Happy Valentine's Day!

Last year I had an early Valentine's photo shoot with the girls, sent out Valentine's cards, blogged about doing crafts and treats, and made little Valentine's goodies for our friends.

This year I made cookies out of a box, grabbed the nearest pink clothes I could find and told the girls to smile pretty...about 5 minutes before naptime.

Maybe next year I will step up my game.

So thankful for my Original Valentine, my fabulous husband, and for my Little Valentines, my precious daughters.

Enjoy spending the day with those you love!

Snow Days

I can't believe it. We actually got snow in Georgia. Of course some of the stories from people who were stranded are horrible, but we were fortunate enough to enjoy the snow from our own yard and come inside our warm home when we needed to warm up. I'm so thankful we were home that day, and that Mark made it home safely from work. I think he left just in time because about an hour after he left is when the madness started.

The girls and I were sitting at the kitchen table when the first snow flurries began to fall. Thinking this was the most we would get, we ran outside, obviously a little prematurely, and enjoyed the "snow".

Little did we know, a little over an hour later our yard would look like this! This is about the time Mark got home and he wasted no time getting changed and taking the girls out to enjoy the snow.

Heidi was in Heaven. She was actually bred/born in Iowa, so she feels right at home in the snow and loves running around in it.

The girls had a blast too. Lucy has been saying all winter that she wants to play in the snow and she finally got her chance.

Throwing snowballs at each other. This shot is right before Lucy's snowball landed inside Annie's jacket and went down her shirt. She loved that obviously.

Mark is trying to hit our neighbors with a snowball.

We didn't have a sled, but our back yard is perfect for sledding. We literally tried every possible thing we could think of to sled on. Plastic pool floats, inflatable pool floats, an actual pool, rubbermaid containers/tops, and even a baby tub.

The winner turned out to be this little pool float. It has a string on it so you can hold on, and it proved to be the fastest sled. They went down our hill over and over on it.

All of our pools and floats are now popped or broken, so I'll have to buy new ones for this summer when we will use the floats for their actual intended purpose. It was worth it though.

Meanwhile, Annie has a problem. Can't. Stop. Eating. Snow.

Literally off of every surface she could find, she was eating the snow. I mean, it all tastes the same, so I'm not sure what the appeal was. But most of her time was spent eating/licking snow, with the occasional ride on a sled.

Stella and I mostly stayed in the warm house, as I am not a winter/cold/snow person. I prefer temperatures above 50 degrees please. Plus Stella didn't really have any gear warm enough for a romp in the snow. But we did have to get her out and let her experience it some, so here's proof that Stella saw her first snow. She was thrilled.

Using sand buckets and shovels for the snow. Are you sensing a theme here? Summer/Pool equipment for the snow. We are warm weather people.

Annie made a snow angel and then couldn't get up.

We went on a walk to check out the neighborhood and see how the roads were. It was pretty slick and icy. Heidi loved exploring, and Annie loved finding new surfaces off of which to eat snow.

Then Stella and mama came inside because we were getting too cold. Stella wanted to play in the back yard with her sisters. (though she whined almost the entire time she was outside)

Watching them sled

The aftermath = fun clean up for mom

While they played outside, I stayed by the warm stove and made hot chocolate for the troops.

I think coming inside and warming up and drinking hot chocolate was their favorite part.

It was a fun few snow days, but I think I've had my fill for another few years. The girls asked me the other day when they can start wearing their flip flops. We are ready for spring!

15 months

Our precious Stella is 15 months! She has turned into quite a little character these past few months. Her personality is really starting to come out.....and we think she's kinda....well.....she's MEAN.

What? That sweet face? Don't let her fool you. The girl knows how to get her way.

Yes, she is a very sweet baby. She gives kisses and she loves to cuddle. But if she wants something, she has a little bit of an edge. And she gets it. Usually by force.

Ok she's not really mean. But it is funny to see how early and how young she has picked up on the dynamic of our family. She knows she's the baby. She knows how to work her big sisters. And she definitely knows how to work her mama and daddy.

Honestly, we all love her so much and most of the time she is still very laid back and easy going. It will be interesting as she gets older to see her spunk continue to come out.

I've just decided to accept the fact that none of my children will have mild personalities. They all have a little bit of drive, independence, and toughness. Each in their own way. Let's just say that the teenage years in our house will be anything but dull.

riding her hippo she got for Christmas from Big Daddy and Grandma 

I've really noticed Stella's little toddler-isms start to come out this month. She seems less like a baby and more like a little mischievous munchkin. She will follow commands (for the most part), she has become very playful and active, and she's even walking! 

She loves to give big, wet, slobbery kisses. She still LOVES to eat and starts dancing when she sees food coming. She loves music and loves to dance. She loves emptying the kitchen cabinets. She loves taking anything out of a container and then putting it back in (what child/toddler/baby doesn't??)

She still has brown fuzz for hair and her eyes are dark brown, a lot like Lucy's. 

