10 things my kids taught me

Life is pretty stressful right now, with work very busy, holiday travel and the like...just thought I would take a few minutes to reflect on the lessons my kids have taught me. Sometimes it is fun to record these things as I think of them, and I have been keeping this list on my iPhone notes as I think of them. I have 10 now, so here you go, blog:

1 - no matter what happens, if you do not need to be up early, the kids will bounce into your room starting at 6 am, but if you need to be somewhere at any point in the morning, you will have to drag at least one (if not both) of your children out of bed.

2-kids generally repeat what they see, and very rarely do as they are told. If what they see modeled for them is contradictory to what they are told, they will copycat what they see. My kids have good manners and short tempers. At least it helps me identify my own bad habits.

3-I can survive, and even function fairly well on no sleep.

4-as your family grows, love multiplies for all its members, including the new one. It's quite a miracle.

5 - if I have a kid who is super grumpy, it is probably hunger. If feeding doesn't work, the bathtub probably will. If not, call a grandparent, that's what they are for.

6 - if my kid eats a diet of only fruit snacks, grapes, Mac n cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, string cheese, and drinks instant breakfast, I can make it all better by making sure he takes his gummy vitamins at bedtime. I would have balked at that entire sentence about 5 years ago, now I LIVE IT!

7 - no matter what the parenting books or other people say, there is nothing that can beat a mom's intuition. The times as a parent I questioned my intuition, and followed something else, things didn't go quite right.

8 - the more time I spend with my kids, the more I want to spend time with them. The less time I spend with them, the less patience I have.

9 - potty training happens when it happens. The more stressed out everybody gets about it, the harder it is.

10 - kids grow up too fast.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

CHRISTMAS!!!

I decided to decorate for Christmas this year right after Halloween was over. That is TODAY!!! I absolutely love the way my house feels and looks during the Christmas season and want to enjoy it for 2 months this year.

Very exciting!

I ordered a new (bigger) tree from amazon, which isn't here yet, but I set up our old one in the basement. Other than that, our halls are decked.

There are not words for how excited this makes me!!!

Boo

Happy Halloween!!!!  We have been looking forward to this day for MONTHS!  My boys absolutely love to dress up, so this is the best day of the year for them.

The other night, we carved our pumpkins.  That was an interesting experience.  Hunter had picked out a fairly large regular carving pumpkin, but Benny picked out this pink pumpkin thing.  Justin bought those, but also got Benny a spare pumpkin thinking that we probably couldn't really carve the pink one.

Here are the boys with their pumpkins...

Benny and I made an effort to cut the top off of that pink pumpkin, but it became clear to me that the crust part was just too thick, I think it is really more of a squash or gourd or whatever.  Anyway, not carve-able.  (We were pretty sure that would be the case, but like I said..it never hurts to try). So, I put that pumpkin in the oven and baked it for quite a while until it was soft.  Then I cut it up into pieces to put in the freezer for pumpkin pie later in the season.  I think there was probably enough for about 3 pies! Meaty little thing, there.

So...I carved the face on Hunter's.  I am SO not artsy, and it was harder than I remember.  I was practically sweating!  I finally got done with his (which he thought was "AWESOME!") and J said "I will do Benny's, you take a break." I was pretty grateful for that!  By the way, I had cut the top off, and scooped out all the guts, so I get points for that. Anyway, the point of the story is: look how cool Benny's looks! J carved that in about 1/4 the time it took me to do Hunters.  I think he wins the contest.  Good thing each kid loves his pumpkin the best, and they are all that matters.  Needless to say, I was a little peeved that he was so skilled in the jack-o-lantern department and had been holding out on me while I broke a sweat! Boys!

Which brings us to today...

First, the boys went to school for the day. Each of their classes had a Halloween party, and I am fairly certain they were filled up with candy and fun!

When I picked them up from school, we went over to my parent's house to show off their costumes...

Then we went to J's mom's house to meet up with our sweet niece Adi for some trick-or-treating.

Then, of course, the trick-or-treating. The boys did great! Benny was eating his candy immediately upon receiving it. He was very thankful, telling the people "mmmm...this is good! Thank you!" Hunter is more of a straight-laced type and waited until after trick or treating to dig into his candy.  We did just enough trick-or-treating to say we did it, but did not stay out long at all.  We had other places to be...

The other place we had in mind was non-other than the Football field! Our favorite high school team made it to the playoffs and their first playoff game was tonight.  (YAY UNCLE IAN) After the big day my boys had, they turned into pumpkins around 7:45...at the end of the first quarter...but we were there to cheer uncle Ian on until then!

*just in case you didn't already know "turned into pumpkins" actually means "holy halloween, batman...apparently you are experiencing the deadly force of a SUGAR CRASH"*

I hope you all had a fantastic Halloween too!

God is awake

I am a worrier by nature, and have a hard time sleeping when my worrying gets out of control. I have written about this before, when trying to talk about gratitude as a solution to some of life's problems. Today, I feel grateful for the many many blessings of my life, but am still struggling with the worrying. I heard a quote recently that addresses my current state pretty well...I wouldn't go so far as to describe what is going on as "sorrows," just more like "worries," but this is such a great reminder that I am not in control, and no amount of worrying and stressing out about things is going to fix things.  I just need to go about my daily task, then rest in the peace that God has it all under control. 

This sounds all so melodramatic, but there are quite a few things on my mind these days...loved ones with health challenges, daily challenges of raising children, the constant feeling that there just aren't enough hours in the day. It all comes down to this for me, at least for today, I can only do what I can do...the rest is just going to have to wait.  I need to remember that my God is awake.

