A family thats CRAZY about fruit

We love fruit...im talking we live on it! "Whats for dinner?" The children and Charlie ask....Avocado anyone? With a side of banana and watermelon? haha.....I can see it now...the boys will get married and their wives will wonder why they go into a panic when taken to the Farmers Market..When asked what is wrong, they will respond, "my mom didn't cook, she just fed us fruit!! I can't live like that!" haha

Although...you wouldn't see any signs of that now!!! From Ezekiel anyway, just look at this crazy kid!!
As you can see, he is in heaven!!! :)

Now Malachi, on the other hand, is another story entirely! I gave him a watermelon to try and he threw it on the floor and just starred at it and screamed like I was trying to feed him a live chicken or something! haha.. Oh no!! The trauma has already begun! haha :)

Oh well, a moms gotta keep trying! I mean...they don't really have a choice! haha :)

DATE NIGHT...what a phenomenon!

Our wonderfully, amazing friend Amanda offered to come watch all three of our kids for the night, while still watching her little baby! (did I mention, shes amazing!!)

We had known about it for about a week...and we practically talked about it every night! "What will we do?" "Where should we go?" You would have thought we were going away to Jamaica for a week! haha...well, since we nevvvveerr get out, I wanted to go all out, go out on the town...ya know, go bowling, play putt putt, go to a drive-in movie, hit up the roller rink! haha

This is us!!! As you can see...im a bit excited!! :)

The children as we leave! And precious little Gyan! They don't seem too concerned! haha

Me, getting ready to get in the car for our big night!! hehe :)

First stop....The perfect start to a crazzy night! haha...BUT THEN...we walked in and realized they didn't have their buffet going on; and that just totally threw me. I mean there's nothing worse than expecting your gonna get a ridiculous amount of pizza and cinnamon yumminess..and then be told I have to pick out a medium pizza..to split! haha I know you must understand..haha.. and SO I just starred and starred at the menu and then decided...this is NOT what I want for our date night...so we left! haha

NEXT STOP...OHH yeaaahh! haha..Now this is what im talking about! haha

After my urge for pizza left me, I felt a strange urge for a yummy sand which and what better than Panera!! :) (Golly wiz, you'd think I was pregnant or something..and I'm TOTALLY not, so don't get any ideas!! haha) SOOO...this was supposed to be our first stop of many, right???

Well, it turned out that we stayed that good ol' Panera for almost 3 hours and talked like crazy some of the time and just sat in silence the other times...it was glorious!

What was I thinking!!??.......I am now fully aware that a date night means doing nothing...talking, or possibly not talking at all. Laughing, or just sitting on a park bench...and just being there...without ciaos...without screaming children, without anyone...just us! :)

Thank you Jesus for date nights! :)

Finger painting craziness!

In theory, finger painting is a great idea.

The kids refused to nap and I had to come up with something to console them and entertain them for the many hours until bedtime. Finger painting, I thought, what a great idea!! It's kinda like those ideas that seem really "fun", and ya know...what your supposed to do! Like when you go on a "family picnic" to the park and try to act like your having fun while swatting away the flies and trying to find a place where red ants haven't made their homes...and then the little one decides to eat grass instead of peanut butter and jelly and the older children decide to run away and feed there food to the birds....Yes...some ideas are meant to be just that....an idea! haha

But being my optimistic self, I thought I would give finger painting a try! It actually wasn't so bad at first. i was smart enough to put a roll of paper outside, but didn't put into consideration what I would do with them after they were covered in paint!

Malachi thought it would be fun to paint himself, naturally...and Annabella wanted to pour out every color of paint in it's entirety, all over the paper.

After this, Malachi decided he was done..so he wandered inside(lets not forget about his green, blue, and red covered hands and body) and of course he decided to use the counters, chairs, and table for his personal canvas.

Next thing I knew, they were all three outside stri

pped down naked with the hose, spraying each other...I guess that did seem like the next practical thing to do! :)

Maybe next time, I will just stick to crayons and coloring books....although, I can't blame them....painting all over each other and then running naked through the yard, what more could a kid ask for??!! We just don't have to do it everyday!! :)

So here he is...paint faced and proud of it!!

I'm gonna be honest, I have noo idea where she found that bag, and im pretty sure that "hat" is a bird feeder she found in the dirt from the previous owners! haha

this is when they decided to go streaking! :)

OHH! and of course, the best for last...THE FINISHED PRODUCT!! :)

Snack Packs--An out of hand Obsession

So it started with just an innocent run to the grocery store and thought I would be wild and crazy and pick up "Snack packs" (ya know, the puddings that have no nutritional value but are insainly yummy...yeah, those!) Well at first my kids had no idea what this yummy goodness was put in front of them...wide eyed and full of curiosity they took bites....and that was it....they were a slave to Snack packs...or should I just say chocolate in general! haha

Since that great and terrible day my children can't quite enjoy anything without reverting back to the "snack pack"...I will attempt to feed them a very tasty meal and they will just stare at the delightful feast set in front of them.. then they will precede to stand up and protest like small factory children going on strike "we want a snack pack, gimme a snack pack!" Oh Lord, I have created a monster!!!!

