Some of the kids recent art work. Not highly inspiring or incredible, but it is precious to me and I want it preserved.
Ivory drew Mommy in Sunday School. She also told her teacher that Mommy is her best friend. Love this little girl of mine. Micah loves doing everything the big kids does and comes home proudly showing off his artwork, too.
Micah's Sunday School art: And this is art work Ivory received from Bella:
Thank you, sweet girl! We love you!
Now that we've been home for a while we've just enjoyed some chill time at home. Which, of course, includes freshly ground wheat (spelt actually) chocolate chip pancakes. Micah found them to be quite delish. Korban has finally started enjoying the baby swing some. Hooray! Look at how big my baby is getting? And quite the thumb sucker. And moms-of-little-ones-who-don't-sleep-well-at-night don't hate me, but this little darling sleeps twelve hours at one time, nearly every night. Yes, he's three months. And yes, I know how spoiled I am. And he's precious. A good, sweet, smiley little man I call mine.
Yesterday I enjoyed some play time with the boys while daddy and Ivory ran some errands and went on a date to the park.
When Ivory returned home she wanted us to build a fort and go to the "beach" (pretend). Micah loved him some play time + story time in the fort.
Fun with my sweeties!
The plan was for my parents to follow me home. Since Ivory + Micah were really good on the car ride south and Korban cried a lot and slept a very little I figured they could take the older two so they would be spared the crying. Idea? Mom and Dad could follow me a few days later with Ivory + Micah so Jason and I could spend some semi-alone time together. Mom + Dad agreed, it took a little persuasion on Dad's part, but the prospect of an extended date easily persuaded him.
Wednesday when we got home Korban laughed his first hard laugh due to daddy's silly antics.
Jason worked ahead and took all day Thursday off. We woke up slowly and enjoyed Korban smiles, went to breakfast, enjoyed time alone while Korban napped, rested, then headed out on a long date while Korban was babysat by some friends.
Chilling at Starbucks where I can get my soy caramel machiatto (the one caffiene drink that doesn't bother sweet baby). We enjoyed our hot, over priced caffienated drinks while playing some card games.
After Starbucks we walked around the outdoor mall, perused some shops, then headed to dinner.
Waiting for our food at Red Robin. Love that place!
I'm so in love with this man.
I'm so grateful for the people in our life who make days like this one possible. I love being married to this man and especially love quality alone time with him. So, thanks to those who care for our kids so we can keep the ove alive.
I have alluded to the fact that things have been a little exhausting with ministry, housework, whiny/active kids and life in general lately. It has been GOOD, so good. But, I was tired. My emotions more then anything. Nothing crazy, just normal life. You moms out there can relate, right? Toddlers are wonderful and fun and I wouldn't trade mine for the world, but they wear you out physically and emotionally. So, I talked to my sweet husband and asked him if he'd mind too much if I stole away for a few days and headed south to my parents. Jason really doesn't like to be away from us (the feeling is mutual), but he also understands how exhausted I get and was feeling rather tired himself. After some thought, and self-sacrifice on his part, he gave me his blessing and I called my parents to plan our quick little get away.
It was everything I hoped it would be. Lots of play time with the cousins, some one-on-one time with each of my kids, no cooking (hooray for a mom and sister who cook, take us out to eat + order in!), no chores, sleeping in while Pa woke up with the two oldest, a few naps, shopping with my sister + niece, girl slumber parties with my 15-year-old niece, a great church service, alone time, rest, good talks with my mom, exercise, a hot bath, hugs from my dad, basically a wonderful mix of getaways, low-stress kid time, and rest.
The only sad part, Jason couldn't come with us. But, it gave him some alone time that he enjoyed, even if he was missing us.
The kids were SO excited to find this cardboard playhouse when they arrived at Pa + Grandma's. Bella + Alex stayed the night two nights. Early morning cousin play time in jammies!
Micah loves "BeLLLa."
The beautiful Alexandra. Fireplace Performances :: I walked in the room one evening to discover a spontaneous before bedtime performance. Melted me. My sister and I did so many performances on the fireplace. We sang songs, quoted Scripture, put on plays--we loved stages. Debi, I hope there is a repeat performance in February so you can enjoy it with us!
