Saturday, March 26, 2011
Two Pees in the Pot
I have already posted this song on our blog, but I have a story to go along with it. So I had to re-post it. Tonight we did a potty session with the boys. Even Landon joined in. So for 1 hour we let the boys run around the kitchen naked. Trevor peed on the floor right off the bat and I showed him where to do it next time. About 20 minutes later he sat down and did his potty! Right now we only have one potty chair, so I had them alternate. Trevor said he had to go again, but Wyatt took too long to get up and Trevor started wetting on the floor. We got about half of it in the potty. Wyatt was very stubborn and didn't go until the very end, but it was all in the potty. We had to play some Michael Jackson and Metallica to give him some inspiration. :) So our first session was a success. We put them to bed and this Brad Paisley song came on. I can usually listen to the song just fine, but today when it came to the part about the years flying by, I completely lost it and started bawling and told Russ I was going to lose it when the kids leave. Russ said, in typical man fashion, "Isn't the point to raise them and get them out of the house?" I think he may be watching too much of The Cosby Show on netflix. :) I know I need to focus on potty training these two before I worry about them leaving, but I am a mom and I can't help it. The years really do fly by.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Sometimes...
Being the baby in the family sucks!
I love the fact that Aurora was pushing him and the second the flash came on, she shot a million dollar smile. Don't worry, Landon can hold his own and soon after I shot this photo, he got his revenge. :)
Thursday, March 17, 2011
I've Been Watching You
I was reminded of this song earlier this week:
Trevor was sitting at the dinner table eating. He asked for more of something and I said that he couldn't have any more. So he grunts and says "Gosh Dang-it." Of course that is mild to what he could have said, but I said "excuse me?" and he replied with, "Daddy says gosh dang-it." The funny part was that he said it exactly the way Russ would have said it, he did a perfect imitation. So I guess we need to be a little more careful what we say and do around here. :)
Trevor was sitting at the dinner table eating. He asked for more of something and I said that he couldn't have any more. So he grunts and says "Gosh Dang-it." Of course that is mild to what he could have said, but I said "excuse me?" and he replied with, "Daddy says gosh dang-it." The funny part was that he said it exactly the way Russ would have said it, he did a perfect imitation. So I guess we need to be a little more careful what we say and do around here. :)
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Snow Day!
At the end of February we had a dismal amount of snow fall. By the time the kiddos got out to play it was pretty much gone, but they had a blast anyways!
Heaven Is Real Part 2 (sort of)
There are 3 stories in our family history that to me prove that God is real and so is Heaven. As I was writing the previous post I didn't have time to include these 3 stories that have always left no doubt in mind. I am getting old or older I should say and I don't have the best memory. I do this blog to help me remember the good times, the bad times and even the stressed times. I want my kids to be able to someday look back on these posts and have a good laugh or cry, but most of all know that their Mommy loved them and enjoyed every moment of their early lives. So in a way this is a journal for my kiddos. So these stories they will probably have already heard from me or their daddy, but they are worth jotting down.
My sister kept a little journal under her bed, that I didn't know about obviously, or I would have read it. :) After she passed away we found the journal and the last line on the last page was written a few weeks before she died. It simply said "I am not sure what the future has in store for me. Only God knows."
Later that year my Great-Aunt Patsy was losing her battle with cancer. She was a strong woman and she held on for a long time. I believe it was a day before she passed away, but I am not certain on the time-line. She was rambling on about things and close to death. She mentioned my sister and her Grandson Ryan in the same breath. Amber had already passed, but Ryan was alive and well. His mom was concerned for a little bit, but her mom was dying so she didn't have time to worry about it. Aunt Patsy died that summer. On Thanksgiving night of that same year, my cousin Ryan got in to a car with a bunch of kids who had been drinking. They didn't make it far before they got in an accident. Ryan was critically injured and was in the hospital for about 3 weeks before he finally passed away.
My cousin Natalie was diagnosed with a brain tumor when she was 2 years old. She was an angel on Earth. She was so sweet and quiet spoken. She bravely fought for about 8 years, multiple surgeries and treatments later. The doctors finally did all they could and she died peacefully in her home. The day that she died she told her parents that she saw angels on the ceiling.
2 Bonus stories! :) When my Grandma was in the hospital my parents started having electrical disturbances in their house. She told me she hoped it wasn't Amber coming to take Grams to Heaven. Well, my Grandma died the next day and the electrical disturbances stopped.
