From Age to Age

Thank God for late nights!!

2010-04-14T23:08:00.000-07:00

Warning: Pollyanna type post ahead.

You see, by and large, I'm one of those people who likes to look at the glass as being, not just 1/2 full, but 1/2 full with free refills :) If there is a bright side, and there pretty much always is, I'm there to find it.

So, why am I thankful for late nights? Well, because it so happens, as I was sitting at my 'puter this early am, my ears were perked by a steady tappy, drippy, thumpy noise. I couldn't fully identify it at first, but I had a nagging suspicion it was a water leak of one kind or another (the noise seemed to be coming from our half bath/laundry room). It was rather slow, so I waited for a few minutes to see if it continued, then labored up from my chair (remember I'm 35 weeks pregnant :D) and went to investigate.

Ok, so, I quickly find my suspicions were correct, and it was indeed water that was dripping, from my toilet no less. By an interesting, and I like to say, God ordained circumstance, there happened to be a baby potty training seat (you know, the kind that sits on the toilet to size it down so the little tyke doesn't take their first swimming lesson in the john?) sitting RIGHT UNDER where the leak was. This was, as I said, God ordained, in my opinion, because the material of the seat was what made the water drip audible. I'm not convinced I would have ever heard or noticed it, had it not been dripping on that vinyl seat. So, thank You, LORD!!!

Moving on, I'm wiping down the side of the toilet and silently praying that God will clue me in to where in the world this leak is coming from. And, though unvoiced, pleading that it will be more than simple, because, frankly, our house is sold, we're buying a "new" one, and we REALLY don't need to be replacing a toilet. Not that any time is good, really, to be replacing a toilet (though I'm sure I could find you the upside if I really tried *snort*), but, honestly, I've got other things on my mind at this point. God, in His graciousness, VERY quickly led me to the source, which was a lovely crack that ran from the top to almost halfway down the holding tank. On goes my fix-it hat. First, we try out the good ole, lower the water level and see if that takes it under where the crack starts. No such luck. M'kay, step two. Again, by God ordained "chance", I just happened to have been working in the garage a couple of days ago, packing anything and everything, and I found a lovely, unopened spare tube of caulking. I left that little bugger out, Praise Jesus, thinking it just might come in handy for a couple of things. Yes indeedy.

Three minutes later, caulking has been applied and I send off a thank you note to my Father in heaven, as well as my Dad, thanking both that Dad taught me from a young age how to fix anything and everything. I can't tell you how handy that knowledge has been over the years.

So, while late night drips aren't the pride of life, it's a heck of a lot better than finding a massive puddle in my bathroom tomorrow morning ;)

Sweet dreams!

From the mouths of babes

2010-01-20T22:07:00.000-08:00

This particular insight did not come from one of my own, so I will not pretend to take credit for it. BUT, a fabulous Mom I interact with on the raising godly tomatoes website has a wonderful teenage son who brought the following verse to her attention:
Ecclesiastes 8:11
¹¹ "Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil"

That's powerful. Take some time to really read that over and think about what it means, particularly as it pertains to child-rearing. If you are allowing your children to get away with things, and not promptly disciplining (executing a sentence) their hearts begin to fully turn to do evil.

Our responsibility as parents is often times daunting. But, we have God's promises to up hold us:
Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it."

Don't neglect your duty as parents. You do your sweet blessings no favors in letting them carry on in sin. Chastise them while there is still time. You will find joy in seeing their hearts desire to turn away from evil. Truly, as you guide them into righteousness, they begin to desire that guidance, knowing somehow that it is best. When you look into the face of your little one that you've only just finished rebuking and they're smiling ear to ear and saying a heartfelt "I love you" you KNOW God's way is the BEST way!

A funny

2009-12-15T15:26:00.000-08:00

New readers are just too much fun I'm discovering!!

Alright, the background is, I wrapped all of the Christmas presents last night and put them under the tree. One of Quenton's (just turned 5) I labeled "Quentax" because that's a nickname I occasionally call him.

Fast forward to this morning.... All of the kids are gathered around the tree enjoying the view and wondering what's for who. You know the scene. Once I teach Quenton the "To: and From:" deal, he's set and goes about reading the labels. A little while later he walks up to me with a look of ultimate confusion and says "Mom, there's something weird. There's one over there that looks like it's for me. It starts with a Q. But it ends with an x .......????

I about died laughing!!!

My Sweet Boy

2009-08-30T23:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I feel like I'm often ( I guess that depends on how you define 'often' *snort*) here exclaiming about what wonderful children I have. Hopefully y'all don't get tired of that. I certainly don't :) "Behold children are a blessing from the Lord"!!!
You see, if you make it on over here to read my blog, I'd LOVE for you to leave feeling refreshed, encouraged and smiling. These precious moments with my children that I blog about are my way of "pondering all of these things" in my heart, like Mary, the mother of Jesus, did. There are going to be hard times. There are going to be rough days, weeks and/or months. But we're not in it for the money ;D These precious little souls we've been entrusted with are ours to "train up in the way they should go." Now and then I get a glimpse of just what that looks like, particularly in Quenton, being our oldest.

Here's how it went: See, the other day Daddy came home from work and was noodling around on the computer. Quenton, who is swiftly becoming his little shadow, was at his side, watching every move Geoffrey made. All at once, out of the blue, Quenton turned to his Daddy and said "Dad, I don't want to do anything that bothers you or makes you mad, because I want to be just like you!" I thought "Well, what a wonderfully sweet thing to say!" It got better. You see, about 10 minutes later, Geoffrey was rallying to give Quenton his "nightly bop". It's a cute game he plays with the children, playfully bopping them on the head out of ritual. Quenton got quite serious and said "Please don't Dadda". When asked "why" he explained "I don't want you to do that because I'll want to punch you back and you don't like it when I punch you. I don't want to do things that you don't like." *jaw drop* This boy was SERIOUS!

Well, a little while later, I was in the kitchen finishing up cooking dinner. I attempted, and failed miserably at pouring boiling hot broth from my crockpot into a pan to make gravy. See, the hotpad slipped on me and I succeeded in spilling said chicken broth all down the front of me. In immense pain, I squeaked out a shocked "Ow!" Both Quen and Ari came running, and I could hear Geoffrey who was upstairs heading quickly down. One of the kids asked what was wrong and I said "I spilled hot broth all down me." Quenton was looking at me very worried, but he waited for a moment, and then in the kindest, most sensitive tone said simply "I'm sorry Mama." I could have cried right then and there out of sheer love for him. In his sweet little boy heart he knew I wasn't "alright" so he didn't even ask. He just sympathized in a way I very much needed right then.

Then, that night as I was putting him and his sister to bed, we were taking turns praying. He said a very simple, and even generic prayer, which I was a bit disappointed with. I have a tendency to want to correct when he's obviously not praying from his heart, but I felt like I needed to keep my mouth closed, so we just moved on to Ari's turn. As she was praying though, he checked as though he had something else he wanted to say. Once she was done he confirmed there was something else and went on to pray "And Jesus, please help Ari and me to obey our parents like it says to do in the Bible." *Happy grin* Praise God for helping me to keep my critical nature in check. I'm so glad for his sweet teachable spirit. Lord, please give me wisdom!

Bubbles!!!

2009-08-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot to say on this particular post, but enough cuteness to go around. Who doesn't enjoy watching their children playing with bubbles?

Even the cat had to get in on the action... in a manner of speaking.

