Love this book!
He does diapers, you guys!
There's this viral post going around asking the Dad's to just "take the picture". Well, I've come to find that I have to just specifically ask him to take pictures that aren't selfies of me with my kids. It's okay. It's not vain :)
He seriously kisses her all.the.time.
This about sums up our nighttime situation.
I'm down about 8lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight. Not really focusing on it much right now, but hoping to eventually get to a point where I drop another 20lbs.
I love this kid!
The two newest additions to the fam ;)
Met up with this stranger for lunch before Mark's explanation of findings appointment.
We've had a rough go of it this year (read the previous post entitled "Reality"), but I really do still love this man with all my heart. We will get through it!
I've not been okay lately. That doesn't mean I'm not having good moments, because I am, and I'm going to be okay, but I'm not okay right now, and it's okay to not be okay. It also doesn't mean that I am not enjoying my sweet moments with my little ones, because I most definitely am.
Beautiful flowers from my sweet, sweet co-workers. It'll be bittersweet heading back to work and leaving my baby girl at daycare, but knowing I have such an army of support to go back to at work makes me excited :) I really love these people!
For the first time in my life, I've been journaling. It's healing for sure.
Lunch date with Daddy while he was re-grouping in Worthington for a handful of days.
Our little goofball ;)
These guys are just too cute :)
This kid...
A few of the necessary healing pieces right now. It hasn't taken long to realize why James was one of my Mama's favorite books of the Bible.
Oh how I love this little face :)
He's starting to legitimately draw pictures of actual things that you can tell what they are these days. The sidewalk chalk art is suddenly kinda cool!
The support of our friends and family during this influx of insanity the past few months has been overwhelming! A little jumpy house fun with friends after they brought over some pizza and cookies one night.
I know when he gets better, it'll be like this more, or at least I hope!
Fresh air and views like this are healing for the soul.
Dance party!
She'll nap a little longer in the swing usually. I love to watch her, though, so I get less done when she does.
Out little oasis. This year, we added the sandbox, slide and two big kid swings. It's really pretty great!
Snack time!
How we all feel about the snacks, buddy lol
Couldn't find the big kids. They were under the lower deck hunting for bunnies!
He insists on going down the slide backward.
Slightly smaller than the pumpkin; Slightly bigger than the pumpkin.
It doesn't seem like he should be big enough for the 3-wheeler. Also, when the temps get low, his nose runs like crazy.
A Kinsley and Mama shopping day. She can totally hang ;) She also has way more adorable shoes than I do.
So...we ended up cancelling our family pictures this year, because well...life was entirely way too chaotic. I consider it no small miracle that we winged it...put on our picture outfits, set up a tripod, and got this within two timer pics.
I absolutely adore the coloring on our tree in the front yard!
These guys had such a blast exploring the Franz's farm for FBC Fall Fest this year with their friend Emmalynn :)
Cashel is getting to be SO GROWN UP! Sometimes he gets a little crazy, but the vast majority of the time, he seriously steps up. He's very sensitive to what is going on with Daddy right now, and although I hate that he's old enough to realize it, he is my sanity when I begin to think I'm losing my mind with it all. The countless pictures he has drawn for me, hearts he has cut out and colored, high praise he gives me, and hugs and kisses and snuggles. I tell ya what - this kid is a gift from God. If ever I begin to think that God has forgotten me and left me here, Cashel is my reminder that God has good planned for us.
However...he isn't always super cooperative when I ask him to just take a nice picture lol
Nor is this one lol
I've been trying really hard to care for myself better in the midst of this insanity. I'm slowly noticing the things that I've let slip. Things like...forgetting to paint my toenails, or shave my hairy toes, or pluck the hairs under my chin, or pluck my eyebrows, or schedule a hair cut. I'm trying to be more mindful of all that.
This guy turned 69 on the 18th! It still amazes us that he's not only still with us, but thriving. One of the things Mark repetitively points out multiple times a day is that he's glad his Dad is still alive after the farm accident that could have claimed his life on October 6, 2012. We're so, so very glad we're celebrating another birthday with him here on earth instead.
I never in my wildest imagination could have dreamed up that I would have these four kiddos. What's even more amazing is that it's 9:30pm, and I am the only one awake in the house.
Sorry that this is a tinge WAY TMI, but...at least once in the fall, I end up with leaf bits under my boobs. I'm totally surrounded by wild hooligans, I tell ya!
