New hats

We went shopping last week for Jonathan's birthday. That's right, Jonathan is still young enough that I was able to buy him a birthday gift while he was with me without him knowing. This is the last year for that, though! Anyway, I got them each a brand new hat. Batman for Jonathan and Aaron, and a Wall-E hat for Martin. They love their new hats!

TIghts

We are now officially in "tights" season - way too cute!!
Worthy of a blog post? After 3 boys . . . I think it might be!

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

October 2006

October 2007

October 2008

October 2009
Celebrating their 3rd birthday
GraceAnn and Jonathan

I can't believe my baby boy is 3!! Jonathan is my strong willed, little terror, sweet, loving, crazy, high-spirited, passion filled little boy. He finds joy in the most simple of things and is a great reminder to us all to be joyful in all things!!

Above is a little picture tribute to my 3 year old son. I love my sweet boy and thank God for blessing us with him.

Soccer for Aaron

Aaron played soccer this fall with Kickin for the Cross. He was involved in an instructional league and loved it!

30 minutes of instruction

5 minute devotional/Bible time

30 minute scrimmage game.

He really enjoyed it and wants to continue with it. We plan on signing him up again in the Spring. Martin is also going to join a soccer league in the Spring for his age group.

A quick note to say . . .

Please pray for my dad. He's just been admitted to the hospital for severe pneumonia. He's had a couple breathing treatments already and is on oxygen. He's also been diagnosed with Diabetes, however, they are not addressing the diabetes at this point. They are trying to get the Pneumonia dealt with and are trying to get him comfortable.
It is in times like these that I wish that we lived closer. I know there isn't really anything I can do, other than pray. But it would be nice to be nearby, so that at least I could visit.

I also want to thank those of you who have been praying for me. I have been praying diligently that God will give me the energy necessary to get through each day, and that He would help me to treat my children with the grace and mercy that he extends to me. God is so good. He has given me more than enough strength to get through each day. Thanks for praying for me. I know without doubt that many of you have been. Rosalie is waking about 3-4 times a night. Most of the time, I can nurse her and get her right back down - and it only takes about 15 minutes. I mentioned that Jonathan often wakes me once each night to go to the bathroom. Last night, around the 2nd time I was up with Rosalie, I noticed that all the lights were on upstairs, including the bathroom light. This morning, Jonathan told me that he went #1, and got his underwear and pants back on all by himself. What a little trooper he is. So, sometime last night, he got himself up, went to the bathroom and got himself back to bed without me ever knowing. I don't know whether to feel guilty about it or just be thankful that he was able to do it! (Just be thankful, I know - but it makes me wonder if I have made him feel bad for waking me up - I sure hope not!)

My mom was planning to come up this week and spend the week with us, but since my dad is sick, she'll be staying at home taking care of him. I am also praying for her this week as she cares for my dad.

At this very moment, I have both my little ones down for naps, so I am going to try and upload some pictures and make some posts that will appear throughout the week. I'm not really sure how far I will get . . . but maybe I'll at least get 3 posts up this week. We shall see.

As always, thanks for reading.

Anniversary - 40 Years!!!

Happy Anniversary to my Dad and Mom!

They were married October 23, 1969

And 40 years later. . .

2 daughters

2 sons-in-law

4 granddaughters and 3 grandsons

God is good and His blessings are abundant!

Thanks, Mom and Dad for being committed to raising us, loving us, and supporting us. Thanks for continuing to support us and help us as we are now raising our own children

Thanks for staying married for 40 years in a world and society that doesn't value marriage anymore.

Praise God for 40 precious years!!

Just no time

to post on my blog lately. Rosalie, my calm and easy baby, has turned into a difficult and high maintenance baby. She has gone from sleeping 11 hours a night since May 1st, to waking 3 times a night. I am beyond exhausted from waking so much at night. It's pretty common for me to be up with Jonathan once each night too. So, there are times when I don't get to sleep more than an hour or two in a row. So, now, not only am I working non-stop all day long, I am also having to work at night. No more nights off for me! So, I guess that means I really do work 24/7! LOL

Really, those 5 months that she was sleeping all night were a tremendous blessing to me. Life is not easy with 4 children, homeschooling 2 of them, and making all of our foods from scratch. I know there are things I could probably do to make life a little easier, but that might require that I compromise in the area of health and nutrition. Knowing what I know about the immune system and how much it is affected by nutrition, I cannot compromise in this area. So, I press on with my work in the kitchen. I am considering getting help with the cleaning, however. I am pricing out cost of a cleaning service. I am thinking about getting someone to come once every other week, just to help me with the deeper cleaning projects that I don't seem to have to time to do. I have no idea what to expect as far as price, though.

