Winter Drag

I don't let anyone use the word "bored" in our house. But, this isn't really my house, it is the web, and if you know me I don't ever get "bored," however, the only word that can sum up this week is boring! The reason....It is April 20th and still Winter in Nebraska. I'm not exaggerating....it is still winter!!!

With 4 kids in our house, boring doesn't mean uneventful! A few things that our boring week churned out....

Potty Training Take 2 was a success! Austin is potty trained! 3 down and 1 to go! When you wait until your kiddo is ready it is pretty amazing how much simpler the training process goes! Remember...toddlers like to be in control!!!! Even if you have to do some pretending that they control the process, when maybe it is the Skittles, Ring Pops, Soda,  and new Train Apps on Ipad, that is calling the shots!

Molly and Grant got a lecture in respect. Now we have laid out the rule of answering us with a "yes mom" "yes Dad" response. This will be very challenging as every response up until this week has been a, "can Grant do it?" "I don't want to" "that's not fair" or something similar!  When we had them practice answering this way with some role playing it was rather funny!

Molly's room is filled with list!
This one is a list of all stuffed animals, names, and date of birth!!!

She loves baby dolls!

The kids built a fort everyday after School with the couch cushions.
I joined these two in there...it was hot, but worth the smiles I got from their excitement in me being in there!

Bribery works wonders when Potty Training.
When I handed the spare pants/undies to his Sunday School teacher Austin said, "Potty Training?!"

Heidi pulled herself to a standing position!!!! This is HUGE, cause the 11 month old has done nothing with her legs in regards to standing. She is a beautiful crawler, so we ruled out anything serious being an issue. As a mom who had 3 kids walking before they were 1, it has caused me a little worry. My firstborn didn't say an actual word until she was Austin's age (28 months), and now she doesn't stop talking. So, hopefully Heidi waits to join the track/field club until she is 12 and not at 2!

Spring brings a very busy calendar. I would be a little embarrassed to share my calendar for April and May. I know Families are busy and everyone's "I'm so busy" looks different. I  just feel that as Moms we are harshly judging other Families "busy." So, I would hesitate to share it. 

I have School aged kiddos. The good ole days of participating in 1 sport for 1 season and then moving onto the next sport in the next season is gone.  My bf's and I talk about how annoying this is...they shouldn't have to decide at 7 years old what sport they want to play. If you don't pick one then you end up playing two and this puts a whole kink on the quality family time. This has all just begun for us. I'm not ready to give my kids up every night of the week for a couple hours. It is more the rushing of getting them where they need to go that is the challenge. Not the hour they spend practicing. Everything lands between 5:30 and 6:30pm. When do we eat?! Most nights it is around 4:45/5pm!!! Right now my kids are learning the game of Soccer! First time trying this sport...well, 2nd time for Molly. She was 5years old and didn't like "running" for 45 minutes. I didn't blame her!

He is enjoying Soccer!
I was hoping this wouldn't be the case...it is an intense sport in
 the town of Gretna!!!

Zoe and Jayna
Dance BFF's

 My kids will read this someday and wonder why I wrote I am frustrated with being forced to choose a sport, yet I have Molly in competitive dance! This is a good question! I don't have a good answer...maybe because dance is a gradual progression of growth, and it always changes, and she is less likely to get burned out or bored with it, it is indoors, being on stage is where Molly shines! and the big part...she loves it. Never complains, goes into dance studio with a smile and leaves with an even bigger one. She is at a studio that fosters fun and positivity and embraces that everyone has different things they do well, she gets a totally different group of friends outside of School to spend time with...I could keep going. If or When Grant finds something like that then I will probably do the same thing! Then maybe when Heidi wants to do it I will have a firm No!!! Our firstborns are the ones we practice on!!!! It is why they are statistically the ones who end up in Therapy!!!!!!

Please God....bring us Spring!

