A Tale of Five Davis'

Care To Join Me In A Happy Dance?

2012-02-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

First – I promise I have not neglected “So Sayith Tay and Jay” – we are having some technical difficulties with the video, but as soon as I get it figured it out I will post the video and probably just stick to typing for awhile until I work out the kinks.

Second – the real reason for writing is a praise of sorts.

James 1:2-6

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

On April 16th 2011 we moved into an apartment we couldn’t afford. We prayed and knew it was time to take this step of faith (click here for full story). God provided and we have paid rent in full and on time.
God is Good

On January 31st 2011 I received a letter in the mail from our apartment complex stating our rent is being raised. And now we step out in faith again; relying on God to provide.

Isn’t it exciting?! I cannot pay my rent – only GOD can. And I’m excited. Being forced to rely on God brings comfort. I have more faith in his ability to provide for us them my ability to provide for us.

I mean honestly – who would you rather have on your team? Me or God?

I am also very excited this time around because God is giving me “heads up” that He doesn’t have to give.

When we first moved – we moved not knowing where the extra rent money would come from.

This time I know (or I assume I know). We will be paying off some debt by the end of February (which means “extra” income not going towards that debt anymore). Our rent will go up effect March 1st.

Isn’t God good!

Yes I was hoping to have some wiggle room and be able to buy some “new” things we would like around the house. But having a place to live and seeing God’s perfect timing is a reward in itself. And for that I am thankful.

God has our family living life with every penny spent on “necessity” and not on “luxury” for this phase in our lives. He has a purpose for this that we need to embrace and enjoy. Learn the lessons we need to learn to help shape us into the people He needs us to be for reason not yet known…

How exciting!

Our Extended - Twice Removed - Not Really Related - Family

2012-01-30T10:32:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I woke up around 9 AM thinking – I feel like we should do something today around 10 AM.

Without really knowing why 10 AM stood out to me, we decided the Zoo was the place to go.

We got ready to go to the Zoo and were minutes from leaving when I got a call from our good friend Tracy (Aunt Tracy) letting us know she would see us soon… OH NO! We had an appointment at JCPenny at 10 AM!

I grabbed a change of clothes for Taylor and we headed out the door to meet them. Luckily the studio had some problems in the morning so by the time we got there, they had just gotten ready to see us (their cameras were locked up and nobody had the key!)

We did a combo session. The Fox’s had some family pictures then Taylor had her 5 year old photos. Taylor was a lot more photogenic then usual. I mean she loves being in front of the camera all the time, but she usually gets this scary serial killer smile. This time (most of them) were normal smiles.

Quinn (5 months) found the lights and decorations far more interesting the camera lady trying to get his attention, but the Fox’s still got some really good pictures (at least I think so).

I won’t post theirs – because that could be a littler weird – especially without asking first. But I will post the one of Quinn and Taylor. Because Taylor HAD to have a picture with the baby.

I am also realizing how many “Aunts” and “Uncles” my kids have (the not real ones that is)…

The Oldest and actually the ONLY one we have referred to as “Uncle” – The kids just started adding the “Uncle” and “Aunt” to everyone else’s name on their own:

Uncle Sam – The upside-down maker

The Oldies (not old like gray hair and broken hips, but old like since their birth):

Uncle Kenny and Aunt Tracy – The new baby maker(s) (FYI Taylor asked me for a new baby yesterday and I told her that she can borrow Kenny and Tracy’s baby to which she responded “well they need a girl baby then”)

Uncle Travis – The ultimate gift giver (Seriously! For a dude with no kids he KNOWS my kids and they are always super excited about the gifts they get from him)

The Newest Additions (these people are making their way to the Aunt and Uncle of the kids lives – so they still get the title only about 50% of the time)

Uncle Rob and Aunt Tawni – The future in-laws (Jordan knows it – she just has to convince Sammy)

Uncle (Pastor) Matt and Aunt (Mrs.) Kim (Taylor has deemed them Uncle and Aunt, but since they are also Pastor and Mrs. she usually says “Uncle Pastor Matt” and “Mrs. Aunt Kim”)

I really do adore my “Sisters” and “Brothers” and so thankful for the love they have for my kids and my family. I’m happy to accept my children deeming you “Uncle” and “Aunt” and I hope you all enjoy Taylor’s new pictures:

The Perfect Picture

2012-01-25T15:05:00.001-08:00

We had a guest speaker at work today during our “Staff Meeting” (pretty much chapel). He was a Korean pastor and that is only relevant because of a funny joke he told:

He took a picture of us and told us he loved taking pictures – and not just because he’s Asian

It made chuckle. His whole talk was about “pictures” and how he loves taking pictures because he gets to look back on old pictures and remember something significant. He gets to remember a phase of life, a story, or a moment.

He then asked us what picture we would take if we could take any picture of Jesus. What one moment in his life would signify the most to us?

He mentioned a few like calming a storm while on a boat, sitting and playing with children after he scolded his disciples for shooing them away, or even his last moment on the cross.

Although these are all great moments – and there are significantly more its not the one I would choose.

The picture that would be most precious to me today (knowing this changes during different periods in my life) would be his moments in prayer before he was arrested and later crucified.

I picture this perfect man crying out to God the Father – knowing what is about happen must happen, but still with the hope that it didn’t. This is my Christ. The man who bore the price of all of the crap we do in our lives not because he was FORCED to because he CHOSE to out of the pure love that he has for us.

This is the picture I would take and cherish. And now that I’ve been thinking about it all day I sure wish I knew how to draw so I could draw it and hang it up in my house… I may need to enlist one of the awesome artists in my life ::gently nudges Chandra::

Impressions

2012-01-24T12:08:00.001-08:00

I think I’ve sort of touched on this before – sort of.

But I’m going to start with a sort of story. Back in High School I was a drama geek. A proud drama geek. One of my favorite moments actually was “surprising” people with my drama side. Not saying I was drama (although I kinda was a little bit of drama queen when it came to my interactions with my parents).

You see (or pretend you see) pretty much everyone’s first impression of me was the “quiet shy girl”. I played that role well at school. I came to school for school’s sake. I came to go to class and go home. That’s what’s for right?

I didn’t strive to be popular or have a lot of friends. My close friends were in my church family – and that is where I let my real personality shine – at church – where people didn’t “judge me” (Yay we all know that’s a lie, but it’s how I felt anyway).

I did however, have this love and passion for the stage. I shouldn’t say did have, I still do. I love being on stage. I love memorizing lines. I love becoming a different person for that short time. It’s exhilarating!

::Insert quiet moment to reminisce and miss being on stage::

SO when I started doing school plays – and not just being an “extra”, but lead roles it shocked people. How can this shy, quiet girl handle being in front of a ton of people all loud and exposed! And that was fun.

That is not really why I’m writing though. Thinking of my drama days reminded me of a field trip we took with our drama class my senior year. We went to Cal State Fullerton and visiting some acting workshops. One of those was about auditioning for a role. The teacher said – “You have to make an impression”

He told us a story about auditioning for a commercial. Everyone knew the lines and most people said the lines well. So he knew he had to make an impression so he’d be remembered. He did the part like the 20 people before him – but when he finished he leaned back in his chair and fell over. Why? To make an impression. The people watching chuckled and moved on, but you can bet they remembered that audition and a few days later he got a call for the part.

What kind of impression do I leave? That is why I’m writing today. I sat chatting with a woman at work and we walked away from each other I thought “she leaves a good impression – I leave feeling that she cares”. I hope I leave that kind of impression. I don’t want people to get that shy – quiet girl impression that I so proudly accepted when I was in High School. I want to leave a deep lasting impression on people. I want people to walk away from conversations with me and think “She cares”.

I hope those impressions lead to “call backs” so I can tell them WHY I care – because HE (My Jesus!) cares. And for those that already know me I hope those impressions express to them and remind them that HE cares and therefore calls all of US to care.

That’s it for today. Much heavier then I usually try to make it, but a thought for you too chew on nonetheless.

Haha…heavier…chew on… It’s like a “weight” joke all up in there

So Sayith Tay and Jay #12

2012-01-23T18:54:00.000-08:00

What do you want to do in summer?

Jordan: Do fight and go to the park.

Taylor: Ok, I'll tell you what I want to do in the summer. I want to play around in the summer and run around in the summer in my new blue shoes. And dance in my new blue shoes and kick a balloon. And jump off the couch doing a swirly whirly jump. Then I'll throw a balloon at the other balloon that is teasing me.

What should Cara and John name their baby?

Jordan: Elijah!

Taylor: Harry Potter!

What kind of car do you want to drive?

Jordan: Beach Grandma's Car

Taylor: A blue car with fire paint on it and I want to steer and I like crashing it into people so I can winned (can you tell she's been watching her dad play a Grand Theft Auto type of game?)

Who do you want to be like when you grow up?

Jordan: Allie!

Taylor: Aunt Genny!

Who is your favorite princess?

Jordan: is um, um, is, um snow white and the pink girl (sleeping beauty) and the yellow girl (Belle) and mommy is like the blue girl (Cinderella)

Taylor: Ok - its the blue princess - her name's called Cinderella

Who's your boyfriend?

Jordan: My boyfriend is SAMMY! sammy - semmeee

Taylor: How about Kenny?
Me: No he's married Tracy
Taylor: Get out of town mom, I think I can make him my boyfriend
Me: No you have to pick a boy that is NOT married
Taylor: Connor!

Owies

2012-01-23T15:37:00.000-08:00

I think as we get older we forget about how things hurt. I don’t mean forget THAT they do hurt, but the way that kind of “hurt” feels.

Like pulling out a baby tooth. I don’t remember what is what it felt like. I remember that it hurt, but I don’t know how the hurt felt.

I swear this isn’t totally random. I mean I’m sure you all know kids and/or toddlers that are insanely clumsy like mine and have blood coming from some part of their body nearly daily – whether it be a scrapped knee or bloody lip.

On Sunday I wasn’t feeling well so I did what any good mom would do… I locked the kids in the girls room (with me of course) and laid on Taylor’s bed as they played (hoping to fall asleep). Taylor and Jordan decided I needed to be “fed” so they pulled out the new baby feeding toys Taylor got for her birthday and proceeded to hold the fork/spoon up to my mouth and tell me “Eat your corn mommy”, “Now here’s a strawberry”.

Since I was still feeling super icky I told them I didn’t want any to which Taylor said “Mommy you have to try it – you might like it!”

Can you argue with her logic? Well no since those are the exact words I tell them when trying to get them to eat something.

So I said fine and pretended to take a few bites. Taylor brought the fork up to me for the 500th time – I’m not going to pretend I know exactly what happened but this “bite” made it to my mouth instead of just in front of my mouth.

The problem is, although it was a play baby fork, it didn’t make it in my mouth it made it directly into the middle of my top lip. I winced in pain and told Taylor to be careful – she hurt mommy.

She said sorry and the kids kept playing. A minute or so later I realize I’m tasting blood and go to lick my top lip. OW! She had peeled back a big chunk of skin/lip with that fork jabbing and what was left was a dangling piece of lip and exposed tissue. OUCH!

It seriously took me about half the day to get over the pain enough to eat anything, but at least today it feels fine.

All that got me thinking – My kids bite their lips or run into something for a busted lip a lot… It hurts a lot more then I remember. I now have a little more sympathy for their whining about their owies. But only a little

A Trip to Neverland

2012-01-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

Taylor wanted a Peter Pan birthday so off to Neverland we went. You wouldn't know you were in Neverland by the looks of things - but we were there... I swear.

The party was scheduled at a park for today. I planned the party as a couple weeks before as I sat in nice 72 degree weather. What this means of course is it had to rain... and foolish me didn't realize it was supposed to rain today until Kenny told me at work "It's supposed to rain on Saturday, what are you doing for Taylor's party?"

So THANK YOU to Kim Newmeyer for getting me the Children's Center at Church open for me with just a few days notice. I actually think having it indoors in a very kid-friendly room was really nice.

The kids got to decorate their goody bags, get pirate tattoos, make Indian headdresses, fill jars with pixie dust, and "fish" with mermaids. That is about as close to the theme as it got - but with lots of imagination it was totally Neverland.

We had 16 kids show up and they all seemed to have a pretty good time at all the different stations plus running around like mad - Taylor being as bossy as ever of course (I keep telling her people won't want to play with her if she stays so bossy - but for now the kids she plays with deal with it).

Taylor was particularly glad to see her friend Allie (she's known her since she was born and they are less they a year apart) so we were super glad the Edmundson's were able to make it. We had some new faces there too. Well not "new" because we know them, but "new" because we don't see them on a regular basis.

After the party a few of us headed to Stonefire for dinner and had a great time while stuffing our faces with great food. I know you may not believe me when I say "stuffing our faces" but really...if you've eaten at stone fire you know that is how you must eat. Yum!!

Overall it was an awesome time. Thank you to all of our special friends and family for joining us to make the day special for Taylor.

Enjoy some pictures of the day/night:

So Sayith Tay and Jay #11

2012-01-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

What is your favorite place to go and what do you like to do there?

Taylor: Disneyland. My favorite thing to do there is go on Cinderella ride.

Me: There's no Cinderella ride.

Taylor: But I thought there was. My favorite is the Peter Pan ride! You have to get the alligator and hit him on the nose!

Jordan: I tooted! My favorite is the park! I go with my friends and play at the park. And Buddy and Daddy and Taylor go with me. And I like to go to... I can't tell you!

How do you make cheese?

Jordan: I make cheese with mama!

Taylor: Maybe you can make cheese with ice cream.

Why are boys and girls different?

Jordan: because I go in mommy and daddy's room and buddy goes in his bed.

Taylor: Because a boy has short hair but a girl has long hair. Only boys wear shirts and pants and only girls wear dresses.

How old is mommy, daddy, papa (grandpa), and popo (great grandpa)? (in that order)

Taylor: you're like 55, kinda like 54-5, like 54-5 eaches 12, like 55-3 plus 10 - 4 - 5

Jordan: 3, 4, great!, great!

The Best Number is 5

2012-01-13T08:57:00.001-08:00

I’ve been delaying this post (I say delay but its only 2 days late – that’s not THAT bad). I have a reason for delaying though! Granted it’s not a very good one, but its still a reason. I just haven’t had any time to get pictures off my camera to my computer to post and a birthday post isn’t the same without pictures.

However, since it is now 2 days after her birthday and I know I won’t have any time tonight I’m going for it without pictures. I’ll post pictures later when I talk about what we actually did for her birthday.

My big girl turned 5 on Wednesday! Holy Cow! I don’t know what this feels like such a big deal to me, but it does. I feel like 5 is one of life’s milestones like 18.

For Taylor’s 5th birthday she got a special surprise (blog post coming about that soon). However, there are other “events” in her life that are triggered by this big day in her life. Here are things we always said all our kids would experience starting at the age of 5:

- She gets to go to the Christian Book store and pick out her very own bible
- She gets to pick an “activity” like dancing or karate or gymnastics to be part of
- She gets to start Kindergarten (well that’s a few months away)

I think I’m as excited about this season of her life as she is if not more so. She had her 5 year old check up and here are her stats:

Height: 46 ½ inches (98th Percentile – She’s super tall – the doctor thought her chart was wrong until she walked in the room and saw her)

Weight: 38.6 pounds (40th Percentile – Poor girl is going to be tall and lanky just like her mom – and I don’t think my little drama queen will handle the teasing well)

She’s doing all the things she should be doing for her development except tying her shoes – the doctor actually said most kids now don’t know how to tie shoes since most shoes don’t have laces anymore.

Taylor got 2 shots to prepare for Kindergarten and she still needs blood work done, but I didn’t want to it all on the same day.

With all that said – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAY TAY!!!

Kindergarten

2012-01-10T12:37:00.001-08:00

I know its quite a few months away, but I was recently reminded I need to start trying now to get Taylor in a school I want her in.

Issue #1 – All the schools in my area are very poorly rated schools ranging from 2-3 out of 10 “stars”.

Issue #2 – The school in our district she is supposed to go to is one of the lowest ranked ones and only 2 “stars”.

Issue #3 – Because all the schools in our area are crappy a lot of parents are trying to get their kids out making it even more difficult to get a district transfer.

Issue #4 – To make a “good” excuse for a transfer I need it to be a school I work close to (which is a GREAT!!! School)

Issue #5 – If it’s a school I work close too that makes a 30 minute commute for Justin to pick her up

Issue #6 – That pick up time would put it right around lunch/nap time making that time (already the most difficult part of his day) even more frustrating

Issue #7 – Option 2 is to have the school provide child care (or a local preschool which means I have to pick her up and hope I can schedule my lunch the same time everyday which is unlikely) – that costs $400 a month.

Issue #8 – It costs less money (less then child care) to put her in a really good Christian school (that doesn’t include childcare).

So my prayer: A raise that or some other suprise income that will make up for $400 a month I need for after school childcare OR her tuition in a Christian School. Start praying people!

So Sayith Tay and Jay #10

2012-01-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

Tell me about your favorite book:

Jordan: I can't tell you! (she is not cooperating tonight)

Taylor: My favorite book is the uh, flower book. I mean Good Night Moon. In the book the rabbit says goodnight to everybody and stuff because he's gonna go to sleep.

Tell me about your favorite movie:

Jordan: My favorite movie is that one! (points to The Last Dragon on the shelf) oh and that one (points too The Jungle Book). Its a DVD. See look we can shake them.

Taylor: My favorite is The Lady in the Water. Well the lady in the water there's a kind of animal in it and she gets scratched by it

Jordan: then the animal with scary eyes scratches the lady

Taylor: Stop Jordan its my turn! Ok. Then the eagle takes her and splashes her in the pool. Then the guy finds her and takes care of her. And also he takes care of her because of the wolf trying to get her. Then you better spell the word. And it happens and then all those times its now gonna be the last time on the last day and the wolf was trying to get her but the eagle comes and gets her. But if the eagle comes down the wolf will come eat him so the lady can't go home. Then the end.

Tell me about your favorite song:

Taylor: My favorite song is the Halloween song from that movie (points to The Nightmare Before Christmas) and sings...

Jordan:

Tell me your favorite knock knock joke:

Taylor: knock knock, who's there, Armageddon, Armageddon who?, Armageddon outta here!

Jordan: knock knock, who's there, Tickle, Tickle who?, Tickle you! (starts tickling me)

My Plan to do Nothing

2012-01-09T10:24:00.000-08:00

If you would have asked me on Wednesday what my weekend plans were I would have told you absolutely nothing but sitting at home and relaxing.

I’m not a liar, I promise. Well I guess technically I am a liar, but in this scenario I did not lie to you. We just had an unexpectedly super busy (super fun) weekend.

On Friday night we headed to the Key’s house for burgers and games. Despite the 2 hours stuck in traffic to make a 40 minute drive we had a great time. I’ll say it again, but it is nice to be able to just relax with friends that are living in the same chapter of life you are. There’s an unspoken understanding of the chaos around us.

We played a game called True Colors that I thought was pretty fun while the babies slept and kids watched a movie.

