

Yikes I'm late writing this, and I actually sat down to do it the day he turned 7 months. I put it aside because I hadn't taken a picture yet and he was grumpy that day and never got one, and here I am a week later and finally getting to it.

Asher, You are 7 months old (and one week!)

You are rolling all over the place and trying so hard to crawl.

You push yourself forward with your feet but you haven't figured out the coordination yet to get your hands and feet moving together.

You love to eat. You will go nuts over anything we eat if we don't share with you.

Sweet potatoes and Bananas (baby food) are your favorites, which comes as no surprise since it was both Kyley and Elijah's favorites as well.

You sit up so well now, most of the day when you're not in a sling or sleeping you are sitting on the floor playing with Kyley and Elijah and you love it.

You love your cups but we're still working on getting you to drink out of them on a regular basis, though I'm in no hurry, you just like to have a drink when you eat.

You love to be outside. Even when you are at your grumpiest, taking you outside usually makes you happy.

Kyley and Elijah are still your favorite things, you love to play with them and their toys.

You also LOVE the jumperoo. You make that thing dance and bounce and will be so happy in there for long periods of time while mommy cleans something or gets the kids lunch, etc.

Another one bites the dust.

2011-10-25T10:56:00.004-05:00

Last night, Kyley lost her first top tooth!

She has wanted it out for a while but wouldn't pull it, even though it's been ready for a while as well. Last night she finally decided she wanted it out, and out it came!!

Bedtime Routines

2011-10-19T00:11:00.000-05:00

So this week we have implemented a new bed time routine.

We are the kind of family, that specific schedules typically don't work for us, because we're busy, on the go, and we're never doing the same thing at the same time from day to day.

So my kids have never had a "set" bedtime.
Nor have they had a bedtime "routine"

This has worked for us for the last 6 years, however now that my 6 year old has her own opinion about bedtime, and my 3 year old who is WAY more feisty than she ever was about going to bed, we NEEDED some structure.

So yesterday Derek and I talked through our plan for the evening and had a great idea of what we wanted bedtime to look like.

We sat the kids down, and told them how it would happen.

8:15-8:30   Final clean up of rooms (we've now added getting dressed for bed to this time period as well)

8:30-8:45   Fun time with mommy and daddy, this could be reading a story, or playing a quick board game, etc.

8:45-9:00 Bible story, prayer requests, prayer.

9:00 sharp, kids in bed, lights out.

Fast forward to about 7:45...   Elijah falls asleep on the couch. *THIS CAN'T BODE WELL FOR OUR FIRST NIGHT OF OUR BEDTIME ROUTINE*

Then, the alarm Derek set to go off at 8:15 to alert us that it was time to start the routine (we'll eventually grow out of needing this, but right now it's necessity) failed to go off. So far bedtime:0 everything else: 2

So about 8:20 we realize the alarm didn't go off, and we get Kyley started on the routine. 15 min cleaning went well, followed by 15 min of playing 2 rounds of dominoes. 15 minutes of prayer/bible story and last minute convos about our day. This went pretty smoothly for her, with a few hiccups because well, she likes to stall and she thought that this was the perfect opportunity to test the waters on what she could get away with. Once she realized we meant business, she got in her bed and was pretty quiet.

Derek moved Elijah from the couch, still sleeping to his bed. This was great until about oh... 9:40ish. Guess who woke up.

In the mean time, Kyley had been good in the bed, but not asleep, so as soon as Elijah woke up she thought that meant free reign of whatever she wanted.   WRONG.

We finally got her to sleep, but it took much much longer to get Elijah back to sleep because he thought he'd had a nap and was ready to go for a bit.

Overall, considering what went on, not a bad experience, and we were pleased.

SO, tonight, 8:15 the alarm goes off.

The kids cleaned their room, and then we played UNO for 15 minutes (3 games worth if you were wondering, and Elijah won 2!) We prayed together and talked about a Zacchaeus and about our favorite parts of the day. (I love this part!) And we sent the kids to bed. They did pretty well tonight, they didn't go to sleep right away but for the most part we didn't have to say anything to them. After Kyley fell asleep Elijah wanted to come out and play a little but we nipped that quickly and he is fast asleep.    Not bad for a 2nd day of a routine. I pray they get better and better at this!

And a bonus for the day. Asher fell asleep during the game/prayer/bible time and has been asleep since their bedtime as well. SCORE:    Mommy: 3 Bedtime:0 I like that one.

New Journeys, New Beginnings.

2011-10-14T17:28:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to join us for our fundraiser to Bring Baby Hugs Home!!Don't forget when you click on Cheryl's link to go to the party titled Baby Hugs Fundraiser and click BUY next to that!!!

So as many of you know, Derek & I have taken on the role of Children's Pastors at Lakewood Christian Centre. We have been there since June and we are loving it! God is blessing the ministry and using our calling and talents to reach kids, which is our desire! So, I thought I'd show you guys around and tell you a little bit about who we are as a ministry.

Welcome to Lakewood Kids. Derek and I, with the help of a handful of volunteers, transformed this room from solid black walls, to everything you see here. We are so blessed by the help we had, we couldn't have done it near as quickly on our own.

It is our desire to ensure that every child knows Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord.Beyond that, we are dedicated to teaching children the truth in God’s word, what it means to live a life of worship and prayer, and how to share compassion through God’s love toward others.

We based our entire theme off of this Scripture: Jeremiah 24:7 Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.

We are so excited about what God is doing, and if you'd like to check out what is going on you can join us by clicking any of the links below.

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

We would be thrilled if you'd follow us at any of those three locations and keep up with what the kids are up to!

Random Facebook Status Updates

2011-10-12T12:48:00.000-05:00

Kyley yesterday, " I'm sorry mommy, I miss under heard you" LOL

I just said to Elijah "what a big boy you are!" and he looked at me and said "I'm not a big boy, I'm a man." OH MY.

LOL Kyley went to the bathroom and picked up a book from her room. It was Tikki Tikki Tembo. Anyways, I asked her if she could pick out any words in it that she could read, and she looked at me dead serious and said, NO THEY'RE ALL IN CHINESE! um no dear, that'd be English :)

Random quote from prayer time with the kids last night: "My sisser not weird, she a girl!" - Spoken so eloquently by the great Elijah :)

Elijah keeps coming to me today and saying... Mommy I weally sowwy, I no be grounded no more! :) I love that kid, but sorry kiddo, still grounded :)

Kyley while describing Elijah. "He's thinking. With his eyes he's saying blink. blink. blink. blink."

so earlier, we were stitting at the table having dinner with Savannah Barber & Peden Kraft Barber. Before that Elijah couldn't find peden in the video game. He gets up from dinner and next thing we hear is gunshots (yeah I know...) and peden's face drops... yeah, he found him. He's 3.

Kyley to me: Mommy I can't be a little kid anymore, because I'm growing up! Then she says, and you're a big teenager, wait, pretty much you're just a human being! LOL why yes Kyley I am a human being! : )

I just said to Derek, this room needs a little TLC. Kyley responds with..."I know what that spells...painting!!"

Elijah: "Mommy, I want a cookie!" Me: "Elijah I just gave you a cookie" Elijah: "You give me more please, it's not in my mouth it's in my belly!"

lol Elijah just brought his baby doll to me and said.."mommy I need to take my shirt of so him can have some num nums " lol silly boy

Only my son would want to go out wearing elmo christmas pj's a tie, and his elmo backpack... LOL silly boy :) off to get wic!

Elijah is carrying his baby doll around on his shoulder patting its back saying 'sh my baby bleeping' (sleeping)

Kyley: One day I want to go to Tennesse, it seems awesome there, like with cowgirls and stuff

Elijah to me: mommy, my daddy handsome. I handsome. we both handsome. Derek John Jordan, then he runs in the other room and says Kyley! Guess what?!?! I'm HANDSOME! :) love that kid.

so in response to something we heard from Chuck Glasscock, Derek asked Kyley if when she sinned she heard something in her head tell her it wasn't right. Kyley's response was "I only hear you in my head daddy" LOL And then he turns to Krissy (Cheryl Ritter Menees) and asks the same. Krissy says "I hear you in my head too" LOL these kids crack me up.

