Operation Mudroom (or lack there of). . Update!

The crew came in from playing in the snow today and there were no snow clothes laying on the floor! They have officially started hanging up snowclothes in the back of the garage without being told! Yahoo!
They even placed their mittens where daddy places them ;)Nicely done children! That calls for some hot cocoa. . .

"The Best Spot in the House"

Daddy's lap is "the best spot in the house" for watching football. . .Ainsley and I both agree!

"Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Phil2:4

First comes wedding showers/weddings. . then comes baby showers. . .now we find ourselves in the birthday parties stage. Those 1st birthday parties are so fun, and the winter "One"derland party we attended today was no exception! Ainsley, Taetum, and Maddie made up a very sweet prayer that they said and soon after it was cake smashing time :) Ryker looked on at his buddy Benton, jealously, and pretty soon started pointing and tapping on the highchair.
So we set him up next to the birthday boy and they had a smashing good time :)Ryker didn't take that thing out of his mouth til the chocolate frosting was completely licked off :)

Project Mudroom

OK, so I was feeling all proud because the majority of our kids (the word majority makes it sound like we have a lot of kids. . .well, maybe we do by todays standards, but did you know that from 1800 to 1900 avg number of children per household went from 7 to 4. . .and today I believe it's less than 1? anyway, that's besides the point) can mostly dress themselves to go out into the snow! There were days when it took me longer to bundle and unbundle them all than we actually played outside. But not now. . .so proud of my responsible children. And then they came in. . .and I was humbled by what I saw. . . I would love if some home remodel show would come build us a mudroom at the back of our garage (because a mudroom would of course make them automatically start putting their snow clothes away : )). But since I don't see that happening in the near future, I might just have to teach them to hang up their snow clothes. Can you imagine all the coats of those families in the 1800's? I guess I should read my recent post about perspective and be thankful we have warm clothes and a warm house. . . and then work some more on responsibility :)

Perspective

Got a text from GooF that read, "Ryk woke up he is filthy, food on face and clothes. . . funny" To which I explained he fell asleep in the car after eating a bowl of rice and I just transferred him in. I failed to mention that this was how he was eating his rice. . . Some might say, he's eating rice on the floor out of a breakable bowl?But it's all in the perspective. . .I choose to think of it like this. . .he can feed himself, is dressed and even has a bib on, AND look at that great tactile experience he is getting by putting his feet in rice! Plus, the mother will only have to clean up him and the floor. . not the table and booster seat too :)
See. . .I strive to be slow to judge and quick to love on mothers. I strive to see things with the glass (er bowl of rice) half full. And, I strive to have a good perspective on things. Plus, the fact that rice was stuck all over his pants made it easy for him to finish his lunch on the drive to pick up Porter from school :)

A correlation between 8 yr old girls and the internet

"8 year old girls are like the internet. Not everything they say is true." -GooF

Giggles

As I put curlers in their hair (per their request) I listened as they giggled and shared a big ice cream sundae. EVERTHING made them giggle but this was my favorite,

Tae: We're having a blizzard

Ainsley: No we aren't. There's just a slight chance of snow.

Me: I think Taetum meant an ice cream blizzard.

Giggles all around. And then some more giggles about their George Washington styled hair.

Mommying

About 9 years ago I found out I was going to be a mommy!

One thing that has been huge for me, in my mommying journey, is MOPS. I started going when I was home with a new baby, and knew no other young moms. I remember approaching another mom at church one Sunday, who also had a baby girl. We met up at Panera, and then many mornings after that at my house, and also attended MOPS together. I am so thankful for her friendship! Shortly after that, we moved and the first church we visited we chose partly because it had a MOPS group at it. . .and also I told God that if we made it through the service (with 2 small children) it would be our church home. Ainsley fell asleep and we made it through the service :) A divine miracle! I have been a part of that MOPS group ever since and on the leadership team many years. . . it is just a great place of encouragement for mothers! I keep having babies, so will probably go straight from MOPS to MOMSnext to mentor mom ;)

Another thing that has been huge for me is dates with my children. That one on one time that either GooF or I have with them has really grown our relationships! Dates for mom and dad are key too :) Even if it's just a redbox movie when the kids are in bed and I have to nurse halfway through. ha. I enjoy getting to know each individual child, even while at home. Every night when I tuck Trey in, he gets kisses "from your head. . .to your toes. . .to your nose." That's just a Trey and mommy thing.

And there you have it, MOPS and dates are important to me, while doing this thing called mommying.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Psalm 89:1 says "I will sing of the Lord's great love forever, with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. . "

The other night as I was tucking the boys in, Porter requested the hymn, "Great is Thy Faithfulness" because Grandpa sings it at sleepovers. I remembered most of the chorus (with Porter's help), but not all of it, and I had to go pull out the hymnal I got from my grandparents so I could sing it to him. . .all three verses with the chorus in between :) I may have gotten the giggles a few times as I stood in their room singin like an old church lady and the boys were completely quiet listening :) He stopped me and asked during one of the verses, "what are courses?" I was glad he didn't ask, "what is manifold". . .which grandpa later told me means many :) I love the verse above, because not only is this a song that both my parents, and my sister Jenny, and my great grandma Emily love/loved, but it is also a song of faithfulness being passed on to the next generation in Porter. I am so blessed to have grandparents and parents who have taught me of God's great faithfulness.