Have courage for the great sorrows of life,
And patience for the small ones;
And when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace,
God is awake.
~ Victor Hugo

Tuesday randomness

I love Tuesday night tv. Go on, new normal, parenthood, private practice.

Being lazy is awesome.

Hunter had his dr appointment today. He is in the 25th percentile for weight and height, and the 100th percentile for awesome.

I decided who I am voting for in the presidential election. I'm not telling you, though, cuz I have my reasons and you have yours and I really don't want to make it a thing. I vote for Jesus for king, and don't mind telling you about it.

Work is a bit crazy right now, as are my little boys, but life is so good.

Below is a pic I took of a sunset in Florida at the resort I stayed at for that conference last week. So pretty.

Ok, bye.

The Leaves

We had a great day on Sunday. Church, time with the fam, some furniture shopping with Julianne, and dinner with J's family. Delaney decided to rake the leaves in a pile for the boys to jump in. They loved it. Perfect Sunday!

I am now officially starting my busy season at work (until the end of November) and I am trying to just be grateful that I am part time for most of the year. It is really hard to leave these boys!

Happy Fall!

Fantastic Fall

So happy to be home! Mom came home from Haiti 10 days early, the leaves are changing for the Fall, and my boys are as cute as ever. Awesome.

Week in Florida

I started this post on Thursday night when I was still in Florida, but didn't get around to posting it, so just pretend it is Thursday night...

Well, I officially spent a week away from my boys. In the early morning, I will be heading back from a weeklong a trip to Florida.

I have been planning on this trip for a while, to attend a work conference in Orlando. I was really looking forward to a break from all the insanity in my life, including a little break from my kiddos. As much as I love them, and miss them when we aren't together, a break from them where I could focus on relaxing and hanging out sounded really nice to me.

So, I flew into Orlando last Friday, and spent a few days with my awesome extended family. I got some quality time with my aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. Spent some time on the beach and just relaxing. Then on Monday, I picked up some work friends from the airport and we checked into our resort, which happens to be a really nice Disney resort. Tuesday was mostly spent by the pool, and Wed/Thurs we were in conference meetings.

I am so ready to be home, but enjoyed every minute of my trip. So thankful that I have a husband who supports me enough to watch the kiddos for a whole week and really take great care of them. He is such a great daddy! Here are some pics from my adventures.

Awesome Gramma

Had some lunch on the beach with my aunties.  Love these gals.

A little friend on the beach

Taking a little rest on the hammock

Going for a ride on the Gator with some fine folks

Aunt Rose, driving her tractor in platform heels. Farm girl fashionista.

Beach friend

Rastafarrrrrriiii

Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney.  Pretty impressive.

Relaxing at the pool, on a weekday, in October.  Pretty Awesome.

Best meal ever! This was Florida Grouper on top of spinach,  cherry tomatoes and artichokes, topped with homemade guac and a little sprout garnish. SOOOOOO GOOD!

this is where the Grouper came from. Yum!

Some of my work friends. At Downtown Disney waiting for the water taxi. Fun adventure. 

"insert good title here"

We had a great weekend with our life group friends at the lake.  It was very relaxing and low-key, but I am so exhausted tonight I will be going to bed asap.  This evening we went to celebrate Autumn's 16th bday.  Autumn is my awesome sister-in-law. We love her. I feel like I had other randomness to share tonight, but am too tired to think. This week promises to be a bit of a crazy one (aren't they all?) so its bedtime.  Here are a couple pics I LOVE!

This photo was on J's Grandpa's camera, so I just got it tonight.  It is Delaney as Freshman homecoming attendant, escorted by Ian. I can not believe how grown up these "little kids" are. Delaney wasn't even born yet when J and I started dating. And Ian was a little toddler, about Benny's age. Weird.

Justin with his pretty momma and 4 siblings. AWWWWWWW.

Benny Boo is Two

I wasn't really blogging during the period of Benny's birthday, and I really want to do a quick post to honor his second birthday, which was in May.  Just some pics from his first 2 years of life. This child is cuteness personfied, and has brought so much joy into our lives! When Hunter was born in September 2008, I became a mother, which was a pretty amazing thing.  But when Benny was born, I truly felt that we became a family.  We had a family before, even when it was just the two of us, but when Benny came along, something changed and it truly felt like we had what we needed.  I don't know if our family is complete or not, but I do know that it was most definitely not complete without this little guy.  Both of my boys bring so much joy to my life, and my greatest blessing is watching them interact.  They truly love each other so much, and are best friends. Benny's personality is so adorable, he is a little daredevil, but also so snuggly.  He loves to sing and dance, and is usually in a happy mood.  He is loud and very tough, but so so sweet. There is truly nobody like Benny Boo.

My mom took this picture in the nursery at the hospital within an hour of his birth.  So cute, right? - May 2010

Just floatin' away. (with me sitting literally 1/2 inch from him) - July 2010

So happy on his baptism day! - November 2010

Our first Easter, Benny is wearing a suit, and looking mighty fine. - April 2011

He really made a mess out of his first birthday cake - May 2011

Benny's first trip out to the river. He was born to be outdoors! - June 2011

First experience with Silver Dollar City Christmas.  Hunter was showing him the ropes. I was in heaven. - December 2011

Balancing on his rocking horse. - February 2012

Such a cool dude - May 2012

Chilly lake day

We are relaxing at the lake today with some of our friends. What a great, relaxing day. Lots of eating, napping and fun! We took the kids fishing this morning, but it is very cold outside, so that didn't last long. Some fun pics.