Beautiful Chaos

Life is really in a state of beautiful chaos right now.  There are little piles of tiny things here and there, placed high on shelves--a sign that we have a toddler who wants to put everything in his mouth.  The items are usually an assortment of tiny toys, writing utensils, bottle caps, sticks, rocks, coins.  There are little love notes scattered through the house as well, adorned with stars, hearts, and often the words "I luv yoo ______," which indicate there's a little girl here eager to begin kindergarten.  There are golf balls and clubs, hockey sticks and swords, sand, dirt, leaves, balls of all shapes and sizes, signaling the presence of a three year old boy.  And now we have slobbery bones and a water dish that constantly has water all around it but not necessarily in it--the evidence that a dog lives here.  There are stacks and stacks of insurance envelopes and new employee binders, indicating that someone just made a career change.  There are strange books strewn all about that no one would ever read for fun, signaling someone is also in a seminary church history class.  There are children's books, learning materials, lists, schedules--all evidence that preschool and kindergarten take place here sometimes, whenever the mood strikes us.  There is whey and raw milk and fresh butter and cod liver oil in the fridge, garden vegetables, gobs of leftovers sitting in the refrigerator, salmon in the freezer, and something is always soaking or cooking on the counter--signs that we are trying to eat healthier.  And now there are pregnancy books mixed in with the seminary books, there are snacks on my bed stand, folic acid supplements on the counter, all evidence that someone here is pregnant.

Are these people crazy?

I think one thing that happens as more and more kids (and pets) are added to a home, is that we learn to let things go.  We learn to do more in some areas, less in others, and just let things go.  Fly Lady has helped me get a hold of our laundry and dishes, and I feel good just knowing there is never a pile of laundry to do or fold, or dishes to wash.  Our sheets are usually pretty clean, the carpet is pretty vacuumed, the beds are made.  The lawn should have been mowed days ago, the house might smell a little like trash or diapers, the kitchen floor is never really "clean," but that's okay.  My kids watch TV, I'm just not there with the no-TV rule...not yet.  I get on facebook and text too much.  I'm not perfect, and I'm not beating myself up about it.  I'm doing what I can, when I can, with the knowledge that I could probably do more, could probably be better at a lot of things, but also knowing it takes time to get there.  I have years to grow.

God works on me in little snippets through my day.  I usually do my best to sit down with my Bible alone in the morning, or with the kids at breakfast, or later in the day, or all of the above.  I have verses we are memorizing, hymns we are learning or listening to again and again, and always a book I'm working through on the Kindle.  Bibles, Kindle, verses, etc., are all over the place and I pick them up when I sit down or look at them while I cook.  God works on me as I prepare food, and as my kids say hilarious or sweet things, and he works on me after I've lost my temper, and he works on me when they act just like me, and their ugly behavior is like a mirror...

Someday, the little love notes will be gone.  The piles of choking hazards placed up high will be gone.  The sweetness that exists between my hubby and I when I'm pregnant will change to some other kind of feeling.  And the sports equipment lying all around will be gone as well.  When did my children become old enough to write love notes (M), play baseball (J), or be able to open the dishwasher by themselves and pull out knives (O)?

As children get older, and as we add more, we learn to let things go.  That realization that they really do grow up, they really will leave, and this phase of life really is special, changes something in us that nothing else possibly could.  

So, it is chaos.  Beautiful chaos.  That means, it's chaos I'm okay with.  I'm comfortable here, sitting on the couch with one child sleeping beside me, one child doing puzzles and singing in the next room,, a dog sleeping below me, a toddler sleeping upstairs, and a giant mess in almost every room of the house.

Psalm 121:1-2  "I lift up my eyes to hills, From where does my help come?  My help comes from the LORD, who made Heaven and earth."

Happy NOT Back to School Day

I was just introduced to homeschool group from our church.  I had no idea there was one, and I am seriously elated to have discovered them!  They actually discovered me.  I feel special.

They had a NOT Back to School Fun Day at a nearby splash park and playground.

 Yes, it is a very large group and we know some of the kids a little bit and some of the moms a little bit.  I hope we get to know them all a lot more.

Here's my kids' NOT back to school picture:

Owen is missing from both pictures.  In #1, he was tired and clinging to me.  In #2 he was taking a nap.  He's getting some molars in!  Poor baby.