Activities

Activities. There are so very many to choose from. By homeschooling Ainsley and Trey,
and Porter at school only in the am, we are able to be pretty flexible with our schedule. We can still make our family time a priority, with meals together, etc and allow them to try activities. Ainsley has found many things she enjoys and does pretty well at. . .gymnastics,

dance,

soccer, Girl Scouts, and she can start "Girls on the Run" in the fall. We will not be trying any other new activities with her unless she starts to not like what she's in. The kids also take piano from Grammy, and we used to go to Wed night church activities, but they are late for Porter. Hopefully we will start up with those again soon. Porter and Trey went to their first karate class with GooF and LOVED it. He said it is right up their ally. . .yelling, kicking, punching, etc :) The instructor is amazing with kids. . .he is a Christian dad and values great character traits! He spoke at our MOPS group recently and I was hooked. It is something all the boys can do together, but it is pretty expensive for a family, so we shall see. Trey says he wants to try football too, and Porter wants to join Boy Scouts next year. Ryker seems to enoy his "sissy's" tap shoes :) Really though, whatever the kids find that they enjoy, and are able to use their God given talents with, be it wrestling or acting or whatever, we are good with. Anyway, being more free to try activities, while still keeping family time a priority, is one of the great perks of homeschooling!

Growing up, I tried all sorts of activities from show choir to volleyball. And as an adult I have many activities I like, from homemaking ones like baking, crafting, and decorating, to kid related ones, like teaching and mommying. I've always enjoyed some form of exercise, be it aerobics with a friend, or running, and I most definitely enjoy building relationships with other moms and having them in my home. We enjoy serving as a family and going on outings together. And those are my ramblings as far as activities are concerned! But please children, if you don't mind, we'd rather you not be on the debate team. GooF and I are not much for debating :) But even if you are, we will still support you. . .

Costly

I hope I treasure this picture for years to come, because it was costly. Let's just say the man pulling the sled tackled the photographer, who was not bundled up. I think that means he likes her :) The photographer had a camera in one hand and a phone in the other. . .she went down in order to save her tech gadgets :)

What are those you ask? Those are my feet. . .in FLIP FLOPS. . .in JANUARY. . .at a PARK! We had another beautiful January day, and took advantage of it by spending the afternoon at the park!

Mr Ryker Matthew at almost 15 months old!

Mr Trey Coleman at a whopping 4 yrs, 5 months!

I enjoy seeing the bonds form amongst the kids and with their littlest sidekick. . .

Cousin Fun

January has been beautiful outside thus far, and today was no exception! My sister called and asked if we wanted to join them at the iceskating rink, to which we replied, "Is it open?" Being 42 degrees and all, GooF wondered if the ice would not be frozen. He's a smart man, that man of mine. But Steph had driven by and said it was open, so off we went! Turns out, GooF was right, but the kids had a great time finding big chunks of ice and cracking them :) Everything is more fun with your cousins!

LOVED it!

That's all there really is to say. . .Ainsley LOVED her first day of gymnastics, and the next day was asking if she could go again.

Worth it

I'm sure someday when the kids are grown and have families of their own, I will miss the noise and chaos, but for now, naptime is blissful. . .sweet, quiet, peace. Ryker has started to take nice loooong afternoon naps like his big siblings used to. But sometimes, in the morning, as I'm balancing schoolwork, housework, time for myself, etc, I want him to stay in one spot. And so, I stick him in the booster chair. But I have begun to realize, this usually results in more of a mess. . .more cleanup and work for me later,
But it's still worth it for those few minutes of peace.

Back to School

After enjoying many pajama days over break, it is now back to school. . .both for us and for Ainsley's "doll school". . . She also has her first day of gymnastics, as well as starting Tap this week! Her daddy gave her a big smile when she came out in her leo lookin all sporty :) Hope she likes it more than I did. . .I quit because I was afraid I'd get brain damage. . that's what I told my mom :)

Porter is off to kindergarten this morning, after getting a great report on his report card! We love you kids no matter what. We pray for you, and remember, "the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

2 out of 3

We took the kids bowling over Christmas break, and 2 out of 3 had a good time. My mom got advice from a wise old lady once that if 2 out of 3 are happy with what you're doing, that's good. So I guess we can say it was good :)

Limo Ride

We got to go on a limo ride with our good friends from college, who also have four children. Their daddy drives limo, so he took us for a cruise to see Christmas lights. At first I felt bad that he couldn't be in the back by us, but then I started to feel jealous that he could just close himself off from the chaos :) Our children were NUTS, because they got to move around in a moving vehicle. . .plus, Ryker was sick. It was definitely a memory :)

January 2012 Update

Ah, after enjoying all the festivities of the Christmas season, it is now the beginning of a new year. I feel blessed. God has given me a wonderful family, and I am grateful. The trend these days is to pick one word for the new year. The first word that comes to mind for me is INTENTIONAL. I am striving to be more intentional. . .in everything from how I spend my time, to modeling Jesus to our children. There are many things I am making a point to be more intentional about. Another word that comes to mind for me is SIMPLIFY. I am also striving to get rid of the "clutter" in our family's life, in order to be able to enjoy more fully the important things. I asked GooF his one word, and he said, "Donut". . .maybe that has to do with our new years tradition of making donuts and other food in our Fry Daddy on New Years Day!
I am looking forward to many things in 2012. . .growing in my relationship with Christ and with others, continuing to homeschool Ainsley, a trip down south, and many "normal" days enjoying my husband, children, family and friends.
Am praying as I start 2012, that God will lead us as far as children. I love having babies. . .the feeling of them moving in my belly as they grow, the sweetness of a newborn, nursing them, etc. But my heart is also open to children that need a mom and dad. . .those in foster care and/or adoption. But I also feel so blessed with the ones He has already entrusted to our care! Like most things, this varies so much amongst families and GooF and I are praying that God will specifically lead our family in this area. So, maybe I need a third word, PRAYER. Maybe I'm more a 3 word girl than a 1 word girl :)

Happy 2012!

Merry Christmas 2011~ from my littlest men

(Porters picture of us around the tree :) )