LOL Kyley just told me Elijah was doing something he shouldn't be... so I said I guess I'm going to have to go spank his tail. Kyley turned to me and matter of factly said "He doesn't have a tail" haha she cracks me up

Elijah just went potty and as he got down I asked him to wash his hands. His reply to me was "my hands all cwean mommy, they pewfect, now i watch tv" and ran to the living room. lol

Kyley and Elijah are in the tub, Kyley said "LiLi now it's time to SWIM!" and I replied, no let's not make a mess (they like to splash water) and she replied "But we're just going to lay down, because that's how me and LiLi roll!"

listenin to Kyley and Asher laying in the window watching the rain and he's cooing and smiling at her and she's talking in baby talk back to him ♥ melt my heart ♥

I asked Elijah if he was my baby. His response was... NO Asher's me baby!

Left Asher asleep while I went outside to fix the AC that the workers broke AGAIN. Came back and Elijah was trying to shove oatmeal creme pie in Asher's mouth. yay.

Sippy Cup

2011-10-01T23:58:00.000-05:00

Six months/ 3 1/2 year stats!

2011-09-29T13:36:00.001-05:00

So, I want to document this so I remember :)

Today Asher weighed in at 14 lb 7 oz, and 25 1/2 inches tall!

Elijah is 36 lbs even, and 38 1/2 inches tall !

My boys are growing so quickly (and my girl too!!!)

On another note, WOW do you get a lot of baby food if you breastfeed from WIC.
Asher gets 64 fruits and veggies, and 31 meats a month. I hope he's hungry! :)

And a HUGE thank you to any of you who have checked out the Scentsy Fundraiser for Malerie and Kevin! And if you haven't yet...

Don't forget to join us for our fundraiser to Bring Baby Hugs Home!!

Don't forget when you click on Cheryl's link to go to the party titled Baby Hugs Fundraiser and click BUY next to that!!!

Last night's dinner.

2011-09-27T16:53:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to join us for our fundraiser to Bring Baby Hugs Home!!Don't forget when you click on Cheryl's link to go to the party titled Baby Hugs Fundraiser and click BUY next to that!!!

Ok, So I've been in a rut and I felt like I was making the same thing every week for dinner. So last night I tried something new. A friend sent me the link and it sounded great so I thought, hey why not, let's try it and it was mostly things I already had on hand.

So. We tried it. Garlicky Pasta with Tomatoes and Basil

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
5 cups chopped plum tomatoes (about 2 pounds)
6 cups hot cooked campanella (about 12 ounces uncooked pasta)
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add minced garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Add chopped tomatoes; cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Add pasta, basil, cheese, salt, and pepper, tossing gently to combine.

David Bonom, Cooking Light
APRIL 2004

I made this almost like the recipe, but not totally.

I used Penne pasta instead of the campanella (what is that?I couldn't find it at my store and I already had penne on hand)

With my minced garlic I added in a little minced onion, so small that you couldn't even see it though.

I served this with a tomato & cucumber salad.

I diced up fresh roma tomatoes and some cucumbers and marinated them in Garlic Expressions.

To finish it off I made some garlic bread, and some lemon pepper chicken (for my husband in case he didn't like the pasta dish). In reality we could've done without the bread or the chicken. The pasta and salad were perfect together and needed nothing else.

Photo courtesy of my husband and his android phone.

Asher's first food

2011-09-27T08:15:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to join us for our fundraiser to Bring Baby Hugs Home!!Don't forget when you click on Cheryl's link to go to the party titled Baby Hugs Fundraiser and click BUY next to that!!!

I just wanted to share a few pictures of the first time Asher ate real food. I chose to start with bananas, we don't really do the cereal thing, especially since we wait until six months to start food, he was MORE than ready for some real stuff!!! He is loving eating, and I'm sure in no time with be a pro!

Art

2011-09-25T01:23:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to join us for our fundraiser to Bring Baby Hugs Home!!Don't forget when you click on Cheryl's link to go to the party titled Baby Hugs Fundraiser and click BUY next to that!!!

So recently, we turned these crayons into art. I saw this on someone's blog, that they'd found on pinterest (no I haven't jumped on that bandwagon yet, but I'm sure I could if I tried hard enough).

We took 4 boxes of crayola crayons (we being me and kyley mostly), and we grouped them together into like colors that we thought would look good together. Then we hot glued them to the top of a canvas. (3 actually) Next we rigged up a cardboard box with tin foil in the bottom to catch our splatter, and I turned on the hair dryer and pointed it toward the crayon points to melt them and let them drip down the canvas. Simple as that :) Now, go try it and enjoy yourselves so I can see more pretty artwork.

Random - Asher

2011-09-23T00:22:00.001-05:00

Don't forget to join us for our fundraiser to Bring Baby Hugs Home!!Don't forget when you click on Cheryl's link to go to the party titled Baby Hugs Fundraiser and click BUY next to that!!!

This is Asher and how he thinks he should use his swing.

My boy has some beautiful lashes

Asher's first soccer game with daddy

And his first time in the grass... he was less than thrilled.

Playin' with his toes on the back porch

Help Bring Baby Hugs Home!!

2011-09-21T12:10:00.002-05:00

Y'all I am so excited to be a part of this. And I'm even MORE excited that YOU get to be a part of this!!!

I've been so tremendously blessed to know Malerie since highschool. She was a beacon of light to me in some hard times in my life and I'm so grateful that God allowed us to get to know each other way back then (feeling old yet Mal?)

Malerie and her sweet husband Kevin are amazing. If you don't know them, you should. They are such sweet, gentle, humble people and you'd be so blessed to know their hearts. They have a passion for God's word and His people and it's apparent in their lives.

So here is where YOU come in.

Malerie and Kevin are in the process of adopting from Korea.

As we all know, adoption can be expensive, so they are working as hard as they can to raise the money they need for their expenses.

Another sweet friend of mine, Cheryl has offered to have a fundraiser for them. Cheryl (also an amazing woman of God, y'all I am so blessed with amazing friends!) is an Independent Scentsy Consultant and she has so generously offered to give 100% of the profit made from these sales to Malerie and Kevin for the purpose of their adoption!!
Here is a bit of what Cheryl had to say about these products:

With the days growing cool, we are preparing for Autumn and the coming winter months. Thinking of the Holidays as they approach quickly leave many flustered. Not anymore...Scentsy is the perfect gift for everyone.

Scentsy warmers will brighten any room- safely because it's powered by a light bulb- and fit any decor you have in mind!

Our scented wax..If you've not tried them, once you do, you'll fall in love with them (and they are economical). Frosty "Whiteout" confures images of icy cold mint and crisp apples. Love to horseback ride? "Weathered Leather" is a mix of suede, leather and oak. As many scents you can imagine will be found in 1 of 80 scents!

NEW to Scentsy...You can now layer Scentsy fragrance in the most fun and personal way with our new Scentsy Solid Perfumes! Five amazing scents to choose from and take with you to all your holiday parties!

Finally, children can choose their favorite scent too, as we introduce more scented paks for the adorable Scentsy Buddies to go along with our NEW Scratch the Cat and Patch the Dog....but don't forget about our old friends, Ollie (elephant), Molly (monkey), Lenny (Lamb), Penny (pig) and Ribbert (frog)!

Be sure when you place your order, go to www.meltingmoments.scentsy.us and click "Buy" next to "Baby Hugs Fundraiser Here". 100% of the profit will be donated towards this family's amazing journey!!!
Please email me at mrsbes@yahoo.com or call me at 410-241-8992 with any questions about Scentsy you might have.

Are you excited yet???

If you've never tried Scentsy, this stuff is AMAZING. I've clumsily spilled the wax several times and it doesn't burn so it's safe for kids, and there is NO FLAME. I love that!

If you want to know more about the product you can also check out Cheryl's Facebook Page.

SO, get out there and get shopping, and let's help bring Baby Hugs home!!!

Don't forget when you click on Cheryl's link to go to the party titled Baby Hugs Fundraiser and click BUY next to that!!!

6 months old!

2011-09-20T12:39:00.002-05:00

Asher, you are 6 months old!! (and 3 days)

I cannot believe how fast you're growing! It seems like just yesterday you were born!

You love to roll over from front to back and back to front.

You are very good at sitting up on your own now, though I still leave the boppy behind you or stay close by because when you get excited you fling yourself backwards into the floor and then you're not so excited anymore.