We had a blast at the Splash Park.  And I'm really excited about all the upcoming opportunities and events this fall may bring!  We have a class at the seminary for both big kids called "Motor Skills," which I guess is just like a gym class.  And Moms don't have to stay so I plan to walk the track or something with a few friends and former neighbors (Elise, Bekah, Stacy, Sarah) and their babies, and Owen.

We are also teaching a Cubbies class (Josiah's Cubbies class) on Wednesday nights.  And the kids will be tagging along with me to Women's Bible Study on Tuesday mornings.  So that's a busy two days and then hopefully Mondays and Fridays will be relaxing days where we stay home.  Thursdays will be grocery and errands day.  Yippee :)

Josiah is THREE!

Josiah had an awesome birthday.  His birthday was Monday, the day after we got back from Tennessee, so it was kind of low key.  We woke up and tried to get moving quickly so we could get some groceries (cake, ice cream, etc.) and go to Party City, where we got 6 balloons and a big Spiderman balloon.  My kids LOVE balloons and always request balloons, party cups, etc. for their parties.  They had no party hats, but they did have this adorable (and really nice) Spiderman ball cap, so I bought it, along with Spiderman decorations, cups and plates.

Josiah LOVED this card from Great Grandma Erdman.

 We had Josiah's favorite meal:  Hot dogs, french fries, and broccoli.

He loved the grilling game we got him, too.

 Josiah is a pretty humble and sensitive little boy, so when we sing Happy Birthday to him, he just glows and gets a little bit embarrassed/shocked that everyone is singing to HIM!

His cake had a Spiderman action figure on it that said outloud, "Happy Birthday from your friendly neighborhood Spiderman!"

He chose cookie dough ice cream to go with his cake.

He loved it :)

Make a wish!

On Tuesday, we took Josiah out to a really fun and delicious pizza place called Old Chicago.  On Tuesdays, kids eat for $1.99 and can make their own pizzas.  It was so cool!  They each got their pizza dough in a pan, a good amount of cheese in cups, plus two toppings of their choice.  My kids are so funny.  Maryn chose mushrooms and olives (but used a lot of sausage off my pizza and Josiah's...she loves sausage), and Josiah chose sausage and pepperoni.  John, Owen and I had the "Chicago 7" and it was mighty delicious.

I hope we can spend many more Tuesdays at this restaurant.  YUM-O!

Amd Josiah, you are so big.  We are so proud of you and the young man you're becoming.  It drives me nuts when you climb into our bed and caress my face and my arms, but I love that you're cuddly and sweet, sensitive and silly.  I pray you someday marry a wife whose love language is physical touch.  :)  And you're not dating anyone until you're married.  ;-)

Fun in the Sun!

We are trying to enjoy every moment of summer even if that means getting eaten up by mosquitoes.  The mosquitoes are mutants now and resistant to my homemade repellant.  I put OFF on the kids today and it worked well.  :-/ I'll have to invent a new formula of my own soon!

Someone spit sand into Owen's hair...

Covered in sand and popsicle juice!

Popsicles and homemade Clif bars!

Owen, when did you get so big?

Throwing water balls at each other.

This picture is from today.  What beats apples, peanut butter and sidewalk chalk?

Look Out World! Three kids to look out for in the near future.

 Josiah has been wanting a big boy scooter for the longest time.  A Razor, just like the neighbor kids always had at VM.  We got him a cool Buzz Lightyear one, more appropriate for his age and size, for Christmas.  Obviously he knew he got jipped and barely rode the thing.  We saw this Razor at a yard sale and so I picked it up!

Josiah learned how to ride a scooter before he could even walk.  

 Maryn is making big plans here, as you can see in the above picture.  She is planning world domination.

 I took a picture of this little chart because these looks like/ sounds like charts have been an immense help to me when I am trying to get my kids to understand my weird words, like "self-control," "compassion," "patience," etc.

Feeding Minnie Mouse

Owen LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, much to my dismay.  I hate that show.  I don't know why we have it on our tv, but when he was terribly fussy one night we turned it on in hopes he would calm down and he's been hooked ever since.  It gets him to sit for five minutes or more sometimes.  I'll take it!

FlyLady, Friends, Work, Church, Outside Play, etc.

I was looking back at my blogs from a few months ago and thought I might need an update on a few of these things.