Aha!

2009-08-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

You know that feeling, or sometimes that rut you get in, where you're reading along in your Bible, and you come across something that simply does NOT make sense to you? I'm sure we've all been there. Well, I hit one of those spots this morning. I was reading Galatians 4 where Paul is talking about Hagar and Sarah and their two sons. One is born in the ordinary way, and is under the law, while the other is born of a promise and is part of the new covenant. Ok, so I got all of that. But then he starts talking about how :25 "Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is a slave with her children." Ok, I can get that too. She corresponds to Mt. Sinai, because that's where the 10 commandments came from, and thus the Law. Then :26 "But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. :27 For it is written:
'Be glad, O barren woman,
who bears no children;
break forth and cry aloud,
you who have no labor pains;
because more are the children of the
desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.' (Isaiah 54:1)"

I sat there looking at that for a bit, and then went back and read it another time thinking "Wha...?" Then it was like God just breathed the meaning of it into my mind, and it all made sense. And to me, it's something all of us mother's think about, worry about, and hopefully more than anything, PRAY about. See, he's saying: Be glad you ladies who don't have children, because more are the children who will be heirs of the law (unbelievers) than those who are heirs of the promise (Christians).

It's a battle, my friends. A battle for the hearts, minds and souls of our children. Teach them, train them, while they are young, for the Bible promises "... When they are old they will not depart from it."
Pray for your children to have a heart knowledge/belief in Jesus Christ. That they will have a personal relationship with Him. So many children grow up with only a head knowledge of God, and when that is tested, it is found lacking. By and large, their faith will not last if they're basing it ONLY on what you tell/have taught them. They must experience God for themselves.

What a guy!!

2009-06-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes you look at your kids and think "What am I missing? I've done SOMETHING to cause a rift between us, and I'm not quite sure what it is." You know those times, when they start misbehaving where they hadn't before. Well, I was seeing some new things sprout up in Quenton in the last month or so, and thinking those very thoughts. Instead of his usual cheerful, chipper self when asked to do something, I was getting a mellow "ok". Things that used to elicit an excited response, got little to none. My Mama heart knew something was "off". So, I started praying about it. God is SO good, and SO faithful! As I continued praying and seeking God's face, He reminded me of something I've read many times: For every one time you have to correct or rebuke your child, there should be 4 or 5 times that you are praising or speaking well of them.
As I started to reflect on my interactions with my children, and particularly Quenton, I had to admit to myself that I was/am really rather critical. Which, translates into me correcting/rebuking them a lot, and praising them only occasionally. It was causing my son to feel unappreciated, and probably bitter in some ways, among other things.

So, I began to pay closer attention to praising him, even for the little things. Within a day or two I noticed remarkable changes in him. He became more affectionate, showed a marked change in attitude, and seemed as though he was striving both to please me and the Lord.

One prime example of the change in him was: The other day we were sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch. He looked over at his little sister, who was drinking a green smoothie, and, as always, making quite a mess of her face. He started to laugh and say "Ari, you have a ....." He stopped mid-sentance and said "No, I shouldn't say that, that wouldn't be nice." I immediately knew what he'd been thinking of saying (she had a mustache) and my jaw nearly dropped while my heart nearly burst with pride. Even in the midst of finding amusement with something, he was taking time to listen to the Holy Spirit and reign in his tongue. He's four years old folks. Yet, he took time to think about and realize that perhaps saying that his sister had a mustache would not be a kind thing to say. My heart does and did rejoice with gladness at the maturity I saw/am seeing in Quenton. To God be the glory!!

A birthday fit for a one year old

2009-06-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a YEAR already!!! *shocked*
Yep, that's right. Caleb turned 1 this past Friday, June 5th.

We didn't do the standard birthday party as one normally thinks of birthday parties... but I think he enjoyed it none-the-less.

We started out by going to the park, and unfortunately I managed to forget my camera. Suffice it to say, they all had fun. That was followed by a trip to the thrift store to see if we could find anything that just called out "Caleb" to me. Not so much. We headed home for a nice long nap... I got Quenton up a little early and he and I got some good one on one time together searching out some toys and a cake for "Lubby".

All of the above made dinner late, so after dinner and cake there wasn't a whole lot of time left for anything but bed, so the gift opening came the next day. That's another post ;)

But, I do have plenty of cake pictures to share, so, that's got to be worth somethin' ;)

Quenton is picured here in an uncharacteristic show of "grubbiness" ... He's usually very precise and I was quite surprised to see him using his hands instead of his fork. :D

And even more to my surprise was Ari, who normally IS my grubby one, eating very delicate bites with her fork. Notice she's not wearing a bib (usually a very BAD thing), and there's nary a spot on her shirt.

This expression on Caleb's face begs the phrase "Pleased as punch".

There's MORE??!!!

Hooray for Cake!!!!! :)

Just for fun

2009-05-31T22:40:00.000-07:00

I don't get a lot of pictures taken of me, but I was in a goofy mood the other day and took a few of myself just for the heck of it. A couple of them turned out alright, so I thought I'd share.

Hope your monitors are still intact :D

Adventures in Tortilla Making

2009-05-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

Well, we go through a LOT of tortillas around these parts and based on the average 20 ingredient list of the store bought tortillas here, they're probably not the best for you. So, I figured it was high time I start making my own. I recently bought a little cast iron griddle which is ideal for frying up these little buggers, so here's how it went down:

My stove seems to run a little on the hot side, so I had to turn the dial to just barely past 4 to have the pan hot enough but not TOO hot.

I mixed the ingredients: (Recipe from Hillbilly Housewife) 4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour, 1.5 tsp salt, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/3 cup coconut oil or lard, 1-1.25 cups of water (I used a bit more than that).
Then: Stir the dough with a fork until it makes a cohesive ball. Add more water if it's too dry. Be careful not to add too much though. Kneed dough approx. 20 times and then let it rest for about 10 min in the bowl. Then form into 10-12 equal balls of dough. Roll each ball into a bit of flour.

Place dough onto wax paper or well-floured surface. Roll each ball into a 6-7 inch in circle getting them as thin as possible.

Loosen tortilla from surface and flop into a dry hot skillet.

Cook about 30 seconds until the underside is dry and has a few brown spots. Repeat on the other side and then transfer to plate.

Not long later you've got a hot plate full of delicious, healthy tortillas. It truly doesn't take long at all, and it's pretty easy, even as a beginner!!

I wanna help too!!

2009-05-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

How many kids does it take to cook spaghetti? How many stools can you fit side by side in front of a stove?
Oh how empty my kitchen will be years from now when all my sweet little ones are grown and have homes of their own. Lord, let me enjoy every minute of their growing up years!!

Interesting Find

2009-05-01T23:40:00.000-07:00

So, thanks to a couple of people on some forums I frequent (can we say that 3 times fast?), I found a site called swagbucks.com. It's pretty cool!! If you haven't heard the word, here's the fifty cent tour, if you will.

Basically, the idea is that you do all of your searches off of their system, instead of going to google or yahoo, or that sort of thing. Their search engine is based off of google, so it's just as powerful and quick, but by using theirs, you get rewarded *big grin*. Here and there as you do searches, you will get awarded "swagbucks" which you can save up and trade in on "stuff" or gift cards to a variety of different places (common places), like Amazon, to name just one. Also, if you use their links to go to their support sites (like Walmart and Amazon and a zillion others) and you make a purchase, you get 1 swagbuck for every $5 you spend. 40 Swagbucks will get you a $5 giftcard to Amazon. I've only had an account for a week and have only done a minimal amount of searches and I already have 11 swagbucks ;) Pretty easy. Most of us stay at home Mom types do a lot of searches for this and that, so this is an easy way to get a little extra somethin' once in a while.

