Too many kisses and a quote from Dax...

Dax and Lily got to go with Nana and Aunt Carly to the Beach water park today! We used to have season passes when I was a kid and my brother Dosh used to life guard here. It's fun when they get to spend the day playing in the water.

Finn with his tubey ears and I stayed back and went to visit My brother in law's family. I feel like sometimes we don't get to spend enough time hanging out with my sister in law and the girls so it was nice to have some play time for the littlest cousins.

Uncle Jeff taught Finn the word "Fish" and now he's requesting his own tank.

Baby cousin Allie who is just 2 1/2 months younger than Finn was not overly keen on my guys in your face love and affection. My boy is a hugger, a kisser, and a nose finder. He doesn't really get the fact that other babies may not really enjoy his type of contact affection. Allie is a sweet little thing who is happy as punch till some big brute of a boy wanted to hug her. She seemed to like when he fed her puffs though. He just had to find his way in the door! He however did not like when his mommy was holding a crying Allie, oh no, not even a bit. (forgive my bad picture taking, seems those were more just get'em while no one is crying pics, no artist value there!)

Tonight I decided to try more positive bedtime tactics because lately my middle child has become a slight bit of a tyrant. So tonight We had a little exchange that went something like this..

Lily, Dax, and I were sitting at the kitchen table finishing off a treat after VBS before bed. My mom had put Finn in bed a few minutes before we got home so he was already peacefully sleeping and I did not want world war III getting Dax to bed in the same room. So I said "ok guys, were having a race! The first one of you that can take off your shoes, set them beside the door, get up the stairs go to the bathroom and hop quietly into bed wins! Are you ready?" Dax says, "Finn won" So much for positive parenting...

If this is for you, you know who you are...

If you are going, "what does that mean?" This post is not for you, I will go do one for you now! =)

Short and Sweet

1. I am so incredibly grateful that I am not a single parent and I pray that is a title I will never carry!

2. I am thankful I have three great kids.

3. I am thankful that we have grocery stores full of food so that we do not have to hunt and gather.

4. I'm thankful I have an amazing Mom to treat us to a smorgasbord of food, clothes, etc... while we are here with her.

Realization for today... My personal room in hell would include a never ending trip to Kroger with three kids. For your visual pleasure...


These were not my children, however just picture Dax in the same aisle (yes, here in my home town you can buy grown up beverages in the grocery store, it's amazing and something I miss!) with the same cart (although his was full) figuring out that he could "fly". Using this weapon of mass destruction he was able to get up to speeds nearing 40mph and put one foot on the bar and the other in the air. Thank God the two people he just about ran down while making this discovery were members of our church and found the whole thing funny.

We're Here

We've made it to Ohio, safe and sound. The little people are finally asleep.

The day started a little rough. The kids just seemed to be on some sort of high frequency. They argued with each other, hit, pushed, yelled, etc. When I heard my ever patient mom snap at Lily I knew this day was not starting off well. The cell phones went missing. Not just mine, as usual, but we also have a prepay that we use if Lily goes somewhere, or we would need it in an emergency. Mike charged it last night, left it on the table...poof... gone.

Now, I unlike most women my age, rarely use my phone. I keep it in the diaper bag, my purse, or the van. I talk on it only when I have to. The fact that it seems to disappear just when I need it the most is frustrating, but I've given up the full out fit throwing that could come from this frustration. I'm more of a "it'll show up, just relax" kind of girl. There was no relaxing this morning. Mike was going through the house on a mission looking for the phones. All people on two feet were requested join the mission. If they did not sign up willingly they were drafted. We searched, we searched again, and again, and yet again. (there was some scary stuff under the fridge and deep in couch cushions....ewww)

All children were questioned, together and individually. Lily has swiped it before to call friends. Dax has swiped it before to call random people on the directory. Finn has been known to swipe it to dance to the sound of the ring tone and the cool little "beep beep" noises the buttons make. He is also notorious for throwing random items into the trash can. Dax admitted to having played with a phone, but seemed to have no knowledge of it's current whereabouts. When asked, "Finn, have you seen Mama's cell phone" Finn replied, "mama blahbleosjtkeos" and ran off, coming back moments later holding a plastic cell phone that belongs to Lily. (I have recently commented on his brilliance, right? =) Lily denied all knowledge of anything relating to the current or historical placement of said cell phones. We pushed this and it ended in a teary admission of past misuse, but not current.

