There's Isn't Much Better...

than seeing your children become friends!

I'm not sure when it started, but at some point Jane and Chris started becoming good buddies. I just love seeing the relationships develop between my kids. I pray that they'll be both family and friends!



This just makes me smile. I took it when we stopped at a park on the way to pick up my mom from the airport. It was one of those times that my kids played so well together and I was able to truly soak it all up. Moments like that are so precious!

Not Too Little

It was a typical morning at our house. One of the children was asking me where something was that had been misplaced. If you're a mom, you're probably also the go-to person when someone has lost something. Most of the time, I know where the item is. In fact, it's rather amazing to me that I can know where tiny toys are at any given moment. It must be an acquired skill with the birth of your first child, but I digress.

Unlike usual, I couldn't find the lost toy. My son was looking for his favorite stuffed bear. It used to be my husband's. He calls it Cubby because it's a red and blue Chicago Cubs bear. My son loves Cubby. Despite it being a rushed morning, I had a soft spot for him looking for his favorite toy. I could tell he was trying not to get upset, so I joined the search party.

He went to his room to look once more and I went to mine suspecting it might have fallen off of my bed. I remembered he'd climbed into my bed the night before and might have brought his stuffed friend with him. Sure enough, there was the beloved bear tucked in between the wall and my bed. I scooped him up and headed to my son's room.

As I entered his room and announced that I'd found the bear, I noticed that he was sitting on the floor with his head bowed. I asked him if he was okay.

"I was just praying," he said. "I was asking God to help me find Cubby," he further explained.

I almost cried. Such sweetness.

Right there I was reminded that nothing is too little to bring before God. I recalled something I'd read in a recent Bible study about if something is important to us, then it's also important to God. Yes, even if it's "just" a teddy bear.

I was also reminded that those who seem too little can have some awfully big faith!

Out of Practice and Happy About It

This past week I had a moment that took me back the good old days. By the good old days, I mean when I first started this blog.

At that point, I couldn't go anywhere without someone telling me, "Wow, you're hands are full!" I had two small children and one on the way. Yes, my hands were full both figuratively and literally.

Of course, being at that stage in motherhood gave me plenty of blog fodder. Tons of it really. And yes, most it seemed to involve messes. I thought I was pretty much past those days. Enter Wednesday night.

We were leaving church and one of my kiddos had to use the bathroom. Of course, this child didn't realize this need until we were in the van. Normally I'd tell my kids they'd have to wait, but this time my kiddo had that certain look. I knew that if I forced my child to wait until after our 20 minute drive home, it would not end well.

Fortunately, Tony was with me so he stayed with the two children while I took the one inside to use the bathroom. I thought we'd be in and out. Instead, it was nearly 30 minutes before we came back to the car.

In the meantime, I had a child who went into the stall and couldn't get the toilet paper roll to work and then couldn't unlock the door. I had to make the child crawl back in the stall and figure out how to unlock it. In the process, the child who couldn't get the toilet paper to work had to do without toilet paper.

Going without toilet paper made a mess. This meant that I walked out with underw*ar in my hand and I had to reassure my kiddo it was okay to do without and just toss on pants until we got home. (I know. Aren't you so glad I'm sharing this?) Of course, the child again got locked in the stall and I finally realized it wasn't because my child didn't know how to operate the lock. Rather, my kiddo didn't know to pull on the door instead of push. I just stood there dumbfounded at how complicated a quick trip to the bathroom had become.

Once we were finally on our way home again, I couldn't help but laugh. That kind of event used to be our experience nearly every time my children had to use a public bathroom. In fact, that was probably mild compared to other outings we've had. I probably wouldn't have even found that blog worthy two years ago. Clearly, I'm out of practice. And in this case, I don't care if practice makes perfect, I'm content being out of practice with these types of incidents!

Hopefully it will be quite some time before I have another bathroom mishap to tell, but just to be safe, I'm going to sweetly ask my husband to take the kids to the bathroom the next time we're out in public!

Two Months Later...

I wonder how many post titles will have "Two Months" in the title? Anyways...

I wanted to share my favorite back to school picture of the year. Well yes, that is what I wanted to do. Blogger had other ideas. Sigh.

I'll have to describe it...

My little man got to school on his first day of kindergarten. He got his things put away in his locker and found his seat. He excitedly sat down only to find his teacher had put pink Play-doh at his seat. What? The insult. I couldn't help myself. I snapped a picture of him glaring at the offensive stuff. Right after that I swapped his for blue. I'm sure the girl who came to sit by him didn't mind!

Fortunately, school has only gotten better for him from that point. He's one of the younger ones in his class and he's doing just great. To say we're proud of him would be an understatement. We sent our oldest child to kindergarten last year and it's just as much fun to watch our second born experience his first year at school.

Way to go Chris! We're so proud of you!

Two Months! That Long? Really?

Wow, I don't think I've ever let two months go by without blogging. I'll be my mom doesn't even check this anymore. I do need to give a shout out to my little bro though, because I'll bet he still checks it regularly.

