One of those weeks

It was one of those weeks. Where the days are long and monotonous, it seems as if the week will go on for eternity, and then you realize it is Saturday! Then I look at my camera roll on my phone and realize how much we did this week and how full it really was and how much we actually do with our days!

this post was started on March 17th, but my busy life didn't have me finish it until today!

No, she isn't suppose to be forward facing.
Yes, she looks so big!

I spend the biggest part of my days with this boy! Austin James has a personality as big as he is...oversized for a two year old! Everything is exaggerated and dramatic with him. We share the same love of consistency and routine. Daylight Savings made the week challenging for both of us. I'm still not on track!
I stripped the sheets off his bed this week. He walks in to see the pile on the floor, glances at his bare bed and puts his hands on his cheeks and says, "Oh No Bed! Oh No!" He was really concerned when he watched me shove it all in the big blue things in the laundry room. Hollered and tried to pull on the washing machine door. I often find myself looking at the world through his eyes. This usually makes dealing with Austin MUCH easier and brings laughter into my days instead of frustration! It helps that I am often reminding Molly and Grant that he is only two years old. Sharing, communicating, listening, reasoning with him, will get easier as he gets older....I hope! I make no promises! I really hope he grows out of hitting, pushing, and throwing very quickly. I have spent the last two weeks watching him like a hawk around Heidi. Poor little thing is scared of her brother. He takes both hands and pushes her back, grabs toys from her that our his, throws Hot Wheels towards her, takes trucks and plunks them on her head. Our first "car cart" ride at Hy-Vee didn't go well because of this. Austin waited until I turned my back in the canned good aisle. Heidi was so upset when I turned around she was holding her breath with the tears streaming. Austin looked completely innocent. The third time she erupted into tears I watched him take his pointer finger and touch her on the shoulder. I think Heidi might be a hair puller and biter, survival of the fittest!?!

Her last week as a 9 month old

This week we made our usual stop at the "Beanery." The coffee shop where my order includes a cinnamon muffin every time. I found out it has been renamed the "Sarah Muffin" by the barista. Maybe that is a sign it is time to stop ordering it!?! This week Heidi decided to join in the routine and eat it with Austin and I! How can I stop ordering the muffin that is my Monday ritual, my two year old screams for it when we take the kids to School, not everyday, but at least 1x week.  I said Austin likes his routine!

"Mom, this Sarah Muffin tastes Amaaazing!"

Austin loves himself a waffle. He thinks everyone else in the house loves them too! Frozen, with syrup, without syrup, cut up, toasted, whole, it depends on his mood, I'm never sure how he wants it!

I rearranged the Family Room this week. Actually I just added a chair. Took it out of the kitchen where it wasn't getting used. I like it. Makes my room look cozy and gives everyone in my family a place to sit. I told Don I didn't like the idea of every chair facing the television. You couldn't sit in our Family Room and have a conversation with eye contact. Now you can!

Taylor Swift came to Omaha! My long monotonous week was broken up by us attending her concert! I decided at 2pm we would go that night! Molly came home from School and received the news!!! She was almost as excited as me! So, I have this hard time paying $80-$100 for my kid's ticket to something like this. It's not so much the money as it is the experience at such a young age. Or maybe it is the money, cause if it was free I would haul her to every concert I could. Yes, it is the money. I didn't attend my first concert until I was 26 years old. My parents weren't into music concerts when I was a kid. We didn't have a venue that brought them to town either. But, I think into the fact that if I'm hauling my kids to shows at 8 years old that cost $100 a ticket, what happens when they are 25 years old and grown up with that lifestyle and can't afford it. It actually sounds silly as I type it. That's good, I'm getting my thoughts out on my blog and reading it to myself allows me the chance to realize how absurd I sound! Another reason I do this blog...for my kids to know I sound absurd at times and I don't realize it until later! Either way I paid the ticket price cause I wanted to see Taylor Swift in concert and I have the best person living under my roof with nothing else to do to take with me...Molly!!!!

