project 52:13 - homemade

I have developed a love for making things homemade.  Being a work at home mom, I can find snipits of the day here and there to make some homemade bread, or a snack, or something I would normally buy from a box like Bisquick.  I love to pour love into what I'm making to feed my family with!  And, I've said before, I'm more and more motivated to stay out of the grocery store & try to make do at home.


We are trying to keep our kids "homemade" too...and I'm not sure what I mean by that other than we are trying to limit the outside influences on them, keep the toys simple & less, & keep them home with us as much as possible.  No one agrees on anything when it comes to kids...but that's the beauty in it.  WE get to raise OUR kids as we see fit.  


(this was a picture from my iPhone...and it's not very good, but the cinnamon rolls were AMAZING!! Find the recipe here:http://www.food.com/recipeprint.do?rid=50722)

Moms of the year

I think pretty much anyone who's asked about the trip has heard this story, but again for posterity's sake...I have to record it.

As we are setting foot on the beach, we hear someone say something about jellyfish...so we start looking.  We see these pretty blue blobs & wonder is that really what they mean?  These things looked like they screamed "don't touch me" but NOTHING at all like I've ever seen a jellyfish look like, so we debate it & warn the kids to not touch.

Time goes by...we get more & more comfortable on the beach & are really having fun.  Before too long, Jack has disobeyed me   become more brave & says "Hey mom, I picked one of those jellyfishes up & it didn't cut me!"  Again with the warnings, be careful's, etc but we are gradually letting our guard down.  Fast forward and Cara & I are sitting on the beach, enjoying our time & all the kids have a bucket full of these blue blobs, have named them, made a moat for them & are all-out playing with them.

That night, we decided to find an official name for these strange creatures on Google...

We discovered that we were letting our kids play with Portuguese Man of Wars. Or men of war...I'm not sure.  Anyway...we were more serious about keeping them out of the pretty blue blobs hence forth & considered ourselves lucky to have not had any stings!  By the way...we did find out that they make a cool popping sound when a vehicle runs over them!!

Sand Castles on the Beach
 

The sunsets and sunrises were hazy and beautiful...

And yes...there's still more. 

 

Port A

So, we took off on a journey of epic proportions...driving many, many hours & never leaving the state-something that's only possible in Texas.  We wanted to take the kids to the beach, & Port Aransas was our final destination.

To say it was fun does not encompass it, doesn't do it justice.  (I need new descriptive words!)  I would definitely recommend this sweet seaside town to families wanting the beach experience.  We stayed in a condo outside of the city limits, which was perfect-it had private beach access that was within walking distance.  The condo was well-stocked & spacious.

We packed light but STILL filled up the 'burb!

Leaving Friday afternoon, we made it half way & stayed overnight.

Even though we pulled in at close to midnight, the kids were up early with their smiles on ready to get to the beach!

This was a welcome sight after driving for two days!  We are here!!! 

Every condo at our resort had a view of the beach...

 And moving in was all hands on board!

We wasted no time getting out to the beach...

 Jack found lots and lots of seashells.

More pictures...more stories to come!

If you are interested, we stayed at Mustang Towers. 

project 52:12 - letting go

I've had to learn to let go of a lot of things as a mom.  Letting go of worrying about things like the fact that your baby is probably sitting in goose poop so that she can fully enjoy the wonderment that is geese in a pond at a park.


Letting go of perfect...house, schedules, car, kids (who wants that anyway?  Bor-ring!).


Letting go of worries...safety, future, opinions of others...& remembering God is in control & worry doesn't fix anything.


But sometimes you have to let go of things you don't want to let go of.  That's a hard one...

Barney and nosebleeds

What a catchy title, huh?

Macy, when she was 2 & 3, loved Sesame Street & Dora.  Jack loved Backyardigans and could not stand either of the previous mentioned.  Now we are at Lily...she loves Strawberry "Kortcake" as she calls it, Max & "Roooby"...and most recently Barney.  But she will tell you NOT the "sign-a-dors" (dinosaurs) which is Dinosaur Train-it must be Barney!

