Little Miss Independent

She refuses to be fed. She must feed herself. It looks something like this.



And then the dog gets involved.



She's stringing together a lot of words. Mommmmeeeeee, bite. Mommmmeeeeee, sit down. Brady, get down, Brady, get down. Bye bye puppy dog. Nooo, Mine. Mommmmeeee, bug. Mommmmmeeeeeee, dog. Sometimes she puts together about 10 words all at once, none of which we can understand. It's like one big jumbled sentence.

She's a pincher.

She enjoys her morning nayna, I mean banana, with her brother every single day.




Her hair is acting curly, on the bottom and in the back. The top is straight. It's, um, interesting. She must be chased in circles to have it blow dried.

She rips off her diapers the minute you put them on. Duct tape is becoming our friend. If her diaper needs changing, she'll tell you. If someone toots she whips her head around, points her chin down, raises her eyebrows and makes and makes a startled face.

She loves to be silly. She likes to talk and be loud. She does not get this from me.



She wants to pick out her own clothes. She does not want to wear a dress. She looks for her Minga Mou, I mean Mickey Mouse, shirt every day.

She likes to read books. Not just any book. Books with puppy douwgs on them.

She can follow directions and make decisions. She's very bright.

She adores her daddy.

She LOVES oes, I mean shoes. She has a little pair of leather boots that she has slept in a couple of times because she just couldn't stand to take them off. She doesn't discriminate either. The shoes don't have to belong to her, they just have to be shoes.


Things are changing around here. We've got 4 months until 2, but I'm pretty sure my child turned 2 a couple months ago. But one thing hasn't changed, she's still the cutest little girl in the world. And I think she might just know it!

Married to a Cop

In honor of National Police Week...

The sounds...
The click-click when he unloads his gun
The front door when he's home
The dogs rustling in the middle of the night
The kids screaming "Daddy!"
The sound of him sleeping
The sound of him not sleeping
The tv being on when he's home
The silence at night
The noises that startle
The kids asking for daddy
The mommy in me threatening to call daddy if the kids don't start listening. Right now!
The voice at the end of the line telling me goodnight
The ring of the phone when he gets called to court



The feel...
The relief when he makes it home
The laughter among officers and families
The comradery
The immense pride I have for him
The warmth next to me in bed
The sadness when an officer is fallen
The hurt when people are ugly and unappreciative




The sight...
The uniform
The gun belt on the dresser
The flashlight and radio on their charging docks
The bag, after bag, after bag in my spare closet
The bullets next to my jewelry box



The smell...
The clothes to be washed from the night before
The scent of him in our bed, on the pillows
The coffee to keep him awake


The Taste...
The taste of a good thing
The food he grills on his days off
The meals we share when he's home
The taste of fear when he can't get to his phone and you hope everything is ok
The taste of a kiss


The last few years have been a great privilege. I never knew how much I could possibly enjoy this lifestyle. My heart swells with pride for the wonderful man I married.

Chasing Bubbles

The other night in the bathtub, the kids discovered they could catch bubbles in their hands. First, Sister caught one on accident. The game quickly caught on for both of them.

While I blew large bubbles, they begged for more and caught many of them. Sister would catch one and Beemer would pop it. Beemer would reach out in front of Sister to catch the bubbles before she could get to them. They both looked at me yelling Me, Me, Me. Eventually, they became so focused on catch each others bubbles that they didn't even see the bubbles that were being caught by no one.

I've been learning a lot about contentment lately. I couldn't help, as I watched my kids, to think about how focused we can be on everyone else's bubbles. I wonder how many of our own bubbles we are missing? We don't appreciate the bubbles in our own hands because we are so worried about the bubble we don't have.

One of my summer Bible studies is doing the Resolution for Women book. It's based on the movie Courageous. The first chapter is called "Surprisingly Satisfied." She talks about how when you hurry through the parts of life that you aren't enjoying, trying to change them, that you miss all of the things that you do like about your current season.

The best point Priscilla Shirer makes in this book, regarding contentment, is that when we are content God is able to bring a full measure of enjoyment and stability to our experience, no matter what it is. When we have that inner satisfaction we are freed up to give more freely of our resources, time and selves because we know that God will more than replenish everything we have put out. "We're not able to fully participate... when we don't feel like we have the proper amount, the proper brand, the proper type of resources with which to participate in the first place." from Pg. 21

So, let's enjoy the bubbles in front of us fully, and completely. Even if our bubbles are smaller, uglier or disappear more quickly than the bubbles around us.