She isn't very fond of milk anymore. Which is fine with me. I still give it to her in the morning when she first gets up but she only drinks it about half the time.

I think she is on target for weight/height....but she certainly feels a little on the chunky side to me. She's much thicker and feels heavier than Annie. But she's wearing 12 month clothes and is pretty short.

I told her to kiss the hippo

She walks across the room independently, but still crawls most of the time. Especially when she wants to get somewhere fast. She is walking more and more though and starting to stand up and choose to walk even if she starts in a sitting position.

I was looking at pictures and videos of Annie around 15 months the other day, and Annie was SO much more advanced as far as gross motor skills. She was running around and climbing already. I forget how things change so quickly around this age and I imagine Stella will be taking off very soon.

walking across her room 

I can't even remember what it was like before Stella joined our family. She just adds so much personality and dynamic that it's difficult to remember what we did without her.

I just love this age and watching how much they grow. She has changed so much just in the past few months and I know will continue to change in the next few. Soon babyhood will be behind her and she'll be blasting straight into toddlerhood.

Sweet girl! You are so loved Stella!

Family Christmas

We had a wonderful, but very busy Christmas this year. We are blessed enough to live close to all of our family....all three sets of grandparents and one set of great-grandparents. This makes for a lot of house hopping and gift giving. Every year I say I'm not going to do it anymore, I turn into the Grinch and say we aren't driving around all Christmas and that everyone can just come to our house. But somehow we end up driving around to everyone and spending most of our Christmas in the car. 

The girls had a blast and love driving around to see everyone. It was exhausting for me, especially since I'm anti-social and a hermit, AND I do all the majority of the work as far as packing/unpacking and preparing for all of our short term trips.

We spent Christmas Eve with Mark's family. The big hit at their house was princess dresses for the girls.

Two years ago, when Annie was a baby, we decided to start spending Christmas morning at our own house, and opening gifts from just us. I'm so glad we started this tradition then, because as the girls get older, I want them to remember Christmas morning waking up in their own beds and running down the stairs in our house and spending the morning just the five of us. I always make a big breakfast and we just love spending time together in our pjs on Christmas morning.

 Stella had matching pjs too but of course she peed all the way through them. I seriously contemplated leaving her in pee pjs for christmas morning pictures and then realized that would be stupid and only for appearance and not for her comfort. So unmatching pjs it is.

We usually set out one big gift for the girls....something they can all share and enjoy. One year it was a wagon, one year it was doll accessories, this year we bought them an art easel. Stella won't be able to use it for a few years (other than chewing on chalk and art supplies) but the older girls loved it.

We keep things fairly simple as far as gift giving goes. Everyone gets three gifts, Something you Want, Something you Need, and Something to Read. My friend Claire mentioned they do the same thing. Usually for the girls, this translates into a toy, an outfit or a pair of shoes, and of course a book. We also do little stocking stuffers.

Annie asked for a baby doll this year. Although we have collected quite a few over the years she doesn't have one that is just hers, so she got what she wanted.

Next year I'm hoping to hang around our house for longer on Christmas day. As soon as we finished breakfast we hit the ground running and went to my dad's, back home for quick naps, back to my dad's for a big family late lunch, then to my mom's for Christmas evening. Not really sure how any of this can be changed....of course we want to see everyone on Christmas but it's getting harder and harder to drag three little ones around and make sure everyone gets equal time. I try to make everyone happy and usually I end up making myself miserable.

Ahh the Holidays.

We are very blessed. I know many people who don't have any family to go see on Christmas. We are so fortunate to have so many wonderful people in our lives who want to see us and shower us with gifts on Christmas. I get whiny about it but really it's such a good problem to have.....to have too many places to go on Christmas. We are so loved.

Merry Christmas!

To Santa Or Not To Santa

I am being bombarded with Santa.

He is everywhere. I think I've seen Santa at least 8 times recently....and we don't go see Santa. He just pops up wherever we are!

I don't mind Santa being around. I understand that's the only reason some people celebrate Christmas, and I'm tolerant of other people's religions. And if you try to tell me that Santa is not a religion, then I would like to tell you that you are a crazy person.

Don't even get me started on Elf on the Shelf. EVERYONE is doing it! Since when do we think it's ok to straight up lie to our kids and tell them that some creepy Elf is watching them to make sure they behave?? Apparently works and behavior are all that matter anymore to parents, and bribing their children to "be good" can only be done through mystical creatures, who, let's face it, look more like molesters than helpers.

I'm not the Grinch I promise. I grew up doing the whole Santa bit. And we haven't told our kids there isn't a Santa. They sing the Santa songs and they know who he is when they see a picture of see him on one of our outings. But in OUR family, Santa is not how we celebrate Christmas. We still give our kids presents and there are even unopened gifts sitting out Christmas morning and stockings are full. But we don't say that Santa brought them. We don't really say anything. I guess we are kind of passive aggressive about it.....I don't want Lucy to be the kid at school telling everyone that Santa isn't real, but I also don't want her to think that he actually DID come to our house.

