It's Good to be an Outcast!

The study day that I just finished was all about shepherds.  We are looking at the two "I AM" statements "I am the good shepherd" and "I am the gate."  In this we read all the way back to Genesis where the first shepherd was mentioned (Genesis 4).  We read about how Abel watched over flocks while Cain was a farmer.  Abel brought forth fat portions of some of his firstborns while Cain brought random sacrifices.  God showed favor on Abel's sacrifice, which made Cain jealous, and that jealousy in turn caused Cain to kill Abel.

We then read about David, who was "just a shepherd," being annointed as the next king, and then read in Ezekiel about "shepherds" (kings and priests) not taking care of their "flocks," and God stating that He will send one true shepherd to watch over all of His flock.

And then we read about how shepherds were the first ones to hear about Jesus' birth.  Lowly, outcast shepherds!  And finally, we conclude with Jesus' discussion with Peter about how he needs to give up fishing and to "Feed His Lambs," "Take Care of His Sheep," and "Feed His Sheep."  Jesus wanted Peter to be changed from a quick-judging fisherman to a caring shepherd.

Shepherds were the outcasts...the ones least likely to be asked to do anything important, and yet God used them over and over again in the Bible.  The resonated so much with me because in my town (often referred to as "the bubble), I often feel like such an outcast.  We don't have the money that many have, we don't take the trips that people take, we don't have the house that people have.  I also feel like an outcast at times because I really love being a part of my kids' activities...going to every sporting event.  But so many moms here just appear to think about themselves...they attend if it doesn't conflict with their social calendar.

Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change my situation or my priorities one bit, but that doesn't mean I don't feel left out at times.  Reading this made me feel so much more confident that God has, is and will continue to use me to do His work!  It probably won't be easy, but nothing good comes easily!

:)

A Little Behind but Pushing Through :)

So I'm a few days behind in my Bible study, but that doesn't mean it's not on my mind or that I'm not trying to live love anyway :)

The day that I caught up on (I think it was supposed to be Monday?) was pretty powerful to me, but I'm not sure what to really do with it.  There is a quote in it that I absolutely love: "A little gift placed in the hands of a big God can change the world."  I want to take that quote and put it on a wall somewhere in my house!  It can apply to so much!  Right now I'm sitting in my office which has a wall behind it filled with four large canvases of my kids.  This quote seems extremely appropriate when I think of them...small little people, but if I turn them over to God (including all of my worries about whether I'm raising them correctly or doing anything right), then He will use them to change the world!

The part of this day of study that was and continues to be hard for me to process deals with making time a priority.  When you say that to a mom of four kids in sports (some in multiple at once), it can hit a nerve; especially if that mom craves time with her family...a night with nothing going on.  This happens to be a constant battle in our house :(  I just want family time, but John's thoughts are "what did you expect with four kids?"  Honestly?  I didn't expect this much time-sucking until middles school...like when we were kids :(  But he is right...if we want our kids to have the best chances to place the sports they love as long as they possibly can, then they need to be playing them very seriously right now.  And by seriously, I mean that in January Josh was playing baseball three times per week.

The biggest problem we run into is that John coaches Josh's team, and then helps out with Ryan's baseball and basketball teams as much as he can, so he is gone almost every night of the week.  And if by some chance we do have an unscheduled (or even sometimes scheduled) night off, he will end up staying at the office until 8:00 or 9:00 PM.

So what's the right answer?  I feel like the church side says we need to slow down and not be so scheduled, but the prepare-the-kids-for-high-school side says that the more they practice now, the better chances they will have of making the high school team.

I don't know if there is a right answer, but I know that I have to keep praying about it.  I have to ask God to show me times He wants me to slow down.  And that might not even involve anyone else in the house, just me.  And then there might be times that I need to slow the whole family down, or at least be more deliberate in making the family take time together during the time that we are all together.

Still Going!

Good Morning!
So I would definitely consider yesterday (Wednesday) another success!  The day started with the big kids going off to school and the little boys getting ready without any fighting.  I have a step class at the gym that I like to go to on Wednesday mornings, and lately it's gotten really crowded, so I needed to get there early to get a spot.  So for the first time I had Colton walk to school with Ryan without me.  I put myself above my thoughts of what a "perfect" parent should do.

After my class, I headed home for a super fast shower because I wanted to head over to the other side of the city and hit a furniture store that was closing along with another very large furniture store that was over there.  I only had about 3 hours until the kids would be home, so I had to move fast!  On my way out of my town, Kylie texted me telling me that she was crying and there was drama with her friends.  Now in the past, I would have immediately gotten angry at the fact that my afternoon plans appeared to be messed up, as well become emotionally involved in her drama, which would have led to me trying to fix the problems and give her all kinds of "advice."  Instead, I pulled the car into the next neighborhood I came to and parked.  I continued texting with her for a little bit and told her that I would come and get her if she really needed me to, but that I needed to run some errands so she had better tell me quickly what she wants to do.  In the end, she stayed at school and I continued on my drive with only a 15 minute delay.

The rest of the day was good...I got home right before the big kids got home from school and gave Kylie lots of hugs.  I worked with Josh on his homework and started making dinner.  All of these things lately had been driving me crazy.  I was sick of "mom" jobs, but I felt more like my old self and it felt great!

Day 1 & 2 :)

OK, so while I didn't get to complete my Bible study homework yesterday, I was able to watch the video teaching, which was better than nothing.  It's amazing how if I'm really watching, I can clearly see how satan does everything he can to distract me.

