9 blog posts in ONE day??!! haha

Just wanted to say...if your reading this and it looks like I posted 9 posts in one day...it's beacuase I did. haha  Well... actually I started 9 differnt ones throughtout the last 3 weeks and I finally actually finished them and posted them....

Okay...that's all I had to say.  Good night.  :)

Homeschooling on hold...

Ever since I was able to talk I was lining up my dolls and "teaching" them.  Teaching them how to read, write, and draw a circle.  When asked what I wanted to be I told everyone at a very young age: "A teacher!" And I never swayed from that thought one time.  Well, when God had other plans for my life and I started having children the natural course of action for a mommy who loves to teach would be of course- homeschooling, right???

So about 1 year ago I did what any other stay at home, home school eager mom would do- I started hitting up all the homeschooling books..all the conventions..and all the resources that I could get my hands on.  I wanted to be in the know.  I planned out Annabella and Malachi's preschool lesson plans and our field trips weeks in advance.   And I loved it!

But then we moved...and life started getting a littler crazier for various reasons and we are working through some major discipline troubles with a couple of our kids...and all of a sudden when I was teaching Annabella it became a war.  A war of who is gonna win.  I think I was thinking, "I told myself I'm gonna home school, it doesn't matter what's going on around me...I'm gonna make it happen by golly!"

And trust me...that road didn't end well.  Things stared to down spiral quickly and everything around here got to be pure chaos....and then all of a sudden I got the glorious revelation.....
I don't have to be teaching her math and science to be homeschooling.  Actually, the truth is, the FIRST part of homeschooling should be establishing peace within your home and within your children.  

I can't even tell you how free I felt.  Not to say that I might not even home school next year!  But just for this season I got sooo excited about being able to work on things that REALLY matter right now without becoming hyper controlling that we don't have a home school room to work on our letter chart!  She can come home from school with a peaceful environment and me waiting to give her a yummy snack and a listening ear to hear all of her stories from school.  I can work on being less busy...and investing that time with my boys while she's at school. I can learn the beautiful art of resting in the Lord and enjoying the simple pleasure of the mundane without adding more things right now.  I can work on asking the Lord for wisdom about how to deal with certain discipline issues with my kids without pushing them aside because I have a lesson plan to create.

The truth is....I can't wait till I get to homeschool...it's something I have always wanted to do, and can't wait till the Lord releases me to do it!  But for this season, I will be content and receive the other tasks that the Lord wants me to focus on...and to do them joyfully!!!

The funny things kids say

My kids are nuts!  But boy do they make me laugh!  :)  Everything is just so much funnier when they are around!  Here are some examples from the past few weeks...

Annabella- "Mommy, I wish I could get an American girl doll."
Me- "Well, honey..you'll just have to wait..."
Annabella- "Mommy.....what's a wish anyway?"   haha
Me-"It's when you really want something."
Annabella- "Well then...I wish for everything!!!"  #Smartgirl  :)


Malachi was putting one of Annabella's little toys near his nose and I warned him not to put it in his nose cause it could get stuck up there and we would have to go to the hospital....and he said...
"MOMMY!  You have to go to the hospital!!!  You stuck something up your nose!"  (referring to my nose ring)  hahaha


We were at a restaurant and it was just Annabella, my mom, and I.  Two older people sat down at the table next to us.
Annabella- "Grandma, those people are old!
Grandma-  {Quietly hushing} "No annabella, they are just older...not old."
Annabella {now shouting} "No, they are old!  Like REALLY old...like how old GG was!" (her great grandmother)
haha  I'm not sure if they heard us...but probably since Annabella was doing her best to announce it to the entire restaurant....  Geezzee, we gotta get on that whole "teach your kid to say the right thing in public" thing. haha


So we were at Chick fill A..my kids most favorite place in the whole world (okay, probably because that's the only place I will take them haha) But, like most of the kids...they just LOVE that big Chick-fill-a cow that comes in every so often (usually on Saturdays) and gives kids a hug...a hand shake, ect.... well of course my three kids were super excited to see Mr. cow man, so they ran up to him with all the other children hoping to get a high five.  Well when it was Ezekiel's turn...the cow leans over to give him a hand shake and what does Ezekiel do......
LICKS HIM!  Yup!  He just runs up to the cow and starts licking the belly of the front of the cow costume.  I mean, really??!!  Who does that?!! haha    Oh the mind of Ezkiel...who could ever really know?  haha... I LOVE him.


