This Wonderful Insanity Called LIFE!

We've had a rough few days thanks to that second front tooth. Yesterday, in particular, was quite painful. Nothing seemed to satisfy.

Sister and Little Man jumped in and washed the dishes for me. As a bonus, my counters, cabinet doors, and floor were flooded with soapy dishwater and are now cleaner than ever!

While washing, we suffered only one casualty...at the hands of a rather excited Little Man.

This big guy looked on happily.

Sister found a new way to tackle those dusty floors.

Little Man decided the GIANT stainless steel water bowl the dogs have out back wasn't enough, so he supplemented with one of our every day bowls. (That makes two casualties in less than an hour.)

Little Bit, who I have recently begun calling "Cupcake" (not sure why - it just came out one afternoon) is MOBILE. And life has changed. She's not up on all fours, but she sure gets around!

We're seeing a lot of this. (Please don't judge the dirty feet...I sweep multiple times a day and we bathe regularly.)

I tried to get a picture of all three of them. You see what I got.

I asked Sister to keep an eye on Little Bit while I tucked the Little Man into bed. When I came back to the living room, this is what I found. Sister built a tent and made a pile of cheerios for Little Bit and was reading to her.

Such sweetness.

Sister is so ADORED.

This is what they started doing yesterday.

I saw them from the den window. They've figured out how to rig the gas pedal on the jeep and have taken up "hood surfing" - and the like.

I insisted if they were going to perform such dangerous acts, they wear helmets. (In all seriousness, I wondered if I should make them...was I overreacting? Being one of those moms?)

Literally, TWO SECONDS after I made them don the helmets, Little Man tumbled over the roll bar and out the side, LANDING ON THE TOP OF HIS HEAD. I was so thankful he was wearing a helmet. We all had a good laugh and thanked God...and they were off again!

He had three other "brushes with death," if you will...as we exited the preschool building after dropping Sister off, he ran straight into oncoming traffic in the parking lot. Never mind the fact that he KNOWS NOT to go in the street/parking lot. Thank goodness moms have ninja speed - all drivers stopped and I yanked him out of the street. (I am making light of it...it was NOT funny and I am so thankful for God's mercy in keeping Little Man safe.)

After making a return at Target, I put him in the car on the drivers' side and instructed him to climb through to his seat. I turned my attention to buckling Little Bit and saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was Little Man. He was swinging (unintentionally) head first over the top bar of the buggy return. Again, thanks to my stealth moves, I yanked him off the bar, saving his head from cracking on the pavement, marched him to his seat, and strapped him in.

Yesterday afternoon brought cool temperatures, so I decided to leave the kitchen door open while I made dinner. I put a baby gate in the kitchen doorway (there are concrete steps immediately out the kitchen door) to keep Warrior out. Little Man, as I am now told, was "playing wit Warrior." He (Little Man) ran into the gate, body slamming it and screaming at the top of his lungs. As the words "don't do that again" were spilling from my mouth, he did it again. Only that time, the gate gave way and he slid, head first, over the baby gate, and down the concrete steps. Miraculously, he received only a minor wound on his finger and a rather shocking, screaming reaction from his mother.

Boys are SO DIFFERENT than girls.

T left for work at 4:45am yesterday. He got home at 7pm. He works SO hard. Our plates were steaming while Little Man said the blessing, followed immediately with "I need to go poo poo. Daddy, peas come wif me."

There is something incredibly attractive about a man who has worked all day long and is exhausted, leaving his hot dinner, to sit on the tub, and tell his three year old son about bull dozers. T didn't even bat an eye when his presence was requested. Nor did he ask me to go. He went. He loved his son well and laid down his life for me. Very. Attractive.

Boys and Life...

Good morning! I am sweet and happy and almost crawling!

And the babies...they are growing. They weren't as active yesterday and I feared our neighbor's cat had done away with their mama. (She's been stalking the nest for a while now.) Little Bit and I snuck around the back side of the house and stood still in the yard for quite some time...and finally we saw her! I'm so glad she's okay!

We made a HUGE treat this weekend...jello. Per Little Man's request. And we ate with the family sherbet cups! They sure dressed things up.

A recent thrift store find. At $35, I hesitated. You can't tell from the picture, but it's rather small. Almost like someone shrunk it a bit, but I snatched her up, nonetheless. Sister and I began prying brass tacks off yesterday afternoon. We have grand plans to paint her light, light, light pink and reupholster her. I think she will be lovely in Sister's room! And just the right size.

I just wanted to keep it real. Life, that is. This is what my living room looks like today. I am utterly convinced that God is in the details - even the seemingly insignificant ones. Little Man needed shorts. I went through our tubs of "to grow into" hand me downs, I scoured the thrift store, but all to no avail. I'd resigned myself to paying retail (you know, on sale at Target retail). While I scoured those thrift store racks, I'd asked God to lead me to shorts for Little Man...while He didn't provide via the thrift store, only a few days later, and before my planned Target trip, a friend dropped off a few garbage size bags of hand me downs...with at least FIVE pairs of shorts that are a perfect fit. (And I am a little bit picky.) I know God answered my prayer. And for a lot less.