We got home late on Friday night and as I headed to bed I was thinking about the Saturday ahead of doing nothing.

Saturday came and so did a phone call from Tawni asking if we wanted to meet them at the Santa Ana Zoo. So Justin and I decided “why not?”

We met the Webster’s at the zoo and had a great time! We got a season pass since it was $30 for one day or $60 for a year. Since they have a park there I can guarantee this pass will be well used by Justin for his sanity during the week. It’s a nice small zoo which is perfect for the kids! They get to see everything and get just tired enough that they nap well (fingers crossed).

We headed back to our house and kids napped. We played a game and just sort of talked most of the night. Here comes the part where I “say it again”. There is something very nice about just relaxing with people who are in the same place you are. I told Justin later that night how much I enjoyed just doing “nothing” with the Webster’s that night (sorry if I we came across as boring though…that is Justin’s worry).

I tried a new recipe for meatloaf that I didn’t hate (that’s a triumphant event on my part), but I think it could have been better. After dinner the guys played a game (side by side – how cute) and the girls tackled the task of the kid’s hair. Elijah is the only one that made it out without a trim/cut.

We took the trimmer to the boy’s hair. Nate’s came out shorter then we thought which makes him look a lot more like Sammy I think. Jordan’s also came shorter then we planned – I blame her massive wiggling, but I’m glad she wiggled! It looks REALLY cute and I know I wouldn’t have done it that short intentionally. It totally fits her personality too! Little miss Sassy for sure. She also looks even more like her “twin” Sydney.

What a great – busy weekend we had! And aligned with that theme, on Sunday….

…we rested.

Because I Like Numbers

2012-01-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

This may be my most boring blog of the year for some of you. But for others this may be interesting so here you go!

Here are some random numbers and facts about my blog for 2011:

1. How many people from different countries visited my blog:
United States - 133
Russia - 18
Germany - 2
Puerto Rico - 2
Ukraine - 2
Jordan - 1
Malaysia - 1
Thailand - 1

2. How did people access my blog?
www.facebook.com - 65
m.facebook.com - 10
domar.ru - 4
startingout08.blogspot.com - 3
thisgrace.wordpress.com - 2
dsmaulsby.blogspot.com - 1
www.google.com 1 (this one is kinda creepy)

3. What were the most popular blogs of the year - 2011? (In Order)

So Sayith Tay and Jay #3

So Sayith Tay and Jay #5

Mini Him

3 Years Ago

So Sayith Tay and Jay #4

My Drama Queen

Groove and Jive its Number Five?

A Selfless Act

2012-01-03T14:48:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago I came home from work to see this scene:

Elijah standing on the kitchen table hands in the air saying “up” to me when he saw me. Taylor yelled “I’ll get it!” as she sprinted across the room to the kitchen table. Before I could even react to the situation Taylor was standing on a kitchen chair pulling Elijah off the table.

She’s a pretty strong girl and can carry Elijah around pretty easily, but in this circumstance she was standing at the edge of the chair so she lost her balance. I watched her little 4 year old body twist so that she hit the floor and not Elijah.

She landed hard on her back with her leg stuck in the legs of the chair.

She rolled Elijah off of her and gently laid him on the ground. With tears in her eyes she looked at him and said “are you ok Buddy?!”

Elijah smiled and got up and continued merrily on his way. Taylor then turned to me with tears now streaming down her face, “Mommy I hurt!” She began to sob and I scooped her up. She had a bruise developing on her back from where she hit and a small bruise on her leg where it got stuck in the chair, but she was ok.

I told her she was very brave to try and save Elijah and I was very proud of her, but next time she should tell Mommy and Daddy.

So Sayith Tay and Jay #9

2012-01-02T17:49:00.000-08:00

Tell me the story about your favorite day:

Taylor: Ok I'm going to tell you a story about Harry Potter and me getting married. So one day Ginny was getting married with Harry Potter and then Taylor and Connor switched and Connor said he wanted to marry Ginny. All of us switched so that Harry Potter switched to the girl named Taylor (that's me) and Ginny switched to a boy named Connor. Then we all went to the ball and then we had a kiss together. And then we all got married and we had a baby. And the baby was named Kady. Ginny and Connor's baby's name is Taylor just like me. The named the baby Taylor because they love me and they have lots of babies named Taylor because they really love me. But when the baby was coming out it started to hurt a little bit. So Harry Potter and me went to the Ball and we kissed together.

The End

Jordan:

I broke daddy's computer and then daddy's computer was sad. Then daddy say nothing. He got angry. Then the whale come down and got trapped from the cage. And it fell on buddy! Then it got killed by a monster. The monster was black with muscles and mustard and was chasing me, Jordan. Then it was turtle inside a cave. Then I saved the turtle! It was a baby turtle and it was lost forever. Then buddy he loves the baby turtle and the turtle was named baby Jesus.

Then my pinky says The End

The Knight and the Princesses

2011-12-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

Last night at the Davis’ house there were two epic battles occurring simultaneously.

First there were the “big kids” – all the “men” playing a game of strategy and deathly blows with dice rolls. But although that battle is far more intense it is also far less cute then the other epic battle.

Before we get to the 2nd epic battle there should be a little recap – just because this group of kids is so stinkin’ cute!

I got home from work and was warned by Rob that Sammy was a little grumpy. To me that sounds like a challenge of course. So I sat on the couch next to him as they watched Surfs Up and tried to ask some simple questions – he was not having it. The only 2 responses I got were:

I spilled water on my pants! (this was highly unacceptable to him)
And
I’m not Sammy, I’m Sammy Webster Alan!

I moved on from couch sitting to dinner prep and kids chomped down some chicken nuggets – this is when I got my first smile – when I offered Sammy grapes.

After dinner my kids got a bath while Sammy played peek-a-boo with them with the shower curtain (the clear shower curtain). Taylor with a giggle would say “We can see you Sammy” and Sammy would say “No I hiding!”

After bath time we played a few games the kids all loved and were all laughing and squealing with delight. Granted the squealing was mostly coming from the girls and Sammy was doing more of the hearty laughing.

I needed a break after that so we moved on to watching Shrek.

They all lay quietly until Shrek began fighting (or really running) form the Dragon… This is where the real story starts:

Sammy: I’m the knight and I’m going to save the Princess!
Taylor: I’m the princess!
Sammy: No Jordan is the princess
Taylor: We can both be princesses
Sammy: We need a Dragon!
Me: I’ll be the Dragon – rawr
Taylor and Jordan run screaming while Sammy puts his fists up and says
Sammy: I’ll save the princess!

It was so fun, but so tiring! I gave up after about 10 minutes and they continued to play. About 10 minutes later Taylor came and said:

Taylor: mommy, Sammy won’t kiss me and wake me up and I’m the princess!
Me: Sammy doesn’t need to kiss you
Taylor: But that’s how the princess wakes up
Me: Its pretend, don’t kiss boys.

What a fabulous night!

Blog-Ache - Spread the WORD

2011-12-27T14:30:00.001-08:00

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a normal blog and that makes my heart sad – so sad it’s aching right now. Well not really – its my right side rib area that hurts due to who knows what, but I’m going to say it’s a blog-ache.

I’m going to make the phrase stick…within a year you all and about 534 other people will be saying “blog-ache”.

Any-who… I have told you all that whenever I say/think Any-who I think of Stick Stickly from Nickelodeon! He would always say Any-who. And once I start thinking of Stick Stickly I start singing the song “Write to me, Stick Stickly, PO BOX 963, New York City, New York State, 10108”… I wonder who owns that PO BOX now… I think I might write them a letter.

Ok, so back to what I was saying originally – I haven’t written a normal blog in a while. By normal I mean not a “So Sayith Tay and Jay” and not a “Here is what we did today”. I’m talking about a normal random blog… like here is what is going on in my chaotic little world – come and join in the mess kind of blog. Those are my favorites. At least they are the most fun to write – not sure if they are as fun to read. I really wouldn’t know. I don’t read my own blog – I never really read anything I write/wrote – this included proofreading papers in college – I did it once maybe as a freshmen…but after that… well its just boring.

So instead of the stuff you should be getting today like here is what we did for Christmas… I will give you something much less topical and much more chaotic. To be honest if you don’t like chaos and un-proof-read things you probably shouldn’t be reading my blog.

What will you get today? Has the excitement been building? If so it is not intentional – Its just that up until about 10 seconds ago I really had no idea what I was going to talk about – but now I do.

Make-up. I promise this will not be overly girly for my male readers. I REALLY hate make up. I don’t hate it on YOU…or really ME for that matter. I just hate buying it and putting it on. It takes SO much time to get on and then twice that long to get it all off. It makes your face feel heavy like it is about to fall off and if you have twitch you can’t even rub your eye!

Concerned friend: Rachael, you have something crawling out of your eyeball!
Me: No I don’t I just rubbed my twitchy eye and black stuff seeping out of the corner of it – its all normal – no fear!

That wasn’t a real conversation – that is just the story my brain wrote while typing about a twitchy eye.

I don’t think I really need makeup, but when I don’t wear it I look about 16 – and I feel rather unprofessional at work.

Me with Makeup – Hello, I’m a professional ready to work my day
Me without Makeup – Yup, I just rolled out of bed and showed up – maybe I’ll be productive today? Who knows.

Now that isn’t how I actually think, but I feel like that’s how people are looking at. I really hate makeup. Can everybody else just stop wearing it so I can too? That’d be great.

Anyway, even though I don’t like the stuff my girls are quickly becoming fans of it. Jordan snuck into my bathroom while I slept yesterday and took out my make up bag.

I know you are picturing what I would be – A kid with blue eye shadow, red lipstick, and pink blush splotched onto every part of her face. But my friends, we are wrong. She actually put it on pretty nicely! The foundation was evenly spread, the lipstick (“lips” as she calls it) was mostly on the mouth, and the blush was prominently rosy on the cheeks – on her face AND Elijah’s of course.

I did not get a picture because I was so out of it in the morning I really didn’t notice it until cleaning off their faces after breakfast! So instead here is a picture of what you would have expected to see:

I don’t know who these kids are but I found them on Google so I figure its fair game.

So Sayith Tay and Jay #8

2011-12-26T18:43:00.000-08:00

What is your favorite food?

Taylor: Is um, blueberries

Jordan: raviolis

How do you remember things?

Taylor: Because of your brain because you can remember things with your brain - that's what my teacher says

Jordan: I remember things good

What are all of the rules in the house?

Taylor: not run, no jumping, no hitting, laying down in bed, sit at the chair for dinner, my cup goes in the middle of the table, no splashing and no getting out of the bath when you are wet.

Jordan: I cant put Christmas lights on my head

What's the best deal?

Taylor: the best deal is no painting on the wall and the ceiling and curtains and the door and I heard my momma holler like I never did before (that's a quote from a book - not sure where that came from) I really can't staaaaay - baby its cold outside... (yup and now she's singing)

Jordan: a penguin with a hat

What is your favorite toy?

Taylor: The barbie house like my papa gave me.

Jordan: a barbie I said, a barbie!

Why is Christmas over?

Taylor: because that's how it ends - because after Christmas is my birthday!

Jordan: when its not snowing then Christmas is over (runs to the window) see! No more snow.

So Sayith Tay and Jay #7

2011-12-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

From Jennifer: Who are you going to marry and why?

Taylor: Harry Potter, because I love him.

Jordan: Princess Fiona, Because I'm a princess (oh no - we got some work to do).

From Miriam: What does PU mean?

Taylor: something is yucky and really dirty and when something is really dirty you say PU and yucky

Jordan: Yucky, Yucky, Yucky

From Sam: Could daddy wrestle a bear and win?

Taylor: No because sometimes because you are angry at him because he plays games because when he fights bears it can chomp him. when they are in the wild and a person goes down the bear will get somebody.

Jordan: It will bite him and bite him like this ::starts chomping::

From Roxy: What do you like best about your brother and sister?

Taylor: (Elijah) When he plays and I play hide and seek with him and I like to put him in the box and then let go because he is going to be a baby dinosaur - (Jordan) When she likes Tinkerbell

Jordan: (Elijah) because he breaks a glass (he just broke a glass cup trying to clean up and put it in the sink on his own) - (Taylor) because she's not breaking glass

From Shelly: If you could get mom and dad a present for Christmas what would it be?

Taylor: (mommy) a pillow - a blue one - (daddy) a dark red pillow

Jordan: (mommy) a white present - (daddy)a blue present

From Grandpa Bob: What animal reminds you of Mommy, Daddy, Elijah, and (sister)?

Taylor: (mommy) a tiger - (daddy) monkey i mean dinosaur - (Elijah) alligator - (Jordan) a lion, excuse me mom, i'm an animal. I'm a chameleon. I change colors because I'm a chameleon.

Jordan: (mommy) blue and green on it and some white on it - (daddy) he's a lion - (Elijah) a Kyle - (Taylor) a lion

From Allyson: What did Santa do before giving present to all the boys and girls?

Taylor: some people don't have presents so get gets them to the boys and girls. ::whispers to me:: but he's only pretend and if he comes out of Buddy the Elf movie into my world then he'd be real!

Jordan: he brings presents to my friends but we don't have any presents

(Insert Name Here)

2011-12-14T13:27:00.000-08:00

There are some days I have a few minutes that are quiet and I think – Now is a REALLY good time to blog and I sit staring at a blank screen for 5 minutes and wonder why I can’t think of a single thing of interest.

There are more days where I have no minutes of quiet and think of like 20 things to blog. I find this situation just plain rude. My brain and I argue about this sometimes – I mean being rude is dumb, its even worse if your brain is being rude to itself (yourself/myself?).

Today again I almost gave up and then had a “duh” moment and realized I have the perfect thing to blog about!

The date was Saturday, December 2nd. I sat in the pew at church and thought I really like Christmastime – I should have a party. So a few conversations later it was decided – in 1 week the Davis’ would have a Christmas Party! Hopefully the first annual with a clever name for the event to come…maybe by the time I’m dong writing this I will have thought of a name and it just may be this blog title.

I invited way too many people to fit in our apartment, but since they are some of my dearest friends I figured they wouldn’t mind being a little cramped.

We started of with dinner. I made a honey glazed ham for the first time. Oh boy did it look hideous. I’m hoping that the fact there were no leftovers meant the sight was far worse then the taste. OR I just have really nice friends that forced it down anyway. We had green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, and a homemade chocolaty cake. It was fabulous! We converted my living room into a half dining room an fit 12 adults around the table. I totally forgot to take pictures!! This just adds to the reason why this should be an annual event. So I can get pictures next year.

We lost a few after dinner – not by death or food poisoning (I hope). We did however also gain a few after dinner and ended with more adults then we started with. We played a really fun game to start (Kim’s idea) – And again – I forgot to take pictures! How am I even allowed to own a camera?!

We played another game (Matt’s idea) and THIS time I got pictures – but half of them look so angry because they are concentrating ::sigh::: Again I ask, why do I have a camera? Now that I think about it – if the Newmyers should get a special thanks for the idea of 2 great games to play – so thank you!

I had an amazing time and am super thankful for the great friends God has put into my life. It is the time of year (at least for me) to look at the gift God gave us in his son on earth and enjoy the blessings that flow from that gift.

So until next year… not that I am going to stop blogging until then – you can’t get rid of me that easy. Well I guess you could just stop reading…

Thank you to the friends that helped the Davis’ have a special Christmas party (in no particular order unless the order is whatever my fingers type)

Scott, Rachel, Brendan, and Caleb
Tawni, Rob, Sammy
Kenny, Tracy, K5
Kandyce, Taylor
Shanda
Travis
Matt, Kim, (Baby in the oven)
And Sam

Sam was last on purpose – because I figure he’d be the person that would be least care about being mentioned last.

Enjoy the few pictures I did manage to remember to take:

So Sayith Tay and Jay #6

2011-12-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

From Inq: How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck norris?

Taylor: What?

Jordan: He could chuck some wood and some alligator.

From Brittany: What will your wedding be like when you get married?

Taylor: My wedding will have snow. That's it.

Jordan: Like Princess Bride.

From Brittany: What is your favorite part of the the bathroom?

Taylor: When we take a bath.

Jordan: The bathroom when I peed.

From Brittany: Who are Buzz and Woody's mommy and daddy?

Taylor: I don't know.

Jordan: You mommy!

From Rob: What do the Wonder Pets do when they are not on the TV?

Taylor: They are real and they can stay with the people.

Jordan: ::looks at tv:: They're not on tv!

From Miriam: If you could make one rule that everyone in the world had to follow, what rule would you make?

Taylor: First you better make a tree house then my rule of my tree house will be to paint on the walls.

Jordan: Space

From Travis: What is your favorite game to play?

Taylor: The one with the sticks and marbles...what's that game called? Oh yeah, my favorite game is plunk! (Kerplunk)

Jordan: Daddy's game.

From Tiffany: What would you do for a Klondike bar?

Taylor: What?

Jordan: When the man comes with his car (I sure hope she means the ice cream man)

From Scott: What would you do if there was no chocolate in the world?

Taylor: ::big gasp:: then we wont be able to eat it!

Jordan: Buy some!

From Jennifer: What is your favorite book to read?

Taylor: The spider one.

Jordan: Llama Llama Red Pajama

From Jennifer: What is your favorite Christmas tree ornament?

Taylor: That one ::points to tree:: That's my favorite Christmas Tree. Mine is the celebration balls (mini disco balls). I just loves those. Those are going to be in my collection tomorrow.

Jordan: All the ornaments

From Rachel: If you could only take one thing with you out of all the stuff in your house what would it be and why?

Taylor: Finger paint.

Jordan: Big Big Dora's house.

Hope

2011-12-07T10:29:00.000-08:00

I have the tremendous blessing of working for ECCU and part of that includes a “staff meeting” on Wednesday mornings (pretty much just a chapel with worship and bible study most of the time).

This morning was an awesome “staff meeting’. An all worship and reflection time about Hope. Several people between worship songs spoke about Hope. Stories or definitions of Hope to them that got me thinking of a real time of Hope in my life. So as an early reflection for Christmas I am going to share a story of Hope for all of you. If you’ve been ready my blog for awhile you’ve seen a lot of my stories of Hope – this (I think) is a new one.

October 2009 I sat in the office of a coworker and friend and we talked about how I did not want any more kids (yet). Jordan (my 2nd girl) was turning 1 and my heart wasn’t in a place to accept the chances of having another girl.

Going back a few years when I first found out Justin and I were having our first baby – I hoped for boy. I was never a girly girl and I hated pink and I didn’t like dollies or dresses. I was more comfortable around boys so naturally (?) I wanted a boy first. A girl someday, but a boy first – Then we had Taylor our first baby girl. About 2 years later we had our 2nd little girl – despite my goal of having a boy of course.

Because of this I didn’t want another baby yet. I told my friend that if I can’t just be happy to have a beautiful baby despite the gender the I shouldn’t have a baby at all. As we continued to talk I realized in that moment…I was “late”.

My lunch break that day I got a pregnancy test and sure enough – there was a baby stewing in my belly. I cried.