Life has been overwhelming for me. Rich is working so much, that he is unable to help me. He is overwhelmed with all the work that he has to do too. One thing is for certain, though. I have the opportunity to teach my children a valuable and biblical lesson. Phillipians 2:14 Do all things without complaining or dispute.
Have you ever noticed that children tend to whine and complain alot? Where in the world do you think they learn to complain? Do you have any idea how many times that I hear myself in their complaints? Do you have any idea how many times a day I quote that verse to my children? I am pretty certain that if I modeled no complaining to them, that they would probably learn more quickly this valuable lesson. I am a work in progress. And my goal right now is to make it through this difficult season of life without complaining. My prayer is that my children will hear words of encouragement and words of praise come out of my mouth. How much does complaining help anyway? Does it make anything better at all? No, it never does. How easy it is to fall into the trap of complaining, though. I must admit, I havn't been doing a very good job in this area. I have a tendency toward letting my circumstances overwhelm me to the point where I get grumpy and unpleasant.
However, I suspect that I have had people praying for me lately, because each day this week has been a great day. My nights have still been sleepless, but the days have been full of cheer and laughter. So, those of you who have been praying for me . . . thank you for your prayers.
I am so thankful that God is not done with me yet. I love this journey I am on - this journey of being a child of our King - this journey of being a wife - this journey of being a mother to my children - and this journey of teaching my children - and believe me - there is JOY in the journey!

Thanks for reading.

Cinnamon Rolls

Last week, I had to make buns for our evening meal, and as I was rolling the dough into a bun shape. . . an idea began to take shape in my mind. My children have never had any sort of cinnamon roll! Crazy, I know, but true. So, once I had enough buns formed, I took the rest of the dough and shaped it into a long snake like figure. I dipped the snake like figure into butter, and dredged the dough trough a mixture of evaporated cane juice and cinnamon. Then I rolled the dough into the shape of a spiral cinnamon roll. I made just enough for each of us to have one. . . I certainly didn't want to go overboard, since I didn't know if they'd be any good or not. While they were baking, I made a glaze to drizzle over them.

They were delicious! My children loved them. It was a huge treat for them.

I made the dough using kamut grain and hard white wheat. So, these, are about as healthy as a cinnamon roll can get! I am convinced. . . that even my mom would love them!! If you knew my mom, you'd think that was a pretty big deal. So, watch out, mom. . . I am going to make one for you when you come visit!

A Prelude to Jonathan's Birthday

Jonathan was so very excited when he discovered that a big package that landed on our porch had his name on it!!

We didn't have the heart to make him wait.
He was far too excited about it!

WOW!!! BATMAN!! Trust me, it doesn't get any better than that!
He also opened up a precious hard board book all about animals!
He LOVES this book! He immediately declared it his school book, and promptly went and placed it on our school book shelf. Everyday, when we do school, he pulls it out and makes sure that he does his school!
Thank you Pupup and Nanny for these wonderful birthday gifts!

I left the room for 5 seconds. . .

and this is what I saw when I came back. . .

Do you think she's proud of herself? She's pulling up on everything now!

My 2 year old in training

It's never too early to teach responsibility! Jonathan's personality can be somewhat perplexing to me. He has been my hardest toddler by far. He throws tantrums, is insistent (without success) to get his way, he is strong-willed and persistent. All of those things can make for some tough moments. However, Jonathan is so passionate about life. He's animated and excited about most everything he approaches. He is an eager helper - and even better - he helps me with all of his heart!! When he does anything - he does it heartily! His new job is unloading the clean silverware back into the drawer. He loves it and he does it well.

On a side note, when I put him down at bedtime or for his nap he insists that his room be picked up and perfectly clean. He just can't go to sleep if there is a mess. Either he just really likes order (this is the main thing that perplexes me), or my own obsessiveness about order is just rubbing off on him. Either way. . . I really like it!

Happy Birthday, Pupup!!

Pupup and Nanny holding Martin

Pupup and Aaron.

Rich and his Dad at graduation

Pupup holding Rosalie

We miss you Pupup and wish we could be with you to celebrate your birthday. We hope you have a wonderful day today!! Happy Birthday!

Jamestown - Our History Field Trip!

We had the wonderful opportunity to visit Jamestown while we visited in Virginia with my family. We had just gotten through studying Jamestown with Martin and were excited to actually get to go there and see it. All 3 of the boys had a great time exploring!

Mom and Dad with the 2 year olds!

My four children standing next to the flag pole and plaque for either Virginia or North Carolina - forgive me - but I can't remember!

GraceAnn and Jonathan - best cousins - best friends!

Aaron was digging out burnt wood to make a canoe - using a thick sea shell!!


The boys outside the Indian dwelling.


Mom, Juliann, Emily, GraceAnn and my 3 boys on one of the ships!

A better view of the ship.

Martin, Aaron, and Jonathan sitting on the deck of one of the ships!

Inside the officer quarters of one of the ships.

Martin looking at one of the canons!

Night-night, Aaron!

The boys in their armor!

Jonathan loved this hat at the gift shop - walked all around wearing it, but ended up deciding that he wanted a sword instead!

The Virginia Living Museum Field Trip

While visiting in Virginia with my family, we were able to go to the Virginia Living Museum with Michelle and her children, William and Charlotte! Thanks, Michelle, for inviting us. We had a wonderful time! The children got to see lots of animals in very nicely maintained habitats. They saw beavers, racoons, deer, eagles, wolves, foxes, fish, turtles, alligators, lobsters, sharks. . . and the list goes on and on. We really enjoyed our day there! Here are some pictures of the fun we had!

The children had a blast crawling in this turtle and sticking their heads out!!! FUN - FUN!