Just so I don't forget...

That's the trick...

2012-01-06T23:07:00.001-05:00

Maggie has been having some trouble going number 2 these past several weeks.
On Wednesday, she went with no problem and no pain. She was pretty excited about it. She called me into the bathroom to tell me.
We were on our way out & Molly was getting her shoes on. Maggie went over to the door and exclaimed to her sister, "Mowly, I went poo poo!"
Molly then turns to her baby sister with hands on her knees and says,
"Good girl, Maggie. You just have to push it out and then it doesn't come back for a couple of days. Yep, that's the trick!"

Oh my girls & all of the conversations to come.

The 'whys?' have begun....

2011-11-30T22:51:00.001-05:00

The Christmas decorations are all up & for the most part have not been played with too much by little people fingers. I set the nativity set up on top of our coffee table this year. Usually, it's underneath the tree a bit and may or may not get kicked around a bit by little feet. The manger was built by my Grandfather and it's one that I'll cherish forever. However, parts of it need to be repaired...the hot glue just isn't holding like it used to. This year, I bought new little nativity people for the manger. Ones that I have had my eye on since last year's craft show. I told the kids that they should NOT touch them...y'all know how long that lasted...so I've changed my mind to "be very careful with those". So far, so good.
Anyhoo...the other night Maggie was admiring the stable from the couch. Our conversation went a bit like this, "Momma, baby Jesus in there."
"Yes, yes He is."
"What's He in?"
"He's in the stable. Jesus was born in a stable."
I can see her trying to figure out what in the world her momma is talking about...I tell her,
"A stable is a barn."
"Why He born in a barn?"
"Because His momma, Mary and Joseph were on a long trip and she started to feel like she was going to have Baby Jesus so she asked to stay at the inn. (Again, I see that she has no idea what an inn is.) She asked to stay at the hotel, but it was very busy in Bethlehem and there were no more rooms at that hotel, but the innkeeper said that she could stay in the barn with the animals."
Maggie thinks on this for a few seconds and then informs me,
"Momma there were buildings up the road to stay in."

Love that girl.

Apple Orchard Time...

2011-10-22T19:54:00.000-04:00

I did remember to charge my camera battery.
I did remember to grab said battery and camera before we left the house.
Did I remember to PUT said battery inside of the camera before we hopped on the hay ride out to the apples, you ask?
NO! They would have been such sweet pictures, too.
Maggie dragging her sweet little bag of apples behind her in the muddy tractor tracks.
Molly sitting on the bale of hay with her friend, Kaylynn.
Max hanging off the side of wagon (opposite his mom & dad) with his buddies.

Max did spend some time (about 10 minutes) picking apples with his dad while the girls and I went off to pick some golden delicious. After those 10 minutes, Max came down the trail looking for Bella. Bella is a pretty cool 9-year old and we are blessed to that her and her sister our such good buddies with our kids.

Now, I ask you...WHEN did my son have so many birthdays that he is off with his pals running around the apple orchard? WITHOUT being under his momma's wing???
When did my girls become so big that they don't need the arm of their daddy to hold them on the hayride wagon?

Where does this time go???

I do so love being a mom...

2011-10-03T22:43:00.000-04:00

Escaping out of bed for the 3rd time tonight, Molly comes up to me & says, "I just have 3 questions for you."
"Ok. 3 questions and then TO BED."
"Alright Mom. The 1st one I forgot so I'll ask you tomorrow morning. The 2nd question is 'Does Jesus have to die every time we sin?' "
With tears, I hug her, compose myself and then ask her what her last question is. She looks up at me, grabs my face and says "this is the last one" and plants a big ol' kiss on my cheek.
I do so love being a mom.

Garden Challenge...Month 2...

2011-05-01T19:38:00.000-04:00

Here we are, the 2nd month of the Homeschool Village's Garden Challenge. Not much has changed around here, except more rain, more rain & more rain. I am grateful for the rain. It has made everything soooo green. My flowers are loving it. They are perking up more and more & looking fuller & fuller everyday. We did have an 80 degree day a few Sundays ago. It was WONDERFUL!!! I got to go thru the beds a bit and get them weeded & a few things trimmed.

I am just noticing that huge weed to the right of my friendship stone. That did get pulled a few hours ago. Again, this is our "Amanda Garden". This is where we'll be putting all things pink & purple in honor of my best friend. I have been looking at different garden articles at the library (when I escape there kidless). I've just remembered that I didn't write any of the titles of those magazines down. I suppose a trip to the library is in the cards tomorrow!

This hydrangea is in our front flower beds. I am always so happy to see that first bud. This was my grandmother's hydrangea. It's so beautiful & it gets bigger and bigger every year. LOVE it!

This is the front of our house. I pulled out whatever was there a few years back. I found a Redbud tree that I would like to put there (we lived in Kentucky for 2 years & one of my favorite trees down there is the Redbud tree...it's the first thing I remember seeing when we drove down there...miss KY so very much...would love to put one somewhere), but I have a feeling that it would go to be way too big for that spot. Thoughts on that? Thoughts too for anything else I could put there. I really do not like either one of the things still growing there. That bush thing (I have fogotten at the moment what it's called) is such a pain to me. It's thorns are as long as my arm. I just want to get rid of it. And...don't get me started on whatever that pine tree/evergreen lookin' thing is. Ideas, please!