Ava seems to have similar tastes...don't you love the boots on Ava?  Really compliments the pjs.

Shifting gears, for some reason my kids seem to be prone to nosebleeds-pretty heavy, without prompting (or picking), hard to stop, striking even in the middle of the night, kind of nosebleeds.  Macy started when she was three & has had them so bad that we actually had to have one side of her nose tortured cauterized.  It was traumatic & she was impressively brave.  Jack now gets them, not as frequently, but he does occasionally.  Recently Lily was reading a book in the playroom & SHE got one!  There was blood everywhere while she tried to find me, saying "Mommy, my nose is drippy!"  I took her to the bathroom & got a tissue to stop the bleeding & while we were waiting she says "Momma, I'm kinda getting a little freaked out!"  Drama with that girl.

Jack shows his little boy humor often-sometimes it's annoying, sometimes it's frustrating, but sometimes all you can do is chuckle.  Today, as always, drop-off at school was a sideshow-kids climbing out everywhere, backpacks flying, doors opening.  The school crew always make reference to clowns in a clown car when we pull up (I carpool with another family).  Anyway, I get the doors shut and pull away & just as I'm turning the corner I see a head pop up & hear "Hi mommy!"  It was Jack-he had hid from the school patrol & thought it was hilarious...so I get in the line again & get some funny stares & they open the door again & let him out.  It was so unexpected, & crafty, I had to give him credit & laugh.  At least he didn't wait until I was close to home!!  Maybe, just maybe, Lily would have ratted him out though.

Project 52:11 - finding peace within chaos

As a momma you have to find ways to recharge, to find moments of calm despite all the chaos around you. Sometimes its rising before the kids get up, or it's naptime...or sometimes its a week at the beach with one of your very best friends and all of your kids, listening to the surf and feeling the calm, the peacefulness in God's beautiful creation.  Very few things leave you as speechless as the ocean-it's size is almost overwhelming, the smells, the sounds so unique.


The crash of the waves drown out the noise and the kids just played-splashed & frolicked & dug.  They were affected by the water too, it worked it's magic on them as well...everyone was happy and in awe and no one complained or cried (much). 


This is a place we will go back to, I'm sure of it!


"I've got a peaceful, easy feeling..."

Project 52:10 - graceful

I am upfront & honest that on this blog I choose to focus on the fun, positive, sentimental times of life...but that doesn't mean that the "other" times don't exist.  I just feel there's enough complaining-about-children blogs out there claiming to be "real" that I don't want my kids to look back someday and ever think I hated my job of raising them.  Because I never have...and never will...not even for a day.

That said, today was a day God gave me to practice patience...like 200 times I had the opportunity.  And each time, I'm pretty sure I failed.  But at the end of the day, when a lot of us moms look back & think of all the things we wish we would have said differently (the time the enemy loves to remind us of failings), I keep being reminded of God's grace, that each time today was a learning opportunity for the next time and with God's grace I'll do better.  

"Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return..."

Lent starts today, a beautiful reminder of God's bountiful grace.  

(My project 52 is early this week because Friday I am leaving on an epic journey!  Praying for a safe, fun Spring Break for all.)

Conversation with Jack

Jack gets in the car with a whole bag of popcorn & shares some of it (a handful each) with Lily & Ava.  While this is commendable for Jack, Lily asks for more...and more.  I hear Jack saying "If you don't slow down eating that I'm not going to have a whole, whole bunch for me!"

I interject "That's right Jack, that's just what I remember the bible saying.  Jesus says to make sure YOU have lots and lots and to not worry about your neighbor."

Jack thinks for a minute (imagine him with a stocking hat on & shaking his head back & forth), then he says "Well...YOU need to be reading the bible more because that's not what it says at all.  It says you should share."  And he proceeds to eat his popcorn.

Jack doesn't get sarcasm.  At all.