My darling husband started to lose it. Kids were crying, kids were whining, people were pushing, griping, etc... My mom was with us, I'm thinking either she thinks we're nuts or she's having flashback to days of old. As Mike was yelling at Lily and all three children were crying, I decided I'd had it. It had been over an hour. We had searched the whole house and van. I swooped in, picked up my boys and told everyone they need to "CALM DOWN" I of course did this in a very loud non calm voice just to get my point across. As I made this fine point, I wheeled around and knocked Finn's head into the shelf in our hallway and he started to cry. He had a package of something in his hand and as he started to cry he accidentally poked Dax in the eye with the corner of the package. Dax started to cry louder. (At this point I feel my mother of the year nomitation is in the bag)Lily came in, yes, crying , and honestly I just thought about chucking the trip and pouring a glass of something adult.

So, with all my children in my arms I prayed. I prayed that everyone would calm down and that God would let the cell phones fall from the sky. I prayed these exact words "please Lord, let them show up right in front of our noses." I then put everyone back down and suggested we just get this show on the road. "Let's load up the van and get all the stuff out of the house." As I started loading, Mike yells, "I found one." it was in the diaper bag, the very first place I looked, the place I'd looked 3 times. We continued loading, with a little "hallelujah" under my breath. not 3 minutes later, Lily says, "I found the other one" it was in the van, where Mike had already looked. So, now, I'm not gonna deny that a child could have had possession of these and just put them back, but there is no way I'm gonna discount God putting them right under our noses because we asked him to. So, my lesson for the day, ask him, even in the little things, He listens.

Dax's lesson for the day, when you yell "I need to pee pee" while on a long car ride people jump and you get to stop at cool places to pee. That's a story for another day...

Stumbling into brilliance, Praises, and other silly things

So, today I found out that my children are brilliant. Ok, so I'm bragging, I'm not trying to brag, really. It was just one of those days that I thought to myself "wow I'm blessed". It didn't help that I ran into a few familiar faces at the library today, one of them looked at me a said, "your children!" (this is when I swallowed hard and thought, oh dear Lord what have they done." After a pause just enough for me to worry she says, "you have the most beautiful children. Just beautiful" So, I swelled a bit with pride and said my thank yous.

In the library later my mom was sitting on the floor in front of Finn and she gave him a puzzle. This puzzle was 6-8 pieces with farm animals. He could do it. I don't mean just jam the pieces in till he got lucky, I mean he would look at the piece then look at the puzzle, line it up on one side and slide it in, one movement. Now, ok, I must tell you I'm not a big puzzle fan. I don't mind a good puzzle, I just don't enjoy the pieces all over. So my kids have very few, ok, they have like 3. Finn has never done a puzzle before, not sure he's even seen one. He's 15 months old, have I been slacking by not offering the boy puzzles? Obviously he's got skills. Can puzzle-doing win you an Olympic medal? How bout a high school letter?


On to Dax. Tonight, at dinner we were having a long discussion about the lunch time hunger of my children and how many chicken nuggets from McDonald's they ate at the library. (again, note the great mothering with the offering of such a nutritious lunch) They were sharing a big box of nuggets and Nana had given them a few more. I asked how many Nana had given them we then figured between the two of them they'd had 11 nuggets. Lily says, I'm the one that had 6." Dax follows with, "yea, and I'm the one that had 5" We all looked at each other. So, he's he some sort of math whiz? Did he somehow know that if they started with 11 and Lily had 6 he had 5? Or does he have an amazing memory and was keeping close track? I don't know, either way it was a little spooky!

And Lily. Oh my Lily. Nothing escapes that girl, never has, even if she wants you to believe it has. I just laugh at her checking out 15 books (big ole chapter books) to take with her on vacation to add to the pile of 10 or 12 that Nana has for her. Thing is, she'll read them, every one. But what I find brilliant about Lily lately is the sharpness of her wit and sarcasm, because it's really starting to get funny. As a mom, I'm just grateful for that, cause she's not gonna make it with Mike and I unless she can get the sarcasm and make it funny. Tonight Mom and I were giving her a little lecture about going on a walk and how she couldn't ride her bike or scooter because the boys would want to ride something. She'd just have to walk. I made some comment about it being a stroller walk and she replied, "I'd like to see me fit in the stroller." Now don't get me wrong, I know there is a fine line between talking back and appropriate sarcasm, but in this house, humor is what God gave us to get us through and funny gets you way further than whining and drama!

Praise time...

I am so glad to have my mom here with us for a few days! I love having her around and I love watching her love my kids!

I also love that she does my dishes.

Mike and I went to the movies alone tonight! First time since January! It was totally spur of the moment, we decided 45 minutes before the movie started. We haven't been able to be that spur of the moment in 10 years! (if only mom would move here!)