These bushes (there's 2 of them...just took a pic of the one) are ones that I am sooo excited about. I am not sure what they are. My mom could tell you...(again, failing at my duties on this post). These were ones that I also discovered while living down south. A home near us had these in their front yard. They are beautiful. The ones down south were purple. These didn't bloom last year & I can't remember if the tag told me the color or not. Either way, I am going to be surprised. Another reason, I am excited about the growth on these (and they are growing quickly...2 weeks ago they were still underground) is that we haven't been able to grow much of anything in this part of the flower bed since having a drain system put in several years ago. Have I mentioned that I am excited about these plants???

Now that it's May 1st, I am looking forward to more sunshine & not so much rain...but oh how green the rain makes God's treasures!!!

Can't wait to check out everyone's posts!

Happy Gardening!!!

Wednesday Wrap-Up on Thursday...

2011-04-28T09:05:00.000-04:00

Outside my window... I see the rain. I thought about complaining once again about the stinkin' rain, but then I watched video of those deadly tornadoes down south in Alabama. They have lost 178 people so far.
I'll take the rain.
I love the rain.

I am thinking... of the dad that lost his life while protecting his daughter from a falling tree in that storm. What a dad. I know we wouldn't think twice about protecting our kiddos from anything.

I am thankful... for my husband, his job, our home, our kids, not having to worry about where we are going to lay our head at night. So many out there are still struggling.

From the kitchen...I hear Maggie's footsteps. No doubt she is looking for a chocolate bunny to eat for breakfast.

I am wearing...my comfy pj bottoms, my shirt from yesterday & perfect black sweater cardigan. I wish I could wear it everyday!

I am creating...our plan for the next school year. Hope that I can work it so that we start our school year right after Memorial Day. Can't wait for the new school room!!!

I am going...to begin 31 Days to Clean on Sunday, for the entire month of May. I really can't wait. I am hoping that it has as great of effect on me as it has had for others! Go here to download yours!

I am reading...The Parting by Beverly Lewis. I think I've mentioned before that I am a huge fan of Amish fiction. I also have another 11 books on hold from the library that are coming my way. I can't wait! Thank you Jesus, for those you have given the gift of writing. I do so enjoy it!

I am hoping...and praying that my sweet friend's mom is miraculously healed from the brain tumors that they found a week ago today. To say that she has been through so much would be an understatement. Please pray with me.

I am hearing...the sound of the garbage truck, a few coughs from upstairs, the fridge...wonder how long that will last :)

Around the house...I see sooooo much that needs to be picked up. I just keep telling myself that as soon as we are done with school I'll have 3 weeks to take care of it all! I can certainly do it all in 3 weeks, right?!?

One of my favorite things...just laughing with my husband. So often, we are caught up in the day to day stuff that we forget to just have fun. I love when we just hang out, kid, & laugh like we used to do all of the time back in college.....before real responsibility & the wonder of having kiddos :)

Pictures I am sharing...are from Molly's birthday weekend. The first is from her birthday lunch with the girls...the two sisters along with their aunts, nana & me. The second is from after her gymnastics party on Saturday. Max wanted to play with the dolls as well :) And the final picture is of Molly & her "real" bible. She has been so excited about getting one ever since Max got his "real" one on his 6th birthday. She couldn't believe that hers had her name on it & Max's didn't. (They didn't offer embossing back then :) )

First Wednesday Wrap-Up

2011-04-20T20:45:00.000-04:00

I have a few blogger & "real-life" friends that do a Wednesday wrap up. Hoping that this will also help me be a more dutiful blogger! :)

Here goes...first of many (I hope.)

Outside my window...our Easter eggs are hanging from our tree in the front yard. When we hung them I was having a sort of "how did we end up in the city" day. Then Jesus sent me one of those moments that He so often does (and I so often don't pay enough attention). An older gentleman drove by, honked & gave our family a thumbs up.

Jesus moments.

I love them.

I should cherish them more.

I am thinking...of precious last conversations. A year ago today, I listened as my best friend told me that she was in the hospital and should be home in a few days. We decided that when she felt better we were definitely going to get together.

I told her I loved her.

She said, "I love you, too."

That was the last thing she ever said to me.

Four days later she passed away.

I am thankful...that God saw it in His plans to bring us home to Michigan before my sweet friend went Home. I fear I may have missed that final good-bye to her. I am thankful that the anniversary of her death is on Easter.

From the kitchen...there should be dinner finishing up, but it's just the kids and I tonight....going out sounds so much easier & fun!

I am wearing...comfy jeans, short sleeve purple shirt that I need to get rid of b/c of holes, a hoody sweatshirt, and no socks. I do NOT want to be wearing a sweatshirt & I draw the line at wearing socks at the the end of April. At least we don't have 12 inches of the white stuff like they do up north.

I am creating...well, my brothers-in-law, father-in-law and hubby are creating walls for our schoolroom. I can hardly wait!!! Just seeing the wood nailed to the walls gets me all giddy about it. I can't wait for real walls!!!

I am going...to be right here with our families this Easter Sunday. I can't wait.

I am reading...a new author at the moment. I have been reading Amish fiction lately. I LOVE it! However, my newest favorite authors don't have enough books to keep me busy :) My new favs...Amy Clipston, Beth Wisman, Cindy Woodsmall.

I am hoping...that there will be a surprise warm up and no rain on Friday evening. I have a date night with my man & I would love to catch a baseball game with him. It's been 4 years since we've been to a Tigers game.

