The New and Improved Laundry Room

Last weekend, while I was out of town, my hubby was secretly building me a whole new laundry room organizing system. 

With the kiddos growing, their clothes also grow.  I was running out of space in my old organizing system and my laundry room was being over-run by clothes.

Old Laundry Room

We had talked about building something but, I have to be honest, what I had envisioned in my head was not a pretty picture.  Because of this, I was so happy that I was not around when he built it (and I'm sure he was equally relieved). 

When the kids excitedly brought me in and opened the doors, I was SHOCKED!  It was perfect, awesome, amazing, huge, and every other great word!

It has taken me about a week to go through everybody's clothes and re-organize everything but I'm officially done and I. LOVE. IT!!!

So, I am so excited to share my NEW LAUNDRY ROOM!

There are 20 HUGE cubbies that can fit clothes for my growing children plus more!

Each cubby is labeled with things such as:

Little P/Little C/Mini C Play Clothes

Little P/Little C/Mini C Outfits

Special Occasions

Seasonal

IRON ME!

Hiking

I am so grateful to be married to a man who is always trying to make my life easier!

Easter Egg Traditions

Our weekend was FULL of festivities.  After Little Man's birthday on Saturday, we were excited about Jesus' Rising on Sunday.  I was truly amazed at Little P's understanding of the day.  If you asked him about Easter he would tell you,

"The mean people didn't like Jesus because He was the team leader and they wanted to be the team leader.  So they hurt Him and put him on the cross and he died.  On Easter, He came back and we have to have our hearts ready!"

Pretty darn good for a four year old. 

Little C on the other hand, well, she informed us in the middle of Easter Mass that her heart was not ready...sooooooo....Again, I say, THAT GIRL!  She is incredible.

As we moved through the day, it was fun to see the different traditions unfold.  As I have said before, one of my favorite parts of being married is negotiating and combining different traditions from both of our families.  One of the big Easter traditions for me is Easter Egg Hunts with the eggs that we dyed.  I have so many memories of dying our eggs on Holy Saturday (making sure to have a watermelon eggs...duh) and then spending most of the day hiding them on Sunday afternoon while mom cooked.

Well, apparently, in my husbands family, they hid plastic eggs and ate the dyed ones.  And I don't think they had multiple hunts.  Just one, maybe two. 

Thankfully, my husband already knew how much this meant to me so we set out on our afternoon of hunting.  It was so fun to watch the kids as they hunted through the back yard.  But what was even more fun, was watching the competition between my mother-in-law and father-in-law.  I was really thankful that they got into it and really had a good time.  I think its reasonable to say that they might be just as competitive as P and me. 

And that brought me to the biggest competition of the day. 

Mom vs. Dad

Oh yeah!  Let's just say that it got a little heated.  All I have to say is that sometimes offensive tactics need to be utilized in Easter Egg Hunting.  I mean, if you want to win and all.  In the end we ended up tying but we sure did have a good time. 

Notice the chair that is completely vertical behind him...he was throwing chairs...haha.

It has been said many times before but it really is true, holidays are a lot more fun when you are a parent.  I look forward to the memories that we will make throughout the years bringing our different family traditions together to make a new ones.  And even more, what traditions my kids will eventually take into their futures with them. 

What are your favorite Easter Traditions?  Is it the Easter ham?  The egg dying?  Going to sunrise Mass/service?

Christ is Risen!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Dr. Denmark - Rest In Peace

I have told you about Dr. Leila Denmark several times on my blog.  Well, unfortunately, at the age of 114, Dr. Denmark passed away on April 1, 2012. 

I am forever grateful to Dr. Denmark because she really gave me a base line when it comes to having newborns.  For those of you who don't know who she is, she is a pediatrician from Cumming, GA, who is renowned for her newborn/infant routine.  Her 'old school' ways really gave my husband and I the ability to enjoy the first months of all of our children instead of exhaustedly getting through them. 

While some of her practices my be looked upon as 'out of date', the woman knew what she was talking about.  She wanted to make sure that parents understood that babies are not born knowing what to do.  Our role as parents, teaching and guiding our children, begins at birth, teaching our children to eat and sleep.  She also made it very clear that our families should be family centered instead of child centered. 

I am so thankful for all of the wisdom Dr. Denmark has imparted on me.  I am a better mother because of her hard work!  I can only hope that more pediatricians will have the courage to stand up for truth and follow in her footsteps.

Happy Birthday!

Saturday was Little P's 4th Birthday!

We have decided not to do birthday parties until the kiddos are older so for now, they get to pick the meals and activities of the day.  Little P puts a lot of thought into his birthday.  He has had it planned since February.  His plans were as follows:

*Waffle House for Breakfast

*Hiking

*Peanut Butter, Banana, and Gold Fish Sandwiches for lunch

*Pizza for dinner

*Yellow Castle Cake

When I say that he had it planned, I do not mean that he told us what he wanted and then waited for his birthday.  What I mean is that we heard about his plans, especially the yellow castle cake, almost EVERY. SINGLE. DAY!!!