You still wear a size 1 diaper, but I think that will be changing VERY soon. You are wearing 3-6 month clothes and some just 6 month, and I've even had to put away some of the smaller 3-6 month things.

You LOVE your toys and your brother's toys as well. You love when he plays with you, or when Kyley plays with you as well.

Kyley still thinks you are like a baby doll and she can play "house" with you. She likes to carry you around and pretend to put you to bed and you think she's the funniest thing.

Just this weekend (2 days ago!) You started making actual syllables instead of squeals. You are saying "ma" very well, and it's funny to watch you study our mouths as we talk and mimic the movement.

Your toes are one of your favorite toys, and chew toys at that.

You want to crawl so badly, but you need to work on your strength in your arms and torso first, but that will come soon enough sweet boy. You want to be able to 'hang' with Kyley and Elijah and go wherever they go.

You've been trying a little bit of food here and there, though we aren't pushing the issue. You've so far had banana baby food, and banana baby puffs and cookies to play with, though you aren't really eating them, I put them on your tray while we eat so you can practice picking them up.

You LOVE cups. You want to steal anyone's cup that you see, and you love your own cup if it has something yummy in it (so far I've only put breastmilk or water in it, and you much prefer the milk haha)

I am so in love with you sweet little man, I can't wait to see what the next six months brings as well.

For your viewing pleasure :)

2011-09-19T16:25:00.002-05:00

Asher is learning to say "ma" :)

Work In Progress.

2011-09-15T16:32:00.001-05:00

I have so many things I want to write about, but I just can't put them into words. I've pondered this post for almost 2 weeks. And my blog has been silent. That was almost the title. SILENCE.

Forgive me in advance for the wordy post. It's not my typical style, but I can't do anything but obey what my spirit feels right now.

I am... a work in progress.

I don't understand the things God is doing in my life, but I know this. He is working.

So many times I've sat down to address the issue of faith, here on my blog, but I just cannot seem to get the words out right. But now's the time.

Several years ago, God gave me a vision. A vision of our future. A vision of our third child, one of hope and fulfillment of His promises in our lives. He spoke life into existence in our hearts years before it was time to be fulfilled.
A few months before I got pregnant with Asher, I saw this same exact vision, so vivid, and so real. I got anxious, and excited. God was stirring up something in me I didn't understand. I was longing to be pregnant and have our 3rd child more than ever now.

In late June 2010, I had another vision. This time also very vivid and real. God gave me a date, a time, and confirmed the gender he'd revealed to me in the earlier visions. With this date in mind (March 15, 2011 at 4:53am to be exact and HER name was to be Kinsley Faith) I thought He was crazy, it was already late June and I'd already have to have conceived or done so right around this time to get pregnant and be due by then, and I just didn't see how that was possible.

But I believed.

And on July 6th, I took a test at 9days after ovulation and sure enough it said pregnant. (not everyone can get a positive that early, I just happened to)

So began our intense journey of faith. Derek and I both felt through this entire pregnancy He was leading us and guiding us to homebirth. We stepped out in faith and went with what we felt He was calling us to. We believed in Him. We believed in His sovereignty. We prepared to have a little girl. We gave away all of our boy clothes, and washed and put away all of our pink, girly things in the drawers as March drew near.

We had faith.

March 15th was on a Tuesday, and when I started having contractions on the Sunday before, I prayed, and asked God to continue to guide us and lead us in His will. I knew it would be a long few days before she was here.

So Tuesday came and went. And there was no baby. Um... excuse me God...??? What is going on here?????

But I believed.

Finally, during the wee hours of the morning on March 17th, I felt like it was time. Yall, let me tell you, even as I labored, I sang to "her" and spoke to her and encouraged her through the birth process.

I REALLY believed.

And birth was amazing. Derek told me as soon as he was out... "It's a boy!" And I questioned him, because ya know, sometimes things are swollen and you never know... "For real?" He confirmed it for me, and as I turned over to pick him up, I called him by name. "Hi sweet Asher" I said.

I'll be the first to tell you how in love I am. I am head over heels in love with this little boy. He rocked my world, in a good way.

But, can I be honest with you and tell you that I had to grieve? Not right away, I was too blown away by the whole experience of birthing at home and having a new baby and being absolutely smitten with him.
But as the weeks and months passed by, I felt a sadness, and I realized that it was something I needed to deal with inside of me.

I felt like God had lied to me. I questioned my ability to hear from Him. I questioned my relationship with Him. I questioned my sanity even sometimes. My grieving has nothing to do with not having a little girl. We are blessed either way. But I had to grieve the loss of the solid FAITH I'd found suddenly shaken.

There are days that it is hard. When Kyley pulls out something from the tiny little girl stuff I had sorted and put away... I silently cry to myself and wonder where I went wrong. For a few weeks in the beginning, when Elijah would ask about Kinsley (because that is what we'd prepared him for!) and I had no way of explaining to him how he would understand, it was HARD. But again I say, he is my WORLD.

I ran hard after Him during this time in my life, and I've asked many questions. I won't know the answers to many of these questions, but I can tell you this... He is working, and I am a work in progress.

I have no idea what God's purpose was for all of that in my life, but I know this. I passed the test. I ran hard after what He was showing me and I fully believed in His words to me, and I don't say that to pump myself up, but to tell you that HE sustained me during that time. HE gave me the faith to stand up to those who questioned me. and HE saw me through the time when everyone thought I was insane because it turns out, hey, he's a boy.

I ran hard, and He caught me in His grace.

I can't begin to tell you that this journey is over, I still have moments of doubt and fear of the unknown since that time.
Just last week Kyley shared her heart with me, and she broke mine into pieces in the process. She said "Mommy, I was so excited when I woke up and Asher was born, but I was kinda sad that he wasn't a girl."

Sweet Jesus, be near to her.

In six months, she'd never spoken a word of that until this week. I told someone earlier in the week about it and said, ya know, I am so glad she shared that with me so I know that she's grieving in her own way, but I could have went a million years without hearing those words.

God has a perfect plan, and maybe it's only to see my faith and trust. I have no idea. But He does.

I am a work in progress. He continues to shape me and mold me through the things I experience and deal with on a daily basis.
Yes, sometimes I will question Him, I'm human and I'm a sinner, if I wasn't I wouldn't need Him.
But I know this much: No matter what I go through I'm going to run hard after Him and into His sweet grace.

And in case you were wondering... I adore my sweet boy and wouldn't change things for the world. :)

Coolest Win Ever

2011-09-03T15:50:00.000-05:00

Ok, I am officially in LOVE. I won these sweet beads from a blog giveaway over at We are THAT family. They came from this sweet little etsy shoppe! The Adopt Shoppe
Go check out the amazing stuff. I promise you won't regret it!!!

These particular beads, are handmade (fair trade!) from Uganda! They are teaching women to make a living for their families by making beads out of magazines! how awesome is that?! I love them!

busy week, tired mommy!

2011-09-02T15:41:00.000-05:00

No pictures today! Sorry! I just wanted to say hi and update!

We had revival last weekend, so my week last week and into this week consisted of planning lessons, buying props/prizes, organizing help, making sure everything was ready for the weekend, and pulling off 4 services in 3 days. It was a LOT of work leading up to it, but we had a blast and God is so good. The kids had a lot of fun and even a few adults got in on the action a few nights. I probably won't share any pictures on my personal blog from anything we do there, but you can check out the Lakewood Kids BLOG if you are interested and there are also links on the Lakewood Kids FACEBOOK PAGE.

My intentions were to start school on Monday, but with the long weekend we had, I decided to put it off until after Labor Day, so we will start this coming Tuesday so that I have time to make sure my lesson plans are done, etc. Kyley is so excited about starting school, and I must say, so am I!!! I can't wait to see what this year holds for her and Elijah as they learn and grow!

During the week, all 3 kids have come down with a cold, so my last two days have been spent mostly working on things I need to do online to catch up, and snuggling a grumpy baby who has a stuffy nose and can't breathe well and just overall doesn't feel good. He's so pathetic, but I'm happy to say that he seems to be slowly on the mend. The older two have stuffy noses, but haven't really acted much different than normal so I'm hoping we got by easy this time.

