Tuning In

This weekend Nate and I sat on the couch watching our kids play horsey. When Brookie sat on Joe's back, he would slump to the ground because she was bigger than him and they would burst into hysterical giggles. Brookie could crawl around with Joe on her back, but it wasn't without laughing and yelling and general chaos. Nate and I would look at each other, smile and laugh but not exchange words. Our eyes meeting said it all. Aren't they adorable? I can't believe they are ours. We are so blessed. 

 Sometimes it's good to stop and just watch your kids interact with each other. Tune in and listen to their giggling, their imaginative conversation and even their bickering. I tend to zone out a lot, washing dishes, wiping counters, sweeping floors and the kid's play becomes a distant background noise that too often goes unnoticed. I'm trying to be more present, even if I'm not actually interacting at the moment, because their little voices will only be little for so long!

his first mischievous act: pulled all the tissues out of the box, and loved every moment 

Just walked by the bathroom at bed time to see my son multi-tasking at it's best: brushing his teeth and going potty. You know, no biggie.

She's a natural ballerina. She loves to twirl and jump and does it pretty gracefully, too.

I celebrated my 26th birthday this week, and it was truly one of the best I've ever had. It involved lots of shopping and eating, 2 of my most favorite things. Oh, and my hubby, babies and sister who is in town for a few weeks. It doesn't get any better than that! The Lord has given me another amazing year on this earth and I am so grateful for his mercies that are new every morning!

Italians love calamari!

The boys stayed with Grandma when we went to eat, but she got to come which was a really special treat. Check out her bowl of food!

My sister took a vacation to Florida right before coming to see me just so she could make me look white as a ghost in this picture. True story.

Nathan started standing up in his crib this week, a pretty big accomplishment since pack and plays don't have much to grab on to. He stands every time now and just looks way too cute!

 This weekend we rested, listened and interacted. Nothing like having a sister around, and the kids love spending time with their Aunt! We don't have a lot planned, but we'll definitely be tuning in and enjoying the little things!

Systems & Simplifying

 A few weeks ago, I lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, crying and begging my husband to hire someone to help me around the house for a few hours a week. (Yes, it was quite dramatic) After 2 months of non-stop photo shoots, editing, holiday festivities and close to a month of being sick, my house was in shambles and I was totally overwhelmed with the thought of putting it all back together. I felt like I had lost control of my entire homemaking responsibilities at that point and couldn't stand another second living in the current state. Even trying to begin gave me the overwhelming feeling of shoveling during a blizzard. I know you Moms can relate! 

Thankfully, I started feeling better, things have slowed down, and I've spent the last week starting my "decently and in order" campaign on my house. For a lot of you, I'm sure all of this comes naturally, but it's not my forte'. 6.5 years into marriage, I'm finally getting some of this stuff through my thick skull.

I mentioned before that my main New Years Resolution was to organize, and with that came the realization that a) I need to simplify and to do that b) I need systems. When we moved into this house, I didn't know how detrimental having 3 full bathrooms and 4 large bedrooms with walk-in closets would be to me who had no idea about systems. Cleaning products quickly became spread out between the bathrooms and kitchen, so when it was time to actually clean something, I had to go on a scavenger hunt to find what I needed. I have no totes for the kids outgrown clothes, so they are stacked in laundry baskets and overflowing onto closet floors. 

 A few days into January, we took a family trip to Target and stocked up on totes and plastic buckets for underneath the sinks. This week I've organized 8 bathroom cupboards, which included a lot of throwing away and then creating systems  Towels rolled up in one bucket, rags in another basket, cleaning supplies hanging here, extra toilet paper stacked here. I was also able to tackle my linen closet. It's such a freeing feeling--I think I actually breathe better now. ;)

I'm happy that I have nothing monumental to report at this point. With all of December's craziness, the fact that I've spent a quiet week getting my house in order makes me so happy. Living simply is my goal and when everything has it's place, the house runs much smoother and I don't waste precious time searching for a roll of toilet paper. That makes me happy!

That being said, we have still made the decision to have someone come help me 2 hours a week. I know there are amazing Moms (like my own) who can keep up with their house, cooking and kid duties, home school and run their own business from home, but I can't. I know that this change will give me the extra boost to stay on top of everything!

Healthy (Home) School Lunches

It's been a while since I shared any of our healthy packed lunches--mainly because I haven't packed lunches in a while. It wasn't practical to do when my family was here for over a month, and then we came upon the holidays. We finally started back this week and I thought I would share what the kids ate each day!

Monday: Rolled up turkey, cheese cubes, letter pretzels, apples, carrots and hummus (a special treat this week was juice boxes because they were on sale :)

Tuesday: Cheese Roll-Up on a whole wheat tortilla, veggie chips (coupon!), salad (dressing added later) and oranges

Wednesday: Bean, Cheese and Spinach quesadillas on corn tortillas, veggie chips, cucumbers and green peppers

Thursday: (Leftovers) Brown Rice and Beans with cheese, red peppers and pineapple

Friday: PB, Honey & Banana stars, cheese cubes, pretzel letters, carrot hearts (way to hard to make these, won't be doing that again!), oranges

Apparently, they liked their lunches this week.

Happy Friday! Hope you all have a great weekend!

