GREAT ideas in this magazine!
Check this out!
http://bit.ly/g0Sda3

Wow! That time of year already!

Can't believe it's the week of Thanksgiving and a couple of weeks until my sweet baby boy turns one. Where does the time go? Please, please, just slow down a little so I can enjoy a few more moments of time when my children are still young.

Noah is walking all over the place and is saying a few small words. Although most don't understand what he is saying yet, I do. He says dog, drink, bye-bye, mom, and dad. His favorite pastime is taking a bath, playing in water, and playing trucks. It is a blessing to watch him!

Izzie is turning four in about a month and is my saving grace between these rough and tumble boys! Love that kid! She is all things girly - nails painted, red lipstick, sparkles, and sequins. Did I mention the coiffed do? Simply fabulous.

Aidan is doing pretty well with homeschooling. He has his moments for sure...He is taking P.E. and has lots going on to keep him busy. Lord knows he needs to stay busy! He really enjoys being able to rest his brain in between school work. Sort of his reset button. We are finishing up a lengthy unit study on Thanksgiving that has been a real learning experience.

I really want to instill in our children that thankfulness for all our blessings is NOT secondary to the impending Christmas craziness. I want them to pause and remember that there have been many before us who have sacrificed to allow us the freedoms that we so enjoy. We have the ability to worship God in the way that we choose and I want to honor that. I also don't want them to have this idea that Thanksgiving is just a prelude to Christmas, but give them the gift of being thankful for the promise that Christmas brings. There, I am stepping slowly off of my soap box - or pulpit, or whatever. I will also admit that the prime rib and turkey doesn't hurt....Well, maybe my waistline(fortunately, I don't have one so it doesn't really matter).

Ok, back to Squanto and planting corn. The Native Americans and Separatists would have ALL died if they were counting on my growing skills. Can't even grow ivy.

Where to begin...

So much has happened since my last blog and I have not had one dull or even semi-calm moment to blog about it!

Things are so crazy and I am completely overwhelmed. We decided two weeks ago to pull Aidan out of school for various reasons and homeschool him. HUGE undertaking! So far, things are going well, but this will definitely be an adjustment for all of us. It's really hard for me emotionally and physically to be everything to the kids all of the time. I pray that we are acting on what God had in store for us and that this is truly a wonderful experience for us and also that I have the patience and stamina to do this. There are moments that I feel like I will collapse under the weight of it all, but God always gives me just what I need to push through.

I am also nearing the end of my semester, so of course that means more papers, exams, etc. Yikes! I struggle with feeling like I am only able to give a small part of myself to my education when I know that I am fully capable of so much more. I don't like settling with a passing grade and I am not one that is okay with mediocrity. Maybe that's why I am homeschooling...

The best news of all is that Noah started walking about a week and a half ago. I was so startled that he just let go and started walking. It completely took my breath away! He is such a sweet and special baby boy. He is starting to put words together: so far we have dog, go, da-da, and trying for Aidan and drink. It kills me, absolutely breaks my heart that I may not get to experience these firsts with a baby again. James says no more.He hears a crying baby and I hear one that needs to snuggle with mommy. I don't want there to be a day when my house is silent and still. I love the chaos and noise of my kids! Anyways, I am so proud of my No-E. He is getting so big!

Izzie is learning her letters and is learning to write. She writes lots of "lists" for me. She joins in with Aidan and I and does school too. She wants so badly to be big and I want so badly for her to stay small. Love my sweet girl. She is such a gift tucked in between my rough and tumble boys.

I am exhausted. Completely wiped. And I have a mound of dishes that the maid left behind. Damn her!

Princess Tea

Yesterday was a fancy day. Well, fancy for us - which is to say not very fancy.

Up at the crack of dawn getting my oldest little man out the door. I can't call him that much longer because he's not so little. He'll always be my little man. Look at that, my conversational ADD spills over into my blogging even. So sad. Wait, what were we talking about? Oh yes, my morning. Ok, Aidan is off to school at this point(he carpools) and in comes my Izzie/Princess P/Molasses/Bug. What can I say? She is so presh that she has many names! Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she wants to make cupcakes for a tea party that I promised her. Not just any cupcakes though - these are magical princess cupcakes. In other words, chocolate on chocolate. She doesn't feel that her attire is perfect for the cupcake making occasion though and wants to don her cinderella dress(complete with hoop underneath) and heels. I explain that the cupcake batter will probably drip on her dress because the girl is the best official batter taster ever. She will officially taste her way to an empty bowl. There is no deterring her and she WILL wear the beautiful dress. We had cupcakes made by 8am.

We continued prepping for this special occasion with china, candles, and tea(in the fancy teapot - also known as Fiesta ware). Two handsome Prince Charmings stumbled in around 9 and were permitted to join us. As this was a fancy occasion, we all dressed accordingly(except Noah who wore diaper only while being attacked by his cupcake). Originally it was a girls only situation, but Princess Isabelle decided that she wanted King Daddy and Prince Noah in attendance. I promised James that no picture would be posted, but I am working on that. It was a fun time with our Princess! We even held our pinkies out...