FlyLady:  First of all, I was feeling a little bad about FlyLady, but now that I've looked where I was back in March, I can honestly say I've progressed.  Moving did give us a chance to declutter a lot, and now that we are settled, I don't feel overwhelmed with toys like I once did.  The kids rooms and the play area are staying pretty nice.  Messy of course, but manageable.  I kind of wish we had nicer bins or organizers, etc.  Who doesn't?  It would be nice if everything matched perfectly!  :)

Friends:  It's been hard to make friends here, since they aren't right across the hall anymore.  I'm feeling quite a bit lonely and trapped sometimes.  I have plenty of friends--it's just hard to get together with them for some reason.  I mean, I'm used to hanging out with other mom friends at least once a day, every day.  And I know that's not really normal, but it was my life for the last three years, and adjusting to normal SAHM American life is a little rough.

Work:  John got a job with Home Depot and will no longer be working for Target.  We are excited and maybe a little nervous about this new opportunity and change.  

Church:  We are loving our church more and more.  Being closer has made a huge difference, and we've made friends with families who have older kids and teenagers who love on our little kids, which is truly fantastic.  I really like teenagers/tweens, surprisingly.  ;-)  I kind of forgot that.

Outside Play:  This is Booneland, for real.  I mean we live in a place that used to be thick forest.  The bugs and the weeds are outrageous.  I made a homemade mosquito repellent that is working pretty well, and i"m proud of myself.  lol!  But I can't manage all the weeds!  Our garden is doing really well with mulch laid down but our yard is psycho.  

Josiah:  Josiah is now performing at the high end for his age in all areas, including his expressive language, receptive language, and whatever else.  We are loving our new little man.  He is such a tender hearted warrior boy.  Loves superheroes, wrestling and Peter Pan.

Maryn:  Maryn has become my little friend, my sweet helper, as I manage these wild boys all day.  I'm so grateful for her companionship and winsome little ways.

Owen:  Wild thing.  Tasmanian devil.  ;-)  I just posted this on facebook:  Happy 14 months to our mischievous and adorable littlest, Owen Michael. He's still nursing with no end in sight, walking around pretty well, loves to bite whenever he's mad, kiss whenever we say I love you, and has a cute little chuckle. He never likes the same food twice, except beef. He loves ground beef. Lol.

Artsy Maryn

Do you have a child who shows gratitude often?  Josiah has been so precious, saying thank you when we wash his hair, and thank you when we give him medicine, and just at any point in the day he gives us hugs, kisses, and shares his love with us.  We pray before dinner, but if we have a second course or dessert, he feels we have to pray and say thank you to God again.  

I feel as though I have tried and tried to get Maryn to say Please and Thank You since the day she was born and yet she still struggles with these words.  But as I was looking through these pictures, I see that she is grateful, and she does notice the beauty in small things.  She also works hard to make things even more beautiful.  She just has that eye for all things lovely.

Maryn notices the beauty in weeds and thistles (notice our weed garden behind her, which she loves).

Here she is making a memory box like Josefina had in her book, Meet Josefina.

Ooh, who is this little fairy person?

Maryn and I decorated this t-shirt today.  She loves it :)
And she kept saying, "I love having girly time with you, Mommy."

You're welcome sweet Maryn.

:)

This Week's News

While we were in Ohio, Daddy cleaned out our front living room.

Now our front living room is just one huge play space.  It's like a dance floor.  We usually have dance parties at least once every day.

It's been too hot or mosquito-y to even play outside very much.  But I made a homemade mosquito repellant that works rather nicely.

John has been making fun of  me because I changed my political party and am now registered as a Libertarian. He thinks I want to smoke marijuana, or something.

But really, the fact that raw milk is illegal here in KY just started me thinking about all the outrageous laws we have.

Isn't Owie Badowie so cute?

This little man has amazed us.  Not only has he grown an incredible amount, he has also been exited from the speech therapy program and passed all the areas of the test he had to take with flying colors.  He is doing well across the board, even by state standards.  

Maryn said this is their boat to cross the river back to Mamaws.  I asked her what river they would cross, thinking she'd say something funny.  But she answered, "The Ohio River!"

Rice play :)

Painting with things we found in our yard.

Painting a rock.

Painting outside really has its benefits. It stormed shortly after we painted, so that washed away some of the paint, and they washed off in the pool or hose.

Some men came to redo our neighbors' driveway which was flooding. We had a great time watching them and learning about concrete.  So, we took them brownies and they offered to do our driveway as well, courtesy of the great city of Louisville.  I guess the government isn't so bad afterall.  :)

All three kiddos completed their summer reading.  I'm so proud of my library champions.

