A Day of Praise

"Rejoice always,  pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus" 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Gracious and Loving God, life is busy and full.  There is much to do and very little down time.  But rather than wallow in my selfishness, I choose to give thanks for all the blessings that are in my life.

I give thanks for the overflowing hampers...
what a blessing it is to have clothes for our children when there are so many who go without.

I give thanks for the dirty dishes...how blessed we are to have enough food to eat 3 times (or more!) a day when there are children starving around the world, in our country and in our community.

 I give thanks for the giant blow up guitar, star wars light sabers, Sorry game and plastic army guys that I can see from where I sit....it reminds me that just yesterday the house was full of children playing and having fun.

I give thanks for the full fall schedules that we have....it's a reminder that we have active boys and a family with a heart to serve and share their time, gifts and talents.

I give thanks for the dirt on the floors, dust on the shelves and streaks on the windows....it reminds me that there are more important things in life.

I give thanks for the little boy in the backseat of the van with questions, and questions and more questions....thank you for blessing us with healthy, smart, sweet boys.  I pray Lord I can lead them and teach them to know and love you. 

I give thanks for your son, Jesus...who without the love, grace, mercy and hope that he taught me, I wouldn't have the capacity to be thankful in all circumstances. 

June

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE the month of June???  30-blissful days of being unplugged (except for work.  I was on computer way more this year than in years past.  ICK!) and reconnecting. 

We take this so seriously that even people who come to our house during the month of June have to play along.

Cousins and friends who come over to play, and we even 10 kids we entertained when it was our turn to host for our Babysitting Co-op.

So what all did June entail here at the Yellow House on the Prairie??  (I should rename this blog!  What do you think?)  

Celebrating 15 years of marriage.  I had a conference to leave for that day.  But had flowers waiting for me when I checked into my hotel.  We celebrated when I returned with a Pops Symphony Concert with 

Micheal Cavanaugh and a movie 

Vacation Bible School.  The first one I was 100% responsible for planning and organizing.  It was awesome.  We had over 20 volunteers help to make it what it was.  We had about 60 children and youth and God showed up, that is for sure!

Trip to the zoo with cousins

Lots of games played as a family both inside and out.

 

Day trip to Chicago

 

 

Fireflies and Toads

Evenings at the ball park

Hours spent driving The Boy to and from 2 different camps, weights and conditioning for football, youth group, Village Inn, Friends houses. (Hence the reason there are NO pictures of him.  He hasn't been around much!  SNIFF!!!)

June is over.....but I am looking forward to enjoying July even if there are a few more electronics being used during the month.

Brothers

BuhBuh:  I like being the middle child

Me:  *grinning*  Oh yeah?  Why is that?

BuhBuh:  Because if I were the oldest I'd only have two younger brothers and no big brother and if I were the youngest I'd only have two older brothers and no younger brothers. 

After this bedtime conversation with BuhBuh, both of these pictures flashed into my mind. 

  

Mark Twain Lake, July 2009

Starved Rock State Park, July 2010

I love both of these pictures of my boys.

They both tell me a story.

They both capture a precious, shared moment between the three of them. 

They both give me insight into each of their hearts.

They both remind me that despite the moments of arguing and fighting that occur;  despite my worrying about whether or not my boys will grow up and be brothers who are friends; despite me worrying about whether or not I'm treating them fairly because of their "birth order;"  I know...I see that there is a bond between them that only the three of them will ever share.

I pray that it will continue to grow stronger through the years.

Spring Break Vacation

One of my favorite things is to take vacations with my family.  It gives us a break from the everyday.  It gives us an escape from the busy.  It gives us intentional time together to have fun and enjoy one another without the worry of the calendar, clock or to-do list.

Our Spring Break vacation was split between Walt Disney World in Orlando and Grandma and Grandpa's Florida house in Fort Myers.

 I know Little Dude won't remember his first trip to Walt Disney World .  But it's pretty special to watch a 3-year old experience the excitement of Disney World for the first time and to be part of that excitement and joy with them. 

 

Although BuhBuh had been to Walt Disney World 5 years ago, we really got to watch him experience it all over again.  

 

He rode several roller coasters, often times putting up a fight to not ride them, but was always so happy when he did.  

Oh!  And he got to have a little light saber battle.  

 

Although he asked if he could battle on the dark side (sigh) he thought it was pretty cool. 

The Boy was such a trooper.  He did get to ride several roller coasters which he enjoyed.  But he was a good helper with his brothers. 

 

 

He never complained when we rode on the "kid" rides.  

 

I was worried that he wasn't having any fun.  This was the first vacation that I actually worried and wondered about that.  But when we got home he did tell me that he had fun.  My Sweetie and I realized as we walked out of the Magic Kingdom at 1 in the morning on our last "night" in the parks, that he might not be with us the next time we go. 

We really crammed a lot of the Disney Experience into a short amount of time.  We walked a lot, ate very little, slept very little, but had a ton of fun.  

After the Extreme Disney part of the trip, we drove to Fort Myers to stay with My Sweetie's parents at their Florida home.  We spent one day looking for alligators in the Everglades.

 

The rest of the time there we spent relaxing on the beach. 