Seriously...leaves everywhere!
I'm not sure how many more times I can tell them to not move these bricks. The joy of finding worms is greater in their minds than any punishment I could think up. Seriously. I've tried everything.
How in the world was this kid ever not part of our family? He adds a whole level of pure joy to our lives, and is an enemy of no one right now. All smiles, giggles and "diggle diggle diggle"s and "boo"s and "go go go go"s and snuggles.
Mandy and I were college roommies at NWC. We don't see each other much these days, but when we do, it doesn't take much to catch up!
OMG this baby girl is going to be the death of me! #ThoseEyes #ThoseLips #ThatNose
This is the first year we have "made" a costume for the kids. Cashel wanted to go as "No Noggin" from Curious George's Halloween BooFest. It is also notable that Kendrick insisted on being a cupcake, and then refused to wear the costume I labored over...
My hearts :)
His legs aren't quite long enough for those 2T jammies yet, so Mark pulls them way up so he doesn't trip on the legs every night before bed. It cracks me up every time lol
Mama's little ladybug!
Oh goodness I don't even want to begin to explain what this is doing in my hand and not in the spigot on the side of our house...
I was immediately declared the "best Mommy in the entire whole wide world" for raking up this monstrous pile of leaves for the boys to jump in :)
Without our surprise Kinsley, there would be no cookies! oO(In my best Susan Wiens voice) Just sayin'
It isn't every day you get air mail from Japan! Our dear friend Karen, who is a missionary we support in Higashi Kurume Tokyo sent us not just one but TWO letters in one day!
The Lord has surely placed some pretty incredible women of God in my life. Mark's grandma Vi is one of the best!
Good for the soul, but not so much for the waistline...
I cannot even begin to describe the enormity of what this study has opened my eyes to. God knew that I needed it at this exact season of my life. In these exact days.
Fall leaves are one of my absolute most favorite things
This cake is an ENORMOUS reminder to me that words can tear a person apart. Mark went and bought me this cake...or rather...a significantly nicer version of it. The boys went and demolished it within minutes of being home, and I flew off the handle. I completely lost it, and my words really wounded my sweet Cashel. Words like, "you ruined my birthday" and "you make me feel unloved" and "why do you always go out of your way to be so mean to Mama?" After calming down and praying for more grace than I obviously was giving earlier, I found him curled into the fetal position in his room crying and scooped him up and apologized for being so awful. We then found a bag of mallow pumpkins and fixed it. If there is anything I'm learning as a parent, it's to apologize all the time. My kids need to know that you can make mistakes that have hard consequences, but that you don't have to live with horrible guilt. To learn that apologies are so important, and that hugs are healing.
This pretty much sums up things right now. Cashel is being all sweet, Mark has about half a personality, but what he lacks, Kendrick more than makes up for, usually causing Ryan to either be laughing hysterically or bawling, Mama is kinda disheveled but trying to stay positive, and poor Kinsley is all, "OMG WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!"
My biggest big and my littlest little. All the hearts for these two. Cashel is so, so, so sweet with her.
Kendrick has absolutely no idea who Darth Vader is (he calls him "Dark Vader"), but he was SO EXCITED to wear the costume for Halloween.
Our third baby to wear this adorable monster costume...those little cheeks! ::swoon::
One of our favorite fall traditions!
Happy Halloween!
I'm going to freely admit it: This photo was staged. I realized that with my first two maternity leaves, I didn't have any pictures that really captured the essence of what I get to do most days when I'm with my babies, and well...that made me sad. As a Mama, no one else is going to wander around tooting my horn for me, and well...I want to look back and remember when my babies were little and I snuggled them and talked with them all day. Especially now with my Mama gone, I really wish I had pictures like this of her to look back on, especially when you realize that awful diseases exist that can steal your sweet memories from you. A picture really is worth a thousand words, and I hope that as a Mama (if you are one), that you insist on stealing away these types of memories for you and your family. Your kids will want to remember you the way THEY remember you, and when they're little, they can't capture those photo memories for you.
I seriously just love this little girl so, so very much!
We literally spent 2 minutes taking this picture, and then the winter coats and hats went on under their costumes, making them super bulky and funny looking, but WARM. It was SO COLD this year!
Cashel is learning so much more about listening and following instructions in Kindergarten. He got the hang of, "Stop at the curb and look for cars" pretty quickly. Our resident "bull in a china shop" Kendrick, however, ain't got no time for rules. Oy!
