Two Days of Praises and a Giveaway!

**Update** Giveaway is closed! But you can still download a free song from Seeds here and get a code for 25% off their music! Thanks so much to the Seeds people for sharing this with us!

The Seeds we will be blowing your way in our first Giveaway at the end of this post!



Two beautiful days for playing outside!


My blogger is looking perfectly normal tonight!!

The American Idol Finale. Love seeing the humble good guy pull it off! Or maybe I should say that I love that our country is still choosing the humble guy next store as the kind of person we want our kids to look up to. Yay for Kris! It was quite a show!

Spending time sitting on the floor with the boys taking turns giving me hugs and kisses. I know these days won't last forever. I couldn't help this song running through my head as they decided to do a joint hug and I just held them both and rocked them. The smell of their little boy hair, and the sound of their little boy giggles. I just wanted to bank it in my memories forever, the sound, the smell, the feeling of their squishy, squirmy little tummies. Love.

After school chats with a preteen. I hope they stick around for a long time. I hope they one day turn into late night phone conversations with a grown up daughter.

Late night phone conversations with a grown up mama, a couple of states away.

My little brother and his faith and strength. His fiance, and how much she loves him.

Youth group scavenger hunts. I love these girls. The make me laugh, even sometimes cry, and always roll my eyes =). Have a great summer girls!

Bible study final exams. Oh yes, I liked it! =) My Bible Study homework slackers. I am thankful that they let me lead them, or just let me follow Miss Beth following Jesus and doing all the homework for them. I'm glad we made it to the end of Daniel all in one piece, and I for one feel slightly smarter!

A bubble container that really does not spill! Really! There was no screaming, no one ended up wet, and we still have bubbles left over. Small things are totally worth praising, let me tell ya!

Having my camera out to catch Dax's first fall off his bike!

The helmet and hostas that softened the blow and made for great pictures!

The little brother that went running to "Hep Dax!"



A 2 year old who sees no reason why he can't climb the tallest tree in the yard.

The innocence that makes spiders crawling on cars both intriguing and a bit "scaredy"all at the same time! The sweet anticipation of the end of the school year.



The baby bunnies bouncing in and out under the shed.



A long weekend looming with not to much on the agenda.



A sweet husband who both cooked dinner and did the dishes.



A sweet new baby niece sleeping somewhere out there tonight with her mommy and daddy and two new big sisters waiting for the little one to come home to join them! A healthy, uneventful delivery. I'm still waiting for a name...I'll share more details when I have them!!




The beauty that God laid all around us so that we wouldn't forget He is always near.

*******************************************************************************

Did Someone Mention A Giveaway??

Oh yes! Oh yes she did!

In honor of my 25oth post, the sweet sweet feel of the warm sun being out for 4 days in a row, Memorial Day weekend, and Most especially my new little baby niece, I am feeling like I should give something away!

What? What should I give? Hmmmm....how bout a seed? It is spring, right?

About a year ago I read this blog post over at It's Almost Naptime and thought, wow, great idea, I'll have to get one of those CD's.

When I say Bible verses set to music you probably think, "oh yeah, exciting" followed by an eye roll. I've been reading Missy's blog long enough to know that she probably wouldn't be playing some sort of headache inducing hokey music for her kids. She just seems a bit more hip than that. It took me until Christmas to order one. We started with Seeds of Purpose, we were hooked.

Since then we and the Seeds Family worship CD's have bonded! We now have 4 of them and listen in the car, in the boys bedroom, and my favorite, at clean up time. We put one of these on right before lunch and we alternate dancing and cleaning up toys. Finn dances his little heart out! It is totally praiseworthy! Dax yells "Dance Mama, Dance" if I keep cleaning during a dance song, he's good, that guy!

Seeds is doing something new with their packaging now. They have a great concept of how planting God's word is like planting seeds. They now send you two copies of each CD when you by one. One to keep and one to share. So we are sharing...with YOU!

Here is how it works! The winner of this little giveaway will receive one brand new Seeds CD (never played, can't guarantee some little hands haven't pried off the tape that once sealed it shut). You may choose between Seeds of Courage, Faith, or Praise. We close this contest when the last of these three things occur Sunday, 10 comments (all from different people!) on this post, and my new niece has a name! So...this could close Sunday, or it could be July, we'll see! =) Until then, you can go here and listen to a few of the songs on the CD! Enjoy!

Finally!! Pictures!!