Farewell Allie-girl

Yesterday was a sad day at our house. At least for James and I...the kids were unaffected. We said goodbye to our dog, Allie. It was so tough, but she had a great run. She was 14-15 years old. We will miss her lots - she was such a sweet dog. She was a first for James and I in many ways. We made the decision to adopt her eleven years ago. She was our first "child" and a great friend, companion, and at one time, protector. She had been settling into old age for the last two years so we knew this day was coming. I wish I could say that it made it easier, but that's not the truth.

Rest in peace, Allie dog. Now you are free to run, hear again, and bark as much as you want.

I am reminded as we change seasons in our personal lives of this verse that I love from Ecclesiastes 3.

A Time for Everything

1There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

2a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

4a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

What a weekend and other musings.

I am a little delayed in posting about this weekend, but it was definitely post-worthy.
Aidan was supposed to have a baseball game, but we elected to skip it as he is getting over a cold and was coughing and running fever as of late Friday. Fast forward to Saturday morning and a semi-miraculous recovery had taken place. So, we did the responsible thing and spent the day outside. Why not? The weather was SO gorgeous it would have been awful not to enjoy it. Besides, I am convinced that sunshine can heal lots of things.

We went to downtown Farmersville for an Old Time festival. Fun! James had a friend in the "shootout" which was cool - or at least they said it was - Noah and I had to divert our attention elsewhere because the gunshots were really loud and scary to a small person. Noah HATES loud sounds and has since birth. We got to check out some pretty cool looking old cars. I'm a little scared because now James thinks he might like to get an old truck to remodel or whatever it is you do to them. I will admit they were very cool and nostalgic, but I just see dollar signs and lots of repairs.Of course what festival is complete without snow cones? I love little kids with blue lips and tongues. Noah chowed on it like it was the best thing he'd ever eaten.

We came home afterward and didn't even make it in the door. I'm telling you - like 75 degree weather that doesn't happen very often in Texas. We literally spent 3-4 hours playing outside and teaching Aidan to ride his bike without training wheels. He isn't a pro yet, but soon he will be flying like a crazy man.

Please, God, make out weather stay this way forever!

Claussen pickles are life changing.

Claussen pickles are life changing.

I had zero clever or catchy ideas for a title and I'm eating a Claussen pickle. Well, it's better than no title at all - right? And they really are the best pickles EVER. By the way, just to clear this up because anytime a woman gravites towards a pickle an image of a new bouncing baby boy or girl is conjured up...I AM NOT in anyway preparing for number four. It is highly unlikely that there will be a number four! I say unlikely because I know that even if I think I am done, God has a sense of humor and reminds me that I am not in charge.

Anyways, that was a roadtrip to too much information. Population:1

My oldest little man is under the weather. Poor kid has missed 2 days of school(he is not upset about that in the slightest). I have enjoyed having him home and have "homeschooled" him for both days. He is begging to never go back or if he has to, just for recess. He is a very bright, sweet, and always entertaining kid.

Aidan did the cutest thing tonight. So, I'm a sucker for slumber parties with my little people. They know that when Daddy is on shift, they can sleep in our room. Aidan crashes on the floor and Izzie and Noah with me. They love it! We lay there and watch Food Network and drift off to dream land with the latest recipe on the brain. Anyways, when one of them has a bad dream I have a remedy that seems to work well. I pretend that I am magically casting out the bad dreams by saying, "Bad dreams, bad dreams, go away - Good dreams, good dreams, here to stay." I say it a few times and voila - no bad dreams. Aidan was laying on his bed in the floor all snuggled up with his eyes scrunched tightly closed and was saying, "Bad dreams, bad dreams, get out of my brain - good dreams, good dreams, get into my brain." It's nice to have moments every now and then when he is still very much a little kid - melts my heart.

Izzie has actually talked an sang so much today that I question the ability for my ears to hear another sound. I am presently sitting in complete silence. Or maybe it's not and my ears are suffering from extreme exhaustion and can't possibly hear another sound. She claims to be shy, but I don't buy it. For the record, she has tons to say. Oh well, I really do love listening to her. She has a HUGE imagination.

Izzie and I have continued Robinson Preschool this week with much success. She has learned all about the letter A, the color blue, the triangle, and is working on memorizing Little Bo Peep. We had lots of fun stamping with apples and learning about where apples come from. It took some convincing, but she finally believed that they didn't come from Tom Thumb or Target.

My No-Man has another tooth. That's seven! He is a speedy cruiser too:) I watched him let go and take about a half step before he realized what he was doing and sat down. Mission aborted! His happy place these days is outside. We spend hours outside playing and enjoying the awesome Fall weather. He climbs in and out of his red two seater car looking pretty cool sticking his head out the sunroof. Chicks dig that stuff.

Goodnight and sweet dreams!