we stayed out of "trouble"

Our boring, monotonous week really wasn't so boring and monotonous. It felt that way at the time. My life is actually anything but Boring and Monotonous! It is loud, fun, crazy, intense, nonstop busy, always something to do! I finished a book this week too....one of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult. She took me to a concentration camp in the middle of World War II. I learned about the Holocaust and I cried. A fascinating read. I love getting my life out in print...I started this post with
Where the days are long and monotonous, it seems as if the week will go on for eternity, and then you realize it is Saturday
I will finish it saying, my week was anything BUT long and monotonous. It had to go on for eternity because we put so much into it! I'm glad it is Saturday, cause I want to do it again!

Grant

It is 4:30pm and I am sitting down for the first time since 6:20am. I have a cup of coffee and am looking at a the mess of tissue paper, wrapping paper, gift bags, and presents strewn around the Family Room. It is a good feeling to know you gave your child a memorable day. I mean you only get one Birthday a year! The day isn't over yet. Grant chose to celebrate his 7th Birthday with an evening spent at our first Seder Passover meal, hosted by Lifegate Church. None of us have any idea what a Passover meal entails, but when I told Grant it was hosted by the Israeli Missionaries visiting our church he was quick to say "yes." The boy is very intrigued with Israel! Wants to know when we are going...I asked him why the interest in Israel..."it's where Jesus lived!"

3 months old
I thought he was hands down the cutest baby to ever be born

Heidi's hair has nothing on Grant's.
That isn't Austin with pigtails, Molly at 20 months old!

Birthdays are significant. The day we were chosen to enter the World. To begin life outside. The memories it holds for a mother are like nothing else, you can't describe it in words, and only another mother can really understand. The thoughts, fears, emotions, smells, sounds, joy that come with the Birth Day of each child. My oldest is only eight, but I can't imagine ever forgetting each of their Birth Day stories. I love retelling them and they love hearing them! You can keep reading...I'm not going to share it on this blog!...I will share some pictures of my 2nd born.

Big Momma awaiting surgery on March 22, 2006

Welcome to the World
9lbs 8oz and 22 1/2" long

I wasn't sure my heart could love more than two kids. I had fear I couldn't love another boy the way I loved Grant.  He melted my heart each time I held him. I felt at peace about life when he was in my arms. I remember not wanting others to hold him. I am actually a rather greedy mom with my babies, cause I've found I don't like anyone else holding them for very long. I miss them...it wasn't just Grant!
I don't think we understand love until we have children. I like to think it is why God wanted us to go out and multiply. We would have a better understanding of how He loves us. I have been surprised at how deeply I can love since becoming a mother. Now that I have four kids I've been surprised at how deeply I can love each of them.

Happy 1st Birthday Grant Mitchel

Green Grass in March. Not this year!

It is a beautiful thing that Grant was born around the Easter Holiday. He is full of questions and curiosity over Jesus. Who he was, why he died, why God let him die, what does it means, why were the people so mean to Him, who the bad guys were, why didn't the disciples stop it??? Every year he has some new questions. I'm glad he has questions. It means he is interested and wants to know more about Jesus.

Happy 2nd Birthday

Silly 2 year old

Grant thinks in black or white . There is no gray. He is a firm believer in truth. To Grant the words spoken from our mouths are cut in stone. You can't take them back. We are working on teaching him the meaning of "grace" and "letting it go." But, for a little boy who lacks the maturity, this one will take a very long time. In the meantime we "argue" over many points! A firm "because I said so" isn't handled well by him! A character trait that I have to believe has a future purpose in God's plan for Grant!

Happy 3rd Birthday sweet boy

Uncle Steve's Fire Station
You were like most 3 year old boys. Obsessed with Fire Trucks!

