Milestones

4 years ago I became a Mom. Drew and I entered the untested waters of parenthood. We were blessed. Never will I forget the moment we held her for the first time.
4 years ago. Its hard to believe how much growing one does in 4 years. She has gone from baby to toddler to little girl. She has given so much joy. And frustration. She has made us laugh, made us doubt and made us oh so thankful. She paved the way and gave us experience as we became parents not only once more after but twice. She is dramatic and cheerful and brings into the home much sunshine. We are entering a new stage with her. A 4 year old who knows everything and doesn't like to be told what to do. Its amazing to see how each child makes their own spot in a family. She is the chatty one, the dramatic one and the bossy one.



The balloons are strung and the cupcakes decorated. I've been looking through old albums getting weepy. Remembering. How quickly time has gone. I see her growing in the pictures. I see me growing. Growing into the roll of mother. It doesn't come easily but by the grace of God it seems to be working. I pray that God gives us the knowledge and ability to continue raising her to know HIM, to love HIM and to share HIM with others. Parenting comes with many mistakes. Many bumps and detours. And yet they love, they forget and they crave our approval, even at such a young age. Children are a blessing from the Lord.




The birthday girl has requested "pizza with no vegetables", and so tomorrow we shall make and "decorate" the pizza. For it is more fun to help make it than buy it. As with the cupcakes. She helped bake and decorate. I was reminded that these little ones crave attention and contact, rather than expensive gifts. Its a good reminder. So she was up to her elbows in cupcake batter. We left them to cool on the counter. I thought Jacob was downstairs with Kaylin....only to discover upon walking into the kitchen that 3 cupcakes were missing. The culprit was in his room wiping off the crumbs. Stinker.





Tomorrow she turns 4! How blessed we have been to have her in our home!

From Tears to Joy

Meet Jacob. He can go from this....



to this, in mere seconds. Exhausting...but the upside is that he definitely can't be ignored...and he was back in bed by 10:30...



A friend asked me yesterday when I found time to shower. I had to think about it, this morning I laughed. While I was showering, the kids who were supposed to be playing downstairs nicely were banging on the door, crying. Something about he stole this and she did that. I'm not really sure. I believe I shut off my hearing off for about 10 min in the mornings. Long enough to shampoo, and condition my hair. I even let the conditioner sit on my hair for 5 whole minutes. Madeline sleeps through the whole thing. That is how I find time to shower.

The kids obviously weren't affected to much. They were playing very happily when I was done.





I was also asked how I find time to cook healthy dinners. Simply..I prepare. I always have 5 or 6 meals in the freezer for the frantic days that don't go so well. When I make a spaghetti or lasagna I double the meat and season half for tacos and freeze. Its easy to thaw and serve. A shepherd's pie is doubled for another day. I always have spinach in the house for a quick salad. Our favorite these days is spinach salad with strawberries. I feel less guilty when pizza is served with a spinach salad. When I do a roast it is divided, some is shredded for a future roast on buns dinner, some cut into pieces for a stew. I do a lot of prep in the afternoons, I cut the veggies and take care of the meat. I have no guilt about serving eggs on toast once in awhile when we're busy or when Drew has a meeting to head out to after dinner. Every week when I do groceries I figure out a meal plan until the next grocery day. I remember when I started doing this it was a lot of work, now its simply apart of making one meal to be thinking about the next. It happens when you have 5 mouths to feed. And to be prepared is really the only way to do when you have a baby whose fussy time is dinner time.

Speaking of fussy time, its hard to imagine that something so sweet looking can cry..



I had all intent to post a picture of her screaming, but one picture of a screaming per blog entry is enough :)

Well, I have much cooking and cleaning to do...so Happy Friday!

Randomness

Yesterday was family day. Drew was off. We were hoping to go sledding, but the wind was bitter cold and after fighting illness for so long we opted to stay home. The kids have been grumpy. Maddie fussy. At this moment she is happy, playing and talking. My how we love happy babies in this house!



I baked and cooked for a Mom in our church who just had her 4th. Drew organized my closets. Seriously. He's good with things like that. I tend to throw things in when doing a frantic clean. Quickly shut the door and hope nothing falls. We had a normal day and I was glad. To just be home. It ended rather badly as we dealt with some strong attitude from a certain almost 4 year old. But this is life as parents. And parent we must, to deal with attitude rather than ignore it. This morning all was forgotten and our happy Kaylin was back after a goods night rest.

Thursday we baked. My attempts at getting rid of a terrible headache. Baking with kids is NOT the way to get rid of headaches. Neither is going to Costco. But oh what fun the kids had. Baking is difficult with 2. Turn your back and the salt gets dumped in, or little fingers too eager to taste try just the butter and flour. The eggs are in danger of being beaten to hard, the floors in danger of being assaulted with flour and sugar.



The work of cleanup is significant. But yet, I am thankful to be able to do this with the kids. Although sometimes...in the early hours that we call evening I bake by myself. Listening to loud music...and getting to lick the spoons all by myself. What devotion to give up the licking of the spoons to the kids. And food for thought...mixing zucchini bread in a dutch soup pan does NOT work. It would be worth the investment to replace the mixing bowls that have either been broken or used for other things. Like a water bowl for the dog...or a place to store nails and fix-it thingys. We have much fix-it thingys laying around our house.