I started my day relaxed...nothing hurried, nothing rushed.  I was going to the gym but I wouldn't let that feeling of "I have to get out of this house right now" creep in...I took my time and got a bunch of stuff done around the house.  Lesson #1 learned, I should have done my Bible study before going to the gym, but alas, I didn't.

As the day went on, I went to the gym and then went to a couple of stores looking for chairs for some rooms that I'm going to have painted.  I was very relaxed!  Then my sister called me to say that she was coming into town (I had offered to watch my niece if she did so she could go and look for cars).  Again, I carefully did not rush, I finished my errands, came home and got ready.  Wouldn't you know it that as soon as I sat down to my computer to do the Bible study, she pulls in?  So the rest of the day was spent with my adorable little niece and then taking care of the kids when they got home from school :)

However, even though I was not able to do my Bible study, I was able to practice "loving patiently" successfully all day...until last night :(  But even then I came out of it on the higher end.  There was a series of events (as it always happens) where my daughter said a very hurtful thing to me, Colton didn't listen, I slammed my finger in the drawer, and then Colton didn't listen again.  I lost it!  But then I calmed myself down and was able to watch a TV show with Josh and then talk to John about the whole thing when he got home from baseball with Ryan.

Today was a different story!  While I started a lot of things around the house (laundry, cleaning the kitchen, etc.), I sat down throughout the day and worked on yesterday's homework and today (so I'm caught up!).  I had one of Colton's friends come over so he has been pretty entertained all day - I've only had to feed them and occasionally help them out with something.

What I learned in Bible Study:
Day 1:
1.) There are two words for life used in the Bible: bios and zoe.  Bios refers to physical life and zoe refers to looking to the fullness of life (the fullness of God). These two types of life are a "both and" not an "either or."
2.) Go allows us to experience spiritual hunger because he wants us to desperately need AND want Him.
3.) Good verse to remember:
Matthew 6:33
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
4.) My declaration: I have to stop expecting to feel fulfilled by people in this physical world!

Day 2:
1.) Feeding the 5,000 - this is the only miracle that is talked about in all four gospels.
2.) This is the miracle performed right before Jesus' I Am statement that He is the bread of life...His disciples still don't really understand who He is and what He is capable of doing!

So far today I think I have done a really great job of "loving patiently" again!  I am beyond amazed at how "easy" it has been.  I say that in quotes because I know it's only "easy" because I prayed for this and John is praying for me...there is no other way to even begin to explain the complete shift in feelings from one night to the next morning.  When I depend on God, good things happen!

'Til tomorrow!

I'm Going To Try This Again...

Life is really crazy at my house right now...really crazy.  So crazy that I'm not really enjoying it at all.  I'm trying to figure out how to deal with it because my unhappiness is really affecting the whole family, and that is the last thing that I want.  So I thought that if I keep myself accountable with blog posts then maybe I can kick this!

Here are some of the other things that I'm going to try this week:
1.) I have a new Bible study starting...Proverbs 31 Online Bible Studies - I Am by Lysa TerKeurst
2.) Each day I'm going to work at practicing "Love" according to I Corinthians 13.  Today is "Patience."
3.) I'm going to try really, really hard to not put so much pressure on myself.  I look at everything my kids do and every single parenting decision I make as how it will affect them long-term.  This pressure is too great for me to handle!  Sometimes my kids are going to talk back to me, and I can't extrapolate that to mean they will be horrible, bratty teenagers if I don't punish them at that moment for talking back.

So hopefully with all of these things, and a lot of prayer, I can go back to being happy with my life.  I have to trust that God is in control of me and that this trial that I'm going through is teaching me something (or lots of somethings).  We happen to be studying James at church right now, so the timing of all of this just proves that God is taking care of me!

I'm Back?

OK, a couple years off...it's amazing to think that I had time to write blog posts when I was working, but now that I'm home, I haven't been able to find time in the last 2 1/2 years to write anything :(  That's going to change right now!  Our family is going through so much right now and I want it captured.  I want to be able to pull these pages out when my kids have their own kids and show them the struggles that we went through and how we dealt with them (or at least prove that we went through them and have come out on the other side).  Life is flying by so quickly right now that this is probably the only way that I'm going to remember it...so here I go...again!

The kids have obviously gotten older...Kylie is 12 and in 7th grade, Josh is 10 and in 5th grade (last year of elementary school :( ), Ryan is 7 and in 2nd grade and Colton is just about to turn 5.  Kylie is still a competitive gymnast (level 7), but is currently injured with a stress fracture in the growth plate in her wrist :( so we are working through her trying to stay in shape while it heals all while she is stressing about not having her skills for competition season in January.  Josh will play his third year of travel baseball next season (practices start in January), which absolutely consumes our lives.  He played baseball from April last year all the way through August 9th - it was a ton of baseball.  Ryan will join him this year as he made the 8U travel baseball team - two Thunder players!  Colton has just started sports this year with flag football this past fall and ninja classes at Kylie's gym.  Wow, just writing all of that has exhausted me!  But it's our life and for the most part, it's very enjoyable ;)

The only way that this has all been possible is that I stopped working outside the home 2 1/2 years ago.  God had put it on my heart for a while before then that I should be home with the kids, but I didn't listen :(  We all know what happens when we don't listen, and 2 1/2 years ago He made is perfectly clear that I was to be home, and of course, He was so right.  The amount of time needed to run the house, raise a child that is still home full-time and get these kids to all the practices, but most importantly, games and meets, was more than I could have handled if I was still working.  And I thank God everyday that I am able to be home...I feel so blessed to be able to stay home and enjoy my last little guy (who goes to Kindergarten next year...yikes!) and still be in such a wonderful community.  I get the best of both worlds now...home with the kids but I do the accounting for John's business, so I get to go to work one day a week for a few hours.

