Family Picture Day

On a beautiful fall day last week we all got into our matching, we-are-the-cute-family picture clothes and a friend came over to snap some pictures. It was still hard to get one with all four of us looking good at the same time. However, some of her shots of the boys took my breath away! (I am not posting those now because I am still deciding which to use for Christmas pictures...)

This morning I woke up tempted to grouse and complain (grandparents coming to visit, house still in chaos, Nathaniel pitching fits, an ongoing battle with ants, remnants of a cold making my head hurt). Then I saw these. I am blessed beyond what I can ask, deserve, or imagine! Thanks be to God for His indescribable gifts!

Pictures by Michelle Carter at Michelle Carter Photography. Thanks Michelle!

One Thousand Gifts (2)

5. the beautiful flowers that surprise me every time I look out the sun room window on my way to do laundry

6. imagination
7. round orange pumpkins
8. bright fall sunlight filtering into the livin groom
9. Lilly's sweet infant smiles
10. good coffee and chat with a friend
11. vibrance of fall leaves
12. early morning snuggles, warm and cozy before the day begins

Being boys

When we are out at the store I often get told, "You have your hands full!" I find this funny since I only have 2 kids. But I guess the fact that they are boys ups the ante a little bit. And it is true that there is never a dull day when you are raising boys....

On the first sunny afternoon (after more days of rain than I care to count) the boys spent almost an hour picking the new growth buds off of our bushes. I think it was a good sacrifice to make for an hour of the boys getting along and me being able to cook dinner in peace.

It has been cold here! By cold I mean that we went from beautiful fall days of 70 degrees to highs in the low 50 degrees. Nathaniel was jealous of Jeremiah's Super Mario hat so he got to choose a hat of his own.

Nathaniel is currently obsessed with lions and the Lion King movie. But our video tape player eats VHS tapes now so he can't watch it. This results in one pouting episode per day. However, he can usually be distracted by Ice Age or Shrek. He is not a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Jeremiah has announced that he will do school on Wednesday and Thursday only. Fine with me. He is currently very into maps, geography, and learning about countries. Yesterday he announced that he wants us all to go visit the Great Wall of China. Nice to know that the traveling DNA made it through to him!

Next week is our last soccer game of the season. It has been fun for us all. Jeremiah has learned a lot and gotten a lot of exercise. We have learned that Jeremiah is not competitive by nature, yet. I'm fine with that. I'm not either. We've also learned that Nathaniel probably is. He runs to the soccer field saying, "I play! My coach! Goal!" We spend game time keeping Nathaniel off the field. He has an awesome dribble.

Jeremiah was reading Prince Caspian by himself the other day. I have no idea how much he was retaining, but he was reading away. Aaron and I are learning that trying to spell out things that we don't want him to hear just doesn't work much any more. "Mama, why did you spell park?!"

Yesterday while we sat in the sun a lady bug was discovered on my book. The boys spent half an hour examining it and carrying it around on a leaf. The both cried genuine tears of sadness when it flew away.

It is LOUD at my house. There are sibling spats, good natured wrestling, singing, running, playing music, and pretend play going on constantly. When it gets to be too much for my quiet loving, introverted self I remind myself that there will come a day when my house will be empty and quiet and I may actually miss all the noise.

One Thousand Gifts

1. a crackling warm fire on a cold, dreary night

2. my husband's strong, gentle, patient hands

3. a moment of patience in the midst of an impatient week

4. pure, childlike laughter and joy




I have started keep this list of gratitude in my head. What a difference it makes in my daily life and attitude to keep myself aware of all the gifts that God gives me both great and small! So, I have decided to join the Multitude Monday community on the Holy Experience blog.

Making more natural stuff

My younger self would have never in a million years imagined that I would actually make my own diaper rash cream.
But I did.
And it is awesome!

"Why did you do this?" You ask...
Because we use cloth diapers now and you can't use all the traditional diaper rash creams that you get at baby showers because the ingredients (which are impossible to pronounce, and do you really want them on your baby's little bottom?) make the diapers less absorbent. And you need a diaper to actually absorb.
Because even though Nathaniel gets fewer diaper rashes than he did with disposables, he still does get them and I don't like switching back to disposables just so that I can use diaper rash cream. That kind of defeats the purpose of switching to cloth diapers in the first place.

But even if I didn't use cloth diapers I would still make this stuff! (And I probably will make this stuff and package it nicely for my friends having babies.)

