Happy 25th!

How in the world did my little sister get so old? We are so glad to have Mir out here with us and took her out for her birthday. She chose Logan's. We all loved our food, except for Johnathon, who decided all of his food should be thrown on the floor after he saw Mir drop shells on the floor. Lexi discovered that she loves peanuts! We also stopped at a park on the way home. Oh, and we made Mir a green velvet and brownie cake, made to look like a triceratops.

Fall Is For Family Photo Shoots

 I love Fall.
I love the way Fall makes me want to take pictures.
I love that my family is willing to suffer through my picture taking with me.
I love that I have such a great camera to catch these shots.
I love that I prefer SOOC (straight out of camera) photos, because editing these would have taken me forever!
(all pictures taken 9-20-2012 by Lydia Davis, except the one with Lydia in it, that was taken by Miranda)




Alexis:

Emily:













































Johnathon:

William:

 

 
The Kids:

Dresses And Mudpies

I love my girls. I love that they can be such girly girls, wanting make-up and dresses. I also love that they aren't afraid to get messy. I don't love that they came in looking like this on the day that I decided to clean the carpets while they played outside.

Greater Love

Greater love hath no little girl than to give up her socks for her sister.

Or at least that is how the scripture should have read today (Oct.16).

There is so much I love about being a mom, and more especially being able to be a mom that gets to spend a majority of our waking time WITH my children. I can't imagine how empty I would feel if I missed out on experiences like this one today.

We were getting ready to leave. I asked my girls to put socks and shoes on. I checked their feet. I reiterated the need for socks and shoes. One daughter fixed the missing sock problem. The other chose to go sockless. As we were out and about, we stopped for some food. As we were driving to our destination they began to question where we would end up... Burger King, Sonic, McDonald's? I gave them a hint...  it begins with a C. Chick-fil-A. Then the important questions began, "Chick-fil-A with a play place?"

Yes, I allow my kids to play in restaurant play places, but only if they have socks on.
No, both of my girls did not have socks on.
No, I would not budge just this once to allow a sockless playing.
(yes, I am using sockless even though it does not appear to be a real word).

The tears and whining began.

Fortunately, so did an amazing sympathy. One daughter, in an effort to comfort her sister said, "I know, you can use my socks and then you can play!"

I decided to just watch and see how this would pan out and not interfere right away.

Both girls are excited to go inside. We get out of the van and start for the door.

The sharing sister reconsiders her plan, "maybe you can use my socks to play for a little bit and then I can play."

We get inside. Both girls dutifully sit at a table first. Things are getting close, the time for sacrifice is nearly upon my daughter. She reconsiders again, and offers "I know you can watch me play and pretend it is you."

They ask for permission and (after ordering) we head to the play place. The girls are fully in the moment, the telling time has come. Will the sister truely share her socks, sacrificing her own play time for her sister.

She isn't ready. She comforts her sister with a comment about her playing now and sharing the socks after she eats.

The sockless sister cries. I comfort her, "I too would be sad if I chose not to wear socks and couldn't play." The random, concerned stranger girl explains, "she is crying because I told her we were leaving soon and she would only have her sister and THAT girl to play with." (this was the sweetest, egocentric explanation ever!)

The sockless sister chose to join us non-players at the table.

The sharing sister played for a while and then joined us for lunch. 

The sockless sister reminded her of her prior promise of sharing her socks after lunch. I watched the struggle, I could see the desire in my young child to help someone she loved so much. Then, she would realize the sacrifice that would require of her. She racked her brain for any alternative to the situation, any other way that they could both play and have the happiness. There was no other option. She began to remove her socks. Having no way to make both her and her sister happy, she chose to give up her chance at happiness for her sister. Greater love hath no little girl than to give up her socks for her sister.

It was then, that we at last pulled out a second pair of socks from the van. Both girls wore socks and played happily in the playplace together.

I have since reflected on this. How many times did our Savior reconsider His offer? How many times was He not yet ready to fulfill such a huge promise? How hard did he rack his brain for another solution, one that could provide us with eternal happiness without the pain to Himself?
 Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

I pray that I learn to more fully give my life to others. That I can more lovingly submit to the will of our Heavenly Father. I am grateful for the great example that my daughters set for me. I am grateful to be able to be with them and see these great moments unfold.

Getting Back To Normal, Or Something Like It.

"Normal?" I ask, "What is normal? Is there even a "normal" to get back to?"

So, I looked it up. Google defines normal as "the usual, average, or typical state or condition" (see here)

I change the title of the blog.