I also wouldn't be able to accomplish all of this if my parents didn't live next door.  I have no idea what I would do without my mom!  She watches Colton so much for me (which allows me to help out at school and go to work and take the kids to their doctor appointments without having to worry about having to entertain a 4 year-old among other things).  When my dad is up on the weekends he takes Colton with him to the school and has lunch with Ryan every Friday.  The kids are always running back and forth between our houses and I LOVE IT! 

I think this is a good start ;)  Hopefully this can become my morning ritual...quiet time with my coffee and memories :)

Happy 4th Birthday Colton!

Colton!  You turned 4 years old today!  You have been looking forward to this day for a very long time, and it's been fun because I don't remember the other kids being so excited about their birthdays this young.

All you wanted to do for your birthday was go to Chuck E. Cheese's.  You have told me that for weeks.  So I booked you a party and we had both sets of grandparents, Aunt Cindy, Aunt Mimi, Uncle Jim and Mya and Mason there.  You played games for over an hour, ate pizza, blew out your candles and ate cake, and then went in the ticket blaster (which you had been looking forward to for weeks!).  You knew exactly what you would get with this party because you had seen the commercial so many times :)  The theme of your party was superheroes, and all you wanted on your cake was Batman and Superman.  Unfortunately the lady who was supposed to do your cake thought I needed it the next weekend, so I ran to Kroger after church and they whipped me up and awesome Batman cake for you!  It all worked out :)

You have grown up so much this past year!  For a while, I was really struggling with you and your crying and your fits and your stubbornness.  I had every intention of making a doctor's appointment for you because I was sure there were some psychological issues that we needed to figure out.  But then, you grew up :)  I don't know exactly when or how it happened, but I know I hit a point where I looked at life and thought that it was actually getting easier.  I used to dread taking you places...I never did it because you were so horrible!  But now, I love the trips we take during the day!  We go to Wal-Mart and you play on the firetruck when I check out and we get Auntie Ann's pretzel-dogs for lunch, we go to Giant Eagle and you ride in the car (you used to go to the play area but they shut that down :( ).  I can even take you to work with me when I go into Daddy's office!  Now that is an accomplishment!  I love the time that you and I get alone everyday!  Which was why I was so glad that you told me you don't want to go to preschool ;)

I'm pretty sure you are left handed.  You throw with your left hand and you bat left handed. Sometimes you still write/color with your right hand, but you usually switch over.  You are slowly fading yourself out of a booster seat at the table...you will sit in it for dinner, and sometimes breakfast, but a lot of times you will nicely ask if you can sit in the big boy chair and you do a great job!  You know your numbers and you are constantly working on what sounds the letters make.  You know how to spell your name :)  First and last :)

You love to play with Legos, cars, planes, and iPads :)  You and Ryan are such buddies (and yet bicker so often!) and will play cars and planes together.  Ryan will build you things with Legos and you will play with them.  You never stop moving.  You have more energy than I know what to do with ;)  which is probably why you are skin and bones and yet probably eat the most of any of the kids. Outside you love to swing, jump on the trampoline, play baseball and football, and mow :) When we go to baseball games, you have your backpack full of cars and planes, and we usually try to pack your mower as well.

You talk like an adult at times and it's hilarious!  Today your dad was making a comment that he shouldn't have done something and you reported right back to him that he had made a bad decision :) You love to retort back, rolling your eyes, with "of course..." (i.e. "of course I'm not going to eat.").

Mr. Colton I love you with all of my heart!  You crack me up and yet also make me want to pull my hair out.  I've often tried to imagine where you will go in life and I just can't see it yet.  You will either be CEO of a company or the goofiest person anyone knows :)  I will tell you one thing - you have the stubbornness (err, OK, the determination) to do WHATEVER YOU WANT! Seriously, you don't take "no" from anyone, and while it's killing me right now, I know that it will do great things for you down the road.

Thank you for surprising us 4 years ago...I can't imagine my life without my little 1/11/11 guy!

Love,
Mommy

Happy 3rd Birthday Colton!

Hey sweet boy!  I can't believe that you are three years old today!  Wow, my baby (literally) is three...what on earth am I going to do not having any actual babies anymore?  You turning three is definitely hitting me a lot harder than the other kids...and I know it's because you're my last baby :(

You are a spitfire of a child, that's for sure!  You are strong-willed to say the very least!  I have never been a fan of James Dobson, but having you made me actually purchase The Strong Willed Child book he wrote...and it fit you to a T!  But as much as you have gumption and fight and will, you have the same amount in love and adorableness and humor.  You have such a personality!  You make me laugh as much as you make me want to pull my hair out :)

You are obsessed with technology.  You have been able to get on my iPad and phone, through the password and to your games for at least the last six months, if not longer.  You come in my room every morning and run right up to me and say "can I play your phone?" as you are unplugging it from the charger.  Your favorite games right now are Temple Run, Subway Surfer and Sonic.  You also LOVE to watch videos on YouTube.  