Fast forward about a month. Here I am now at Jordan’s 1st birthday party. I was going to be a mommy – again. And I KNEW it was going to be a girl. I was happy for a baby, but still prayed constantly for God to grant me the desire of my heart to have a baby boy. I knew this was my last shot. Justin and I had also decided that we didn’t want to find out the baby’s gender – just in case it was a girl. I didn’t want to be sad at all about the baby – I wanted to hold onto that Hope and be happy in that Hope.

As Jordan’s party rapped up I felt a rushing sensation down my leg. I ran to the bathroom to find that the rushing was blood – a lot of it. Talk about awkward – walking out into a room and telling people at your house “Um, you all have to leave because I need to go to the hospital”.

I prayed the entire way to Urgent Care. I clung to that Hope with a tight fist and prayed. Please God – save my baby.

The doctor examined me and VERY casually – as if saying “how do you do” when passing a stranger – told me “You are having a miscarriage – head to the hospital and they’ll remove “it””. He walked out of the room and my heart imploded. “It” – how dare he. I remember the nurse in the room looking at me with sympathetic eyes before walking out of the room as well. I sat and prayed as Justin rested his hand on my shoulder. The Hope slipping through my fingers no matter how hard I tried to hold onto it.

We headed to the hospital in mostly silence. I continued to pray, but my prayer was wrapped in spurts of anger. I didn’t want to have a baby! Why would He give me a baby and then take it away! We were at the hospital for several hours before finally getting an ultrasound. The tech kept a straight face as she looked into the monitor – but I was still searching for glimpse of Hope in her face. I did not get it.

We waited a few more hours for a doctor to come in and talk to us about the results and the “next steps”. The doctor came in and told us the baby was fine. There was a tear somewhere that was causing the bleeding. The tear also meant the baby wasn’t getting everything it needed so it was smaller then it should be, but it was fine. In that moment I sunk so deeply back into that Hope. God had a plan – I didn’t know what it was, but he did. That is my Hope. Even in my doubt and anger he worked his plan. That is my Hope.

I look at my now 18 month old baby BOY and he is a reminder to me of my Hope. My Trust in my God. And my Hope is that you can rest fully in the Hope that Christ provides you this Christmas! If you don’t know where to find that Hope let me know! I’ll be happy to help you find it in Him.

So Sayith Tay and Jay #5

2011-12-05T18:19:00.001-08:00

Courtesy Rob - Why does Daddy play video games?

Taylor: because you don't want him to but he doesn't listen

Jordan: because he did on his computer

Courtesy Alianore aka Shelly Carlstrom - What does Christmas mean to you?

Taylor: its about Jesus because its Jesus birthday because he's a baby

Jordan: means you get a Christmas tree

Courtesy Brittany - How does the internet work?

Taylor: Because of the plugs down there (points to the outlet on the wall)

Jordan: it works all day

Courtesy Brittany - Why do people speak different languages?

Taylor: um, because they need to and they know how

Jordan: because Taylor talks different languages

Courtesy Brittany - How do you say I want a hippopotamus for Christmas in spanish?

Taylor: I don't know, maybe my teacher has to teach me.

Jordan: Waga laga sing

Courtesy Aunt Jeanine - Where is God? Can God see me? Can I see God?

Taylor: In our heart. Yes! No because he's in my heart.

Jordan: I don't know. Nope. Nope.

Courtesy PoPo - How do you make a cake.

Taylor: when you use the right ingredients - eggs and water and oil and pour chocolate syrup.

Jordan: When the chefs come.

Courtesy Veronica - If u were the president what would u do first? (since they didn't know what president was I defied it as "boss of the world")

Taylor: Um have presents, I mean if your the boss that means your mean to someone and then somebody gives you a present you say you don't want it because your mean. In Little People when someone is mean then they are bossy and they wont give you a present because they are mean.

Jordan: poop

A Day with Taylor

2011-12-04T14:39:00.000-08:00

The day is only half over and Taylor and I have had some great conversations:

While watching a football game

Taylor: Mommy what one do you like the yellow or the blue
Me: The yellow, they are called packers
...
Taylor: Mommy why is that lady wearing cheese on her head?
Me: Because they want the packers to win - they're called cheeseheads
Taylor: What do people wear on their heads if they want the blue ones to win
Me: The blue ones are giants, I guess they just wear hats on their heads if they want the giants to win
...
Taylor: Mommy! We can't like the packers any more! They knocked over that giant!
...
Taylor: I love this yellow blanket now, its my favorite because I want the packers to win.

While hanging out

Me: Taylor guess who's coming to watch you tonight
Taylor: I know! Beach Grandma
Me: How did you know that?
Taylor: Because you said "Justin call your mom to see if she can watch the kids" and since daddy's mommy is Beach Grandma, that means Beach Grandma is coming over.

While trying to take a nap

Taylor: Mommy at church today when they were playing the peaceful music I closed my eyes and wanted to fall asleep.
Me: Oh?
Taylor: Yeah peaceful music wants to make me sleep
Me: Why don't you go to sleep now?
Taylor: Well if you sing me a peaceful lullaby then I'll fall asleep
Me: (starts singing)
Taylor: Nope that's not gonna work I need PEACEFUL Music, we should ask Matt to sing on the phone.

While hanging out
Taylor: Mommy the other day Tracy came over but she only came to take daddy to go get his car
Me: Yup
Taylor: Well that wasn't fair, because me and Jordan wanted to hold the baby and we didn't get to
Me: Maybe later
Taylor: But I wanted to hold him last day! I know! Tracy can come over again so I can hold the baby

So Sayith Tay and Jay #4

2011-11-28T12:29:00.000-08:00

From Woopsie (Buck) - Why are some words considered bad and who decided they where bad?

Taylor: Because they are bad words, you told me they were bad mommy.

Jordan: Because they are bad and bad and bad. Mommy told me.

From Jennifer - What is your favorite summer time activity?

Taylor: My favorite thing to do in Summer is when its after summer and there is snow.

Jordan: Summer is great and great and great and there's snow! oops no snow.

From Mima/Popo - Where does the stars and moon go during the day?

Taylor: They go down to sleep.

Jordan: When its day they go in the book, see! ::points to a random book::

From Miriam - Of all the things you are learning, what do you think will be the most useful when you are an adult?

Taylor: When I learned how to draw ABCs and my name. That's my favorite thing to do with my homework (yeah...I give my kids homework...but they like it I swear!)

Jordan: I learned about teachers and animals and I sing a song always. But not Taylor's song. Kung Fu!

So Sayith Tay and Jay #3

2011-11-21T19:09:00.000-08:00

How far is Grandma's House (Thanks to Mima and Popo)?

Taylor: Really big far

Jordan: Far and Far and Far and Far

How is Chocolate Milk Made (Thanks to Brittany)?

Taylor: You put chocolate in the milk

Jordan: You mix and mix and mix all night

Where do the stars in the sky come from (Thanks to Brittany)? What are they made of?

Taylor: When they are made from Jesus. They are made of dust.

Jordan: starts come for the night. They are made of night.

Who is your favorite Mommy or Daddy (Thanks to Neya)?

Taylor: Mommy, because I love her

Jordan: Daddy, because he's my favorite, like my favorite color. ::kisses my arm::

What is the meaning of life (Thanks to Miriam)?

Taylor: I can't tell

Jordan: Um lady goes the light and then she's dead

Kitten or Puppy and why (Thanks to Anna)?

Taylor Puppy, because I love puppies. But I'm scared of puppies because I think they will bite me...and when you were a little kid mommy a duck bit your butt! HA I duck bit your butt.

Jordan: Kitty, because its kitty, puppy, dog and cow

What's the worst thing about going to bed (Thanks to Uncle Sam)?

Taylor: When its dark i think there are ghosts

Jordan: If I'm naked (WHAT?!)

Jordan's 3rd Birthday (late but not forgotten)

2011-11-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

I sat here today thinking of this mental list of “things” I need to blog about… Which made me think of Shanda who has an actual list of things… much wiser then trying to just remember it all – so Shanda I tip my hat to you. Well I will tip my hat to you once I own a hat.

Note to self: buy a hat

There are some things I am SO far behind on that I figure I’ll just forget those and focus on the now. But the “now” won’t start until I at least write about Jordan’s 3rd birthday. I’m actually pretty sure I didn’t even do a blog that she turned three! I wish I could still use the excuse of “I’m new at this”, but after about a year of blogging I don’t think that flies.

Note to self: learn to fly?

So now to the real reason I am writing today. Jordan’s 3rd Birthday.

I decided in August that Jordan didn’t need a 3rd Birthday Party. She wouldn’t remember much from it and wouldn’t care much if she didn’t have one (she wouldn’t realize she didn’t). Then September hit and all the Halloween decorations started filling the stores and I couldn’t help it.

3rd Birthday Costume Party! It was a must and so it happened. It took me way to long to get invites out since I could not find a place to have her party. I didn’t want it outdoors since it was the end of October and it could be super cold or even rain. But I gave up the hunt and decided to do it at a park.

We had about 20 kids RSVP so I got a TON of goodies and candy. You can’t have a costume party without junk food right?

The day of the party I had 5 parents call to let me know the kids were sick which cut our attendees nearly in half. I was a little bummed and had to remind myself that Jordan wouldn’t really notice – especially since “her” Sammy was going to be there.

Needless to say, the kids seemed to have a great time – with tons of sugar and running around they went home with smiles on their faces. Success!

We had a few friends stay for a GameNight afterwards and even had a couple others join us (Sam, Travis, Kenny, Tracy, Tawni, Rob, Matt, and Kim). The kids got to play together while the adults got to hang out and laugh.

Note to self: Take more pictures of adults and not just kids…

So Happy late Birthday Jordan! I love you baby girl.

So Sayith Tay and Jay #2

2011-11-14T17:42:00.000-08:00

Question from Allyson
How does a bee make honey?

Taylor: um, bees make honey because they sip it, they put it their mouth and they make it.

Jordan: bees make honey and bees don't make honey.

Question from Brittany
Why are hippos so big?

Taylor: because... so they can live in the sea.

Jordan: hippos are big or they are not big...they are little.

Question from Justin
What's your favorite thing to do?

Taylor: Paint. My favorite paint to do is finger paint.

Jordan: my favorite thing is skate! (she's never skated before)

So Sayith Tay and Jay

2011-11-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

Question from Neya - Do you think your brother and/or sister is boring?

Taylor: No...Well...I don't know.
Jordan: No

Question from Tawni - What do you want to be when you grow up, and why?

Taylor: A firefighter, because I like to be a firefighter. Because they put out fires and that's cool. I want Jordan to be a doctor. Because I like it when she makes people not sick. (Jordan replied - I make people sick! Yay!) And then she can make things have calories. Calories make something really good.

Jordan: Um, I don't know. Bigger! 10 years old.

Question from Mommy - What invention do you want to make

Taylor: A mail invention so we don't have to walk to the mail box, but the mailman can put the mail in a machine that makes the mail go to people all over the world. That's a great invention mommy.

Jordan: Inbitchen?

My Idea

2011-10-31T12:49:00.001-07:00

I have a lot of them – I like to think most of them are good. Admittedly some of the are horrible. Some ideas are great, but unlikely.

I recently gave “advice” to a friend of mine with young children like me. The kind of advice that comes out of your mouth and after you say it you surprise yourself. Like “that’s a good idea, why have I never thought of that or done it before? Where in the world did that just come from?!”

I’d like to say God intervened and just used me to tell her something she (AND I) needed to do. Or some wise adult at some point in my life planted this idea into a deep part of my brain and this thought decided to surface and expose itself. Whatever the cause – I think it’s a good idea that I do not want to call my own – probably mostly because I think it will fail. By fail I mean I wont be committed enough to follow it through.

That made me sound flakey, but the reason I feel I may not follow through is not because I’ll just forget or choose not to do it, but because life just gets in the way – A LOT. Even more now with 3 little kids making life chaotic in mostly an awesome way (lets be honest - maybe mostly awesome but probably annoying way).

The reason this is all coming up is because my friend took that idea and ran with it, and it has become something awesome for her. I am a little jealous of that and feel the need to use my idea as well and hope that something awesome comes from it for my family too. For the record, not an evil covetous jealousy, but a heartfelt she is being blessed by doing this, I can do it too kind of way. I don’t even know if that makes sense.

Anyway – to the idea part of this. That is, after all, the reason I even started typing this morning. Here is what spurted out of my mouth (more or less) a few months ago after expressing to me how chaotic her nights are with her kids which usually leads to yelling and crying (from all involved parties)

Set a schedule of “things to do” each night. Monday night is game night, Tuesday night is help mom with dinner night, etc. It something you can both look forward to and it keeps you accountable to make sure they get that time they need and helps with their behavior since they get a “treat” from mommy.

So that’s been working great for her. Now I think its about time I do it. I’m putting here in hopes that it will help hold me accountable so “life” doesn’t get in the way.

Sunday Night – Family Game Night – Each kid can pick one game to play
Monday Night – Blog Night - I’ll ask the kids a question and they’ll answer and I’ll post their answers
Tuesday Night – Help with Dinner and/or Dessert Night – I think that explains itself
Wednesday Night – Awana / Church Night

Thursday – Saturday usually involve one or all of us out of the house so those nights will be impromptu.

My goal – start in November since today is Monday and its Halloween this would be an un-good night to start with Blog Night.

Let’s see how well this works…

Happy Birthday Munchie

2011-10-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

Munchie – A nickname given to you buy your Aunt Genny a few hours after you were born and it fits perfectly.

Today you are 3! Well, you’ll be 3 in a few hours. Right now you are only mostly 3.

You are tiny package of fearlessness and stubbornness. You like to see what you can do – even if that means doing something you shouldn’t like climbing on top of the T.V.

You love to help and get super excited at the littlest things. Your face lights up when you are about to tell us something “exciting” – granted your face lights up about 30 seconds before your brain can get the words out drawing out the moment.

I recently tried to explain to a friend of mine at work – you. Who are you? Here is what I said (roughly):

Jordan is the pretty-pretty tom boy. She will be the kid wearing a princess dress, necklaces and a huge crown while sitting in a mud puddle digging for worms. She will have painted nails and makeup while tackling another kid. She will do anything of her that you ask when are looking – and do everything you ask her not to do when you aren’t looking. She will love you unconditionally and if you get upset – she’ll try harder (unless you are asking her to clean her room). She picks up on things you like and don’t like. And uses it to her advantage. She knows what buttons to push to get a reaction when she wants it, and she knows what kind of hugs to give or words to say when she wants to get a smile.

Tradition will continue and we will make a cake tonight (that you get to decorate with all the frosting and sprinkles (sparkles as you call them) your little – big heart desires. We’ll make a mess and enjoy your day.

You may be the middle child, but God gave you the personality to stand out in a very special way. I love you baby girl!

The Things I will Miss

2011-10-13T11:44:00.001-07:00

I know its not like my kids are 10 and out of this phase yet, but living in the moments now I try to remind myself daily…someday I will miss this.

Jordan every morning standing on the toilet next to the sink “telling me” what to do to get ready next
Jordan: Mommy did you go potty?
Me: Yes
Jordan: Brush your teeth!
Me: ::as I’m brushing::
Jordan: Make up time!
Me: ::pulls out eyeliner::
Jordan: Is that for grownups?
Me: Yes ::pulls out blush::
Jordan: Can I have some?
Me: ::puts a dab on each of her cheeks and pulls out eye shadow::
Jordan: Can I have sparkles?
Me: ::puts a dab on each of her eyes and grabs deodorant::
Jordan: Me too! :: puts arms in the air to expose her arm pits and runs to get my shoes for me::
Me: Thank you baby.
Jordan: Don’t forget to kiss daddy, and Taylor, and Elijah!

I miss this

Taylor tells me things. Her little brain is using her version of logic. She’s connecting the pieces of information she has to make choices (not always good ones). Sometimes the things she say make sense if you think about it in a 4 year old world. Other times she just says really weird things.

::before going to bed:: Mommy, I know the rules. First if Jordan drops her animals to me don’t pick them up (Jordan is on the top bunk so we don’t want them to “play”). Two, don’t play in the bathroom if I go potty. Three, stay in bed. That’s three rules, that’s a lot of rules.

::before going to bed:: Taylor: Mommy, I can pray to Jesus all by myself and make him so happy!
Me: Yes you can
Taylor: Yeah, cuz you forgot

Taylor: Mom, you’re the best
Me: No, you’re the best
Taylor: Ok I’m the best, you can be second

::on the way to cubbies/Awana:: Taylor: Oh no! Mom they (church) forgot to take my picture for my Cubbie book!! (for Cubbies they put the picture in the front of their books)
Me: It’s ok, Mommy and Daddy are going to put the pictures in your book
Taylor: At our old church we went to last day they took my picture for my book
Me: But this time we are going to
Taylor: Well, we better go to our old Cubbies so they can take a picture first

I will miss this

I will miss cuddles
I will miss late night additions to my bed
I will miss the scream of joy when I walk through the door after work
I will miss when a Kiss makes everything better
I will miss when I “chase” them and they stop to be caught
I will miss this time and all that it is.

For all you parents of young kids you know it’s not easy. It is probably the MOST difficult time that you have to go through with kids. I mean, after all, you are molding them into people. But even in this most frustrating time they want you. They long to be near you and to be loved by you. And THAT will not last.

And that is why I have to remind myself daily that no matter how much I wish this phase would be over, someday I will miss this.

The Joy of Technology

2011-09-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

I look at this picture from a few years back and think…how cute – my kids will be computer whizzes when they grow up. I didn’t get to “play” with my first computer until 5th Grade – then have our first family computer in Jr. High.

This last week I regretted my previous excitement about my kids knowing how to “use” a computer.

In case you are not aware here is what we are working with here:

Taylor
Age 4
Blonde Hair
Blue Eyes
Super Sensitive Drama Queen that needs to know you are happy with her and cannot stand if you get upset

Jordan
Age 2
Brown Hair
Brown Eyes
Obedient, but defiant. How does that play out you ask? If you ask her to do something (help close a door, turn a light off, throw something away) she will do it happily 95% of the time. That same percentage she will say Please, Thank You, and You’re Welcome. However, turn your back and she will do everything her defiant little mind can think of before you notice.

Taylor learned how to use the computer correctly sooner then Jordan – not only because of her age, but because she has more patience to sit and try. Jordan however, lasts about 2 seconds before she decided to start a click-a-thon on the mouse or writing her own symphony using the computer keyboard.

Taylor has learned how to the computer on and off correctly. Jordan can turn it on (I mean is a big shiny button).

Here is how we think the story goes…

Jordan decided to exercise her skills last week and sat in front of my computer and turned it on while daddy was busy tending to other needs in the house.

After 5 seconds she decided she would rather play conductor and started to bang on the keyboard to listen to the sounds of the beeping (the computer yelling at her to stop) and the banging of her musical fingers on the keys.

What the computer took this to mean was a crafty way to navigate to the System Recovery Screen and start a System Recovery by wiping the hard drive to return it back to factory settings.