When you asked him what presents he wanted for his birthday, he would sweetly but very seriously respond, "I only want a little. Just one thing. I want a Finn McMissile car who shoots missiles at all the bad cars. That's all I want, mom."

So, when this weekend came, I knew I was up against high expectations.  I set out to live up to Little P's birthday wishes and the joy that ensued was worth every single ounce of effort.

He was so happy to have his first chocolate waffle and TWO apple juices at Waffle House.

After waffle house he was so excited to be the 'team leader' on our hike.  Followed by our Peanut Butter, Banana, and Goldfish sandwiches (don't worry, the adults had meatball sandwiches).

While the kids napped, I set out to make the infamous yellow castle cake.  I have no clue where he came up with the idea of a castle cake but man was it a big deal.

After about an hour of working, I was reasonably pleased with the finished product.  It didn't come out exactly as I had hoped but it was still pretty good.

The afternoon was definitely my favorite part of the day.  While everybody played outside, I set all of Little P's presents out.  After this little boy talked so much about only wanting a little bit for his birthday, he was genuinely SHOCKED when he came inside to see a MOUNTAIN of presents waiting for him.  (Having lots of Aunts and Uncles really pays off!)

It was really fun to watch him open every present with such sincere excitement and appreciation.  When everything was unwrapped and there was no Finn McMissle to be seen, we asked him if he liked all of his toys and received everything he had asked for.  He politely said, "YES!"  Poor kid, you could tell he was a little disappointed but he didn't want it to show.  Seriously, this little boy has a ridiculous understanding of other people's feelings. 

It's crazy!

So, after a couple of minutes, we couldn't let wait any longer.  We asked little P to get up in the rocking chair as my husband drove his new remote control Finn McMissle into the room.  Seriously, I've never seen the boy move so fast!  He jumped out of his chair so fast that we couldn't even get a good picture of his reaction...it was AWESOME!  He was so excited!

The rest of the evening was full of bike riding, pizza, egg dying, and more!  After we finished eating, I was so excited to surprise him with his 'Castle Cake'.  We gathered everybody inside and called him in...

SUCCESS!!!

As I laid in bed that night, I couldn't help but think about how grateful I am for this little boy.  It has been so much fun to watch him grow from a baby to a little boy.  I am so thankful that he is the oldest with two little sisters.  He has this innate protection and love for his sisters that wow's us beyond belief.  He has such pride for them and even more when they learn new things.  He asks me for a new baby sister multiple times throughout every week.  He wants to name her 'sissy'.  He has a genuine love and appreciation for his siblings.  He wants to be just like his daddy often talking about what he is going to do when HE'S a daddy.  He already has a sincere love of Jesus and takes going to Church very seriously.  He thanks me EVERY NIGHT for making him dinner.

For some reason, God chose me to be his mommy.  I am humbled at the opportunity to raise him to be a fun, loving, responsible man.  But, for the time being, I pray that his dad and I can retain his incredible innocents and pure heart for as long as possible. 

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Aim for Progression, Not Perfection!

As I told you in my State of Life Address, I have been lending my heart and mind to FAR too many things.  In turn, I have found myself completely stressed, emotionally exhausted, and physically rundown.

As I try to pick and choose where to invest my heart, I have learned a few things about myself.

In a conversation with some friends of ours, my friend Robbie pointed out that I am a perfectionist.  When I quickly corrected him letting him know that my life is RARELY in order his response left me silent.  He said,

"No, not like that.  You are a perfectionist in that if you have 10 things to do and you only complete 6, you scrap the whole day.  It's all or nothing for you."

Wow.  I had never thought of it that way. 

Just that night, they had shown up 15 minutes early for dinner; the house wasn't ready, I had no makeup on, the kids weren't completely dressed, and I hadn't vacuumed under the table.  Those points CONSUMED my brain.  I spent the first hour apologizing for this, that, and everything else instead of seeing the fact we were enjoying each others company and about to sit down to a great dinner.  HELLO!?!?!  I'm missing the big picture here!

He went on to say that we should be going for Progression, NOT Perfection.  By aiming for perfection, I do not acknowledge the progress that I have made, therefore putting me right back to square one.  But, if I would just acknowledge and accept the progression that was made, be it a lot or a little, I can then pick up where I left off and keep moving.  It leaves room for learning rather than complete disappointment and standstill.

Maybe I am not quick to learn these things but MAN, that made so much sense to me!

This really got me thinking.  How often do we as mom's talk about what we need to work on and how we aren't doing enough?  Now, how often do we have conversations about how well we are doing?  It's backwards!  While it is good to be aware of our shortcomings and work to improve them, when it's all that we focus on, we start aiming for perfection and losing sight of our progression.

I, for one, will never be perfect.  I will never do everything right or have everything done.  Quite frankly, if I do, it's probably at the expense of my husband and children...NOT WORTH IT! 