Asher is sitting up so well now, we still don't leave him by himself because he does still fling himself backwards at times, but he's doing great! And last night I laid him on his tummy and he got his legs all pulled under him and held his torso up with just his arms and knees. YIKES, he can't be starting this yet!!! He LOVES his toys and loves to talk to people, he will squeal at you if you pay him any attention. I love all the smiles and giggles we are getting these days!!!

Better is...

2011-08-27T11:01:00.001-05:00

Some of you may remember THIS POST.

Recently, we were at the first night of revival at our church and Elijah had to go potty right as service began (surprise right???) So as I was waiting for him to come out of the bathroom, I was enjoying the praise band from the foyer, as they were playing "Better is One Day"

A few minutes later, Elijah emerges from the boys restroom singing at the top of his lungs... They'd reached the chorus by this point (come on, sing it with me, better is one day in your courts ,better is one day in your house...)Anyhow, they'd reached the chorus and Elijah is trying his best to keep up and sing along and he blurts out this gem...

"Better is one day in your courts, better is one day in your mouths..." Yes, my friends, he said MOUTHS instead of house. Hey it sounds alike right?

I wish I had a way to document every single thing the kid says, he cracks me up all day long, every single day!

Back to School

2011-08-26T10:11:00.001-05:00

So I think we are FINALLY ready to jump into FIRST GRADE! I cannot believe how quickly time flies!

We got our finishing touches on our curriculum in the mail today, and so we are shooting to start on MONDAY! yay!

After much consideration and prayer, I decided I wanted to go with Horizons. I feel like this is where God was leading me, and so I believe we're going to have an amazing year!

And what would back to school be, without awesome back to school cookies to celebrate?

Look mom!!

2011-08-24T00:20:00.000-05:00

Look what my sweet boy is learning to do :) Did I mention I'm in love with this little guy? :)

Asher's favorite toy (first edition!)

2011-08-22T22:21:00.000-05:00

This kid LOVES this toy.

He attacks it when he sees it and it keeps him entertained for good lengths of time, score for mommy!

Truth be told, I bought it back when Kyley was little, she only played with it a handful of times and so I put it away for future kids.

I apparently forgot where I "put" it while Elijah was little because just recently I found it in a box of Kyley's old toys I'd kept for our next girl while I was going through stuff for our recent yard sale.

So I cleaned it up to make sure it was germ free when I gave it to him, and gave it to Ash-man, and he's had a blast with it ever since!

5 months old (yesterday)

2011-08-18T16:10:00.000-05:00

My sweet little man is 5 months old! I can't believe how quickly time flies!

I've put away almost ALL of his 0-3 clothes, and he's finally filling out the 3-6 so they don't look like they are falling off. He's still wearing a size 1 diaper, but I don't know how much longer that will last either!

He weighs in at a whopping 15 lbs!
He has been rolling over from back to front occassionally, and he loves to roll from his tummy to his back.
Just in the last week or so he found his feet and loves to play with them.
He's starting to sit up on his own for brief periods of time, but he's not sturdy enough for me to just leave him there yet.
He's showing a lot of interest in our food, so I'm sure he's going to LOVE when we let him eat solids in a month or so, but until then he's still nursing on demand.

He is a drool machine, though no sign of teeth just yet, we'll see though. My other two haven't cut teeth until 10 months or later!

He loves Kyley and Elijah, and he lights up when they talk to him :) I just love it.
He is ticklish and I love to hear him giggle when someone finds a tickle spot!

Asher man, we love you so much!!!!

Mosquitos.

2011-08-17T10:07:00.000-05:00

Holy ~~Cow~~ Mosquitos Batman!
I'll spare you all the images, but apparently my youngest has a pretty adverse reaction to mosquito bites. YIKES!
We knew Elijah was allergic (though Kyley is not and her skin seems to be more sensitive?!), but his reaction wasn't bad. But Asher has raised the bar. His reactions to them are ridiculous!
Anyways, so I'm looking for some advice. I'm looking at a few different type of bug bands (bracelets that repel mosquitoes) but I don't want to waste my money on something if it doesn't work. Which is where you guys come in!I came across a 3 pack of these type bands at CVS this week. It was the only package they had, so I grabbed them, though we haven't had time to try them out yet. Have any of you tried these?

I also found these, and I believe these are like one we bought for Elijah a few summers ago and I felt like it worked well but it was pretty stiff and Elijah hated wearing it.

ButI have also been looking at these...

and these...

Do any of you have any experience with them? I really am not sure if they work or not, which is why I haven't committed to buying any certain one yet but I have to do something because my poor boy is covered in bites and they swell up and get hard with a knot in them and just look awful :( poor baby :(

Yard Sale and Yard Hard Work.

2011-08-13T18:23:00.000-05:00

I have to give MAD props to my hubby and a few of our great friends today. All week we've been planning on having a yard sale today. I'd been working in the shed organizing and going through stuff to sale all week long. Cleaning out closets, dressers, anything I could find to get rid of "stuff" and simplify our lives. I'm so tired of clutter, it drives me INSANE! It just so happens that at the same time I've been pricing the curriculum I want to order for Kyley this year (yes a little late I know) So we made that our goal, to fund our curriculum for the year through the yard sale. When I added up everything I was going to need for curriculum, the most I was going to need was right at 270.00. Can I tell you that GOD is good ? Because He is. Our grand total today: 272.00! No lie. And on top of that, I have a whole shed full of stuff we still need to sell that didn't sell today, and we're going to set up again next week to try to get rid of that, and after that, what is left we'll donate because I don't want it back in my shed!
We stayed up all night last night working on last minute things (ok I was, the boys watched movies all night to stay awake). We started setting up about 530 this morning, and bless him... Tim stayed all night and all day with us. And we were doubly blessed that our sweet friend Marlon brought us lunch in exchange for something his wife wanted that we were selling :)

And then... the yard work began. Earlier in the week we had gotten a letter from the city about weeds etc. Which is hilarious because we'd JUST cut our grass the week before so it was pretty low, but whatever. So we set to work to get everything done before the city comes back out on Monday to check... Yay. Derek, Tim, & Will have been working their booties off to make sure our yard is in tip top shape and I am so blessed to have a husband who will work hard to make things the way they need to be, and that we have friends willing to lend a hand. I've done what I could throughout the day while nursing a babe but the truth is, when you have a newborn, it's HARD to do anything other than hang w/ the baby. Oh well. Anyways, I'm thankful for our hard working crew nonetheless.

Hope you guys have had an awesome Saturday as well!

Potty Training TRAINED!

2011-08-11T09:40:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to update this for a few weeks now, because I've been writing about it for so long.

Elijah has been a whole MONTH without a diaper during the day or night. We still have a few random accidents, but it's mostly if he is trying to get to the bathroom and can't get his clothes off in time etc. He is doing GREAT!

I knew he could do it, but he had to decide for himself that he was ready. He's been dry for almost 2 weeks at night even and I've caught him getting up at night to go to the potty and getting back in bed!

I'm so proud of my big boy!!

Wedding Day!

2011-08-06T14:51:00.000-05:00

We are so excited to be a part of Savannah and Peden's big day! We have watched these two grow from teens in high school, to the adults they are today and we are so blessed to call them friends. Happy wedding day, we love yall!

(photo taken by me, at their engagement shoot)

a jumbled up mess.

2011-08-04T14:11:00.000-05:00

Today is the first day in over a week I haven't felt like my head was going to explode. We have so much going on and so many things to do right now that I have neglected the blog, partly because I was too busy, and partly because I haven't had time to think about what to sit down and write.
My brother & sister in law (and niece) have been in town for a week, so we tried to see them as much as possible, while juggling painting our children's area (it's going to ROCK!) , pre-wedding prep work for some of our awesome friends who are getting married on Saturday, and then normal work/house/kids that we do on a daily basis.
Oh and did I mention that our 8th anniversary was this past week? I'm so blessed to be married to my amazing husband, and it's been a wonderful 8 years!

Anyhow, I have a lot of pics and a lot of other things to post about but I need to organize those thoughts and put them into words. Hopefully I'm back to my normal schedule soon :)

Why yes, yes they are

2011-07-26T15:14:00.001-05:00

Crowd Tap?

2011-07-25T01:15:00.000-05:00

Do any of you guys participate in this site?

I stumbled upon it through some facebook friends and I think it's a pretty neat idea.

Basically, you join the site, you get to participate in actions and discussions and earn points which upgrade your level, and "cash" which you can trade in for amazon gift cards. Often these actions will allow you to try a specific product for review and questionaires by that company.

