Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Musings...

"With every breath you take, breathe in the sweetness of everyday life: the laughter of your children, the pitter-patter of their feet, the melody of their voices, the sound of your husband's voice, the strength of his arms, the smell of clean clothes, a clean house, cooking, the stillness of the night, the warmth of each day. Tune your thoughts to strike the same chord, rejoicing in each other's pleasures and mourning in each other's woes. Let your love spill over into every task, allowing its fragrance to envelop and penetrate each child's thoughts. No greater treasure could be handed down through the generations." ~Planning to be Spontaneous~ by Candy Summers

-I have been reminded to enjoy each day, enjoy and teach my children, help my husband, pray for my family, and even relish the last days of this pregnancy. Very soon, the baby will be born, busyness will increase, and before I know it my boys will be young men. I must rely on God's grace. He can enable me to be faithful and to be strong-

"I do not ask that Thou shouldst give me some high or noble task. Give me a little hand to hold in mind. Give me a little child to point Thy way, over the strange, sweet path that leads to You. Give me a little voice to teach to pray. Give me two shining eyes Thy face to see. The only crown I ask to wear is this, that I may teach a little child. I do not ask that I may stand among the wise, the worthy, or the great; I only ask that softly, hand-in-hand, a child and I may enter at the gate." -Anonymous-

"By wisdom is a house built; and by understanding it is established; And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches." Prov. 24:3-4

Monday, June 23, 2008

Mommy and Boys









~These were a lot harder to take than you'd think!!~ Glad I have them now :)

Samuel @ 2 1/2 years old














William @ 11 months...













Father's Day Pictures...


Two Weeks Ago




~So here we are 2 weeks ago. I was 32 weeks in these pictures. :) At my last sonogram, everything looked good. Baby is in the correct position, 4 lbs. 8 oz., but she/he did not allow us to double check to make sure we should still buy pink.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Update

Currently our Internet is down, hence the lack of posting. I have some fun pictures to post that the boys and I took for Father's Day. Hopefully we'll get everything up and running soon!

~M~

Friday, June 06, 2008

Thanks!

~Thanks Nana and Papa for my new shirt and hat!~
Love, SAMUEL


This Week's Happenings...

This week has been glorious! I didn't have any commitments, other than taking care of the boys during the day, and then Justin, when he arrived home. It's been a long week for him. He's been out of the house by 4 or 5 am. Arrival time in the pm has been varied, but mostly by 7ish. Tonight he still isn't home, and it's 10:15 pm. He's helping the girls on a project. :)
I've spent most of my time playing w/ the boys, reading books, and working consistently w/ them on a "quiet time". The latter is being necessitated by William's inability to sit for any period of time in public. To avoid confrontations, in public, I've decided to buckle down and "practice" here at home. We've been listening to Chip Ingram's tape series: "House or Home" for about an hour every morning. It's been excellent and encouraging. Today, William was singing "Dada, dada" softly during the tape. I think he thought that manly voice was Justin's. :) We'll see how it goes during church on Sunday. I remember this age from about 10-18 months was the hardest w/ Samuel. He's pretty much a breeze now, since we did that early work. I think I'm a bit tougher, and know to expect more from William. He definitely understands a lot! :) (Probably more than he even lets on!) I'm working on the sitting still thing 1st, and we'll tackle the "be quiet" thing later.
My housecleaning schedule is in effect again, now that I have a few more hours to spare every week. I was on this website: www.thefamilyhomestead.com this past week. I've been thinking about my need to be a good home-manager. That site has the recipe I use for laundry soap, but also contains a lot of other great information! I've decided to be more organized w/ my meal planning, menus, and grocery shopping.
Oh, here comes my honey. Better go for now!


Today, the boys and I went to a park to hike on some paved trails. I was only able to snap a few picture, before my batteries ran out. Highlight: we saw a snake in the lake, only a few feet from us. The boys enjoyed stomping in the puddles and throwing rocks into the lake. They could've done that for hours! William liked watching from the sidelines(the stroller) and loved sliding down the slides at the playground.

William was 11 months old on June 2nd and is officially walking around now! (Samuel was at least 13 months, before he walked) He has to keep up w/ Samuel! Unfortunately, my batteries are down...I want to get some more pictures of him motoring around...it's too funny!

The cat that adopted us, affectionately named "Coffee Cat" by Samuel, came to their rescue and proceeded to beat up the evening find. Don't think the snake died, but "C.C." definitely was there to defend.

Justin and Samuel discovered a snake, during one of their evening excursions this week.

Playtime was moved indoors, while some thunderstorms moved through. Bonus for my waist high laundry pile!

Samuel donning Daddy's sombrero. He definitely earned brownie points w/ his mother-in-law, who kindly cares about all of our skin. (esp. the guys, since they're out working in the sun and heat every day) He subtracted $7 from his blow money this week, but added about 7 years to his life, by making that purchase, you know. :) :)

"Let's go out and ride bikes"--all Samuel wants to do! Playing outside is easier on the house staying tidy, but makes me tired. We've gone from chilly weather, to hot, humid weather! Nap time has been essential and beneficial for all 4 of us. :)

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Me and my "teachin's"



~So it's the end of a season of my life...teaching music lessons. At least for now. I've taught piano, viola, and violin lessons for the past 12 years! This group of students is the smallest I've had, but has been the perfect amount. After I had Samuel, I "gave" all my students to Leah, and just kept the ones that could come to my house. Doing some teaching with 1 baby, is completely different than w/ almost 3! (That was easy back then! :) It's just come to the point, where I need to be 100% here w/ my children. The 7 hours a week that I taught, doesn't sound like much, but those are the prime hours out of my week. I need those "nap time" hours to complete the tasks have to be w/out interruption :) or rest myself. (starting to really need those power naps!) I'm sure I will teach in the future, but now is just a particularly busy season of my life, and I don't want to miss out on any of it! I'm so grateful to have excellent, sweet students and will miss seeing them each week. They all did a fabulous job at the recital--I was so proud of all of them. :)~

L to R: Sarah, Abigail, Samantha, Me, Michael
Cole, Matthew, Jonathan, and Levi (and Max, who is conveniently on vacation:)