Dirt In My Teeth

We are working on our yard. Nothing is simple when it comes to us. We started sifting the dirt in our back yard because we are re-doing it, and there are lots of rocks and tilled up grass. If you look really hard you can see the nice soil between the play structure and the tree. See it? See the hand made sifter sitting by the tree? Impressed aren't you? Actually, I made it, and it feel apart after about three wheelbarrows of dirt so Steve remade it for me. Nice guy. He still loves me tonight even though I started this sifting thing. He thinks I am a perfectionist. Um, right!

My Space

Some of my kids have My Space. Some of you may know teenage girls like to pucker their lips on My Space for some reason. They look ridiculous, and my girls and I like to make fun of them. So my girls take "My Space" pictures sometimes just to be funny. My toddlers have seen them do this act, so they do it. Yesterday Amanda took a picture of Ian,and this is what she got.

Here is a picture of Lindsey and Coral taken at Christmas for comparison.

I'm Not A Booger

Coral
"Come here, booger."

Evan
"I not a booger. I Evan."

Oh, ya. Remember all the urine stories I use to tell when Ian was little? They're back!

Happy Birthday

Coral's First Birthday. She walked on her birthday with the video camera on. I always knew she loved the camera!

Happy 17th birthday, Coral Skye!

My Friend

Yesterday was my dear friend, Krista's, baby shower. The girls and I were there with lots of other amazing people. Sharon's home is filled with so many memories for the girls and I. Sharon and John were like parents to me while I was going through my single parent days. Their home is where Steve and I got married. Their family is like family to me.

The shower was a wonderful time. Krista's mom asked me to do a small devotional for Krista. I really didn't know exactly what that meant so I just sat down and wrote something from my heart. Sharon was so uplifting to me and gave me such amazing compliments that I couldn't read my own write-up because I kept crying. I handed it off to Coral, and she read it for me. It is my heart towards an amazing woman and my heart as a mother.

When Sharon asked me to do this I honestly couldn't think of one thing I could say about mothering. I have been a mother for 18 years and feel like I know less now then I did before Tiffani was born. I had no idea of the challenges and the blessings that this job would bring.

In Stormy Omartain's book, "The Power of a Praying Parent", she describes parenting like this.
It's the best of jobs. It's the most difficult of jobs. It can bring you the greatest joy. It can cause the greatest pain. There is nothing as fulfilling and exhilarating. There's nothing so depleting and exhausting. No area of your life can make you feel more like a success when everything is going well. No area of your life can make you feel more like a failure when things go wrong. Parenting!"

In the last 18 years I have gone through many stages in my parenting. The "I know so much" stage to the "I am a horrible mother stage." There aren't many days left that I am in the "I know so much" stage and on the days that I feel I am a horrible mother, Jesus reminds me that this is one of the greatest things he had planned for my life. He made me a mommy to 6 amazing, unique children. He has blessed me with the most amazing gift that a woman could possible receive, the gift of caring for one of God's precious people, the gift of caring for a person that he sent his son to die for. He entrusted that job to me. He chose me to be my children's mommy, just as he has chosen you, Krista, to be this tiny person's mommy.

There are many things I have done that haven't been ideal parenting. There have been times when I have just simply been selfish and blew it. But, there is one thing that I have done better than anything else in my life, and that one thing is, I have loved my children.

I have known you, Krista for 9 years. You are an incredible person. You are a true friend. You have the gift of nurturing and loving those around you unconditionally. If you are even close to being the kind of mother that you are a friend, your child will know that he is loved without condition. Already I have blessed to watch your humbleness as a wife and your love and tenderness for your child.

If there is one thing I can share with you that I am still learning everyday it is to be merciful with yourself. You are the person for this job. You have been chosen to care for and love this precious baby. God has already given you a huge heart, and he will use this tiny person to help you become all that he desires you to be. Teach him to love Jesus, pray for him and love him everyday, and someday your child will grow up and call you blessed.

Love you, Krista.

Don't Worry. Our Cook is Making It

Ian's top 5 of the day.

Number 5
"I'm going to go put Evan down for a nap."

"Good!"

Number 4
"Mom, can we have two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with chips to eat on the tramp?"

"Yes, Ian. I will make them in just a second."