When Dax got up from nap today Finn wrapped his arms around him and hugged him with all his might. It was the cutest thing ever!

Watching Finn copy everything Dax and his little friend, Seth did.

This week there have been no liquid or semi liquid items on my floors. There was some applesauce on Finn's hair, some yogurt on the fridge shelves, and several bowls of cereal on random floor surfaces, but so far it hasn't compared to the last few weeks!

Laughing. Really, truly laughing so hard that I made no noise. Not once, but several times today. Try it, it makes you feel like a kid! At dinner everyone at the table was about to fall off their chairs, I love nights like those! If you need a jumping off point, trying reading this.

The boys got haircuts! You can now see both of their eyes!


Dax is so excited to go to Ohio and tomorrow we hit the road!

Realizing that my children are brilliant and beautiful. Then realizing that I had nothing to do with that. These are God's children, he blessed me by allowing me to be their mom and it's only by his grace that I haven't screwed them up too badly yet. What an amazing gift!

And as I promised, other silly things...

Last night during the DVRed version of So You Think You Can Dance Mike was busy doing his own thing on the computer while Mom, Dax, Lily, and I watched the dancers do their magic. Dax lately has been very into dancing thanks to VBS and educational programing such as the above mentioned show. This was no exception. He watched the dancers closely and seemed to be very drawn into this dance...



About 2/3 of the way through the dance he walked over to Mike at the computer and with total innocence said, "daddy, can you teach me to dance like that..." and pointed at the screen.

Ahh, Mike told him he didn't know how, to ask Lily. But I would have totally paid money to see Mike do that dance! Any of you that can get him to do that while I'm gone this week I'll pay big bucks for the video footage!

Praises...

People with enough moxy to stop by your house and find the yard sale, even when it's been canceled due to weather. Usually I would not praise random strangers knocking on my door wanting to come into my unclean house, however when my house is fairly clean and they are carrying wads of cash, I'm game.

Mom is here and she isn't phased by the chaos, the naked boys, the preteen drama, or me taking her along for the ride. (well, at least she's not showing it if she is!)

Yard sale over.

Good evening out with a great group of friends, Even if the service was bad, the food was good and the conversation better.

Friends pushing me out of my comfort zone into things I'm not sure I'm ready for. I'm honored they have more faith in me than I have in myself.

Great husbands who not only take my kids so i can go out with friends, but willingly volunteers to take a friends three little ones too. So this man is alone with 6 kids, ages 10, 7,4,3,2, and 1 for 3.5 hours. He managed to sell a bike, clean up the tables and other yard sale mess left in the driveway, feed them all snacks that involved fruit, and have 2 out of the 6 asleep without killing anyone or the use of duct tape. (even when I left it sitting in the middle of the table, just in case...)

Preview of Changes to Come...

On Sunday mornings in the summer you will find us here... Our church meets in the park for an early 8:30 service. The weather seems to be blessing us greatly this summer. It is a beautiful place to meet with God and see all the beauty around you. Although I must admit, this is sometimes hard to do with young children. I find myself leaving wondering what all I missed as a shushed my boys during the prayer, picked up the binky and other dropped items off the ground 14 times, attempted 25 different positive ways to say "you must keep your butt in your seat and your volume on whisper", argued with Lily about why reading novels throughout the service is really rather rude, and tried to figure out how Dax's shoe managed to get a good 60 feet behind us next to a tree. I only wish I had thought to take a picture of the ground upon our leaving. Let's just say every bird, squirrel, and other woodland creature get a little giddy when they see us coming, cause they know when that stroller rolls away it'll be a smorgasbord of Sunday treats!

Today, after our park church we visited the construction site where our new church is being built...

It was quite an adventure. Dax was quite overwhelmed.
They practiced being on stage. Finn explored all the places he shouldn't be and thank God for Hayley who chased him around and made sure he didn't eat screws.

We signed our names and wrote messages and Bible verses on the floor of the sanctuary. (this will be under the carpet)
The kids explored the sound booth.
Max discovered the freezer! He came and found me, took me by the hand and led me into his new favorite place. He was very excited when I offered to take his picture there.
Then some of the other kids found the freezer! This seemed to be the highlight of the tour. They were most excited by the notices on the doors that started with the words, "you are not locked in" followed by instructions on how to get out, just in case. Guess they are anticipating people panicking.
One day these pictures will stand as history. We will look back and think "wow, look how little they were when we moved in!" Confirmations, Graduations, maybe even weddings, there are bright futures waiting in the wings. A new building is a little scary. It's hard to leave history behind. There are so many unknowns, so many coming together for the first time. Think about how it feels (at least if you're like me and know) that night before a new child joins your family. There is this excitement, this fear of what is to come, even a small bit of mourning over loosing the family you know and love now. But in the end, when that new person is in your arms your family is forever changed and forever better. We will be ok. We will learn to love even better in this building God has given us. We have each other and we have them...all those little smiling faces who are so excited by the whole thing. If we'd just listen to what He tells us and come to Him through their eyes, things would just fall into place. He has plans for us, big plans!