Annabella was singing
and Malachi screams- "Bella! Stop singing!!!"
Annabella- {keeps singing}
Malachi- Ahhhh!  Stop!!!
Me- Malachi!  She can sing if she wants to!
Malachi- But mom!  She just sings so badly!!
hahhaaha!  And so it begins!

But apparently, Annabella has a little different view of herself because a couple days she says in the car randomly, "Mommy, why did God want to give me SUCH a GREAT singing voice??" hahha  I laughed pretty hard and then said, "I guess cause He wants you to worship Him alot."  She just shrugged her shoulders and responded, "Yeah, I guess you're right."




Lastly....(and I have a picture to go along with this one)...

Annabella- "Malachi you HAVE to get in this suitcase!"
Malachi- "I don't want want to."
Annabella- "Malachi..you HAVE to!"
Malachi- "I'm too scared!"
Annabella- "Malachi, you have to be brave now...it's time."  hahhaa

And then when Annabella wanted a turn she asked Malachi to push her around and he said with a sigh, "I just can't Bella...you're just too heavy!" haha

Am I just biased or are my kids down right hilarious??!!  :)

How is she already FIVE???!!!

Wow! Why does 5 seem so old all of a sudden?! I mean I look at her and I see a young lady!  A crazy, silly, adventures, girlie little young lady. I know that every mother must say that...I mean, it's what us young moms have heard from the beginning- "Don't waste this precious time!"  They are gonna grow up so fast!"- But somehow in the midst of sleepless nights and potty training you lose sight of all of that and are just praying that one day they will be old enough for you to actually go to the bathroom without having them there!

Well, for the most part...that day has come.  Of course she still needs me..a lot!  But she can start thinking on her own and has her own thoughts about things- actually quite scary. haha   She can play in the backyard and just come and check in every so often...she can make her own pb&j (well sorta)....she can pour her own orange juice (more or less)...and she does a pretty decent job at picking out her outfits every morning.

Here is some Annabella's favorite and not so favorite things at age 5 (right from her own mouth)  :)

Favorite song- "Um....anything I make up is my favorite."

Favorite movie- "Tinkerbell!!"

Favorite things to play- "Hmm...painting and...of course to play with my fairies too!"

Favorite food- "Sweets! Like chocolate, ice cream....really I like all the sweets in the whole world!"

Your best friends- "Leah and Ana!!"
                             Me- "Annabella, what about Malachi?!"
                              Annabella- "Mooommm...he's not my friend...he's my brother!!"   Well okay then!  :)


What do you want to be when you grow up- (without hesitation) "A PRINCESS!"

 How many kids- "10." (stated very a matter of fact. haha)

What do you think your husband is gonna do someday- "A prince of course!  Because I'm gonna be a princess so he HAS to be a prince!" hahaha

If you had ONE day to do whatever you want what would it be- "Hmm...well, that would be okay with me cause I would want to do alot!  Like...play all day of course.  Then I would spend some alone time and rest a little." 


Okay now Annabella, lastly...tell me things you DON'T like at age 5-"Umm...playing with my brothers...well sometimes.... and...I DONT like eating jelly fish because they belong in the ocean (hahha)...playing in the mud (she totally does like that haha )...doing nothing....not having anyone to play with..."  (that sounds about right)

And just for fun I asked her what she thought Mommy's favorite things were..and some were cool...others, not so much! haha  (you should try this with your kids...they are painfully honest!)
Annabella- " Mama, you like....
                   - Resting...(thats a good thing...I think..haha)
                   - hmm...reading your Bible (yayy!  She notices!)
                   - dressing up (not sure how many times she's actually seen me "dressed up" but ok...haha)
                   - umm.....snuggling with us (sure do! )"
 Me- "Anything else mommy likes?"
Annabella- {without hesitation}-"You like peace and quiet when you're on the phone and NO ONE bothering you!!" hahaha  The truth comes out!

So there ya have it!!! haha I love her so much!

Happy birthday my sweet little bundle of joy!!  May you be the beautiful, amazing, woman of God that He is so wonderfully making you out to be!  May you love Him more than anything and trust Him with everything!  May you fix your gaze on what is not seen rather than things that are seen.  May you love with His love and be filled with joy over flowing!

I LOVE YOU ANNABELA JOY!

Annabella's 5th birthday party!

Annabella wanted to have her 5th birthday at McDonald's and I, of course, had other plans...big plans.  I mean, it's her 5TH birthday, right?!! :) I guess sometimes you just have to look at the facts and ask yourself.."Who am I actually throwing this party for anyway??"  And she wanted McDonald's...no way around it...good old fashioned french fries and a play land.  I will tell you what though, I have never spent so little time on a birthday before! I think this just may be a new trend... :) 

 I love Abby's face!