You make me laugh with the phrases that you are copying from your brothers and sister.  Some of my favorites are: "holy macaroly," "you be kidding me," "how's your deal?" and just tonight while opening your present from Grandma and Pappaw you said "oh I love this, it's what I always wanted, thank you Santa."  We like to tell each other secrets which usually involve a dialog containing the following secrets:  "I love you the mostest," "nugget biscuit nugget in a biscuit," "put the gravy on it now."

You know your numbers and know some of your letters - you have always amazed us at how smart you seem to be.  With Ryan in Kindergarten two or three days a week, there are lots of "mommy/Colton" days.  We love to play together and run errands...one of your favorites is to go to Yutzy's and play on the playground...but only if you're good in the store and ride in the cart!

You potty-trained so easily and night-trained yourself!  We had your paci taken away, but made the mistake of trying to do that, potty train you and move you to a big bed all at once and for a week straight Daddy and I got no sleep and you kept everyone in the house up with your screaming.  Each day you were so hoarse from all you screaming and crying in the night.  So we gave you paci back and we are all sleeping again.  You associate sleep with that thing and have gone back to all your self-soothing techniques that you had taught yourself as a baby.

You are our tallest kid by far!  I can't wait to see how big you get!  So many people couldn't believe that you were only two because of how big you were.  You still have pretty blonde hair and gorgeous big brown eyes.  You are starting to watch tv shows now (your favorites are Team Umizoomi, bubble Guppies, Paw Patrol and Doc McStuffins) and after a disastrous attempt at your first movie in a theater (we went to see Planes in August and you just played with the reclining seats the whole time), we went to see Frozen the other day and you sat and watched the whole movie!

You love to go over to Pappaws and you love helping him in the garden when it's warm outside.  You also love to do anything that the big kids are doing, but you still are good at playing by yourself (which involves playing cars or trains about 98% of the time).  You are also obsessed with bands and love walking around the house playing drums or the cymbals or your trumpet.

Oh my sweet little boy...I love you so very much (actually, I love you the mostest!).  I can't imagine my life without you...you keep me on my toes at all times and I can't wait to see where your strong will takes you in life.  Thank you for being my special little boy!

Love,
Mommy

Happy 5th Birthday Ryan!

Dear Ry-Ry,
Wow, 5 already???  I can't believe that you are so big, and yet, at times (ok, most times), I can't believe you're only this old.  I very often forget that you have only been four, and that you're now only five...you act so much older and when you actually act like your age, I have to catch myself from correcting you.

You are such a sweet little boy...I am told that by everyone that watches you :)  Your blonde hair and big blue eyes just capture anyone that you talk to.

This past year I have watched you grow up so much...you want to do everything that Josh does.  The main thing I have watched you grow in is baseball.  At age four I was able to go out and play catch with you using a hard baseball (not even a t-ball!) - you love baseball, but because your birthday is so late, you can't play t-ball until next summer :(  But that didn't stop you from playing outside with Pappaw or me or Josh all summer long.  We were able to find an indoor t-ball league for you to play for in November :)

When I tuck you in at night it's always a production.  First you have to get a drink, and then I have to re-put all the covers back on you, and then as I'm leaving I hear "oh Mommy, tell Daddy to come up" and then "oh and Mommy, will you come to my football game tomorrow?" and then "oh Mommy, do you know who is playing at my football game tomorrow?" until I finally have to cut you off!  But I love it :)

We knew we were starting you in Kindergarten this year, and you're the only one that I have ever been worried about when making that decision...you were so young!  You were four years-old for five weeks of school!  But since day one I have never regretted our decision.  You are making friends, and you are sounding words out and writing like a champ!  I am so proud of you!  You love having me come to lunch with you and I'm so glad that I can do that since I wasn't able to with Josh and Kylie when they were in Kindergarten.

For fun you like to play baseball and football and hockey, swing on the swing set, jump on the trampoline, ride your bikes, play cars and play legos.  Everyday you like to dress like a certain team from head to toe - so often you will come down in either your Bobcats jersey, Bobcats shorts and Bobcats socks, or your Bears shirt, Bears shorts and Bears socks.  You are following in Josh's footsteps (early unfortunately) by not liking to wear anything except t-shirts and athletic shorts (you especially hate shirts with buttons and khaki shorts!). You have already asked (and I said "no" very quickly) if you could wear shorts all year like Joshie (I told you that you had to be in second grade like he was).

Your friends right now are Zora, Jordan, Zach, Marcus and Cole.  You insist that you are marrying Zora, even though she told you that she had other people that wanted to marry her so she would think about it :)  But the two of you really are the best of friends - she waits for you to walk to school and the two of you always play together at recess.  It's been a hard year for her as you have started to really get into boy things and she wants to do girl things, but I have seen a lot of compromising and you two have learned so much from each other!

Oh Ry-Ry, I could go on and on - you are such a special little boy!  I love you with all of my heart and I hope you continue to be the sweet little boy that you are!

Happy Birthday little man!

Love,
Mommy

No More Diapers!!!

A couple of Fridays ago, I got up with the kids, had a leisurely breakfast with all of them, and then promptly went outside for the rest of the day armed with a little potty and a whole bunch of extra underwear.  Oh yeah, and a 2 year-old :)  I decided it was time to potty train Colton.  Most of the reason was because he had gotten in the habit of randomly looking at me and telling me he was peeing (in his diaper).  I was hoping he was ready, but after our 9 month long debacle with Ryan, I was not holding my breath.