I am hearing...Mat Kearny on grooveshark. I think I like it.
Oh & the furnace just kicked on....another "no, no" on April 20th.

Around the house...I see my 5 year old hopping around. How is she 5 already?!?

One of my favorite things...being Up North with my sweet family. Can't wait to return there this summer.

Pictures I am sharing...are of my best friend, Amanda. I miss her.

Molly when she was about a year and a half old. Where has the time gone???

And the last picture, my favorite family picture....or one of the very few that Maggie is actually looking at the camera!

World Geography Curriculum Giveaway!

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

I LOVE Confessions of a Homeschooler! I just purchased her USA Geography curriculum and she is now giving away one copy of her Expedition Earth curriculum.
Go here to see all of the ways that you can enter to win!!!
I am still deciding whether we are going to travel the nation or the globe next year!

Garden Challenge!!!! Is it spring yet???

2011-04-03T20:32:00.000-04:00

I recently found The Homeschool Village through Homeschool Creations.

I thought that The Homeschool Village's Garden Challenge was the perfect way to get back into my blogging that I so often put on the back burner.

This is where we'll be digging in as soon as the weather decides to warm up here in Michigan.

This is our flower garden. I may try planting some blueberries here, too. We'll see how that turns out.

Every year I have grand plans for our flower garden space. I spend time during the winter months ripping pages from various magazines whenever I come across them. They never seem to come to complete fruition, though. My mom is probably my biggest help. We usually spend at least a few Saturdays a summer at the local farmers market picking out just the right flowers to be planted. We have a patch of Black-Eye Susans, beautiful roses (that were planted way before we moved in here 7 years ago), a bunch of other periennels that pop up every year...I have no idea of the names. I love gerbera daisies! I tend to scatter them all over the flower bed. Something about how bright they are...just LOVE that God made them so colorful.

Along with everything that is there, plus other things that my mom suggests, we'll be planting lots of wildflowers and having some fun with NaturExplorer's Wonderful Wildflowers and Butterflies Flutter By
In the sunny/shady corner of our flower garden we'll be putting as many pink flowers as we can possibly fit. My best friend passed away almost a year ago and to say that she LOVED the color pink would be an understatement. Right now it's a dreary little corner and I couldn't bare to post that photo. Can't wait to fill in all of that space with PINK!

Last year was our first year with a vegetable garden. I loved it when the kids would come in with a handful of cucumbers and tomatoes.

We planted beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, corn (I got a little over-zealous with that one), zucchini & squash. The corn toppled and over-shadowed our peppers, squash, and beans. We did get LOTS of tomatoes and cukes, though. This year, we hope to extend the garden a bit to make room for a bit more.

These three kiddos will also be having some fun with the Garden Preschool Pack over at Homeschool Creations. The kids really enjoy her packs. I know your kids will too!!! If you link up over at The Homeschool Village with your own Garden Challenge post, you'll get an additional 15 page bonus pack for your Garden Preschool Pack from Homeschool Creations.

See you back here at the end of April!

A New Year...

2011-01-04T23:43:00.002-05:00

How can it be 2011 already?
I feel as if I have a theme building on this blog...I don't blog, I do blog, I don't blog, I promise to blog....and then it's another year gone by.
How could our 4th of July trip already be 6 months behind us???
When did time stop creeping by and when did it start flying and fleeting right before my very eyes???
Apparently, I have some cleaning up & editing to do on this blog. It'll have to wait though.
I promised myself that I was going to start having my hind end in bed by 10 pm. I can read when I'm there, but I have to be in bed.
It is currently a quarter to midnight and I am sitting at my kitchen table on this thing.
When will I learn?
Probably the same time that I learn to blog more than a few times every 6 months!
Happy 2011 All!!!

4th of July 2010

2010-07-11T00:21:00.001-04:00

This 4th of July was probably my most favorite in almost 32 years.

We spent the 4th Up North in the U.P. It’s our favorite place in the world. I haven’t been too many places…Aaron, more than me…but I can safely say that we could go anywhere in the world and the shores of Lake Superior would still be our favorite.

It’s the first trip we went on together as a couple.

Aaron was the first person to drive me over the Mackinac Bridge.

He was the first person I went to Mackinac Island with.

The very first time I went blueberry picking up north, I was with Aaron.

That same trip he asked me to marry him.

I love Northern Michigan.

We left around 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and we were enjoying Burger King breakfast at the bridge by 8:15 a.m.

We arrived at the falls around 10:30 and took a canoe ride over to the little island. The water was higher and a little more rough than the last time we played here so the kids weren’t able to do as much, but I loved it just the same. It’s the first time Maggie has been to the Falls. Max first visited the Falls when he was just 4 weeks old. Molly was around 4 months. It warmed my heart to have all of my kids here.

We finally got to Grandma & Grandpa Jarvie’s house around noon….just in time for some lunch, but no one wanted to eat. They ran straight for the beach.

Max had Uncle Andy digging for gold for quite some time.

We finally made it inside for a snack. Aaron left with Ben & Chaz to do some golfing. Maggie made her successful escape attempt when everyone else was distracted with Uncle J.J. & Uncle Steve’s arrival. She didn’t put her on bathing suit before heading back down to the beach.

None of them did.

Max spent a little time burying Molly, but would NOT let anyone bury him.

Always such a helping big brother.

After getting cleaned up yet again and enjoying another snack we headed out to Uncle Tom’s place. From there we headed out to our first of 2 fireworks. They found some suckers in Uncle Tom’s truck.