I am glad to say that things have leveled out a bit...the children were reminded(yet again) that I am the ruthless dictator of the house(haha) and my rule is..no broccoli..no snack pack...cruel, i know! :) They are now learning that they can't live on snack packs alone...(although that did take some convincing)

I hope some day that my children will enjoy the taste of a home cooked, nutritionally sound meal over a cup of pudding...but then I think to myself and say.... some days I'd pick the pudding too! :)

Try to overlook the outfit! haha :)

Licking up every last drop!

Happy father's day!!!

Happy fathers day to an amazing daddy and husband!!!!!!

Charlie--
There is something about about a daddy that is WAYY more fun than any mom is...maybe it's the fact that he can tickle for a ridiculous amount of time without stopping (which I still have NO idea why children like that, it seems more like a brutal kind of torture)...he can throw them higher than I could EVER throw...and catch them I might add! :) He can sing songs AND read books in 10 different accents..haha..bet you didn't know that! I think he got board of reading "Go Dog Go" for the 500th time, so decided to go British style! Verrryy entertaining! :) He can build stuff..ya know like Lego towers and rocket ships(stuff that moms try to make but it always looks lame compared to dads). Oh and I might add the best thing about daddys....or maybe just Charlie haha..is that when mama is gone it's pizza and ice cream as far as the eye can see!!!

So you see, my children are a bit fond of their daddy! They literally attack him when he walks in the front door from work and don't leave him alone until there heads hit the pillows...they adore him...why shouldn't they...he's pretty great!! :)

See I told you...tickles, tickles, tickles!!!! :)

Annabella's first ballet...and most certainly NOT her last! :)

I took Annabella to her very first ballet this past weekend-Awaken by Excelsior School of Dance.(an amazing christian dance studio right in our area!) To say that she absolutely LOVED it would be an understatement! This girl lives and breathes ballet. She can't be up in the morning for more than 10 minutes and not have changed into 3 different tutus. When people come over, she sees it as her personal duty to entertain them with a ballet production of twirls and leaps.(with multiple wardrobe changes in between of course!)

We went out to dinner before hand and she was wired! She didn't want to sit for a second and insisted on dancing in and around all of the tables! I was a bit concerned that she wouldn't do well for a 2 and half hour ballet...or that she would NOT like being in the audience and insist on running up front and everyone in the auditorium would stop and stare and it would be this huge drama (yes, I totally played it out in my head...not pretty! haha) BUT it couldn't have been farther from the truth!!! She watched every second in utter amazement and every now and then would whisper in my ear "Oh mommy, I wish I was up there!" and "They are just sooo beautiful mama!" She just couldn't get enough!!

I too love ballet sooo very much and it truly was beautiful in every way!! There is just something about watching people dance before the Lord that is so powerful!
I can't wait to see Annabella as she continues to grow with the Lord and watch as she uses her love for ballet as worship before the Lord!

Our favorite mommy/daughter restaurant! A MUST for before our ballet!

Boys will be boys!

So I have learned that you cannot expect boys to be anymore or any less than what they have been created to be..BOYS!!! You can put them in tutus but it is just a matter of time that they will rise up and protest! A matter of conditioning? I think not! Annabella popped out nurturing everything she could get her hands on..and well Malachi and Ezekiel....not so much!

So it won't surprise you that Malachi doesn't have the same care and concern for Annabella's precious dollys!!

As you can see, Malachi is ripping the head off "Gracie"!

Mission accomplished!

What can I say...you can't stop human nature! haha :)

Can one enjoy sickness?

So, it's going on day 3 of feeling ridiculously sick...but it feels more like day 50!! I see the outside from my window...but wonder if I will ever go out again! haha...(okay maybe I'm being a bit dramatic but trust me...days like these feel more like a 72 hour day, than 24!!)

Although I have to admit than even through the fighting children and the pouring out of juice and tea all over the carpet (hoping that it will magically disappear because Lord knows I don't have the strength to clean it up haha); even in the midst of ungodly amounts of dishes piling up, and floors that you wonder if the dried bananas will have to be scraped up with with some sort of hack saw......I hear the Lord calling me to enjoy the simple moments and find joy in the midst of chaos!