Here you will find pictures and slide shows to support the past week's worth of posts...about time, isn't it?? Enjoy!

Dax's School Picnic

Posing with the infamous, Bethany...
Finn, Flirting...

Dax, getting a little end of the year love from his very first teacher!

Dax's Birthday Celebration

Treasure Chests...20 hours of sticky goodness. Dax's buddy Max did tell me they were "Super Good" so I guess it was all worth it!

Pirate trinkets and treasures that were immediately tossed and forgotten ~ $6.98

Gifts that will be dirty and lost by next week ~ $67.82

Birthday dinner at the Pizza Ranch buffet, Yee Haw! ~$28.14

Sharing a play doh ice cream cone with your newly turned 4 year old ~ priceless

Carpet cleaning for the living room carpet after play doh cone hits floor....

(all price are vague representations of reality, and may or may not reflect the true cost of items)

Mother's Day, our own traveling circus!

Three Kids, one picture, take 1467...1468...1469....1470, tongues in, mostly looking at camera!

Still tied up...

Today color came back to my blogger dashboard. Later there were a few buttons. Tonight things look almost normal, but not quite. Maybe by tomorrow all the pieces will fit!

I may still have my pictures held in captivity but I can toss out a few praises...

A beautiful day for a school picnic yesterday after being postponed due to rain on Friday. I have some cute pictures I'll add to the posting pile. It'll be a whole album by the time they get up and running!

Dax finally joining his friends to do a little singing and picture taking. I think I might have even seen him dance!

Watching how he interacts with his friends, interesting.

Watching Finn play with the big kids! Let's just say, every time I turned around Finn was flirting with a new girl. Should I be worried? Thank goodness Miss Maggie from the Sullivan Sitcom was an avid Finn minder. He was in great hands with Maggie at his side!

All the simple little conveniences we take for granted. A roof, clothes, water, electricity, food...we could in just a snap have to figure life out without them. I think they are worth a shout out now and then. =)

My Mama's birthday yesterday. I would tell you how old she is, but you'd never believe it, cause she could totally pass for 47.5. I'm proud of the girl! After a year and a half of me blogging she decided to get an account and leave me a comment! Love that lady! Happy Birthday mom, sorry your video gifts have yet to get to you!

Speaking of comments...look at all you amazing commenters who have popped out of the woodwork for a moment. I know there are more, but I am impressed by some new voices. There might be a giveaway yet. I'll just have to mandate that post get enough comments (10 or so) to make it a little challenge. That would be Gleeful! I can only imagine 10 comments!

Speaking of "Glee"ful. Did anyone catch "Glee" after American Idol tonight? I shook my head when I heard the name of the guy who looks like he will be the main character. I've shared with you all my name issues, right? (If I could link you back I would, but that ability is being held for ransom as well.) Yep, Finn. I must say I was thrilled the name went to the main character, well rounded athlete, singer, pretty descent guy, vs the bully, or the complete geeky guy, but I like to fly slightly under the radar with my names.

Speaking of American Idol, it's finals week. I haven't posted much about the show this year for a couple of reasons. First, youtube has not had good access to the videos from the performances. Second, half of the show has been talked over so loudly by my children that I'm not sure I've heard it all well enough to judge. The kids just didn't get into it a much this year. Three, I think for some reason it makes me miss my Dad. Just knowing my parents were out there watching it and it was common ground for he and I to chit chat about was a good thing. I really often wonder who he would like this year. So, who do you like?

This crazy bag of notes my husband has had in a box in the garage forever. It is full of notes from Jr High and High School. Vintage stuff. There are lots from me, and lots from other girls. Enlightening, I say. should I pitch them? Save them? I'm not sure, but the few I've read have made me laugh, or sigh, or remember and pray I get Lily through the next years!

Yard sales with my children. We pretty much just walked and walked today. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing. We found pretty much nothing we needed and nothing we didn't need cheap enough to buy it anyway. Oh well, we enjoyed ourselves.

It's quiet, it's time for bed. Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful!

Help?!?

Ok bloggers, did anyone else's "dashboard" just go away? Morph into somesort of boring, barebones, thing with no way to visibly upload pictures or add links or the like? I'm lost with this blank white page with some colored text. Help! It's like I'm Alice in Wonderland and I've dropped into some strange new world! My pictures and I are trapped in this rabbit hole...send help!

Praises, Dax's Birthday Edition...