I love the progression here of Pa's lap: Elmo + Indie singing the ABCs is still a hit with these kids. Movie time in Mommy's bed. Kinect fun with Alex + her friend Maddie--who Ivory + Micah immediately attached themselves to. Maddie couldn't even eat her slice of pizza without kids crawling all over her. What can I say, my son knows how to pick the pretty girls and Ivory can spot the sweet ones.
Alex + Maddie competed against my sister Sherri + I for points. Fortunately Sherri + I were the camera queens and escaped without being photographed.
Micah enjoyed drumming along to the game. Ivory entertained herself on Alex's i-phone. This child loves her technology.
When I came home I was overwhelmed by a *sparkling* clean home. As in Jason cleaned + a friend came and cleaned my home (like deep cleaning as in scrubbed walls, clean picture, clean blinds, scrubbed shower kind of clean). Jason put up new shelves and re-organized our back porch + shed as well as cleaned out a closet. Yes. I felt spoiled. People think I have it all together--well, don't be fooled, I totally rely on God's grace and am super blessed to have super sweet people in my life who spoil me + our family like crazy. I just desire that we, in turn, will be a blessing to others.
Last Tuesday was Bobo's birthday. We usually eat dinner with them Tuesday nights, so this night we ate dinner in celebration of her birth. Here's Jason + Cassie in the kitchen.
Kid fun in the living room!
So grateful for this family--and our delish dinner!
Ivory sporting her new Christmas gift dress from Bobo + family with handsome little man.
Sunday pictures don't really turn out so great. This is the best we could get. They're still adorable.
Must document the great reunion. Ivory left her beloved blue blankie at Grandma + Pa's. They were kind enough to ship it UPS.
Ivory talking to Grandma + Pa, "The man had it on his brown truck and he gave it to me!" She was a little bit excited, can you tell?
Life has been more then a little exhausting, whiney, and slightly overwhelming lately. But, we are making the best of it and still grateful for the ways God has blessed us. Tried going for a walk to start the day off a little differently. It was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G. At least for these Florida wimps. It lasted about one block--at an extremely brisk pace. When we got back the kids actually played happily by themselves for a little while. So exciting...and rare these days. I was making lunch. This is Micah throwing the egg. Yes, he thought ball. Some video footage of Ivory singing happily.
11 weeks old as of Sunday, January 1st, 2012.
His head is getting very strong.
He's a sweet, laid back boy. But, sometimes we have fussy days, I can always tell it's just when he's very uncomfortable or hurting. This was Dad's temporary solution one night trying to keep him calm for a moment when put down. It last a few moments.
That's his blanket Ivory gave him for Christmas. He's our precious boy still dearly loved by his siblings. Though, Micah did show out a little while sister was gone by hurting little brother. That seems to have calmed down now.
I fell in love with Grandmother Bennett's wooden high chair when we visited back in May.
Three generations of males in Jason's family have grown up on meals in this high chair. I love the heritage represented in this beautiful piece of furniture. And ever since I've had a slight obsession with finding my own.
We can definitely use another high chair here and a wooden one would look like a piece of furniture and blend beautifully with our dinner table and not look nearly as ugly as a plastic chair.
I love this color on furniture, especially with the distressed effect.
So I googled wooden high chairs. But, they all cost more then I wanted to pay ($250+). So I searchd on Craigslist. And I found some good deals for $50. But they were very far away and I didn't want to take a 2hr+ trip.
And then it happened. I found one. For thirty-dollars. Yes, thirty. And right here in town. My sister and I snagged it together. We were going to do some pictures with it, but time ran away from us. But here it is. I can't decide what to do with it. I don't think i'm going to paint it. The roughest part is the tray, but the rest looks pretty good. I love it!
And Micah Man seems happy enough to eat in it. I think that's because he's pretty much happy with anything involving eating.
