There Will Be Blood

My children are early risers. They love to wake up before the sun and, well, wreak havoc.

My boys wake up anywhere from 6:45 - 7:00 a.m. They take this quiet time before the rest of the house is awake to eat a whole box of cereal or a whole loaf of bread. An early morning snack before breakfast, of course. 

I dread mornings. 

A few days ago my daughter came into my room and said, "Mom, the boys have blood all over their face." I jumped out of bed to find my boys playing in the living room, in the dark, with what appeared to be blood all over their face and arms.

I'm not going to lie to you. I was freaking out inside. I checked their bodies for gashes or something, all the while asking the boys what happened. Did they get in a fight? What in the world?!

It wasn't long before I decided to check their bedroom. Once I turned on the light I felt like I walked into a horror film. There was "blood" everywhere. Handprints all over the bedding, the walls -- there were even bloody handprints leading up to their window so I'm assuming they were hoping to flee the crime scene that way. 

Then I found it. 

The answer to all of my questions sat right in the middle of the floor. 

An empty jar of strawberry jam. 

One of these days, when my boys are older, they are going to pay for this. How, you may ask? 

I'm not sure yet. But I have this picture to remind me of all the craziness they put me through so I will never forget! 

Where is the pause button?

A couple weeks ago my husband and I decided to drive out to the mountains.  He made sure to bring his camera with him and he got some beautiful shots of the kids!  I can't help but share them!

It was such a peaceful afternoon!  There was no cell service so we didn't have any distractions.  We just spent the afternoon playing while Paul took pictures.  Zoe got to pick wildflowers while the boys got to throw rocks into a creek.  I enjoyed the view -- my family.

Summer is almost over.  Zoe starts preschool next month.  Time is flying by and I hate that life does not have a pause button!  Or even a slow motion button! :-)

The Bible says, Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.  This verse spoke to me this morning.  I read it minutes before my daughter came bounding out of her room and gave me the biggest hug and told me all about the dreams she had.

Billy Graham said that only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.  The influence of a mother upon the lives of her children cannot be measured.  They know and absorb her example and attitudes when it comes to questions of honesty, temperance, kindness, and industry.

How are you influencing your children today?  I am about to influence my children by having them help me clean the house! :-)

Love to all!

Gracie

*Proverbs 31:28

Celebration

Last Thursday was my husband's 29th birthday, so we had a party with family and friends on Sunday after church.  It was wonderful having everyone over to help celebrate my amazing man!  I am so thankful for Paul.  Words cannot describe how crazy I am about him!  He is my best friend!

For his birthday I bought him a lime green record player.  He really wanted a motorcycle . . . but I think he was pretty excited about what he got instead. :-)  He has one record so far, the newest Black Keys, and we have listened to it about 4 times now.  He loves it!

Here are a couple pictures Paul took a week or two ago of our little babies.  I love them so much they will be framed and hanging on my wall soon!  I can't wait for him to take more of the babies all together.

Let them be little

fill their hearts with

laughter

help them grow wings

nurture their sense of wonder

inspire them to believe

love them like there's no tomorrow.

As much as we want life to slow down, it isn't going to happen.  There is no pause button.  I want to enjoy every minute -- soak in every second I have with my family.  They are my pride and joy.  The Bible says life is but a vapor, it appears for for a little time and then vanishes away.  I want to spend more time loving and laughing with the ones I love and less time being stressed and aggravated, don't you?

My husband kind of laughed when I came home with my party supplies for his party.  He said he felt like he was turning 6 again.  For me, though, I wanted to celebrate his life!  I love celebrating the ones I love!  If that means feeling like you're turning 6 again, that's OK!  I would hate if he felt too old to celebrate his life. :-)  We are only given one you know! 

So celebrate the ones you love!  Celebrate the time you have while you can!  I know you won't regret it!

Parents' Challenge: Day One

Go the entire day without raising your voice.

Did anyone else attempt the Parents' Challenge yesterday?  I hope so!  I have to warn you, though, that when you say you're going to take the challenge...your children will become a little more challenging.  Yesterday I dealt with more temper tantrums, pouting, screaming, hitting, kicking, than I do on average.  But did I raise my voice?  I tried not to. :-)  Around 9:00 pm I may have slipped up once or twice, but at least I'm making the effort.