Grant's 3rd Birthday was significant for me, because we thought we were done having babies. The night before his birthday I cried because my toddler was leaving and he would wake up a preschooler. Then I seemed to spend the next 6 months emotional because I wanted him two again.
For me the constant neediness of a baby/toddler takes it's toll on me. I think it is the monotony of doing the same thing over and over all day every day. Even now I find myself wanting to pack a full diaper bag and snacks and just go for a day trip somewhere fun. Just laugh and enjoy my kids with no routine of naps, bottles, diapers, etc getting in the way. But, that isn't the case with little kids. Tantrums over disrupting the routine makes it all too much work! So, at the age of three I found that there was a whole new level of independence. My kids could buckle their own carseats, potty trained, almost out of naps, communicating well, you could reason a little more with them. They were still little so everything they say is cute and funny and they snuggle and want to read books. For me, the third Birthday made being a mom at home all day a little easier.  It was after Grant's third Birthday that I thought about and prayed and reasoned with my head over the idea of two more babies. One sounded realistic, but two had me terrified. It was Grant's 4th Birthday that had me finding out I was pregnant again!

I remember this day like it was yesterday!
A week away from your 4th Birthday. 

Grant's 5th Birthday marked a shift in his personality. I'm still unclear as to what brought it on. I have a few guesses. He was easy for me and then overnight he became a mental and emotional challenge. I compare the last two years to what I might imagine occurs with girls around the age of fourteen. I found myself wondering where my little boy had gone. Grasping the moments I would see it during the day...the easy going, sweet and kind spirited little boy I had for the first five years.

Grant loves his cousins Dan and Tyler
Happy 5th Birthday

We all loose our way. For some it can take something little to set us off course. Others it might be a life changing event, that causes us to wonder where we fit into the puzzle picture of life. When we surround ourselves with people who love us it can be easier to find our way through the emotions. I remind Grant often that he was picked by God for this family. No other Family was right for him, no other big sister or little sister, that Austin was not suppose to come after Molly, but God picked Grant for this Family and in a special order! It didn't "just happen."

Happy 6th Birthday!

We can believe Jesus died on a cross for all people. But, do we really trust Jesus died on a cross for me? It might seem like the same thing to most people, but not to me. Trust! The word is heavy on my mind lately. A daily, sometimes hour by hour challenge....to Trust God.

Happy 7th Birthday Grant Mitchel

You picked a Traditional Jewish Seder Passover Meal for your Birthday Dinner!
It was very long and neither of you uttered a single complaint!

It took you almost 5 hours of intense focus to build your Birthday Present!
You were so proud, because you accomplished it all by yourself

The awesome thing about being in relationship with people you love more than you have words to describe...well, even when they are at their worst you love them. Even when you can't figure out why they are being ugly and argumentative and outright defiant, you love them. I love the big sensitive heart my Grant has been given. I can find him in a corner, curled in a ball, crying quietly after he has witnessed Austin getting in trouble. He was so little when he wiped my tears with his finger. He has this strong protector spirit. Don't even lay a finger on a girl and this boy will take you down (even if your Callie-who he says isn't a girl-and is one of his best friends). He cares deeply, loves fiercely, stands firm for justice, has faith that comes without questions, is full of questions, communicates with words beyond his years. He is my first son.  The one God gave me with eyes an even deeper brown then his dads. They melt my heart, even when he makes them wide as saucers after I've said something he doesn't like!

Happy 7th Birthday Grant! I'm so thankful God picked you to be my child!

Small Town Life

There are many perks to living in a city. Target is less then 10 minutes away, the best gyms to workout are close, GAP is easy to run into for a new top, and for me the big perk to being a city girl, restaurants! The idea that I can eat anywhere and the choices are endless...chinese, italian, pizza, steak, burger... and I didn't have to do any of the work, great perk! Take it from this city girl the small town life has perks that don't require your money, and make living 15 minutes from Target and 25 minutes from Costco something to brag about!