Philippians 4:11 "I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am"  

Did you know that Paul wrote this while he was in prison for two years as an innocent man awaiting trial. He was enduring extreme circumstances. He had already plead his innocence at least twice and yet was still sitting in prison awaiting to do it again. The entire Philippians 4 chapter has some of my favorite verses, check it out and keep this piece of history in mind while you do.

How to Make Mac N Cheese

Make sandwich for kid #1, scratch that, make 2 swawiches, with pb and j, cut every piece of crust off so sandwich is not mutilated. While making sandwich, chase kid #1 back to their room, where they're supposed to be, 6 times.

When kid #1 sits down to eat, proceed to put kid #2 in booster seat. Scratch that. Booster seat is wet. Oh my, is that PEE? Are you kidding me? Clean up questionable substance. Hope whatever is all over the table is water.

Put water in pot on stove for kid #2 dinner.

Take kid #2 off kitchen table. Take to bed for time out.

Dump Mac N Cheese in pot of water. Ponder what you will feed your kids tomorrow since the bread is all gone.

Go to garage to get something, chase kid #1 off the top of your car since you were followed out to the garage.

Go get kid #2 out of bed. Lay on floor to put back diaper that has been torn off. Fight Spiderman  kid #1 off your back while applying diaper. Go back to kitchen. Get out milk and butter.

Stop what you're doing, put milk jug on floor and reapply diaper. Again. Take kid #2 to room, reach for painters tape behind you, reattach diaper tab that has now been pulled off. Proceed with a strip of painters tape across front of diaper.

Proceed to mixing Mac N Cheese. When partially mixed, go back to kid #2 and replace diaper again. Decide to be obnoxious. Go to garage for duct tape. This will take about 10". Watch kid #2 try to take diaper off again. Laugh a little. Go ahead, enjoy yourself. Make mental note to remove tape before kid #2 goes to bed so you don't have to worry about strangulation.

Proceed to mixing Mac N Cheese. Come around corner a couple times to remove kid #2 off the top of kid #1. Stick some frozen peaces in the microwave. Fiddle with the thaw function. You have no idea how it works. Keep pushing buttons.

Sit down for a moment while both kids run to other room. Write a blog in your head as you go, laughing all the way. Your Mac N Cheese is now done. Put it on a plate. Wait for children to return. Yell at kid #1 to take your pillows back to your bed. Tell him not to jump on them in kitchen floor.

Put kid #2 in chair. Not the booster, it's drying. Watch her eat, wave back at her when she waves at you with that adorable little hand. Chase her off the table. Say a prayer, there's still 23 more hours in a day.

When all is finished watch kid #2, with duct taped diaper, sit on floor and feed scraps to the dog.

Perfect Timing

I just got home from my first book club. We talked about Twelve Clean Pages by Nika Maples. It is AMAZING. She has an incredible story about having been completely paralyzed at the age of 21, in a coma for 15 days, hearing everything and unable to move or respond. She went on to not only move again, walk again, speak again but accomplish many great things. In 2007 she was awarded Texas Secondary Teacher of the year. There is something in this book for everyone. It is a must read.

Learn more about Nika here, nikamaples.com.

Our book club got me to thinking about timing and my life has been planned with such great timing. I can look back and see God's hand turning us in the right direction to bring us exactly where he wants us to be.


It was perfect timing when my husband became a police officer. It was ten years in the making, and we couldn't understand why it took so long. But, as I look back, it was perfect timing. When we bought our house, our income was much lower than it was after he was hired. That has allowed me to stay home with my children. I know if we had bought more house I couldn't have fulfilled my dream to be at home with my children. The timing also allowed us to develop relationships that we would never have developed if he had been on a midnight rotation when we were first married.

It's also perfect timing that he's not home every night. Of course, I miss him. But, being home alone with nothing to do at night has allowed me a lot of time to spend in the Bible. I've now developed the habit of being in God's word every day. If my husband worked a 9-5 job I'm not sure I could have had the time to grow as I have. I think God is using this season in my life to grow me for whatever is next. While I am in a very busy stage of life, I also have great lulls in time. If you find yourself with down time, take advantage of it. Don't try to fill it up with something. God may just be preparing you for what's coming next. I learned this from Laurie Cole in "There is a Season."