Honestly, it's never bothered me before that we don't do Santa. But this year, Lucy has been asking a lot of questions, and I started to feel a little guilty that our kids don't have the whole Santa experience. I'm all for imagination and believing in fairy tales....that's what childhood is about. The girls love Disney Princesses and mermaids, and we don't tell them that they don't exist. We let them believe and pretend because those things are important to them.

I think the difference between those and Santa, at least to me, is that the princesses and mermaids and fairy tales aren't overshadowing the truth. It's something they play. It doesn't distract them from what's real.

Santa does. We have become so obsessed with Santa and presents and freaking Elf on the freaking Shelf that we are missing the greatest gift we could ever give our children, and the greatest gift that the world was given....the gift of Jesus.

God. Himself. Came down to this nasty, fallen, sin-filled earth as a BABY, so that He could live among us, love on us, die for us, and save us. That is the greatest miracle. How Santa can fit down the chimney doesn't seem like such a big accomplishment anymore.

Mark and I listened to this the other night and it was very convicting....





Obviously John Piper is on the "Not To Santa" side.

I'm not saying you should take a side. But this was such a reminder for me to teach my children what Christmas truly is. Not just Jesus's Birthday. But what His birthday means for us. It's everything. Without Christmas, there is no Easter. Without Easter, we are all condemned forever.

Do Santa if you want. But Do Jesus more.

But please, whatever you do, don't Do Elf on the Shelf.

He Makes Beautiful Things

I want this tattoo in a bad way. Unfortunately my husband is not on board with me permanently inking my body. He's so old school sometimes.


I've been in a rut. A spiritual rut. A parenting rut. A wife rut. A friendship rut. A blogging rut. Nothing life shattering or major. I haven't abandoned my purpose in life or given up on anything. I just find myself taking the easy way out too many times. I can't get motivated, and nothing is bringing me joy.

There are still boxes that need to be unpacked and pictures that need to be hung. I have countless home/crafting projects in my back pocket that I just can't seem to start because I don't have the capacity or the energy to finish them. I find myself sending the girls to their rooms because I can't take the whining/fighting one more minute and I don't know what else to do. Instead of investing in my husband and giving him the time and attention he deserves, we just veg out on the couch after the girls are in bed and watch tv or play on our ipads mindlessly.

There are lots of reasons and excuses for the rut. But none of them really matter.

What does matter, is that I know this rut will change me. I've had ruts in the past. BIG ones. Small ones. And after every single one of them I came out greater, stronger, and more full of joy and peace. I don't want to say that the Lord causes ruts or obstacles in our lives, because that would create a huge theological debate on whether He "allows" suffering or intentionally "gives" it or just stands back with his hands up because He isn't in control. I don't really believe any of those things....what I believe is kind of a mix of all of those....but what I think we can all agree on, is that He works all things together for our good.

He makes beautiful things out of the dust.

And I am so full of dust right now. Like the nasty, old dust that's been lying around too long and is now collecting new dust and things even grosser than dust.

Some of you know this about me, and some of you don't. But....I used to not be a very nice person. I'm still not that nice of a person. But compared to what I was, I'm all roses and sunshine now.

But my Heavenly Father has done a great work. He is changing me, refining me. Very slowly, He is making me into the person He wants me to be. Still with some grit, and some spunk, because He made that part of me too. But I'm definitely softer around the edges than I used to be. He began the refining process when I chose to follow Him and declared Him as my Savior and God. Then as a young teenager He nurtured me and pruned me through some difficult life changes. Then slowly He sifted me even further through my husband. Mark has softened me and loved me so well, that I couldn't help but change.

Then the Lord did to me what He does to those who are arrogant and think they have it all figured out and if everyone would just do what they told them to do then everything would be ok.....He blessed me with children. Not just any children. Three girls. Who are just as stubborn as their mama. He humbles me daily through parenting. I am much more compassionate and tolerant than I used to be. So when you see me snapping at one of my children or responding sharply, remember that I am a work in progress.....

I want to be beautiful for Him. And I know that I can't do it on my own. I used to think that I could. That I didn't need anyone or anything but myself. And that's why He has had to humble me so much. And I am SO grateful He loves me enough to work on me. Because I do need A LOT. I need people in my life (I never thought I would say that!!), I need friends who will lift me up and encourage me. I need my mom and dad. I need my family. I need my husband. I need my girls. Most of all, I need Jesus and I need His grace that He freely gives me every day.

This post began as a pity party. I was going to list all the reasons why I've been in a rut and whine about everything that hasn't been going as planned in my life. But even as I write He is cleansing me. Stripping me of myself and adding more of Him. Because He loves me.

All around

Hope is springing up from this old ground

Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

You make me new, You are making me new

You make me new, You are making me new

Gungor "Beautiful Things"