Today's challenge is to invite my children to cook with me.  This one shouldn't be too hard.  They have helped me in the past with certain things.  They love to help me make pigs in a blanket!  Do you let your kids help you make meals?  Is it hard to have patience, or do you enjoy the extra time help it takes do to certain things? :-)

Parents' Challenge

I found this challenge over the weekend and was excited to start today.  Parenting is not for the weak.  When I feel overwhelmed because I can't keep up with the laundry, the dirty dishes, the diapers that need changed, the meals that need prepared, the yard that looks like a jungle...I realize that I spent the whole day forgetting about the little things that matter the most.

Every morning there are four happy, smiling faces that greet me before my morning coffee.  The pretend games are played all day long.  I need to sit and watch more than I do.

I am surrounded by superheroes and Barbies that are damsels in distress.

I live in a castle with princes and princesses that love to slay dragons and dance to music.

My couch is a pirate ship and the pirates take turns walking off the plank into crocodile infested waters.

My table is a tent where my children go camping and tell funny stories.

My tub is an aquarium where I watch my slippery, giggling "fish" who love to splash.

Why do I allow myself to stress?  There is no need for me to be.  I need to slow down and enjoy the life that I live right now in this moment.  These beautiful, happy children will leave the nest and I don't want to look back and realize I wasted my time trying to do other things that seemed more important at the time.

I decided to start today and I read Day One.  Go the entire day without raising your voice.  In less than half an hour since reading the challenge...I was challenged.  One of my children spilled a whole bowl of milk and cereal all over the table, the chairs, and the floor.

My son was afraid.  I could see it in his face.  He was waiting for me to yell and be upset with him.  Instead I kept my voice level and told him he needed to be careful while I cleaned up the mess.  I felt so much better than how I feel after I yell and get upset.  I looked at my son, and the look of relief on his face spoke volumes.

Why do we yell?  What's the point?

I can already tell that this challenge is not going to be easy, but I'm excited to make a lifestyle change now while my children are still young!  I still have a chance that most of their memories of mommy will be pleasant ones.

I encourage all parents to take this challenge.  We all have room for improvement in our relationships.  Our relationship with our children is not any different.  These little ones are our future.  Let's raise them right!

Poppies, Sunflowers, and Daisies too!

Target is one of my favorite places to go while I'm in Great Falls.  Their $1 section is amazing and I end up filling my basket with the goodies from there before I even have a chance to walk through the rest of the store!  I found poppies, sunflowers, and daisies that you could grow in these adorable little pots and just had to buy them for the kids!

The kids had a great time planting the little seeds in these little pots and then placing them on the window sill.  We have to look at them everyday to see if there are any flowers yet. :-)  They don't know this yet, but I peaked at them last night (I'm excited too!) and saw some of the little plants are trying to poke out!  They are going to be so excited to see some progress.

Just yesterday I read a devotion and it had a story about a man looking for flowers for spring planting.  While at the greenhouse he came across a beautiful golden chrysanthemum that was hidden in a corner growing in an old, dented rusty bucket.  In his mind, he thought that if that was his flower he would place it in a beautiful pot and display it proudly.  Why was this beautiful flower confined in this old bucket and hidden away in this concealed place?

When he remarked to the owner about the flower, she explained, "Oh, I started the plant in the old bucket until it blossomed.  But it's just for a short time.  Soon I'll transplant it to my garden."

The man laughed and imagined such a scene in Heaven.  "There's a beautiful one," God will say, "the product of My loving kindness and grace.  Now it's confined in a broken body and in obscurity, but soon, in My garden, how tall and lovely this soul will stand!"

I thought it was a beautiful devotion!  I know I will think about it every time I see these adorable little pots and the flowers that will soon grow.

Easter

We don't take family pictures very often - and I haven't been taking pictures of my growing belly at all - so I thought I would share this picture that was taken yesterday at church.  At this point in my pregnancy I would rather not see myself, but I love seeing my kids dressed so snazzy in their Easter Sunday best!  Even my handsome husband looks extra handsome, doesn't he?