"Don't Worry, Evan. Our cook is making it."

Number 3
"Mom, does dad really where tic tacs in his eyes?"

Number 2
"I did a donkey kick, and his head was in the way."

And The Number 1 Quote Of The Day...
"I'm going to keep this rag in case he bleeds again."

We Have Poopie

A couple of days ago I was mopping the floor. I headed for the bucket to wash out my mop, and there was a half dressed little boy going potty in my mop water. ??? I wish I could remember what it was like to be two. The things you can get away with. The things people laugh at.

Yesterday I looked outside and there was the half dressed two year old again except this time there was potty on the porch. He was excited and wanted more excitement. Then he looked at me, and well, you know what comes next.

I rushed him to the potty. 30 minutes later we had poopie. We were excited. His daddy was excited. His sisters were excited. We cheered. We clapped. It was a party.

Could this mean, gulp, that I may be on my last leg of diapers? That I have graduated to the pull-up stage. I don't even want to say it out loud because it is like giving away your baby stuff. A sure way to...uh, I just can't bring myself to say the word.

Igloos in the Northwest

"Mom, did you live in the north?"

"We live in the north, Ian."

"No, I mean the northwest."

"We live in the northwest."

"No, I mean in the mountains."

"Yes, I lived in the mountains. The Rocky Mountains."

"Did you live in an igloo?"

The amazing thing about kids is they hear and remember everything you say, everything you read to them, and everything they hear everyone else say. Then they put it all together into one big memory of their childhood.

For example, my older girls remember me sleeping on the couch naked. For anyone who knows me that would not happen. What really happened was I was nursing one of their siblings, and I fell into an exhausted sleep. So, I wasn't really naked, just a little exposed.

I love the words, "Mom, remember that time....?" Most of the time it makes me laugh. Most of the time.

The Sun

Sun, beautiful sun...

Nothing says spring like a slice of melon.

I don't think anyone can appreciate the sun like someone who stays home with two toddler boys and lives in the northwest.

Right now the toddlers are laying on the trampoline looking at that blue thing above their heads.

How to use a Screw Gun

Bam, bam. "Why won't this thing break," I asked myself as I slammed the screw gun into the light bulb that had been lighting up the inside of my van for the past hour. I am, to say the least, blind in the dark. Add rain and an unknown freeway and you have the makings for a disaster and a very stressed out woman. Add a light that can't be turned off no matter what you do, indescribable.

Steve was in the moving van 45 minutes ahead of me. My van was loaded, and because I own such a high quality automobile the back door to the van doesn't open from the outside. While Jeremiah was helping me load the van we accidentally caught the corner of a suitcase in the door just enough to keep the light in the van on. There was no way to get to it. Besides being afraid that I was going to leave my husband a widow and my children orphans because I couldn't see the road, I was afraid that the light bulb inside the back door was going to ignite my sister-in-laws belongings, and the whole thing was going to go up in smoke. Or, my imagination continued, maybe the back door would pop open, and all the contents would spill out onto the freeway. That would be par since I can never get the thing open.

I called Steve on the cell phone in a panic. Just to reiterate, I don't see or drive well at night. I am a coward in these types of situations. I tell him I am going to pull over and get a Motel 6. Considering my last experience with a Motel 6, well let's just say I was desperate. I saw a truck stop. Those are always fun. I pulled off the freeway into a very well lit parking lot, took Steve's screw gun, and began to bash the heck out of the light bulb while trying to cover my eyes as to not blind myself with flying glass. It wasn't made of glass. It would not break being bashed with a screw gun by a panicked woman. I was done at this point, on the verge of tears. Even though I have traveled much in my life, I have only driven one place that far from home by myself. I know it was only three hours from home, but I was alone, exhausted, and I couldn't get the light bulb off.

I looked down and saw the first aid kit. I saw a board book. Fortunately, for me, I don't clean out my van very often. My house is clean, but you could live off of the stuff you could find in my van for at least a week. Sickening I know, but reality. I found first aid tape and taped the board book over the light. It worked and didn't catch fire although I felt it consistently. I drove on. It was amazing how much better I could see. I got to the hotel, and we had to borrow a tool from the front desk to disconnect the battery.

Screw guns are good for many things, but not in the hands of a crazed woman.