Happy 4th of July!

Ahhh, sparklers! Yes they had parental supervision. No, noone got hurt.

Tossing poppers in the street. They brought back fond childhood memories of my little brothers and those things.
Look how patiently they are all waiting for someone to give them some fire to play with!
Why is it that when we were kids no one was concerned about our safety with these? I remember running all over the back yard with them. Dax thought these were pretty cool. We're gonna hope it doesn't wake up some inner pyromanic.
A certain big brother snuck off and lit all the smoke bombs (this was a legitimate big brother, not Dax). The little ones were quiet upset they didn't get to take part but they all aggreed the colored smoke was cool.
Hey, new location, more of these crazy firesticks!

Even though the sound of fireworks terrified Dax last night, seeing them tonight he seemed to be ok, although he needed "my Lil" to be safe. I love how there are those moments where they just love each other!
This was how Finn looked when the fireworks began.
This was how Finn looked when the fireworks were over. Why is it his brother or sister whispering can wake him at home but a half hour of fireworks ending with a 5 minute series of booms followed by many thousands of people laughing, talking, clapping, yelling, and honking did not budge him?
Praises...

Good Day. Good friends.

Being free. I think we get so worked up with the fireworks and the picnicking (or pizzaing, as the case may be) of the day that sometimes we forget what it all means. We are blessed to live where we do, even in the midst of chaos like times now, we are still very blessed to be in the United States. There are some amazing people putting their lives on hold somewhere far away to make sure it's safe for us to sit at a park, by a river, in a parking lot, or in our own backyard and watch the sky fill with amazing lights and sounds. Because of them we have these days to just play with friends.

Girl Days! Lily and I haven't had one for a while, but today we took some time out and saw a movie and went to lunch, just the girls. This is one of those things that we used to do often before the boys joined our family. We don't do it nearly enough anymore. Today we saw, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl . I am telling you this because it was a great movie! If you have girls in the 6 to 12 age bracket it is really worth seeing. Honestly, even if you don't you might enjoy it. I teared up many times. Seeing people's lives affected by the depression really touched me. I think this may be in part because it would be so easy the way things are going at the moment to reach that again. It illustrated just how fast you could go from having everything to losing everything and how the kindness of strangers and the attitude you carry can get you through. It helped that it had a great, very familiar cast. My only complaint would be that it's supposed to take place in Cincinnati but it was filmed in Canada. I wasn't sure when watching it though, the houses looked very much like the houses in Mt. Adams (the burb it was set in). Lily and I did get a little thrill when they showed a big map of Ohio and one of the arrows on the map was pointing at Wilmington.

I have speed!

Speed!

Not the illegal kind.

Not the really expensive red convertible kind.

I have the kind of speed that comes with a new updated computer! My old computer, the one I have been working on is a good 7 years old, the other beast in the house is about 10. So, when Lily asked if I'd give her this one someday I promised her she could have it for graduation. I'm sure I'll be ready for a new one in 8 years! Let's just say I don't buy toys for myself, well, ever. I am enjoying myself! I might be able to take advantage of my cool camera a little better now. This speed may even be the cure for blogger's block! (well, we'll see!)

Today we had a grand morning at the farm park with our neighbors. All the kids seem to get along well. Lily was the best "big sister" to all the preschoolers and the "Finns" hung out and enjoyed the ducks. If you don't know the story, I am a little bit of a name freak. (those of you who actually know me, please don't choke at the use of the words "little bit") I studied hospital web nurseries of the area hospitals, I talked to nurses at both my regular obs and my high risk obs. I wanted to make sure there were not a whole slew of local Finns being born that I did not know about. I had met my neighbor a few times. I knew she was expecting. We ran into each other at a playground a few weeks before I gave birth and talked for quite sometime. We thought it was cool we were both having boys within a month of each other and we'd be right down the street. A couple of weeks after I gave birth, we came home from church and found a little gift hanging on our door. In the gift was a little note, signed "Kevin, Rachel, Jay, Emi, & baby Finn due in two weeks." I called, half laughing, half hoping it'd be enough to change their minds! Turns out Rachel had loved the name Finn since she had Jay and it had finally warmed up on her husband. He was just thrilled that there would be another one, so maybe his wouldn't get beat up on the playground after all. (gotta love dads!) I guess that trumped the fact that I pulled the name off Grey's Anatomy and my girlfriends approved because they were sure a guy named Finn would be "hot". So now, almost exactly one month and three houses apart there are two Finns. It could have been worse, their Finn is Finn Michael, and that isn't even his daddy's name! I hear there are many Finns popping up all over the country, although my ob nurse swears there have been no more in their office. sigh... Best part is that I have really enjoyed getting to know Rachel and her clan. Blessing in all places! (sorry about the rambling, it's the topic, well and just that I ramble a lot!)

