Thankfulness Day 3

#3 I am thankful to live in the United States of America! We are so blessed that we take it for granted in this country. I wish we all respected what others have sacrificed for us more. All those founding fathers who really risked it all to try to set up a better future for all of us. All the men and women in uniform and their families over the years who have fought and died so that we could be where we are today. Such a blessing that most of the world will never know! I pray that this country can return to a place worthy of pride and respect from the rest of the world. Go vote and vote for the person who will do the best job to try and uphold Christian beliefs! No one is perfect, but we as Christians should feel called upon to vote for the man who will most likely follow what is right, not what is popular.

Thankful Days # 1 & # 2

I'm not going to do a facebook post for each day in November, but I do want to take this opportunity to list the things that I am thankful for in my life. I try to be grateful for all the many, many blessings that I have been given and try to not take those for granted.

I missed posting November 1st and 2nd so I am going to combine those two days, for without one I wouldn't have the other. :)

#1 I am thankful for my awesome husband! I have loved him and only him, my entire adult life! We got together as seniors in high school and have been together ever since. We have been through a lot and had several struggles and we are still here. We have been together for 18 years and celebrated 16 years of marriage in May of this year. No small feat these days! I love him as much today as ever. He works so hard for our family and is a great provider. We are a team and I'd go to the ends of the earth for him. He is also a wonderful Daddy!

#2 I am thankful for 3 beautiful, HEALTHY children. We realize what a blessing good health is when we are sick for a few days. Think about what a blessing it is to have healthy children! That is why every time I am asked by the cashier in the checkout line to donate to a children's charity, I DO GLADLY! I am so thankful it isn't me sitting in a hospital room with a sick child, or in a waiting room anxious to see if one of my babies has survived some tragedy, or sitting at home wondering how much longer we have with one of our precious gifts. I pray we never know what it is like to be in one of these situations.

Time Slipping By

Well I can't believe that summer is almost over! It makes me so sad. I don't know if all 35 year olds ( I hesitate to even write that number!) think so much about how quickly time passes, but it seems that is almost all I think about these days. My babies are growing up before my very eyes.

I have one that my husband is currently driving to the TN/KY line so that she can hitch a ride to the beach with her cousin. She will see the ocean for the first time without me. I hate that. I know it is the first time of many more to come, but I just want to cry every time I even think about it. She seems so big, so old, but she is only 8. Eight sometimes sounds old, but not today. She is such a big girl and helps me so much now with Lillie Claire. I will miss her terribly this week. She talks nonstop and got her daddy's penchant for telling long drawn out stories. It gets on my nerves so bad, but I know I need to do a better job stopping and listening to her. She is so sweet, kind, smart, and has so much potential. I need to do better. She deserves better.

I was afraid my husband was going to let the boy go for a week at the great-grandparents' house. I wish they were able to take care of him but they just aren't able. Jeremy's grandfather is Jack's best friend, too bad the best friend is now 70 something years old. I want to have him all to ourselves. We are going to Gatlinburg for a few days later this week and I want to spend some time with him because on August 13 he will go off to kindergarten! My baby in kindergarten, how can that be? I will be doing good to keep it together that day. I don't know why but it is going to bother me so much more than with Madalynn. He is all boy, but at the same time he is kind, sweet, thoughtful, helpful, and loves his sisters- especially the little one! I think he will have fun with us. We never said anything about the possibility of him going to the grandparents. I told Jeremy we needed to make sure and carry him to ride go-carts. We haven't mentioned that we are going to Gatlinburg so it will be a surprise. I was afraid if we did mention it, that Mady would back out of going with Mary Grace to the beach. She is bad to get homesick anyway. M & J stayed up until 11:30 pm talking. You would think she was going to be gone a month!

I have a baby, the last baby, that is now 10 months old! I need to be planning a birthday party right now. It went by so quick even as I realized it was flying by. She is sick with a fever today, which is why I am not the one driving down to drop Madalynn off. I hope she gets better before our trip. I will give an update on her in another post.