We had a great service in the morning, a potluck dinner with ham, chicken, mashed potatoes, German potatoes, green beans, mac-n-cheese, biscuits, and tons of different desserts!  I have a feeling I'm forgetting some things that were there - but you get the idea.  It was delicious!  After such a filling meal I could tell all the adults were ready for a Sunday afternoon nap, but the kids were very anxious to go outside and hunt for some eggs.

I love watching kids hunt for Easter eggs!  They get so excited running around with their cute little baskets.  I think this may have been Titus' first year hunting.  He picked up one egg and realized he could open it - and that there was candy inside so he sat himself down and enjoyed the treats in his one egg.  He couldn't care less about filling his basket with anything else.  It was too cute!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter with family and friends!  I am so thankful for a day to celebrate the life of Jesus Christ!  So, so thankful!

Four under 4

This May Paul and I will be having our fourth child before our oldest child turns 4 years old.  Does this stress us out?  Not really.  Does it stress other people out?  Apparently yes. 

Last year before our youngest son turned 1 we got the surprise of a positive pregnancy test.  It took us over a month before we made it public mostly (for me) so I could enjoy the thought of having another baby without hearing the comments. 

It wasn't long after people found out before we were hearing that we were being talked about:

"How is Grace going to manage?"

"Poor Grace...how is she going to function with four babies?"

"How's the 'birth control' working for you?"

We live in a day and age where I feel like children are not seen as a blessing from God but rather a punishment from Him.  That's not the case at all. 

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Psalm 127:3 

When Paul and I were newlyweds we had our life all planned out and we thought our plan would make us happy.  The opposite of nearly everything we had on our list happened.  

We ended up having not one, but two kids while Paul was in college.  Studying was a lot of fun in our house!  
We outgrew our apartment and bought our first house -- which we have outgrown again.  

We thought we were taking a break to enjoy our two kids...that didn't happen.  

Every year we promise to buy a dishwasher and every year something comes up -- this year it was a broken arm.  

Money is tight when birthdays come along so we decorate using construction paper, balloons, and tissue paper.  Thank you Pinterest!  

Paul and I were planning a romantic trip to Cancun for our anniversary this year...I got pregnant. So we will be enjoying our anniversary at home with steaks and mushrooms by candlelight. Or maybe a pizza. 

Every night I go into my son's room and reassure him that the shadows are not monsters and that Jesus is the ultimate superhero.  Sometimes I have to reassure him a few times before he calms down and goes back to sleep.

The kids wake up early demanding cereal, gum, candy, or SuperWhy every morning before I am even out of bed.  Or have had my coffee.

My husband runs out of clothes every single week.

Even though our life hasn't gone according to plan, Paul and I could not be happier!  Zoe, Max, and Titus give us pure joy.  Sometimes we sit in the car while all three are dancing to the music and we get overwhelmed...we have such beautiful, happy, healthy children.  Wow.  It's amazing.

Things don't work out the way we want them to and life is stressful, but at the end of the day...it's all about family.  Cake Boss knows what he's talking about! 

This lifestyle may not be for you, and if you couldn't handle it, then thank God He hasn't given you more than you can handle.  I know it is not for everyone.  But don't feel sorry for me.  Be happy with me while I bask in the blessings that God has given me!

Oh, and by the way...baby #4 is a girl!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I may sound like a Scrooge, but I wasn't really planning on putting up a tree this year.  You see, Titus is a lot more "hands on" than the other two.  He is my one child that gets into the cupboards, climbs on things, loves to take things off of the shelves all.day.long.  I just didn't want to deal with the headache.

 

Who am I kidding?

 

We went over to Paul's parent's house on Sunday, and their house is beautifully decorated.  Zoe and Max were so excited to see the tree, the stockings hung, and all the other little decorations!  How could I rob them of such joy?

 

Last night Paul and I got all the boxes out and started decorating.  We decorated while listening to classic Christmas carols and the crackle of a fire -- from our DVD. :-)  The kids were so excited to see the tree go up and see all the ornaments we unwrapped to put on the tree.  They found a Santa hat and went crazy!  So I had to take a picture. :-)

 

 

We decorated the living room and then sat down and listened to Paul read Santa Mouse.  It was slightly stressful, but more than anything it was fun and I love sharing these memories with our little ones!