So... if you read this and it strikes your fancy, if you'd be so kind as to click the link that is to follow, you'll help me along in my swagbuck collecting by using me as a referal.
http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=478212

Happy shopping!!

A Visit Made in Branson

2009-04-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

It's funny how you can go to such extremes to try and pack EVERY.THING. that you could possibly need for a trip. And yet, somehow, almost as though by some cruel twist of fate, you always manage to forget something of utmost importance.

What then, you ask, did you manage to forget this time? My camera. Of all things. My camera. I really need to just stick the thing in my purse and carry it everywhere. It's small enough, and it'd sure be nice to have it around all those times that I think to myself "Oh! I wish I'd brought my camera."

But anyway, thankfully my dear friend, Jenica, who was the soul intent and purpose of the trip, brought her camera, and was kind enough to shoot some pictures of my little ones.

The first day we got there it was raining and quite cold. But, praise the Lord, day two turned out warm and sunny. These were all taken at a park there in Branson. It was BEAUTIFUL.

There was a lovely river running down along the path that led to the play area, and the
play area itself was huge.

All three kids had a blast.
Even Caleb, who enjoyed
his crawling moments on the bridge.

Here's Quenton enjoying himself on a big slide, and Ari's hamming it up to the "new to her" friend behind the camera :)

Later we got to meet up with her son, who'd been visiting with his Grandparents. We all went and got some lunch and then the older three went running and playing freestyle on the yard of a random church (Thanks church!!)...

We'd wandered around a fair amount of time in a foreign town, looking for another park and came up empty when we stumbled across this church. Playground or not, all the kids enjoyed it :) Even Caleb, though you wouldn't necessarily know it by this picture ;)

Life is so precious!

2009-04-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

Time slips by so quickly doesn't it. It seems like yesterday I was snapping pictures of Arianna and Quenton at the pond near our house.

Seriously, every time I drive by the pond I think of that summer and go, REALLY?!!?! Could it really be a year ago, already? How does that happen???

I mean, couldn't they just stay that size forever? Please?

But, then again, I wouldn't want to put this one back for all the world either. So if growing up means adding more of these, maybe it's not SO bad :)

Always a time to praise Him

2009-04-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

You know, there are SO many ups and downs to life. It's dizzying really. Life being what it is just has this habit of constantly throwing you for a loop.

Monday was, well, a Monday. You know what I'm talking about. One of those days you'd just rather stay in bed for. The first half of it went just fine. We did some work around the house (we being the kids and I), then later drove out to a place we're looking at for my Dad to possibly buy. Yep, it's a decent place, excellent price, nothing doing. THEN, Mama decides to go to Goodwill. Oddly enough, looking back on it now, I debated back and forth, almost to the point of driving 3/4's of the way home, about whether to go. In the end, the lure of cute little dresses for Ari and storage ideas for small toe- stubbing toes won out. First off, I should probably have taken my cue to head home when Ari said "Momma, I have to go potty." In my head I'm processing this, thinking, "Hmm.. don't think they have a bathroom, we just got in here, don't really want to leave right now.. WHY RIGHT NOW??" So I opened my mouth to say, "Well, can you wait honey?" And that's when I noticed her stance... You know it, if you're a mother, you know it. Legs wide apart, almost bow-legged, arms slightly out and raised, head tilted down staring in horror. "Ari, NO, please, no, not... AWW, man!!" Oh but doesn't yellow stand out so nicely on the white tile floor. I look around frantically, find a baby blanket that will shortly be making its way home with me, plus some toddler urine and clean the mess up. And so, Ari has now earned herself a place in the back of the cart. Again, why I didn't leave RIGHT THEN, I don't know. So, we wandered around the store and even made it 90% of the way through the store before "the event". Disaster struck in the form of 3 small children and a very poorly made shopping cart. You see, Caleb was up in the front section of the cart, enjoying the ride. Arianna was sitting moistley.. err, nicely in the back, also enjoying the ride, and Quenton was walking along with me.
I stopped to look through some pants for my hubby and Quenton, wanting to look at something a bit further away, pushed the cart along with him. All fine and good except when what he was looking for wasn't there, he put his feet up on the bars of the cart (like any child would if they were going to ride on the side while Mom was pushing) and accidentally overbalanced the cart, bringing it crashing down on himself/the floor. PLEASE Lord, let me never again hear that chorus of three little voices all crying out in pain at the same time. :( Caleb and Quenton both took really hard hits to their heads. Ari seemed to take the least of it, I suppose from being inside the basket part. Quenton recovered quickly and was up and jumping around like always after about 3 minutes. Caleb, however, did not seem ok at all. Though he was already a couple of hours past due for a nap, he started acting overly tired, in a way that he doesn't normally act at all. He was nearly falling asleep sitting up. In fact, when I put him in his carseat hoping to be able to head home I could see he would fall asleep in about 15 seconds, so I got him right back out of it and lightly bounced and talked and tickled him, wanting him to stay awake for fear of a concussion. I eventually had to call my hubby and ask him to come help because I knew I couldn't get home without Caleb falling asleep and I just didn't see that as being a good idea. We got him home awake (barely) and after really examining him and checking his eye movement and such, we decided I'd nurse him and let him go to sleep.

That was NOT a good 1.5 hours for me. But even in the midst of a very nerve-wracking situation, I could still feel the presence of the Lord and His hand on me. I knew/know that He was there tending to us.

As it turns out, Caleb woke up completely fine. Barely even worse for the wear. I did go ahead and take him to our chiropractor, as he did seem to be having some neck pain which was giving him some fits while nursing. But since then he's been right as rain. He's enjoying life and crawling like a champ.

So, even in the midst of trouble, YET will I praise Him. Over and over through all that I kept thinking of the verse "You have redeemed my life from the pit." I just felt so strongly that the Lord redeemed the life of my son, and brought me up from the pit of despair. He gave me back the gift of my precious boy. I'm so thankful for His mercy.

Happy March!!

2009-03-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

Well, things have been going very well here in MO.. albeit VERY busy! I was blessed to have my Dad come an visit in the first couple of weeks of March. We all enjoyed his visit very much. We now have a new roof, new kitchen sink and faucet *Hallelujah Chorus* and all of our doors shut better ;) Grandpa is

Very good at fixing things!! So, now that we've got a bunch of things fixed up on the house *eyeroll* we're hoping the Lord will let us sell it. We've found a place a tiny bit out of town that we're VERY interested in. It's a smaller house but has nearly 10 acres!!! We're praying hard for the Lord's guidance. We'd really like to move toward a more self-sufficient way of life, re: Big garden, butchering animals, fruit trees and so on. The place we're eyeing is in just about the perfect setting, already has a barn, has a HUGE basement with a great big root cellar area (actually 2 places for it), and in fact has TONS of empty canning jars that will go with the house. There are a couple of fruit trees there, apple we think, as well as some walnut trees, and possibly some other things. When our whole family went out there to look at it, I watched Quenton's face just light up and I thought "This is IT!"
How my heart yearns for a place that he can run around outside and enjoy the sunshine and the animals and have a puppy and and and and :) I love the house that we're in now, EXCEPT that it's in a housing development (read: small yard) and it's not fenced, nor does it have a window in the kitchen where I can see my little ones if they want to go outside to play.