It was BuhBuh's and Little Dude's first time to the ocean. All three boys had a blast playing in the water, digging in the sand and searching for shells. 

I had a blast sitting in my chair watching and soaking up the memories. 

As we wait with much anticipation of warmer weather, we can't wait to get outside and enjoy life here in the Yellow House on the Prairie.....it's a little chilly still, but we've managed to get a preview of the fun that spring and summer surely will bring.

Fun with Daddy

I wonder how much longer they will be able to do this? 

Oh, Christmas Tree....

Our tree was up with lights strung.   The decorations weren't up yet.  There just hadn't seemed to be enough time.

We spent time visiting with friends in their homes one weekend.  The first evening I took notice of the tree in the living room.  Decorated to match the room in a crisp apple red.  The gifts under the tree wrapped perfectly to match.  We spent the rest of the evening in their beautifully, newly remodeled basement family room.  In that room sat a tree decorated in blue; the perfect accent color to the brown hues in the rest of the room.  The gifts also wrapped to match the tree they sat under.   They also had a beautifully decorated tree in the master bedroom.

The second evening we spent in the new home of our very good friends.  The previous owners of the home could not take the their Christmas tree with them so our friends were able to purchase it and use.  I think it was like 13 feet high!!!  I really don't know how tall it was but my friend needed a ladder to decorate it!!!  The towering, giant evergreen adorned in red was breathtaking!   

As I lay in bed that night thinking back on the trees we had seen I realized I was having tree envy.  The trees that I had seen over the weekend all could have been in Christmas magazines.  Mine sat in our living room, undecorated, with lights falling off from curious cats.  I knew it would be decorated eventually but my tree would not be fit for a magazine.  

I sighed.  "Everyone has such pretty Christmas trees."

"I think your tree says a lot about who you are."  My Sweetie commented.

I had decided that today was the day that the tree would be decorated.  I carried up the containers that held our decorations from our basement and gently pulled them out one by one holding them for just a second before placing them on the table.  

There were several "Babies First Christmas" ornaments.  Ornaments my mom bought for our boys every year with their names and dates on them.  Ornaments that My Sweeties mom either bought or made our boys every year.  Ornaments that were My Sweeties when he was a child.  Ornaments that we brought home with us from Disney world.  Ornaments with younger, sweet faces of our boys sprinkled with glitter. Ornaments that were made by our boys and given to us as gifts.

It was like opening a box of memories.  Everyone of these ornaments had either been given or made with love.  Everyone of these ornaments had a story behind them.  

At the end of the night, after the precious hands of anxious boys had carefully placed all of those memories on the tree so lovingly...

 I stepped back and took a look.

 It was just as breathtaking as the ones I had seen just a week ago.    It was sitting exactly where I had envisioned it to sit for our first Christmas in our yellow house on the prairie.  It was full of love, full of memories and looked so much more beautiful and more perfect than I had envisioned.

 

Easter Blessings

Easter is one of my most favorite holidays for many different reasons. But mostly because of what we celebrate on Easter Sunday.

We went to several services during Holy Week and I got teary at 3 out of the 4 we went to because they were all just that moving. It's hard not to get emotional when you really take a moment to think about the reality of what Jesus did for each and everyone of us.

We had such a great Easter weekend. Lots of family, lots of food, lots of fun which equated to lots of terrific pictures. I want to post them all but I'll try to limit myself to just 10 per child. (kidding!)

Mommy Brain is.....

...giving your 13-year old son the sippy cup at dinner time and...

...finding yourself with an arm load of clean laundry to put away then realize after standing there confused for a moment too long, that you're in the wrong child's closet.

So I've *ahem* heard....yeah....

Sunday Funnies

Do you read the Sunday Funnies???

I really enjoy Baby Blues....in fact that's usually the only one I read. There is one that My Sweetie cut out a while back hanging on our fridge right now.

Most weeks I giggle because they are cute. Some weeks I laugh or sigh because it is so true to our life.

I've recently been reading the Zits Comic Strip because it deals with a teenaged son.

Most weeks I giggle because they are true. Some weeks I laugh or sigh because it is so true to our life!

On January 31st of this year Zits published a comic strip that struck this mommas heart stings. I haven't been able to forget it since.

Check it out here.

I don't think I could have said it better myself.

Oodles of Moodles

I LOVE homemade Chicken and Noodles.

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

I remember that my Grandpa used to make them. I remember having them for Christmas Eve at my aunt and uncles house.

My mom made them for us kids too. She has a home video of her and my brothers and I helping her make noodles when we were kids.

Although I much prefer when my mom makes them (I think they taste better) this has been one of our staple winter meals in our home. In fact I have lost track of how many times we've had this dish this winter. When chicken and potatoes are on sale and it only takes flour and eggs to make the noodles it is a very cheap, yummy meal to feed my family and there is ALWAYS leftovers! YUM!

I know my older boys at one time or another have helped me make noodles. So I figured it was time to teach Little Dude how to make them too.

He helped mix the eggs and flour

Helped to roll out the dough

And was most thrilled when he got to unroll the dough

He excitedly declared, "SNAKES!!! SNAKES!!!"

After explaining to him that they were not snakes, he then was just as excited to sit down and have "Moodles" for dinner.