"Why?" You ask again...
Because the ingredients are all natural. The ingredients are soft on baby's skin and actually good and nourishing for it.
It smells naturally good as opposed to processed, scented, fake good. There is a huge difference.
And I have never seen a kid actually ask me to put diaper cream on his bottom. Really. It is kind of freaky. I intended to just use this stuff when a diaper rash appeared, but Nathaniel asks me to put it on every time I change his diaper. He is also very possessive, "Mine dipe cw-eem!" he exclaims clutching the jar.

I got the recipe from this site (a great site for all kinds of natural tips, tricks and recipe's).

Homemade Natural Diaper Cream
1/8 cup coconut oil (extra virgin is preferred)
1/4 cup raw shea butter
3-4 tablespoons talc-free cornstarch or arrowroot powder

Combine coconut oil and shea butter in small bowl with a hand mixer.
Add cornstarch or arrowroot powder one tablespoon at a time until it reaches desired thickness (should look and feel similar to whipped icing).
Transfer to container of your choice.
Makes about 1 cup.

Strange Fall Days

It has been a strange fall so far. Lots of rain. Lots. The fire pit that we bought with visions of cool fall evenings enjoying the cozy warmth of a fire and marshmallow toasting sits still unused. During Aaron's fall break we had 2 clear days. We made the most of one of those days by weeding, spreading mulch, and clearing leaves.

Watch this mom!

Coming to get you!

Determined....

Yipee!

The mischievous grin...

Then there is this barefooted, diaper wearing, running machine

I dare you to resist this smile!

You simply can't resist the cuteness...

And of course, gotta have the brotherly wrestle in the leaves!

9 years!

Look at those two young love birds!

Our quiet moment of reflection and joy immediately after the ceremony that united us as man and wife was captured on film.

We loved each other passionately in that moment, but we had no idea the depth of love we would need to love each other well day in and day out.

Let me be candid here for a moment. The past few months have been rough. Rough. (I have noticed that the even years tend to be the hardest for us; 2, 6, 8. Wonder what that means?) Through our sin and selfishness we had allowed the joy that we felt for each other fade. We continued our responsibilities and lived our life but the joy and love that is clearly present in the above picture was gone, or at least hidden.

How thankful I am for a loving and kind heavenly Father! Over the past few weeks He has been drawing Aaron and I closer together again. He has been returning to us the joy, love and passion that we once felt, but newer and deeper now. He has been teaching us how to love each other better in practical ways on a daily basis.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. -Philippians 2:3&4

How thankful I am for an amazing man who is willing to share with me all of the ups and downs of life and love! God is good!

Big boy bed

A few weeks ago we took apart Nathaniel's crib not because he was climbing out of it, but because he was wanting to sit in it and read books. He would watch Jeremiah sit on his bed surrounded by stuffed animals and books and want to do the same thing. So on the spur of the moment I told Aaron we should take the crib apart and put the matrass on the ground.
So we did.
And it has gone pretty well.
We have had all the issues you would expect: Nathaniel getting up 18 times in the first hour before he falls asleep. Nathaniel waking up in the middle of the night and climbing into our bed (sometimes more than once a night). Finding Nathaniel asleep on the floor next to the bed.
And of course the classic, finding Nathaniel asleep in his brother's bed.

Life lessons

The hardest part about being a parent for me is standing back and letting my kids experience some life lessons the hard way. There is a whole book about this called Parenting with Love and Logic that I agreed with almost completely when I read it but am finding it harder to put into practice than I thought.
Anyway, poor Jeremiah seems to have had a rash of real-life lessons the past few weeks. Maybe it's the age?
--
About 2 weeks ago we were doing errands and shopping together. Jeremiah wanted to bring one of his Thomas toys. I told him he could but he was responsible for it. I wasn't going to keep track of it for him. We spent about an hour walking all over Kmart looking for a birthday present (hope you liked it Jude!) and checking out some sales. Just as we were about to head to the car with our purchases Jeremiah broke down in tears because his train was gone. We retraced our steps through the store but could not find it.

During soccer practice Jeremiah and the other children have a hard time keeping their hands to themselves. There is a lot of playful (and not so playful) pushing and shoving. At home Jeremiah struggles with this too. He kicks, pushes and hits his brother a lot. I try to talk to him about the fact that if he pushes, kicks, and hits he needs to be prepared for the consequences. Well, on Thursday night a little girl had enough and punched Jeremiah so hard in the stomach it took his breath away for a minute. He was pretty surprised!

There are a lot of young kids in our church and sometimes before the service there is a lot of running and rough housing. We have discussed this with Jeremiah before, that just because other kids are running and rough housing does not mean that he can. This morning he did not obey and the picture above shows the result. There was a lot of blood and the hole in his forehead is pretty deep.