The Summer List 2012



School is out for summer!!!

Yay!

Here is our summer to do list for 2012! I hope all these things are "do-able". The only problem is I am going to be doing good to accomplish all this and my daughter thinks it is her duty to add one thing to it daily!

Since our life is anything but typical, I try to make summer full of fun. We can't afford to go on a cool vacation, so we make the simple simply awesome!

We are doing pretty good.

We have signed up for the library summer reading program.

We did a picnic at the farm one day last week since the weather wasn't too hot.

We had a PJ day on Monday since it rained.

We attended VBS (at least Madalynn and Jack did) on Saturday and the kids caught fireflies!

We attempted to go to Raven's Run Nature Sanctuary. The only problem was I had it confused with the McConnell's Springs Nature Park. We still had a great time. I just can't mark that thing off my list!





We took about a 1 mile walk and actually followed some fairly steep trails with the ole' jog stroller.

The weather was great! That is why I wanted to get this crossed off the list. Maybe another day!

We walked for about an hour and stopped and had a snack and a drink.

Miss Lillie Claire getting a drink too!

The most interesting thing by far was the Burr Oak tree that is supposed to be over 250 years old!Amazing!

The branches themselves were as big as tree trunks!

We stopped for a lunch at Zaxby's on the way home. Not exactly where I thought I was going this morning, but a fun day anyway!

YAY - SUCKS DAY!

Yesterday was a YAY - that SUCKS day. Let me explain. I went to bed Monday night WAY too late.It was more like really early Tuesday morning. So I will take credit for starting Tuesday off badly.

So Tuesday morning I did not want to get out of bed which resulted in me getting up not at 5:30 but more like 6 am. SUCKS! In mommy terms I began the day behind. Then I didn't have time to pump- SUCKS. I didn't have time to feed Lillie Claire her cereal before leaving to take the big kids to school- SUCKS. I didn't have to get anything together for preschool or teach - YAY! So at least that wasn't a problem.

My darling daughter the previous evening had decided to get out one page of homework and do it. Only she had about 3 more pages she was supposed to do! So since we have really been on to her lately about her schoolwork, she tries to get it all done before we leave - but after taking her time eating 2 bowls of Fruit Loops! (As a side note, I tell her all the time she is a girl, she has got to learn to multitask!) So she helps make us nearly late for school because she is now in a panic trying to finish homework she should have finished the night before. This episode was complete with everyone except her in the car and me honking the horn! SUCKS!

My son decided not to get out of bed in time to eat breakfast- SUCKS. So I was supposed to put some cereal in a baggie for him to eat on the way to school. Only, I forgot- SUCKS. So I had to take time to go through McD's drive-thru which meant there was no time for my regular Starbucks run- DOUBLE SUCKS! This was also the last day of preschool, and I was supposed to already have teacher gifts bought, but I had forgotten! SUCKS! So I had to add that to my to-do list for while Jack is at school. Plus, since it was the last day of school, I should have taken my "real" camera so I could take a last day of school picture- except I forgot. Then when I went to take a picture of him with his teachers, my phone had so many pictures on it, that it would not work!!! SUCKS!

I was able to run in quite a few places and get some shopping done. YAY! Miss Lillie Claire didn't cry or fuss while shopping. YAY!

PS.  I found out later I had looked at the wrong day on the lunch calendar and I was supposed to pack Madalynn's lunch! SUCKS!

Pictures in time

Lillie Claire's first walk this spring.

After a bath, she had discovered Madalynn's lip gloss!

Wearing the t-shirt from her Aunt Jenna

Lillie Claire's First Shopping Cart Ride

Lillie Claire's first time riding in a shopping cart!

We went to Meijer today and she is getting so heavy in the infant carrier that I decided to let her try out the baby seat. As you can see, she was too busy checking it out to look at the camera.