He does diapers, you guys!
There's this viral post going around asking the Dad's to just "take the picture". Well, I've come to find that I have to just specifically ask him to take pictures that aren't selfies of me with my kids. It's okay. It's not vain :)
He seriously kisses her all.the.time.
This about sums up our nighttime situation.
I'm down about 8lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight. Not really focusing on it much right now, but hoping to eventually get to a point where I drop another 20lbs.
I love this kid!
The two newest additions to the fam ;)
Met up with this stranger for lunch before Mark's explanation of findings appointment.
We've had a rough go of it this year (read the previous post entitled "Reality"), but I really do still love this man with all my heart. We will get through it!
I've not been okay lately. That doesn't mean I'm not having good moments, because I am, and I'm going to be okay, but I'm not okay right now, and it's okay to not be okay. It also doesn't mean that I am not enjoying my sweet moments with my little ones, because I most definitely am.
Beautiful flowers from my sweet, sweet co-workers. It'll be bittersweet heading back to work and leaving my baby girl at daycare, but knowing I have such an army of support to go back to at work makes me excited :) I really love these people!
For the first time in my life, I've been journaling. It's healing for sure.
Lunch date with Daddy while he was re-grouping in Worthington for a handful of days.
Our little goofball ;)
These guys are just too cute :)
This kid...
A few of the necessary healing pieces right now. It hasn't taken long to realize why James was one of my Mama's favorite books of the Bible.
Oh how I love this little face :)
He's starting to legitimately draw pictures of actual things that you can tell what they are these days. The sidewalk chalk art is suddenly kinda cool!
The support of our friends and family during this influx of insanity the past few months has been overwhelming! A little jumpy house fun with friends after they brought over some pizza and cookies one night.
I know when he gets better, it'll be like this more, or at least I hope!
Fresh air and views like this are healing for the soul.
Dance party!
She'll nap a little longer in the swing usually. I love to watch her, though, so I get less done when she does.
Out little oasis. This year, we added the sandbox, slide and two big kid swings. It's really pretty great!
Snack time!
How we all feel about the snacks, buddy lol
Couldn't find the big kids. They were under the lower deck hunting for bunnies!
He insists on going down the slide backward.
Slightly smaller than the pumpkin; Slightly bigger than the pumpkin.
It doesn't seem like he should be big enough for the 3-wheeler. Also, when the temps get low, his nose runs like crazy.
A Kinsley and Mama shopping day. She can totally hang ;) She also has way more adorable shoes than I do.
So...we ended up cancelling our family pictures this year, because well...life was entirely way too chaotic. I consider it no small miracle that we winged it...put on our picture outfits, set up a tripod, and got this within two timer pics.
I absolutely adore the coloring on our tree in the front yard!
These guys had such a blast exploring the Franz's farm for FBC Fall Fest this year with their friend Emmalynn :)
Cashel is getting to be SO GROWN UP! Sometimes he gets a little crazy, but the vast majority of the time, he seriously steps up. He's very sensitive to what is going on with Daddy right now, and although I hate that he's old enough to realize it, he is my sanity when I begin to think I'm losing my mind with it all. The countless pictures he has drawn for me, hearts he has cut out and colored, high praise he gives me, and hugs and kisses and snuggles. I tell ya what - this kid is a gift from God. If ever I begin to think that God has forgotten me and left me here, Cashel is my reminder that God has good planned for us.
However...he isn't always super cooperative when I ask him to just take a nice picture lol
Nor is this one lol
I've been trying really hard to care for myself better in the midst of this insanity. I'm slowly noticing the things that I've let slip. Things like...forgetting to paint my toenails, or shave my hairy toes, or pluck the hairs under my chin, or pluck my eyebrows, or schedule a hair cut. I'm trying to be more mindful of all that.
This guy turned 69 on the 18th! It still amazes us that he's not only still with us, but thriving. One of the things Mark repetitively points out multiple times a day is that he's glad his Dad is still alive after the farm accident that could have claimed his life on October 6, 2012. We're so, so very glad we're celebrating another birthday with him here on earth instead.
I never in my wildest imagination could have dreamed up that I would have these four kiddos. What's even more amazing is that it's 9:30pm, and I am the only one awake in the house.
Sorry that this is a tinge WAY TMI, but...at least once in the fall, I end up with leaf bits under my boobs. I'm totally surrounded by wild hooligans, I tell ya!
Seriously...leaves everywhere!