In a small town they still have the small town newspaper. We have two in Gretna. They often go up to the school and pick some classrooms to ask the students questions. Molly was thrilled to have been chosen and have her picture taken! The question they asked, "who is your favorite book character and why?" If you are familiar with Junie B Jones books, then you will understand when I say, this isn't a proud Momma moment! What I am proud of is the fact we are in a community that puts my kid in the paper! She told everyone and informed me I was to buy a paper at the Gas Station by the church. I used to subscribe to the paper, but as with most small towns, they didn't put anything in there of interest! Don came home one day, filled a bowl full of chips, grabbed the Gretna Guide and sat at the table and opened it up and 15 seconds later said, "that's it?!" One of the many reasons I love our small town, the pointless newspaper!

Community is something that has become lost with the popularity of social media. We are very involved in our church and see how people crave and yearn for community. Individuals want a group of people who will rally behind them in hard times and celebrate the good, or maybe all people want is to know they are known. 

 My parents moved us to Gretna when I was in the 8th grade. I grew up in Millard Public Schools. I was mad we were moving. Annoyed we were moving to this town that was so far away and it was little and it smelled like a cow feed lot and the school was ugly. Which it was, but it's what's on the inside that counts! Even as I made great friends, dated my future husband, I kept thinking I was going to leave it and I would never move back to it. There was pressure to be the best person I could be...everyone knew who I was and what I was doing and who I was doing it with! That isn't fun when your a teenager, nor is the idea that your family is put on the town pedestal. When you don't want everybody looking at you or talking about you then being apart of a community can be hard. BUT, when your mature enough to know that feeling pressured to be the best person you can be is good, then you begin to realize the importance of community. I want my kids apart of a town that knows who my kids are, knows who they are hanging around with, knows who had a party and who was there and what kids are doing and what our teachers are teaching and what the face of our School Superintendent looks like and where things like the Valentine's Day Pig Races at the Gretna Elementary School get put in the paper and the teachers love their students enough to take time out of their lives to learn a dance routine and stage a Flash Mob for their students. 

2nd grade and 1st grade
These kids love Gretna Elementary School

 I can brag on my town for awhile...We still have "Gretna Days." Our town is small enough that the town lifeguards have a float in the parade, the churches have floats loaded with kids my kids know from School. It is on the hottest weekend of the summer and my kids count down the days to Gretna Days. Firework shows and bands in the park, a free hot dog lunch with smelly bounce houses, it isn't all of this that makes my kids talk about this weekend, I think it is the community of people they are doing it with. 
We ride our bikes to the local library, the city park with it's huge Oak trees, the local swimming pool that my kids ride their bikes to (they went a couple times this summer to see their friends!). The Fundraiser benefits for the sick in our small town are an example of the community in which my family lives, people come out in droves and bid on auction items and donate their time and money and talents and others spend their money. It makes me proud to be apart of this community. 

GO BIG GREEN!

  I think I'm feeling the overwhelming sense of pride for my town after the newspaper picture of Molly got printed this week and the fact I spent some time cheering on our Boys Basketball Team at the State Semi finals.  Nothing brings back memories like a High School Student section! I sat with the grown ups and watched the cheerleaders and the kids and thought....that was me not too long ago. I'm not old enough to be sitting up here?! Yes, Yes I am! I didn't think I'd be sitting up there cheering on the same team we cheered for 20 years ago. The kids had their music teacher and another KG teacher's sons play in the game. They wanted to go so bad and cheer on the team! I love that they care...I didn't know anything about what was going on at the High School when I was 8 years old!
I'm glad my pride didn't keep me from coming back to Gretna to raise my family. I was a self absorbed teenager annoyed with everyone knowing my business in High School! Funny how times change!

I get all of this small town fun with the perks of living next to the City of Omaha. Everything is a solid 15-25 minute drive for us, but it's worth it. I consider car time quality time with my family. If your wondering where to send your kids to school or wanting to have a small town life for your family then I suggest Yutan or Valley, because I don't want Gretna to get any bigger!