We're still working in the den/soon to be library. T emptied the only standing bookshelf and has begun building bases for what will become wall to wall book shelves! Hooray!

Until then, we're living like this. And that's alright.

Warrior. Warrior. Need I say more? In case you aren't clear as to what that is, er, was...it was an extension cord. I'd let him out, and when I let him back in, well, at over 100lbs, he ran right past me, jerking his collar from my hand, and darted under the bed. I'm not real good at getting a huge beast out from under the bed. I figured eventually, he'd come out.

He came out alright, after he'd chewed the last bit of cord that was plugged into the wall. Did he get shocked? Not hard enough if you ask me.

And a little bit more of life...

"Many women admit that raising boys has been a special challenge...Boys are bent on making messes, teasing the other siblings, racing through the house, and challenging the every decision and order that comes their way."

-Dr. James Dobson from Bringing Up Boys

This is what he used...

To do this.

I'll never understand. And that's okay.

Deep Breath

Our sweet little family has had a lot packed into the last three or so weeks...

We celebrated this hottie's 29th birthday! Do you know what I LOVE about this man? God knows the absolute depth of my complete and total depravity and while my husband doesn't see all of it, he certainly sees more of it than anyone else, and yet he continues to love me unconditionally. Time and time again I see this man lay down his life for me...and every night - even those nights when I am not the nicest, he sets a glass of water on my bedside table. Every night and nearly every morning, he puts toothpaste on my toothbrush. Those things say "I love you." Happy belated birthday T. You are my hero and I am crazy in love with you. You are a gift from God and you point me to Him again and again and again. I am so thankful for you. I love you. Happy Birthday!

Two days later we celebrated my 29th birthday...(note the icing in my hair). For whatever reason, I am becoming keenly aware of how short life on this earth is...the years are flying and I hear they only pick up speed as we age. This realization has me pondering exactly what I am doing with my time and whether or not it's for eternal purposes. There is great joy and delight, as well as a good bit of relief in reminding myself that my purpose is to glorify God and right now He has called me to be a wife and mother...which is what I shall purpose to set myself about being. And that means that when in the middle of grocery shopping, and Little Man announces to everyone in the produce section that he needs to "poo poo," and my immediate reaction is to sigh and huff it in "that" direction...the Holy Spirit gently reminds me that potty trips at the most inconvenient of times can bring glory to God. And it is God who has called me to take this young man to the potty...so glorify Him in that. (It's hard and I keep failing and cling to the promise that He has begun a good work in me and will bring it to completion.)

On my birthday we had a family party for Little Man. (I'll admit, I'm selfish and that was kind of hard.)

And the day after that we celebrated Little Bit's baptism - which was really special - and had a small crowd for lunch!

But more on that later. (maybe)

Shortly thereafter, we built a "bunny" house...which is how icing wound up in my hair. Our neighbor joined us for the event. The boys didn't care which house version we made, but Sister fretted over the decision, even shedding a few tears. In the end, the icing didn't "thicken" quite right and in their delight, the children rushed into everything. All the embellishments got dumped together on a cookie sheet and the boys took turns squeezing icing into and onto one another. Sister shed a few more tears. Did I mention icing went EVERYWHERE? If there's a next time, we will do this activity OUTSIDE.

I've almost finished four yearbooks. Sigh. What a relief. Doing these has been enjoyable for the most part, but requires a lot of early mornings and late nights. The beginning of May will bring them to a close. Hooray!

Sister recently arrived home from art class tied up (with toilet paper)...I hear she was the slave of an Egyptian Princess and had been trapped in the bottom of a ship...(please ignore the toe nails...we do bathe regularly.)

Shortly after that, we celebrated Little Man's 3rd birthday!!! Oh my. I cannot believe he's three years old. Little Man, you bring such joy and delight to our lives. You also point us to Jesus. I treasure the way your eyes sparkle and I adore your mischevious smile. Seeing you struggle to wrap your mind around the mystery of the Trinity continues to be a rich experience. You are wonderful. I pray God will protect and grow you. I pray that your sins will find you out. I pray that God would draw your heart to His own and I pray that He will keep you pure. I also pray for your wife - should God lead you one day to marry...we talk about "her" often (at least every time you tell me you want to marry me or Sister) and how she will be your princess. Little Man, I could EAT YOU UP! I love you my little wild, wide eyed boy. You are full of crazy love and adventure and I treasure you!

So on Good Friday, April 2nd, Little Man's birthday, we had a party.

T bought and dumped a truck load of dirt in the backyard. Little Man and Sister called it, "Bad Guy Mountain." Little Man invited his two best friends and we made a day of it!

"Captain Hook" (note the wall hanger in his left hand) was out for revenge because the "good guys" had taken over "Bad Guy Mountain." He came out with a sword and sought to reclaim his mountain! (That was more like the size of a small hill.)