I start out just like I have with every other kid, diaper off, big boy underwear on and I let him go.  He plays for a little bit and then gets on the trampoline.  I hear something like (from him) "there's pee-pee on the trampoline."  I ask him if he peed on the trampoline and he says "yes" with a snarky smile.  I believe that was the only full-blown accident he had.  The rest of the day I hounded him and hounded him to pee on the potty (total rednecks outside with our little potty in the side yard and a little boy running around in underwear) and he did a great job.  I was worried because he didn't pee very often, but now, weeks into this, I realize the kid really doesn't go very often.  

The rest of the weekend went just like that...I couldn't believe how easy the whole process was, especially after everything we had gone through with Ryan just a few short years ago!  But he was amazing!  The only issue that we had to overcome was pooping.  Just like the other kids, he had some fear of pooping on the potty.  We tried everything.  I remember on Josh's birthday John sitting in the bathroom with Colton for an hour, Colton screaming and crying, and nothing coming of it.  I took a whole plate of oreos, chocolate coverd pretzels and other goodies in to him while on the potty just so he knew as soon as he went, he could have it all, but nothing.  We had a great story about how his poopies want to go down the drain to play baseball with the other poopies (which he loved and we still use to this day) but nothing.  The problem was that he wasn't going in his diaper either, so after a few days he was backed up and in pain.  He went through a bottle of prune juice and a bottle of apple juice and nothing.  Finally I gave in and gave him Miralax and that did the trick!  

A few weeks later and he's still apprehensive about pooping, but at least we are not having any accidents with it.  He stills wears a diaper to bed at night, but he's in underwear for naps.  Even with all this time, I'm still waiting for something to go wrong.  I just can't believe that I was lucky enough to have 3 out of my 4 kids be super easy potty-trainers, especially with how similar Colton is with Ryan in everything, I was sure it was going to be another 8 month battle.  But he's doing great...amazing!  Just another sign that my baby is not a baby anymore.  And I can't believe that after 10 years of having to buy diapers, we are finally done!!!

Now if we could just get rid of his stinkin' pacifier...

Happy 8th Birthday Joshie!

Dear Joshie,
Seriously???  8 years-old already?  Where on earth did this past year go?  I cannot believe that you are 8...you are still 5 in my mind...

This past year has been awesome for you, no surprise there.  You had a wonderful year in 2nd grade - great teacher, good friends and I think you may have even learned something too :)  And you still don't care if the teacher and the kids call you "Joshie" (which most of them do).  Anytime I had the chance, you still wanted me to walk you to school, walk you into your classroom, have lunch with you and pick you up from school.

You played flag football both fall (where you were named MVP for your team) and spring (where you finally won the championship!), basketball and baseball.  Just yesterday you had assessments for tackle football.  TACKLE!!!  You can't be big enough for all of this yet, can you?  You have had an awesome baseball season...one of the best on the team even though you are one of the littlest (if not the littlest).  And I absolutely love the feeling I get when I watch how surprised people are with how good you are when they weren't expecting it based on your size.  Everyone at baseball knows that if the ball comes anywhere near you, there's no worry, you will get it.  And you and Troy as pitcher-first base combo is unbeatable!!

So far this summer has had you swimming like crazy with all of your friends at the pool, playing baseball (both with us and with Pappaw) and playing on your iPod.

You are still my easy-going kid (for the most part).  You make us laugh every single morning with your "songs" and your overall personality.  You get so many laughs from all of us that Ryan and Colton continuously copy everything that you do.  You still like to give me hugs and so far nothing I do embarrasses you.

The biggest thing for you this year was that you recently got glasses!  I felt so bad because you said that you couldn't see the time on the cable box from the couch and that you couldn't read the scores on the TV without being right up next to it, but you thought that was normal and never said anything to us :( So I took you in and sure enough you needed glasses.  You look so cute in your glasses!  The minute you put them on you said two things:  1.) "I can see!" and 2.) "Everything is in HD!!"  :)

Some funny things from you this year:
1.) "nugget biscuit nugget in a biscuit...."
2.) "farty-farty squawk-squawk"
3.) "butt chicken butt"
4.) "bump up tomatoes, I like the ocean, bring back your love to me"
5.) The butt smacking...so many ways, all super funny.  The best is "golf butt smack"
6.) He went the whole school year without ever wearing pants.  That was his goal this year - good to know I have a kid that accomplishes his goals :)

Having you as my little boy is the most awesome thing in the world!  You are such a sweetie and I love waking up to you each morning! Thank you for being an awesome 8 year-old!!

Love,
Mommy

Happy Double-Digits!!