 

The kids are old enough that we told them about a new tradition we will start this year.  Paul showed them the Christmas pickle and explained that we will hide the pickle somewhere on the tree on Christmas Eve, and whoever finds it on Christmas morning gets to open their presents first.  We probably should have told them about this tradition on Christmas Eve instead of two weeks early...but I will be patient while they excitedly ask if it's time yet to find the pickle!

 

I just love this time of year!  I love it even more now that I have kids!

Life without my man

Right now Paul is in Cleveland, OH for manager's training.  He has been gone since Sunday.  I am handling his absence a little bit better then I have in the past.  For the most part.  Maybe not. :-)

I think the worst day we have had (so far) was Monday.  Skipping naps is never a good idea -- your kids will act like the devil.  Why does that always surprise me?  On top of that, I kind of forgot that Paul was gone, so by the time 6:00 came I was waiting for him to come home only to realize he wouldn't be!  Ugh.  We tried to FaceTime Paul that night, but it wasn't really working out, so that made all of us feel even WORSE!  I finally decided we all needed to go to bed early.  No one complained.

Thankfully we are over such a depressing day and have had fun since then!  Yesterday we made a pretty tree with multi-colored leaves out of construction paper and put it on the window.  We also made hand turkeys for the window!  They are so adorable.  I have a feeling Zoe will make more today now that she knows how.

 

Zoe also drew some other pictures that I thought were ADORABLE!  I have a feeling she is going to be an amazing artist like her daddy and uncles.  She amazes me with some of the pictures she draws already at 3!

 

 

Here is Zoe's "angry face" she drew last night.  She cracks me up!  I love how she drew the teeth. :-)  Isn't that cute?

 

 

This is a picture of Papa Shu and me.  Of course when she told me that I got a little teary eyed because I miss my family so much!  I think I need to frame this one.  It is so special to me.

 

I have a lot of respect for military and railroad families.  Any family that has to go without their husband/dad!  It is not easy. 

 

Oh, Paul will be back tomorrow night!  He gets in really late so the kids will have a spend the night with their Gram and then I will book a room down in Great Falls for us.  I am so excited to see him, and I know the kids are anxious too!  Zoe talks about missing him all day, everyday.  We are so ready for him to be home where he belongs!

Read some books!

I'm hoping that everyone has watched Nacho Libre and you said that the way he says it.  It is the only way to say that sentence. =)

 

On Wednesdays I take the kids to our local library for Story Time.  They love listening to the stories and it gives us (me!) a chance to get out of the house for the day.  Everybody wins!

 

We haven't been able to go to Story Time the past couple weeks due to sickness and doctor appointments, so when we went downstairs we were surprised to see they're in the middle of painting some fun murals on the walls!  I can't wait to see it when they are completely finished.

 

At least once a month they have a special guest who reads the stories.  Yesterday it was an agent from Border Patrol.  You could tell the guy was completely out of his element, but he did a great job reading the stories and talking to the kids!

 

 

Zoe and Max did a great job sitting still (for the most part) and listening to the stories!  Later the agent handed out coloring pages of a border patrol badge for the kids to color.  You can't go wrong with coloring. =)

 

The rest of the day we just hung out with cousins, but last night's service was our Singspiration!  I think all the kids went up to sing/read something.  It was adorable!  Zoe insisted on singing Itsy Bitsy Spider (God made spiders too!) and I helped her.  After that Max and Olivia had to "sing" too.  It was pretty cute!  I love Singspirations!  Who doesn't love to sing?

 

Happy Thursday!

Happy Birthday, Max!

Max's 2nd Birthday was on Sunday, September 15th!  We celebrated the day before by taking the Birthday boy to McDonald's.  Where else?

 

 

McDonald's in itself seems like a party to little kids!  All three had a blast with their new toys and happy meals.  After that, it was time to start decorating!

 

I had a lot of fun decorating for Max's party!  I made these fun ninja turtle balloons!  Aren't they cute?  Actually, I got the idea from Pinterest and it worked!  Whaddya know?! ;-)

 

While I was decorating for the party, Paul was decorating the birthday cake!  He did an AMAZING job!  He is so talented and artistic.

