Memories of moments

Last week came and went with LOTS on my plate. :) It was the hubby's long work week, and this particular week we had a few sickies passing stuff around and sharing things we don't like to share. ;) It's so hard to keep young ones from sharing colds! They just don't understand that you don't drink out of each other's cups (and from Mommy's cup). :) Somehow, I managed to ward off the cold with a little help from Vitamin C, water and the extra cloves of garlic I threw in to spruce up a few dinners. :) I really thought I had it a few times, but thankfully, I am well. :) We were thankful when Daddy was off and we celebrated by heading to the park for a picnic lunch with the duckies! :) This week we are getting an arctic blast, so it was nice to get outside a bit before we are stuck in the house. There is nothing like seeing things in the eyes of our 2 year old, Titus! His eyes were so bright as he was looking at everything and just soaking it all in. He was almost glowing and I could see his little mind learning, even with every chilly gust of wind. :) All of the kids had so much fun and I know that we made memories this week!





I wrote last week about a few new blogs I've happened upon this past month, and I am super excited about them! :) I have them linked in my blog on the right hand side, but below are a few of the links!
This first one is such a blessing! Ann Voskamp has recently written a book, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, and the theme of her blog and her book is to find the gifts from God in the every day! I have been so encouraged by it and look forward to reading what she has to say every time she blogs!
http://www.aholyexperience.com/

Here is a trailer for the book! :)
(You can push pause on the music on the right hand side of the blog if you want to hear this better.)


I'm going to start posting five moments that I am thankful for from this past week:
1. playground knee jeans and sewing on patches
2. the seal I found in the printer (placed there by our man, Titus, himself)
3. the frustration of not having hubby home for "normal" hours (because that means that I miss him and enjoy his company)
4. creating with the kids (stories, art, food, ect...)
5. Unlocking the door to reading with my kindergartner, Lenci, this year

And I will leave you with this link to Bloom (in)courage, which is a group that is going to be doing a book club with Ann Voskamp's book! :) I'm planning to take part in this and I'd love to know if you do too! :) Blessings!
http://www.incourage.me/category/bloom

Yay!

I'm proud to say... I'M BACK! At least for now I can say I have blogged twice this month! :) I may not have much to say this week, but I'm here! :) I have really been taking this years resolutions seriously, and I resolved to blog once a week at least! I have also really been trying to find real ways to balance my life with order and family time so that there is a more natural flow! I float somewhere between the artsy frazz and the get with it gal to create this frazzed out momma never feeling like I'm meeting my own expectations! I guess that's what it's all about, though! I have been reading a few super blogs about organizing, simplifying, and passionately living completely aware of each moment and grasping each memory! I had talked before the new year about really focusing on trying to live more with intention than in survival mode all the time! God has more for our lives than just mere survival! I have read the first 3 chapters of Piper's book "Don't Waste Your Life" a few times (I have a problem with moving forward if I have waited too long, not that I know what that time frame is...haha), and these ideas are all there, but it's been sooooo refreshing to hear these ideas from these ladies who have blogged lately on all of these topics! I feel such a kindred spirit with them, but then look at myself and my shortcomings only to see them as somehow "above" me in a way. I am continuously learning how to better manage my home and the needs of my family, and I'm so glad that these ladies have posted such genuine blog posts! They have let us all know that they are real too! Our blogs don't show the mess of cracker crumbs that our little munchkins just threw all over the floor behind us, right! ;) We all have our days, and I know that I am learning these things in just the way I am so that I can take others through what and how I have learned! I am glad that I have posted tonight! ;) Another thing I can mark on my list to remind myself that I can resolve to do things and follow through with them, so if this post isn't for anyone else, it was for me! ;) Blessings!