There is something that happens when a mom cannot do a single other thing besides lay on the floor with her kids and cuddle with them! It's like I knew my kids were great, but when all I do all day is sit and listen to Malachi's hilarious jokes and then watch him laugh at himself(haha),or hold sick baby Ezekiel for hours just looking into those precious little eyes, or watch Annabella make the playroom into a rocket ship...I realize just how amazing they really are!

Oh and theres something to be said about watching movies all day long..I mean for one thing you learn how amazing your children's memory is!! They have memorized every song to Sound of Music...that's pretty impressive!! haha And to see Annabella chase Malachi down and say"Now, Malachi, you are gonna be Rolf, and I will be Leasel!" haha...pretty dang adorable if you ask me! :)

All of this to say, sickness is no fun,even miserable at times; but I think every mom has to be really sick at least once to learn that sitting and doing "nothing" with our kids could be one of our greatest gifts!! And who knows, maybe with God's grace we could learn to just SIT and block out the dirty floors, and the "to do" lists and enjoy our children even when we aren't sick as dogs!!! :)

MEALTIME

Mealtime= ridiculous mess and applesauce for wallpaper!

I mean I try to "control' things as much as possible but especially Ezekiel, he just finds great pleasure in seeing how much food he can get on his face, as well as the floors and walls!
I mean a mom shouldn't have to sweep a floor 5 times a day...doesn't that just seem a TAD excessive...but if I don't..who knows... one of my kids will inevitably pick up and try to swallow last meals stale mac and cheese under the table and begin to gag! haha...well its sorta funny! :)

Your probably thinking, "oh how cute, he's playing with his bowl after his yummy meal of mac n cheese"...don't be fooled! He barely took a bite! That bowl over his head is just a picture of all the mac and cheese going all over the floor! And you see that little smirk on that face; it's like he had been waiting to do that all day! haha

Mommyhood...it's as simple as WHAT???

MOMMYHOOD....

It will literally make you feel like you have gone crazy and then some! You feel some days like you've totally got it down (ok.. maybe like for an hour or so) and then BAM, you are yet again scrambling for time, overwhelmed and wondering if the day will ever end!! I was asking..ok...BEGGING the Lord for some sort of strategy..anything..."What is the answer Lord? I need something, anything...how do i be the mother YOU have destined me to be? How do I love my children and husband despite all circumstances? How do I have JOY at all times and be filled with the LOVE and passion of Christ everywhere I go???" and then it came...revelation...like a sweet whisper in my ear that had been there the whole time....God spoke....
"IT'S ME!"

"What Lord?!!" Then again.." IT'S ME!!!" and then all of the sudden it just all made sense! God IS patient, LOVE, JOY, SELF CONTROL and Lord began to show me that I have NONE of these things by myself(as if I needed a reminder haha) and ONLY through a constant communion with Him will I ever be joyful in the midst of any circumstance...find peace in the midst of chaos and LOVE people will His kind of love!!

I mean how in the WORLD can I expect to patient with my kids when they are fighting for the 50th time in an hour, or have peace when our car breaks down...agiain..or find love in my heart for the ruthless bill collector on the phone...and then God made it very clear......
I CANT...
I don't have ANY LOVE without Him...I have to be with Him, worshiping Him. spending time with Him, reading His Word and talking to Him....

So wait....its just that simple?!! Just spend time with Jesus and I will be an amazing mommy and wife?? Basically!! As we "waste our life" at the feet of Jesus, He will consume every part of our lives and then and ONLY then can be truly experience any REAL joy, peace, self control, gentleness....

So then I say...Oh Lord, you know I don't have hardly any time! Then The Lord graciously reminded me about the woman who was a widow and gave the last cent that she had to the Lord. And to so many she looked so foolish..i mean how was she going to eat the next day...she just gave away everything she had!! But the Lord called that "GOOD"..and went on to say that what a blessing it is to give out of your NEED!

ok, ok..so what does money have to do with time???? EVERYTHING!

The Lord began to show me that I (and probably ever mother out there) is in poverty when it comes to time. We just don't have enough of it. So when the Lord calls us to spend time with Him we think.."But Lord....I only have this TINY lil allotment of time..if I do that then I will have no time to cook, clean, run a seemingly normal household...and then you can forget about any lil projects!" and the Lord said...
"EXACTLY!!" "WASTE" your time on ME, spend time with me, even though you have NO time and I WILL BE FAITHFUL to provide...(peace, love and JOY)..

"Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and ALL else will be added unto you!"

So there ya have it...the simplest yet most satisfying revelation to being an amazing mommy.
Am I pro at it? ABSOLUTELY NOT...but maybe just maybe I can began to hear the voice of the Lord calling out to me in the midst of the screaming, poopy diapers, and food flying....inviting me to find peace in HIS PRESENCE!!!!!!!

P.S
You might be thinking...but how can God help me with potty training, all I can say is I wouldn't under estimate the God who created the universe! :)