 5 YEARS OLD!  :)

 Annabella was a little pouty in the beginning because one of her friends didn't want to climb the play place..so we had a little drama...but then we just had a little talk and all was well.

 Annabella and Leah

 and where was Ezekiel?  trying to eat the cake of course!  haha

 The girls began to congregate at the table because someone had brought a jewelry box and they just thought it was the coolest thing ever!  (those are exact words, of course! haha)

 Malachi got antsy so my mom gave him a little ride  :)

 yumm

 "happy birthday to you...." :)

 Charlie, me, and our little bellabear!  :)

 I just love how excited Annabella gets when she opens gifts!  I think that was when she opened her tinkerbell snow globe...unfortunately, we have VERY bad luck with globes.  Annabella loves then but something always happens and they always break.  This was her 3rd globe in 10 months and this globe broke 3 hours after her birthday party.  :(

 That night we had a girls night at my moms house and she had some gifts for her to open

 Her new fairies and fairy house!  

A big thank you to all the other little fairies that came to her party to make it special!  :)

Another garden update

Well it's almost the end of the summer and out first attempt at a full garden has gone pretty good.  I mean, we definitely made some mistakes but we got LOTS of yummy veggies too and also learned a lot!  I am excited about starting again this fall and being able to plant all the winter crops!

 Some things didn't produce at all - like the beans (gonna have to figure that out for the spring)...and there weren't very many peppers, but overall it was very successful!

 There were TONS of tomatoes

 And lots of cucumbers, squash, and zucchinis too!

We found our summer spot

This summer has been fun..but it's been hot!  And those of you who know me....I. DON'T like the heat!  So when I discovered a great lake close by with a little sandy beach..you better believe we were there A LOT!  The kids loved it of course...although Ezekiel has this thing he does...he likes to take whatever I say and do the opposite.  Oh, your kids do that too?  :)   Needless to say I think next summer will be really great with him..but this summer was..well...interesting.  haha    So on our last lake trip before school starts I decided to take just the big kids and left little Ezekiel at home.  WOW!  I am contemplating not having anymore children!!! haha  It was soo easy just having two kids over 3!  I mean..I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! {angels singing}   :)

Malachi found a butterfly was chasing it around a good long while untill he finally came to the conclusion that the butterfly could out run him.  :)

awkward brother/sister picture...haha

Annabella and her best buds Ana and Leah.

 

Malachi just chilled by himself

the girls  :)

Although, as much as the summer was fun...I'm definitely looking forward to some cooler weather!

Columbia.....South Carolina that is... :)

We decided to go on a little week getaway just me and the kiddos.  Charlie had to work so I took the kids to our bestest friends Sami and Bekah's's house.  I'm not gonna lie...it was pretty insane!  haha  5 kids...3 big people...and one modest house - it was something to behold!  But it really was super fun!  When we finally put all the kids down we would just sit on the bed (yes...the 3 of us!) and eat Doritos and talk till wee hours in the night.  The only problem with that was that Ezekiel decided to learn how to climb out of his crib on this trip and came strolling out of his room around 5:30 AM most mornings!  Yuckkk!!  Thankfully the one night we stayed up till almost 2 and Ez got up at 5:30...Bekah took all 5 kids and let me go back to sleep!  (I know...amazing right! Especially because she got just as little sleep as I had!)

I didn't take near as many pictures as I would have normally but I think I was truly in vacation mode --just chilling every day in pj's and sitting on the couch drinking way too much coffee and watching the kids destroy the house--  yup, that sounds about right!  :)

Well at least I got a some pictures..and it truly captures the week perfectly!  :)

 Like I said...we didn't do much..like clean for example.  :)

 We did make it to the park a few times and although it was crazy hot, the kids enjoyed getting out

 Annabella having her "quiet time". 

 But after the hot park....everyone crashed (that includes the mommies!)

 But there was also plenty of time for silliness

 Malachi lined up the all the stuffed animals and serenaded them with a song

 Annabella wanted to make my hair all pretty and this was  the outcome! haha  If you are wondering, those little strings are plastic sticky ties...so yes, it took foorreevveerr to get them out! haha

 brothers.  :)

 I'm not sure if these pics will give it justice...but I was trying to capture my kids at their most favorite pastime- chasing each other around the house and tackling one another to the ground.  :)

 I think you get the point! haha

So overall..we had a lot of fun!