Sister and Little Man immediately jumped in and went for it. The "best friends" kind of stood there with puzzled expressions, unsure of how to respond. I assured them it was a game and eventually they joined in.

Unfortunately, Sister was captured and carried off. She fought back every step of the way.

Her brave brother, Little Man, came to her rescue and freed her and then Captain Hook ran away...

And they broke out the dump trucks...

and the wagon...and the hose...and it got real muddy real fast. One little boy didn't want any part in the mud...but the others had a mud slinging, water spraying, dirt digging, splashing and laughing good time.

Before lunch, we rounded them up, hauled them in, and bathed 'em. Post bath, I found this little guy in the tub. I'm about, um, 99% positive this guy made his way in intentionally by one of those boys.

So we ate and then sang Happy Birthday...and I had it so together I bought cupcakes at 11pm the night before from Walmart and scraped off the pink icing 'cause that was the only color they had left, and squeezed green icing out of a can all over the top made cupcakes!

It was sweet to see his expression...

He ate up all that attention.

He blew out his candles in one breath. They all licked the icing off the top and were done. We loaded them in the car, delivered each one to his family, and called it a day.

While it was a happy day for birthday reasons, it was also a day my heart was a little bit sad. It was the second anniversary of my parents' divorce. God is good. He is teaching me that He has a plan in all things. Nothing escapes Him. He is sovereign and He is working this to our good - to the good of me and my sisters and my mother. He promises that. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28 He knows the beginning from the end and He is teaching me to be content and to rest in Him. I know and have known these things in my head for years, but fleshing them out, living them, well, it hurts. The cuts are deep and the pain is real and again I say, God IS good. God IS faithful. God IS sovereign. And I am glad that I am His.

The next morning, I packed up the kids and headed for my baby sister's house where we celebrated Easter. (T had to work all weekend.) The ride there was almost unbearable. I lost it with the kids. I yelled at them. While at a red light. In heavy traffic. I know the cars around us saw. And then I pulled into a parking lot and let them have it more. It was ugly. Then we stopped off for a breather and to drop in on the great-grands because I simply couldn't handle another second in the car. The "greats", upon helping me reload all three children, said, "I'll never understand why people with young children travel." Amen to that, Grandaddy!

Regarding the above photo: Baby Sister's almost two year old and Little Man camped out together. Little Man couldn't have scooted closer to cousin's crib. It was pretty sweet.

Here's baby sister and her baby.

Saturday the 3rd was also baby sister and bro-in-law's anniversary!

I tried, tried, tried to get one good shot. It seems the more kids there are, the harder that becomes. They were tired and hot and tired and really, really, really tired.

Sister has been helping out in wonderful new ways. Oh the blessings she is to me! One day she might understand.

Ugh. I smile. This guy is INSANE. He had been playing with his trains. Had been would be key. At some point he retrieved the air mattress pump from the hall closet, attached it to the bathroom faucet, filled the base with water, and pump, pump, pumped water ALL OVER THE BATHROOM. He also put the tube down the drain and pumped out sink gunk. Great.

He knew he was being bad. What an engineer. It was so funny, I couldn't hide my smile. We chunked the pump...couldn't get all the water and sink gunk out. Ick.

A few days later the hot water in our guest bath quit working. T broke out the toolbox and set to work. Turns out a certain Little Man had crawled under the sink and turned off the hot water. We laughed and told him never to do that again.

And during all of this, Little Bit has cut a front tooth entirely and is diligently (as in waking during the night and fussing frequently) working on cutting the other.

We also hosted a baby shower for a sweet friend of ours whose son is literally a miracle baby. He was born very prematurely and weighed only 1lb, 9oz. It was a joy and delight to celebrate God's goodness to their family!

And for that shower, my precious mother came to my aid! I'm not sure what I would have done without her help. Literally. She was cleaning the guest bathroom fifteen minutes before the guests were due to arrive. She was the hands and feet of Christ to me. She served behind the scenes in all those hidden ways. She did the things no one sees, but that make all the difference in the world. We had a blast together! The older I get and the more I study God's word and the more I learn (and now that I have three babies), the bigger a hero my mother becomes to me. As a wife and mother, my respect and admiration for her has grown by leaps and bounds. Mom, you amaze me. I see God's fingerprints all over you. I love you.

I should also mention that T worked himself weary preparing for the shower. I made two "to do" lists. One was the "we have to get this done" list and the other I titled my "dream list" - as in, it would be nice, but understandably, probably won't happen. That man crossed off almost every item on both lists. The day of the shower he moved a chandelier and painted exterior trim until 5:15pm when I told him he had to put down the brush and get the kids out of the house. He is amazing. Stinkin' amazing! (And good lookin' to boot!)

And in the midst of all this, we've had a new arrival!

Four to be exact. The baby wrens are here!

And they are precious. I stand watching them and my heart sings. To know that God is intimately acquainted with them, that not a sparrow falls without His knowledge... Here are these four little babies tucked into some straw in a basket on our front door, and God knows the moment they were born. How deep is His love for us.