Please let this house sell Father God!!

Oh, and as an aside

2009-01-18T23:23:00.001-08:00

Is this not just about THE cutest picture you've ever seen?

The Trip Home

2009-01-18T22:39:00.000-08:00

Well, after the getting stuck episode, we wizened up and got some better tires, then waited for the first clear day and made a run for it. Did I mention by this time Seattle had a good 18inches-2feet worth of snow?? SHOCK!! NOT GOOD!!

The first day wasn't too bad at all. It was so nice to have dh with me :)

The second day, I got it in my head that I wanted to drive, and it, of course, turned out to be the worst driving day we had. Pictures barren plains and then hollow canyons winding around in good ole Oregon, where apparently they don't feel the need to salt or otherwise "de-slick" the road in any way. Then add to that WIND... and LOTS of it. I'm fairly sure our steering wheel has some new ridges in it where I left finger indentations. Fish tailing at 65 mph is NOT ideal. I must say it was amusing to hear Quenton in the back going "WEEEEE!!" while we were fish tailing. Poor innocent child.

So, because we wound up stuck in Seattle longer than intended, we ended up being on the road Christmas day. Guess what we had for dinner?

Not ideal certainly, but at least it filled our bellies. Or somethin. :)

Anything can be enjoyed if you're a little cheeseball though, right?

Continuing on ..

2009-01-18T22:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I figured I'd better continue the story of my long journey to Idaho (and back).

Let it be known, that one should not have one's wisdom tooth pulled as their very first experience seeing a dentist. Shudder. Oh, and ideally, don't do it on vacation when you are visiting somewhere that you want to enjoy the foody places.... On the bright side, it's gone now... on the not so bright side, I will never get those hours of sleep I missed back ;)

So, I go to leave my Dad's house to head over to Seattle and my In-law's house, only to get halfway there and here a discouraging pass report. It'd been snowing off the whole time, and when the crackling radio informed me that the pass was currently closed and would "probably" be opened in an hour or two I thought better of waiting in the 10+ mile line of cars that would be accumulating before the pass opened again. As much as I wanted to go over the pass at 8-9 pm after being in the car 9+ hours with 3 little kids, with 2000 other Seattle drivers on snow covered roads. I, uh, went back.

I did eventually make it over the pass about 3 days later, free of chains, praise the Lord. Ironically several days later as snow fell with a vengeance on Seattle, my poor hubby got stuck one night while he was out getting me a milkshake. Now that's LOVE!!

Just thought I'd share

2009-01-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

There's not really a story behind this picture, other than I took it while we were on our way to North Idaho from Missouri (all 2000+ miles of it). Yes, me, a woman, driving by myself with three kids under 4 :) Yes we made it, and yes I still have all of my hair. Well, minus the bit that my friend cut off to make it more stylish (Thank you LeAnn). Hmm, maybe I took this picture as proof that my kids were actually happy and congenial on the trip. Who knows? But is sure is cute, no?

Welcome Home!

2009-01-03T14:36:00.001-08:00

First off, Happy New Year!! Praise God, I know He has so much in store for us this year. Things are changing around here, and I'm curious to see what God is doing.

For starters, we just got back from a month, yes, that's right, a full MONTH of vacation. What a blessing. Geoffrey's parents blessed us with this trip as our Christmas present. And Geoffrey blessed us by allowing us to go and be away from him for nearly three weeks before he could fly up himself. I can't even tell how wonderful it was to see all of my wonderful family and friends after nearly a year. Absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder. Oh and how my heart did swell driving over the crest of the hill into Spokane and seeing all of my old favorite sites. Can you tell I miss my old home? Quenton and Arianna certainly enjoyed seeing everyone as well.

It was such a joy to see how Ari bonded (again) with her two cousins, Colton and Hailey. She absolutely loved sitting in Colton's (8) lap, and would do so whenever he sat down. He seemed slightly embarrassed, but flattered as well.

We stayed at my Dad's while we were there. Poor guy. He's used to living alone. I'm pretty sure it was culture shock for him to have 3 young kids in his house for more than two weeks. He took it well though, and was a wonderful gymnasium for the kids ;)
We actually started to leave his house once, and made it all the way to Moses Lake, Wa., which is about halfway between North Idaho and Seattle. Unfortunately, there was a huge storm traveling over the mountains at that time and they closed the pass for a while. So, back to Grandpa Bill's we went. We waited a couple more days and then made the trip for real.

Just Checkin' In

2008-11-16T16:29:00.000-08:00

This year is flying by!! Can you believe we're almost to the end of 2008!!!! Wow! At the end of this month Quenton will be FOUR. My goodness, it seems like only yesterday ;) I really really need to scan some pictures of Quen when he was a baby; he and Caleb look identical other than Quen has the darkest brown eyes and Caleb has the brightest blue eyes. My guess is that their personalities will NOT be the same though. Caleb is far more layed back, very easy come easy go. He loves to just lay and watch what's going on around him. Quenton was and is a busy dude. He likes to be on the go and he likes to be in charge. I'm sure we'll have some interesting times here in about a year or so :D
Following are some pictures of my two little guys together, see if you can see the resemblance before I scan in a picture of Quenton as a baby.

This one was taken to commemorate Grandma Vicki sending these adorable hats for everyone. Ari was eating lunch at the time or she would have been pictured sporting her pink one. Caleb was going to his happy place. Have you ever met a baby that likes hats?

I HAD to include this picture cause it's SO stinkin' cute, and though you can't SEE Quenton in it, he's the one that Caleb's smiling at. Some of Caleb's first and biggest smiles were for his big bro.

LOVE those baby cheeks!!!

Now don't wet yourself, but yes, that is my not quite 4 year old holding, without any support (!!) his 16+ lb baby brother. And he even looks happy about it. I tried it out with him before hand, seeing if he was strong enough and then I HAD to get a picture. How cute is that?

My precious worker man!

2008-11-06T22:33:00.000-08:00

I couldn't bring myself to close my blog tonight without showing off what a wonderful helper I have in my precious Quenton. He is a very hard worker, with a wonderful attitude. I've been blown away by how much he can already do. He's not yet four, and as you will see, he can pretty much do the laundry completely by himself!!

Here we have a Quenton dangling precariously off of the edge of the washing machine, taking wet clothes out and putting them in the dryer. Did I mention he has extraordinary balance (and there's a stool down there out of the view of the camera)?

Usually Arianna (his two year old sister)
is in there pushing the clothes into the dryer for
him so he doesn't have to get up and down,
but for the sake of the documentary, it seemed
fitting that he should be doing the pushing himself. lol!

Alrighty, washer is empty, dryer is full. Start 'er up Bub.
Pushing the button is the favorite part you know.
Now, let's see about starting up another load!

Now, get Mom's homemade soap,
yes Mom does make her own
laundry soap at times :) ,
measure it out and throw it
in the washer.

And now the clothes go in!!

Voila! The clothes are in, the lid is shut, and my little man did an awesome job!! At this rate I will have worked myself out of a job by the time he's about 8 ;)

I'm accepting applications for marriage at this time. *Snort*

Let's see, where did I leave off

2008-11-06T22:13:00.000-08:00

It seems to me I was posting pictures of my little doll face :)

I'm having one of those warm fuzzy, I just love my kids so much I can barely stand it nights. *Grin* God is so, so good!