Jason has a bonfire on the beach every year with the teenagers. This year was no exception. And it included 4 Christmas trees = huge flames. We had teenagers + other visitors in and out all day starting early Saturday morning starting with one and before heading out up to oh, 20? We had fun playing with kids + kinect/x-box games. A little crazy, but very fun.
Micah is *very* into cell phones these days. His calculator is his phone. When he sees me get on the phone he grabs his "phone" and begins talking and talking and talking in his own little language laughing and all. So funny. Jade enjoying Ivory's princess binoculars.
Sadly, we couldn't be with daddy for New Years this year. I decided to enjoy the night with a little relaxing, a little cutting out (sewing projects are piling up), and an early bed time...however the night didn't go quite as planned. Ivory woke up around 10pm crying, afraid, hurting. She complained of her right ear hurting really bad. Poor baby. Way to bring in the New Year with an ear ache. After a little pain medication she sat up with mommy, watched a little TV, played on the touch pad, and finally, around midnight, crashed with me on Mommy + Daddy's bed (until Daddy came home). Thankfully, she slept through the night. Wish her brothers had gotten the memo. Someone or something woke me every hour from midnight until 6am where I finally began dragging msyelf out of bed multiple times until giving up the fight at 7am. Welcome to motherhood in 2012.
While this definitely wasn't the most exciting way to bring in the New Year and while I wish I could have had a little more time for reflection, it really was perfect. It reminded me of my calling and current mission--motherhood. My mission field--my children. What a ripe and beautiful field. Something I had to remind myself of when all five of us had finally fallen asleep (Korban and I for maybe 10 minutes) until someone pounded on our front door. And so I'm trying not be impatient and frustrated when all of us wake (except Micah). And a few aren't in the most pleasant of moods. But, then I'm reminded of how blessed we are to have the family we do, no matter how hard some days/weekends/weeks/months/years are.
And then I read one a friend's facebook status: "Please pray for the Longstreet Family. They were hit by a DD today on the way to church today and lost their 7 yr old little girl. All 3 other kids are in ICU."
And my heart completely melts as inside I weep for this family. A simple act of faith and dedication, driving to church. And I'm grumbling about lost sleep? Lord, thank You for perspective. Please, oh please bring comfort, peace + healing to the Longstreet family.
Mommy + the boys had extra play time while Ivory was away. Micah enjoyed the extra attention from Mom + Dad, raiding Ivory's toys, and not having to share. But, after a little while he really seemed to miss his silly playmate.
He likes rockin' the Mr. T look.
Micah loves doing everything the big kids does and comes home proudly showing off his artwork, too.
And this is art work Ivory received from Bella: 
Korban has finally started enjoying the baby swing some. Hooray! Look at how big my baby is getting? And quite the thumb sucker. And moms-of-little-ones-who-don't-sleep-well-at-night don't hate me, but this little darling sleeps twelve hours at one time, nearly every night. Yes, he's three months. And yes, I know how spoiled I am. And he's precious. A good, sweet, smiley little man I call mine. 
Micah loved him some play time + story time in the fort. 
Bella + Alex stayed the night two nights. Early morning cousin play time in jammies!
Fireplace Performances :: I walked in the room one evening to discover a spontaneous before bedtime performance. Melted me. My sister and I did so many performances on the fireplace. We sang songs, quoted Scripture, put on plays--we loved stages. Debi, I hope there is a repeat performance in February so you can enjoy it with us!
Movie time in Mommy's bed.
Kinect fun with Alex + her friend Maddie--who Ivory + Micah immediately attached themselves to. Maddie couldn't even eat her slice of pizza without kids crawling all over her. What can I say, my son knows how to pick the pretty girls and Ivory can spot the sweet ones.
Ivory entertained herself on Alex's i-phone. This child loves her technology.
Ivory left her beloved blue blankie at Grandma + Pa's. They were kind enough to ship it UPS. 
When we got back the kids actually played happily by themselves for a little while. So exciting...and rare these days.
I was making lunch. This is Micah throwing the egg. Yes, he thought ball.
Some video footage of Ivory singing happily.
Jade enjoying Ivory's princess binoculars.