(I think Molly looks like such a Jarvie in this photo.)

This is one of my favorite photos from the weekend. I love imagining what they could be discussing. Boys, politics, how are fireworks made, where do unicorns live…Love it…almost brings tears to my eyes when I look at it.

Max & cousin David horsing around before the fireworks began.

Maggie was a trooper. This photo was taken around 11:30 p.m. She hung in through the day until zonking out on her sister’s shoulder.

Sunday morning, Aaron and I went for a walk on the beach and then I went for a run. I think I could honestly say that I would run almost every morning if I woke up to the beach right outside my window every morning.

We spent the day decorating bikes for the parade, riding/walking in the parade, cooling down from the parade (the weather reports we kept seeing were mid-70’s with a chance of storms….it was in the 90’s), playing in the water and on the beach, grilling out with family, cupcake party for the kids with Grandma & Grandpa while Aaron and I headed to the fireworks. Max’s cousin found this bottle…he kept putting water in and drinking…it was only lake water…nothing like what it looks like :)

Max & Molly were supposed to be inside getting ready for bed. Well, they got their pjs on and then headed back outside…why did I pack bathing suits???

Monday, Aaron and I slept until 9. I can’t remember the last time we both slept that late.

We spent the day at the Point, the Pier (where Aaron & Ben thought it would be fun to jump off into the freezing water below), snacking, taking pictures with family, & picking a few blueberries.

Max did NOT want to leave. We all thought it a good idea that he have an overnight at Grandma & Grandpa’s closer to home before he tries it 5 hours away for the first time.

We can’t wait for our next trip up there.

Thank you, Lord, for bringing us home and closer to our favorite place on Your Earth.

Where’s the cheese?

2010-07-08T16:28:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, was a good day.

We spent the morning at the library with Steph, Nick & Zachary.

They came over to our house for lunch and a little Mario baseball.

The kids decided that they would like mac & cheese for lunch. So I put on a pot of water. I was also making orange jello.

I was chatting with my sister about the kids, how hot it was outside and how hot my kitchen was just with the water boiling for the jello and mac & cheese.

I stirred up my jello with the boiling water. Added the cold water. Stirred some more.

Steph asked me what I was making because it looked weird. I told her orange jello. I said that it would probably look more like jello after it settled once in the fridge. (I don’t make jello very often.)

Right after I put my jello in the fridge, Steph drained the macaroni, dumped it back in the pan, added milk & butter and then asked me where the cheese went. I told her it had to be somewhere around the counter. She asked if I threw it away with the box. Nope. Put the box in the recycling bag.

I checked the recycling pile. No cheese in there.

I walked back into the kitchen and saw the little brown bag of orange gelatin on the counter. Which only meant one thing…

I made cheese jello instead of the orange jello that I had intended.

Needless to say, Steph about peed her pants laughing at me.

I used to take pride in my ability to multi-task. Not anymore.

First Great Getaway Weekend of the Summer 2010

2010-07-06T03:30:00.001-04:00

This was from the first time we headed to Jess & Jay’s cottage back in the winter of 2007.

This was from last weekend.

Our little Amanda was missed so very much. It was different being there without her. I could only imagine how little Patrick would have chased the older kids as fast as he could on all fours. Maybe next year.

Our first evening there around the bonfire, Jay got down on one knee and proposed to Jessica. It was something that we had all been waiting so long for…not to mention Jessica had been waiting too :)

It was such a special moment. I am so honored that I was able to share in it with them. I could feel Amanda nudging me in the arm as if to squeal, “This is it!" And then when Jessica kept insisting that Jay wasn’t actually proposing, I could hear her giggling. Love her, miss her!

We all had such a special time. Some tears, a lot of laughter.

We spent lots of time on the boat.

We hugged tight.

Uncle Jay took Max & Molly went tubing for the very first time. They LOVED it!

We ate…good stuff….like we always do.

We chatted around the bonfire. I’ll treasure that for a long time to come.

I can’t wait for all the reasons I get to see my girls over the rest of the summer!

Love you all!!!

Who is with me???

2010-06-29T23:35:00.001-04:00

I found Mom’s Toolbox through Homeschool Creations.

Over at Mom’s Toolbox they are beginning the 90 Day Bible Study on July 5.

I have tried this once before and would love to try it again. I feel like I have enough going on around here, but never enough of the one true important thing, Jesus. So, as we travel over the coming weeks I will try and take advantage of this 5 day lead :)

Who’s going to join me???

Maggie’s Party

2010-06-29T00:35:00.001-04:00

I am posting this a bit backward, but that’s what I get for waiting so long to post everything. We have lots of stuff going on and I want to post & keep up. We’ll see if I can do it this time.

We celebrated Maggie’s 2nd birthday here at her home. It was a VERY warm day. She had a great time with her cousins, grandparents & aunts & uncles. She fell asleep half way through and we had to nudge the life of the party back to life to enjoy her ice cream sandwich cake and presents.

Maggie Turns 2….And Aaron’s 6th Father’s Day….

2010-06-29T00:31:00.001-04:00

June 20, 2008

June 20, 2009

June 20, 2010

What a glorious day Sunday was for us. We celebrated Aaron’s 6th Father’s Day. We celebrated our Maggie’s 2nd birthday. It was great just to be with us…the 5 of us. We started the morning off at church. Maggie drew me a picture or 2. She loves scribbling & I love that she is beginning to understand the difference between my table & walls and good ol’ coloring paper.