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. ;-)

The glass is half....

"I get to wash laundry today because I have three beautiful, healthy children who play outside and an awesome husband who works so hard."

I don't really understand this way of thinking.  It doesn't make me feel better about laundry.  I think this is why I'm so grateful for FlyLady and why her habits work so well for me.  I don't even think about doing laundry anymore, or dishes, really.  I do it because it's a habit and I just do it so I can get on to the sweeter things in life.  You know?  What do you think?

Owen Michael

Little Owen is now one year old.  We just had his one year doctor appointment so I figured I should share his stats and some little tidbits about him, his personality, and how we are getting along with three little kids under five years old.

First, this is all just surreal.  I feel like Owen just can't be mine, and he is too big to be my baby, and he's grown way too quickly.  Doesn't everyone say those things, like "Where has the time gone?"  But really, it's true.  I feel it more strongly now that I have one child who has nothing baby about her.  All of Maryn's baby-ness is gone.  She was holding my hand on the couch the other day, and not a single dimple or chubbiness is on her hand, her arms, or her face.  Of course, I knew she'd grow up.  But watching my kids grow up is sort of like dealing with a loss.  I have "lost" my baby girl, Maryn, and now she is almost five, and she will never, ever, ever be a baby again.  Never.

So that realization has made me yearn for more cuddles with my baby, Owen, but time passes quickly, and here he is already one year old and where has the time gone?  Many mothers wean at 12 months and I can't even bear to think of weaning.  He could probably walk if he wanted to, but what's the rush?  In another few months, I won't even have a baby to carry.  Possibly never again will I have a baby of my own to nurse or carry or sleep on my shoulder.  In some ways I look forward to that day, believe ME.  But in other ways I mourn the loss of my babies.

Weight:  22 lbs. 3 oz.  (50th percentile)
Height:  29.5 inches (50th percentile)
Head Circumference:  19 3/4 (25th percentile)
Teeth:  Owen has six teeth.  I think.  Maybe eight.  :)

Words:  cock-a-doodle-doo, quack, duck, woof woof, Mama, Dada, banana, Maryn, Josiah

Owen loves to throw balls back and forth, loves to take off his diaper, loves to try to touch his poop, loves to eat almost anything, loves to drink water from his straw cup, loves to throw things down the stairs.  He loves to swing, play in the sand, play in the water, go swimming, he loves to slide, too.

Owen can stand up without any assistance but has not taken any steps on his own yet.  He loves to crawl on his feet and hands, bear crawl style.  He puts everything in his mouth for inspection.  He gets into the cabinets all the time.  He likes to try new things, like bugs.  He likes to try to bite his siblings when they have a toy he wants.

I think Owen may be our shy child.  He will stay on my lap for quite a long time in a public place and usually when he goes to play, I suspect he does because Maryn and Josiah are there.  He usually does well in church nursery now if familiar teachers are there, but he doesn't say much or vocalize much when in a new or different place than home.

Owen has the smarts and perseverance of his sister and reminds us of her a lot, but he has the athleticism and bravery of his brother.  It makes for an interesting combination.  He doesn't mind getting in trouble, thinks the word no is pretty funny, and usually doesn't mind to have his hand swatted.  But when someone takes a toy from him, he usually goes and just finds something else to play with.  Or he might scream and try to bite, if it's something he really wants.  He's pretty good at manipulation already, and is good at figuring things out, being sneaky, and being cute.  :)

Owen plays very well by himself, too.  Yay :)

We love our sweet baby Owen.  I'm so glad he's ours!

Sprinklers, Smiles and Painting :)

The kids love these new sprinkler toys from Mamaw and Aunt Cathy!

Morning smiles :)

Pasta night!

Morning painting project, under the skylight...so pretty.

She's painting a portrait of her favorite stuffed animal, Alice.  

Josiah's painting.  Grass, sky, sun, trees, and Lightning McQueen :)
I was helping Josiah with this one as I was showing him how to make up and down and
back and forth brush strokes.  And I helped him make the sun, too.

Our friends the Seelyes gave us this awesome easel.  

"Alice"

Maryn's second painting of the day, her bear that she won in the pumpkin decorating contest a couple years ago.
I didn't watch her do this painting at all and I thought it was the best!  I love how she's really using the whole paper now, and she's getting better at taking her time on each painting.  I think it'll be a good kindergarten year.  :)