Friday I had coffee with the girls. 4 of us and 10 little ones. The 10 little ones dominate the conversations but the 4 of us are good with that. Just hanging out and getting out of the house. To encourage eachother by seeing that other kids behave the SAME way. To remind ourselves that we are not in this alone. And the sun is shinning once again and hopefully this snow melts and the sharp cold stops. How I long for spring and parks!

On the Upward

We seem to be heading up, the flu seems to be a thing of the past, leaving behind a trail of snotty noses and the need for much kleenex. This I can easily handle. Betty White has stopped harrassing my sleep with mountains of file folders and to do lists. Maddie's sleeping better, not great but again...this I can handle. Last night I had my monthly Board of Mission Aid meeting, a meeting that went well and has allowed me a month to get caught up. And Drew informed me that he is picking up dinner on the way home, no room for discussion. To this I easily submit.



At this moment the kids are decorating crowns that we picked up from the dollarstore, they have stickers and "diamonds" scattered over the entire kitchen floor. Lying on their stomachs. Blissfully unaware of the work that is being created for Mom later. In my experience lately good mornings do not always mean good afternoons. So I'm going to enjoy this. Drink my coffee and scold myself for not charging the camera last night.



In the mornings I've started working through the book of Psalms. We picked one to memorize, Ps 8, and so we read it often. Kaylin knows half of verse one and I'm happy with that. Memorizing is difficult for me, unless you put it to rap music....and so I want to spend time doing this with the kids. For them and for me. Its exciting for them to "pick" a psalm they know, to recognize texts when they are being read.

"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the Heavens.
From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies to
silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?"
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the pathers of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

Being a Mom has given me more of an understanding of having a childlike faith. To the kids it is so simple and so pure. God is there for you, He watches over you, He sees when your nice or mean. God can do ANYTHING. Funny how kids so easily accept things that adults struggle to remember.

Whats even funnier is the Bible stories that kids remember. To Jacob every Bible reading is of "Nona and da BOAT", to Kaylin it is "God can even make wine out of milk".

Happy Friday to you all!

the Saga Continues

The flu seems to continue in our house. Just when we think we have said our farewells it comes back. First me, then Drew and last night Maddie. As I'm near my breaking point with holding screaming children I'm going to share how I have become wiser in the last few weeks. This may prove to be more interesting than me lamenting my sorrows of cleaning up "v"....

*Make sure your kids are awake BEFORE dosing them with cold medicine....try calming down a screaming child who has been assulted by sticky syrup while asleep. Poor Kaylin...

*3:00a.m. is NOT the time to discuss whose idea it was to have these kids....

*5:00a.m. is still not the time to discuss the above....




*vapor rub on the feet works wonders

*buying a bright pink undergarment because its "looks like spring" and is on sale is not great when you realize that 50% of your shirts are white.....

*dreams get wierd when your running on little sleep

*Betty White keeps trying to give me a file folder of to do things.......wierd wierd dreams

*I screamed at Betty White and told her to do her own laundry....wierd wierd dreams

*I'm going to convince Drew to buy shares in the tylenol, cool vapor mist thingy and vopor rub. Who needs retirement funds??

*Kaylin informed me this morning that theres many germs in our house and therefore we need to eat healthier....like pizza or pancakes..they have LOTS of vegetables in them....

*do NOT buy polar fleece sweaters for kids when you have a dog

*seriously...polar fleece and dogs is like smarties and sun...

Snow Days

Two posts in one day...meaning all the kids are sleeping and rather than tackling the laundry I've decided to post more pictures. Must be a Friday, and I must have a sick child in the house....for a sick child means that when the house is quiet I relax and ignore chores that don't have to be done. Sick kids means Mom is working much overtime for the next couple of days....

Some highlights from my week:





We are surrounded by much snow. The kids showed me to see the beauty in snowstorms, their little noses pressed up against the window begging to go outside. I had to watch from the window as I was babysitting a little girl who couldn't go outside. I watched from the window.

And while the kids played, I drank tea and Drew and Maddie took a nap.



Happy Weekend!

Seasons

I woke this morning with the excitement of a new day. The joy that comes from having a good sleep, by good sleep I mean I slept for a 4 hour stretch....all at once. I woke with no snow storms, no plans and the idea that we could go out and explore. I was debating between Costco and Library or the Early Childhood Centre...fantastic place that allows Kaylin to paint to her hearts content, allows Jacob to play with a "cool" train track and lets the kids socialize while I can either play with them or mingle with other Moms. I had plans to tackle redoing the blog...the ugly blog that I have ignored until the day would come when I would have "time". I really don't understand how making a blog look nice works, I'm a bit lost with templates and customizing...so I've been waiting...I had plans to write about a wonderful discussion with a seasoned Mom on "Seasons".



I sat at the computer with a coffee, baby feed, kids playing, silence upstairs...I started my work on the blog...I had enough time to mess around with it and make it look worse.

then I heard a noise. A noise that I thought had left our house last week....a noise that leaves Mom dropping everything and running for the sanitizer and a mop...leaves moms breathing through their mouth so they don't smell it...vomit. Poor Jacob, crankiness I thought was from teething was actually from being sick. My plans for today have to be adjusted. This season seems to be of illness and long nights. But thankfully I have had a good nights sleep!