After church, we headed to the zoo for a Father’s Day brunch and birthday celebration. When we finally left the zoo, exhausted, we headed to Applebee’s for a special 2nd birthday treat. They gave Maggie that huge sundae just for turning 2.

Love love love my Sweet Maggie Grace!

Happy 2nd Baby Girl!!!

What the…..???

2010-06-10T01:11:00.001-04:00

Oh, our Miss Molly….

About a week ago, the kids received a few bucks from Great-Gramma to spend at the Dollar Store. The next day we headed out for the kids to search out the perfect dollar gift for themselves. They found these inflatable kickboard things. Molly’s was princess theme, of course. We go home and the kids wanted to get the pool out and immediately blow up their new treasures. The kids had a great time. Jumping in and out of our kiddie pool. Molly attempting to actually try and use her kickboard the correct way in the aforementioned kiddie pool. I was using the time to read and enjoying the spare minutes to get through a page or two. Molly and everything sweet about her, comes over with her kickboard to chat with me for a few minutes. I couldn’t tell you what she was chatting about, but whatever it was she was into it. The next second, the wind picks up and blows the kickboard out of her hand and lands on the patio next to her. She looks down at it, looks back at me and with a puzzled look on her face says,

“What the hell?”

As soon as the words left her mouth & she saw the look on my face, she came back with, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I meant ‘What the heck?’ I then turned my head and had to smile…not because of what she said, but the look on her face when she watched the kickboard blow from her hand and land on the ground. HILARIOUS!!!

LOVE THAT GIRL!!!!

First Day of School & Last Day of School

2010-06-10T00:50:00.001-04:00

August 3, 2009

June 8, 2010 (although our last day of school was May 27, 2010)

Max's 3rd season of t-ball...

2010-06-04T00:09:00.003-04:00

MAN, I LOVE THIS KID!!! Can't believe we have started our 3rd year of t-ball.
He is doing great & loves his baseball. My favorite thing about watching him is seeing him get so excited when he does something great & not getting down on himself when he misses a grounder. I am hoping to get a picture of this spirit soon, but until then let me try and paint you a picture.
Tonight, a grounder came right to him. He called out, "I got it! I got it!" He squatted, put his mitt out, fielded the ball. Then he wound up, kicked out that leg like his daddy taught him & then he threw it to first. He then put his arms up in the air & jumped up and down with a huge smile on his face. MAN, I LOVE THAT KID!!!

May 22, 2010

May 16, 2009

May 24, 2008

Forgot this one...

2010-06-03T00:50:00.003-04:00

Back on April 16th, the kids had their first ehub production. They did fantastic. Max hid behind one of his taller friends for his first class, but he had a huge smile on his face the whole time.

The kids had their regular classes in the a.m. and then the production went until after 4 that afternoon. Right before leaving the parking lot Max mentioned that he had to go potty. Aaron told him that he would take him and then Max changed his mind. He said that he could hold it. I didn't doubt that he could. The last time he had an accident was when he was potty training. So we kissed Aaron good-bye and told him that we would see him soon. Of course, traffic at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon in a construction filled city...I would have lost control of my bladder. At first Max was just sort of hopping around in his seat. Then it began to get a bit more serious. There was no where to turn into the mall. They had all of the entrances closed off on the road we were on. And of course, we were on a boulevard type road so we couldn't turn around. I tried to get him to pee in the empty water bottle. No way, no how. He was not doing that. Can't say that I blame him :) So by the time we got out of that jam Max was crying, "Momma, I think I went a little bit. I'm so sorry. I should have listened to daddy when he told me to go." I felt just awful. I told him that it was alright and that momma should have taken him. Then I asked him if he went to the bathroom at all while in Miss Ashley's class. He said no. I said, "Honey, did you go potty this morning when you woke up?"

"No."

My jaw dropped. To this day, I am still hoping that he did in fact go potty that morning and truly didn't go from the night of the 15th to the afternoon of the 16th without using the restroom. Mom of the year....right here! :(

So...after all of the traffic jams and potty mishaps, we finally pull up to Stacy's house (we were dropping the kids off right after the production b/c Aaron and I had a date night). The kids and I arrived before Stacy and the kids so we just hung out in the van for a bit and Max changed his clothes. :)

Then this happened:

Max: Momma, I love legos. I love legos even more than Mario. Me: Stunned. Really, even more than Mario. Max: Yep, but you, You I love more than anything Momma. Me: Instant tears and thinking that he will NEVER leave me and get married!

My Dear & Sweet Friend, Amanda...

2010-04-25T03:24:00.005-04:00

My sweet and dear friend, Amanda, passed away today, April 24, 2010.

She had been admitted to the hospital for dehydration & miscarriage.