It was perfect timing when we found our new church. I was just leaving my full time job and ready to dive in to some new ventures as a stay at home mom. Of course, our church search and my quitting my job both came later than I wanted them to. But, they came in perfect timing. The two events happened together and have been so meaningful to my growth as a Christian.

None of these things happened in my timing. In fact, according to my schedule he got hired 10 years late. We should have nights together by now. We should have searched for a new church a couple of years sooner than we did. I definitely should have quit my job the day my son was born, not well over 2 years later. Fortunately, my timing is not perfect. Fortunately, I am not in as much control as I like to think I am.

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9

The Vine

 The Vine starts out small.

 

 It rapidly takes over every possible space, growly freely, moving like wildfire wherever it wants to.

 Wrapping itself tightly around everything, grabbing on and taking over neighboring plants. The branches don't even put up a fight.

 

It's roots are deep, The Vine is near impossible to get rid of.
Though some may try, once it's taken up root it just won't seem to go away. Even when removed, it remains tangled around it's branch.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5

Mothers Day

I love being a mom. I don't even have to be spoiled on Mother's Day to have to love it. It's just a nice perk. I thank God every single day for my children and the opportunity to raise them. I'm convinced there's no greater calling this side of heaven.

We celebrated as a family a day early. Since the hubs has to works a weird schedule we sometimes celebrate a day or so off of schedule.

We decided to go out for breakfast. I've been wanting to try out The Dixie House for a while, Home of the Big Buns. Um, what does that mean? Apparently it means "Home of Delicious and Ginormous Rolls and Cinnamon Buns. Check out the size of this roll in comparison to the little bowl next to it. It was delish!

The picture doesn't do it justice, but that Bun was on a full sized plate, not a little dessert dish. The best part, it was only $2.50! The icing was majorly sweet, so if you're just wanting a really good roll without a ton of sugar then skip the Bun and order a roll.

The boys found little creamers to build with. 

The girls just hung out together. Sister was so out it she wouldn't even smile for the camera. Not to worry her inner almost two year old came out after a few minutes. We definitely agreed morning was the better time to try to dine out with our children.

When we came home, my sweet husband took on a house project. My inlaws redid their kitchen and handed down these AWESOME drawers that I can now slide out of my cabinet that held the old tiny oven pantry. This is my kind of Mother's Day Gift, thank you honey!

After our birthday party we made a quick stop at Central Market where I was coerced into buying some candy. We lit up the fire pit and chatted by the fire. It's rare that we have the change to do much chatting, so it was a nice way to cap off the night.

We spent our actual Mother's Day with my parents. It was a quick lunch so I didn't get any pictures. Dad treated us to lunch at a great Italian place, yum, I was craving stromboli! I was reminded once again that my almost 4 year old 3 year old is so much easier to be in public with than my closely approaching 2 20 month old. The terrible 3s seem to be slowing and I'm so thankful for the reasonably well behaved, precious little boy that I have. In the meantime, we are ramping up for the terrible 2s with my daughter. She's lucky she's cute, that's all I'm saying!

We rushed back to my parents' house and threw a cake in the oven. We ended up taking our cake for the road as the hubs had to get a little nappy in before work.

If you haven't seen this low calorie cake on Pinterest you should check it out. Cake Mix, Greek Yogurt and Water. No oil and eggs! We topped it with Light Whipped Cream. If I didn't know it was low cal, I never would have guessed it. 

As always, it was nice to visit with my parents and grandmother. Beemer immediately took up residence at Memmaw's side getting all sorts of snacks out of her. I consider myself very blessed to have grown up with my sweet grandmother living with us. Over all, it was a great weekend!

The S(ubmission) Word - Part 2

In case you missed my post last week, you can read about it here. This week, we got to hear our pastor's sermon on the subject and I thought it was beautifully presented.