I ask myself, "are we back to our usual, average or typical condition." That, of course, leads to reflection on what really is typical for us. That is easy. Typical for us is one step below chaos. Typical for us is change. Typical for us is half of us resisting change, the other half welcoming it, and the third half (not sure how our family has become 3/2 but it works) being too young to know any different. Typical for us is procrastination. Typical for us is going with the flow. Typical for us is making plans, falling through, and revamping plans. Typical for us is dreaming and wishing. Typical for us is loving, no matter what. Typical for us is learning and playing. Typical for us is messiness and disorder.

So, there we have it. We never left normal. (I consider changing the blog title again, but realize the story is in the blog, and doesn't have to be in the title)

We have had a large group (because my creativity in picking just the right descriptive word is lacking) of adventures! Our adventures came all at once, and since I am the half of the family that is most resistant to change. I am just now feeling recovered from those adventures. I am actually starting to feel that, not only can I catch my breath and stay above water, but I am actually enjoying swimming a bit.

(realizes that the purpose of this post is to seek affirmation- I plan to tell you about all of these changes and how I have handled them and how awesomely I feel I am doing. You then can kindly tell me that I am INDEED quite awesome. I will smile and feel happy and full and ready to face more adventures. And you thought you were going to get off easy.)

So here we have it:

Philip used a day of his long weekend to pick Miranda up from Indianapolis. My friend, sister, and helper had arrived. I, however, had no real time to show her how excited I was (I do plan on getting to that).

Philip went to pick up Charlie while I frantically tried to decide how to create space for him. (we moved Nater and his most important stuff into our room and gave Charlie a mattress on the floor in Nater's room)

I had a baby.

Baby and I came home from the hospital.

Philip prepped to leave.

Philip's dad came to visit.

We blessed William, and then the rest of the family. (so glad Philip turned down my have a get-together idea)

Philip left.

Philip's dad left.

Charlie's family (total 2 adults, 3 kids) moved in. (another frantic moving of stuff from one room to the other. This time mine and the boys' stuff to Nater's room).

Life happened. (this is to include at least 4 doctors appointments, 2 trips to the ER, and a birthday or two)

And here we are... about 3 months from the time the adventures started and only slightly more than one month from the time the last major adventure began. Not only did I keep myself and my kids alive, I have really only felt completely crazy once or twice. (I can't take full credit for this non-craziness. Placentas are AWESOME for decrazying- just saying!)

So, as I sat down to blog I thought, what else haven't I shared yet? What things am I wanting to keep track of for my kids so they can remember? What things are still weighing in my mind as things I have to tell them, teach them, show them with this blog? And I realized, I no longer feel a pressing need to keep track of every emotion of this series of adventures. Oh, don't get me wrong. There is still a lot I want to tell you. A lot I want you to remember. But, it is no longer one of the weights that is trying to pull me under the water. If it is important, I will remember. If not, it is okay.
 Because we will keep having new adventures.
We will keep changing (maybe I will learn to resist it less?).
And we will learn what we need to from the adventures, and that is what really matters.

So, my dear children, if you ever read this as an adult and feel as if you are barely treading water. If you feel your adventures are coming to sure and too fast to be real, remember this. You can and will survive. Try to remember to take time for happiness in your adventures. Let go of unnecessary baggage and move on. And then, if you have a moment or two- share these memories with those you care about. Or answer the pestering kid that is tapping at your shoulder and the hungry baby that is (once again) wailing to be fed, oh, and you might want to get that toddler out of the crib at some point in time.

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...."

Cloth For Two

I am still not doing too well at cloth diapering. It is kinda decided on a day to day basis. But sometimes, something happens that makes me excited for cloth again. William's first time in cloth was one of those.

He is crying because he hates being naked, not because he hates cloth diapers.

I love how huge they are on him. Yet how well they fit to his body.

See, two in cloth. We can do this!

I also noticed on this day that he was 2 ft. tall. I took a couple pictures of my "two foot" baby. (attempted to anyway, his wiggles kept moving him from the right part of the measuring tape)

One Month Photo Shoot

I love hobbies that play so nicely together. These are the things I love: reading, children, photography, learning, scrapbooking. I am also learning to love sewing. See how nicely those hobbies fit together. One of my favorite combinations is photo shoots of my children (which I later get to scrapbook). Here are favorites from William's one month old shoot. (all photos, unless noted are straight out of camera:SOOC)

note: this one was cropped not sooc

And a couple brother shots. 

Nater wanted to join our photo shoot and love on his brother.

Using each other because brothers make good beds and tracks.