Blessings

The boys just came in from a long afternoon outdoors. I've been working on Cashew Chili for church tomorrow night. He said, "Mom, what is that smell....? It smells delicious!" I don't know why, but that blesses my heart. It's amazing the joy you can find in preparing food for your family... Although many days it's the last thing I really want to do :( Hopefully that will change someday! They are enjoying their snack of Kiwi/Walnuts while watching Wild Kratts. They LOVE that show!!

Homemade pizza tonight

The boys love rolling out their own and then "decorating" it. And of course, Myles continues to conquer... While drooling and spitting up all over my freshly mopped floor :)

Sleeplessness

This is one of the very few posts where I don't have a picture... not that you would want one b/c it'd have to be of myself up in the middle of the night ready to pull my hair out! This post is really to document a phase we're experiencing right now and I don't want to forget the reality of it especially as I wrap it in the irony and humor of life. I want to look back and be able to empathize with young mothers... I want to REMEMBER these days... all of the very, very, very good and rich moments. I am constantly seeing slide shows of my sons lives - I picture their possible weddings and the slides and slides of pictures of their young faces that I will be remembering. BUT, I also want to remember the very realness of this stage of life too that brings tiredness, long days, and memories of eyes that were bright and youthful that DID NOT need eye makeup to look awake!! :) I always feel bad when people ask, How are you? And my first thought is always... TIRED. I always think... do I answer honestly or does that sound like I'm complaining? I'm tired of saying I'm tired! But, here's the deal, it's the truth. And I'm cool with it. I know it's life right now, and I know it's part of the package of being a parent. And I suppose it's a pretty good trade off for all the joy you find in between! So anyways, for my own memory, here is a quick excerpt I wrote to a dear older friend today...

"Sleep -- I'm not sure I know what it is anymore!!! ha ha :) Last night, Myles slept through the ENTIRE night for the first time since November (with no tylenol or motrin... gotta be honest!)!!! So very ironically, Henry woke up at 3:30am b/c of the storm and said he was scared and that his stomach hurt. So I got him some almonds, and he wanted to be in our room. So I made him a bed next to ours, and he was awake until 5am!! Finally, he fell asleep. Jonathan's alarm went off at 4:45am, 4:55am, and 5:05am... By the grace of God Himself I didn't reach over and punch him!! And then Myles woke up at 5:20am to start the day. Do you remember days like this with little ones? I was reminded of the verse Jonathan sent me last night... Psalm 25:5, "Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long." And I was thinking about that song we sang Sunday morning, Bless the Lord O My Soul. There's that verse that ends with ... "Let me be singing when the day is done." Trying to dwell on the reality that even in the day's end, the Lord knows my heart, knows my weariness physically, and He cares deeply. Just knowing that is enough to bouy me up -- thank you for your prayers and acts of kindness to me. They are such an encouragement!"

Happy Birthday Wyatt!

Our little Wy is 4!! How does this happen? Days seem long, but months fly by. I seriously feel like I don't even remember him being 2 or 3... Strange! More posts on this later. A picture of him from this AM for now. I love when kids first come down in the AM. So precious!

Precious Moments with Myles

You can never get enough of this!

Hot Chocolate

They kept asking us if they have a 'mush-beard'.... I guess that's a mix b/t 'mustache' and a 'beard'...? They were completely serious so they must have missed the vocab on that somewhere along the line :)

His new favorite past-time

Like every good child, he stays long enuf to destroy, then moves onto conquer something else.

Have we mentioned....

.... that this little bundle is on the way? Due August 11th! One day before J's b-day, and two days before school starts. For those of you who don't know, Jonathan is a school principal. So a baby due 2 days before the first day is going to be a LITTLE CRAZY!! Was going to attempt a creative announcement, but blogging is so easy (albeit uncreative) with this app, that I decided to forego the creativity :) wWe are very thankful and the boys are pumped. They kept asking if we were joking when we told them. I guess that maybe tells us a bit about our parenting ;)

Sugarcreek Reserve

A cold, wet Monday... But milder temps so good for hiking!

Dad, I think I can fly!

He is pretty convinced the towel is helping him fly. Uh oh...here comes mom!

Game on

Do you remember indoor nerf basketball as a kid? I was always Bird and David was Magic Johnson...3-2-1 he wins on a last second shot!!!

Mission continues...

As I walk in 2 hours later, I begin to wonder...is this really a rescue mission?

Rescue mission

I think this is a monkey rescue mission???

Our little space cadet :)

The first real snow.... Kind of!

I love the first really pretty snow! It's so beautiful and makes winter so much more exciting!! This was the boys best "we're excited about snow!" faces!! :)

Don't Ask, Don't Tell - Volume 19

There was a day when I would have said nasty stuff like this would never happen to me. But then I had children and as they grow older, I come to the realization that I cannot keep track of everything. I usually discover it later.... Agghh... Oh well :) I'm actually impressed that the bib is sticking to the wall. And how long was the gum on the floor?? Who knows. At least it was on hardwood and not carpet!

January Dinners

Jonathan requested salads for the month of January. I concurred... B/c for me that means grilling and chopping veggies--a lot easier than cooking! My plan is to give the boys some of the grilled meat plus a fruit/veggie and maybe some rice pasta or mac/cheese. This week I just made up my own combos, but next week I'll start tracking down some recipes for salmon and steak in addition to chix. My only stipulation for J was that we didn't fill up on bread with the salad :) He begrudgingly agreed. So here goes! (btw, we just feed Myles choc which he seems to be very pleased with!!)

cute captures

Happy December!

While I wish I could say I've had no time to blog, the truth is that I've just spent my time doing other things! :) There are so many things to fill a day, and I want blogging to be somewhere on that checklist b/c it's meaningful to me. But reality is there are so many real life moments waiting for me that I just keep moving. So a phase indeed... :)

We were in FL for a good part of our Christmas break. It was great!! And the whole holiday itself was wonderful. We had so many delightful times with the boys. They are at incredible ages.... So many awesome and funny questions, so much thankfulness mixed in with their selfishness, so much unconditional love. It's such a joy to have them. Hope to share more this year!

Here are just a bunch of random pics. All from my phone. Trying the blogger app. Doesn't get great reviews, but thought I'd give it a try anyways hoping it might improve my timeliness :) It leaves no room for creativity, but at this point, I'm not sure I can complain!