Here's a few of my favorite highlights that I wanted to share with you:

- The definition he gave of Submission was: "To graciously allow something to go someone else's way rather than your own way." That doesn't sound scary at all. In fact, people who always have to have their way are no fun to be around. I don't want to be that person. I definitely don't want my husband to have to live his life with that person. I'm working on it :)


- He taught to respect your husband like you would respect Jesus.The gospel is lived out most when respect is undeserved. We can't wait for our husbands to act like Jesus before we respect them like we would respect Jesus. We will most realize the grace of God when we realize how undeserving of it we are. I've often realized how drastically my love falls short of the way God loves. He's so unconditional, and by nature I am not.

- He referenced that the first word used for Eve was "helper." He said that the Hebrew equivalent of this word is when Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit in the Bible. That is really cool! I think that was my favorite part.

- If you haven't been this kind of a spouse in the past, it's ok, that doesn't have to define the kind of spouse you're going to be in the future.


P.S. He said in the beginning of his sermon that submission is not a dirty word. I have no idea if he even read my blog, but I hope I didn't offend anybody with the title of my last post (The S Word). I also didn't mean to make light of the subject in any way, in fact I meant quite the opposite. When done right, marriage is a beautiful picture of God's love for us I think submission is a topic we can all afford to brush up on.

The S Word

This morning, my pastor put this question on his facebook in regard to our latest series.

"I have a question for all of you Ladies. How do you feel about the word 'Submission'?"

I have been chewing on this one all morning and decided it was more than I could fit into a response on facebook. The truth is, "Submission" makes people squirm in their seats. I'm willing to bet women everywhere will be looking for the closest exit Sunday when it comes up. Of course, not all of us are scared of the unspoken S word, but society as a whole is. It makes people feel angry, inferior and confused. I'm pretty sure if we're being honest we can all come up with a slew of negative emotions that the word can bring. But, it isn't supposed to be that way.

Sadly, in our fight to be "equivalent" to men, I think we as women have done an injustice to society. I think our men have become afraid to lead because our women haven't let them. When we try to lead we become overwhelmed. We weren't meant to do it. We're doing the jobs of ourselves and our husbands. Then we throw our hands up in the air and say "I CAN'T DO IT ALL." Well, you can quit trying, because nobody asked you to.

Maybe this is a little harsh, but the whole women's rights movement thing has always aggravated me. I'm sure some of it needed to happen, but now that we're all "equal" I think women are expected to do a lot more than we were ever meant to do. When our husbands fail to lead us spiritually it frustrates us. But, haven't we put them in that position?

The longer I'm married, the less the S word scares me. I think so much of it is about respect. Our men need it, and when we give it to them they start giving us back what we want, which is love (check out the book Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs if you are interested in this topic). Let's all do ourselves a favor and figure out what the men should be doing and what the women should be doing. Then, let's all do our jobs. It's not about waiting for our spouses to start acting right. It's about you and I acting right and waiting to see our spouses follow suit.

East Texas

Grandma and Grandpa, here we come!

Before we left town we made 3 stops for dinner. Yes, 3 stops for 4 people. What can I say, we don't get out much and we all wanted something different. The french fry cup proved useful for eating in the car.

We got there just in time for snuggles with Grandma and play time with Grandpa. The kids stayed up way too late and watched the piglet movie.

Thursday morning we got up and drove out to Tiger Creek in Tyler. It's a big cat rescue. On the way out we followed this cow. Poor guy just wanted to find his way back into the fence. Country livin' right here!

Here's Beemer at Tiger Creek. He honestly wasn't that interested in the cats. He mostly wanted to play in the dirt. Sister was more into lingering to look at the animals.

It was really neat to be able to be within five feet of these beautiful animals. It was a little sad to me that they were in such small cages. But, these animals have been rescued or retired from others situations that could have been worse. They come from individuals, circuses, safari parks, etc. This particular rescue housed the two tigers that were pets to Michael Jackson. One has since passed. Can you imagine having a tiger for a pet? I can't.

After the big cats, we had lunch at Casa Ole. I always remember eating there in college, they have this green avacado salsa stuff that I always really liked. And of course, there was more play time with Grandma.

After lunch we stopped by to see family. It was a treat for all. The kids both wanted to play with these little scripture cards. They remind me of my grandmother so I had to take a picture. I remember my Grandma had something very similar. It must be the sign of a great woman :)

The kids made instant friends with their aunt, begging her for french fries and playing cars with her.

