Dude

Brian told Zander this morning, "Cool Dude." And Zander said, "I'm not a dude, I'm Zander." He is so cute! I love it. And since I am working today, I am going to chose a random picture and post it here. Brian doesn't start work today until 9 a.m., which is very rare, so I have some help getting the kids ready this morning. I am enjoying it. I think they had him start at 9 a.m. today because he worked yesterday. These pictures were taken on June 12, 2010, the day of my parents party. They had a party to thank everyone that helped them in any way when they had their house fire.

This last picture is of my little sister, Aubrey and I. Aubrey is getting married on Saturday! I am very excited about this!

Paper Flowers and a Birthday Party

Zander is growing up so fast, and I love how he is talking more and more and learning new words. And I love this age where they are injquiring about almost everything. This morning, I was putting on my wedding rings, and Zander asked "What is that?" I told him, "This is mommy's jewelry, it means mommy is married to daddy." Then I asked him, "Do you know who is getting married very soon?" He didn't really know so I told him, "Auntie Aubrey is!" Then I asked him, "And do you know who she is marrying?" And he stated, "ummmm me!" What a cutie! Of course I told him "no, Uncle Keith." But Zander is in the wedding. He is the ring bearer. Aubrey and Keith will be married in 2 weeks, and I can't wait! I am so happy for them! This morning Zander and I headed over to someone's house from church to help make paper flowers for morning grace. Morning grace is a bible study at our church that meets every morning throughout the school year. There were 3 of us ladies making paper flowers, Susan, Mary Elizabeth, and I. Zander played with all of the kids. Susan has 4 children and Mary Elizbeth has 3 children. And Zander had so much fun with them. Zander is a very social boy and loves getting together with other kids. Yesterday morning before we left he kept saying, "I see kids, I want to go play with kids." Susan has a son Clayton that is just weeks younger than Zander. All kids played really well together, and got really dirty. After playing inside for a while, they went outside and played in the sand table. The sand, was more of mud because of the rain. And most of the kids were covered with mud. Zander had it on his face, hand, and jacket the most. I tried to get pictures of it, but Zander did not want his picture taken. But it was so cute to see mud splashed up on Zander's forehead. I love that my son get's dirty. Sometimes the dirtier he gets, the more fun he is having. Zander on the other hand is not one to get dirty. He often starts fussing if he gets syrup on him when he is eating breakfast. So I was a little surprised when he had no issues getting muddy this morning. After we had fun at Susan's house, we headed to Micheal's store to get some things for a last minute gift I wanted Zander to make for his Auntie Abby. I bought 3 canvases, some paint, and a paint brush, and we got home we had Zander paint his Auntie Abby some pictures for her 40th birthday. I also painted a tree trunk on one of the canvases, and then had Zander put paint on his hand and put it above the trunk as leaves. This part showed me how Zander does not like getting messy. He was not happy when I dipped his hand in the paint, and couldn't wait to get it off his hand. I was hoping Sophia would help with the paintings, but she was napping. Then later we went to Abby's 40th birthday party. It was a nice party. I wish we could have stayed later, because they started a fire in the back and watched a movie in the backyard. But our kids needed sleep. It is so different when you have kids. You have to leave parties early or go to bed early out of pure exhaustion. But it is so worth it. Being a mom is my favorite job. This is one of Zander's paintings .

And here is the artist at work

Abby, the birthday girl, holding one of Zander's paintings. It is supposed to be a tree, but I made the trunk too thick

The birthday girl and her husband

He is risen

I am so thankful that Jesus died for all the sins of the world! But I am even more thankful that He rose from the dead and is alive today! We had a great Easter. We went to 2 services at our church. At the 8:00 a.m. service I helped out in the infant room. And we had quite a number of babies. Then we went to the 9:30 a.m. service. And our pastor gave an amazing sermon. I just love our church. After church we headed over to my in-laws house. We couldn't stay there very long, but the kids were able to participate in the Easter egg hunt that they have the kids each year.

<

Going Green

Zander does not like taking pictures anymore.  This is the best picture I could get of my two kids.

We had such a fun day today.  We had a fun playdate over at my friend Jen's house, with 3 other women in our small group and their kids. 