The best part about it is, that any cash you redeem, they automatically take 5 % of it and give it to a charity of your choice, and then match that amount as well! Pretty cool if you ask me, since all I have to do is click a few buttons here and there and answer some questions here and there.

I chose to donate to To Write Love on Her Arms which I have written about before HERE and HERE
What a super charity to be able to donate to, just by answering questions. I love it!

Soooo... if you're interested, join me. At least join and try it out, you can't beat free products to try and anything you earn goes to charity and it doesn't take hardly any time at all (unlike some survey sites etc)

4 months old (and almost a week)

2011-07-23T22:52:00.000-05:00

I took the picture last week when he was first 4 months old, that should count for something right???

What a big boy Asher is getting to be, and so much fun!
He can giggle, and he loves to watch Elijah and Kyley play.
He holds on to a few toys and loves to look at things that are fun and colorful.
He coos and talks to you in his own way and he LOVES to squeal. Silly boy.

He is trying so hard to sit up on his own, but his poor little torso is so long he just can't get good control over it yet, but I have a feeling it won't be long!!!

He is still sleeping well at night, but oh how much sleep is he NOT getting during the day which probably causes his nights to be so good.

I can't believe how big he's getting already!!! Here is the pictures I posted at 1,2,3, and 4 months old together.

(sorry for some reason it put the pictures in out of order, but you know what I'm going for here :) )

My Supermen!!!

2011-07-20T21:00:00.001-05:00

A new adventure

2011-07-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

We are so excited about the things God is doing in our lives, and in those around us, and I wanted to share one of those here today.

Recently we've been given the opportunity to serve in a children's minster position at a local church. We are beyond thrilled to see what God is doing through this. If you guys wouldn't mind checking out the blog and following it we'd appreciate it!!!
We also have a facebook page and a twitter (@lakewoodkids) Thanks so much guys! You are all awesome!

Why I'm here.

2011-07-13T01:10:00.000-05:00

*also written several years ago on my MySpace blog, but I wanted to share here*

Have you ever wondered why we were put here on this earth?
Isaiah 43:7 says...  "Everyone who is called by My name,
      Whom I have created for My glory;
      I have formed him, yes, I have made him."
and Colossians 1:16 says... "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him."
These scriptures tell us that everyone called by His name is created for His glory- and in Colossians it tells us that all things created in heaven and on earth are created by Him, through Him, and for Him. So we have all been placed here for His glory.
What exactly is glory?
According to www.dictionary.com the word glory can be said to mean

..> ..>

1.	very great praise, honor, or distinction bestowed by common consent; renown

2.	something that is a source of honor, fame, or admiration; a distinguished ornament or an object of pride

3.	adoring praise or worshipful thanksgiving:

4.	resplendent beauty or magnificence.

5.	a state of great splendor, magnificence, or prosperity.

6.	a state of absolute happiness, gratification, contentment, etc.

7.	the splendor and bliss of heaven Our job is to bring him glory- we were created to worship Him!

This brings me to the point of this blog- a song I love.
The chorus simply says "To worship You I live, to worship You I live, I live to worship You."
I live to worship Him- worship doesn't mean we have to sing to Him constantly- it doesn't mean we have to jump up and down and shout, it just simply means for us to bring Him glory. We can do that by allowing our minds to be transformed, and living as a representative of Christ. We once had a saying in our youth group about things we did or said, to know you were bringing God glory, we'd say " as a representative of Jesus Christ... (fill in the blank with whatever action/word/thought you were having or contemplating)" and if it wasn't something that would reflect good on the name of Jesus, then we probably shouldn't do that.
Romans 12:1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
It is our job to bring Him glory- are you reflecting that in your life?

The lyrics to the song...
Away away from the noise
alone with you
away away to hear your voice
and meet with you
nothing else matters my one desire is
To worship you I live
to worship you I live I live to worship you
To worship you I live
to worship you I live I live to worship you
oh oh
Away away, away away from the noise alone with you
Away away to hear your voice and meet with you
It's been a while but heart my heart cry again
: To worship you I live
to worship you I live I live to worship you
To worship you I live
to worship you I live I live to worship you
To worship you I live
to worship you I live I live to worship you
oh oh

Is this your hearts desire? To get away from the noise.... to get alone with Him...to bring Him glory?

Father, I thank You for your living Word and your perfect will for our lives. Lord I pray that you will mold me and make me into the person you have created me to be- Lord help me to refocus my life and get alone with You, worship You, and bring you glory. May your will for my life and that of my family's be manifested in us through our worship of You. Amen.

Finally! Success!!!

2011-07-11T01:14:00.002-05:00

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember THIS post.

Oh boy has this been a long time coming...

I'm so excited to say that we are FINALLY done with diapers for Elijah! At 3 years & 3 months old almost to the day (we started on the 4th full time) He has been without a diaper for a week now.

I couldn't be a prouder mommy to this sweet boy. He goes on his own, without help (unless he needs wiped) and he's only had a handful of accidents and they were mostly a timing issue or at night when he can't wake himself up to go yet.

We'd been going diaper free at home for several months but not out of the house because he couldn't be consistent in telling us he had to go, and my stubborn boy would not settle for "trying" to go every so often, he only goes when HE needs to.

He may be stubborn, but when he was ready, he was ready. I'm so glad to be on the other side of the hill (ok well mostly)

Lord, please let Asher not be as stubborn and make things so hard on mommy. lol.

Anyhow, to celebrate his new achievement I think I'm going to order him these...

He is going to be so thrilled, he loves Phineas and Ferb right now, so this will make his day :)

Answer's to life's questions?

2011-07-07T23:11:00.002-05:00

I wrote this post on my myspace blog many years ago, but felt it was worth sharing here. I love hearing God's voice and this is just one example.

* Please note that throughout this blog , the use of "Daddy" is not directed at my earthly father, but yet a term of endearment between my Heavenly Father and the personal relationship i share with Him.*

Answers....

Daddy, why does death hurt so badly? Why does it bring so much pain? Death to our earthly desires, death to our will for our lives as opposed to Your perfect will, and death to our old way of thinking...? All of these types of death bring forth strength, but Daddy, physical death, where is the strength in that? The joy of the Lord is my strength, I am quickly reminded by your sweet, still voice. Your joy... it shall be my strength. But Lord, where shall i find such joy in death? Your reply to me is resounding in my mind. "My child, my joy is found in my resurrection," You say. So I ponder this for a moment.

Resurrection, what does it mean?

1. the act of rising from the dead.
2. (initial capital letter) the rising of Christ after His death and burial.
3. (initial capital letter) the rising of the dead on Judgment Day.
4. the state of those risen from the dead.
5. a rising again, as from decay, disuse, etc.; revival.

Another source cites resurrection as a revival from inactivity and disuse.

Revival from inactivity? But Father, what does this have to do with my grieving? What does this have to do with my hurt and pain? "Listen closely, My child," You reply, " your mourning for a life resurrected to be with me is only the beginning my dear. Your earthly desires, your personal will for your life, your way of living, all of this is merely the beginning. Your mind in these states is at a moment of inactivity. Take heed my dear child, and draw close to Me. Rise above this earthly world full of traps and snares, and hold your head high. Rise above all circumstances, all inactivity, all disuse, and be resurrected by My power! Be revived my child, oh that I might use you to do something great for My kingdom."

My girl

2011-07-06T18:19:00.000-05:00

Well, this is my 300th post! I had something else planned but I can't get it finished in time to post before today, and I already haven't blogged in multiple days, soooo instead I'm going to share a few pictures with you, and I'll write my "300" post later :)

a picture worth a thousand words.

2011-06-30T15:21:00.000-05:00

I just never want to forget the sweet things our kids do. And oh how I wish I'd had my camera on me last night.

We pulled up to church and Elijah immediately began protesting going to play in the playroom. We let him stay in service with us (Me, Derek, and Asher) through most of worship, and he started getting restless torward the end of worship so I took him to the room and gave him a snack and he stayed to play with the other kids. I went back to service.

Not long after, guess who was hungry and wanted to be fussy? :) So again, I get up and leave and go to the nursery to rock Ash and feed him. Elijah finds me in the nursery (there are adjoining doors) He hangs pretty close to me and eventually looks at me and says "mommy, i wanna go to the sanctuwary" and beeline's for the nursery door. I get him to stay and he protests "but mommmmmy, i wanna learn about jesus!"

