Strawberry Patches

Owen missed me while I was at VBS Monday night.  The boys stayed home with daddy because it runs rather late (9:00!!) and I volunteered for only two nights.  Thank goodness :)

  

 This is how I found my boys when I got home.  Owen had cried for an hour and half straight.

 I nursed right away, and Owen was then happy as a clam and went right back to Daddy and laid on him again.  I think their bonding time was needed and special.  :)

In other news.  For the last two days the kids have been wanting to do school.  I don't know what they think school is, really, but it basically means they want to follow our "summer schedule."  It's pretty basic and this was about the third time we've done the summer schedule all summer.  Maryn does SOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER on a structured routine.  And they get a lot of choice in the matter.  For example, 9:30 is Arts and Crafts time and Maryn decided we should make something having to do with strawberries since that was their favorite thing from the farm last week.  We went strawberry picking at Huber's.  So I just googled for some strawberry activities, and we made these cute strawberries out of paper plates.

 Here's our own strawberry patch!  We mixed strawberry scented soap into the paint to make them smell like strawberries.  The scent wore off, unfortunately.  I read that strawberry Jell-O works better.

It's very good to experiment with a school schedule right now, as I get used to doing things around Owen's naps and such.  Man oh man, I don't know HOW I will do this school thing 5 days or whatever a week.  It's ex.haust.ing!  But really we have had much better behavior.  It's a challenge--I kind of have to let the house get messy and hope I'll get to clean it at quiet time.  Which I normally do. ;-)

Daddy Lets Me Get a Little Crazy

Fun with Grammy :)

 Here's some interesting pictures I found on our camera after Maryn and I were at church....

I love this guy :)

So I've been trying this new thing.  It's called thinking of others before I think of myself.  Revolutionary, I know.  I've been pretty whiny lately.  It's really awful.  God has really convicted of me this as I think of others before myself.  What could others be complaining about, but they don't?  

 John has been working so hard in his classes and in his job.  He works so, so hard, with little reward.  He's been waiting too long (in my opinion) for a promotion.  You probably know that when waiting for something like that, it's easy for the bitter weed of discontentment to rise up inside your heart and take over.

But not John.  My sweet husband has been driving around in an SUV every day this summer without air conditioning,  I had almost forgotten it didn't have a/c because he never complains about it.  It has been a terribly hot summer, and traffic can be pretty awful on his way home from work.  I'd be pretty worked  up into a tizzy by the time I got home!  But he is kind, and greets us all with a smile, hugs and kisses.  :)  He will step in immediately and assist with dinner, make dinner, or take control of the children during the "witching hour" as I make dinner.

Josiah put on a button up, collared shirt today and walked around very proudly saying, "Daddy's shirt," because I guess he thought he looked like his Daddy.  Our children have the best father.  I'm so happy our boys have him to look up to.  I'm so grateful our daughter has him to show her how a man should treat a woman.

We love you, Daddy.  And John, I'm amazed by you.  God is good.  He has been so good to us.  I know it's only through His Spirit that John is as faithful, hard working, and loving as he is.

The righteous who walks in his integrity– blessed are his children after him!   Proverbs 20:7

Parenting is a temporary stewardship.  Marriage is forever.  The best thing you can do for your kids is to be a good husband.  (Wayne Stocks, Ministry-to-children.com)

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [Genesis 2:24 ESV]

 "we started realizing that our children had become judgmental little scoffers. Why? Because we were so busy comparing and contrasting our education, parenting, and worship style choices with those of other parents that we had marginalized the gospel before our kids. We were way more excited about high church liturgy, classical education, “courtship,” family worship times, you name it. We actually believed they were signs of spiritual maturity. The only problem was, we had neglected the one and only thing that could ever give our children and us the power and strength for real spiritual maturity—the gospel."
Luma Simms  Raising Gospel Centered Kids

THREE kids getting BIG!

Here's Maryn and Josiah being sweet.  But they aren't always this sweet to Owen.  We've had quite a few little "incidents" lately that have been uh, a little scary.  :)   I remind myself that babies are fragile but God is sovereign.  I pray for his life daily...:)  I say that in gest, but really, I do wonder how so many infants make it through infancy with big siblings around.

 Owen really gets cuter every day, and his face is changing.  So far I think he looks more like my dad's side of the family.  Perfect, since his middle name is Michael!  Maryn is a cross between John and me, Josiah is all John....MAYBE Owen will take after my family more.  We shall see!

