A Perfect Day!

What do you do on a perfect fall day in Oklahoma? When the weather is sunny and in the 70s? Why, you go to the pumpkin patch, that's what! We went in the evening so we could do the corn maze in the dark. The larger than life checker board was great even if I did get beat by one of my children. That's what I get for teaching them games, huh?

Nothing like playing king of the mountain on a giant hay bale.

Who would've ever thought a few metal buckets would be so much fun! Especially when they're hooked together and being dragged by a tractor.

This was the cutest pumpkin in the patch!

We had such a great time! Aaron and Elijah kept saying "we are SO lost" while we walked through the maze in the dark. We took a hay ride around the farm twice, once in the daylight and once in the dark. It was a beautiful night!

TTFN!

Happy Birthday Micah!

For Christmas 2009, we had a very special little elf at our house. He was the sweetest baby. Hardly ever cried and was adored by all.

His sweet smile engaged everyone who looked his way. The older he got, the more his adoring fans fawned over him.

He's the smartest of babies. Always figuring things out for himself.

His chubby cheeks, big blonde curls and deep blue eyes are irresistible.

We had a birthday party at his cousins' house. The kiddos all dressed up for the party. Micah didn't have a choice in his costume. His personal dressers chose the Mickey Mouse costume.

Look how tall he's gotten! I can't believe Micah is already two! Where has the time gone?

Happy Birthday my little sweetie!

A few things I love about my sweet Micah:

1. You're so cute walking around holding your shirt tag.

2. You have the best manners, always saying "tea too" (thank you), whenever appropriate.

3. It's crazy adorable how you say "pee boo" (peek a boo) whenever you find something you've been looking for.

4. Your ability to do 100 piece puzzles at not quite two years old AMAZES me!

5. You are a sucker for a tractor ride!

TTFN!

Words to Live By

When I was a young girl, I used to like to clip the advice columns out, especially if they had poems. All little girls like poetry, right? Well, a few of the clippings survived till I reached adulthood and I really do think they're great words to live by as a mother.  The clippings say the authors are unknown on these.

COME IN

Come in, but don't expect to find

All dishes done, all floors ashine.

Observe the crumpled rug, the toys galore

The smudgy fingerprinted door.

The little ones we shelter here

Don't thrive on spotless atmosphere.

They're more inclined to disarray

And carefree, even messy play.

Their needs are great, their patience small

All day I'm at their beck and call.

It's Mommy come, Mommy see

Wiggly worms, red scraped knee.

Painted pictures, blocks piled high

My floors unshined, the days go by.

One day soon they'll flee this nest

And I at last will have a rest.

And which really matters more,

A happy child, or a polished floor?

EXCUSE THIS HOUSE

Some houses try to hide the fact that children shelter there.

Ours boasts of it quite openly, the signs are everywhere

Smears are on the windows, smudges on the doors.

I should apologize, I guess, for the toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with the children, and we played and laughed and read,

And if the floors don't shine, their eyes will shine instead.

For when at times I'm forced to choose the one job or the other

I want to be a housewife, but first I'll be a Mother.

Hug your kids. They grow up too fast!

TTFN

How to travel long distances with many small children

If you're a bigger than average family, the thought of travelling long distances can seem overwhelming.  We just returned from a week long trip visiting family 1000 miles away.  I thought I would share some of our travelling philosophies in hopes they'll help someone else.

1. Try not to plan too far in advance. Spur of the moment, last minute trips leave less time for stressing about things.  48 hours notice should be sufficient.

2. Make sure you spend the day before leaving in town all day doing errands, getting the oil changed and tires rotated, etc.  Then you won't have to worry about how messy your house is right before you leave.

3. If you're lucky, your husband will call on your way back home from being in town all day and say he'd like to leave that night, moving your deadline up by 12 hours.  Again, this leaves less time for stressing about things.

4. Make sure to take plenty of towels that way when the baby gets car sick, you'll be able to use the gas station restroom to wet down the towels and clean up the car seat.  Make sure to leave one dry so the baby will have a dry seat to sit on. Always be prepared!

5. Be sure you have the baby's favorite Veggie Tales CD. It's all he's going to want to listen to.

6. Remember your older kids have an important meeting the evening you're going to get back. That way you can allow just enough time to push all the stuff and the rest of the people out of the car when you get back. You don't want to leave all that stuff in the car!

7. Oh, one more thing. Plan it so there's just enough dog food to last until the day of your return.  You really do want to HAVE to go into town because you're out of dog food.

Now I realize these tips probably won't help many people, but there may be someone out there who gets some good perspective from them!  Let me know what tips you have!

TTFN

What would you take?

We've had some crazy wild fires around here the last few days and the next two days have a high fire danger. We've had several friends who've lost their homes this year. Several to a tornado this last spring and then another to the fires two days ago.  It's had me pondering what of the things in my house would be important enough to take. As we were watching the news last night, they showed one house in a million dollar neighborhood. The residents of the house were quickly shoving anything and everything into cars. You could see the flames above the trees in their backyard. I'm sure they were terrified! Thankfully, the firemen were able to hold the fire back and the house wasn't harmed, other than maybe a few burned shingles from the flying embers.

In Matthew 6:19-20 we read, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moths nor rust destroys and thieves do not break in and steal."

These people have lost all their earthly things, but their treasures in heaven are safe and secure.  So, what would you take?

TTFN

Meet the fam

I thought I'd do a post introducing the family. The oldest and first born son is Joshua. He's helping to improve his parents' prayer life. Yep. He's driving. Next is Annabelle, but don't call her that. She prefers Anna. Next is Rachel and she's pretty much a girly girl. After her is Abigayle, but we had to shorten her name to Abi. She has the longest name in the family and is pretty much the smallest in stature. (Don't ask her middle name!)  Then we have the demolition brothers Elijah and Aaron. It's pretty much their mission in life to make a mess of everything. Things just seem to jump off the walls and shelves when they walk into a room. Seriously.  Last, but certainly not least, we have Micah. He's pretty much following in his brothers' footsteps. It's a good thing we've got all this space for them to burn off their boy energy.  Oh, and then there's the fellow that makes my staying home and writing this blog possible, Bret, my Knight in Shining Armour.

Those are the two legged beings anyway. Do you really want to know about the furry ones? Ok. There's Her Highness CC (short for Chocolate Chip). She's a dachshund who thinks we are all here to do her bidding.  Then there's Mittens. She's a rescue cat and if you've ever seen the movie Bolt, well, that's our cat. We never see her. She stays in hiding because of the demolition crew, but, hey at least we can say we have a cat, right? Next there are the puppies.  Cagney and Lacey. You know where those names come from, don't you?  How old are you anyway?? They're collie puppies. Very smart dogs. We make them work, guarding (read: chasing) the chickens. Somebody needs to work with them more!  Last (cause we don't need anymore) there are the chickens.  I told them not to name the chickens. I was afraid of what would happen when we lost some. I was right.  Please don't ask me the names of the chickens.  I'm doing good to remember my own name most days.

That's the fam. Nice to meet ya!

TTFN