Here's Caleb getting a bath. I heart bath pictures. Babies are just so stinkin' cute nekked. Love the rolls ;)

Here we have Ari, trying desperately to
be a little mother. As you can see, Caleb is having nothing to do with it.

This was taken on Ari's birthday (Sept. 23rd). That little doll in her lap has been dubbed "Baby Rachael" and she carries her everywhere. Every time Momma gets our the nursing pillow, Ari likes to carry baby Rachael over and "nurse her" from her protruding belly button *snort*. She is ALL girl. I can't wait (in some ways) to see what a terrific mother she will be.

He SMILES!!

2008-10-19T15:05:00.001-07:00

Here we have one of Caleb's first few smiles! Too cute. You gotta love those first little baby grins.

And though he's not smiling in this one, it's one of my favorites. It just seems like it shows his sweet, gentle nature to me. For the most part, he is very mild and even tempered. He loves to watch his brother and sister play. Really, he's always been a people person. From the day he was born he has loved to be out where everyone is. He seems to relish noise and activity. Oh, and when it's not noisy in the house... meaning when the other two are in bed, *grin* he makes plenty of noise himself. He LOVES to coo, and he does it a lot. Oh Lord help me to remember and cherish these precious baby moments that are SO fleeting!!

Here's a picture of me with my little man. These, of course, are few and far between. Momma's usually the one behind the camera. It must have been a woman who developed the idea of timers eh? Hmm... sounds like a good homeschooling lesson opportunity. Digital Camera 101 for Quenton ;)

Here's another really good shot of those big blue eyes! He is SO (!!) strong too. He can hold that big noggin up for a long time on his tummy, and he's rolling over from his back to his tummy all the time. *Sigh* They do grow fast don't they?!!

As our Caleb grows!

2008-10-19T14:53:00.000-07:00

Well, Mr. Caleb came out with very bright blue eyes, but based on past experience, I had little hope that they would stay that color. However, I've been in for a surprise. See for yourself! This is Caleb at about 2.5 months. Hopefully you can see what a gorgeous color his eyes are in this picture. If not, no worries, there are more to come!
I've kind of been waiting this whole time for his eyes to change, because his brother and sister both have VERY dark brown eyes. Both of them started out with dark blue eyes, but they changed in the first couple of months.

Here's Caleb with Quenty, who, again, is quite delighted with his brother. Hmm.. now that I'm looking at it, I wonder what I did with that outfit. Isn't it adorable? My dear friend Praise sent it to me for him. It has these precious little turtles all over it, and well, I love turtles, although not quite as much as I love the little chunk that's wearing it. *Note how dark Quenty's eyes are*Oh, and did I mention he sucks his thumb? Lol! He looks addicted already doesn't he.

Some shots of Caleb-Coo

2008-10-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well, now that you know Caleb made it safely into this world, I thought it would be an opportune time to share some pictures of my handsome little man. He's an adorable little bugger, and eats well *snort*.
Here he is at just a couple of days old, with his very, very proud older brother.

Here he is about a month later. Those cheeks are just MADE for kissin', dontcha think?
He sleeps rather soundly too. I must've taken 12-13 different shots of him that night, with the flash on and everything. He didn't move a muscle. God is good!

More later... blogger is having issues and won't let me post any more pictures. :)

Well, it's only been about 5 months Cough

2008-10-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

It seems to me it's high time I update my blog eh? Life got pretty wonky (that's my new word for the week) after my third child graced us with his presence. Yes, that's right! In case you've been hiding under a rock and didn't know, Mr. Caleb Benjamin Haug arrived June 5th weighing in at 8lbs 4 oz (bigger than his big brother started out as) and 21 inches long.

If you'd read my blog previously, you would know, there was some question as to the position of this little man, as well as some prolonged pre-labor. As it turned out, we wound up doing with Caleb the exact same thing we did with Ari: Manually turning him and then breaking the water. He was born about 15 minutes under 5 hours after my water was broken. Praise the Lord for speedy births. The ride from the midwife's house home (so I could birth at home) after she broke my water was not the most comfortable ride I've ever had, but it was worth it! Let me tell you, I loved my home birth. He was born in what amounted to be a cattle trough, but hey, it's easily transportable and it served its purpose well. ;)

So, life is changing and ever different now, with this added little bundle. I've saved up plenty of things to blog about in my 5 month absence, so, Lord willing, look for more posts to follow shortly.

The Blessing of kids!

2008-05-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

I had THE most awesome time with my son the other night. I walked away, nearly in tears, grateful for the billionth time for my precious boy.

I was putting him to bed the other night, which has not been something I look forward to most nights, because usually by then I'm contracting at least some, my back hurts, and I'm tired. But, I do enjoy the chats we have here and there, because he often uses this time at night to talk to me about his day, which is precious beyond words. Well, this was one of those nights, and I'm so thankful that I didn't hurry through it, kiss him goodnight and leave.

I was sitting next to his bed, kind of bouncing up and down on one of those giant balls you always see at Walmart. I had my shirt pulled up off of my tummy, just cause sometimes it's more comfortable that way. He was kind of eyeing my tummy, so I said "You know, baby Caleb is going to come out soon." He smiled and seemed pleased at that idea. Then I asked him if he wanted to talk to Caleb. He looked surprised and glanced at my belly and then up at me and said something like "Will he talk back?" I laughed and said "No, even if he was out here he wouldn't be able to talk yet, but he can hear you, even from in there." He got a big grin and leaned close to my tummy and said "Hi Caleb, it's me Quenton." *heart melt* Then I said, can you tell him to turn so his head is down? He did, and I asked if he'd tell him to come out soon. He did that too. It was soo cute too, because he motioned downward with his hands and said, you need to come out this way. I'm not entirely sure how he even knew that, but he said it exactly right. Anyway, then we went on to prayer time. He said his list of things he wanted to pray for and then began to pray. He started out on his bed, but quickly jumped up and laid his head right on my belly and prayed "Jesus, please help baby Caleb to turn his head down and to come out very soon, and please keep him safe (what wisdom in a little boy). Also, please protect Daddy and help him with his work...."

It was one of the most precious moments I have ever had the pleasure of living through. The caring and sweetness in his voice towards his unborn brother was priceless.

What an honor it is to raise these precious jewels! God, grant me the patience to endure the days that don't end quite so nicely, and the wisdom to remember the days that do!

Thinking....

2008-05-28T00:17:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a bit contemplative this evening. I almost want to say heavy hearted, but it's not that exactly. Reflective maybe? Anyway, part of me is feeling down on myself for being short with my little sweet ones this evening before bedtime. Some days I just don't take the persistant, on-going, seemingly endless (getting the drift?) line of questions from my precious 3 y/o. And then of course, there are just days where you feel like they're trying every trick in the book to get away with something. Quenton is exTREMely obediant generally. But, once in a while, he gets it in his head to try a series of things through out a day, in an effort I guess, to assure himself that Mama is still serious about the obediance thing. Let it be known... Mama is serious! But... 10 days before my due date is not my favorite time to play this "game". Actually the last several nights in a row I haven't been the most pleasant person in the world to be around, I'm ashamed to say. Suffice it to say, I do pray this little man would find his way (and stay) in the head down position, and that he would make his appearance very very soon. I do tire of being cranky. The Lord does sustain me though. I am so blessed. I'm so thankful for this healthy little boy, and ever so grateful for my delightful and inquisitive children. The verses "Let not your heart be troubled" and "Do not grow weary in doing good" come to mind just now. Thank you Jesus for bringing me through each and every day. Let tomorrow end with a smile of pure joy!