15 Year Anniversary

I got married 15 years ago today! I still remember many of the small details of the day. I was so excited. I was so eager to share every day and night with Don. It was as if the there were only a few weeks left in our lives and we had to be together. I recall thinking that two years was an eternity. Why would I go through an eternity to do then what I want to do now...be with Don. He was my best friend, the person I wanted to share all the details of my day with and spend all my time with and plan my future with, and everything and everyone else wasn't as important as him. It wasn't that they weren't important, it just wasn't even a thought that life outside of him was happening. We had bought a little house together on 60th and L Street. He was working during the day and taking plumbing classes at night. I was struggling to find my place in college and what I wanted to major in. My family was falling apart and the future at home uncertain. Nothing at the time seemed clear except the fact I wanted to be with Don. 
We were babies on our wedding day. I had just turned 20 and Don was two weeks shy of 20 years old. It is true that getting married that young presents itself with a set of challenges that otherwise wouldn't occur. I would be lying if I said the word divorce hadn't been brought up, more than once. A wise therapist was a gift for our marriage. I am thankful we are past the 3 year "reality sets in" and the 7 year "itch" didn't get scratched. I'm glad we hit the 10 year milestone, which I also mark as memorable as my wedding day. My husband out did himself that anniversary! I'm sad we are done making babies, but overwhelmed with gratitude that we have four of them together. I don't take for granted that we are in the "best" years of our lives right now. I have hope that the best years of our marriage are ahead, because right now we are in the throes of needy children and businesses. Exhaustion gets the best of us most days. He is here, but I miss him. I have to share him with lots of little people and the stress of life that consumes his and my minds. Someday I will write about all the time we have to sip coffee, take a road trip just for fun, and talk about the days when all the kids were little!!!!
Today, we celebrate 15 years married! I would still choose him. I think that is a good sign!

 

Grand Canyon

Believe it or not I needed a break from these little people!

I went to Cave Creek, Arizona and hung out in my Dad's second home. The best thing to being alone is being with my brother. I say that, because we expect very little from one another. I feel no need to watch my mouth or my attitude when I'm with him. We don't exactly bring out the best in each other, but at the same time he is the easiest relationship in my life. We are 13 months apart in age. We live very different lives, but have always been friends.

I took a picture of myself all alone with my coffee.
I'm never allowed this luxury at home!

 Arizona weather is hard to describe unless you've experienced it. Nebraska weather is NEVER consistent. It is obsessed over and talked about and then what you worried about happening at the end of the week ends up not even occurring then it all gets talked about again. I guess a good word for NE weather...dramatic! Arizona weather is the complete opposite. It is sunny like 363 days a year, it has an actual "breeze" (which never happens in NE), it is warm all day and then this perfect cool "cardigan" weather at night. It is a dry heat, so when the Flight Attendant tells you it is 90 degrees outside you need not worry about sweating the minute you walk outside. That is right, you don't sweat! The only people that wouldn't think AZ is super crazy hot in the summer is NE people. We experience a heat wave in July that causes moisture beads to start the minute you step outside, and the hot wind blows your hair all out of place, and you can only do something outside if it is by water. Not much different then AZ, except no moisture and no wind!

Completely flat except for the mountains that just pop out of the ground in random places

Did I mention you have to watch your every step for a rattlesnake?! The warthogs rome freely in the neighborhood, and you don't want to lean on a tree for support!

The Grand Canyon is only 3 hours and 11 minutes away (according to the GPS).  If you ride with myself or my brother in my Dad's aaamaaazzing Mercedes it will take about 2 hours 45 minutes!

Something else that is hard to put into words or do justice with pictures....The Grand Canyon!

The North Rim
Don't quote me, but pretty sure this side can't be reached by car

CO River and some other River connect here!!!

The Canyon was worth the drive-up

I saw the Grand Canyon and visited Sedona 10 years ago with Don. It always makes me feel old when I realize how long it has been since I've been somewhere. When Don and I went there was no gift shop or railing around the "visiting area" around the South Rim of the Canyon. Now, it is pretty fancy. There is even a shuttle! I wouldn't be paralyzed with fear taking Austin up there, although I would still put him on one of those backpack leashes!!!
The drive home had us taking a scenic highway that took us through Sedona. We walked around downtown Sedona and enjoyed some fried Rattlesnake! Yep, I did 2 things in one day that I had never done before...helicopter ride and ate some rattlesnake.

Sedona is breathtaking

He looks bored! This is before we ate fried Rattlesnake!

Mike,
             Thanks for agreeing to "escape" the grind of our daily lives with me! Our relationship is why I value the sibling bond so strongly with my own kids. I want them to have what I have with you. That unfailing trust that you will always have my back, tell me when I'm being a b*^#*, or point out that my butt has gotten smaller! Whether we go 3 months without talking or 1 year without seeing each other, I know you will always be my brother...and my friend! An added perk, your the only one who remembers how Mom and Dad fought over a map on vacation! The apple didn't fall far from the tree on that one! (for the record: I didn't cry!)
  Happy Birthday!
 
My brother had never seen the 7th Wonder of the World. What is the best way to celebrate your 34th Birthday!?! Marking off your bucket list... Helicopter ride over Grand Canyon.

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!