DIY Headboard

Not too long ago Paul and I were talking about how our bedroom -- the supposed haven of the home -- is the only room in our house that is not painted or decorated.  We have put so much effort into the rest of our house, and we have so much more we want to do, but our bedroom is still...well, ugly.

So Paul and I decided to make our own headboard recently.  We read a blog post that showed how easy (and cheap!) it was to make so we decided to give it a whirl.  We have never had a headboard in our married life and, since Paul is furloughed from the railroad right now, we figured we had enough time on our hands to try.

If you are interested in making your own, click HERE for the post we read with the instructions.

We are so happy and excited with the outcome!  Doesn't it look nice?  I feel like the room is a little more put together now.  We still have so much more to do, but it's a step in the right direction!

Eventually we will get a new comforter, new curtains, paint the walls, buy matching lamps...and then we should be about done!  We will most likely have to wait till Paul is back to work, but just having a headboard makes me feel better.

Gone Fishing

I started working on this post almost a month ago and I'm finally sitting down to finish it!  Life has been a little hectic busy lately so I haven't had time to sit and write as much as I would like to.  So here we go!

So nearly a month ago we spent the day at the lake.  Paul ran from one kid to the other trying to get a worm on each hook, casting the line, putting more worms on hooks, untangling lines, recasting... 

It was a little hectic for the poor guy, but we laughed at the chaos and had fun anyways.

The kids were really excited to go fishing with Daddy -- especially Max!  He has been wanting to go fishing and hunting with his Dad ever since he learned to go potty on the toilet.  It was a deal we made with him hoping to persuade him.

I don't think he realized that you have to be quiet and sit still while fishing...  He got fidgety not even 5 minutes after Paul cast his line in the water and got him ready!

All the kids got bored fairly quick and decided to walk around and play with their cousins.

After awhile the Dads gave up on fishing too (no bites this time) and we grilled some hot dogs and enjoyed dinner outside in God's beautiful country!  It was pretty windy, but other then that it was a pretty relaxing day!

As fun as it was to go fishing with the family, I have wanted Paul and I to go together so bad!  I would love to go fishing and just not have to talk or do anything -- just sit there and enjoy nature.  I may even bring a book and read and just soak up the sun.  Maybe we can do that for our next date night! :-)

The Seven Year Itch

Today is a special day.  Seven years ago on this day my stomach was so full of butterflies I thought I was going to explode!  It was the day before my wedding and I couldn't believe it was finally happening.  I was going to spend the rest of my life with my best friend.  The one man that was absolutely perfect -- and he chose me to be his wife.

It feels like yesterday.  I feel the same anxiety and nerves when I think about it!  I get excited when I think about my sister who must be feeling the same emotions while she anxiously awaits her own wedding in April.  Once the wedding and the honeymoon are over, the real fun sets in.  Life.

Seven years, four kids, three pets, two degrees, and one mortgage later, I am still the happiest woman on earth!

We have had our good days and bad days.  We have experienced hardships, stress, and fights.  But we also have experienced some amazing, wonderful, beautiful things.  The good always outweighs the bad.

I shared on Facebook this morning that experts say that couples who stay married seven years are likely to be together for good.  I don't know who the "experts" are, but I'm glad the odds are in my favor!  A study found that the "seven-year itch" is a myth, and by the time a couple have been together that long their marriage is increasingly likely to last.

I can't wait to spend seven more years with my husband.  Seventeen more years.  Seventy more years if God allows!

Happy "Anniversary" to the most handsome, loving, funny, sexy, strong husband in the world!  You still give me butterflies!

My Life in Black and White: My Husband

The rainbow is composed of millions of colors, but we have grouped them into seven general categories. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. We live in a breathtaking world full of color! But sometimes you just need to look at pictures in black and white.

I am not a photographer by any means. I don't pretend to be. I know my pictures don't look that great, but I love taking pictures of the ones I love and sharing my memories with you.

One of the things that I love about Paul is his love for music. I totally fell in love with the guy who played the guitar! Before we were married, or even dating for that matter, we went to BTI (Bible Training Institute) and a ton of the youth ended up hanging out playing video games -- except Paul. I found him in a corner playing his guitar singing his heart out. Of course I was interested since I come from a musical family. I knew this was my kind of guy.

We have been married for nearly 7 years now. We both have changed and grown up . . . I guess you could say. Paul has been busy going to college, working hard at his job, getting promotions, changing jobs, training for this new job sometimes feels like he is going through college again. I have been busy having babies. Four babies in four years is a lot of work! I have worked part-time jobs from home here and there, I have been trying to find my inner Martha Stewart when it comes to keeping a house and cooking meals. I feel like we are just running right now. We're so busy and on the go 24/7.

Yesterday we did something different. We pressed the "pause button." Paul got out his trusty guitar and started to play . . . 