It was a beautiful day to be at the park and the new little brood of baby ducks made it even better. Other than one small incident with a very cute calf that licked my Finn and set off a scream that could have been heard a good 10 miles away, the day was full of happy little children and happy mommies and that is something to praise the Lord for!

Breaking through the Blog Block

So, I could say I've been meaning to write for a week now, but truth be told, I haven't. Many times I've thought, "wow, I should blog that." But, I haven't. Tonight I called home to my mom's and a familiar voice answered. I gave Ryan grief, because that is our pattern, only to realize it wasn't Ryan at all, but Dosh. He was supposed to do a quick run home this weekend for a friend's wedding and to see his best friend, also in the service, who is home because he recently lost his little brother in a tragic accident. I guess hearing Dosh's voice after so long broke the block a bit. It rememinded me how important it is that I remember all those little things that make me smile, all those little things I'm grateful for because it's the little things that add up to create a life of joy, of peace. Those big things, they hit you like a ton of bricks, but the little ones slip away too easily if we don't take the time to catalog them.

So tonight, I am grateful that my little brother and Jessy made it home safely with a couple extra days to spend at home. I pray that he know how to be there for his friends and that he know just how loved he is, even if we don't tell him enough.

I went to the visitation for the father of yet another church friend. The grandfather of one of our confirmation kids. Seems this club is getting bigger and it again reminds me to not let the little perfect moments slide. I'm grateful that God doesn't let us be alone in our grief, but I'd be ok if those of us in our church family (both new and old church!) just stopped losing our parents for a while!

I am grateful for the sound of tiny feet even at midnight, when they should be firmly planted in bed. For the way their sleepy little bodies feel when you pick them up and how their little neck smells when you nuzzle into it with one more hug as you send them back to bed.

I'm grateful for little baby boys who dance and clap with wild abandon to Jesus songs.

I'm grateful for daughters who bring me this, and get me that, take their brother out to play, get sippy cups full of this or that, and 89% the time don't complain or ask for anything in return. I've even seen her kiss boo boos this summer.

I'm grateful for the sound of my mom's voice tonight. The way it just sounded happy even though Dosh showed up while she was tearing apart the bathroom and his room wasn't ready, and the house wasn't clean. Those things in the grand scheme of things don't really matter, do they? (I'm trying to convince myself of this, because although I may go with it, I don't always feel good about it, or like I'm keeping up with the girls.)

I'm grateful that I did not panic when my babysitters for the morning did not get my cancellation message and showed up at 8 am to a very messy house and half naked people. I'm glad they felt comfortable enough to pop on in and hang out for a while anyway, even if I wasn't paying them. (Did you guys hear Finn scream when you left??)

I'm thankful for a church where Bible school is full of life and love. A place where we can giggle and love on each other's kids even on their not so good days. Where we know our kids will be loved on, and maybe cracked down on now and then when they need it. And, I'm glad it's over for the year!

I'm grateful for time with old friends. Time to lunch or just grab a drink and talk about nothing late at night.

I'm grateful for women who bless me with gifts of remembrance. Those same women who bless me many Thursday mornings and evenings.

I'm amazed and a little awed that God blessed me with a full circle moment this weekend. A little over four years ago Mike and I made our first journey to Illinois. We came for a job interview, open, but scared. Mike's parent's took us to a steak house in a warehouse by the river (yeah, it sounds bad, but it's really a decent place!) I remember that night sitting in an upstairs area waiting for a table. I looked over the balcony and watched the people below laughing and drinking while cooking their steaks on big open grills. I remember thinking very clearly, "these people really don't look that different from the people in Ohio. They look nice enough, they look like they're having fun. Maybe they'd take us in, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to live here." And they did. 4 years later we sat at a table overflowing with people, friends. People we didn't know 4 years ago. They aren't that different from those in Ohio, they are nice enough, and we are so blessed.