He continues to roll over belly to back and today he almost rolled over back to belly.  I think he could do it if he had a reason to.  After our long car ride yesterday, I got him out (he had been crying) and he just smiled and smiled at me!  And he just wanted to stare at me the rest of the day.

I love being loved by a sweet little baby.  There's nothing like it.

 Maryn.  Acting like Daddy, with her headphones, his watch, his phone, and his Kindle Fire.

 Josiah's legs got stuck in his crib's slats this morning.  I was a little worried because his one foot was so swollen, white and cold.  Scary.  It was a good day to try napping in Maryn's room, in the toddler bed.  They will be sharing a room soon!  I honestly have no idea how it will work.  I am pretty sure it won't work at all.  Prayers please!  And any advice is welcome.

Life with Josiah has been pretty tough lately.  We are treading new territory here with a "normal" toddler.  I realize now that Maryn was never a normal toddler.  Ha!  If you know her, you know what I mean.  Oh Josiah, I love you.  You and your sticky hands, your crayon messes, your dirty face, and always smelling like ketchup and peanut butter even when you haven't had ketchup OR peanut butter in days or weeks.

Life with three!  Fun as can be!

Valentine's Day

"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19 "...God loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another." 1 John 4:10-11

Maryn is really confused as to why Valentine's Day is lasting so long!  And it's not even here yet.  Here's a pic of two of my sweethearts on their way to a special Daddy Daughter Dance our friend Maggie invited them to at her church.  At the dance, they had a formal picture taken, made a craft (which I still haven't seen), and Maryn even got a white rose.  After dancing and snacking the night away, John took our super tired little girl to Dairy Queen.   

 I really hope there will be more Daddy Daughter dates to come.  They say when a little girl gets older, she will measure every possible suitor by measuring them up to her Daddy.  We pray for Maryn's future spouse (if she ever marries) a lot.  A lot, a lot.  He will have big shoes to fill (and a seriously angry man to deal with if he ever breaks her heart!).

And this little boy.  He is never allowed to date.  Do you know why?  It's because he is so darn cuddly and kissy-faced.  He'll have to always be supervised on dates :)  And he loves pretty women.  He finds them in the store and starts smiling ear to ear if he sees a pretty lady.  He will basically go to any pretty lady, and although he has his favorites, he will hug and kiss on almost anyone.  Mommy is definitely his favorite for now :)

 We had a special Valentine's Dinner last night.  All four of us crowded into the kitchen to make frosted Funfetti Valentine's cookies (thank you Aunt Cathy!) with heart candies on top.  Then we all participated in the making of a rather yummy, simple, and cheap tomato basil soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  It was an adventure.  By the way, this tomato soup was delicious.  I am not a very big soup fan, but it actually got compliments from John and you wouldn't even believe how much Josiah loved it.  I've never seen a toddler enjoy soup so much.  The basil adds a really strong flavor, so I thought the kiddos wouldn't be fond of it, but they were.  I think I'll add a bit more cream next time.  It tasted a lot like the pasta sauce in Carabba's Rigatoni Campagnolo (my favorite dish there).

 John said he was out of his comfort zone all weekend.  He had to dance AND frost cookies.  Then he made the blueberry bread loaf for our Sunday School class's breakfast this morning.  Which is another great recipe (here). It's just a package of Krusteaz Blueberry Muffins with some minor adjustments.  I leave out all the orange stuff because I'm not a fan of anything tasting like oranges besides oranges.

Josiah loves his dinosaurs I just brought out of toy rotation.  He growls and roars and growls, and smacks them into each other, and throws them and pounds them and they just kill and eat each other all day.

They each got a couple more gifts for Valentine's Day.  Josiah got Cars (the movie...he LOVES anything with Cars on it), and Maryn got two new little princess dolls.  Valentine's Day turned into a big deal!  :)

Sunday Sweetness

John and Maryn made omelets after church.  We also ate the cheesy potatoes I made late last night and of course, leftover Krispy Kremes!

Look at our tiny kitchen.  Our little house is starting to bother me as I get bigger and bigger.  It seems everywhere I walk I have to "squeeze" through something or use special martial arts skills to get where I need to go.  I've been tripping all over the place (including over my own children), hitting my head on things, and running right into walls sometimes because I underestimate my size and ability to balance.  Too much counterweight.

Dreams
It's harder to be content when I'm tired.  I had the craziest dreams last night.  I dreamed that all these people, probably every person I know, was coming up to me and asking me questions.  The questions didn't make sense, but I was trying to answer them.  Worst dream ever!