I just spoke with her on the phone on Tuesday evening. She thought that she'd be home the next day, the lastest Thursday. The last I heard from her on Wednesday morning. She emailed to say that there were no new updates and that the docs may run a few tests. I didn't hear from her the rest of Wednesday and all of Thursday. I spoke with one of my friends Thursday night. We were both worried because neither of us had heard from her in almost 2 days. That was very unusual. I stayed up late that night writing her a card and packaging up a little photo notepad thing I had gotten for her. Thought it might put a small smile on her face after the miscarrage. I never mailed it to her. Early Friday morning, around 2 a.m., we received an email from her mom saying that Amanda was in critical condition and in the ICU. She needed our prayers. I spent all day on the phone...back and forth between friends trying to figure out exactly what had happened. Halfway through the morning we were told that Amanda had had a massive stroke and then they could not get her blood to clot. I just cried. I couldn't do anything else. I wanted to get in my car and head straight for the hospital. Instead, we sat and just waited to hear. Around 12:15 p.m. Amanda's sister-in-law called and told us that they were waiting for her brother to arrive from out of town and they were going to take her off of life support. I went upstairs and just fell on the floor. I couldn't breathe. I just wanted to lay on the floor and cry. Max came upstairs. Right before I got the phone call from her sister-in-law, Max had stapled his finger. The call came in as I was rinsing and cleaning Max's finger. I left the bathroom and headed upstairs. Max came up while I was crying and said, "It's ok, Momma. See? I cleaned it already and put a band-aid on it. It's all better so you don't have to cry."

I ended up at the hospital with my 3 other dear friends. We were able to say our good-byes and spend some time with our sweet, goofy, and spirited Amanda. When we left the hospital I couldn't believe that we actually left. We went back to Jess & Jay's. We ordered pizza and drank Miller Lite in honor of our dear friend. The next day we went to breakfast, got pictures around for the service, shopped for matching bracelets for the 5 of us + Amanda's mom. The day dragged on and flew by all at the same time. We kept waiting for an update.

Being at Jess & Jay's reminded me of the time that Amanda and I spent the night there a few years ago. We slept in the spare bedroom with Amanda on the regular bed and me below her to the side on the trundle. She said that I kept her up with my strange sleep talking. She just giggled at me the next morning. Not saying anything bad about it. The last time we were there was March 21st. We spent some time on the couch hanging out. Even though we had most of the couch we kinda sat really close :) I am not sure why...just glad that we did. I just really regret not taking more pictures of all of us. We called the hospital a few times that day to see if she was still listed as a patient. She was. I made it across the state and back home around 9:15 pm. I got the call around 10 pm from my dear friend that she had passed. Our sweet Amanda.

I stayed up until about 4 a.m. just looking at photos of her and writing back and forth to Jax. The next morning we headed to church. It's a church that we have only been to one other time as a family. The pastor read Psalm 23. I almost completely lost it. It was as if Jesus was sitting right next to me holding me up. The message was all about how great our shepherd is. How He has it all taken care of. That He will be our good shepherd no matter our doubt and struggle.

Tuesday was the service. It was beautiful. When the music began, I recognized the song right away. It was Need You Now by Lady Antebellum. I put the kleenex over my face and lost it. I thought I was good until I looked over and saw Amanda's husband walk into the room with their 8 month old son, Patrick. I couldn't breathe. You could hear all of the gut wrenching cries throughout the room. Aaron said that he thought that there were at least 400-450 people there. I just don't know what to do with the feelings of knowing that her little family lost a momma & a wife. Listening to her mom, brothers, and husband & little man speak about her was unbelieveable. A true memorial for her. It was nice to tell stories about her all evening.

She loved my kids like they were her own. She never forgot a birthday, Christmas, special occassion. She always thought of them. She always thought of everyone before herself. In an article written by the local paper, it was reported that she would be able to help 50-70 people with her organ & tissue donation. What an honor it is to tell the world that she was my friend...that God blessed me with Amanda's friendship.

Molly turns 4....

2010-04-19T22:28:00.004-04:00

Our sweet & sassy girl turned 4 yesterday!

I can hardly believe it.

It seems like just the other day that I began feeling contractions around midnight, dozed off until 2 a.m., got up and cleaned a bit, called the doc around 5:30 or so and then called Stace right after to come and stay with Max.

It seems like just the other day that Dr. Blunden said, "She's a 4...let's break her water and get her going." When I decided it was time for the epidural, my husband asked, "Do you think it's a little early for that?"
I never labored hard with her....well, I'm sure I did, I just didn't feel it with the wonder that is an epidural. I think I did about 3 sets of pushes with her...15 minutes after starting she was out. I felt great. I was able to watch everything around me...the nurses working on her, giving her a bath, wrapping her up, handing her to me....then the picture I'll always remember....Aaron holding his daughter while working a crossword. He was a pro with our newborns.

Now...she is a bouncy, full of energy and precious 4 year old.

She went to church with Aaron and me and cuddled with her dad.

We headed to the store to pick out the perfect pink frosted cake and snickers ice cream.

We got home and she got to open the rest of her presents and play with her neighbor friend.

We went out to the "peanut restaurant" where she stood on a chair in the middle of everyone while they all "yee-hawed" for her. On her way back to the table, a kind woman motioned for Molly to come to her table and she gave Mol a dollar. The kindness of some really does overwhelm me at times. Reminds me that I could spread a little kindness of my own to strangers. We returned home and jumped straight into singing happy birthday and eating cake & ice cream.

In 4 more years...a few days from now....she'll be 8.

Oh my!

Growing & forgetting...

2010-04-14T23:07:00.006-04:00

Just got finished reading some old posts...ones from June of '08.

The summer of Maggie.

I'm still wiping the tears from my eyes.

The kids are growing so fast and I had forgotten almost every single story that I had posted.

Tonight while driving and listening to Kari Jobe, Max piped up from the backseat.

"Momma, can you turn it to number 11? I like it when she says 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty'".