For the record

2008-05-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

It does seem at long last that I have my answer to my most puzzling question throughout this pregnancy.... "Am I due in May or June?"

Me thinks this is a June baby. I started contracting a couple of weeks ago, and thought to myself, "Oh oh oh, I was right, I was a month off. Yeah, May baby." As I continued to contract EVERY night that week I was definitely reminded of the end part of my pregnancy with Arianna. As much fun as it is to contract and then stop every night... leaving you in this horrible quandry and sending you multiple times to your poor midwife to be checked yet AGAIN. Well, this time I refused to do that. I called her the first night, as a sort of "heads-up", but then left it at that. It was so hard to know what to do, because I have a dear friend who has been at each of my births thus far in a doula capacity, and would like to be present for this one as well, BUT she lives in North Idaho. I start contracting and think, "well, should I call her and tell her to book a flight? Or, is this going to continue on for some time etc?" I did call her, but I told her to hold off. Good thing eh?

All that to say, I think I finally figured it out. See, I started taking this Gentle Birth labor prep stuff about a week before those contractions started. I dismissed it as having anything to do with my contractions because they started a week later. I believe I was a bit hasty in my dismissal. After reading some posts on the welltellme forum about Gentle Birth, I came to different conclusions. So, I continue to contract here and there, seemingly randomely. It's not my favorite thing in the world. Not that they hugely hurt, but it does make me wonder how easily I'll recognize it when I'm in labor for real. I really don't like NOT knowing. And I do hope that enduring weeks and weeks of this WILL make my labor/delivery easier. I think I would be most put out if I went through all of this, only to have another 10-12 hour labor.

Either way though, this little baby will be making his appearance rather soon, and I certainly look forward to it. Oh, how I can't wait to cuddle my little Caleb and cover his little face with kisses and and and. What a blessing from God our little ones are!!

As the baby turns

2008-05-20T00:13:00.000-07:00

*Note to self, ALWAYS save new post somewhere else before hitting the ever fallible "Post" button*

Alright, so what is it with me and having these babies that can turn at will (and largely without my noticing) from head up to head down at the end of my pregnancies? Arianna did it, and now little Caleb is doing it. I can feel his movements a bit more than I could with her, which leads me to believe he's a bit bigger.... and also scares me, since I have just under 3 weeks remaining *ack*.

Perhaps it's just God giving me breaks from the pubic bone pressure. That seems to be my most obvious indicator of the baby's position right now. When he's head down I can FEEL it! Oh... and I waddle. *sigh*

Kids growing up

2008-05-08T22:38:00.001-07:00

My kids are so cute! I love them so much, and it's such a joy to watch them and see how they are growing. I got a sweet picture of how they might be as they get older the other day.

Quen was taking the trash out for me (what a wonderful helper he is already!!!) and his sister was standing at the door watching. She kept trying to open the door for him when he was coming back in (it's a glass door). If the door latched as he went out, then she couldn't do it, but if it wasn't she was able to push it open for him. So, one of the times it wasn't latched and she pushed it open as best she could to let him in and he paused, garbage can in hand and said "Thanks Ar!" It was sooo precious to me. We, him included, pretty much always call her Arianna, Ari, or Baby. For some reason it struck me as so precious that he called her Ar right then. Like, perhaps, it would be his special name for his younger sister as they grow older.

Oh how precious these little memories are!

Maybe a May baby?

2008-05-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

So, I've been contracting for the last two nights in a row... The biggest part of me would LIKE to think that little Caleb is going to be a May baby instead of a June baby, as I had wondered before. I have so many conflicting emotions. Not the smallest of which is "What's going on?" I guess I don't really like "not being in the know".

BUT, through all of this, I think I'm beginning to understand that God is telling me to rest in His timing and not worry about tomorrow, so to speak. Caleb will come out of there, one way or the other. Yes, it's frustrating. Especially since I went through this exact same thing with Arianna. Yet, she is here, and she's over a year and a half! I really was hoping to have a more straigh forward time of it this time, yet I feel like there must be Some reason for this. So, I will wait, and do so with as much patience as I can muster, while my Lord and Saviour molds me into His image.

I sure can't wait to hold this little man though! Although, I must say, it's not quite real to me yet ;)

My cute kids

2008-05-04T23:30:00.000-07:00

This preggo Mama took some time to sit down on the couch and do NOTHING tonight after going for a long walk with my precious ones, that also included pulling them behind me in a wagon. By the time I got to where I was going, I was seriously wondering if I was going to send myself into labor. It would seem all is well on the home front though.

Ok, so back to the couch. Quen and Ari were playing around nearby while I took my little rest. We have this little, uh, Winnie the Pooh "car" type thing that they can ride on, that both love to play with. Quen, of course, got to it first, and was rolling around on it a bit... at least as well as you can on something like that on a carpeted floor. Well, eventually Ari went up behind it and grabbed on to the handle part that doubles as kind of a back rest (I think it's for little kids that are learning to walk to hang on to and push). Quen was choppily motoring along and she was hanging on to the back, walking fast to try and keep up. It was HILARIOUS to watch. Again, this thing doesn't roll well on carpet. So, the motion of it made it look like she would hit her head on the handle any second... picture: start stop start stop start stop as he moves his legs front to back. I was kind of half expecting her to go down like a 9 pin, but she never did. She managed to hang on and keep up. Then, after a little bit of that, much to my amusement, Quen asked Ari if she would push him!! LOL!!! Ok, Ari is a little squirt. She probably weighs all of 22 lbs or something like that. She's just a petite little girl. My son, on the other hand, is quite large. Not chubby, he's just a big kid, tall and feels like he's made of bricks and concrete or something. He weighs somewhere between 35-40lbs. But, her being the persistant little bugger she is, set about to pushing him! And she did it! I couldn't believe it. It was so perfectly adorable to watch her, as tiny as she is, push her big brother on that car. It took a huge amount of effort, but she kept at it. I have got to get pictures of it. It was too cute for words.

When am I really due?

2008-05-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

This pregnancy has been an interesting one, that's for sure. There's something so comforting about knowing what your due date truly is, and feeling as though you can count on that. I guess it's something I took for granted with my first two. So, why am I uncertain with this one you ask? Well, it all began back in, oh, August/September when we were moving down here. I had an hunch I might be pregnant near mid August. I hadn't "missed" anything yet, but we're uh, ahem, fertile people. So, I had that in the back of my mind as we made the LONG trip down here. We were blessed to have much help in packing things INTO the moving truck, but alas, no one was here to help us UNload it. So, Geoffrey and I, thinking (my fault) that we needed to return the truck pronto, unloaded the entire truck worth of stuff in less than two days!! And, I of course had to help carry all the heavy stuff. Dearest Quenton means well, but his couch lifting skills have not reaches their full potential yet. So, the first day we were here unloading I had a visit from "auntie"... But, it wasn't a normal visit. She didn't stay long. I believe I did take one pregnancy test which gave me a negative, but I took it while "auntie" was here, because I was rather confused. Anyway... fast forward to the next month and low and behold, I'm pregnant.