My Happy Place

(Preface: This post has been in the making for close to a year, but I'm finally posting it now :)

There seems to be a lot of negativity on the internet lately about bloggers who are "too positive". It seems that those who want to portray a happy, seemingly perfect life are looked down upon for not showing the bad times on their blog as well. I am not trying to give you all the idea that we have the perfect life, and I seriously hope that no one would assume we are angelic beings! I am human, and so is my family. (I know, I know, this comes as a shock to many)
 I have bad days and I have really bad days. I argue with my husband, yell at my kids, have piles of laundry on the floor of my room and dirty dishes in my sink. I'm not trying to portray a "fake" life, only write about our happy times. If something happens to one of my kids or my husband (God forbid), the last thing I want to do is come back here and read all of my complaining about the bad days. In that case, I'll want to remember the good times and forget the bad.
 That being said, even if nothing happens to a member of my family, I still want to remember the good times. No, everything I write isn't always 100% happy, but it won't be used to complain about my current daily annoyances. I am blessed beyond measure and I just cannot bring myself to gripe about such small things when I have it so good!

One is feeding him, the other is tickling his neck. What a life.


 I want to publicly state the purpose of this blog, so that all who read it will understand where I'm coming from.
1) To keep my family updated with pictures and stories from our lives.
 (This is the reason that I started this blog, and it will always remain my #1 reason to update since we live so far apart.)
2) To have an online document of our lives to look back on someday.
 I hope that someday my children will take the time to look back and read about their lives, and even now, I look back on posts from a few years ago to see what was going on and what the kids were doing at the time.
3) To encourage anyone else who may happen to stop by and read.
 I love my readers, and while you may get a little bored with the amount of pictures and details of my children's lives that are posted, I hope that you find encouragement at some point. I've made so many great friends through blogging. You guys are awesome!

For being 3, he's pretty good at feeding his little brother.

This blog will never be a place to judge other Christian people on what or how they write or portray their lives. This world has enough negativity in it and I refuse to write posts that will drag people down and leave them feeling discouraged (unless, of course, it is about a real life tragedy asking for prayer). If you think I'm trying to give you the idea that I eat rainbows and poop butterflies, you are highly mistaken. For my own sake, this blog is my happy place to remember the amazing life God has given me and the wonderful memories made along the way.

Routines, Love and Orderliness

 I am the last girl to have a set schedule, but I love a good routine. Some people thrive on schedules, but I just can't do it. I've tried. Our church is busy and we're often out pretty late, so our day starts at a different time each day, depending on the time we got to bed the night before. The daily routine is the same, it's just not always done at the same time.

 This week we settled back into a routine after Christmas vacation, and it felt good. I've been sick for over 3 weeks now, but I finally have an antibiotic in me that is kicking a bad sinus infection.  In fact, today was the first day in 3 weeks that I didn't have a headache and need to take ibuprofen to function. Besides a lot of blowing my nose and a scratchy voice, I'm starting to feel normal! The kids have had coughs and colds on and off, but they seem to be on the mend as well.

 Brooklynne jumped back into school without missing a beat, which I wasn't expecting but was very thankful for! We learned which letters need "help" when they stand end of words, and now we're working on silent "e" at the end of words. She grasps concepts very quickly, something she did not inherit from me. I'm thinking her Nonnie and daddy get the credit for that one. In Math she's adding simple number problems and couting by 10's. All very exciting to me!

Nathan turned 10 months, is pulling himself up and starting to walk along furniture. Funny thing is, he still doesn't officially crawl. He can scoot around super fast, and he gets up on his knees and tries to crawl but isn't quite there yet. He can also climb the stairs, something I'm not really ready to start dealing with yet. Where did the time go?!

Despite a few weeks of sickness, there is still plenty of lovin' going on around here, as usual. Sometimes I feel like my heart might explode when I see spontaneous hugs, kisses and smiles and hear the laughter that always accompanies it. It blesses my soul.

The first week of the New Year has been amazing. I'm working on reading through my Bible in 90 days and it's been life changing already! I read while I feed Nathan, while Brookie writes or reads during school, and yes, even in the bathroom. Basically I'm reading every spare minute I get to meet my quota of 12-16 chapters a day. It's been really, really good for me. Also, tonight we purchased totes of various sizes to help me in my organizing campaign. I want to simplify and make my house as practical as possible to keep neat and tidy. I realize with 3 kids it isn't possible 24/7. but as long as everything has a place, it makes clean up that much easier. I'm excited about pleasing the Lord in the area of orderliness in my home, since he is a God of order.

 Hope you all are settling into your routine, as well. and enjoying this New Year!

A Party & Resolutions

We rang in the New Year with family and friends, dinner, snacks, games, sparkling grape juice and lots of laughs. It was a great way to spend the last day of 2012!

His first New Years :)

2012 has been a year of new friendships for me. I love these girls!

After our countdown to midnight...

We stayed up until after 2am playing games and watching funny parts of "The Grinch". It was such a fun evening spent with people we love!

 I love me a good New Year. A chance to turn the page and start a New Chapter, no matter what the year before was like. 2012 was definitely life-changing for us. We delivered baby #3, who has been my easiest, sweetest baby yet. Nate took an amazing trip overseas and was able to visit dangerous places that hardly any Americans have gone before, leaving him with memories and stories to last a lifetime. One of my best friends was happily married to the love of her life, and the other one got engaged to her man.  Brooklynne started Kindergarten, and I became her teacher. I don't regret it one bit and it's been one of the best experiences of my life! We traveled quite a bit, mostly locally, but many memories were made.

 I completed my 366 pictures, just haven't posted them. I'll be working on a photo book of our year, so that our many memories can be printed for friends and family to see.

This year my primary physical goal is to organize my house. It looks like we'll be moving in the spring and I don't want to have unorganized piles of clutter that I don't know what to do with when I'm trying to pack. I have other goals that are spiritual, but that's my primary "other" focus right now. I'm also trying to eat cleaner than before, filling our bodies with more fresh, raw veggies than ever before. A documentary called "Hungry for Change" really helped my outlook on food. I'm thankful that my kids are good veggie and salad eaters, because it won't be a fight to add more of those things into our diets.

 Hope you all are enjoying your January so far! Happy New Year!