The other night we all went into Target to get the sandels that were on sale. Molly found the pink sparkly ones in the sale paper that morning. Max went down the boy aisle and presented the sandels he found and told me that he would like to get those. I asked him if he would like to look at the flip flops I had picked out for him. He said sure and put them on his feet.

He looked up at me with those eyes, smile and in his goofy voice said, "Momma, these are mommy shoes...flip flops are mommy shoes! I don't want to look like a momma!" I cracked up. So did the ladies in the shoe aisle with us. I put on flip flops as soon as the weather hits 50 degrees and I don't look back until the first snow fall. Max knows this. I told him he could get the black flip flops instead of the brown/tan ones (that looked exactly like mine) if that made him look more like a little man than a mom. :)

Our miss Molly has gotten her ears pierced and hair cut. She looks like she is 9. I can barely stand it.

Today, we headed to Meijer to do some grocery shopping. She wore her new sparkly flip flops and her sunglasses. About halfway through the shopping trip an older gentleman and his wife called her a movie star and talking her up. She LOVED it. She hid a bit behind me, but smiled through the whole thing. They were very friendly people and Maggie couldn't help but smile too. After the couple started walking away, Molly tugged on my shirt and whispered, "Momma, can you go over there and tell them 'Happy Spring' for me?"

Oh, my sweet Molly. Will she really be 4 already?

Miss Maggie, Miss Maggie, Miss Maggie....she has her momma's temper. She can throw quite the temper tantrum. I think I prefer those to the whining though. She is starting to repeat everything....car, bagel, birdie, puppy, Zachary...I wish it wasn't so easy to forget this stage of their life. She is a sweet & comforting little thing. Whenever Max gets upset or hurt or Molly is upset or hurt, she drops whatever she is doing and goes over to them. She pats their back, squats and looks up at their face as if to say, "It's alright. This too shall pass."

How blessed we are.

We don't deserve any of this.

I am one blessed lady!

Phone call...

2010-03-18T22:20:00.003-04:00

Tuesday morning, I woke up to hear Molly talking.

"Daddy, this is Molly. Momma, won't wake up and make me Kix cereal."

It was early...7:15 maybe. I was exhausted from having the lsweet little Molly one in my bed moving all around since 6 that morning.
I thought I was doing a good thing when I taught the children how to get a hold of daddy if they needed to :)

Happy New Year!!!

2010-01-01T23:54:00.003-05:00

January 1, 2009 January 1, 2010

What a year....what a decade....

2009-12-31T09:36:00.002-05:00

I remember New Years Eve 1999...10 years ago. I was with some great friends, dancing to Prince's "Let's Party like it's 1999" and out until 4 a.m. to ring in 2000.
My oh my how a decade changes things.
The end of 2000 I met my guy.
Two years later, he asked me to marry him, I said yes and we were married 10 weeks later.
The beginning of 2004 we closed on our first home. Thirteen days later we found out that we would be welcoming our first child that fall. September 2004, Max David James changed our lives in way so that we would forever forget how it was when we were childless. April 2006, our Molly Marie joined our family. I have few memories of us with just Max. January 2008, we receive word that Aaron has gotten a job in Kentucky. Easter of 2008 we make that move. Three months later in June, Maggie Grace arrived (very quickly). Kentucky is the only home she has ever known. I will bawl like a baby when it comes time to take our last family picture on our doorstep here. January of 2010 we will be moving back to Michigan. I am so very excited, but a bit sad to be leaving here...this small town.
So the planning and phone calls and address forwarding and nagging of my husband :) begins. The Good Lord has blessed us all so much. I can't wait to see what He has planned for us this year...this decade...

Dollar Store Finds....

2009-12-16T11:53:00.006-05:00

****Sorry. I cannot get those pictures to rotate. I did it the same way I do everytime, but it will not rotate. I apologize for having to crank your heads to see the photo.*****

I went to the Dollar Store in hopes of finding some plastic storage bins for the kids stuff. I didn't find that, but I did find some GREAT finds. I was really excited. Aaron told me that we better get back to Michigan because we have zero room for what I keep bringing into our little home.

First I spotted these maps. They are nice & big. Sorry I didn't take them out to take a picture of the whole thing.

Nevertheless, they include maps of:

The Holy Land during New Testament Times

The Exodus

The Tribes of Israel

Paul's Journey

Next, I was excited to find big bible story cards. They are nine 8x11 cards in each packet. They have bright colorful photos on one side. On the back side is the verse and then the correct number order in the lower left hand corner.

The four I found are:

Jesus Walks on Water

Noah's Ark

The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes

Jesus Heals a Blind Man

I am a huge fan of file folder games so I was ecstatic when I found these.

See the Light is a Bible Matching game. It includes the game board & 40 matching cardPretty self-explanatory.

Bible Clues is a game of just that, Bible Clues. It contains 1 game board, 4 game pieces & 38 Bible question cards. The questions cards have 3 clues on each one. If the kids can guess the answer after one hint they get to move 3 spaces. If they guess after 2 hints, 2 spaces. After 3 hints, they move 1 space.

God's Kingdom is a Bible Trivia game. It comes with 1 game board, 5 game pieces and 52 Bible question cards. Players move one space for each correct answer given. They also follow the instructions on the game board spaces.

The Lord's Army looks like my favorite. On the inside of the file folder there are two men. The point of the game is collect all of the pieces of armor for your soldier. The pieces of armor that you must collect are:

shield of faith

helmet of salvation

sword of the spirit

belt of truth

breastplate of righteousness

feet of the gospel of peace

I think Max is going to love this one!

