Pictures from the Weekend

Sweet Lily fresh from a long nap...

Erik decided to surprise Anna with some new shoes yesterday. She loves shoes(she is definitely my daughter!), and hasn't wanted to take them off.

A rocket, play doh, and bubbles...that's Jack's perfect day!

A fun day At Home

A couple of weeks ago, on one of those miserably hot and humid days, we got a hankering to make some cookies. It was a fun way to spend the morning, and I was able to teach a little math and letter writing to my two year old.

 Jack and Anna enjoying their egg beater. I'm not sure why Anna has that look on her face, but if memory serves correctly I'm pretty sure Jack tried to take her egg beater.

There's a much better face! Since Anna isn't quite two, the way I have her "help" is by giving her a metal spoon and measuring cup. I just put an apron on her and have her sit on a chair so she can see what's going on(if she wants, it's no big deal if she'd rather run around the kitchen) and she seems to have a blast.

Sorry this is a little blurry. Jack takes his job of dumping ingredients into the bowl very seriously, and loves to hold the mixer. We talk about measuring, and count how many scoops we put in the mixing bowl. 

We decided to make a glaze and initial some cookies just for fun. And yes there is an "M" cookie for mommy! I'm pretty sure most of the cookies had D's on them for Daddy, though...

It was a fun morning, even if it did take almost three hours to make cookies. Sorry there isn't any pictures of Lily on here, she was napping during most of the baking and the ones I did take of her that morning were really blurry. 

What activities do you guys do with your children(or grandchildren) to keep them entertained?

Vacation Tid Bits

A couple of weeks ago my sweet mom and dad invited all of us to go down to Florida with them. At first we weren't sure we could take them up on their offer, but eventually the allure of the beach got the better of us, and we gratefully agreed to go. I've tried writing about this trip several times already, but writing about the first day alone was as long as a normal post! So, since I'm sure I'm the only one who would want to read the long winded version of my trip, I have it tucked away in my drafts, and in the meantime I thought I'd share some highlights from our vacation this past week.

1. Our van broke down about halfway to Florida. We had taken a lunch break in Alabama, and when we loaded back up our air conditioning wasn't working. We didn't figure it was that big of a deal, but by the time we got to Pensacola our van was smoking. Erik and his dad assesed the problem over the phone, and while I won't pretend to know anything about cars, I heard the words "shred" and "engine" in the same sentence, never a good sign. Erik and I were so upset that first night, I don't think either of us slept that whole night. We just prayed for God to take care of the situation. The next morning when Erik started calling repair shops, things did not look too promising. The price to fix our van was outrageous, and to top it off no one was going to be able to get it fixed for another week. Amazingly enough, my dad knew someone in Pensacola who owned a car repair shop. He was able to get us in that day, and had it fixed by noon the next day. While it was still very expensive, it was much cheaper than we had originally been told.

2. The same day our van broke down, we saw on the news that the beaches were now closed because of the oil spill. However the next day we found a bay in Pensacola that was still open, and shuttled people back and forth from the hotel to the beach. Since we knew Jack would probably be scared, he stayed behind with my mom and I while Erik and Dad took Anna and Lily. Anna loved the water, and in no time at all was becoming a bit too daring!

3. By Friday our van was fixed, and my parents had to head over to Navarre. Originally, the five of us were just going to hang out in Pensacola, but my mom and dad generously offered to put us up in the hotel they were staying at. This hotel just happened to be a five minute drive away from the beach, and this beach was still open! With the stress over our van done,we were finally able to relax and enjoy ourselves. The kids loved the ocean. Well, Jack loved playing in the sand and having his feet splashed by waves. Dad, Erik, and I took turns taking Anna out in the water, and she laughed harder than I had ever heard her laugh out there. My sweet Mom stayed up on shore with Lily and kept any eye on Jack. Poor Lily got used to sleeping under a beach umbrella, lathered in sunscreen, with a hat protecting her from the sun.

4. Even though I'm glad to be home with my kids in their own rooms again, I really loved waking up in the mornings and snuggling in bed watching cartoons with them. The kids did awesome sleeping, and didn't even wake up when Lily got up for her middle of the night feeding.

5. Taking a walk on a Pier is a very romantic date!

6. While I was taking a shower, and thought everyone else was still asleep one morning, Anna somehow got ahold of Pepto Bismol. Unfortunately, the cap must not have been on securely(at least I hope she hasn't figured out child proof caps!) and finger painted her bed with bright pink pepto bismol. Her blankets are still stained bright pink.

7. We made it home safe, and our van hasn't given us any more trouble. Jack is still talking about the beach, and we all have tans(I'll use that term loosely for myself and Anna who unfortunately inherited my easily burnt complexion.) Thanks for a great vacation, Mom and Dad!

Another Busy Week

Here is Jack and Anna excitedly looking out the window for their Papa and Nana's visit. My mom and dad don't live around here, so when they come visit they stay a couple of days and spoil the kids rotten. And maybe spoil their daughter and son in law just a tad too! Not only do I get to sleep in when they come down(other than getting up with Lily, who usually will go right back to sleep if laid back down) they also sent Erik and I out on a MUCH needed date night. Well I say date night, but really it was more like afternoon/ night, we were so excited to get out together that we left at 2 and didn't get home until after ten!