Dear Ky-bear,

Wow, a decade old today.  Where have the past 10 years gone?  When I think about how long 10 years is, and yet how fast it has flown by…it just doesn’t work.  Regardless, I couldn’t be more proud of what you have become over the last 10 years…

You are finishing up the fourth grade.  I got a call the other day from the gifted teacher that you will definitely be in SOAR next year for reading and math.  Thank goodness!  We can go back to hours and hours of tears each night over math homework.  To any normal person that would sound horrible, but we all know that’s what you need (and want).  I won’t hear “I’m so bored in math…I already know how to do all this stuff” again!  You are getting ready to head into the fifth grade, which means you will rule the school!  I swear you just started Kindergarten!  And next year you will have two brothers in school with you because Ryan will be starting Kindergarten.  You had a pretty big project due a few weeks ago, and because of how responsible and self-disciplined you are, I had no idea where it stood or really how important it was until I went to the Investigation Fair.  And of course, your report and display were amazing!  You wanted your teacher and class to call you “Kylene” this year, and it really threw me!  Every time your teacher would say “Kylene,” it sounded so weird!  I think you’re going back to “Kylie” next year :)

You finished up level 5 in gymnastics this year.  You’ve been at Gym X-treme almost one full year now and I can’t believe how much you have improved!  You have gone to practice for 12 hours each week all school year, and you’ll go for 18 hours per week in the summer.  You got better at each meet and ended the season scoring your highest all-around at State’s.  Next year you will be level 5, which is like the old level 6, but they are changing the system so your actual level will stay the same, but the skills will be harder.  You have been working your new skills and have perfected your back walkover on the high beam and have been working your back handspring on the high beam!!  You also have your back handspring back tuck.

You have been a really good big sister to your brothers.  You and Josh get along really well and are into as much of the same things as I could expect from a boy and a girl.  And you help me out so much with Ryan and Colton!  In the mornings, you will get Colton out of his crib and turn the television on for him.  You are such a sweet girl!

You are such a wonderful daughter.  You really mean the world to me and I can’t imagine what my life would be like if you were not my daughter.  Thank you so much for putting a smile on my face each and every day!

I love you princess!!

Love,

Mommy

(Semi) Retirement Recognition...

Late yesterday afternoon, we loaded up the kids (minus Ryan because he was already down there) and headed down to Athens.  My parents didn’t know it yet, but at the banquet that they were attending, the accounting department at OU was going to honor them as my mom retired last year and my dad is kind of planning to retire this summer.  Although in academia-land, that doesn’t mean they’ll actually stop working…my mom still teaches one semester a year, and my dad is planning on doing that as well…when he actually goes through with retirement.

We dropped the kids off with John’s dad and met my sisters before heading in to the “cocktail” hour.  I say that loosely because there were no freaking cocktails – silly school-sponsored event :)  My dad was very confused.  He said he saw our nametags sitting there and just figured whoever made the name tags had just printed all accounting alumni or something.  I could tell, even as he was trying hard to socialize and introduce us to people we didn’t know, that he was worried/stressed/baffled about what was in store.  When my mom walked in she too was quite confused.

We moved into the banquet room, the president of Beta Alpha Psi said a few words, and we were up to get our food.  We ate dinner, and about an hour later the presentation began.  There were a couple of awards, including one for my dad for “faculty innovation.”  Then they brought up a former student who gushed and talked about how my mom had convinced her to change her major to accounting and how influential she and my dad both were.  She then invited my mom to come up and say a few words.  Then another student came up and talked about his first encounter with my dad, and how he changed his life forever, and then my dad went up and said a few words.

The rest of the banquet was pretty boring…I browsed Pinterest most of the time :)  But afterwards, there were rounds of congratulations, talking to professors that I hadn’t seen in years, and then a family picture.  Then John and I left to go pick up the kids and make the hour and forty minute drive back to Columbus.

I was lucky enough to have my dad as my professor for two sets of accounting classes (my mom had not yet begun teaching when I was in school).  He was everything everybody said he was.  He taught with passion and gave so many real-life examples that really brought the books to life.  His most recent achievement is writing the textbook for each year of Accounting 101.  He updates it with current students’ names (and also with kids’ and grandkids’ names) and the students seem to love it.  I can’t see my dad ever being done with teaching…his heart and soul belong in a classroom.  It’s amazing to think that the courage it took to change career paths so many years into a career would pay out in so many ways.  My dad went back to school to get his doctorate when I was 5, which would have put him in his late 30’s.  I don’t remember my parents making that decision, but I do remember when they were trying to decide between moving from State College, PA to either Peoria, IL or Kent, OH.  I was playing outside and they kept telling us they would take us for ice cream once they had decided.  I don’t believe we ever got ice cream because they talked late into the night.  My mom and I had even gone and visited Bradley University (in Peoria, IL).  In the end, they decided on Ohio, where my dad taught for years before moving down to Ohio University in Athens.  I was always pretty upset about that move…I was a Junior in high school after all.  But I did meet John my senior year and it was very apparent that Athens, OH was where God wanted my mom and dad to be.

An April Weekend...

Another weekend came and went (and another week is coming and going as we speak…why does it have to go so quickly??).  Friday night was the school’s skate night at the nearby ice rink.  So after racing home from a late night at work, I sent Colton over to my parents, and John and I took Ryan and Josh over to the ice rink (Ky was at gymnastics).  We only ended up getting to skate for about ½ hour, but it really was the perfect amount of time :)  Josh kept falling (but he insisted on skating by himself), and Ryan was killing our arms and backs after a while :)  After that we went and picked up Kylie from gymnastics and then went home and ate and relaxed.