Friday morning, we got up and went to Aunt M's place to feed the fish. They have a bunch of huge catfish in their pond. It was a lot of fun.

As soon as the fish food ran out, Beemer said "I want to go to THAT house." Aunt M and I looked at each other and said "He remembers where the toys are!" There he is, running away with Snickers.

We waited on the porch in the rocking chairs until it was time to go in. Aunt M is a former Kindergarten teacher and has saved the Best Of toys. She has some great stuff! Beemer knows exactly where they are.

After fish feeding, we snuck off and saw the Avengers, kid free. Thanks, Grandma! It was everything I expected it to be. I loved it! I can't wait for the next one. I needed to eat lunch so I snuck in with a personal pan Pizza Hut, my husband looked over and said "REALLY?!" There weren't many options!

The kids had lots of space to run and chase their daddy on his bike. This is a fun game for Beemer.

Right as it was about time to leave, Sister came down with a fever and passed out in Grandma's arms. I miss those sweet snuggles that are few and far between now.

We made it about 30 minutes into our trip home when this happened...

(P.S. the portable dvd player is the best thing in the world for road trips with kids)

And this happened...

Poor kid got sick on the side of the road, with 2 hours left to drive. Her daddy wrapped her up in this towel so she didn't have to touch the seat. Thankfully she slept the rest of the way home. I think I'm being paid back for all the times I got car sick when I was little. Although, now that I'm older I'm convinced it was my dad's driving ;)

It was a great weekend with lots of fun. We can't wait to do it again!

Cutie Pies

Here's the latest in pictures...

For Christmas, Sister got a bag of ball pit balls. This might be the best $10 I've spent on the kids yet. We throw them at each other, the kids get in the ball bucket with them and cover up. They are light and small so it doesn't hurt if you get hit with them and we're in little danger of breaking anything. It does seem a little daunting to clean up, but we mostly keep it contained to one room and it's easy enough for my kids to clean up.

Last week, Beemer asked me if we could put some money in his piggy bank. I told him I didn't have anything to put in it. Then he told me he wanted to take the money from his piggy bank and put it in his star. The star came from our church. The kids were supposed to put coins in it and bring it back on Easter. They are raising money for their new property so that they can maintain as little debt as possible. I really appreciate that our church raises money before doing things like this. Instead of doing it and then raising the money. Anyway, he put every last bit of his piggy bank money into his star and told me we would take it to church. I was reluctant to let him give up ALL of his money. May I be as generous as my son.

 

Yes, he's wearing swim trunks. No, we haven't been swimming yet, though it's pretty much about to be hot enough to swim. And, yes, those 2T shorts are still falling off of my skinny almost 4 year old. At least he's in swim shorts and not in our old 18 month fleece pumpkin costume. He loves to run in around in it, the legs cut off just under his knees. Whatever!

New shoes! I couldn't resist showing you these little Sperry's I found at Nordstrom Rack. The Rack is a great place to find kids shoes. I opt to spend a little more on two pair of shoes for him instead of having a bunch of cheaper shoes. Two pair of shoes and sandals pretty much covers everything he needs as a boy. My daughter is another story! We talked about being thankful to God that He blesses us so that we can buy shoes and even buy shoes that we like. When we got home he brought me his old tennis shoes and told me he didn't like them any more!

Both my babies love yogurt. We bought a 24 pack at Costco, I'm figuring I'll buy another when in two weeks when I go back. They're not big on meat, so I encourage a lot of yogurt since they can get a little protein. This day, Beemer asked if he could have yogurt. I told him he could if he fed his sister too. I didn't have time to spoon feed her. Here's how it really went down...

This picture just cracks me up. I sit cross legged ALL the time. In fact, since my Just a Sprain on Easter, I haven't been able to sit cross legged. It's probably the biggest inconvenience from the Just a Sprain. I hope it goes away soon.

Here's our latest addition to our Schleich Collection. Yup, that's right, an airplane. I was so excited when he filled up his stickers to go get a new cute little animal. All he wanted was this cheap expensive airplane. I figured since he earned it he could pick, but I really didn't want to spend $8 on this airplane, anybody want to take bets on how long til something breaks off of it? I figured it was best I let him pick instead of making him get what I wanted him to get.