Then I had a dream I went to a trendy new church and their Sunday School Classes had names like, MMA and WWE.  MMA stood for "Mixed, Multi-Age," WWE was "Women" something.

Our church's Sunday School classes are called ABFs (Adult Bible Fellowships) and in Florida our Sunday School classes were BLGs (Bible and Life Groups).  I don't understand why they can't just be called Sunday School.  What's wrong with Sunday School?

Then I had a dream that one of our neighbor friends was storing her fingernail polish remover in Pez dispensers..  We went to her house and a little girl friend of Maryn's was opening the Pez dispensers and spilling fingernail polish remover every where.  It was a huge mess!  And her mom was so mad at the little girl for getting into things, and I just kept thinking, "But why is she storing her fingernail polish remover inside Pez dispensers?"

I'm tired, uncomfortable, kind of in pain, annoyed and frustrated, and emotional, but usually quite happy.  It's been a great weekend, but cold.  My joints hurt a lot.  I could hardly make it up the stairs and my hands are freezing up on me at times.  Our sermon and Sunday School class today was about contentment.  I think I'll go look over those notes and re-read the passages we covered.  :)  Happy Sunday!

pregnancy has its perks :)

Painting with pink pudding!  Yum!

Rudolph the Butter-Nosed Reindeer!

Today was another day John let me sleep in till 9:00 while he got the kids up, fed and ready for their day.  I was still pretty worn out by 4:00.  No matter what, I always hit a wall at about 4:00, but it used to be 2:00.

Then came a series of events...Kroger, Target, Seminary bookstore and rec center, naptime, Mister Rogers, dinner, Blockbuster, Kroger again, and then DONUT SHOP!  John and Maryn got the groceries, John made lunch AND dinner (for us and for a family who just had a baby), and he says today was more exhausting than a day at work.  Hard to believe huh?

Shwew!

Daddy is our hero!

Daddy took us bowling.  This was Maryn and Josiah's first time in a bowling alley.  What fun it was!  Our kids didn't quite understand that they had to wait their turn before running around on the alleys...or that no, you can NOT chase those big bowling balls right down the alleys!  

This is one of my favorite pictures ever.  Ever, ever.

 And this is what I found when I woke up yesterday morning.  When John is home from work, he's been letting me sleep in till 8, 9 or later as he feeds the kids breakfast and does all the morning stuff.  Yay!  I've been super tired.

I had my first WIC appointment for myself (during this pregnancy) this morning.  I've gained 17 pounds!  Which is normal but it's so, so weird to see that number on the scale.  I weigh HOW much?!  What!?

Life is good.  So is pizza.  And fried food.  ;-)

The Plague

 Colder temperatures brought more than just winter coats.  We've also acquired a variety of cold symptoms.  Maryn is barking like a seal, Josiah is a little mucus factory, I'm a mess of morning, afternoon and mostly evening sickness, and John is coughing too.  John just finished ten straight days of nothing but work, work, work.  He has a three day weekend now, one in which we might have gone to the Halloween Party at the zoo, or the pumpkin patch.  But instead I think we will lay around watching movies...which is okay, because
it's not like Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday.

:-(  Boo hoo.  (Halloween is my favorite holiday).

 Not all is bad, though.  We got to play some pretty great rounds of hide and seek as a family, one of our favorite things to do.  Maryn is HILARIOUS.  And we also taught Josiah how to play Ring Around the Rosie, which is even more hysterical.

 When we play Ring Around the Rosie, Josiah always falls down at the end with us, giggles hysterically and crawls away, right down the hall.  I guess the excitement is too much for him!

Anyway, he really isn't feeling well, as you can see:

He was doing a lot better, so I didn't try to make an appointment with the pediatrician.  I tried at the seminary clinic because it's only $5.00, but there were no doctors available.  And today, I'm not sure if I can transport my kids to the pediatrician because I feel so dreadful.

I think my dreadfulness today is part pregnancy and part cookie dough.  I think I may have used expired eggs in the cookie dough, and it made me feel sick.  It's really not fair when I have morning sickness, because laying down makes me feel the worst.  Sleeping was rough last night.  I had to stay on my back and propped up.  I want to lay down right now, but all I can do is computer stuff and watch TV.  Even just reading a book is hard.

We have a busy week ahead, so please pray I feel better and have the sense to cancel the things that are beyond me.  If my sickness continues, I am asking for some Zofran, I know that!  My first doctor appointment is November 2!  We got into the best* doctor in Louisville and our newest family member will be born in the best* hospital.


*According to patient reviews.

As you can see...

...sometimes, we surrender to the strong-willed child.