Saturday was a crazy day, as usual.  We decided instead of making our usual big breakfast, we would go out to visit the “new” ihop.  So we picked up the girl that we were taking to gymnastics and headed over there.  We only had about an hour and a half until the girls had to be at practice, and unfortunately, there was a long line at ihop :(  So we headed over to Bob Evans – specifically the one closer to the gym.  We got seated right away (surprising with a party of 7) and put our order in right away.  About 35 minutes later a manager comes over and explains to us that there was a back-up in the kitchen and a ticket was lost and they were trying to hurry to get us our food.  I explained to him that we needed to leave in five minutes in order to get the girls to practice on time.  Our food came out about five minutes later and the kids all scarfed it down.  Outside of being stressed about the time, the breakfast was extremely enjoyable!  The manager then came over and told us that when we were done, we could just leave; he was taking care of the check.  We were shocked!  John and I explained that he didn’t need to do that, but he insisted that it was their fault that we were so late and he needed to take care of it.  Let me tell you, that left a huge impression on me about that particular Bob Evans!  And the girls only ended up being about 5 minutes late to practice (although if you asked Kylie, that’s the same as being an hour late, ugh!).

After we dropped the girls off, we headed home so that John could take the boys to football practice and I headed out with Colton to do the grocery shopping.  We had a great time!  At least until I ran into another gym mom and spent what Colton thought was too much time talking.  I finally ran out of things to distract him, so we wrapped our conversation up and finished the shopping.  After that we headed over to pick Ryan up from football practice so that he wouldn’t have to stay there the whole next 1 ½ hours for Josh’s practice.  Then it was home for lunch and naps.

I spent the rest of the day doing miscellaneous stuff around the house like laundry, and then I ran to the store to get the ingredients for the family-voted chimichangas.  We had a great dinner and then everyone relaxed and then went to bed.

Sunday was the usual church and football :)  It was chilly out, that’s for sure, but it was sunny and did get progressively warmer as the games went on.  After the games (Ryan had an awesome flag pull and a great catch and Josh had a bunch of flag pulls and scored), we went home and the two little boys napped while John and I went out and sat with the neighbors, which we haven’t gotten to do in a while.  It was so nice that all of a sudden it was 5:30 and we had to go in and get ready for some friends that were coming over.

I went in and whipped up the cookies I had started baking before we went outside and we ordered the pizza.  Our friends, who is also the children’s pastor at church, arrived and scarfed down their dinner and headed out to play.  Us adults started talking about and planning our VBS for this summer.  It was really exciting starting to think about all of this already :)  We talked for a while, and then it was time for them to leave and us to get the kiddos into bed.  And then John and I collapsed into bed…again :)

Catch-Up :)

Holy cow…where has the time gone?  Every day I tell myself that I’m going to write a post about the cool things we did the night before, and then before I know it, the week has flown by!

Two weeks ago Ryan and Josh had their first football game, and then they had another one this past Sunday.  Both times the weather was decent (a little chilly for me, but sunny and no coats!).  They both did fantastic!  This past Sunday Ryan caught a pass, pulled a flag and threw a touchdown pass!  He was on fire!

Last week, I was able to take Josh and Ryan to a CBJ season ticket holder appreciation event.  The girl I work with has season tickets to the Blue Jackets and wondered if I would want to bring the boys, and of course, I jumped right on it!  We had so much fun!  I swear it was the fastest three hours!  We got a bunch of autographs (got the ones the boys said they “had to have”).  They also got to go out on the ice and shoot pucks at a goal and play air hockey on the giant air hockey table.  Definitely a super fun night!

That following Saturday I headed to Cincinnati with my mom and sister to pick up her wedding dress.  We made a stop at the outlets and I got some cute clothes – it is so weird shopping by myself…I kept turning around looking for my kids :)

When we got to Cincinnati, one of my sister’s other bridesmaids and I went into the cupcake shop and had a cupcake while we waited for everyone else.  Then we went over to the bridal shop and she put her dress on and it was gorgeous!  The dress looks so beautiful and she looks so beautiful in it!

After we were done at the bridal shop, we headed to dinner.  The restaurant that she picked had a really nice atmosphere and the food was really good!  Then we packed up the car and headed back to Columbus.

This past Tuesday was a big day for Ryan – Kindergarten screening!!  I just can’t believe he’s going to school next year!  I brought him home from the hospital just weeks after Kylie had started Kindergarten :)  When it was time to leave, we headed out the door and Ryan practically ran the whole way to the school.  When we got there, he got his little bus name tag and walked around to all the different stations while I filled out all the forms.  He did very well on everything!  He was one excited kid walking back home afterwards :)

That night, we had Josh’s wax museum presentation.  The 2^nd graders do a research project on an individual and then “perform” for the parents in a wax museum setting.  We walked around pushing the buttons of all the kids and listening to their presentation of facts.  I was super proud of Josh because most kids read note cards and he had his whole thing memorized!  He did a fantastic job!

So a pretty busy last couple of weeks!  And it’s only going to get busier as baseball for Josh is about to start up!  Thankfully, Kylie only has one more gymnastics meet, so we won’t have to worry about weekend traveling until next December :)  

Finally, Nice Weather!

The weather has finally decided to get nice here in Ohio (I mean we only had to wait until April 9th, geesh!). It will be short lived this week - we have a cold front coming in and the weekend will be chilly again (go figure). But it was so nice to be outside last night...I definitely saw a glimpse of summer :)

When I got home from work, I got dinner into the oven (cheesy chicken lasagna) and then I told Kylie and Colton that we were headed outside! John had Josh and Ryan at football practice, so it was just the other two kids and I. Kylie jumped on the trampoline (I can't believe how good she's getting - gorgeous back handspring back tucks, front handspring front tucks and beautiful split jumps) and I pushed Colton on the swing. After a while, he wanted to jump with Kylie and it was so funny watching them jump together (or rather, Kylie lay down and Colton jump). After a little bit, dinner was ready, so we went inside, without any protest from Colton (probably because he had been outside with Miss G. a lot earlier and he was beat!). 