 

Here is Max with one of his new toys!  Haha!  I love it!  He kept his mask on for a long time too!  He was swinging that stick all over the place!

 

Like I said, he wore that mask for a long time. :-)  He loved it!

 

Here is the table all decorated for Max!  We even had green slime punch...minus the slime.  Haha!

 

The cake was delicious!  He blew out the candles like a champ!

 

He had a lot of fun opening presents too!  He got a lot of great ninja turtles and superhero stuff!  He is such a boy.  He loves his new toys and is a superhero 98% of the time now.  It's adorable!  I love having a son!

 

I love my children so, so much.  With each birthday they have I have so much more fun with them.  They are getting older and can start holding some conversations, we play games, we sing songs...we just have a wonderful time!

 

Happy Birthday, Max!  Mommy and Daddy love you SO much!

Little Moments

I think it was yesterday that I transferred my pictures and videos from my phone to my laptop.  Wanna take a guess as to how many I had?  Did you guess 1,200?  If so, then you're right!  I told Paul that I think I have 3,000 - 4,000 pictures and videos on my laptop.  If anything happens to that thing...I don't know what I will do!

 

Oh, and I know that is a ridiculous number, but I can't help it!  I snap pictures all the time because I love my children so much and I would hate to miss anything!

 

Speaking of pictures...here are a few more! :-)

 

Zoe and Olivia playing the piano and singing.

Titus' favorite spot in the house. He loves to change the volume.

Can you tell Titus is the baby? He gets picked on all the time. ;-)

I love to just sit and watch kids play.  You can see their little imaginations at work when they drive cars on walls, or if they're taking care of baby dolls.  Even when they color, you can tell their little wheels are turning!

Sometimes life gets really, really busy, and we have to remind ourselves to slow down.  Don't miss out on the little blessings God has blessed you with.  Even when they're having a meltdown! :-)

Hugs!

Kids Update

Zoe is still doing amazing with her schoolwork!  I am so proud of her!  She still is so patient and meticulous about tracing her letters and numbers.  We both get excited and clap our hands a lot.  Oh, and high fives! :-)  She loves to wind down by playing puzzles.  I don't know very many 3-year-olds who sit still long enough to put together a puzzle...but Zoe does and it makes me so excited!  All I can think about is us putting together a puzzle in the winter drinking coffee and either watching a Christmas movie or listening to Christmas music when she's older...  It's going to be wonderful!

Oh, exciting news about Zoe!  Tonight she is going to her first ballet class!  We had to watch Angelina Ballerina which got her excited, AND her friend from down the street is going tonight too!  She can't wait to go.  I can't wait to take pictures and videos!  I just hope we don't have a moment like we did when she was a flower girl..  She gets shy and it is so hard to pull her out of her shell!

Another exciting thing that's happening this month is that Max's 2nd birthday is on the 15th of this month!  Oh boy!  We're still trying to figure out what theme to choose for his party.  The original idea fell through and I have a couple other ideas in my head..  I think I finally decided on a new one, though!  We shall see.  He is talking more and more all the time.  I can actually have conversations with him!  He is so cute.  I love his little lisp. :-)  It's adorable!

Titus still army crawls everywhere to try to keep up with Zoe and Max.  He is so cute!  He climbs up to standing while in his crib and using the entertainment stand, though, so I can't help but wonder if/when he will start walking.  He sings all.the.time when we're home.  I love it!  He is such a happy child.  As long as he has Cheerios close by.

Our first camping trip!

Last week we tossed around the idea of going camping over the weekend.  We almost didn't do it, but we knew we deserved a weekend getaway and the kids would have a lot of fun!  So we packed the car and made sure we were ready by the time Paul got off work on Friday and left for the most relaxing weekend ever!

 

Well...

 

We got lost.  We were almost to the lake when we took a wrong turn and drove a long time down the wrong road.  Whaddya gonna do.  We did get back on track and found where we were supposed to be.  Paul headed straight for the lake to go spear fishing and the kids and I went down to the beach! 

 



 

 

Max absolutely loved the water.  He didn't act afraid at all!  He enjoyed playing in the sand and water.  It was the perfect temperature too!  I enjoyed watching my kids play and have so much fun.  I enjoyed just sitting and knowing I didn't have to do anything!