My Great Uncle Bobby died last month and honestly it has been a few years since I had seen him. He was married to my Great-Aunt Patsy, who was my Grandma's sister. About a week before Uncle Bobby died, I had a dream about Aunt Patsy. I have never in my life had a dream about her, or had I been thinking about her that day or prior days. All I can say is that she was being Aunt Patsy, and if you know her, then you know what I mean. I pushed it to the back of my mind and about a week later my mom called to tell me that Uncle Bobby was going home to hospice care and he probably wasn't going to make it through the night. At this point we all knew that he had medical conditions, but his death was sort of unexpected.
I don't claim to have all the answers. But I do know that my faith is real and Heaven is real. God talks to us all the time, all we need to do is be still and listen. I hear Him all the time, but I do have 4 little kids, so I guess you could argue that I may be mentally ill. :)
My sister kept a little journal under her bed, that I didn't know about obviously, or I would have read it. :) After she passed away we found the journal and the last line on the last page was written a few weeks before she died. It simply said "I am not sure what the future has in store for me. Only God knows."
Later that year my Great-Aunt Patsy was losing her battle with cancer. She was a strong woman and she held on for a long time. I believe it was a day before she passed away, but I am not certain on the time-line. She was rambling on about things and close to death. She mentioned my sister and her Grandson Ryan in the same breath. Amber had already passed, but Ryan was alive and well. His mom was concerned for a little bit, but her mom was dying so she didn't have time to worry about it. Aunt Patsy died that summer. On Thanksgiving night of that same year, my cousin Ryan got in to a car with a bunch of kids who had been drinking. They didn't make it far before they got in an accident. Ryan was critically injured and was in the hospital for about 3 weeks before he finally passed away.
My cousin Natalie was diagnosed with a brain tumor when she was 2 years old. She was an angel on Earth. She was so sweet and quiet spoken. She bravely fought for about 8 years, multiple surgeries and treatments later. The doctors finally did all they could and she died peacefully in her home. The day that she died she told her parents that she saw angels on the ceiling.
2 Bonus stories! :) When my Grandma was in the hospital my parents started having electrical disturbances in their house. She told me she hoped it wasn't Amber coming to take Grams to Heaven. Well, my Grandma died the next day and the electrical disturbances stopped.
My Great Uncle Bobby died last month and honestly it has been a few years since I had seen him. He was married to my Great-Aunt Patsy, who was my Grandma's sister. About a week before Uncle Bobby died, I had a dream about Aunt Patsy. I have never in my life had a dream about her, or had I been thinking about her that day or prior days. All I can say is that she was being Aunt Patsy, and if you know her, then you know what I mean. I pushed it to the back of my mind and about a week later my mom called to tell me that Uncle Bobby was going home to hospice care and he probably wasn't going to make it through the night. At this point we all knew that he had medical conditions, but his death was sort of unexpected.
I don't claim to have all the answers. But I do know that my faith is real and Heaven is real. God talks to us all the time, all we need to do is be still and listen. I hear Him all the time, but I do have 4 little kids, so I guess you could argue that I may be mentally ill. :)
Heaven Is Real
Shortly after my sister died I was reading a book in my parents bed and fell asleep. It was then that I had a dream that I will remember for the rest of my life. Coincidentally the last time I talked to my sister was in that very room. In my dream I was at my Grandparent's house (our current house). I was sitting at the kitchen table and my sister just drove up the driveway, came in to the house, sat down on a chair and started blabbing away. Which is exactly what my sister would have done. :) She started telling me about Heaven. I don't remember every little detail but I remember her saying how wonderful it was and that there were lots of colors "almost too many colors." She went on the tell me other things, but the colors thing really stuck with me. About a year ago I came across a video of a young girl who said she has visited heaven and seen Jesus many times. Her paintings are exquisite. As she was explaining Heaven she said that "all the colors were out of this world" and that there were way more colors then here on Earth. This isn't the first time I have heard this. After my dream I read a book about near-death experiencs and all of them had the color thing in common.
Yesterday I read the book "Heaven Is For Real" by Todd Burpo. He is a pastor in Nebraska and his son's appendix burst and had to have emergency surgery. Over the next couple of years the little boy (4 at the time) would bring up little bits of his story that he was in Heaven during the surgery and the first thing he told them was that Heaven was full of colors. When I came to that point in the book, I cried. This book is a must read and I would never be able to do it justice. Get it from the library and enjoy! This little boy gave awesome detail and made Heaven a real place for me. I have always known it existed, but he made it more real for me. The family would always point out pictures of Jesus and ask the little boy if that is what he saw. He said he sat on Jesus' lap and talked to Him. For years he would tell them what wasn't right with this picture and that picture. Finally a perishioner emailed his dad the above CNN video. So his dad went to the girl's website and pulled up the picture that she drew of Jesus. He called the boy down to the computer and he paused and stared for a few minutes. His dad asked him "what is wrong with this one? " They little boy said "nothing. That one is right."