(But he's sure cute when he sleeps!)

Moments

How are you staying fully awake in this life?

*thanks Ginger, for sharing this.

project 52:9 - linked

I cannot let this week pass without commenting on the grass fires that ripped through our community this past week.  Like the Santa Anna winds, our Spring winds can wipe out thousands upon thousands of acres of land in hours...this time, though, they were especially devastating.   

Whether or not your house was one of the 50 or 60 that burned on that fateful, windy day, we were all affected because motherhood is a commonality, it's something shared, to when there is a crisis we watch the news and we pray for those mothers that have been forced to leave everything behind & stand in 70 mile per hour wind with an overpass for a wind block, waiting, waiting, watching through binoculars to see if there will be anything left of their house.  

You can't help but think of memories left behind-the photos, the birth certificates & locks of hair, special pictures drawn by little hands...things no insurance policy can replace.  And you also know that deep down the only irreplaceables are our little ones, to which we all thank God that none of them were lost. 

Posterity

Because one of my main reasons for this blog is to record things the kids do and say to have to look back on, I have to post some random, silly-to-me things the kids have said and include some random (mostly iPhone) pictures.

Nap time continues to be one of my most favorite times of the day, for a multitude of reasons, but this being the top one.  Ahhh...I love baby snuggles and Ava gives the best.

Someday, some day, I will buckle down and make her part with the pappi...but not today.  I'm too afraid it holds the key to the snuggles.

This was the last minutes of the sweetest display of big brother love-not that the love ended, just that the moment passed before I really got to capture it.  The two of them were sitting on the front porch playing, Jack being so sweet & caring.  He & Ava are a good pair.  The compassion he shows her makes my heart smile.

I don't believe in cleaning glass (don't pretend for my sake that you overlooked ALL the finger prints on the door), especially if it's within reach of grubby paws...it adds character to the house...and also warns guests of impending attack from four children.

Remember the movie Teen Wolf?  We can't let him out at night.

It is so messy when you have to trim the furry beast that is my son inside because it's below freezing outside.

This one just makes me laugh-it's her expression.  Fashion is a serious thing, people.

She's holding a phone...and she had been like this for about 10 minutes, without moving.  It's her almost-asleep-zone, except she forgot to unhand the phone attached to her ear.

These two pictures are from our school night at the Discovery Center.  Macy's friend Aaron got to be the volunteer to demonstrate the power of electrical currents.  Did you know you will get a HECK of a shock if he were to touch you while holding on?  The kids could feel "the force" just by him hovering his hand over them.  And, it made his hair stand up-always wanted to do that!

Jack is wearing his daddy's indian war bonnet from when he was a kid.

And a shark tooth necklace.  And a panda bear.  And stretchy cockroaches that stick to the wall when you fling them (thanks Santa).

And, don't grandmas have the coolest things around?  Like bigger-than-life bears for you to waller?

This is Paddington Bear & has been around for a very long time...he started his life in our family in Great Grandma Dovie's shop (I think!) where she sold children's clothing back when my husband was a little boy.  It was called the Cabbage Patch (she was cool before the dolls!).

Ava looks entirely too big in this picture.  Dang it...she's growing up too.

But what this picture does mean is that Spring is on its way...whether it takes a detour (hoping not!) or just hangs around like it's been the past couple of days, we can resume our park time with friends.  And to that I say-Yahoo!

Lily is in a very, very literal phase of life.  She tore up something of Macy's & I was scolding her for it, saying "Lily, shame on you!"  She starts crying, begging me to "not put shame on me mommy!"  I'm not sure what she thought shame was but she knew she didn't want it on her!  She asks every time I mention we have errands to run if we are going to Aaron's house.  If you get onto her for something, she will ask "Are you still my friend?" to which you have to reply "Of course, I'm still your friend Lily" (she will ask you to say it again & include the "of course" part).  And, there's always the funny mispronunciations...today she wanted a drink from the water mountain.