I couldn't help but take a picture. To me, watching Paul play the guitar and sing is beautiful. I love to hear him sing -- especially when he is worshiping the Lord. He is so passionate when it comes to God.

When he was strumming on his guitar I had flashbacks of who we were before we had kids, before we were married. While he was singing the song he wrote for me as an anniversary present 5 years ago, I couldn't help but laugh and ask him if he still felt that way as kids were tugging on my shirt and crying about being hungry while I was trying to set the table. Life changes so much, doesn't it?

One thing that doesn't change is my love for Paul. He is my best friend. When I get overwhelmed, he is there to pray for me and encourage me. He makes me laugh. He makes me mad. He makes me shake my head. He makes my heart feel like it will burst. He makes me happy. I'm so glad he is mine!

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!

Count Your Blessings

Last week all of America celebrated Independence Day with BBQ's, desserts, and fireworks.  Our family wasn't any different.  We enjoyed wonderful food, some of us went to a play in the park (Romeo and Juliet) while others played in the pool, and then we all went to the fairgrounds to watch the big show.

As you can see...most everyone enjoyed the evening. :-)  Our little town set off an amazing display of fireworks and our little group was front and center.  It was amazing!  All of us -- even Phebe -- had a great time.  Afterward, we headed back to some friends' house to set off our own fireworks before calling it a night.

We all enjoyed the fireworks very much.  They were so pretty!  We even had a couple paper lanterns this year which was fun.  It was getting close to midnight when my little ones asked me if they could go inside and lay down.  I brought them inside, changed diapers, and was just laying kids on couches when Melissa ran in and told me to go outside because Paul was bleeding.

I had no idea what was going on, so I headed outside to see a group of Paul bringing Paul in, and I was so confused as to what happened!  Someone finally told me he got hit in the face by a firework, but I didn't know the extent of it yet.  They brought him inside where there was light, his dad looked at him, and they immediately rushed him to the emergency room.

As soon as I made sure someone could take my kids home for me, I had someone take me to the hospital so I could be with my husband.  The whole time I was praying, asking God to be with him.  I still didn't know what had happened, but he was seriously injured.

I ran into the ER, found out which room Paul was in, pushed back the curtain...and found my poor husband with a big hole under his lip and blood everywhere.  He was moaning because of how much pain he was in.  I went to his side and continued to pray for him while I heard the story:

Earlier in the evening we had shot a off a mortar cake.  About an hour or so later, Paul was using a flare to light smaller fireworks, and he put the flare in one of the mortar shells and it tipped over.  When he bent down to pick up the tipped over shell and his flare, he was met with a dud mortar that was re-lit by his flare.  The dud hit him right in the face.  Thankfully it bounced off his face and then exploded -- but as you can see he was still damaged.

After the doctor cleaned him up, asked over and over how his teeth felt, if he could see, etc., he told Paul that if it was six inches higher he would have lost an eye.  Knowing Paul, that would have been the ultimate nightmare.00000

Father's Day

I wasn't sure what our Father's Day would be like this year.  Paul had been training the week before in Great Falls and hadn't had a chance to come home yet.  But when the kids and I pulled up at church Sunday morning our superhero husband and dad was there waiting for us!  The kids were very excited to see their main squeeze.

The Father's Day service was wonderful!  I enjoyed every minute of it -- I'm sure the dads did too.  It's adorable to hear how kids feel about their dads.  They have so much love and respect for them.  Every child believes their dad is the smartest, strongest, and biggest man around!

After church we all headed out to a lake for lunch.  It was such a nice day!  After the men inhaled their lunch they grabbed their fishing poles and headed to the lake to do some fishing.

The women stayed near the tables with the kids and just enjoyed the sun.  We told interesting stories and laughed while the kids explored and played adorable imaginative games.  Before we knew it, it was 5:30 and everyone was getting tired so most of us headed to town.

I am so grateful for the dads in my life.  I believe my Dad is one of the best in the whole world, but I also am grateful for my father-in-law, and my husband.  All three are wonderful men of God!  They all are family oriented and are such hard workers.  My children are so blessed to have all three men in their lives.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day weekend spent with the ones you love.  I also hope you appreciated your fathers and husbands every single day -- not just on Father's Day.  They do so much for us, don't they?  If you haven't done it in awhile, go ahead and hug your dad and/or husband and let them know how much you appreciate them.

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!

6 years

This weekend my husband and I celebrated our 6 years of marriage.  There's a part of me that cannot believe that we have been married 6 years already, and then the other part of me cannot imagine life any other way.  We have learned plenty of life lessons in this short amount of time together, and yet we have plenty more to learn!

I am so thankful for the man God has brought into my life to be my husband and best friend.  He loves the Lord so much, he works extremely hard for his family, he loves his babies, he is loving, compassionate, very patient...he is just the perfect man for me.

Happy Anniversary, my love.  I am so thankful I get to spend the rest of my life with you!

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!

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!