What this means to us losing all personal data from about April – to date. I don’t mind losing most files like game data, or website “favorites”, or even the occasional word/excel document. However, losing videos and pictures is a REAL pain – and slightly emotional I might add.

Luckily, Jordan’s drumming fingers also got bored so she turned the computer off part way through the recovery and stopped it. This means she “deleted” my files, but did not write over them.

This also means Mommy and Daddy get to spend several days trying to restore those files. Yay.

On the brighter side…I do like new things and I will kinda be getting a new computer when this is done – as new as 1 year old – returned to factory settings computer can be that is.

Happy Birthday to My Favorite Beach - Meguna

2011-08-31T13:32:00.000-07:00

To Meguna

Happy Birthday! My dear dear friend! I have been thinking about you a lot lately and felt the need to make you smile (hopefully) on your birthday:

1. Lighter and Brighter
2. Speed Lemoooooon!!!
3. Sugar Water High
4. Pringles – Once you Pop You just can’t stop (Special thanks to another friend for that one)
5. Pixie – How you learn sniffing Pixie sticks does NOT feel good (Special thanks to another friend for that one)

6. Figure it out Cheer/Flag Routine
7. Pocohauntus – Just Around the River Bend Routine
8. ::clears throat and begins singing:: I’ve been complimented by an idiot today, hip hip hooray, I’ve been complimented by an idiot today, hip hip hooray-yay, and when your complimented by an idiot its ok for you to say….
9. Painting Pink dorms – Pepto Bismo pink…how I hate you
10. Perfect Harmonies for Holy, Holy, Holy…Lord God Almighty
11. Big Big House – Cheer – Camp (Special Thanks to all our “Cabin” friends at camp)

12. Creepy Furbies
13. The Bermuda Triangle (shout out to Ali!)
14. Green GU
15. You taught me how to dive – back when you lived at the house with the pool
16. We created a recipe book…but I only remember the insanely chocolatey brownies…or maybe it was cake
17. Buying Eggs and Bracelets in Mexico
18. Going to NASCAR races…I actually never remember watching the race (sorry Joe! I always watched the last few laps!)
19. Saying Good-bye to Mia – Well that might be the only non-funny moment on here, but its memorable to me
20. Trying to put a penny on the railroad track (Shhh don’t tell mom)
21. Countless sleepovers and games and dressing up, and giggling, and everything else.
22. All Stars - Trent - Sexy Sexy Man
23. Joe the Drummer - Sexy Sexy Man
24. SERFS! Gretchen - How I miss thee

25. Pink Ball Josh - PBJ

All that to say – You had a huge role in who I am today. I appreciate the time we spent together as kids and teenagers and am blessed to have had a friend like you in my life during those times.

I hope you have a blessed and amazing birthday!

I love you Meguna Beach!

My First 30 Minutes

2011-08-25T12:52:00.001-07:00

A sample of my Morning

::My alarm goes off::
Taylor: SURPRISE!! Good morning mom (she says inches from my face…she was waiting for my alarm!)

::Made breakfast and sat down::
Jordan: ::picks up a an orange slice and takes a bite:: Mom! There’s apple juice in my oranges!! (apparently any sort of juice from a fruit is apple)

::Taylor finishes her breakfast::
Taylor: Mom can I have more oatmeal
Me: No – go get a yogurt out of the fridge
Taylor: ::after a moment of thought:: can I have pudding?
Me: No – you can have yogurt
Taylor: I’ll ask dad
Me: No – I said you have pudding
Taylor: Ok, I’ll have yogurt and then pudding
Me: Fine

::As I leave::
Jordan: Mom you going to make money?
Me: Yes
Jordan: then you gonna give it to Taylor?

::Walking down our steps to leave::
Me: see you later alligator
Taylor: after awhile crocodile
Jordan: ::simultaneously:: see you later crocodile!

My life would be far less interesting without kids.

I Married a Nerd

2011-08-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

There is a game. A Nerdy game. That is played by my husband and Tawni's husband.

It has now spread to involve some more Nerds (Matt and Sam that is).

Although I'm super excited the boys had a chance to play a game, relax, and just be the nerds we all know they are - this was not my favorite part of our Saturday.

Saturday was actually VERY busy. From the birth of a dear friend's first baby that morning! To some severe house cleaning and shopping. We ended our day with an evening of friends.

The Websters and the Newmyers joined us so I had some girl time with Kim and Tawni. The kids entertained each other very well that night so I really really did get to have girl time. If you haven't experienced a night with a house full of kids then you can't fully understand what kind of accomplishment this is.

A night with kids (and by kids we usually have 5-7 kids running around) usually involves something like this:

A mom: So this week I ::loud scream and all women pause::

Another mom: That was mine ::walks off to check on screaming child::

A mom: What was I saying?

::Another mom returns::

A mom: Oh yeah, this week was awesome! I ::loud crash::

A dad: I'll check on them ::leaves room:: Hey, I need some help in here

Well, something like that. And don't worry, no children were harmed in the making of that scenario, but I'm pretty sure it actually happened at some point.

With our children shockingly well behaved and no major injuries we had the chance to actually talk. It was fabulous!

We also got to start planning a camping trip. I think this most excites me. I loved camping as a kid and I hope my kids do to. REAL camping - I'm talking tents people! The good stuff!

I look forward to some more fun family time with my rapidly growing group of family friends that I cherish more and more every day...well maybe ever other week since I don't actually see them daily :)

I May Be a Blog Stalker

2011-08-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

I became one of those blog stalkers… I knew them – Sort of.

Rachel – I was in UCO with her for 2 years – we never talked – I wish we had
Tawni – I’m not sure if I actually met her – maybe in passing she married my husband’s Roomate (my boyfriend at the time)
Shanda – She may not know this but I admired her when I did know her in College. She had this fire I was drawn to and an amazing heart I strived to be more like.

I remember the day I sent this message to Rachel and Tawni:

o Birthday Party
Hi guys! It may be odd, but I read both your blogs constantly and would love if you our kids could meet and mingle

I also make it a point to make myself available to friends with kids to offer to watch them if needed. I know finding a sitter can be hard, especially with last minute things and since you are close I would be happy to help if needed.

All this to say Taylor is having her 4th birthday party on Jan 22 (2-4) and you are both welcome! I sent this to both of you because I wasn't sure if you would want to come w/o each other since you wouldn't know many people there aside from Justin or Sam Welbaum.

Have great day!!

P.S. Your boys are ADORABLE!!! I hope my little Elijah is as cute

I even hesitated to send it out of fear of freaking them out – a blog stalker. At least they knew of me even if they didn’t know me.

I don’t do well with new people. I really want to, but I get nervous and clam up. With these girls (and husbands and kids) I feel welcome and accepted. It’s a new door opened in the Davis’ lives and it has been a real blessing to get to know these families better and build stories together. I appreciate them – so I wanted to tell them.

Thank you for letting us in! My kids look forward to playing with your and Justin and I look forward to the chaotic-semi grown up time we get to spend with you all.

Well that didn’t include Shanda, but don’t worry she is not forgotten.

She just got “home” – reading her blog make me feel the need to tell you “home” is very relative – being in the US is probably still more like a vacation for her while she remembers/misses “home” in China (my words not her words – I could be wrong).

Justin always raved about his “sister” – I remember how excited he was when he found out I would get to be her roommate for a night while we were on choir tour. The few hours of bonding we had stuck with me (as mentioned before her spirit is addicting!) We got to see her recently and I prayed for her – as often as I saw her. I felt for her. She has been thrown into a new world with expectations that she knows and understands what it is like to be here (in the US) when to her, this is a little new. I pray her re-entry is smooth and without “turbulence”. She is an amazing person with an amazing God-Honoring heart – she deserves to be blessed and I hope this transition is part of her amazing blessing.

All that to say it was really good to see her – the small relationship we have doesn’t hinder my love for my “sister-in-law”. (Pic stolen from her blog)

So that is my story – my story of blog stalking.

To Have Only One

2011-08-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

Every year we head down to La Jolla to spend time with some friends. These are some very special kind of friends. Friends I have probably spent more time with then some of "close" (as in distance not relationship) friends.

I met most of these people around 5 years ago and spent a lot of time with them - some seasons of my life I spent 2-3 hours a day with them, talking, playing, laughing, and relaxing. That's all I'll say about that to avoid the pure nerdiness of our relationships though, but if you know me and you know KORT then you understand!

There is an annual BBQ in La Jolla with the KORT crew and we usually leave the kiddos with family while we go. It is a lot easier to enjoy the company of adults with kids around. This year, however, we took Taylor along. We figured 4 was/is old enough to entertain herself without us having to be overly paranoid about her walking away too far and getting lost or eating some random object on the ground.

My camera battery died after taking a couple of pictures and so I didn't get any of the KORT crew, super bummed! I did however get one of my new favorite pictures of Taylor.

Taylor called the "weekend" our adventure. She enjoyed some time at the beach and then headed to the hotel. For a "nice" hotel we had a horrible experience! The paperwork for the reservation said the room would be ready at 3, we got there at 5 and the lady at the desk said it actually isn't ready until 4 (but it was 5) and our rooms were still not ready. We had dinner reservations at 7 and needed to shower (get the sand and salt off) before dinner - they were telling us our room wouldn't be ready until after 6!

I was insanely frustrated and they would not let us cancel the reservation!! Lame - I know!

When we finally got to our room Taylor called it her "New Home" - all part of her adventure.

We headed to dinner and got to spend more time with the KORT crew at Dave & Busters - Taylor had a blast! She won a surprising number of tickets for randomly hitting buttons. Apparently the method to hit jackpots and bonuses is to not even look at what you are doing and slam buttons.

She picked out 2 toys for herself and 1 toy for Jordan and Elijah.

When we got back to the hotel she insisted I sleep with her - I indulged.

Did I mention I forgot sunblock (on me) ... again?! 2nd degree burns on my knees and shoulders and sleeping with a 4 year old that moves all night made for a very long night, but still a great time.

As we arrived back home Taylor told us she was sad her adventure was over and so I told her we will go on a new one soon.

Adventures in Facial "Hair"

2011-08-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of grilled onions. I know, an odd sentence to start a blog about facial "hair", but I promise it will make sense shortly... well as much sense as the logic of a 2 year old that is.

I usually make a ton of grilled onions with our burgers, because lets be honest, grilled onions not only improve a burger but also are a snack on their own.

After dinner was done and we were cleaning up the table we heard Jordan saying "I have a mustache!" We turn around to see her using slices of grilled onion to top off her upper lip. And Justin being the guy he is felt this was the opportune time to take pictures of many different variety'o'staches:

The Goatee

The Snot-stache

The Handlebars

The Hitler (Stupid Justin)

The standard stache

Justin calls this the the "Perve-stache"

I Blame it on my Father

2011-07-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

That’s right Daddy! It is your fault my head is all messed up! And yes, I still call my dad, daddy :)

My life lately has seemed oddly like the beginning of Arachnophobia and Birds.

The reason, you may be asking, why this is my father’s fault? Because I started watching “scary” movies with him at the age of 3 or 4. I am GLAD we did. I now love scary movies and wouldn’t change it for anything, but this reason is also the cause of my recent experiences with mind wandering…

Birds:

My dad was terrified as a kid when he saw that movie. By the time I saw it – it looked fake enough that it didn’t scare me. I may be lying a little since I do recall being deathly afraid of a Toucan stuffed animal I had as a kid that sat on shelf directly in front of my bed and started at me. But as an adult I can assure you I am not scared of birds, beyond the fear of being pooped on.

But that is not the point. The point is I walked to my car a few days ago the sound of the many crows across the campus reminded me of that movie. I couldn’t help it when my mind wandered and I started to picture them attacking the bunnies (we also have bunnies ALL over campus – they just wont go away! They are pro at God’s commandment Go Forth and Multiply)

Arachnophobia:

I don’t have an overwhelming fear of spiders. I prefer not to run across them, but they don’t “freak me out”. Unless they are big… I do recall having HUGE spider (granted this was a memory from around the age of 5 so my mind could be playing tricks on me). When I say HUGE I mean like the size of a golf ball with legs. As my 5 year old self sat on the potty doing my business it snuck itself out of a room (I say a room because to this day I don’t know what the random little door in the bathroom led to…maybe a closet?). And it was HUGE! I ran with pants down screaming down the hall. It wouldn’t eaten me, I’m sure.

Anyway, the reason my life has begun to resemble the beginnings of that movie is because I’m being followed by spiders. 4 out of the 5 mornings I go to leave for work there is a spider web between my car and Justin’s with a fat ol’ spider sitting in the middle. In order to avoid the awkward experience of being covered in spider webs (note I did not actually listed to that video clip since I’m at work so that could be the wrong one) I go though my passenger side door and tear the spider web in half when I drive away! To make matters worse! This morning I as I got ready to leave I saw a spider “hanging” in the middle of our patio…only to realize it was not hanging. It had literally (said like the dude from Parks and Rec (tv show)) built an web across the ENTIRE patio. I had to get a box to wrap the spider web around so I could leave.

That is all for today. I hope you enjoyed and you MUST click the link for the spider web joke. Brian Regan is amazing – even if I is the wrong link – it will still be funny.

Groove and Jive its Number Five?

2011-07-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

I wanted something creative to call this blog, but after sitting here staring at a blank page for a few minutes I realized I give up and just thought random/cheesy will have to work.

I love that one of my fellow bloggers posts a picture of her and her husband “then and now”, so admittedly, I will be stealing that from her, which she probably stole from somebody else…bunch of thieves we are. If everyone is a thief is it still steeling or just community goods/thoughts? But I digress (I have almost always wanted to say that).

I thought today I’d write about what I actually remember about that day 5 years ago.

5 years ago today and probably right about this time (11:30ish) I was looking at my amazing almost husband (and winking at the best man – love you Sam!) standing in a Mormon church (we were and still are and will always be Christians) giddy with excitement and trying to absorb every detail. The absorbing did not work.

We did say our vows. We did NOT say “I Do” (we were never asked the question! LOL – which we didn’t realize until a few days later).

It was the hottest day of the summer thus far and taking pictures outside was brutal, but we had an amazing photographer that got amazing pictures.

I remember sitting and eating and thinking, wow look at all these people that came! I felt blessed to have so many family and friends that wanted to be part of our day.

I remember our first dance…but mostly how it started. I was put into a chair in the middle of the room and not told why, SUPER awkward! But then, my husband of about an hour began singing to me, guitar in hand, a song by Tyrone Wells (AMAZING artist) called Looking at Her Face (FYI that’s the live version at McClains – bringing it oldschool!) This was our first dance as a married couple and one of most amazing moments he’s created for me.

We danced some more, we walked around and said hi, and then Sam drove us to LA. That is all I really remember LOL!

But the last five years have been a blessing. We have our highs and our lows. Our fights and our laughs, but I want to say this to YOU Justin.

Justin,

I love you with all that I am! I adore you. I love that you laugh at your own jokes before you say them. I love that you use your left sleeve as a napkin. I love that you make life fun for our kids and bring me out of reality sometimes just to enjoy life. I love your random mumblings in your sleep and your OCD cleaning (when you actually clean :) )

You bring joy to my life that nobody else can and make me a better person. I thank God for putting you in my life when he did. Thank you for being my sanity!

Then

Now

Crickets and Surprises (not in that order)

2011-07-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

I went to my first surprise party yesterday! Well the first one not for me that is. It was for Justin’s old roommate Rob. Over last few months we have been able to grow much closer to the Rob and his family (the Websters) and the Keys. They are quickly becoming some of my most treasured friends – but that is a story for another day.

We arrived at their house around 5 and after reminding my husband he could not park in front of the house and moving a little further down the street we piled (yes piled, there are 5 of us and 3 of which are kids so we do nothing gracefully) into the house and were shocked to see so many people! How blessed Rob is to have so many friends that care so dearly for him!

I really don’t know the time, but my guess is somewhere around 5:45 the birthday boy arrived and although he may have had a inkling of what was going on I don’t think he realized how BIG of an event it was/would be.

The kids got to run around and play with some water toys outside and we got some amazing grub! 3 Cheers for the lasagna cupcake things! I guess now is a good time to mention the crickets which actually have nothing to do with the story, but it was still memorable. When one of the water toys was turned on it hit a bush in the backyard. Apparently Crickets are not big fans of water and within minutes about 20-30 crickets were running (hoping/jumping?) around the patio. The kids went crazy! Some running away and some chasing them. Others, like my son, trying to eat them.

At 7 a huge van with all the latest gaming consoles arrived and needless to say, the house got quite as all the kids and even bigger men(kids) headed outside for 2 hours of gaming. I was able to enjoy some quiet time in the house with some of the women – I didn’t mind at all!

During this quiet time I realized Jordan was being quiet – this usually means trouble. But when I headed upstairs to Sammy’s room (The Webster’s almost 3 year old son) I saw Jordan sitting on the bed “reading” to Brendan (The Key’s 3 year old son) and Brendan telling her she wasn’t doing it right. LOVE IT!

We had a great time and I am thankful we got to be part of the festivities. So Happy Birthday Rob (He probably won’t read this, but Tawni can tell him I wrote/said it!)

This last sentence is being writing to help keep me accountable to posting pictures later, but in case I forget you can all make me feel guilty about it until I do! haha

The Prayer of a Child

2011-07-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

This is my 100th post! And what a way to celebrate but with a prayer from Taylor (age 4).

Jesus,

Thank you for mommy and daddy and Jordan, and Elijah.
Keep me safe and healthy.
Please help mommy not to get sick so she can play with me.
Please make me not drink dirty water with germs in it.
Please help Jesus (laughs, oh that's you!), please stay awake so you can watch me when I sleep so I don't have bad dreams.
Thank you for dying on the cross.

Amen!

There was a lot more to it, but that's what I remember/understood (she mumbles as bad as her father!)

The New Investment

2011-07-11T13:48:00.001-07:00

In actuality it is not yet an investment, but come paycheck Friday it will be!

I was not here for the story, but it is still worth telling.

I do not have picture, but I’m sure by the end you will be grateful.

If you have a weak stomach, do not proceed.

Justin called me today to tell me a few things. I will tell you of one here and actually put a video of the other one later.

Elijah lately has had less the favorable surprises in his diaper. Not that anything he leaves in there is favorable, but some things are less favorable and the last few days have been those sorts of moments.

Unrelated (until today) Elijah has also developed a fascination for the trash can. What he can put in it…what he can take out… Now that I think about these things may not be as unrelated as I thought, but I’ll hope they are.

I’m pretty sure you know where this is headed, but I shall continue just in case.

After changing a particularly unpleasant diaper this morning Justin threw it away. I don’t know what he was doing when the incident occurred, but if I know my kids he was probably chasing and/or cleaning up after Jordan.

Elijah found his “gift” and decided he wanted to take it back…is it still ok to say he was an “Indian Giver”…well its been said. He unraveled that tightly sealed package and proceeded to paint the floor and himself with it. Apparently the nauseating smell is worth “sampling” and Justin is pretty sure he ate some of it too. I warned you not to read this if you have a weak stomach right? I was gagging as Justin told me what happened!