** yet another disclaimer... This post was far more organized two hours ago when I started putting it together. After hours of picture sorting and trying to finish this it is not in any real order, and half the pictures I meant to put on disappeared and some random ones showed up, so I left them. It's been a good day and I am blessed to have three amazing kids, not to mention their daddy! This middle son, he is something, but most of all he is a beautiful blessing to our family. He inspired me to start choosing joy. These are actual pictures from the day the side bar story was written. Gotta a love a boy who sparks such a journey for his Mama.

Four years ago today we welcomed this beautiful boy into the world. Our world was forever changed! Making it through his birth!

Finding that falling in love with a baby boy is just as easy as falling in love with a baby girl.

Lily making it through the last four years and becoming a pretty great big sister even after being thrown off her only child pedestal after 7 years.

Making it through my pregnancy! Man that guy was not an easy one!

The feeling of being so blessed with a second child after so many losses, and pretty much giving up hope.

People not saying anything too uncomplimentary about us naming him Dax. It has come to totally fit him, but I'm sure there were some with doubts at first!

Dax knowing my Dad. Having had the chance to roll around on the floor with him and hang out with his Papa for a long enough to remember.

The humor that this child brings to our house.

How my heart melts when he says, "I love you, Mama, I really love you"

How he insists on at least two rounds of hugs and kisses before I go anywhere. The way he always asks, "can I give you another hug and kiss?"

The moments that he loves his siblings. The way he is so happy when he can help them. This would come between the hitting, pushing, and yelling, "I hate sharing!"

Those Dax moments. The ones I can't really explain. The ones that set him apart somehow.

His voice. (well, his voice when he is not whining or yelling) It has always been distinctly his.

The things he says that just crack you up.

Hearing all day what a great birthday this is. How much he loved all his presents and how these balloons must have "fallen from the sky".

I love that he still fits on our laps, love to snuggle, and still has some innocence. I was so sad to have to enter the "ugly isle" to look at things he asked for this year. You know the isle, the one with all the ugly boy toys..ick! And I would love for the snuggling to be suspended from bedtime to breakfast, rather than take a brief hiatus and resume at 2 am in our bed. But I know that in a few years sleeping between his mom and dad will be the last thing he wants to do.

His intellect. He thinks outside the box...hang on teachers in the town, I'm sending another out a the box kid your way in a year or so. Funny thing, he is out of the box in a totally different direction than Lily.

Dax's relationship with Finn. I love watching them grow together.

Four years of the chaos that only a little boy could bring.

You have rocked our world, Little Man, and we wouldn't want it any other way!

**PS If you've been just anxiously waiting for pictures promised, I had them almost all uploaded earlier when explorer shut down. I found this a tad frustrating and tossed them by the wayside. Soon, soon, I'll try again. Thank you to those that commented, you made me feel better! And Aunt Lynda, I'll have to send you my garage sale wish list...I know you have great ones there too!

The Anatomy of a 4 minute shower and 5 things I've already heard too many times today...

Turn on the shower. 8:20 am

Jump in quickly before anyone notices you are missing.

Hold in the yelp when you realize that the water is a tad to hot.

Settle into the warmth realizing maybe it's not too hot after all.

Open your eyes after quickly washing your hair (which answers question 1 over here) to see four eyes glaring at you from the other side of the clear shower curtain.

Curse the fact that you haven't pulled the fabric one out of the dryer and rehung it. 8:22

Nod attentively responding to the 15 questions asked by the two year old you can only half understand when the water isn't running over your head while you try to wash the important parts.

Keep reattaching the little suction cups on the edge of the curtain each time the two year old's head pops through them. Trying to prevent a bathroom flood.

Say a little prayer of gratitude for the furry set of eyes that is once again licking up all the water droplets on the side of the tub and the floor.

Finish rinsing.

Timer! Pair of hands shove you through the vinyl from behind. 8:24

Grab towel.

Receive excited greeting upon stepping out. "Mom!! Hi! Shower! Mommy! Hi!" Really, was I that far away on the other side of the vinyl?

Receive second greeting as newly turned four year old discovers the party is going on without him. "Hey Mom, you take a shower?"

Get bumped in the legs by the furry thing.

Take note of the size of our one and only bathroom. 6x6ish??

Reach for the door pushing through the 2x2 "entry area" over the three bodies.

Find door stuck.

Look around, panic only a tad...then pull really hard and whisper, "O Lord let me out!"

Sigh a sigh of relief, move on with the day. 8:27

5 things I've already heard too many times today....