So two completely different stories that I happened across a year apart were related. I was in shock. I hadn't seen that one coming. It is amazing how God gives you what you need and that is exactly what I needed. Of course our admission to Heaven is believing in Jesus Christ and repenting our sins. This little boy became very upset when a man died and they weren't sure if the man believed in Jesus. So if you want to go to this real and wonderful place you need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and He died for your sins.
This book had some other wonderful news about Heaven, but I won't spoil it for you. The weird part is, I can't remember where I learned of this book or what caused me to put a hold on it at the library. I had to wait about 3 weeks for it, since it is a recent book, but it was well worth the wait. The best part is that it is short and I finished it in about 2 hours. So now you have no excuse not to read it. :)
Yesterday I read the book "Heaven Is For Real" by Todd Burpo. He is a pastor in Nebraska and his son's appendix burst and had to have emergency surgery. Over the next couple of years the little boy (4 at the time) would bring up little bits of his story that he was in Heaven during the surgery and the first thing he told them was that Heaven was full of colors. When I came to that point in the book, I cried. This book is a must read and I would never be able to do it justice. Get it from the library and enjoy! This little boy gave awesome detail and made Heaven a real place for me. I have always known it existed, but he made it more real for me. The family would always point out pictures of Jesus and ask the little boy if that is what he saw. He said he sat on Jesus' lap and talked to Him. For years he would tell them what wasn't right with this picture and that picture. Finally a perishioner emailed his dad the above CNN video. So his dad went to the girl's website and pulled up the picture that she drew of Jesus. He called the boy down to the computer and he paused and stared for a few minutes. His dad asked him "what is wrong with this one? " They little boy said "nothing. That one is right."
So two completely different stories that I happened across a year apart were related. I was in shock. I hadn't seen that one coming. It is amazing how God gives you what you need and that is exactly what I needed. Of course our admission to Heaven is believing in Jesus Christ and repenting our sins. This little boy became very upset when a man died and they weren't sure if the man believed in Jesus. So if you want to go to this real and wonderful place you need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and He died for your sins.
This book had some other wonderful news about Heaven, but I won't spoil it for you. The weird part is, I can't remember where I learned of this book or what caused me to put a hold on it at the library. I had to wait about 3 weeks for it, since it is a recent book, but it was well worth the wait. The best part is that it is short and I finished it in about 2 hours. So now you have no excuse not to read it. :)
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Frugal
If I had a million dollars in the bank, I still would cut coupons and bargain hunt. Even if I had unlimited funds I would still look around for the best deal. I had my first job and checking account at 16 years old. I paid for my car insurance and my cell phone bill. I can tell you how much money is in all our accounts at any given moment. Our checkbook is always balanced. When I was 17, I was having a 20 cent discrepancy and I pulled out all my statements and poured through them. It took me about 30 minutes to find that the bank had actually made an error. Their computer actually added the numbers wrong. I bet that doesn't happen too often, and I guess we just assume that the computer wouldn't be that stupid. But for once I was smarter then a computer. :) I have only paid credit card interest like 3 times my entire life and 1 of those times was an accident. I take loans seriously and had our cars paid off in a timely matter. Our loan for our Subaru was a 5 year loan, we paid it off in 3. Our van loan was 3 years, we had it paid off in 1. So pretty much I am the bank's worst customer. I am not quite sure where my money sense comes from, yes I did take accounting in high school and college, but I was money conscious before that. And I am pretty sure I didn't get it from my Mom. :)
I still have my splurges. And some of the stuff I splurge on, would probably not be a top priority to most. Like organic, chemical free deodorant or shampoo. I am a constant researcher and I feel that if I can't safely swallow what I put on my body then I probably don't want to use it. I will also choose organic meats even when it is double the price. I do this stuff for the safety of my family. So why in the world am I having such a difficult time spending $100 to diagnose our van's airbag problem. The passenger airbag will probably not deploy in an accident. That is usually where I sit. Calling around to about 5 different mechanics, we were faced with only one option. We have to spend $100 just to get a diagnoses and more than likely the cost of the repair will be in the $200 plus range. For some reason this pisses me off. Why in the world do you have to pay to have the van hooked up to a machine to tell you what I already know? It is ridiculous. So in cases like this my "money sense" is actually hurting me. If they were to diagnose it for free, I would be more than happy to spend $400 to fix it, but my brain is stuck on the $100. Especially when I can usually get a weeks worth of groceries for that price. Obviously I will have to bite the bullet and get it fixed, but this will probably mean that I will have to put off our family beach trip another year and this makes me even more upset.