 

Doesn't this look funny?  We're here in the mountains and there are seagulls!

 

Paul and Kirby didn't get any fish that night, but they had so much fun!  Can you tell?  They would try again the next day and still come back empty-handed, but they had a great time being out in the water and almost catching "the big one."

 

The scenery was just beautiful and I knew I had a very relaxing weekend ahead of me.  Laying around on the beach, reading my book, playing with my kids...it was going to be fantastic!  The kids did not act bored once -- sleepy, yes, but they were running around everywhere enjoying their first camping trip!

 

Zoe looks so funny in this picture, but it's the best I could take of her eating a s'more!

 

The kids were having a blast eating s'mores and being around the campfire!

 

Even baby Titus -- who didn't leave my side.

 

The next day we enjoyed a yummy pancake breakfast and waited for the sun to warm us up a little bit.  As soon as it got warm we got dressed and headed to the beach!  We spent many hours down there and it was wonderful!

 

Sometime in the afternoon we had to say goodbye to Paul's family.  The kids HATED to see them go, since we just got there.  We had fun with them the one day we got to see them!  Gram helped sweeten the sad moment with cookies, though.  That helped. :-)

 

Even Titus got a yummy cookie!

 

Here is a picture of my beautiful family on our first camping trip!

 

After we took our family picture we decided to take a walk by the lake.  While walking I noticed lightning on the other side of the hills and kept bugging Paul with my worries of a storm coming.  He assured me over and over that the wind was blowing the storm away from us.  No worries.

 

We got back to our tent and the wind had picked up some.  We decided to just go to bed and we were sure the wind would calm down soon.  The wind only got worse and worse, and guess what happened?  The lightning was right over top of us!

 

The wind ripped the rain cover part of the tent off -- I like to call it the roof -- and that kind of freaked the kids out, but I put them all to bed anyways while Paul got out of the tent to try to fix the problem.  This is what happened next...

 

Me: Ok kids, let's hold hands and say our prayers.  'Thank you, Jesus, for this wonderful day-"

 

A gust of hurricane wind came and completely leveled the tent with the kids and I in it!  You should of heard the screams of terror from the kids!  They were beside themselves!  It's actually pretty funny now!

 

Paul tried putting the tent together when I noticed a huge gaping hole in the wall of the tent.  Oh, did I forget to mention the borrowed tent?  ::sigh::  How disappointing.

 

We finally gave up once the lightning got worse and it started to sprinkle.  I packed up the kids real quick and then Paul and I packed up our camping area in the dark.  It seemed like it took forever, but we threw everything in the car and then left just as the rain started to pour.

 

We made it to Great Falls and we both were exhausted.  We found a hotel room on priceline and decided to head home the next morning.  We got to the room, put the kids to bed, and I headed to the bathroom to take a much needed shower.  Titus started to cry but I didn't even care, I wanted a shower so bad!  I went to start running hot water when I went looking for shampoo and conditioner.  There was none in sight!  There was soap, but no shampoo.  Then I noticed the sign that said any extras, like shampoo and conditioner, could be purchased at the front desk.  ::sigh::  So I gave up and rescued my crying baby who didn't calm down and go to sleep till 4:30 in the morning.

 



 

Paul got up in the morning and went to the continental breakfast to bring something back for the babies.  When he came back, he tossed a couple packages of muffins on the bed for the kids.  When I asked what they had for breakfast he said packaged muffins and fake fruit.  Haha!  Perfect!  The kids loved the muffins, so that is great!  They got something in their tummy and Mommy and Daddy headed for Starbucks.  Liquid breakfast. :-)  Yummy!

 



 

We spent the rest of the day in Great Falls and then headed home around dinner time.  Once we parked Zoe said, "Can we go camping again?"  I'm thankful they're not scarred!  As soon as we got home I threw all three babies in the tub!  I enjoyed my hot shower -- and my shampoo and conditioner.

 

So our weekend didn't work out the way we planned.  It kind of was a bummer.  But we had fun and we have some laughs about the kids' first camping experience!  Hopefully it will work out a little bit better next time.  Ha!