*melt my heart*

so I finally get Asher situated, and we go back to the sanctuary, Elijah going with me this time. We sit down and get still, and Josh was finishing up his sermon. And praying over people etc and he opened the alters for prayer. Derek goes down to the alter to pray, and Elijah watches intensely. Next thing I know, Elijah is asking me to go pray. I nodded at him and he ran as FAST as he could up to his daddy and kneeled beside him, rested his head on the stage and didn't budge. I got up and stood in the back of the sanctuary so I could see him at all times, in case he tried to get distracting, but he never moved. It was THE. CUTEST. THING. EVER. I really wish I'd had my camera. REALLY REALLY wish I had.

And one more thing I don't want to forget so I'm going to throw it in here... last night before church we went to visitation for a friend's dad at the funeral home. We take our kids with us, they are very aware of what death is, and what it means, and we don't hide that. Anyhow, as we're going in the building Elijah matter of factly states. "I don't be died. I be safe daddy." I'm not sure where he comes up with some of this stuff, but he's so smart!

mini me Elijah

2011-06-27T17:20:00.000-05:00

anyone else think they look alike? I can't wait to see who Asher looks more like as he gets older. He's already changing so much!

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

2011-06-26T19:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, ok so you don't get a chicken dinner... BUT I do have a winner!

Precious 3 said...
I wrote a blog post. I wrote it 5 times, and really feel it should be written again, but it's going to have to wait LOL. But here it is!

http://philippians48myprayer.blogspot.com/2011/06/edify.html

(remind me to tell you a story about this later!)

June 22, 2011 5:27 PM

Congratulations Jen! You've won a $20 credit to DaySpring! I'll email you the code shortly!

And a special shout out to my mom who was the only other person to enter. You rock!

in which I speak about coyotes... (kinda)

2011-06-25T14:37:00.002-05:00

Kyley is such a funny kid. I just love her.

Last week she came to me and said "Mommy, I can spell coyote!" and then showed me her paper. I wish I'd taken a picture of it to post here, but me being the bad mommy I am sometimes didn't think to do so.

Her paper read " KYOT" - It makes totally sense. She knows Ky is her name, well the first part at least, and what her nickname is, and so it must be followed by an O and a T to make the ote sound in the word right?

She's getting smart, and figuring things out, unfortunately that word doesn't follow normal rules and cannot be sounded out phonetically, but we are proud nonetheless.

Another Kyley funny I don't want to forget. The other night we were driving in the van, and Kyley, Krissy, and Elijah were all in the backseat and Derek was next to Asher. Derek looks back at them and starts talking to Kyley about conviction (though not with that word). He said "Kyley when you do something wrong, do you know it's wrong? Do you hear something in your head that tells you it's a bad idea?" Kyley responds : "No, I just hear you in my head daddy" So he then poses the same question to Krissy. Krissy says " No, I just hear you too" (great minds think alike? and hear voices in their head alike?)

Gosh I don't think the funny things my kids come up with will ever get old. They are so much fun!!!

A boy and his daddy. And a chess game.

2011-06-24T11:44:00.003-05:00

I just cannot get this game. No matter what I do, I cannot remember how the pieces move, and what I can and cannot do. Anyone out there with me on this? How do you know what the right move is? I often find it very overwhelming.



I think we can all say we relate to this sometimes when we think about God's will for our lives too. I have no idea where to go next and it frustrates me, not only in chess, but in life. I like to know where I'm going. Don't you? But sometimes we need to sit back and let God teach us some things before we can ever make a move to begin with.

If we really begin to realize that we cannot move at all without His guidance and knowledge then we are able to beat our opponent. Just the same as I cannot play chess without asking Derek a bazillion questions and allowing him to guide me, we have to rely on Christ for guidance and instruction.

Are you listening to the voice of God?   Are you hearing his instruction and direction for your life?

I know that I don't want to live my life stuck in one spot though, I want to see God move me. I want to know what He knows and feel what He feels. I want to walk where He walks, and see what He sees.

I want to know that I'm walking in His ways, and I want to know that I'm making the right move. Sure we may try to lean on our own knowledge and understanding, but what if we're wrong. What if we make a mistake?   What if we get defeated because we didn't heed the advice and knowledge of our Teacher?

Lord, show me how to walk in your ways. Teach me to trust solely in Your voice and Your direction. Help me to see the move you have planned for me. Lord help me to be obedient and purposeful in my next move. Amen.

And who knows, maybe after looking at it this way, I'll let Derek try to teach me to play again... and try a little harder to understand this time.

Asher is 3 months old! (and a few days)

2011-06-23T10:00:00.001-05:00

I cannot believe how quickly time is flying!

It seems like just yesterday he was not even here yet (and we still thought he was a girl!)

Just a few things because I don't want to forget this time.

At 3 months, he can roll over anytime he is laid on his tummy.

He smiles and is just now learning to giggle at us, and I absolutely adore it!

He wants to sit up and see all the time, he loves to know what's going on.

He likes to hold his teething toys and chew on them and he loves to chew his fist also

He is wearing more and more 3 month clothes and we're beginning to have to put away some of his newborn/0-3 now.

He sleeps great at night still, but during the day forget about it!

He loves Kyley, he will smile anytime she talks to him almost.

Elijah still can't leave the boy alone, he wants to pull on his arm or kiss him or pinch his cheek etc ALL. THE. TIME.

I absolutely cannot believe how big and strong he is getting.

I don't want to miss this

2011-06-22T10:21:00.004-05:00

I love the way his big brown eyes light up when he smiles.

and I love the way he loves me.

I love when he still asks me to "hold me mommy" when he is feeling down, and how he insists that I put Aasher down RIGHT NOW.

I love the way he calls a bandaid a tattoo.

And grandpa is grandpa, and grandma is grandpa too :)

I love how when he prays, he always wants to pray for Jesus, and for God and won't stop until you say those.

And how when he wants to leave the house, he says "mommy let's go home"

I love the way he shares so many kisses with me, how he jumps on and off of almost anything, and how he knows no stranger.

I love the way he loves his sister, and his brother, each in his own unique way.

I love the way he can fall asleep in an instant (like in Asher's bouncy seat apparently)

I love that he embraces life, how he loves others, and most of all loves Jesus.

Man I love this kid.

What's my favorite word???? (Review & Giveaway!)

2011-06-21T01:02:00.001-05:00

edify

–verb (used with object), -fied, -fy·ing. to instruct or benefit, especially morally or spiritually; uplift:

If you ask anyone who knows me what my favorite word is, this would be it. I love to teach my kids, my youth, whoever it is what this means.

Romans 14:19
Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

There are many Scriptures that tell us how important it is to lift each other up, or to edify one another.

Do you ever just long for someone to say something uplifting and encouraging to you? What would your life be like if you walked around all day long, everyday, and no one ever gave you any edification? I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hold myself together very well. One day of just negative things and I'd already be shaken!

I often bring the word edify into conversation with teenagers. I find that at their age a lot of the "norm" is to cut each other down and make fun of one another. What purpose does that serve? Do you not realize how your words affect others? Jokes, whether you mean it or not, hurt. Harsh words, hurt. Even something as simple as not believing someone's motives when they speak to you, that hurts. I'm sure we've all dealt with this in our own lives. When I've faced these issues in the past, I've let them dig holes in my heart and it's hard to pull away from that. It's hard to forget. Thank God for His amazing grace because He gives me strength to move forward even when I'm hurting the most. He wants us to love each other as He loves us.

I was sent a beautiful picture frame to review that I absolutely love.

Isn't it cute? I absolutely love the bright vibrant colors, and the fun decorative numbers.

I haven't found just the perfect picture of it yet, but I plan to put a picture of my three sweet blessings in it.

It's made of VERY durable material (in fact my 6 year old has already dropped it, without a scratch to be found) And the best part of all, it opens up an opportunity to tell anyone who enters my home and sees it about the blessings God has given us, not just in our kids, but in all things.

In full disclosure, I was given this product at no cost to me by DaySpring to review as well as the giveaway code. All opinions within this post are my own.

4 of a kind

2011-06-17T10:08:00.002-05:00

My sweet babies are all growing up so fast!!!