Being frugal has its advantages and disadvantages. God knew that I would have a big family and would need to stay home with them, so he gave me the skills I needed to be able to pull it off. And if my biggest complaint in life is rip-off mechanics, then we are doing OK.
I still have my splurges. And some of the stuff I splurge on, would probably not be a top priority to most. Like organic, chemical free deodorant or shampoo. I am a constant researcher and I feel that if I can't safely swallow what I put on my body then I probably don't want to use it. I will also choose organic meats even when it is double the price. I do this stuff for the safety of my family. So why in the world am I having such a difficult time spending $100 to diagnose our van's airbag problem. The passenger airbag will probably not deploy in an accident. That is usually where I sit. Calling around to about 5 different mechanics, we were faced with only one option. We have to spend $100 just to get a diagnoses and more than likely the cost of the repair will be in the $200 plus range. For some reason this pisses me off. Why in the world do you have to pay to have the van hooked up to a machine to tell you what I already know? It is ridiculous. So in cases like this my "money sense" is actually hurting me. If they were to diagnose it for free, I would be more than happy to spend $400 to fix it, but my brain is stuck on the $100. Especially when I can usually get a weeks worth of groceries for that price. Obviously I will have to bite the bullet and get it fixed, but this will probably mean that I will have to put off our family beach trip another year and this makes me even more upset.
Being frugal has its advantages and disadvantages. God knew that I would have a big family and would need to stay home with them, so he gave me the skills I needed to be able to pull it off. And if my biggest complaint in life is rip-off mechanics, then we are doing OK.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Sweet Tooth
Trevor has joined Aurora on the sweet tooth list. I am not sure if it is genetic or environment, but my mom's side of the family has a horrible sweet tooth. I am not talking about your run of the mill love of sugar, it is a unquenchable obsession. :) My great-grandpa use to take a piece of every dessert at any family function. My Great-Grandma use to sneak chocolate. My Grandma loved desserts and made some great ones. My mom is a dessert connoisseur and an excellent dessert baker. Me and my siblings were and still are addicted to sugar. We grew up in a house that dinner was not complete without something sugary. Our kids get sweets, but not too often. So when Trevor saw a bag of candy that I bought from Costco for my mom's school, his eyes lit up and he told my mom "candy stay here" and "eat candy in the morning." Then after my parents left, he talked about the candy for about 10 minutes and finally went to bed. When he woke up this morning he wanted to know where the candy was and when it was coming back. He also remembered that I told him he could have some ice cream after dinner today, and I have been reminded about 100 times before lunch. So I did what every good parent does, I gave him plain yogurt and told him it was ice cream. He gobbled it up and never complained. :)
Friday, March 4, 2011
Perspective
From the moment I turned on the Computer this morning I have been flooded with sad stories, bad news and just plain depressing things. Today one of my old co-workers lost her nephew to cancer today. He was only in his 20's and had 3 little kids. She posted a precious family photo on her facebook page and I can't imagine the pain that this family is going through right now. Please say a little prayer for them today.
All you have to do is turn on the news to figure out that you are not promised a tomorrow. You can make all the plans you want, but all you have is today and this moment. Make every moment count!
All you have to do is turn on the news to figure out that you are not promised a tomorrow. You can make all the plans you want, but all you have is today and this moment. Make every moment count!
Extended Family
Yesterday I went the Willamette National Cemetery for my Great-Uncle's funeral. This is the first military funeral I have ever been to and as far as funerals go, it was nice. Uncle Bobby had a full and exciting life. Supposedly he was a mechanic for Richard Nixon's plane during his presidential campaign, a fact that none of us knew. Maybe he wanted it to be kept a secret. :) Our extended family use to get together for every holiday and vacation together at least once a year. These get-togethers started becoming less frequent and now sadly we only see each other for funerals or weddings. It is sad how a family can drift apart. But the best part about family is that even if you see each other once a year or once every other year, you can pick up right where you left off. I pray that my children will be able to feel the love and warmth of family get-togethers and take away some great memories. Because family is the one thing you can never escape, never! :)
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