1. Can we play play dough now?
2. Mom, can we play play dough today?
3. Mama, can we play dough outside now?
4. My balloons! No, MINE BALLOONS!
and finally...
5. Mom, play dough, now!

More than a week...

It's been so long since I've even intended to post that I had to re-loggin to my blogger site, and I momentarily forgot the password...but I'm here now. I have way too many pictures to post. I have too many things to blog. Whenever this happens it has this crazy snowball effect that sounds a little something like this...

*warning*what you are about to read is filled with very long run on sentences, inappropriate punctuation, and tons of inconsequential rambling that might lead you to believe there are voices in my head. There are, but I'm hoping you have them too so you won't be too concerned. Anyway, continue at your own risk.

"Oh shoot, I was too tired to blog Mother's Day. I really should have blogged Mother's Day, it would have been funny. Next year I think I'll spend the day with just my husband. Man, that isn't nice to say, because I'm really grateful I have three great kids and if I blog about how I want to spend Mother's Day without them that might sound bad. Oh well, the people that read my blog have read about my kids, they probably would get why dinner out with all of them might have ended with Mike and I looking at each other, rolling our eyes, giggling, and him asking if I wanted to eat dessert at a nice table by the window alone. They might even laugh when I mention that the best line of the day was uttered by Dax who upon being offered a cookie from the bakery in Kroger while throwing a tantrum stopped long enough to say, "you know, this isn't going to make me be quiet, it isn't going to make me calm down, it isn't going to make me happy" then he proceeded to eat it and continue his fit. At least he's honest. I think my loyal readers might totally get my thought that Mother's Day should be spent with your children if they no longer live with you and without your children if they do live with you. What about those others? You know, the readers I don't know are there? Yeah, I just ran into one of those people. Someone who mentioned they've been reading my blog. Someone I enjoy...but it made me stop and wonder, who is out there? And if they are out there, why does no one comment? Even my own family never comments, don't they know comments are like an addiction. It's like the UPS man left a package on my porch when I see a new comment! Speaking of packages, there have been a lot of those lately. Dax's birthday gifts have been coming, I kind of wish those people had all warned me that the gifts where not wrapped in the box. That boy has been lucky, he's gotten a UPS gift two days in a row now. He just keeps muttering "it's my lucky day, it's just my lucky day, mom". Now he's up one police Lego set, one transformer, one play dough set, a little tike's work bench from a garage sale...I should post pictures of that, it was one heck of a deal for $8, and one random orange robot also from a garage sale. This boy, he thinks he's gone to heaven! I'm his mother and I have yet to buy him one gift. I should blog about that...what a slacker mom I am that I have not bought him one gift and birthday is tomorrow. Actually his birthday is in less then two hours...I can blog about that tomorrow. Wait, did I ever blog about Lily's birthday? Oh crap, I didn't, I facebooked the pictures of the ear piercing but I didn't blog it! Sigh...she's going to think I forgot her. I better back blog the birthday before I blog Dax's. I never blogged the children's museum pictures either. Or all the choir stuff. Oh man, all those choir pictures. Did I blog about that? I need to go back and check, I did post something. Well, not all of it, I'm sure. Did I post that Lily got a 1 rating in the district? That they then went to state where they received a 1? Oh, I don't know...but,for an elementary school choir, they are amazing. She is loving it!! I really need to blog that, people must think I neglect Lily she is on the blog so infrequently. I have some great pictures of her from Mother's Day, maybe I'll post those. Yeah I should post those. Why does blogger take so much more time to upload pictures to than facebook? Why can't they let me drag and drop? I'd put off blogging less. I really wished I'd blogged praises last night so I could have mentioned all those little treasure chest cakes and swearing at my children(that would have exactly been a praise, but the fact that I finished them, with a little help, would have been). I also could have mentioned youth group and how excited I was that the girls were really interested in the subject and after my long study of Daniel, I had some answers, or at least some insight. I also might have mentioned how much I love seeing those confirmation crosses on a few of them all the time. If I back blog all this stuff now I'm going to hit post 250 before I'm ready and I want to do a giveaway, I've never done one...maybe new people will comment, then maybe I will want to blog more. Wait, I'm not supposed to be blogging for comments, I'm supposed to be blogging to record my praises and my family's day to day being...for us...oh man, I should really just do tonight's praises and go to bed, it's almost midnight."

Thursday's Praises....