I'm not sure how many more times I can tell them to not move these bricks. The joy of finding worms is greater in their minds than any punishment I could think up. Seriously. I've tried everything.
How in the world was this kid ever not part of our family? He adds a whole level of pure joy to our lives, and is an enemy of no one right now. All smiles, giggles and "diggle diggle diggle"s and "boo"s and "go go go go"s and snuggles.
Mandy and I were college roommies at NWC. We don't see each other much these days, but when we do, it doesn't take much to catch up!
OMG this baby girl is going to be the death of me! #ThoseEyes #ThoseLips #ThatNose
This is the first year we have "made" a costume for the kids. Cashel wanted to go as "No Noggin" from Curious George's Halloween BooFest. It is also notable that Kendrick insisted on being a cupcake, and then refused to wear the costume I labored over...
My hearts :)
His legs aren't quite long enough for those 2T jammies yet, so Mark pulls them way up so he doesn't trip on the legs every night before bed. It cracks me up every time lol
Mama's little ladybug!
Oh goodness I don't even want to begin to explain what this is doing in my hand and not in the spigot on the side of our house...
I was immediately declared the "best Mommy in the entire whole wide world" for raking up this monstrous pile of leaves for the boys to jump in :)
Without our surprise Kinsley, there would be no cookies! oO(In my best Susan Wiens voice) Just sayin'
It isn't every day you get air mail from Japan! Our dear friend Karen, who is a missionary we support in Higashi Kurume Tokyo sent us not just one but TWO letters in one day!
The Lord has surely placed some pretty incredible women of God in my life. Mark's grandma Vi is one of the best!
Good for the soul, but not so much for the waistline...
I cannot even begin to describe the enormity of what this study has opened my eyes to. God knew that I needed it at this exact season of my life. In these exact days.
Fall leaves are one of my absolute most favorite things
This cake is an ENORMOUS reminder to me that words can tear a person apart. Mark went and bought me this cake...or rather...a significantly nicer version of it. The boys went and demolished it within minutes of being home, and I flew off the handle. I completely lost it, and my words really wounded my sweet Cashel. Words like, "you ruined my birthday" and "you make me feel unloved" and "why do you always go out of your way to be so mean to Mama?" After calming down and praying for more grace than I obviously was giving earlier, I found him curled into the fetal position in his room crying and scooped him up and apologized for being so awful. We then found a bag of mallow pumpkins and fixed it. If there is anything I'm learning as a parent, it's to apologize all the time. My kids need to know that you can make mistakes that have hard consequences, but that you don't have to live with horrible guilt. To learn that apologies are so important, and that hugs are healing.
This pretty much sums up things right now. Cashel is being all sweet, Mark has about half a personality, but what he lacks, Kendrick more than makes up for, usually causing Ryan to either be laughing hysterically or bawling, Mama is kinda disheveled but trying to stay positive, and poor Kinsley is all, "OMG WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!"
My biggest big and my littlest little. All the hearts for these two. Cashel is so, so, so sweet with her.
Kendrick has absolutely no idea who Darth Vader is (he calls him "Dark Vader"), but he was SO EXCITED to wear the costume for Halloween.
Our third baby to wear this adorable monster costume...those little cheeks! ::swoon::
One of our favorite fall traditions!
Happy Halloween!
I'm going to freely admit it: This photo was staged. I realized that with my first two maternity leaves, I didn't have any pictures that really captured the essence of what I get to do most days when I'm with my babies, and well...that made me sad. As a Mama, no one else is going to wander around tooting my horn for me, and well...I want to look back and remember when my babies were little and I snuggled them and talked with them all day. Especially now with my Mama gone, I really wish I had pictures like this of her to look back on, especially when you realize that awful diseases exist that can steal your sweet memories from you. A picture really is worth a thousand words, and I hope that as a Mama (if you are one), that you insist on stealing away these types of memories for you and your family. Your kids will want to remember you the way THEY remember you, and when they're little, they can't capture those photo memories for you.
I seriously just love this little girl so, so very much!
We literally spent 2 minutes taking this picture, and then the winter coats and hats went on under their costumes, making them super bulky and funny looking, but WARM. It was SO COLD this year!
Cashel is learning so much more about listening and following instructions in Kindergarten. He got the hang of, "Stop at the curb and look for cars" pretty quickly. Our resident "bull in a china shop" Kendrick, however, ain't got no time for rules. Oy!