As the months progressed, it sure seemed like my belly was getting big fast. I really started to wonder about it. But, I also didn't want to get my hopes up. I mentioned it once off handedly to my midwife and she said things felt right to be due in June and not earlier. So, I settled myself down and was ready to wait till June for this sweet little man.

Then came my last visit with my midwife. I believe she had forgotten about our previous conversation regarding my suspicions of a possible earlier due date. She was feeling for the size of the baby, and when I asked about it, (me with 6 weeks till my June due date mind you), she said, "He feels like he's about 7lbs" (!!!!!) ACK!!!! Here I was expecting her to say 4lbs or something like that. I think I nearly passed out, lol! If I still had 6 weeks of the biggest growing time left on this guy, he'd be 10-11lbs in June. Quen was 8lbs and Ari was 7.3, bless her heart. I'd really rather stick to that region, thank you very much.

So, I did again mention the due date thing to her, and she nodded and said she was glad I'd mentioned it and that she wouldn't worry about it if I went early.

Goodness me. Now I'm all confused again. I truly had reconciled myself to being due in June, but if she's accurate with him being 7lbs NOW.... I sure hope he's due mid-May!!

This is me at 33 weeks, looking rather preggo, I must say!!

We need a fence!

2008-04-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

I mentioned, kind of off-handedly, in a previous post that we recently had to give our dog back to the lady who originally gave him to us. Cruiser was a nice, sweet, golden retriever, who, as golden retrievers are, was VERY friendly. What does this have to do with us giving him back you ask? Well, being the friendly boy that he was, all 100 lbs of him, when let out to go potty in our fenceless yard, would go wandering off looking for attention. When he was in the house, he was lazy enough to be regularly found laying, without the slightest hint of movement, near our front door. So, I, being the ever vigilant pet owner that I am, would often let him out to do his duty and subsequently forget about him. Assuming that he was manning his usual post near the door I would go on about my business, until someone (Quenton) or something (not tripping over him to get up the stairs) would remind me that I'd not let him back in in a rather long time.

Well, the woman who gave him to us was supposed to change his microchip so that when looked up it would register us as his owners and not her... obviously. Alas, I'm not convinced she ever did that. Why? Because each time he wandered off, if he didn't feel the need to come back later on his own and someone picked him up, they always seemed to come in contact with her long before me. Unfortunately after several times of this (again, vigilant pet owner that I am), she became worried that I was not watching him properly (I wonder why?) and said she would like to have him back. I reluctantly (to some extent) agreed. After all, I did feel horrible that he kept wandering off and that I kept allowing it to happen; not to mention the dislike I knew my husband harbored for him. It seems Geoffrey has no tolerance for an animal that will not stay around regardless of how many hours without monitoring. So, with very little thought, I agreed that it would be best that she take him back.

Upon hanging up the phone, what should enter my mind but my two, dearly loved, children. They, of course, did not share my or their Dad's (admittably, I had my share of irritated feelings toward said shedding, scaredy cat during thunderstorms, needy 100 lb dog) vague dislike of Cruiser. Quenton is the more vocal of the two, as well as more comprehending. He has gone through this before, unfortunately. I'm very thankful that he took the news graciously. I felt HORRIBLE telling him. I consoled him with the "bone" that we might be able to get another dog sometime "soon". Unfortunately, soon for a three year old typically means tomorrow. Surprisingly he hasn't really brought it up all that much though. I guess he's consoling himself with the cat. Dear Ari though, as mentioned in a previous post, is an out and out pet lover. I can just see it in her. If she's got an animal to love on, all is right in the world. I felt a huge pang when I thought of how she loved to sit with her little bottom between the dog's legs and just lean on him. He had the patience of Job. *Sigh* Oddly enough she hasn't "seemed" to notice the absence of one very large, amiable golden retriever. She's really not mentioned him since, and yes, she could say his name, surprisingly. A child's short term memory can be a blessing at times. She has however, on several occasions been looking out the window and pointed out with much enthusiasm the "dog, woof!?!" that was passing by. I believe I saw a physical look of pain pass over my husband's face the first time he heard that. Then when we went to our friend's farm and I watched her love on their dog, again, another stab of remorse.

So, we need a fence!

Hmm..

2008-04-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I typed out a rather long blog post earlier today, and when I went to publish it was furnished with a lovely page that told me blogger was not available at this time and sorry for my inconvenience. So... I'm wondering, what happened to the "automatically saved draft"? Hmm... What I wouldn't do to have that post back.

Well, I can't believe it's Wednesday already. Time sure flies! I'm not complaining, because each day brings me that much closer to holding my little baby in my arms. But, then again, as I think of how fast time goes by, I see my other two growing up in front of my very eyes. Why do they have to grow up so fast? Occasionally I find myself looking forward to them growing up (some) because there are things I long to be able to do and enjoy with them. Yet, I look at Quen and think, he's already SO big!!

Sunday was a much needed relief to my "emotional" week. I and my family enjoyed a wonderful time of fun and fellowship with a couple of families from our church. We went out to our friends farm and enjoyed a cookout by their fresh running spring. It was an absolutely beautiful sunshiney day, in the upper 70's. Food always tastes better outside and in good company.

Quenton just about scared the snot out of Geoffrey (my husband) and I while we were out there. Geoffrey went walking alongside the creek that ran away from the spring with some of the other kids, and Quenton started to follow a ways behind, but further away from the creek. I was sitting up near the fire, eating and chatting with our friends, when suddenly I heard Quenton screaming bloody murder. I mean seriously, it was the "we're all going to die" type scream. I could see Geoffrey was heading back his way going to see what was wrong. When Quenton's screaming didn't subside at all, I, in my very pregnant state "ran" over to see what was wrong. His Dad got to him before I did and it was then that Quen clued us in that nothing was too terribly wrong when he said tearfully "I want Momma!" I stayed back and instructed him to talk to Daddy. Come to find out he was walking in a boggy area and got half stuck, but more than anything just soaked in the shoe region. *Insert eye roll here* That was it. It was his first experience with deep mud, so I'll give him that. But, I was expecting nothing less than a bee sting. He's not prone to overreacting to things at all. I was a bit embarrassed to report back to the circle of friends that he had only gotten his shoes wet/muddy. Ah well, thinking back on it, I'm glad that nothing was truly wrong. He did however get a stern talking to about not "crying wolf" and screaming when nothing is really wrong.

Ari really enjoyed our friends' dog. He's young still, probably 11 months or so, but getting pretty big. He looks to be mostly black lab. I guess he showed up on their farm randomely and they've just gone ahead and kept him. (He was obviously homeless) He is a cool dog. We had to drive from their house to the spring which is about a mile and a half to two miles away. Their dog literally ran that entire distance going 25 mph!!! We could not believe it. It was cool to watch him poor on the heat when she would rev the engine of their van a bit. Anyway, Ari is apparently an animal lover, and spent a good deal of her time loving on that dog. Up until Tuesday we had a giant golden retriever for her to love on, but wound up having to give him back because our yard isn't fenced. She also loves our cat to pieces, even though the cat isn't the nicest around. It's so amazing how some of their traites (the kids') come out so early. It is very obvious she's a pet person. Soooo cute!

When we went back to our friends' house we all got to hop on their four wheelers and ride out to round up the cows for milking. Thankfully I was able to pawn Ari off on Geoffrey for the ride. As one might imagine, it's not so easy to ride on the back of a four wheeler over rough pasture land while VERY pregnant... adding a 19 month old into the mix... nothing good would have come from that. Thankfully, the baby, my bladder and I all made it back safely and in one piece ;) I actually really did enjoy the ride though.