Needless to say, we are going to invest in a trashcan with some kind of latch that he canNOT open. Do they make them? I will make one if not! Our trashcan has a lid, but obviously that won’t cut it with this little guy.

Happy Bir-ther's-day

2011-07-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

My new position has kept me busy (that’s good for work, not good for blogging). I used to write my blogs on my lunch or breaks during the day, but I’ve been so busy that I have just not really had the desire to sit down and “type” some more LOL.

That being said… I’m WAY late on this blog.

Father’s Day fell on my Mom’s birthday this year. And yes, that sentence is correct. Some like to argue that Father’s day has been around longer then my Mom’s birthday, but my Mom’s birthday is ALWAYS the 19^th and Father’s day is only sometimes the 19^th

Anyway, after church we headed down to visit my parents and grandparents for a BBQ. The kids loved seeing grandma and papa. The kids got to play outside in the water and on the swings before nap. They are still a little confused about “their” room now belonging to Kadence, but otherwise we had a great time! The “boys” went out to see a movie after dinner and the “girls” went bathing suit shopping before dinner (we went to Glen Ivy for my mom’s bday a couple weeks later and had to get a bathing suit for her!)

Here are some pictures!

An Actual Wordless Wed. (Mostly)

2011-06-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

I can't not type anything right? Here is OUR First Day Of Summer pics!

The First Day of Summer

2011-06-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Is everyone’s favorite season summer? Or is it just most people?

I love summer. Mostly because I HATE being cold, and I am always cold… Summer means I am less cold on more (most) days. I’m a big fan.

I’m also a big fan of snow cones, and BBQ’s. I love sitting in the sun watching my kids play. I don’t love burning. I burn a lot (even with sunscreen!). Overall, summer is by far my favorite season though – spring is 2nd because I love rain almost as much as I love not being cold.

Since I have a Birthday Party to go to tonight I won’t “celebrate” the first day of summer, but tomorrow, I decided it will be the first day of summer in the Davis house! We’ll have a picnic for dinner at the park and come home for some fresh made snow cones! I’m excited already :)

A Little Late

2011-06-15T22:27:00.001-07:00

Elijah turned 1 on 6/5. He’s growing so fast! Even over the last week I’ve seen his personality evolving and I’m slightly addicted to him…

Thank you to Tracy for reminding me to do this! Haha!

He had his 1 year check up a few day after the big Zero One (why did I almost type One Oh?).

So here’s some stats and facts

Elijah Corbin
19.5 lbs (5th percentile)
30.5 in (50th percentile)
Vastly different then my girls. The girls were both around 40 weight and 90 height.

He’s starting to run…if you can call his fast waddle that and his foot turn in slightly. I think he’ll grow out of that like Taylor did. No Dr has told me this, but I think it comes from walking so early (around 10 months), but that is just a guess.

He love to feed himself and does not really like to be fed. And he LOVES his sippy cup. With or without milk in it he’ll carry it around and sometimes just put it in his mouth for the heck of it.

He adores his sisters and laughs at them, runs with them, and follows them wherever they go.

He is now climbing up/down the couch by himself and is finally trusting the water in the bath. He hasn’t been a big fan of sitting in baths since Jordan knocked him down in the water a few months ago.

He doesn’t really have a favorite toy, but will sit for 15 - 20 minute stretches with one toy before moving on.

He has a contagious smile and still looks a LOT like his daddy.

He “talks” a lot now, but doesn’t really say any words except clap (at least ones he means). He’ll say dadadada or mamamama, but I’m pretty sure he’s not referring to us when he does say it.

He’s loud and easily excited.

He sleeps really well taking a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon and 10-12 hours at night.

I think that’s about it. Sorry for my lack of wit or humor, but I’m writing this while watching a movie ;)

My Birthday Suprise

2011-06-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

There are so many things I intend to blog about, but never do. Then something, or in this case somebody reminds me and then I just MUST tell the story.

April 17th, my 25th birthday, was not a usual day by any means. We moved into our apartment on the 16th and due to some VERY cranky children we were juggling unpacking with watching a 2 and 4 year old climb into boxes, dump boxes, move things, and whatever else they find interesting. Actually to be more specific it wasn’t really “we”, but just “me” since Justin spent most of the day at church rehearsing for our (former) church’s HUGE Easter program.

I was unpacking one of the kids room and I smelled something. It was the kind of something you know you recognize, but just can place. I shrugged it off and kept unpacking, after all, it didn’t smell dangerous (like a cleaner) but minty.

I found a mislabeled box and went to take it to the master bathroom. As I’m walking around the corner I hear Jordan screaming/crying “ouch! It hurts my mouth! I don’t like it!!” I look at her and then it hits me, the “smell” is Bengay! I see an empty tube on my floor with Jordan using her hands to try and wipe off the “burn” from her tongue. Her hair matted and stuck to her face with what I can only assume is also Bengay. Later I realized how much I hoped it was Bengay and not some other (undefined) something she may have gotten into. The unknown in this case is MUCH worse.

I am not one of those prepared moms. I stood, staring at her in awe and it hit me. I do not have the number for poison control…I do not know the name of that “stuff” that you are supposed to have on hand that makes kids vomit (and obviously I did not have it on hand).

I always assumed when I had an emergency I could call 911 or hop online to find a “solution” or at least a phone number (Poison Control). However, I just moved so I did not have internet connection. I settled for the next best solution.

Mommies.

I called my mom, but she was at church and didn’t answer. I then called Justin’s mom (I actually don’t remember what that conversation went like).

I resorted to throwing Jordan in a shower and hoping the empty bottle was mostly on her body and not her mouth. I just sat and watched her for about 15 minutes to make sure she didn’t drop to the floor – phone in hand ready to call 911. She survived. She didn’t even vomit. And her whole body (head to toe) smelled of Bengay for a couple of days.

Lesson Learned: Unpack medical things first… oh and I should probably find the number for poison control.

3 Years Ago

2011-06-10T08:59:00.000-07:00

3 years, 1 month, and 5 days ago I started as a Member Services Rep in our (my place of employment) Contact Center.

Today is my last day and I have such a variety of emotions that I’m not sure how to process it all. I am mostly SUPER excited about my new role. There are so many new things to learn and do! After the excitement creeps I the fear… what if all my confidence going in…all my “I know I can do this and be good at it!” feelings are just…well feelings? What if I fail? I know I’m a quick learner and I’m adaptable, but I don’t want to let down the new people I will be working with. I want to hit the ground running and actually be helpful and not a hindrance. If that makes sense.

After the fear comes sadness. This I think is where my heart is today. I’m only going “upstairs” but to be honest and transparent, I am horrible at “keeping in touch”. This is a huge flaw of mine. I adore my friends and think and pray for them often, but if I don’t see you, I don’t talk to you. NOT because I care about you less or because I’ve “moved on”, but I just don’t enjoy talking on the phone and I frequently forget to write (emails or letters). This is coming from the girl that has all of her “thank you” cards from her wedding still sitting in a drawer… (5 years old, I know, I told you I’m horrible!!).

The girls I work with are my closest/dearest friends. I love then unconditionally and would do anything for them. They know me in ways nobody else does and the love me. The care for me. They pray for me. They are there for me (I should be a rapper!)

I’m scared/sad I’m going to lose that. I’m dreading the fact that I may not know how JC’s first day of first grade went. I’m scared that I may not be around when Amelyn and the girls move out to help “grandma” cope with the change. I’m worried I can’t be a needed ear to hear or shoulder to cry on. I feel this since of aloneness (is that a word? I assume so since spell check didn’t yell at me).

It is hard for me to make friends. I’m pretty shy actually. Once I know you that is another story (then I’m an open book that won’t shut up!) But I don’t make friends easy. I’m nervous and awkward. It takes a lot for me to trust somebody as completely as I trust my “girls” (at work, not children in this instance). I don’t want to lose them and based on my record it will slowly happen. I’m determined to make sure it doesn’t! But I’m just looking at my history and doesn’t history repeat itself?

I wanted to include a list of things I’ll miss/remember – some of this wont make sense unless you were around for it (sorry):

I’ll miss our parties – for holidays (like national cupcake day), birthdays, or just because
I’ll remember our episode with the gnats
I’ll miss the giggles as we overhear somebody say something odd over the phone “can I have the last four digits of your last four digits”
I’ll remember “she said that?!”
I’ll miss head scratches and back rubs
I’ll remember split lunches and the horrible TGI service (Mo will never have lunch with us again)
I’ll miss Fat Fridays
I’ll remember the best email typos EVER
I’ll miss (this is weird but true) stopping mid conversation to answer the phone and picking up right where you left of (mostly) when it was done.
I’ll remember Mr. Sunshine and Mr. Moon
I’ll miss pretty much everything and everyone.

Needless to say, I’m sort of an emotional wreck today! I’m in tears one moment and giddy with excitement the next. I’ve never wanted a day to END and NEVEREND at the same time. But I know I am blessed and I do look forward to the next step in my career.

A Handful of Random

2011-06-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

The blog I should be writing is about how Eli turned 1 on Sunday, but I’m going to postpone that until his physical on Thursday so I can give some growing stats.

So today you get just a fun one about my girls. They are growing fast and talking more and more! Taylor tells very elaborate stories and her imagination is growing fast and furious…this of course is leading to some lying, but we’re working on that. Everything in her world she doesn’t like has also now become “not fair”. I guess what I’m trying to say is she’s learning a LOT of new concepts and using them (or trying). With trial and error she’s learning what things actually mean, and what they don’t mean.

Jordan on the other hands is just adorable! She absorbs EVERYthing right now. I think about half the stuff she does/says is just to imitate her drama queen of an older sister. She, in particular, responds very well to music. She picks up on new songs quickly and I catch her singing to herself (or her animals) often. She still speaks like a toddler so I barely understand what she says, but its still cute!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago after Elijah was down we had some “girl time”. Which really is just hanging out and giggling and playing together. I got a picture though that has become my new favorite (for now).

Mommy in the Making

2011-05-24T13:15:00.001-07:00

I know Jordan is only 2, but she is definitely the most motherly of the two girls.

She has always been affectionate and loves to kiss and hug on her stuffed toys and babies.

She loves to lay next them on the floor for “nap” and wake them up with a kiss.

This morning reminded me of her motherly instincts.

The kids are usually still asleep when I leave, but this morning Jordan was awake and “watching” me get ready. I use the word watching loosely since really she was “telling” me to get ready.

My alarm goes off – “Mommy your phone! Turn it off!”
I go to the bathroom – “Mommy don’t go to fast, you’ll fall!”
I brush my teeth – “Mommy say AHHH”
I get dressed – “Don’t go outside naked butt (this is what my children call partially clothed or completely nude haha)”
I put on my shoes – She puts on a pair of my shoes
I get my purse – She runs and gets my phone from my dress “don’t forget your phone!” (she was very concerned)
I go to the front door – “See you soon?”
I close the door – “DON’T FORGET TO LOCK IT!”

PS – I am really not good with this wordless Wednesday thing…

Jordan's Twin

2011-05-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

There is a beautiful little girl right about Jordan’s age that looks exactly like her… well not exactly, but on multiple occasions I’ve even gotten them mixed up!

It all started at Eli’s “Welcome to the World” party in June of last year. Sydney and her awesome mommy came and it was sort of freaky seeing the girls together. They have the same color hair, same length (at the time) of hair, same height, same hair color, the same walk, and they even get into trouble in the same way!

I found myself at the party telling “Jordan” to not play in the dirt or try to climb in the pool only to realize it was Sydney. Please don’t take that to mean that Sydney is not a well behaved kid, because the real Jordan was getting into about 100 more things then Sydney was…and they are 2 so of COURSE they are into everything.

I have also mistaken them for eachother via facebook photos or videos that Chandra has posted of Sydney. I’ll look at the brown eyed brunette in the photo/video and think “I don’t remember taking the picture of Jordan” or “Why does my voice sound different in that video?” only to realize I am looking at Sydney and hearing Chandra’s voice.

Chandra (Sydney’s mom) also told me lately that she was watching Jordan’s Llama Llama video and Sydney was super excited and kept yelling “its me!”. Jordan will look at photos of Sydney and do the same thing! It really is rather insane.

For now here are the best pictures I could find to try and show the resemblances, but my intent is to get a picture of them together soon!

The Excellent Wife

2011-05-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

This blog is due to many different women in my life: first Shanda has unintentionally guilted me into reading a book/devotional of some sort AND to do it with other women in my life for accountability and encouragement.

So thanks Shanda

Secondly, a coworker, who would probably rather remain anonymous, has been talking to another coworker of mine about a book she read called The Excellent Wife. She says it changed her marriage in an amazing way (her husband is not a believer). Unintentionally she has also inspired me to read this book. Well… not really read – I bought the audio version (and the workbook/study guide).

All of that to say… I would LOVE to take some inspiration from the amazing Shanda and read/listen to this along with some other Godly women in my life.

I figure we can start a Facebook Group of some sort to post ideas and conversation starters.

I hope to start it soon, but I’m willing to postpone my start day if I find people are actually interested and need time to get the book.

Let me know!

The Question of the Day

2011-05-16T14:48:00.001-07:00

I need some opinions about a small dilemma I am faced with. Eli’s birthday is in June and I just don’t know if I should have a birthday party for him.

Here is why…

First of all Taylor had a 1st birthday and after the day was over I realized it was not really her birthday party, but more like have all mommy and daddy’s friends over party. Yes she got gifts, but she doesn’t remember it or even at the time she didn’t really care about anything going on.

With that experience I decided not to have a first birthday party for Jordan. She did however have a 2nd birthday party and Taylor did not (due to money issues at the time).

Now comes Elijah, would it be unfair for Jordan if I had a party for him? Will she look back years from now and feel the weight of being the “middle child?”

As I see it there are Pros and Cons

Pros
He needs boy toys, he has a few, but not many
He REALLY needs clothes/shoes
Its June…Excuse for a Pool Party at Grandpa Bob’s?!

Cons
Jordan feeling left out? (later in life)
Pool Party – I don’t think my kids have a safe fear of drowning
He needs clothes, but people don’t want to buy clothes they want to buy toys (I know I would!)

I know its not a BIG deal or anything, but seeing how its slow for me at work today I have had plenty of time to think and this is what has occupied my time.

The Wonder of the Straw

2011-05-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

I know I’m not crazy when I say that if you have a straw in your drink the drink seems to disappear much faster.

As I sat here today finish my third 16 oz cup of water I wondered what about this hallow thin piece of plastic makes me drink so much more?

On a normal day I probably drink about 32 oz for the whole day (I know that’s below recommended…don’t you judge me! :) ) But the days I drink with a straw I easily drink 64+ oz. So what is it?

I have decided its because its fun. Drinking from a straw brings out my inner child. I can remember drinking from those crazy loopy-doopy super awesome straws, slurpee straws with a spoon, bending straws, and even using a piece of yummy red licorice bit off on both ends in my glass of root beer. Of course I’ve graduated from the fun (much cooler) straws to the boring straight and plastic straws, but it still reminds me of being a kid.

Ok well maybe it doesn’t consciously remind me of being a kid since I sat here for about 10 minutes looking at my cup trying to figure out why it is we drink more water with a straw, subconsciously (which has now become conscious) my inner kid gets excited when I see that straw.

So today, I dedicate this day, to Straws!

A Giant Heap of Whip Cream on my Sundae

2011-05-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

First of all, I am totally going to write a song with the title of this blog. It sounds scrumptious.

I’m torn between two stories today, but I think I’ll go with the Good News and tomorrow give the funny Taylor story.

I will try to make this the last time that I mention this, since I feel like it may have taken over the blog lately and its far more interesting to hear about the kids and the crazy things they do then our family drama.

Today I’m going old school…like 5th grade and giving you a timeline of events

We moved into our new 3 bedroom apartment on April 16th that was more money then we could afford
May 23rd will be Justin’s last Unemployment check and let’s face it; he’s not going to get work for awhile that makes the apartment even less affordable
June (1st – ish) My first month paying FULL rent and 2 months worth of utilities, um YIKES?!
June 13 – I GOT A NEW POSITION!!! I start on this day AND it is (to the penny) exactly the amount I’ve been praying for so I can afford rent!

God is good! I have been blessed and I thank ALL of you for your prayers. Thank you! Thank you!

My new prayer is for strength and guidance. I am excited about how God has provided for us and his blessings have given me renewed strength for our next “trial”. I can honestly say that my prayer now is for what is to come for us and I am thankful for these answers to prayers, for this end to a long journey that has prepared me for our next one.

Her First Crush

2011-05-09T09:56:00.001-07:00

Taylor is 4 and her first crush is not on her father… its on Harry Potter.

She one day announced to us that she was going to marry Harry Potter. And anytime she sees him (in print or on the tv) she tells us she loves him. She also slightly blushes and turns away from him all shy like.

Justin told me a story about this crush I felt the need to share, I wasn’t there so I apologize if some the facts are a little off.

The story starts with an add for the DVD release of the latest Harry Potter movie:

Taylor: I love him, I’m going to marry him
Jordan: No! I’m going to marry him
Taylor: I’m going to marry him! (this goes on for several minutes of course)
Taylor: I’m going to marry him because I’m in his dreams (said very confidently)

From what I remember of the conversation is it ended there. I think deep down Jordan was as baffled as us as to why Taylor believes Harry Potter dreams about her.

My Full Surrender

2011-05-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have an issue with control. I like to know what’s going to happen and when its going to happen. I think that’s pretty standard for a lot of people though.

This makes many aspects of my life rather difficult at times.

1. Justin can’t really surprise me (he’s done a good job on occasion), but I stress… where are the kids? How long will we be gone? How much is it going to cost? Do I have the right clothes?
2. I tend to be too opinionated when it comes to decisions Justin should make like where we go to church or how often we should pray together (the Spiritual Head of House type things)
3. I have this idea of how the kids should be handled and like to think the time I spent in my early childhood education classes means I know how to do that better then others… I know it’s a lie, but like I said, I like to feel like I have some kind of control and if you have kids you know how little control you actually have LOL (or maybe it’s just mine)
4. My “future”

Today numero cuatro is what I feel the need to dwell on. What does “my future” mean? What does it look like? Why do I spend so much time chasing something I really have no control over? WHY do I even want control over it?

As a Christian I get the chance to fully surrender everything to God, so why do I struggle to hold onto that control when I know He can do a much better job them me?

There is a current situation in my life (I can disclose this later) that I really have little control over. I know what I want the outcome to be. I find myself thinking about the “what if’s” and “if not’s” far too often. I know it’s in God’s control and what His will is will be done, so why can’t I let it go?

Yesterday, on the way home from work, it hit me in a flood of tears. Not sad tears, not happy tears, not stressful tears, but tears of shame (for lack of a better word). There is this thing that I want so much to happen, and I am praying constantly for God to make it happen, but why would he? I haven’t trusted him in my actions leading up to it. I’ve been praying for it yes, but I have not really surrendered to his will, and for that I felt shame.