Bad Mom Day

Today was a rough day.  Nothing major happened, my kids are healthy, I have a great husband, I have a roof over my head, and I have a bunch of food to eat, but I just had a lonnnnnnggggg hard day.  From the beginning my children were crabby and testing my patience.  Sophia was in on of those moods where she did not want to be put down at all.  And Zander was not listening at all, and moving very slow.  The kids went to bed late last night (my hubby got them in bed late, I was at work).  We had swim lessons this morning, and was late to swim lessons.  Zander did not want to participate very much at swim lessons.  And he screamed when I had to take the duck away from him in the "go fish" game we were playing.  It was time do something else in the swim lesson.  I needed a little time to think, and I was not motivated to work out at the YMCA, so I put Zander in the kids zone area with Sophia, and then I sat at a table and made a grocery list.  I felt guilty that I didn't exercise.  Maybe that would have helped me with my patience and stress level today.  Then I decided to take the kids to Burger King for lunch, and I checked my calender on my email and it just so happened that the Mom's Club I recently joined was meeting up at Burger King.  The Burger King in my town has a indoor play area, and Zander had a great time playing with the other kids.  And it was funny because my nieces were at Burger King too.  About 30 minutes after we were at Burger King I see my nieces with their Grandma.  My sister-in-law was working today and her mom was watching her girls.  It was fun to see them up there unexpectedly.  Zander was excited to see his cousin.  Zander and Jaylyn have such a good time when they are together.  We had a good time at Burger King.  It was nice to get to know some of the ladies in the Mom's group.  But when it was time to leave, that's when the trouble started.  Zander decided to throw a tantrum, because he did not want to leave.  I ended up carrying Zander and Sophia out to the car in my arms along with my purse and a small diaper bag.  The kids decided they were not going to nap, they were only in their rooms for about 30 minutes before Zander came out of his room, and then woke up Sophia.  We went grocery shopping in the afternoon, but Zander wasn't listening very well in the store either.  At one point as we were leaving, Zander was climbing all over the cart.  I used a grocery cart that has a little car in the front where the kids sat in.  While in line, Zander decided he was going to climb up and sit on the top of the car.  Now looking back, I should of gotten a picture of it.  He usually isn't that daring.  But at the time, I was so embarresed because Zander was not listening to me.  And I was disciplining him all day long.  It was rough.  And I felt bad because I lost my patience a few times with him, and yelled at him.  I don't want to be a yelling mom, but I was so frustrated with him today.  I need to keep praying that God helps me to be the best mom I can be for my children.  I want to point them toward God.  I am trying to raise children who will love God with all their hearts.  Some days it is ROUGH and TOUGH.  To top it off my husband had a long day at work, and didn't get home from work until 8:30 p.m.  The kids didn't see him all day today.  He left around 6 a.m. this morning for work, and when he got home the kids were in bed already, because their bedtime is 7:30 p.m.  I am glad this day is over, but I am sad I have to work tomorrow.  At least I have a three day weekend.  We have a busy weekend planned, but it should be fun! 

Even though today was a ROUGH day, I love these children with all my heart.  And am so thankful God blessed us with them.  I am so glad God lent them to us.  Because they are ultimately God's children, and He has lent them to us.  I love them with all my heart.  And I truly miss them when I am not with them.    

Daddy's Girl

These pictures were taken on April 9, 2011, Sophia was 5 1/2 months old.

She loves her Daddy!

Walking Backward, But not Looking Back

We had a nice day.  Well, except for some disheartening news.   Both kids slept in until 8 a.m., so we only had about an hour and 15 minutes to get ready before swim lessons.  We headed to swim lessons, and I was on my game today as a mom.  I remembered the swim bag and the diaper bag.  And we made it to the YMCA 15 minutes early.  Sophia was dropped off at the Kids Zone, and she did pretty well.  She didn't fuss, and actually wanted to go play.  She did turn back to me, and started walking toward me, but the employees helped me by picking her up so she wouldn't cry and I could go with Zander to swim lessons.  Zander is doing so well at swim lessons.  He used the floating device that goes on his back, and was holding the noodle to try to help him swim.  It was cute, while in swim lessons, the last thing we did was play with the ball in the pool.  We are all in a circle and the kids push the ball through the water to the next person in the circle.  Almost every time the little girl pushed the ball to Zander, Zander said thank you.  It was very cute.  My little polite boy.  Then as we were walking out of the YMCA, Zander decided he was going to walk backwards.  It was very cute!  He did it all on his own.  I don't think he has ever seen anyone walk backwards, so I am not sure where he learned to do that.  Another memory I want to remember is how friendly and sociably Zander is.  Zander says hi to everyone, and then he asks them "What are you doing?"  And everyone seems to answer that question.  It is very cute.  Sophia was a very happy baby today.  Okay, let me rephrase that.  Sophia was a happy baby/toddler this afternoon.  I just realized that she is really not a baby anymore. SO, I guess I have to start calling her a toddler instead of a baby.  Sad.  This morning Sophia was fussy and clingy.  She wanted me to hold her all the time.  It was hard getting dressed, and getting ready because every time I put her down she would cry and fuss and the come over to me and try to sit in my lap or climb all over me.  I put both of them down for naps around 12:30 or 12:45 p.m..  Sophia only slept for about an hour.  When she did wake up, she was a very happy girl.  I think she enjoyed getting mommy all to herself.  And I am sure she enjoyed not having her big brother pushing her or grabbing all the toys out of her hand, as he tends to do lately.  She was walking all over the playroom/basement just smiling and giggling.  I had the T.V. on at one point as background noise and she started dancing when some music came on the T.V.  She was getting a little sassy with her dancing and just moving her shoulders up and down.  That was the first time I saw her do that.  It was so cute!  I wish I got it on video, and I tried to have her do it again, but it didn't happen again.  I love that girl.  She is full of joy and love.  And she loves to smile.    

Sadly, I have not been talking a lot of pictures lately.  Today I took videos of Sophia, but no photos.  I need to start taking more pictures.  I am so disappointed with myself. 

The disheartening news is that we had to pay $1600 to repair a friend's car.  My husband hit my friend's car while it was parked in our driveway.  It happened about 1 1/2 to 2 months ago while we were car pooling to work because I was orientating her.  We knew we would be paying for the repairs of the car, but we just didn't realize it would be so much money.  But, I know it was just an accident.  And accidents happen.  I know God will provide for us.  We just have to be really good with our money and budget really well for the next few months or longer.

And since I have a hard time posting a blog without a picture, I thought I would post a few pictures, not of today, but some from this past week. 

These first 3 pictures were taken on Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sophia is a walking machine.  It is so fun to see her walking all over the place. 

And this picture was taken on January 17, 2012