So, while my week started out rough, it ended on a very nice enjoyable note. And, I got to call my Dad and harass him about being out all day and it being warm enough my entire family got a sunburn. He, after all, had gotten snow only a day or two beforehand :D

Quen's newest phrase

2008-04-19T00:30:00.001-07:00

I had a sweet little conversation with Quenton, my 3 y/o the other night. I must say, I'm often blown away at the things he comes up with to say. My most recent example occured the other night when I went to go say goodnight to him. His Daddy had put him to bed, to his chagrin (Quen's not Daddy's) and I wanted to go talk to him for a few minutes. I sat down on his bed and started chatting and eventually said:

"Why don't you like Daddy to put you to bed?"

Quen: "I don't know."

Me: "Well, there must be some reason, right."

Quen: "I don't know."

Me: "Don't you have a reason?"

Quen: "Yeah, I guess."

Me: "Well, what's your reason."

Quen: "I don't know what my problem is."

I struggled hard not to laugh hysterically at that. Something about hearing a 3 y/o saying "I don't know what my problem is."

Silly kid.

The last couple of days

2008-04-19T00:09:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a few days. I can't say a whole lot has gone on, per se, but I've been feeling rather drained.

I had a big "pregnancy emotional moment" earlier this week. As mentioned previously, we just moved (about 7 months ago) 2000 miles from "home", away from everyone and everything we've ever known. It's only been this last week where I've really struggled a lot with this. I guess I've just been extra lonely lately. Well, Wednesday morning I got a lovely phone call from a friend I've made here, asking if I'd like to come out that afternoon and help with planting their garden etc. I was very VERY excited. YEAHH!!! Someone wanted to spend time with me, and I could get out of the house. I needed to take my husband a lunch at work, so I headed down there. He came out and sat in the van for a few minutes to chat and said that he'd talked with my friend earlier, because they'd needed to cancel their daughters piano lessons (he teaches piano lessons among other things), and he casually mentioned that he'd suggested to her that she call me and invite me over, as I was "getting stir crazy". Bless his heart, my husband was really trying to think of me, and I've not mentioned this to him, but that broke my heart. I want so badly to make friends down here and for them to WANT to invite me over on their own, without my sweet husband having to ask them too. SIGH. I held it in while I was chatting with him, but I had tears rolling down my face as I drove away. Pregnant much?? Oh well.

Beyond that, I've mostly just been working on training my precious kids. It's a whole new "monster" when you have to learn how to deal with the emotions of two siblings! Wow! Now that my dd has "opinions" and can speak well enough to voice them (she's HAD the opinions for a long time...) my ds is not so sure what to think. Mr. Command son doesn't appear to like to be told "no" by little baby sister ;) So, we're working on little sister saying "no" nicely... as opposed to screaching it in a way that could curl the paint of my toe nails. And big brother is learning that, well, Mommy is baby's Mommy, not Quenton. Did I mention he is a Mr. Command? My husband and I have found it darkly amusing, in a way, to hear her put him in his place. But, I think some of that amusement has led us into not correcting her for being rude. Oooops.

Thursday was nice, because I again got to get out of the house (hooray!!) when dh wanted to drive 3 hours away to Peoria, IL for a backgammon tournament. While there I was blessed to be able to eat at one of my all time favorite restaurants: Chili's. I did get some weird looks though. Dh was not with us, as he was still playing the tournament. So, there I was with a 3 year old, an 18 month old (who looks younger) and very VERY obviously pregnant.... by myself. I'm sure the waitress was thinking "please, tell me you're married." hehehehe. Ah well, the kids were very well behaved, and Quenton surprised the waitress by ordering his meal all by himself. Makes a Mom proud ;) Oh and this time Ari was kind enough (as opposed to the last time I was out of town) to wait until we were leaving to poo out of her pants. Imagine my surprise when I went to put her in her car seat only to find I had a big lump of something stinky on my arm....*groan* What we mothers go through. Thank the Lord, it didn't get all over her clothes at all... just my arm.

Cat litter...

2008-04-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, not a fan of changing out the cat litter box (as though anyone is). But, my father in law is coming to visit today, and since the litter box is in our downstairs half bath, I figured it would be nice of me to clean out the stinkiness. You know what I'm talking about. That beautiful vinegary smell that makes you want to ralf during the best of times, let alone when you're over 7 months pregnant ;)

So, what's the upside here? My absolute blessing of a 3 y/o son Quenton likes to help! Before embarking on my stinky messy journey, I said in my most cheerful tone "Sweety, would you like to help Momma change the cat litter pan?" He was finishing up sorting his mastermind beads and asked politely to finish, stating he'd be right there. He comes running in with only the excitement a 3 y/o can muster for the special task of cleaning out cat poo. I, of course, have two pooper scoopers for just this purpose and he and I set to work. Somehow the task just isn't quite so disgusting when you've got one of the cutest little boys in the world working by your side.

Noteably, naptime came in short order after he came running in from the garage where he'd been sweeping around the second cat litter pan and yelled happily "Momma, look I found more cat poo." Not my favorite thing to find in my son's hand!

Missouri

2008-04-12T23:05:00.000-07:00

I must say, it is a different life I have here in Missouri. Moving here was one of the more drastic changes that has occured in my relatively short life.

In general I would say I have adapted well. As well as one can adapt to moving a couple thousand miles away from everyone and everything that has, for so long, been apart of ones life.

Truly, I do like it here. It's beautiful, and it's quiet. We live in a smallish town, which is certainly not new to me, having been born and raised in what started out a small town. Coeur d' Alene (the town in Idaho I was born in) is not tiny anymore, with its population of nearly 40,000 people, but it was much smaller during my growing up years. The town we're living in now is home to approximately 18,000. This area is interesting because we are surrounded, so to speak, by larger towns all within between an hour and a half to two hours away. So, there are plenty of things to do and go see if I'm willing to do a bit of driving to get there. And, for those of you who know me well at all, I'm always up for a drive ;)

I guess the big changes for me have been in the area of staying home a lot more. It is so foreign to me not having any number of friends or relatives a very short distance away that I can go visit at a moments notice. Somehow flying with 2, and almost 3 kids is not quite as convenient as hopping in the van and driving 15 minutes down the road.

I have made a couple of friends here, but, it is much harder to do than it was in high school. After all, the vast majority of my close friends from Idaho came from my high school years. I've met a couple of wonderful ladies at church, but all of them are a good ten years older than I, and obviously for the most part at different places in their lives.

Hmm, as I was typing, I stopped to think about what to write next, and was thinking about asking "how does one go about finding friends in a completely foreign place?" The blessed Holy Spirit was kind enough to point out the obvious: Pray that the Lord would bring just the right person into my life. Thank the Creator of Heaven and Earth, He knows the desires of my heart, and can bring me someone better than I could have asked for or imagined. How silly of me to wonder where to find such a person. If a friend is something God has in store for me, then a friend He will bring.

Everyday

2008-04-12T22:58:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking how great it is that every new day is a clean slate. We have a new fresh start, whether it's in our child training, our relationships with others, or our walk with God. So many times we mess up, but each day brings us hope of starting anew. I have a feeling that is why God made the cycles of the sun and moon the way He did. In His forsight, He knew that we would get bogged down if the days seemed to drag on and on. But, with the rising and setting of the sun, there is a sense of renewal.