As you have seen (read) over the last few weeks God has done AMAZING things for my family. I know God is alive and moving in my life in the areas that I have surrendered to him. He has proven Himself to me even when He shouldn’t have to. I took steps of faith yes, but I kept holding onto something to “steady” me as I went and not just letting God do his thing.

What I most recently found myself doing is making mental lists of if this thing does happen God means this … if this thing does not happen God means this…

It’s absurd! Why would I ever think that is a good idea? So yesterday, on my drive home, through my tears of shame I made the conscious effort to surrender ALL to Him. Am I still nervous about what’s to come, of course! It’s ok to be nervous, but I don’t need to “worry” anymore. God knows my heart and how desperately I want this thing to happen, but God knows more then my heart does too, and what I think would be perfect from my perspective could have potentially horrible results.

I should be able to tell you all more (for those that are interested) by Monday. Prayer is appreciated :)

Ok, reading what I just wrote sounded way confusing. I think this whole blog may be confusing, but it is one of those days that I just have to get this stuff off my chest.

Doing Polka

2011-05-03T07:14:00.001-07:00

I really did mean to type Doing Polka. I just wanted to point out that wasn’t an error (thanks to Chris making me all self conscious).

I do Yoga. Do in this sense is defined as:

DO: consistently for 2-3weeks straight with breaks of 2months – 2 years in between

I really do enjoy it, but things just get in the way, and to be honest when it comes to me and exercise… well there isn’t really a ME and Exercise.

Last night was the first time I attempted Yoga with all 3 of my children awake. At first, of course, Taylor and Jordan sat near me and tried to bend into odd positions right along with me. Pretty quickly they gave up and instead starting using my body as a tunnel and shouting things like “You’re doing good Mom! Wow, keep going!”

They were definitely a distraction, but darn cute ones.

Well… I went into Downward Facing Dog and Taylor says “Mom, I see your booty! You bent too much and made a hole in your pants!”

I laughed really hard and realized the string that holds the seam together decided to unravel (probably in the washer). I am not blaming it on the fact that I bent over and ripped the seams because, lets me honest, how in the world could I manage to rip the seam of anything!

After the Yoga session was done Taylor said to me, “Mom, when you do Polka, you need to be careful so you don’t put holes in your pants”

What Happens the Back Seat?

2011-05-02T10:54:00.001-07:00

Here is the conversation in the back of the car on the way home from Church on Sunday:

Jordan: Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh
Taylor: Jordan, stop saying Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh
Jordan: Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh
Taylor: MOM! Taylor says Buh-Duh 50 times and it makes my head hurt!
Jordan: Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh, Buh-Duh
Me: Ignore her
Taylor: Jordan stop saying that, just say Buh-Duh one time!
Jordan: (singing now) Buh-Duh one time, Buh-Duh one time, Buh-Duh one time
Taylor: AHHHHHHH (yes that’s a scream)

The real question is… Did Jordan intentionally start singing to make Taylor mad, or because she actually thought that’s what Taylor was asking her to do…

The "Cool" Place to Be

2011-04-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

I have been horribly slacking at updating the blog since the move. I can blame it on the fact that we don’t have internet, but lets be honest… the only time I update my blog anyway is during my breaks at work so that excuse doesn’t cut it.

Although there are 27 things I want to tell you about. Today it will be simple. It is supposed to be wordless Wednesday after all, but if you know me, I’m not really a “wordless” type :)

About 2 nights ago Jordan woke up with what I’m thinking are night terrors and realized Taylor wasn’t in her bed, or Jordan’s bed, or on the floor. I searched her room, the bathroom, and Eli’s room and started to panic. I rushed out to Justin and asked if he knew where Taylor was.

The next thing he said I would have never expected (looking back I should have, I mean I DID marry Justin).

He very casually said “she’s sleeping in the closet”

What?! I went back to their room. And sure enough she was bundled in the closet, doors closed and all.

So I get home from work yesterday and Taylor is lying in her closet, wide awake, just laying there.

ME: Taylor why are you in your closet?
HER: I slept here last day (that’s Taylor for yesterday)
ME: Why?
HER: Because it’s the place to sleep (she said this as if saying “all the cool kids are doing it”)

What did I do wrong that my kid feels the need to sleep in a close closet? ::shrug:: I blame Davis.

AND that wasn’t really short. I guess I’m no good at being wordless.

How can you Doubt?

2011-04-14T09:42:00.001-07:00

A friend from work approached me a couple of weeks ago saying her sister had some things she wanted to give to me. I’m always excited for new things (even hand-me-downs).

Then today the same friend asked to borrow a picture of our family to show her sister. She mentioned to me that her sister had started praying for us a few weeks ago. This is right around the time I hit the “bottom”. Typing that makes me realize how lamely cliché that is and I cry a little inside about my lack of creativity.

Her sister does not know me nor has she ever met me. She just started praying for me. My friend hadn’t told her about any of the struggles we were going through at all. God just put on the heart of her husband and her to pray for my family and so they were.

I really don’t understand how people can blatantly deny God and how he works. I understand questioning him, that’s healthy. We question him, he proves himself, we grow closer to him, that’s logical, but when things like this happen (even though its small) I know God is looking out for us and want EVERYone to know it!

All of this followed by a fun moment with Taylor last night:

Me: Taylor, it’s time for bed
Taylor: I don’t want to go to bed
Justin: You never want to go to bed
Taylor: But I wont be happy if I’m in bed (said with a tone that said, your one job in life is to make me happy and if you make me do this you fail)

Eli's Walking!

2011-04-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

This is more then just the fun news about Elijah walking. Since he had his “9month” appointment last week I figured why not give all his stats?

My doctor, although an AMAZING Godly woman, doesn’t like to push buttons with the insurance company at all and so she takes the appointment times VERY seriously. What I mean is if you have a 1 month appointment she will see him no earlier then 4 weeks (1 month) from that date…

SO seeing how every time I have an appointment for Elijah (due to holidays or no appointment availability) I would be a week or so behind. This means at his 1 month appt. he was 1 month and 1 week…at 3 months he was 3 months 2 weeks… and so on.

That being said, he had his 9 month appointment on when he turned 10 months. That was a lot of explaining for a simple story, but I’m a story teller.

Elijah Corbin:
10 Months on 4/5/11
Weighs: 18lbs (30th percentile)
Height: 29 inches (90th percentile)
I promise I feed him! Poor guy is gonna be a tall stick like his sister.

Movement: He walks with a wobble and crawls almost as fast as his sisters run. He can climb up stairs, and thankfully he is still to nervous to attempt to crawl down.

Talk: He still doesn’t talk, but he babbles away. He is very adamant about being part of whatever conversation you are having and he is loud! He also “sings” with us whenever we are singing a song.

Games: He likes to play peek-a-boo. He will duck down behind something and pop up or put a blanket/shirt/hat over his head (not over his eyes in most cases) and pull it down. To clarify, he lifts the object complete over his head so you can still see his eyes, but thinks that he is “hidden”. He loves to be tossed in the air and he loves to slam on our computer keyboards. He is now discovering buttons and pushes any he can reach. This include turning the TV on/off or even flipping a light switch in his reach.

Sleep: He lets you know when he’s tired for sure! And once he’s out he’s a pretty good sleeper. Usually in bed at 8PM and up around 7AM or later. Occasionally, he’ll get up around 1-2AM for a late not bottle, but not very often (or I just sleep through it since Justin is usually still awake and may just get it for him without me knowing).

Food: he eats a ton. He usually eats finger foods at every meal in addition to his baby food and most of the time would eat more if we let him. Instead we try to top him off with some milk and he’s good to go. I blame his active apatite and low weight on him walking so early, but who knows if that is really a reason or not.

I adore this kid! I know it’ll be hard for me not to spoil him, but I’m excited to see as he grows how different he will be from the girls.

It's Finally Real

2011-04-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

I think the reality is hitting me hard this week. We are FINALLY getting our own place. If you already know the story, sorry for the redundancy, and if you don’t here is the abbreviated version:

Justin and I got married 5 years ago (in July) and he was supposed to have this job lined up when we go back and for some reason things just fell apart so we went from “house sitting” at my Grandma’s house for the first month of our marriage to moving in with my parents “for a short time”…

Nearly 5 years, 3 kids, and several jobs later we still inhabit space at my parents house. I tried not to talk about it too much, because lets be honest here, it’s embarrassing! I know we have been blessed with this time, but thank the Lord we finally get to move out!

With Justin being a stay at home dad our funds are definitely tight (understatement) so we qualified for a low-income housing program in Anaheim and are moving in this weekend to a 3 bedroom / 2 bath apartment literally across the street from the “happiest place on earth”. I’m SUPER excited, but like I said the reality is hitting me.

I have always been a budgeter… every penny has a place or bill to pay(down). My budget does not like this new living arrangement at all. I’ve mentioned before I’m short, but the good news is I think I can afford rent at least (with the assumption Justin can do some odd jobs here and there to earn around $250/month)… utilities are another problem. My rent at my parents has always included our utilities so I have no idea what this going to cost me so I can even attempt to budget. SCARY!

The second reality is the realization that we have shared a LOT of stuff with my parents… a kitchen, a bathroom, and parts of the living room. There are things we just don’t have. I don’t have baking pans or even a whisk… I don’t have shower stuff for our new 2nd bathroom. Do we need this stuff? Not really, but you know there will come a time in the next couple of weeks where I’ll think… If only I had ____ so I could ____. That is what is freaking me out most right now. I made a “wedding registry” on Target to get my “wish list” for myself in line. Now I know what I want/need and have at least some prices to go with it. I’ve also been telling all my family/friends that for my birthday (The day after we move in) to get me something of the registry or a gift card so I can get it, but honestly even after that there will still be a ton more to go.

A few friends have suggested we have a house warming party to give more people an opportunity to help us get stuff, but if you know me, that’s not my style. I love hand me downs… I’m not to “proud” to take anything from anyone whether it is new or used, but I will not ask for things or people to get me things. I figure God has a way of working things out and He has already brought people into my life to provide some of the things I need to me.

So here I sit. The realization hovering over me that I will be moving into an incomplete home, not sure how long our savings account will last as we use it to pay rent/utilities. Although I am definitely stressed I have peace. God will provide for us. I don’t know what that looks like yet, but I’m excited to see him make this work for us. This situation forces me to KNOW that God is in control, I have nothing to do with what is about to happen… Exciting isn’t it?!

Marriage

2011-04-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

Recently Taylor has been more interested in marriage and asking a lot of questions. It’s fun to watch her develop a definition and sort of figure it out as she goes. It started after we went to my cousins wedding a few weeks ago. I explained we were going to a wedding and that Lori and Pete were getting married. They would be husband and wife like me and daddy. She proceeded to ask a number of questions over the next few weeks: Are you and Daddy married? Yes Can I marry you? No, you need to marry a boy Can I marry daddy? No, daddy is married to me. You can only marry one person Who can I marry? A boy that loves Jesus Can I marry Elijah? No, that’s not appropriate, you can’t marry your family. Can I marry my friend? What friend? The boy who throws toys (Sammy). Yes, you can marry Sammy Can you marry Sammy? No, I married daddy Can I marry daddy and then you can marry Sammy? No, you only marry one person and you can’t trade or share But we’re supposed to share. Not husbands, that makes Jesus sad Oh. OK. But you have to share daddy because he’s my daddy. Yes, I can share daddy as your daddy, but not your husband I think she understands now mostly. Now we just get a random question about who she can marry.

What's Cooking Good Looking?

2011-04-04T12:16:00.001-07:00

So this post really has nothing to do with the title, but I kept thinking…what do I name this post when its about what’s been going on for the last couple of weeks…what’s been “cooking”. SO this got stuck in my head so that’s what you get!

About a week ago I FINALLY got a phone call from the affordable housing complex I had submitted the application to. I have been “approved”. I say it’s a sure thing, but until they give me a date and I sign a lease I’m holding off on making an official announcement.

The call was exciting and very stressful at the same time. If you know me, I’m an open book and will share anything that anyone asks or is willing to listen to. The 2 bedroom apt was about $100 more then I can afford (without utilities) and the 3 bedroom is about $250 more then I can afford (without utilities) so in that moment I of course asked for the 2 bedroom. After some thought and discussion with Justin I realized that it would cost $100+ to do laundry at a Laundromat and if I got the 2 bedroom that’s what’d I’d be stuck doing since the 3 bedroom has hook ups for washer/dryer. So what it came down too was a difference of $50 between the 2 and 3 bedroom.

I called on Friday hoping it wasn’t to late to change my mind. The girl I talked to said she’d see what she could do, but it may be too late.

Now we are waiting. I guess its not “now we are”, but more like so “still we are” waiting. I was told I should hear within a week, which, according to this complex’s past record means I have 2+ weeks before I hear back.

Here is our prayer:
1. That we get a 3 bedroom apartment
2. That God provides $300+ a month for rent/utilities
3. A smooth easy transition

I will try to keep you all posted, but I know the next couple of weeks are going to be crazy busy for me already so I apologize in advance :)

Gyro Translated Means Awesome on a Pita

2011-03-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

Let’s be honest here, some days we adore our husbands and other days…not so much. Yesterday, however, was one of those days that I adored mine :)

Since my New Year’s resolution was not to spend money eating out this year, we have had very little “fast food” around our house lately. We didn’t have that much before, but once a week or so we would grab a quick meal somewhere out of pure laziness on my part. I’m not sure what the point is of “not spending money” on fast food is since really my budget/food spending has not changed (we are value menu diners), but I’m determined to stick it out to the end of the year.

But there are little things that I miss, the Gyro being one of them mmmmm. Justin decided to surprise me yesterday at work by showing up with a Gyro and my kiddos for a visit. By decided I mean he planned to, but underestimated the amount of time it takes to get 3 kids bathed and presentable for a 30-45 commute to see me. A few minutes after my lunch break had started he called me to tell me not to eat because he was on his way. I decided seeing all of them were better then food so he came straight to see me instead of bringing me food, but it was still awesome. Every mom knows how fun it is to let all your friends/coworkers see your kids (you have to be proud of them!) We only had a few minutes together since my lunch was ending so Justin headed out, but still brought me back a Gyro!!

After lunch he headed with the kids to visit aunt Genny and decided to stick around to have lunch with Grandpa Bob. This meant I had the whole house to myself all night! So what did I do? Clean of course. I know it’s boring, but SO much easier to do with no kids around. In typical Justin fashion of course, Justin was home late (sometime after 11PM but I was asleep so not sure when) and it was super hard to fall asleep with nobody home, but I managed it and slept well.

I appreciate my hubby and all he does for me. Thank you Justin!

It's Time to Play

2011-03-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

If you know Justin and I, you probably are aware of how much music is a part of our lives. Justin more then me, but if it wasn’t for music we would have never met. We met in CBU’s UCO (Choir), we bonded over some amazing Tyrone Wells (Feel the need to do a shout out to Shanda!!), and he’s a musician which for some reason I have always been attracted to.

Justin was Music Major and he, in particular, loves music. He loves listening to, playing, singing, and finding new music. We both have hopes that our children will be some how musically gifted. With that being said the picture below melts my heart. Obviously, he isn’t “playing”, but he sure pounded away and “sang” his cooing song. It was awesome!

Be Thou My Vision

2011-03-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

So if you are a friend on facebook (which I’m sure anyone reading this is) then you may have already seen my post relating to this, but it is well worth explanation.

Last night on the way to Church I expressed to Justin how “drained” I am feeling right now. I feel like so many things in my life have been an uphill battle. I’m crawling to get out of this ditch… I’m tired, broken, bloody, dirty, and I just can’t get out! This hit me hard today when a new position I applied for was offered to another person. However, it was one of the most amazing rejections I have ever had and for that I am extremely grateful!!

I feel like I keep barely falling short of these “dreams” or “goals” that I have, and if you know me that is huge pill to swallow (I wonder how many cliché sayings I can fit in this one post haha). I want to move out of my parent’s house, but I make barely too much for an affordable housing unit in my price range or I don’t make enough for a place that would fit my pretty large family. I want more from my job (I really do like what I do, but I just want a little more from it), but I can’t seem to find another position that is good fit for me that the hiring manager feels I’m qualified enough for. These are the big things with tons of small things feeling the little gaps.

I am tired of all of me, just not being enough… Then it hit me last night or I should say HE hit me last night. Why am I trying to be “enough” for things in this world and not focusing on being enough for HIM?

Our Music Man, Jarrett LeMaster (sorry if it is spelled wrong) sang the hymn last night Be Thou My Vision and the following verse hit me like a truck –

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

Pastor Brian spoke last night of Prayer and Fasting. He emphasized this is a commitment between that person and the Lord and it is nobody’s business to know when you are fasting or what you are fasting from, but still very important to make that commitment to God if you feel God is putting it on your heart to do so. Needless to say, I know God is calling me closer to him right now so I wont’ tell you when, for how long, or what I will be fasting from, but that I will do it and I am excited about what God has in store for me. I need to strive to be enough for HIM which in turn will make all my dreams and goals a reality.

Now for those of you that might be reading this that are not saved I want to make a couple of important notes:

1. I am thankful you have read this far into a post about God when it is probably not important to you.
2. I may never get my dream job or dream home, but if I make my ONLY dream to live a God honoring life, to please HIM then no matter what my job is or where I live my dreams will “come true”. If I do get one of these other things it’s a perk, but not a necessity. I hope that makes sense!

Thank you friends and family for your prayers for our family. It is appreciated so much more then you know!

Good Grub, Good Company

2011-03-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

Before I had met Justin I had never had Japanese food. This includes sushi. I have since come to LOVE miso soup, cucumber salad, sushi, and anything tempura.

Now I don’t like fish, this includes raw fish, so my form of sushi is the cooked version with shrimp or crab, but its still oh so yummy with some wasabi and soy sauce! Mmmm

That being said every year we go out with Justin’s dad for a birthday dinner and Justin typically picks Japanese food. Our/His favorite is this place called Matsu’s. This year we took all 3 kids (not as bad as I thought it would be, but still difficult). I was very grateful for Aunt Genny and Grandma Lori taking on the huge task of keeping Jordan in her chair while Justin and I dealt with Taylor and Eli.

What we discovered during this meal though was amazing!

Miso Soup – Loved by Jordan and Taylor
Cucumber Salad – Loved by Jordan (with the little shrimp) and Taylor thought she liked it until the vinegar flavor kicked in to which she responded “it burns me!”
Sushi – Taylor took one bite and said “I don’t like it”…then about 30 seconds later said “Ok now I like it, I want more!”
Rice – The girls still loved it and Eli had his first serving of it (more on his face then in his mouth) and he liked it!
Shrimp (Tempura) – Jordan is a huge fan
Chopsticks – Taylor insisted on using them and thanks again to Aunt Genny getting her the training ones she uses at home often, she did pretty good!

We had a great time and its always nice spending time with family. I don’t have the picture yet, but when I do I’ll post it! Below is Taylor’s first bite of Sushi and Eli’s sloppy rice face.