I am a work in progress.  To ignore such progress is to ignore the journey.  If we ignore the journey, we'll never reach true perfection which can only be found in Heaven.

Now THAT is an 'Ah-Ha' moment!

Fantastic Resource: Lenten Adventure!

On Fat Tuesday, I told ya'll about my husband and I's Lenten resolution to do a better job preparing our family prayer time in the evenings.

A few weeks before Lent started, I received a postcard in the mail about Lenten Adventure.  My curiosity was peaked and I actually managed to keep up with the postcard for a solid week before getting around to going to the website.  The first thing I read was:

"What is Lenten Adventure?FREE video, music, and fun activities delivered to your email inbox all through Lent! Join the Holy Heroes Adventure Guides for your Best Lent Ever!"

SCORE!!!  Even better, it's FREEEEEE!!!

I signed up and was excited to receive my first e-mail.  When I did, I was so pleasantly surprised!  It came with video's, stories, coloring pages, cross word puzzles, etc.  It seems to be run by a family with the kids doing the instructions and videos.  My kids really respond to seeing the other children so excited!

While the whole program does not apply to my kiddos (we're still learning letters, not quite putting them together), it provided this creatively challenged mama a platform to teach my kids about preparing our hearts for Holy Week and Easter.  They have loved the video's, listening to the stories, coloring their pictures, and talking about what is going on.  My kids look forward to it every single night!

What I have loved the most about this program is that it is teaching ME how to teach my kids about Christ.  It takes it farther than saying the blessing, night prayers, or going to Mass.  It has given me the opportunity to teach them about LIVING their faith, not just doing it. 

Little P is very serious about making sacrifices to 'prepare his heart for Jesus'.  I wanted to do something so the kids could see how much they are doing to prepare their hearts so we have started a paper chain.  Each time they purposely do something to prepare their hears for Jesus (i.e. listening the first time, not whining, letting the other sibling for first), we right it down on a strip of paper and attach it to the other links.  As the weeks go on, we can watch the chain get longer and longer as the excitement builds for Christ's Rising.  Then, on Easter morning, we can open all of them up and read everything we did to prepare our hearts for Jesus.  They LOVE it!

Even if you are not Catholic or do not usually celebrate the time leading up to Easter, still look into Lenten Adventure.  You can weed out anything that you do not want to use but man the benefits are endless!  My kiddos, especially Little P, is really understanding that there is something so much bigger than the 'here and now'.  It is really cool! 

And quite frankly, because of this program, so far this has been one of the best Lent's I've ever had!  I am re-learning so many basics that you tend to skip over as an adult. 

IT'S AWESOME!

So, what are you waiting for?  Hop on over and sign up!

www.lentenadventure.com

A Housing Update

It has been far too long since I've updated ya'll on the current status of our Log House Adventure.

This whole thing has been one of the most stressful experiences of my life.  As you all know, we were not looking to move.  When we came upon this house, I immediately shut it down.  It didn't fit with the picture that was in my head.  But just as with anything that is good, my heart softened and I was willing to listen to what my husband had to say.  As we prayed and talked about it, we both felt very called to slowly move forward.  Through the whole process, we kept the same mantra,

"We'll give it our all, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work."

So, that's what we did.  We negotiated, we went under contract, we put our current house on the market, we wrestled with the bank, we cleaned and showed our house, we met with contractors, we met with inspectors, we figured out financing, and we waited.

With all of these steps, it was very hard to continue to trust in a plan greater than my own.  Being a planner at heart, this whole ordeal went COMPLETELY against everything in me.  I couldn't plan a darned thing and it made me so anxious.  All I could do is trust that we were doing what we were called to do for that day.

As time went on, and we were nearing our 30 day's until closing mark, P and I had to make a decision.  If our current home did not sell in the allotted time, do we close on the log home?  We had a few offers for renters, could 'technically' afford to keep both homes for a little bit, but was that smart?

After a lot of talking, arguing (mostly on my part...thank you anxiety), and praying, we came to the decision that we should let the log house go.  We decided that we were too young to be carrying two homes and if for some reason our economy got even worse, it would negatively effect the rest of our lives.  It would ruin everything we had worked for thus far.

So, for right now, our current home is still on the market and we are hoping that it sells sooner than later.  It could go a few ways:

1) If we go under contract on this house and the log house is still for sale, we'll go back to it and move forward.

2) If the log house goes under contract before we get an offer on our house, we'll take our house off the market.  We're not looking to move 'just because'.

3) If by mid-April, our house is still on the market and there have been no offers, we will take it off the market.  This can't go on forever.

So, there you have it.  We are at complete peace with our decision but still hopeful that it will work out.  We are learning a lot about being called to something 'only for a time'.  All we can do is listen to the inspirations that we receive and follow.  No matter what the big plan is, I know that it will bring me and my family fulfillment. 

But, I will admit, I would REALLY like to be filled in, if possible.  :-)