If you've been to the Sullivan Sitcom, you know it was Pirate Day at school today. This is a praise, because it is also the day before Dax's birthday and his day to bring treats. Oh yes...bless those lovely ladies at preschool who thought this up! A themed party with 20 of Dax's closest friends (in costume). Treasure hunts, stories read, pictures taken, and all I had to do was spend 20 hours making treasure chest cakes, ok, so I didn't have to, but you know that Miss Traci sets the bar pretty darn high with her cute little goodies bags all the time. I love doing the project while planning it and while taking the pictures when it's done, it's that middle part I struggle with!

We made it to school on time this morning! In costume, with treats, and all we forgot was Dax's hook and Mrs. Turney's card.

I got to take some super cute class pictures of the gang in their pirate gear. It was great to be with Dax at school in the morning and not have him throwing any type of fit!

Having "Addis" at church this morning so I could drop off Finn before taking Dax to school. My little pirate never would have left preschool if he'd have gotten in there!

Spending some good quality time "crafting" and chatting with the church ladies.

Picking up Dax, sans most of his pirate costume, in great spirits from school and having a camera full of cute pictures of he and his friends. Thanks Mrs. Turney! Glad you enjoyed the camera! Someday maybe I'll even post some of these pictures!

Dax is done with his first year of preschool. I'm glad he made it through even if the mornings were sometimes a bit crazy! I'm thankful his teacher didn't just shake her head and send him packing the first day I dropped him off throwing a fit about hating school. Funny thing was, at the end of everyday school was great! Well, except for that one day when he said all they did was sit around and look at each other all day. Hmmm...I should ask them about that one! =)

A beautiful sunny day in the middle of all the rain! It was great to play outside!

Lily pulling herself together enough to make it home before she fell apart after one heck of a fall off her bike. I'm glad she's just sporting a goose egg and a scraped arm. I almost thought about how she needed a cell phone..... really, I'm still kidding....and I'm using way too many"...."

Spending my evening watching our local choirs perform. They really should be proud of how good they are. Let's just say I was not looking forward to lots of choir concerts this year. I was in choir once and they were really not fun to listen to for very long! Lily's director is great with them. I really enjoyed myself. It may have been that I was in part really thankful to have not brought my other children!

Taking Lily out way too late to dinner at a local bar, um, I mean family eating establishment. It was nice to just sit and have dinner with her alone. She's growing up! In a lot of ways I can't wait for 5th grade to be done! In others I wish she was the one turning 4! I love those preschoolers. They fit on your lap and sometimes life is just easier that way.

Coming home to three sleeping boys. Life is good.

You...those who are still reading. God bless you. You must be really interested or totally bored out of your mind. Thanks for making it this far. Now just so you know, this is post 246. When we get to 250, I just might be giving something away! Stay tuned! And hey, comment. If you made it this far you deserve some recognition! Oh, a picture post supporting this one, will be posted tomorrow. It's just to late to do it now, the spell check/correction alone may take 20 minutes! Aren't you glad to know this?

Ok, so one picture. If you made it this far you deserve a little reward. See my son, he looks a tad like a pirate Cyclops with a bad attitude, what's up with that?

Wednesday Praises...

That the boys found the other brown shooter thing that shot the little mouse on a cheese wedge across the room so they'd stop fighting with each other over the one they had. The volume of "Brown thingy Mine" "No, brown thingy, MINE!" Was loud enough to wake the neighbors first thing this morning. If there are any neighbors our there reading this, I'm really sorry.

That the oatmeal that got spilled all over the floor this morning was straight out of the canister and not yet cooked.

That my mom gave us this sweet little vacuum that Dax can use to sweep up all the oats off the floor.

That Finn and Dax had so much fun and even a little science lesson checking out all the cool thing in the vacuum.

Lily spent a long time talking with her mama today. It was a rough day at school but she was able to come home and talk about it with no whining, yelling, or attitude. Maybe she's growing up. Now if the girls in the 5th grade would start being kinder to one another we'd be in good shape. Why is it that girls are so mean???

The nice neighbors across the street helping to track down Sophie (the dog) after she set sail on a neighborhood romp.

Dax not taking a nap.

My hubby being here with the little people so I could go to youth group and hang out with the bigger ones.

Big girls not throwing tantrums for being split out of the groups they chose.

Fun rides around town taking crazy pictures for a scavenger hunt.

Great conversations with great girls. I feel blessed to spend time with these girls. I missed the ones not there.

Coming home to two sleeping boys, a happy husband & a happy daughter.

A quiet house where all is well.