9 Months Old

2011-03-07T07:47:00.001-08:00

Elijah was 9 months on Saturday! We got to spend the evening with Rob, Tawni, Rachel, and Sam. I really love to watch the kids interact and even being so close in age they are SO different! Girls definitely talk and scream more haha!

But back to Elijah. I know its bad, but I can’t tell you how much he weighs or how tall he is. The problem is Justin takes him to his Dr. Appointments so I just don’t see it. I’ve already decided I will be going to his 9 month appointment in a couple of weeks so I can do an update then!

I can tell you he is a tiny kid. He’s tall, but stick skinny!

Eli (or as the girls call him “Buddy”), has 6 teeth with more on the way (makes for long evenings) and is standing on his own. He just recently started to stand up in the middle of the room without pulling himself onto something. I think walking is a month or more away since when we hold his hands to walk he turns his feet sideways.

His favorite song is by far “If You’re Happy and You Know it’. He hasn’t mastered the skill of clapping, but he gets super excited and holds his hands up towards you as if he wants to give you high fives. He’s not “talking”, but the sounds he makes sound a lot like “dada” and I swear when singing that song he says “cla cla”. I know Justin’s heard it to, I just don’t think he’d admit it.

Eli sleeps through most nights and about 2-3 times a week will get up once for a bottle, then back to bed. He takes 2-3 naps a day and is generally a very happy baby.

I think his favorite person in the world is Taylor. I feel bad for Jordan, but she is so vicious to him behind our backs (sits on him, pushes him, takes his things, etc) so he definitely prefers his oldest sister. He doesn’t laugh much and when he does it’s not really a full blown giggle like we’re used to with the girls. People comment all the time about how serious he is, and it’s true! It takes a lot to get him to smile at you, especially if he doesn’t know you.

He likes most food we put in his mouth be it fruit, veggie, or meat as long as it’s pureed. He is not a big fan of chunky food yet. He does love small snacks like cereal and diced fruit as long as it’s not mixed with his baby food. I guess what I’m trying to say is that he likes his smooth stuff smooth and not mixed with anything with chunks.

He loves milk and for some odd reason (first of my kids) does not like juice very much at all! It’s a pain to get him to drink any. I figure this month I will start the transition to Sippy cup and put juice in that only for now to see how it goes.

I adore this kid! And look forward to the differences in raising a boy compared to my girls.

Happy Birthday Justin

2011-03-04T08:06:00.000-08:00

Today my hubby turned 28! I thought about a billion (or five) different ways to write a post based on him and decided to make this blog dedicated to him and the things he does in his sleep…

Top Five Sleeping Moments

5. Don’t Tell My Wife – he whispers things in his sleep to somebody that is usually followed up by “don’t tell my wife” or “don’t tell Rachael”.
“I ate a chipmunk, but don’t tell my wife”
“I killed a zombie, but don’t tell Rachael”
“PANTS! I hate pants, but don’t tell my wife…”

4. The Black Eye – probably maybe a week after our wedding I woke up to a elbow in the eye. Not like he was just rolling over, but like he was slamming down an opponent with his elbow. I had a black eye for a few days…it was great! (sarcasm of course)

3. The Sacrifice – One night while sleeping Justin was having a conversation with “zombies”. This was back when our only child was Taylor. Here is what I heard:
“don’t eat me, don’t eat me! I don’t taste good”
“here, eat Taylor!”
He turned his head to the side as if whispering to somebody
“don’t worry I’ll shoot ‘em in the head before they take a bite”

2. Who? – Justin has very graciously taken the role of getting up with the kids during the week nights (and most weekends) since I have to be up at 5AM. That being said he is VERY hard to wake up. I asked him to get Jordan because she was crying (I think she peed in her bed or something) and he kept saying “I don’t know who that person is!” Every time I tried to get him out of bed to get Jordan he would tell me that he didn’t know that girl and didn’t want to see her.

1. Ice Cream – I woke up to have Justin holding both of my shoulders to brace me as he licked my back. One large, sloppy lick from the middle of my back to the top and when he finished he said, “mmm ice cream”. I turned and punched him in the shoulder and told him that was gross! Apparently my punch had woke him and he asked why I hit him. After I told him what he did he denied it adamantly… drool dripping from his chin. EWW

Anyway, these are only some of the things he does or says in his sleep. Happy Birthday Babe!!

Growing Kids the BabyWise Way?

2011-02-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

Three kids is a lot, and at times slightly overwhelming, but generally my kids are really well behaved. I mean they are kids so of course they have their moments, but I’ve been told they are good kids.

That being said I want to make them better kids. I struggle with meal times and bed times EVERYday and on some days they are not at all well behaved (tantrums, testing limits, hitting, screaming, the works!).

Justin has agreed to read something to help us in these areas. We want a pattern/routine that helps us stay consistent as well as make these hard times easier for us and the kiddos. I just don’t know which book to read and definitely don’t want to read through more then one (my time is super limited and Justin has a short attention span for these types of things). I have heard really good things about Growing Kids God’s Way and Babywise/Toddlerwise/Childwise. I now just need advice.

The “wise” series – From my understanding does not have a biblical basis and it would be really nice to have something with scripture to back it up. Is it too late to start? My oldest is 4 and I have only heard of mom’s doing this series from birth.

The Growing Kids series – I like that this series has a “Biblical” basis, but some of the reviews I am reading say the author is using twisted context for verses to prove their unethical points of spanking a child with a “stick” which I am of course opposed to. Spanking is fine, but my hand is sufficient and if the author is trying to push more I don’t know if I can take the rest of the text as “good” advice.

The third option – I don’t know, give me ideas! Haha

Any suggestions?

Mini Him

2011-02-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

Until today I had I never seen a baby picture of Justin. So first, THANK YOU to my mom-in-law for scanning me this picture!!

Secondly, seriously, can you tell the difference?! (I mean minus the color difference in an old print version vs a digital picture)

I always tell Justin he’s conceited every time he compliments Elijah and calls him cute… this is my proof!

The Quarter Tank Miracle

2011-02-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

I love how God can speak to us… here is my story of the week (and a half).

Last Wednesday, my gas tank was at a quarter tank. I don’t get paid until this Friday (over a week later) and knew a quarter tank will only last me 1 day, 2 if there is NO traffic.

Almost a week later, I still have a quarter tank. It’s the little ways that God provides that show me how much he adores me. Furthermore, this got me to thinking about the story in the bible where a prophet asked a widow to make him a loaf of bread with the last of her oil and flour and how it was replenished every day so that she never ran out. Of course I had to try to figure out who the prophet was AND the verses in the bible so I could blog about it!

I have to admit the results left me slightly embarrassed… The story if Elijah and the Widow at Zaraphath. I mean seriously… I named my son after this guy and didn’t remember his name from the story! Although embarrassed this just adds an even more precious element to the story for me. My quarter tank has not yet run out (unless my gas gage is broken!) and the story in the bible that it is related to is the prophet my son was named after.

My God is Good!

Elijah and the Widow at Zaraphath

A Prayer for a Closed Door

2011-01-26T12:44:00.000-08:00

Where is the line between letting your brain work and letting your faith work? I could say “I have faith that if I walk off this cliff God will save me”, but obviously, unless called to do so, this is an unwise decision.

But where is that line? How do you know?!

I have an interview tomorrow for an apartment whose range for rent is affordable – unrealistic. It’s the “-“ that I’m worried about. Where is the balance? There is a price that is unaffordable, logically ::Pulls Out Logic Box for Lynne:: but this could be the step of faith God is asking for. This could be God telling us, YOU can’t afford that, but I can. I will need to rely on HIM. But where is that line. I don’t think I have any real reservations about stepping out in faith, but what if I am misinterpreting faith for stupidity.

My prayer is that if it is not God’s will he SLAMS the door. I do not want to be tempted. I do not want to have doubts. At this point I’m thinking if they say I can do, I’ll take it; EVEN if it’s out of my “comfortable” price range. If God has other plans, please Jesus, Slam that door right in my face.

Please pray, an odd prayer, that God closes this door so his will can be done. Right now the door is open so I think we’re just going to go for it. And this is why I’m asking for the door to close. If the door closes in the next 24 hrs I will know this “leap of faith” is actually a “jump off a bridge”

AND if the door doesn't close, pray that we somehow make an extra $200-$300 a month (this is where the faith comes in)!

Thank you all for your prayers! I’ll let you know what happens.

The Dog Behind The Fence

2011-01-20T15:19:00.001-08:00

This last Sunday we packed up the kiddos and headed to LINK and Scott’s house for a chance to hang out and let all of our kids meet. Rob and LINK were also there so we had ONE 4 year old, THREE 2 year olds, and THREE less then 1 year olds. Although he probably didn’t realize it, I’m sure Elijah LOVED having some boys around for a change :)

Somehow it ended up that all the women headed outside to talk and watch the kids run around together while the boys settled down with a video game (not sure which one). After being outside for awhile ALL the kids gravitated toward the fence where a little dark barked excitedly on the other side. This eventually turned into a game. The kids would run across the yard then back to the fence and call the dog. Once it barked they’d all squeal and laugh, waving their hands in the air and jumping up down. It was SUPER cute.

After all the play time for Men and the kids we headed inside for some awesome grub (thanks Rachel)! Followed by a fun game and I can’t remember the name! But I NEED to get it for us :)

Overall, we had a great time and so did the kids. Taylor already keeps asking to see her new friends again. Hopefully since we live fairly close we can do this more often.

The Inner Workings of My Purse

2011-01-13T11:53:00.000-08:00

As I was digging through my purse today I thought… this is a REALLY weird combination of items. So, of course, I had to share it. I’m sure you other moms can relate:

Wallet
Check Book
Chap Stick
Cough Drops
Bandaids
Mints
Deoderant
Phone
Candy
Pens
Shot Records
Birthday Party Invitations
Car Registration
Size 2 Cinderella Underwear
A plastic bag – in case above underwear are needed…
Ipod
Headband
Clips
Baby socks
Pacifier
Nail clippers
Stamps
A letter to Shanda
Tylenol
And Spare Keys

My purse isn’t THAT big?! How does it fit?

My Drama Queen

2011-01-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Taylor turned 4! It’s hard to believe four years ago my first baby was born.

We started the morning with her 4 year old physical (I know bad idea, but the ONLY day I could get off work to take her). The visit went well…then came the shots. Not sure if it’s a good idea or not, but I always try to warn her ahead of time so she is prepared. She had to get 3 (reduced from 5 per doctor recommendation to wait until kindergarten for the other 2).

If she knew what cussing was she would have been cussing the nurse out. First one came tears…second one came screaming…third one was “Leave me alone! You go away! I said stop right now!”

All this followed by an Icee of course and she got to pick a new dress because the 2 she owns are getting worn every other day almost. Her Birthday Outfit is included below :)

We kept with tradition and after nap she got to make her own birthday cake. She picked the type of cake and frosting; she mixed it, frosted it, and put a TON of sprinkles. So many sprinkles she sort of collapsed the middle of the cake. She only licked the spatula a few times while spreading the frosting and surprisingly most of the sprinkles made it on the cake opposed to in her mouth. She stuck the candles on the cake (all in the same place).

After the cake we played board games until bed time and she got to fall asleep with mommy in my bed.

Taylor’s Stats:
She is the 95th Percentile for Height
She is the 40th Percentile for Weight (Tall and skinny…not so shocking LOL)
Her speech and motor skills are great.
Her eyesight is great.
She may have some hearing problems in her right ear OR she just was bored with the hearing test by the time they got to the right ear.

Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Animal: Monkey
Favorite Book: Anything Llama Llama related
Favorite Activity: Board games or painting

She tells elaborate stories and works through problems in her own version of logic in which she ends up with the correct answer half the time.

Happy Birthday Baby!!

A Prayer for Life

2011-01-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

I work(ed) with a man that was diagnosed with Cancer. His story is heart wrenching for so many reasons… he’s young, he’s married, but the hardest part he has two boys. Two very young boys. I read his journal (linked above) pretty regularly and every time I do I pray for him and pray for my family. I look at the faces of those little boys and think; they will be living life without a daddy.

Of all the things of this world to leave behind my kids would be the hardest, especially now. What will happen to them never getting to ‘know’ their mom? Everything and everyone else would manage; I guess my kids will manage too, but they wouldn’t know me. They wouldn’t know what I sound like. They’d forget what I look like. They wouldn’t remember our stories times or play times. They would never know how much I adore them.

Bill, my coworker, just recently starting making videos for his boys. A way for them to get a glimpse of who he is(was). We are PRAYING that they will not need to see these videos and God will heal Bill so they get the chance to know their daddy.

I also pray that my children will get the chance to know me and the memories I make with them are of a Godly woman.

The Joy of Projects

2011-01-07T07:25:00.001-08:00

I am a very project oriented person. I don’t mind the day to day things that need to be done, but I LOVE projects. I think this is part of what inspired me to want to teach…everyday is a new “project” a goal to teach kids something brand new, to create lesson plans to help reach that goal. I always figured I would teach, I thought that was my passion…

The longer I am out of “teaching” the more I am realizing it wasn’t teaching I loved, it was the challenge of the project and the fact I love kids and would be nice to put the two together.

With that said, I don’t know that I will ever teach. It’s great to think I wasted about $30,000 and 4 years getting a degree I wont use (sarcasm of course). However, the Lord has taken his time to mold me and teach me what I needed to know along the way and help me develop my passion of working on projects. So much of “me” just fits with a project driven goals.

Recently at work I began working with some people from our project/product team and LOVE it. My goal is to show them how capable I am and hopefully if a position opens I would be a top candidate. If you would have asked me last year if I saw myself working at bank for the rest of my life I would have quickly laughed it off. Now, I’m seeing that I could and would gladly do that if I was working on projects everyday. Maybe a position “up-stairs” will be the door God’s been waiting to open for me. Maybe, and what I’m praying for, is that a position on that team would open which would probably mean that would be the extra income we’ve been praying for so we can MOVE OUT! Yay! AND I’d be doing something I love love love (almost as much as my kids and probably more then my husband…JUST KIDDING)

Jordan Went to Bed!

2011-01-04T11:02:00.000-08:00

I think I’ve blogged before about how difficult Jordan is to put to sleep. She’s a SCREAMer. Here’s our routine:

Dinner
Bath
Play Time
Story Time
Prayer
Potty
Hugs/Kisses
Turn Music On
Turn Lights Off (to see the stars on the ceiling)
Lay Down
SCREAM

She doesn’t just cry and whine, she practically hyperventilates every time the laying down part starts. We put her in bed and instantly she screams “let me out” “I want up” – both sayings she has learned from her older sister’s tantrums. I cannot figure her out. I don’t know what to do.

The worst part is her screaming wakes up Elijah half the time so then we have to put 2 kids down to bed (again).

Last night I added something to the mix. I laid her down and rubbed her back for “one song”. She got up once to hand me her empty cup (we let her have a couple ounces of water) and laid down on her own. I don’t know if it is a fluke, but I sure hope it sticks!

A Flop to the New Year

2011-01-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

There are several things I will cover today because I forgot to blog this weekend :)

First, our New Year’s Eve was spent at Sam’s house! Every year we go, and it is always AMAZING! It’s impossible not to laugh until you cry (or close to cry) when that group gets together! I love our game-night friends!! Played some new games, and one had this crazy awesome timer (5 second rule). Anyway, I also found it really funny that some of my secular friends were slightly shocked that we had such an amazing night without alcohol. When I mentioned I had a great night the comment was “So you finally got drunk?!” haha :)

Part of that great night was THE most gracious, loving offer I’ve had in a VERY long time. A friend of ours offered to take ALL of our kids OVERNIGHT!!! Thank You Jessica and Rick!! She has 3 kids of her own, little like ours and they took them all overnight. It was incredible! Justin was upset I didn’t let him sleep in because I made him go get the girls around 9:30, but I didn’t want to abuse the gracious offer :)

The flop was the ball dropping entertainment. If you watched America’s Got Talent (AGT) you saw Defying Gravity, and they are way great! After the ball dropped they said they would have some band AND Defying Gravity…so we watch this LAME band attempt what they called a song and waited… and waited… only to get a 15 second show from them BEHIND the lame ‘musicians’. Very upsetting.

A cute story is next. The day after Christmas Justin was driving us to his mom’s boyfriend’s house for festivities. He was super tired so about half way there he pulled off the freeway so I could drive. This sparked Taylor’s interest enough for her to ask questions and apparently remember the answers. Yesterday while driving to the store Taylor randomly asked “Daddy, are you tired?” to which he replied, “Typically”. She turned to me and said, “You need to change seats!” I was confused as to why she wanted me to sit in her car seat until she said “Because daddy is tired, you need to change seats so you can drive”

Finally, the resolution. This year there were a ton of things I “want” to do. From having a daily picture blog (I failed already zero pictures in 3 days) to blogging frequent (I know I’ll fail that one). I finally settled on one that will be hard, but really good for us in the long run. Debt-free-edness. I have a strict budget already with very little ‘fun’ money. This year we will not eat out (unless an emergency) we will not buy ‘toys’, we will not spend carelessly. Every penny will have a purpose and any extra penny that does not go to a family necessity will not be spent on things, but will pay off debt. Hopefully this will help us get out of debt a little sooner (3 as opposed to 5 years) and will help us MOVE OUT!!

Happy New Year!

Playing Pretend

2010-12-14T08:04:00.000-08:00

Last night Justin and I were playing a game and heard Taylor talking to herself. We listed to her conversation with herself and realized she was just playing.

She was talking to “somebody” or “something” and replying to herself in a different voice. We were laughing to ourselves as she explained to this “thing” or “person” (not sure which) that they had to be a good listener and scolding them when they talked back (ie her talking back to herself).

When we’d ask her what she was doing she would get super shy and say “playing pretend”. LOVE it! It was one of the cutest things I’ve seen from her to date.

A Hop, Skip, and Jump of Faith

2010-12-10T07:10:00.000-08:00

Some of you may know that since Justin and I have been married we’ve lived with my parents. Sparing you the LONG story, one thing after another has led to us being stuck (blessed) at my parent’s house. Up until recently it has been going well with very little conflict and/or friction. However, since the addition of a new baby for myself and my little sister to the house things have changed. It has become increasingly difficult for all of us.

That being said, I feel its time to move on. I wish it was as easy as picking a new place, but with only $525 a month to pay in rent we have little to no options. However, the city I work in has an amazing affordable housing program! I can get a 3 bedroom apt for $909/month or a 2 bedroom for $806/month. The catch(es):

1. The waiting list is ridiculously long. I can put in our application today and hear back in 2 days or 2 years.
2. I need to figure out how on just my income to make an extra $6,000/year translated to $500/month translated to $3/hour. Note with 3 kids it is much cheaper for Justin to continue to stay at home for them because it would pretty much cost us money for him to work

Needless to say, this option is perfect for us (so I think), but at this time not doable. With that being said we are taking a step of faith. I am submitting our application and praying that when we get that phone call that an apartment is available we will have the extra $500 needed to move out of my parents and into a place of our for the first time in the 5 years we’ve been married. Knowing that if the place becomes available before we are able to pay for it we most likely will not get a second chance.