While digging through all of this great stuff at the Dollar Store, I found some Bible character cut-outs. There are 3 in each package. Again, there is a bright & colorful photo of the person from the Bible along with a brief description.

I bought the 4 packets they had available. They are:

Joseph, Noah & Daniel

King Saul, Queen Esther & King Solomon

Ruth, Mary Magdalene & Hannah

Moses, David & Jonah

Finally I found packets of inspirational posters. Each packet includes 3 posters.

Those are:
Psalm 23, The Lord's Prayer & Jesus Loves Me

Galatians 5:22-23, Psalm 46:10 & John 8:12

I can't wait to get back to Michigan so that I can hang all of these great new finds up in our spacious classroom! Until then I'll take it out a little at a time and play!

The first snowfall of the season...

2009-12-10T21:34:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday, December 5th, this is what we woke up to:

The kids LOVED it!!! Of course, it was all gone by noon, but the kids were just so happy to be able to play in it. Maggie loved flicking all of the snow off the bushes. Max & Molly were just giddy being able to throw snowballs at their mommy & daddy!

My Maggie...

2009-12-07T11:54:00.004-05:00

A few days shy of one and a half. She is growing up so much everyday.

She is by best listener as of late. She is really loving her baby dolls and loves taking them on walks.

She points and says, "ook".

She picks something up, walks over to me and her daddy and says, "See?"

I ask her where her nose is and she points somewhere on her face. She smiles, begins to scream and then claps for herself.

She gives the best hugs and kisses...whenever I ask her.

Keep 'em coming baby girl!

My Molly...

2009-12-04T21:21:00.004-05:00

Today, Molly and Max were coloring their latest picture for their Advent projects.

We found another stash of colored pencils.

We all sat. They colored while I went through and sharpened all of them.

Molly picked up two pencils. They were both black.

"This doesn't make any sense. Two black ones? That doesn't make any sense."

I have no idea why I laughed as hard as I did, but I did. It's usually the look she has on her face. I think it's the same one her cousin, Joshua, makes when he does all of his funniest work too!

My Little Boy...

2009-12-02T23:34:00.005-05:00

My Max...my only son...my oldest...so sweet...he loves his momma so and I hope that never changes.

Our days go pretty well until clean-up time comes around. My kids HATE cleaning up...unless of course there is some grand prize at the end of the "clean up what you destroyed" tunnel. Today was no different.

Max had taken Maggie's big pink bucket of toys and dumped it out. He laughed. I told him it was indeed funny, but that he would be picking all of those toys up and putting them back into the big pink bucket.

He didn't do it. He didn't do it. He didn't do it.

So....

I yelled.

He cried.

I felt awful and went back into my room so that he wouldn't see me feeling awful.

I went to work on cleaning up my room in the hopes that the children would see this as some kind of race against mom.

I went to make my bed and as I pulled off the pillows I found this:

I saw him draw that earlier in the day way before any of the yelling had taken place.

I called him into my room and with tears still rolling down his cheeks he crawled up on my lap.

"When did you make this for me?"

"Today when you were eating lunch. Then I came and put it under your pillow."

Tears for me. Did he know that that was going to happen and that he could make me 100 times more guilty if he planted a sweet picture like that right were I would find it at the exact time I would yell at him???

I got hugs and kisses and a picture that I will keep forever.

How blessed I am!

Oops! Forgot one more story...

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we rented Santa Buddies. (Our kids LOVE those "Buddies" movies.)

Of course, it was all about the spirit of Christmas and believeing.

At the part where the Scrooge character begins having second thoughts about Christmas, Max turns to me and says,

"Momma, I think he is starting to figure out the true spirit of Christmas."

If only we all believed like the children.

Thanksgiving in a week...is it possible?!?

2009-11-19T20:03:00.004-05:00

How can Thanksgiving once again be here?

Are the years going by faster and faster or is just me?

Is it just supposed to be understood that once you have children the years FLY by?!?

Molly piped up today from the back of the van.

"Momma, I love fall. It's my favorite season."

Amen, daughter.

In the way of temps, it certainly didn't feel like we had much of a fall. However, the colors on the trees were the prettiest I've seen in several years.

What a great way God has for reminding us to be thankful for all He blesses us with.

At least that's what I think of everytime I see His colors of October.

Blessings, thankfulness, grace.

We have been busy in school talking about giving thanks to God for everything that we have. I feel like I should be back in school learning about that. I forget it about a million and one times a day!

The kids have loved learning about the Mayflower, Pilgrims, Indians, the first Thanksgiving, etc. etc. We worked on Thanksgiving Lapbooks. Most of the materials we used to make those we got from http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/ I know that I've mentioned it a lot on my blog, but it really is such a fabulous place to go for great activities for you kids to do and activities to do as a family.

These photos were taking while the kids were pretending to be the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. They had a great time doing it. Although Molly couldn't stand Max not finding her (Plymouth Rock) that she got up and led him back there.

Praise the King...

2009-11-08T22:54:00.002-05:00

Praise Him in the morning for tall and lofty trees

and praise Him in the evening for children on their knees

Oh and praise Him in the noonday for gentle birds that sing

Oh, praise Him all ye people, Praise the King

Praise Him for the peaceful porch and rocking chairs that swing

and praise Him for the rolling hills where children laugh and play

Oh and praise Him for the wandering soul that never lost their way

Oh praise Him all ye people, Praise the King.