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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Trudging through mud and dragging everyone with me...

Too often I feel like I spend my days trudging through mud and dragging everyone with me. All five of them. Uphill. With at least 2 of them crying. One pouting. One whining. And the big one, my husband, digging in his heels.

Anyone else feel that way? Sometimes it's getting ready for church or school, or while trying to pick up the house before a client comes by. Other times, it is just a regular day and I seem to be the only one working toward the goals of the day. Maybe I'm the only one aware of all the things on the "to do" list...

but sometimes, the days are easy. and we make cupcakes. and decorate them. and the messy kitchen doesn't matter.

the loads of laundry are small in comparison to the returning health of the two little ones. stomach bugs seem to be the only thing the 1 year old and 2 year old want to share these days.



Case = Meerkat, Stroman = Captain America, Lexi=LadyBug, Cyd=Taylor Swift

stroman was a very convincing Captain America
and we managed to get everyone dressed up to go trick or treating. and attend the local fall festival. i even had a conversation with another adult other than my husband. remarkable!

case and madeleine

And we managed to visit some dear friends. Case and Miss M were born on the same day!



My attempt at craftiness. It sparkles. I love!

Cydney's rockin' her Taylor Swift outfit.

Lexi isn't pouting, she's chomping on candy!

Sometimes, trudging through the mud to get things done is the only way anything happens, but it is all a blessing!


Friday, February 11, 2011

sometimes our heart does break

stroman's been a main topic here lately. until mid-January, he'd been home with me and that means lots of talking with momma time. sometimes it's funny. sometimes it's exhausting. but most often listening to stroman makes me tear up.

tonight we received news that a man from our church had a massive heart attack while taking part in one of his favorite activities, swimming.

while we waited for word from the hospital, stroman and cydney were on their beds looking at a few books. i was holding case, begging him to go to sleep. (which he refused.) meanwhile, drew had gone to read with the kids.

i should probably tell you that we are open with our children about life. we feel that they need to know about the realities of life and death. we try to make sure they are aware of dangers but not scared of the world. we discuss heaven and hell, usually as answers to their questions.

tonight, drew told them about our friend.

cydney and stroman came running to get me to do prayers and stroman said, "hey mom, you wanna come pray for George (our dog that died last year), Sammy (his friend from pre-K who stapled his thumb this week) and the man who had an accident in the pool at daddy's school and his heart broke?"

his words were so completely innocent, honest and perfectly described what happened. dan's heart did break. after we had tucked the bigs in bed, we learned that Dan had died. we are comforted to know that his relationship with God was strong, yet we are sad that we won't be able to enjoy him anymore. we ache for his family and hope they have peace and comfort during what must be an incredibly challenging time.

and we will stop to listen more to what our children have to say in their uniquely honest ways.

Monday, January 31, 2011

It's Almost Valentine's Day...

which means I'll be right on time if I get my photos from Christmas online today!

a little room to breathe here people!

i just finished the best book...ROOM.

stayed up late. didn't do a thing this a.m. until i finished it.

lovely use of language. still thinking about the characters.

meanwhile...look what i found on the external today...

Case

Lexi

she really likes hats

drew took this one...beautiful!

Cydney before Christmas Program


but she's really a rock star...

Santa Drew


Santa Stroman

Laren & Lexi


Case...fortunate the other punks can't read his shirt!


Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Snake-Killing Fire Power of Three Year Olds

"Mom, did I tell you about when Tegin and I killed-ed a snake?" Stroman asked one night during dinner.

"No, babe," I replied. "What happened?"

"We were, um, in the pasture. I mean, the jungle..." gulp, gulp, gulp (drinking milk like he's never been so thirsty), sigh. "And we were neeking up on an elephant with our rifles, like what Mibter Bic (Mister Vic) has and we saw a big, huge rattlesnake chasing us."

"Then what happened?"

"Tegin gave me his blue rifle with the bullets in it and I shot the snake with the scope, and then he closed his eyes."

"Tegin closed his eyes?"

"NO MOM! We don't point rifles at people!"

"Really? So, was the snake dead?"

"YES MOM! I told you we killed-ed him"

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

liar, liar, pants on fire.

let's be honest. i'm just glad to have pants on.

even if they are on fire.

last week i was fortunate enough to spend some time chatting with my former neighbor, Mindi.

and i promised her i would blog over the weekend, but life happened and i didn't make time for it.

it's wednesday and here i sit. trying to decide what i could share...

it's beyond time that we begin "The Chronicles of Tegin and Stroman"

Tegin was a boy who went to school with Stroman in New Mexico. He is a precious tow-headed kid...youngest of 4 kids and just a joy to be around. Stroman played with him daily. Until the day Tegin switched schools. (Sometimes I pray that it wasn't something Stroman did that made the precious boy change schools.) Since then, Stroman just hasn't let go of his friendship with Tegin. In fact, they still play together...at least in Stroman's imagination.

So, I've been jotting down the intriguing adventures that Tegin and Stroman experience.