Please pray for us! For the health of our relationships with each other and those we live with we need to get out. Pray that the extra $500 each month we need comes from somewhere, anywhere. Pray that if this is not God’s will the door with shut abruptly and a new door opened. Thank you to all those that love and pray for us!

Little Miss...

2010-12-09T07:49:00.000-08:00

Jordan is the CUTEST ever right now! She says and does the most amazing things and I wonder sometimes how my girls can be so vastly different with the same parents, and the same rules.

Jordan is…

Little Miss Polite – always says please, thank you, ‘welcome (you’re welcome) even if she get’s them mixed up.
Jordan: drink please
Me: here you go
Jordan: thank you, welcome

Little Miss Mom – always bringing us Elijah’s toys, blanket, bottle, diaper, socks; even when we don’t need them.
Elijah just finished his bottle and I stick it on the counter while I go lay him down. I turn around and Jordan is holding the empty bottle to his mouth “here go ‘Lijah”

Little Miss Organized – A place for everything and everything in its place. She does NOT like things out of place. Without telling her she places items where she thinks they belong.
Justin had his glasses off while he played with Elijah and Jordan brought them to him (hands on each lenses) trying to put them back on his face.

Little Miss Clean – Granted, she’s still a kid and her toys can be ANYwhere, but trash, crumbs, and a ‘dirty booty’ won’t do.
Jordan sits to go potty (she is mostly potty trained at 2years 2 months!), she get’s up and says “yucky booty mommy!”
Jordan also throws anything she thinks is trash away… I’m pretty sure we’ve lost a few important things into the black abyss.

Little Miss Antagonizer – She knows buttons and how to push them to test her limits.
I’m pretty sure her favorite pastime is seeing how upset she can make Taylor. I mean Taylor is quite the drama queen and anything can send her into a fit of tears or frustration, but Jordan knows just the right buttons to push. Jordan will take something of Taylor’s and back away teasing her with it OR run and hide with it under our legs laughing mischievously as we hear Taylor screaming “noooo Jordan”

Little Miss Clumsy – there is not a door, wall, refrigerator, couch she has not run into or a toy, sock, carpet, she hasn’t tripped over. Best part is she’s a TANK! She gets up and keeps going blood and all.

Little Miss Lover – she gives the best hugs and kisses!
Jordan has the perfect way of just cuddling with us that makes you feel so comforted. I don’t know how she does it, but that 2 year old can brighten my day with her perfect little hug and tender kisses (or butterfly kisses – which she thinks means hitting her cheek against your face).

She’s an amazing middle child that holds her own in the house. I know she won’t be ‘forgotten’ or ‘left out’ of anything.

On the Move

2010-12-06T08:52:00.000-08:00

Elijah is on the move. Granted he’s moving like he’s blindfolded, underwater, and slightly intoxicated, but he’s moving.

By moving I don’t mean crawling though. He’s scooting and launching himself to get to his desired (not so desired) location. I am not even sure if he means to do it or if is actually ending up where he hopes, but he’s moving.

How he moves:

-He gets on his hands and knees and throws himself toward something he wants
-With head down and butt up he plows himself forward
-He rolls and twists his way somewhere... I don’t even think he knows where he’s headed
-He sits up, but that’s not really moving until he falls over after about 5 minutes

He turned 6 months yesterday! (Dec 5th) and he is moving. My baby boy is growing too fast! Knowing this is our last makes these milestones that much sweeter. Sorry no pictures yet, I’ll work on that.

Happy Blakes-Giving

2010-11-22T12:41:00.001-08:00

Every year (I think 5 years now) the Blakes have a Thanksgiving Potluck at their house the weekend before Thanksgiving. It is wonderful! Amazing food, great friends, and this year… lots of babies!

Ali (the female half of the Blake household) was due the same day I was due with Elijah. It was so fun to be able to experience the journey with her and be exactly as far along as her. We would both get our email updates at work with “how big baby is” and look over our cubicle walls at each other and talk about them.

There was many an email between us comparing items on our baby registries from what was the best price to the cutest colors. The best part was once maternity leave started and the anticipation of “who would pop first”

The answer was… neither. Our boys would NOT come out! We both had to be induced to get the new babies out. Ali delivered her handsomely, adorable son Caedmon on June 3rd and on June 5th my doctor forced out my little guy.

This Blakes-Giving was the first time our boys got to meet. It was so amazing to me to see them interact… practically the same exact age. So different and so similar. I sure wish I lived closer so they could spend more time together, but the time we did have was still awesome.

Blakes-Giving is a great way to start of this holiday season. Of course some pictures of the little guys are below. Elijah on the left and Caedmon on the right.

Right Now

2010-11-18T15:06:00.000-08:00

I am so blessed with my 3 very different kiddos. They are all so unique (still more to learn about Elijah of course). I wouldn’t trade them for ANYthing. I’m not sure why these past few days have made me dwell on the thought of how much I love them, but I have been and here are some of thoughts as a result:

*right now my kids cuddle and love on me… someday they wont want to
*right now my kids run to kiss me and hug me…someday they will be embarrassed to even be around me
*right now my kids tell me stories… someday they won’t even want to talk to me
*right now my kids get angry at me and a joke makes it all better…someday they will slam doors and yell things like “I HATE YOU”
*right now my kids ask for help…someday they will want to do it all on their own
*right now I am my kids’ best friend…someday they will have “new” friends and won’t want mommy to embarrass them
*right now my kids get sick and need mommy to take care of them…someday they will have a spouse take care of them
*right now my kids need me to show them who Jesus is…someday they will tell others
*right now my kids need me to change them and bathe them…someday they will change/bathe their kids
*right now my kids need me… today I realize I will always need them

I’ve been realizing I need to relish these moments… I don’t remember where, but some movie or something had amazing quote: “Enjoy them while they chase after you…someday soon you will be chasing after them”… or something like that

A Note for God's Ambassadors

2010-11-17T08:06:00.001-08:00

My girls love to watch Shanda and her videos on her blog. She is teaching in China right now which the girls are slightly familiar with since their Aunt Gemmy spends a good deal of time in China as well.

Needless to say after Shanda posted her last video about getting a package I decided to get together with the girls to write a “letter” to Shanda. They had so much fun and of course the letters turned into pictures since they are 3 and 2. Taylor, however, did write most of her name! She got the T, Y, L, O and I helped her with the A and R. She was very proud of herself.

This all got me thinking. I would love the girls to be able to “write” to missionaries. I know they can’t actually send letters or words of encouragement, but a picture from a small child is encouragement right? So here is what I’m thinking.

Once a month (or more) I’d like to pick a missionary that the girls and I can pray for at bedtime and mail a letter to. I’ll include of course a note that says we have been praying for them along with the pictures.

Because I do want to be able to note that we are praying for them I want to make sure that we are only mailing letters to people that are NOT in sensitive countries. I don’t want to jeopardize them in any way.

What I need help with:

Should I include a picture of the girls too? I’m assuming most of the people wont know us at all.
I need missionary’s names/addresses! Please send me a message via FaceBook with a missionary you know that is NOT in a sensitive area.
Also if anybody else with children of any age would like to be part of this we can send a whole pack of letters/pictures to the “Missionary of the Month” (Or more often depending on how many responses I get)

Thank you all so much!

The Brain of a 2 Year Old

2010-11-15T06:47:00.000-08:00

She’s 2. There’s not a lot I expect her to understand, but there are some things I expect her to realize.

She needs to realize that when we freak out every time she sits on Elijah like she’s “riding a horse” it’s because it’s a bad thing!

She needs to realize that climbing in his crib in the middle of the night to see if he’s sleeping is NOT ok.

I know she’s only 2, but how to I keep her from killing Elijah! Every time I turn around I swear she’s sitting on him, or trying to pick him up by his head, or in his crib…sitting on him or waking him up. We’ve tried time out, a swat on the toosh, a discussion as to how it could hurt him, and even some moments of pure freakout! I’m out of ideas.

Also things I’d like advice on…

We’d like her to realize that lifting your leg to see where the pee comes from while peeing makes a mess on the floor…and you get in trouble.

We’d like her to learn to watch where she’s going (she will have stitches before she is 3). She is SO clumsy!

We’d like her to stop standing behind doors and subsequently being hit with them or tearing her foot up under them when they are opened. Jordan why are you crying? Oh you ran into the front of the fridge…again.
<--- Jordan vs. Door

We’d like her to stay potty trained and not be perfect one day and have an accident an hour the next.

We’d like her to learn that copying Taylor is not cute, especially when it’s the bad habits, it’s just annoying.

Do I just fee like Taylor was much easier, or was Taylor in fact MUCH easier?

However, there are some SUPER cute thing Jordan does that I find irresistible!

Jordan does a “stuck” face. I have to try and get it on video for you!

She repeats you in the cutest way ever! Example:

Me: Jordan What is this (hold up movie)
Jordan: Blah-Me
Me: What?
Jordan: Tom-laaaa
Me: Are you just yelling things?
Jordan: YELLING THINGS!! YAAAY

She’s a cuddler; Grandma calls her Lover Girl. She gives the best hugs and loves giving kisses.

She is the most polite child I know. She always says please, thank you, and you’re welcome.

She asks for high fives, and if you don’t give her one (usually because my hands are full) she’ll give herself one.

She loves to help. She gladly throws away diapers for me, or puts dishes in the sink, or even brings me things for Elijah, like wipes, when I forget them.

I LOVE that kid!

Half Productive or Half Lazy?

2010-11-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Veteran’s Day which means the Federal Reserve was closed which translates into banks being closed which means I was off. I had a whole lot of things I wanted to get done… I got to everything on my list, but didn’t finish a single thing on that list…

I washed all the laundry, but none of it is folded
I did a spot clean on the carpets, but didn’t do the vacuuming portion
I made a grocery list, but didn’t actually go shopping
I prepped the kids to go jump in piles of leaves, but realized it was too cold for mommy to actually go outside
I unthawed chicken for dinner, but Justin made hotdogs instead

What did I do? I’m not sure actually… Sort of just hung out with Justin and the kids. But doing nothing is sometimes the better then doing a lot of somethings. Back to work, and when I get home I must finish the other half of my to do list.

The Nerdy School Girl

2010-11-10T07:18:00.000-08:00

I am not a very quiet or shy person in general. I tend to be outgoing and rather social…in the right setting.

For some reason my whole life when it came to school I got focused. I tie it the fact that I am an “achiever” (from strength finders). In a nutshell, I like numbers. I like statistics. Not necessarily mathematical things, although I do adore math, but more goals for myself. I am that person who needs that A. Who cares if a B is passing I want the A. Not because with a better GPA I get a better scholarship or anything, but just to get the A.

All this to say, when I get to school/class I get in this “school mode”. I focus, I get quiet, I rarely ever talk, and I “achieve”. This has led to some great grades for myself fulfilling my need to achieve, but very few close friendships.

Outside of class I was the active, loud, social thing that nobody recognized. I was in drama in High School and on more then one occasion I had both teachers and other students tell me they were completely shocked when the saw me in a play…they never pictured me being so loud and being comfortable in front of all those people. This side of me is the “me” I know.

I sometimes find myself hearing about old friends from college or high school hanging out, visiting, still being very “close” and realize that my focus had pushed me away from so many people. I “knew” people from my classes, but I was never really that close to anyone. Not because I didn’t want to be, but because I was so focused on my school work that I didn’t realize I wasn’t making friends.

I now feel like I’ve missed out on huge part of my school experience. Looking back I wish I had take a B in my class in exchange for hanging out more with the other students. I wish I had been less driven and determined to be “perfect” in class and more driven towards building lasting relationships.

Of course now it is too late to go back, but I hang on dearly to the friendships I do have. I have managed to get my nose of book/computer long enough to make a few very close friendships and I wouldn’t change this for the world, but I do wonder what it would have been like to actually have made friends during school and not just acquaintances. I wonder if the people I “friend” on Facebook, or who’s blogs I read, actually know me or remember me? What do these people that I admire for being able to look outside of school and build the friendships I wish I would have actually think of me?

Do these people see that quiet nerdy school girl? Or did they mistake my focus and drive to be arrogance and conceit? Did they see a socially awkward girl or maybe just a shy one?

I don’t know what they see, or saw. I still wonder and would love to know out of pure curiosity of course, but I know who I am :) I know I thrive on social interaction of people I love and care for. I know I am quiet around strangers and the person who can’t stop talking around those I know and am close to. I know I am driven to get “good” numbers and have a hard time when I fall short of my goals. I love to serve and help anyone I possibly can in anyway that I possibly can to give my God the glory! I am a child of God, a wife, a mother and a friend (in that order) and will live my life according to that list! I am a nerdy school girl.

Mommies Can’t Get Sick

2010-11-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

I went to work yesterday and was feeling super dizzy. I thought at first my Iron was low (I have a blood condition called Thalassemia) and I took an iron pill (which is normally VERY bad for me), but after an hour that wasn’t working.

I’ve had a cold since last Friday so I figure all the head congestion was causing the trouble. Needless to say, Justin came to pick me up from work because I didn’t think it would be a good idea to drive feeling as dizzy as I was.

I was talking with a friend from work about how being sick at home is worse then being sick someplace else like work. It’s easier to go take a nap in my car in the work parking lot then to go home and get rest. Kids, especially young ones, don’t understand that you can’t be “mommy” while you’re sick. As I lay in bed and try to get some sleep I appreciate Justin’s attempt to keep them away, but they just wanted to lay in cuddle with me to make mommy feel better.

The bombardment of questions, “Do you feel better yet?, Are you Asleep? Mommy do you have a tummy ache? Do you need kisses?” are sweet, but when you are just trying to sleep it off are rather inconvenient. So today I sit at work feeling super icky and wish I was in bed sleeping to get better, but I know my body is getting more rest sitting in front of my work computer then it could at home trying not to be ‘mommy’

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

Friday is when the Halloween festivities began for us. On Friday night our church did their Trunk-or-Treat with 50+ cars, bounce houses, games, and rides. Friday morning I woke up with a horrible cold so although we did make it to the event, we left pretty early.

The girls had so much fun going from car to car. Taylor was saying “trick or treat” and Jordan would tentatively go up and just open her bag for candy givers…well actually Jordan would walk up to anyone (including other kids) and open her bag waiting for candy.

The girls were very polite and said thank you after nearly every person they got candy from. Taylor even told Papa the next day “I say trick or treat and get candy then I say thank you.”

On Sunday, the plan was to go to Uncle Sam’s Church, but my cold kept me home with Elijah and Justin headed off with both girls. They did Trunk-or-Treat at Shoreline then headed to Grandpa Bob’s house to go to this crazy awesome area that had a whole street blocked off for a huge Star Wars themed Halloween thing.

In the end the kids had a great time and brought home way too much candy! I took out the chocolate for Justin, the hard candies to get rid of, the sour things for me, and they still have enough to last them several months.

Here is my Princess, Pirate, and last minute Baseball Player :)

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When Messy Faces are Still Cute

2010-10-29T07:45:00.001-07:00

Elijah will be 5 months old a week from today. My little man is growing! A couple of weeks ago we were sitting at the dinner table and while we were eating Elijah was just screaming away. Nothing would soothe him. It was one of those pull out your hair moments that left me feeling very overwhelmed. Not to mention since he was crying both girls were complaining that he was crying and telling me to fix it.

Was it teething? Was he hungry? I was stumped. Out of pure curiosity a made I tiny bowl of baby cereal to see if sucking on something a little thicker then milk might at least distract him for few moments of silence. I know it is way early to start him on food, but he loved it!

In the last two weeks he has gone to eating a couple meals a day of cereal and fruit. He kicks away in his little seat and coos and smiles the entire time. He loves to grub! Maybe it’ll help him bulk up a little too. (My kids run on the small side…go figure)

Happy Roomate-aversary!

2010-10-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

My best friend ever (Melisa Palomo) is an amazing photographer! She recently came to Jordan’s 2nd birthday party and graciously took photos of my whole family (immediate and extended). She is incredible and I can’t refer her enough to everyone I know.

I have a set of the pictures she took on my desktop and the photos here too (see above). Her real passion is pets and she does such a great job! I’ll make sure to include a link to her website at the end. Anyway, aside from her amazing photography she has the biggest heart.

I adore her and her husband Chris. They have gone out of their way for us several times and never once complain about it. They love to love and she is such a blessing to me. I sat here thinking today how it has been way too long since we have “hung out” its hard because she doesn’t live that close and 3 kids are a pain to tote around. Despite that I would trust her with ANYthing in my life. She tells me when I’m dumb and loves me when I just need a hug.

I just felt the need today to say I LOVE YOU MEL! I don’t know if its true or not, but I deem today, October 21st our 7 year best-friend-aversary or roooomate-aversary…I’m going to go with Roomate-aversary.

Happy 7th Roomate-aversary! I dub this day in 2003 the day we both decided we were true roommates!

For some reason my link is not working so her website is melissapalomo.com

Laughing in the Rain

2010-10-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

I felt like my posts since I have been back have been negative which doesn’t really reflect my life right now. Yes there are moments of frustration and anxiety, but I am happy!

I could list the numerous things going “wrong” right now from financial issues like finding out yesterday that Justin’s car needs new tires (checks wallet for $500 ::nope::) to medical problems like Taylor possibly needing a root canal because of her chipped tooth.

The funny thing is while I was driving to work this morning there was a small drizzle and I smiled at the rain. I love the rain. God’s gift to me is rain. It calms and refreshes me every time! It made me think of the saying “When it rains it pours” and I laughed at how chaotic and seemingly unmanageable my life is right now. I mean metaphorically speaking there’s a near monsoon in the life of the Davis’. However, I adore the rain.

This doesn’t mean that I like to live in chaos nor would I like to have it rain every day. Rain is so special to me because it is “rare”; so to are the times when my life is out of control and stressful. I know it sound odd, but I started thinking I need to enjoy these times in my life. I need to relax in the chaos and just let God work. In these times, when it pours, God is in complete control and shows his grace and beauty. God works in the rain and we leave these times refreshed.

I love the rain!

Lack of Appreciation

2010-10-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

I am not one that needs a pat on the back, but sometimes just getting the acknowledgement is good.

Two weekends ago was a 3 day weekend. Great for my personal life; not so great for work on Tuesday.

There was a small oversight by leadership at work that meant nobody was monitoring our messaging system. I caught that in the early morning and offered to help.

When a standard day has around 20 messages, 30 on a weekend you expect to have a few piled up, but there were 84. 84 messages. And who do you thing managed to get them all taken care of AND answer the phone during the day?

On Monday’s we have a meeting where you get “pats” for doing good things (you save them up to trade for like movie tickets and stuff). Not only did I not get a “pat” for working my butt off that day (which I could really care less about because I can’t go to the movie with 3 kids anyway) I didn’t get a thank you or acknowledgement at all. ::sigh:: the most I got was the day of when I said I finished I got a “wow”. That means they realized how practically impossible that was to do, but that’s it.

99% of the time I LOVE my job…some days I wonder if my effort is worth it.