After lunch today it was time for naps. Again, we have been working with Jeremiah on doing the pre-nap routine without fooling around (bouncing on the bed, running around the bathroom, etc.). He was supposed to be in the bathroom going potty when we heard a loud THUMP followed by hysterical crying. The scene in the bathroom was of Jeremiah flat on the floor with the towel bar pulled out of the wall and laying beside him. His back had a large scratch. The story that came out was that Jeremiah was trying to hang from the towel bar and walk with his feet up the wall.

Sigh...I really hope he is learning these lessons....

Mud

What a gorgeous picture! The dappled fall sunlight, the brilliant blue eyes....the mud!

Jeremiah wanted to join in the fun only when he saw me get out the camera and turn my undivided attention to his brother. And even then this was the extent of how dirty he was willing to get.

Bath time was necessary and fun.

Accomplishing the extraordinary

Jesus said to all: "Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps." Luke 9:23

"Jesus emphasizes that I must take up my cross each day. My cross is the various demands and duties of each day. Their never-ending recurrence causes them to become routine and monotonous.
However, what I do in life is not nearly important as why I perform my daily duties.
Most of the saints did not accomplish extraordinary things, but they did do the ordinary things in an extraordinary manner."
(from Follow Me: A Daily Guide to Scriptural Prayer by David E. Rosage)

God knew that I needed to hear that today.

I have been feeling a bit at loose ends recently. Trying to build certain disciplines back into my life, feeling like I should be doing more to further the Kingdom, wondering if I am becoming too complacent and comfortable. Really, what glamor or sacrifice is there in rising early, greeting my kids with a joyful heart, feeding meals, mopping floors, folding laundry, reading books over and over again, settling sibling squabbles, exercising, greeting my husband with a smile (and kiss) when he returns from his day of work?

I had imagined that I would be feeding the hungry in Africa, or mentoring kids in boarding school in Europe, or have a house full of adopted kids of every color. Now those things would surely require sacrifice and bring glory to God.

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or clanging symbol. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
I Corinthians 13:1-3

"However, what I do in life is not nearly as important as why I perform my daily duties."

And believe me, at this point in my life for some reason performing my daily duties with love and joy has been a challenge for me. My cross to bear in some way. I think because it requires me setting aside myself (my wants, my desires for how to spend my time and money) and give totally to 3 specific people pretty much every minute of every day.

I am still open and willing to do those things that I listed earlier. Yet I am realizing that it is in the fabric of daily life (as I make choices about the attitude of my heart toward those I serve daily) that I learn to pick up my cross and follow my Saviour, learning to love others as He loved me. In that, I am accomplishing the extraordinary.

For the grandparents

Practice pictures I snapped before heading to church to get portraits done for the new picture directory. I figured I'd better get them while they were clean and "matching." These are some pretty adorable little men!

A good week

God blessed us with a wonderful week! I'm not sure if it was the beautiful fall weather, my discipline in exercising and trying to keep us on a better schedule, or the fun visits we had with friends interspersed with our work but this week just seemed to run smoothly and be full of good things.

Standing proudly in front of the area of the garden where we planted 100 bulbs!

It was a fun way to spend a gorgeous fall morning - digging, finding worms, ("LOOK MY WORMMIE" screamed Nathaniel every time he found one), learning about bulbs and how they will sleep during the winter and hopefully bring bright flowers in the spring. I'm not quite sure how the big fishing net came into the whole thing....

A pirate hiding on his ship.

The boys have been doing better and better at playing together with no help from me. Yesterday after we planted all those bulbs they took off with their swords and fishing nets and spent an hour playing pirates under our weeping cherry tree. I took advantage of the break and sat in the sun with a Mason jar full of cold water and a Jane Austen book. It was bliss!

I made a few loaves of bread earlier this week (partly because I wanted to and partly because I was waiting until payday to go to the store) and the process intrigued the boys.

Other things we did this week:

Met Mr. Timmy and his seeing-eye dog at story hour. I tried to explain the concept of "blind" to Jeremiah by asking him to close his eyes to which he promptly replied, "But Mr. Timmy's eyes were open!"
Spent a delightful morning with Eli and Shanna. The boys played while Shanna and I worked out and visited.
Ate a few meals out in the gazebo.
Went walking with Lisa and "baby" Jude. The boys are crazy excited about Jude's 1st birthday party on Saturday.
Took Nathaniel's crib apart and created a "big boy bed" out of his former crib mattress now on the floor. (More on that later.)

We have a fun weekend ahead and starting next week Thursday Aaron will be on Fall break for 6 whole days! We are trying to decide how to spend that precious time. Any ideas?