Elijah, Kyley, Krissy, Emily

Missing from this photo is obviously Asher :)

Puzzles & Braids

2011-06-16T13:14:00.000-05:00

Kyley wanted me to take a picture of her finished puzzle and put it on my blog. She was so proud that she finished it all by herself (it wasn't a hard puzzle and she's done bigger ones on her own, but for some reason this one made her happy to finish)
Yesterday , I french braided her hair for the first time. I've tried in the past but he hair was either too short or too thin at the time, we never had any success. It's not perfect but it's a start!

Any tips you can give me on french braiding and cute hairstyles now that her hair is getting longer?

Babies

2011-06-15T16:16:00.000-05:00

This weekend, we welcomed a sweet little girl into our quickly growing family of friends.

Welcome to the world Juliet Arianna. You are so loved by so many already.

June 12, 2011

Congratulations to Will and Angie Rus. We are so excited for you guys and can't wait to love on her more and more and watch her grow. We love yall!

Kyley's new Bible!

2011-06-02T17:27:00.000-05:00

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁶ “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

My sweet little girl, who's learning to read (slowly but surely!) was in desperate need of a new Bible, because the binding was coming off of her old one. That kid can wear out a Bible, and I'm not sure how, but at least she's learning to carry it with her to church and is starting to look things up and try to read them and learn the books in order.

So far she's learned all the way to Ecclesiastes! I'm so proud! (and her little brother is giving her a run for her money because at 3 yrs old he can already say the first five books in order and almost pronounce them correctly!)

So anyways, we looked all over for the perfect Bible for her, and she kept coming back to this one, it was her absolute favorite, so we finally ordered it (yay amazon!)

So here are a few pictures of the day she got it, she was so excited to get her own mail!

Re-designing

2011-05-30T14:48:00.000-05:00

So I'm in desperate need of some re-designing around these parts, seeing as how the pictures in my header are over a year old (and not great to boot).

So any suggestions on color schemes/headers? What would YOU like to see on my header? I'm working on some things, but I wanted some outside ideas as well, so hit me up!

2 months old!

2011-05-19T15:50:00.000-05:00

Ok so I'm 2 days late, but hey at least I remembered :)

Stats:

Weight 10 lb 13 oz (25%)

Height 23 1/2 in (75%)

Head Circumf. 15 3/4 (50%)

Just this week Asher has been rolling over a ton!

He holds his head up really well when on his tummy and loves to "talk" and smile at us.

He's still wearing 0-3 month clothes (thankfully, that means we've gotten good use out of them!) and a size 1 diaper.

He sleeps well and loves to eat but what infant doesn't?

I just can't believe how quickly time is flying!

Who's the star?

2011-05-16T16:12:00.002-05:00

I found this bib last night at target. I found it VERY fitting and decided Asher had to have it. Yeah yeah, I know, it's just a bib, but I thought it was hilarious.

Lead me Lord, I'll follow

2011-05-15T23:31:00.000-05:00

oh how I just love sweet baby feet

My Famous Chef

2011-05-13T22:35:00.000-05:00

What do this...

this...

and this...

(crushed cornflakes btw)

have in common?

This sweet girl made up her very own recipe and specifics for what she wanted with it.

Dip chicken tenders in Zesty Italian Dressing
Then roll in crushed corn flakes and put on your baking sheet.
Bake 20 min at 400 degrees (more or less depending on your chicken, this is what worked for us) or until golden brown and done
Serve with crinkle fries and greenbeans w/ potatoes

Thing's I've learned today: Second Edition

2011-05-12T13:03:00.000-05:00

Asher can roll over from his tummy to his back, repeatedly.

And he gets mad when he gets to his back and can't flip back.

He also loves the swing. Why didn't I bring that inside sooner?

Elijah does not like peeps. At all. Ok, he likes to smoosh them but not to eat.

Kyley apparently has decided she has an aversion to wheat bread. Just today. Never had a problem before.

Asher likes to talk. He is always cooing and trying to tell me or Kyley something (depending on who's playing with him at the time)

Elijah doesn't like for Asher to sleep, AT ALL. (oh wait, I have known this a while)

While I'm learning things, does anyone know why Kate is called a Duchess and not Princess? Kyley and I are going to look that up in a few. Maybe I'll earn some swagbucks while I'm at it!

(if you haven't joined swagbucks you should, I've gotten over 40 dollars worth of amazon.com giftcards. you can sign up by clicking HERE, it's totally free! no strings attached!)

Things I learned today...

2011-05-11T23:28:00.000-05:00

Asher sweats. Like a pig.

I love Publix.

Kyley likes ice cream before bed.

She also likes punch bugs.

And she won't let you forget about it.

Elijah thinks if we go to bed he can do what he wants (he told Kyley to go to sleep so he could play the xbox)

Boys have hard heads

Kyley is interested in presidents and queens.

Apparently a Queen Elizabeth costume is in our future.

Today was Theory of Relativity Day (who knew?)

I love getting to know new friends.

My life is still chaotic and I'm still overwhelmed.

But there are good moments :)

7 weeks!

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

I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by! Little man is 7 weeks old today! Yesterday he weighed in at 10 lbs 3 oz at the WIC office, after being down to at least 8lb 4oz at one point early on. So he's gained a full 2 lbs pretty much since he started gaining! WOOT!

my Easter babies

2011-04-25T21:04:00.002-05:00

Admitting it is hard for me.

2011-04-21T14:52:00.000-05:00

I've almost deleted that last post countless amounts of time. Why? Because I hate being vulnerable. I hate others knowing my weaknesses. I hate sharing that side of my life. But it's real. It's me. I don't know why I have a desire to hide those parts of my life. I guess I've been burned before when laying my heart out there so I don't want to chance it again? Or is it because showing that side of me means I'm weak?

And just so I don't forget this one day... Today, the workers who have been painting the outside of the house, broke the AC again. When I went outside to fix it, I left asher asleep in my room, and the other two having a snack in the living room. When I returned a few moments later. I found Elijah trying to shove an entire oatmeal creme pie into Asher's mouth. Such love, he has for his brother, that he wanted to share his snack. LOL

overwhelmed.

2011-04-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

Pardon me for baring my soul, but I don't want this blog to be only pictures and high points. I want to remember it all, the good, the great, the bad and the ugly.

Tonight, I'm overwhelmed.

My livingroom looks like my washing machine/dryer threw up. Literally. They are doing work on the outside of my house causing me to need to be home but not able to let the kids outside to run off energy. They were WILD today. I have a newborn. Who likes to nurse. And snuggle. I have a 3 yr old. Who misses being the baby. I have a 6 yr old. Who also just wants mommy's attention. And dishes. And laundry. And bathrooms. And toys. And dinner. And lunch. And snacks. And obligations. And family.

I'm not going to lie. Today was hard. I've cried. I've wanted to scream though I've held myself together. I've cried some more. I've thought about all the things I'd like to say in anger (thankfully I held them all in because they were pointless, just me getting out my frustration). I'm exhausted. They've shown up at my house all week by 7:30, beating and pounding on the outside framework replacing boards and painting. The kids are getting up early but still not wanting to go to bed, and I end up staying up to get work done at night because I can't get anything done during the day. I'm sure that this doesn't help my frustration. In fact I know it doesn't. I get grumpy when I get tired. It's just me.

In the end, I know tomorrow is a new day. Please Lord just let it be better than today.

One month stats!

2011-04-18T15:12:00.000-05:00

Asher had another pedi appt this morning and I wanted to record his stats :)

Weight 8lb 15oz (he was down to 8lb 4oz) (25%)

Height 22 in. (75%)

Head circumf. 15 (50%)

28 days later

2011-04-14T17:50:00.000-05:00

28 days ago I gave birth.

28 days ago I found out how amazing my body really is.

28 days ago we learned that 'Kinsley' was really 'Asher' (and we are so in love)

28 days ago Elijah became a big brother for the first time.

28 days ago Kyley became a big sister again.

28 days ago I was at home surrounded by my sweet family and friends.

28 days ag our lives changed forever

look what I caught today :)

2011-04-13T00:07:00.002-05:00

the view from here

2011-04-12T12:09:00.000-05:00

is so so sweet!

3 years...

2011-04-07T22:20:00.000-05:00

My first little man turned 3 on Sunday.