"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
2 Corinthians 12:9

Celebrations of many kinds

Well hello there! :) It's been a few since these fingers have touched these keys to update our little world here! :) We have made up for it with our busyness! :) Sleep deprivation in the last months has become the norm but we are finally recovering, although that threat is never unfathomable! :) I'm not exactly sure when sleep is ever the same after having kids, but I'm fine with that. :) We have so many blessings in our lives, so it would be silly to let that be something to cause me to loose more sleep! ;) Anyway, we have several bdays in our family, and we only have 2 people that share the same month in our immediate family! We actually have a birthday to celebrate nearly every month starting in August! We have April, August, September, October, December, and January covered just in our family!!! :) Once we hit the fall we're celebrating all the time! :)

Our wedding anniversary is also in October, so that's something else exciting to throw in the mix! This past year, Lee and I celebrated 10 years!!! We were very excited to claim that benchmark! So many wonderful memories! I love my wonderful, hardworking husband! We are definitely a match! ;)

School is going great for me and the kids!
Zoe turned 7 a few weeks ago and is breezing through her 1st grade work! She is loving to read more than ever! :) She loves that she can read things on tv and that she can read stories to the younger kiddos!!! :) Her favorite thing to play these days is with her baby dolls since she got a new toy pack n play for her birthday!!! She also is a pro at luring her brother, Titus, to me when I need him to come to me when I'm feeding Eden! :)

Lenci is 5 and doing great with all of her K work! She is just getting into the swing of the reading thing, but it is so fun to enter that threshold with her! She and Zoe have very different learning styles, and it's just a really neat thing to see what pulls that desire to read out of her! :) She is an animal lover, and she has recently started talking about horses all the time! It's not rare to find her galloping on all fours around the house! I used to do that as a kid, so it's super cute! :)

Asher, 4, is such a champ! He begs me for work when his sisters are doing school, so I print learning sheets from the computer to keep him busy, and I have had a few instances that the girls will be asking me questions about their stuff and Asher knows the answer! :) Hahaha! Little smarty pants! :) He's amazing in math! I'm a little intimidated by that, but for now I know more than he does, so we're still good! :) Hahaha! He loves anything boy, but he is always willing to play with his big sisters! We always give him the big jobs, like smooshing bugs and stuff like that! He is a very proud bug smoosher! :)

Titus turned 2 on the first of the year, and he is just blowing me away with how many words he is adding to his vocabulary every day! Sometimes I'll get him up from his nap and he has new words just from that little time he has had to rest! :) He is a super sweet boy, but man is he a stinker! Yesterday he was putting beads up his nose, pulling the tv speakers off the armoire, knocking books off of the shelf and then climbing in the space the books left, crawling on the table, climing up into the girls loft bed and the list goes on! Needless to say I am one tired momma these days! I just really feel that I am a life guard! :) Titus loves cars, dinosaurs and anything that looks kinda scary! :) He also pretends that anything and everything is either a microphone or a guitar!

And Eden is joining Titus' need for a life guard in that she has begun putting anything in her little mouth! I'm trying to get her to take a pacifier, but she just has never taken one! ALL of the other bambinos have taken them, so I'm not sure what the aversion is, but I got her to take it longer today than any other day by trying my latest trick; COFFEE! :) Yep! I dipped her paci in the coffee and she sure slurped that thing! I have no idea why it worked, but we'll see! I think that's why she puts things in her mouth though! None of the other kids did that so early, so that was my deductive reasoning! :) She has also just started crawling, so she is EVERYWHERE! Her favorite place now, you ask? Anywhere the kids are playing! She has started following them, so I guess that means they're more fun than me! :) I know one thing, they are definitely more exhuberant! Hahaha! She gets so proud of herself when she's standing up too, although right now its just holding onto things! When I get her from her bed she's usually standing now! I can't believe she's getting so big!!! I think her favorite toy right now is her singing glo worm!

I have been crocheting as usual! I have been debating about whether or not to open up an etsy, so we shall see! :) I have decided that I want to learn to knit some socks for my darling hubby! :) He is a lover of wool socks, and it is a deep desire of mine to knit him some since crocheted socks are just not something that he would fancy, AT ALL! :) Hehehe! I really don't like them much either, except for slippers around the house! I went on youtube and watched a few videos of ladies knitting socks and just laughed!!! I am such a novice knitter and the sock knitting was the most complicated thing I had EVER seen with yarn work!!! I am still wanting to learn, but I think I'm going to need a teacher! So, that being said, it is one of my resolutions! I would love to make some socks for Lee for this coming Christmas, and I believe it could take me that long to get them done if I started on them tonight! :) If I learn, I'll post pics as updates! :)

Another resolution of mine will be to update this blog more frequently again! I sure do miss it! :) Words are a favorite of mine! ;) I just have too much to say and it is a really great way to remind myself of all of the sweet graces that God is granting in the everyday happenings of my little life! So, farewell for now!