We ate dinner (very yummy!) and then Colton asked me to snuggle with him on the couch, so we turned on Bubble Guppies and snuggled together. John and the boys got home pretty late (around 9:00), and just about then I sent Ky up to bed and got Colton into bed. The other boys ate their dinner and then got showers and went to bed. 

It was a wonderful, laid-back night!

She's Growing Up...

This post is password protected (I don't want to embarrass my daughter). Please e-mail me for the password!

A Calming Reminder...

Dear Me,

Your life has been crazy the last few months.  You have barely had time to catch your breath let alone put up blog posts (even though you are so behind you haven’t even put up Christmas pictures yet!!).  Give yourself a break!  Stop feeling bad…you will return, with pictures, sometime.  And of course the driver of your guilt is the fact that about 4+ months have passed by that you have not documented.  Big deal!  You didn’t even start blogging until Josh was about 1, so what’s a couple of months?

The last few months have brought a super crazy work schedule, a basketball season for Josh (yep, came and went without a single post or picture about it), a bunch of gymnastics meets for Kylie, Ryan becoming totally obsessed with hockey, and Colton turning 2 and saying and doing the most hilarious things ever (i.e. “Heeeeyyyy sexy lady.”  They will all be documented, just a little late.

So quit stressing about it…and get some type of photo editing software on your computer so that you can at least remove the red eye in your pictures and post those for goodness sake!

Love,

Yourself :)

Colton's 2-Year Stats...

Today Colton had his 2-year check-up and this is where he ranked:

Height: 36 1/2 inches (94%)
Weight:  28.4 lbs. (69%)
Head:  48 cm (42%)

The doctor said he was perfect!  She commented on how I got another good talker again and seemed to have a lot of fun talking to him :)

Found out some sad news at the appointment...our doctor is retiring :( We've been with her for 4 1/2 years (the longest we've been with any doctor) and it's just really sad that we won't get to see her anymore.  I really hope we find one that we like just as well.

Happy 2nd Birthday Colton!

Dear Colton,

Oh little buddy...you turn two today!  Where in the world have the last two years gone?  I feel like it was just yesterday that we were in the hospital, on that super snowy day, welcoming our last little baby into the world.  To say you've changed so much since then would be the understatement of the century!

Your vocabulary is amazing!  You have understood everything we are saying for a while now, and have now begun spitting out sentences that just blow my mind.  Looking back, your early entry into the "why?" phase was probably an early sign...

You try every word that I ask you to and say most words perfectly clear.  Except "s's," those you don't say at all if they're in the beginning of the word (for example, a recent question of yours to Daddy - "are you going to leep?" when he meant "sleep").  It is so fun listening to you talk...I really can't get enough of it!

You are into drums.  Plain and simple, you love drums.  And if you don't have drums, you will turn stuff into drums.  Thankfully, a lot of people definitely hooked you up for Christmas when it comes to the drums/drumsticks department :)  You love getting to church early to watch Mr. Dan play the drums, and often he and crazy Mr. Mike will let you play the drums after church.  You LOVE it.  You went through a phase where all you wanted to do was watch The Marching 110 on YouTube on Daddy's iPad (and we'd try to switch it up with the OSU band but you would not have any of that!).  Whenever there is a parade on and the band walks by you go nuts!  "There's the band!" is what you yell to us :)

You copy Ryan in EVERYTHING!  So naturally, you play a lot of football.  And you yell plays. And you yell penalties. With no rhyme or reason.  i.e. "first down, on the offense, no good."  But seriously, if Ryan is saying it or doing it, so are you.  Thankfully Ryan is pretty good with letting you play with him and teaching you how to do things :)

Partly as a result of your obsession with the band, you have two songs that you sing a lot "Gangnam Style" and "Party Rockers."  And he does repeat lyrics!  One time John was driving you around in the car-cart at Giant Eagle and you were belting out "Heyyyy sexy lady!" right to the beat.

You are a smart little cookie, that's for sure!  You can count to 10 and sing your ABC's.  You haven't got your colors yet, which kind of worries me, but I've been worried with all the boys, so I try to keep reminding myself it's OK :) You can also get completely out of your feetie-pajamas (as was how I found you one morning), but thankfully you are such a good smart boy that I yelled at you and you haven't done that again.

You LOVE Thomas and Lightening McQueen and your favorite shows are Bubble Guppies and Team UmiZoomi.  And you are still so very attached to your OU monkey!  You will not go to sleep without it, no matter how hard we try!  There was one night I had to give it to you wet from the washer because you were crying for it, and take it back to put in the dryer once you were asleep.  You also still sleep with a paci and often try to trick anyone who doesn't know the rules into letting you have it at other times (or sometimes you just go and pull it out of your crib when we're not watching).

Your favorite foods are poptarts and cocoa-puffs for breakfast, and then cottage cheese, yogurt, mac 'n cheese, crackers and milk.  You love milk!

Oh Colton - you are such a sweetie and I love you so much!  I can't imagine what my life would be without you - you make me laugh so hard!  Thank you for being such a vital part of this family!


Happy Birthday little CoJo!

Love,
Mommy