I started this blog four years ago when I was expecting our third child. She's now three months away from being four years old. My how time flies! It's funny because I started this blog to simply record our lives, but after having three children in just over as many years, it sort of took on a theme. It was the place I recorded the craziness of keeping up with three young children. Well, those three children are still young, but 6, 5, and 3, things certainly aren't what they used to be. I don't even buy diapers or pull-ups anymore! (Yes, it's awesome!)

My blogging has slowed for a couple of reasons. Mainly, it's slowed because though life has gotten easier as my children have gotten bigger, it's also gotten busier. Since two of my children go to school all day, I feel like I should do my best to get things done while they're gone so I can give them my full attention in the evening. That means I'm running errands and doing chores during the day and spending time with them in the late afternoons and evenings. Of course, my three year old is still with me most of the time and I love that!

The other reason my blog has slowed is because we've had a tough couple of years with one of our kiddo's behavior. I didn't want to record a bunch of negative memories. Quite honestly, at the end of many days I had to follow the motto of, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!" Sure, there were plenty of good things mixed in during those times and I do wish I'd recorded more of them. Who knows, maybe one day I will.

A high school friend recently started up a blog. I love reading it! It made me remember that I had way more than two reasons that I loved blogging. So, I started typing this post. I don't know that I'll ever be back to the frequency I blogged a couple of years ago, but I'm going to try. I miss it. I love looking back and remembering what my days used to be like. I like laughing at the silly things I posted when I first started my blog.

Now that I have two school-age children, I'm truly realizing how fast the time goes. I want to remember this time. I want to savor it. I've found blogging is a way to do that. Here goes...

Waving the White Paint Chip

Alright, I give in...I chose the wrong color white. As in, I'm not seeing much difference between Polar Bear from Behr and good old Kilz. Bummer. At least I haven't put the shelves back up, right?

On the bright side, I did find a color for the walls. After Tony saw the various shades of green on the wall, his comment was, "Do you like that?" Smart man isn't he!

As soon as I said, "No, not really." He added that he wasn't fond of it either. As if I couldn't tell that from the way he posed the question!

So, after failing at choosing a white paint color, I decided to head to Sherwin Williams for a little advice. It's amazing the difference a professional can make. All I did was explain my white fireplace and golden oak trim. An employee pointed me right to a few colors. What do you know? I brought them home and like them all!

I'm basically going to paint the walls the same color but with a green/gray undertone rather than a golden/brown undertone. (If you know more about color than me, which is very likely, you may think I said that all wrong, but it does make sense to me!) Basically, it makes me happy.

It's not the only thing making me happy right now...

Check out this fabric my friend found for me. She's going to make me some pillows for my updated family room. Love! (Now, I just have to come up with a way I can do something for her. She not only sews, but she also gives awesome hair cuts. Compared to that, I've got no skills!)

But I do have new fabric and I can't wait to see it turned into pillows!

I Painted The Fireplace White (Or, My Husband Is Really Patient!)

Well, hello old blog of mine! Tonight you're just going to have to be that old long lost friend that I turn to when I need advice. Well, at least the advice of your readers. Is anyone still out there? (Little Brother, I'm talking to you!)

A couple of weeks ago, my little man started kindergarten. My oldest daughter, Ann, also started first grade. Needless to say, even though I still have my three year old at home, it was rather quiet around here. Perhaps that's why I did what I did.

The thing I did was to venture out to the garage and open our giant bucket of primer. Then, armed with only a foam paint brush and a desire to brighten up my family room, I began priming my red brick fireplace. I didn't wake up with any plan of painting the fireplace, but I did it all the same. I guess it's just how I roll.

Four years after buying the house, the only thing we had changed was the furnishings. Well, we'd also added that cutie in the picture to our family.

By the time I picked my kids up from their first day of school, I had a primed fireplace. All that painting, as well as playing with my three year old, helped to keep my mind off of how fast my kids are growing up.

Well, by the next week, I was painting the shelves surrounding my fireplace as well as the mantle. Much sanding, priming, and painting later and I have a LOT of white in my family room. So, now I've got a white (possibly too much so) fireplace and shelves and I've got no idea what to do with the rest of the room. That isn't exactly true. I'd like to paint the walls green. However, I'm having a hard time coordinating with the couch which I have no desire or means to change. It's green, of course. I guess I kinda have a thing for green. So...

Hello White! I think? I like you.

To make a long and boring process short, I've got a very white fireplace and surrounding shelves combined with walls that are basically tan and all sorts of shades of green that I'm trying out. I suppose I should also mention my rather dated wood trim. After paining all the brick and wood that makes up the fireplace wall, I have NO desire to paint the trim. At least not anytime soon.

I'd probably be more forgiving of the trim if I didn't feel like it limited my color choices so much.

There you have it. (That is if you're still reading!) Now, it's your turn to weigh in with some thoughts. I'd rather go with a more modern look. At least as modern as you can go with an 80s traditional two story house!

Your thoughts?