As a mother it's hard, (hello captain obvious!) yet so rewarding watching your children grow up.
I'm reminded so much of how short life is, and how precious it is.

(pardon the heaviness here, but it's my heart)

For the past three years, I've followed two amazing women (their blogs). They probably have no idea who I am, yet they have touched my life in a way I cannot describe. Angie and Raechel have something in common with me, yet their stories are so much different. I've been reading their blogs since their little girls (Audrey and Evie, respectively) were born into this world pretty much, about the same time my little Elijah was born. I remember how I felt the day Elijah was born. I should've been elated, and happy and excited, and I was to some extent, but deeper within I was bitter, withdrawn and cold. Not only that, I was mad. I was mad at God, at my circumstances, my life in general. If you know my story, you probably know why. If you don't know my story, perhaps some day I'll share it in it's fullness here, but that is not for now. Long story short, I was mad at God, because I was blind. I couldn't see my baby when he was born. I was devastated, hurt, and downright angry. Was it justified? Maybe. But life is so much more than that. These beautiful ladies showed me what grace looks like in hard times. I felt like nothing was going my way, like the world was stacked against me, and here these beautiful women were, giving birth to their sweet girls, only to say goodbye until eternity. Ouch. How's that for a dose of reality to a new mother who is sulking in her own emotions. So, every year I celebrate Elijah's life, with a heavy heart for these sweet women, yet rejoicing for the grace God taught me through them.

I'm so proud of who Elijah is becoming. He has a passion to love. And he has a passion for Jesus. I love to listen to him pray, and sing songs he's learned at church, or even ask to say the books of the Bible (they are learning them in children's church so we say them and let him repeat and he's remembering!) Just this week Derek and I were talking about a few things we love about this age. I personally love the way he'll jump out of the doorway into whatever room you're in and yell "kerprise mommy!" (surprise) Derek shared with me how much he loves that Elijah doesn't just jump, he jumps and exclaims "bounce, bounce" anytime he's doing so. He is so full of fun and energy, and yet so sweet and gentle when he needs to be and I adore that. He is in love with his big sister, and with his baby brother and I couldn't ask for a sweeter 3 year old to call my own.

wide eyed

2011-03-30T11:05:00.000-05:00

Asher has been so much fun. He is a great sleeper, a great nurser (even though i hurt a bit still!) and he has long periods of awake time that he just hangs out and it's so much fun! We are loving having a newborn around again!

coolest mom award

2011-03-30T01:01:00.000-05:00

this would be Kyley's dinner tonight (ok and Elijah's but his isn't pictured here)

chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate syrup. I've never seen a kid so happy to eat dinner haha (we had eggs and hashbrowns too so it wasn't all "sweet")

introducing...

2011-03-18T02:35:00.003-05:00

These aren't the best pictures, but there is now also an album on facebook with other pics as well.

Asher John Jordan was born yesterday morning (3-17) on St. Patrick's day at 245 am. He weighs 9 lbs and is 21 inches long. his head is 14 3/4 diameter (yikes!) I'll post the full story later, but wanted to at least give you guys a few details

Snaggle Tooth

2011-03-10T14:13:00.000-06:00

So, guess who lost their first tooth yesterday?

She was so stoked that we had a HARD time going to bed last night. She just didn't want to settle down and sleep because she was so excited and giddy. She can't stop smiling!

I snapped these right afterward last night of the two kids as well.

yeah... so.... it's me....

2011-03-03T14:22:00.000-06:00

Boy oh boy have I been bad at this blogging thing lately. 2 whole months went by without even a single post. 2 months to the day. HORRIBLE. Go ahead and throw your stones.

Truth is, I've just gotten busy and when I'm not busy I'm so tired I don't want to blog. *sigh* throw some more... I know.

So, who wants updates all around? :)

Elijah is about to be THREE! a month from today my sweet boy turns THREE! I can't believe it. We're still slowly working on the potty training. He's getting there, but still not ready to be full time in undies, though we try to do such at home. He is such a funny boy and stubborn at that. Some of my favorite phrases from him right now are if he wants something and I say no, he will reply "but yes it'll be fun!" or "it'll be awesome, mommy". Another favorite would be... "what's that noise?" Who knew my two year old could use the word noise CORRECTLY at any given time? I was sure surprised! He's also a little daredevil and will jump off of, and climb on anything.

Kyley, my sweet six yr old is sillier than ever. She loves and I mean LOVES to make her bubba giggle and laugh. They play for hours together, and it's so much fun to watch them make up funny games together. I'm so grateful that they are far enough apart that I didn't go crazy, but close enough in age they can play well together and be good friends. I'm having so much fun watching them grow up together.   Kyley is THRILLED that a new baby will be joining our family soon (more on that later) and she cannot wait to be a big sister again and be a little "mommy" to her. She loves to kiss my belly and feel her move. She is now on the church puppet team and is loving it! We are working hard at learning to read (more on school as well) and she is almost finished with her 3rd year of dance! I cannot WAIT to take pictures of her in her sweet little costume this year. It is absolutely PERFECT for her!

As far as homeschooling goes, we are trucking on. This year has been an adjustment period to say the least. We've had some definite up times and some not so great times, but we're learning, and that's what matters most. I am currently researching and trying to decide where to go with curriculum for the first grade, but at the same time, still trying to figure out her style and what stimulates her most. Overall though, it's been a great year. We are still working hard on the learning to read part, but she is excelling beyond my expectations in math, so I believe she'll be a lot like her daddy in that area.

And the update I'm sure you're all dying to hear... no baby yet.

I'm due in 2 weeks and I'm starting to feel it. I've overall had a great pregnancy, not too many complaints. The last few days though, I've finally caught up with myself and I'm TIRED. If my house didn't need to be cleaned and things didn't need to be done, I'd lay around and watch tv with the kids all day. Alas, that is not the case. There is laundry to be folded, and dishes to be cleaned, and school work to be done. All in the name of being a mommy huh? :) I wouldn't trade it for the world.
We are super excited to meet our sweet little one, and cannot WAIT to see what God has in store for our family in the next few weeks. As for now, I'm enjoying every little kick, roll, and punch knowing this could be our last (though we're not sure on that) and trying to ignore the end of pregnancy fatigue.

Other than that, we've got a lot going on at church, gearing up for a super exciting VBS soon, and a lot of other fun stuff we're working on in children's church. If you haven't checked out the website for our ministry, you should do that.   www.godsquadcm.com

Anyhow, so now that I've officially written a book, if you don't hear from me for a while, send me a message on FB or email me and yell at me for not blogging, I really need to get better about it, especially with having a new life to chronicle as well as the other two growing so quickly.   And I promise to post as soon as I can when the babe is born, with pictures of course.

New Additions

2011-01-03T23:48:00.000-06:00

We are so excited that we have two new additions to the family recently. Jared and Noel got married the week before Christmas, which means the kids also have a new cousin!

Congrats to Jared, Noel, and Isabella, we love you guys!

Birthday Fun

2011-01-02T22:50:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow is Isaac's 3rd birthday! We were so excited to get to celebrate with their family today! Here are just a few "highlights" that I felt were worth sharing.

Molly LOVED Kyley today. All she wanted was for her to hold her. It was hilarious, and cute all the same!

Elijah loved the goody bags.

And ALL five kids sat still at one time. Can you believe it?

*and I still did not post a technically correct photo today, I've been having to shoot with my flash the only time I've had the camera out and they aren't turning out as well as I'd like*

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-01T23:42:00.000-06:00

So, as much as I've wanted to be good about this blogging thing... I haven't.

But I'm hoping that a new year and new ideas will get me back into the creative swing of things!

One thing I am going to strive for this year is to take at least one picture a day and post it to my blog. I can't promise I'll make it, but I can promise I'm going to try! Today's picture is definitely not going to be technically correct, but my goal with this in future pictures is to improve my skills in all areas of my photography. I really want to work hard and push what I already know to the limits and be even better as the year goes on and I hope that this will help me in that area.

So... out with the old and in with the new. Here's a sweet picture of my babies today. I just love them.

Kyley's "big girl" room!

2010-12-14T00:00:00.000-06:00

So, with the help of a lot of people contributing to this, Kyley's room is now a 'big girl' room :)

She is absolutely in LOVE with it. Happy Birthday sweet girl!