Lillie Claire Goes to Sunday School

This little lady finally went to Sunday school! Because of the scheduling that accompanies three children, one mama, and church, she had been out in the auditorium with me. I had to get her up to nurse about 6 am, then she would swing and take a little nap. I would pump so I would have a bottle in case of emergency. So that while the big kids were in class, I could go to the nursery and feed her again and not have to worry about dragging all three out to feed her and I wouldn't feel like I was going to explode after not nursing for 5 hours. After I fed her during class, she would then fall asleep during preaching.

Not anymore! She is now still nursing, but also eating solids, so our entire Sunday schedule is different. That means that she is awake from 9:30-10:15 and can go to the cradle roll class! This all happened on March 25, 2012! She was about 6 months old. I think she liked it! She was being held when I got back to pick her up, but not bad for a baby that isn't used to being away from Mama and sitting in the same place for 45 minutes.

Today has been beautiful! Too bad I was stuck indoors and running errands all day! The temps are in the 70's and it isn't raining. The big kids have gone to the farm with Jeremy. I wished Lillie Claire and I could have gone, but it was Miss L's dinner time. Nothing gets between that girl and her food!

We had preschool today and I actually got to prepare before 11 pm the night before. Nothing big, it just makes me feel so much better when I have kind of gotten myself together and am not in a rush.
We talked about Letter U, Number 20 (our last new number), and the theme was Music. I love getting stuff ready and I really thrive when I can give 100% to teaching. I plan every week to work on preschool stuff and it just usually never happens. I guess three kids, a husband, and a farm will do that to you.

I am gearing up to get my garden at the house going. I have a planter project I need to get figured out for the entrance to the farm. And my husband assures me that I will need to start mowing at the farm in a matter of weeks! Whew! Good thing there are only 5 weeks left of preschool and we have more daylight in the afternoons now.

Miss Lillie got to wear her first summer type outfit this afternoon. She had on a long sleeved knit pants outfit today and she was burning up and ill! I changed her when we got home into a cute little bubble outfit that my grandmother made for Madalynn. So cute!

Speaking of Miss Lillie, she is getting to be a pro at this whole solid food thing. I still only feed her baby food once a day, usually at dinner. I don't know how I'm ever going to feed the girl breakfast. It is all I can do to get up and get everything done and get everyone out the door most mornings. I could do lunch, but I am in no hurry since she is my last baby. She still nurses 5-6 times a day. She is still sleeping throughout the night even though we are on the verge of teething. She is drooling like there's no tomorrow, but strangely, only certain times of day!? She has tried green peas, green beans, applesauce, bananas, squash, prunes, and tonight, carrots. She really likes the squash and carrots.

Well, it is 9:30 pm and as I type this, I can hear the little princess squealing instead of sleeping, so I may need to investigate!

Time just flies! I keep meaning to do better and just can't seem to get my head above water. Oh well, it's just my season in life. I am considering a blog makeover to help me get motivated. I sure hate to waste money though.
Miss Lillie's 5 month update. I can't believe she is already 5 months! Time goes by so fast. She seems to be so big and then looks so petite sometimes too. I'll have to get on the scale tomorrow and see what she weighs. She has the cutest little bottom and chubby thighs! I could just eat her up. It has been so long since Madalynn was a baby and Jack never had a chubby stage. I am loving it. She is wearing a size 3 diaper though she could wear a 2. I just really like not having blowouts! Speaking of that, we have started solids. We started brown rice cereal February  and she tried applesauce for the first time on Monday, February 20. She seems to like the applesauce a little better. That or she is just getting a little better at getting the food in her mouth and not pushing it out. I am in no hurry. She is my last baby. I will miss nursing and the boobs that go along with it! Ha! She doesn't nurse as much. Not sure if she is just eating less or if she drinks quicker and gets more, more quickly. I read an article that says they used to think as a baby got older, that the mother would produce more milk and have since found out that isn't the case. They don't go on to say why or what does happen though. I need to look that up.