Jack loves to get rides on my dad's shoulders. My poor dad is basically Jack and Anna's toy the entire time he's down here. Since they're so close in age, you really can't do one thing without the other one. So if Jack rides on Papa's shoulders, Anna must also ride on Papa's shoulders. They also love this game called One, Two, Three, and then they get tossed in the air. Anna calls it, "One, oooo, Fwee."

This was taken at one of the only times Lily was put down all week! She's such a sweet and good natured little girl. We had really never left her, until this past week, and she did wonderful taking a bottle and being a little off schedule.

Anna was about to fall asleep on my dad's lap. We decided to lay her down for a little bit, but had planned on getting her up before my parents left. However, when we went upstairs to wake her up she was completely tuckered out and could not be awakened. When she got up she kept saying," Where's da Papa? Nana?"

Jack loves to have his picture taken with mommy. He loves to go through pictures of our family that doesn't live around here and give them hugs. My mom was showing him pictures of my brother, and Jack kept saying, "Hi, Uncle Justin!" and giving the camera hugs.

The rest of this weekend has just been spent relaxing. Last night we took the kids swimming, and after a little bit of coaxing, they started to enjoy themselves. We had a wonderful service at Church this morning, and then all of us came home and took naps. In fact, Lily and I are the only ones who are awake right now! Scratch that, I just looked over and Lily is now fast asleep next to me in our bed! Hope everyone's having a blessed weekend!

Top Ten

There is a lot of little memes I've seen going around where you are suppose to tell information about yourself. I thought I'd share ten facts that you may, or may not, know about me.


1. I was raised a Preacher's Kid. Growing up, my family and I moved all over the state of Illinois for my Dad's ministry.

2. Perhaps as a result of not being able to really decorate the places we lived in, I have absolutely no talent for interior design.

3. I am also the worlds worst organizer. Seriously. Growing up I was the kid who used her text books as a folder. God really knew what he was doing putting Erik and I together because my husband is very organized!

4. I absolutely love candles, coffee, Clorox wipes, and chocolate. I'm an easy girl to please. :-)

5. I like to think where I lack in my decorating skills, I make up for with(hopefully) having a house that always smells nice since I love candles so much.

6. I love to bake. I do not like to clean up.

7. I am slightly obsessed with vacuuming. My brother loves to tease me about it.

8. I have been either pregnant or nursing since November of 2006. Sometimes both, but always one or the other.

9. I am passionate about Biblical Womanhood.

10. And finally..hmm..well I'll just gel a few together. I'm terrified of snakes, and don't particularly care for animals in general, I didn't know how to upload pictures on the internet until I started this blog(yikes I'm getting confessional!), and I really try to spend quality time with all my children everyday, but sometimes feel like I'm not doing as good a job as I should be with it. Mommy guilt can get the best of me sometimes.


Well that's all, I'm sure that's way more than most of you care to know! How about the rest of you? Is anyone else terrified of snakes like I am?

Why yes we do eat off a Chalkboard...

Sometimes I forget that our dining room table is a tad unusual..

Awhile back we realized we needed a new table, but since we have a tight budget a new table was not in the cards for us.

 

My husband was looking around on the internet and came across an idea for a chalkboard table. He figured he could use parts of our old table and paint some plywood with chalkboard paint. It's really important to Erik that he makes stuff that not only looks cool, but is also something fun and unique for the kids. We get some pretty strange looks from people when they come over...

When Erik first suggested this idea, I was a little leary. I didn't want it to look goofy, but not only is it fun for the kids, the table looks really nice when its all washed! We joke that since we are planning on homeschooling, we'll never have to invest in a chalkboard since we already have one!

The Blogging Bug

A few weeks ago I realized I had been bitten by the blogging bug. I finally felt like I had got into a rhythm with it and was starting to genuinely enjoy myself. Now I find myself, once again, wondering what to write about. My life isn't really exciting , I'm not a talented writer, I don't have much wisdom to share with others, I'm not savvy with money, and I'm definitely not crafty.

Then I remember why I started this whole blogging thing. It really isn't for me to teach others. This blog is a place for me to remember what my life was like. Twenty years from now, my children will be grown up and I probably won't remember how Anna was constantly keeping us on our toes or about how Jack is completely in love with his stuffed frog. I really doubt I'll remember what Lily was doing at three months. Twenty years from now I know I will be so thankful that I started this blogging thing.

The other reason I started this blog is so I can remember how faithful God has been to us. I doubt I'll ever go into too many details about trials we go through, since this is a public blog, but I never want to forget the lessons God has taught us. I want my children to be able to read these entries one day and marvel at God's goodness to us.

Basically, I really enjoy blogging. I want to be an encouragement to others, and by showing my everyday life, I hope people can find a little encouragement. So please come by and visit once in awhile, I can't promise you'll learn anything new, but you might see some rosy cheeked baby grins and hear about our crazy little world with three two and under and hopefully you'll come away with a smile.