Ain't it Great to be Praisey!

"Junior's Playtime Songs" have been the music of choice (their's not mine! =) around here recently. It seems there is an unspoken rule in our house that says when a CD is chosen it must remain in the CD player for a looonnnnggg time and be played a minimum of 3 times daily. Although it could quickly drive me "bonkers," I try to be patient with the likes of Bob and Larry. On the bright side, ANYBODY  singing is better than SOMEBODY whining!!

  So one day this little guy is walking around my house singing, "Boom, Boom, Ain't it Great to be Praisey, Boom, Boom, Ain't it Great to be Praisey!"

My first reaction was to correct him, but since he is 4 and therefore WAY smarter than me, he was not going to be convinced.

But really, now that I think about it, I like that version better too!

So, today I'm feeling "Praisey" for......

....a healthy baby

 

 ....who is sleeping through the night again since she popped that first tooth.

 

.....a husband who loves me and cares for me.

...and who is a super Daddy!

 

.....Friends, to walk beside me on this journey called life!

 

 ...and who share coupons with me =)

Got PAID .98 to bring these home thanks to said coupons!

 .... Springtime

 .....and Sunshine!

.....yard sale bargains.

  4 bucks! 'twill add charming character to my flowerbeds one day, 

.....when I actually have flowerbeds that is.

.....Silly smiles that brighten my day.

.....some of the cutest kids on the planet!

 

I told him to show me his eggs and give me a nice smile, this is how he interpreted that!

......to be called A daughter of the KING!

 Thank You Jesus for a Praisey kind of Day!!!

(this list is NOT all inclusive neither is it in order of importance!)

 All spiffed up in their Easter outfits and squints smiles!

Wishing you a Praisey kind of day today!

On Friday Zachary

turned 8!
Wow!! it's hard to believe that it's eight years since we met this little guy. The first time I held him for only a few seconds before they whisked his little blue body away, I had NO idea what was ahead of us.
Three days later they cut open my tiny little boy and operated on his little heart, barely the size of a quarter. Amazing!! the medical skill available these days!! Even more amazing, the God that gave us this baby. The God that spared his little life until doctors could determine the problem. The God that healed his tiny body.

And the God that carried his Mama and Daddy through it all with unexplainable peace! 

So on Easter Sunday 2003, when they were finally able to unhook enough of  tubes and wires that I could really hold him for the first time, he had already been through so much more in a few days than most of us ever face in a lifetime. And still he would face soooo much more. No one will ever know if Zachary was born with special needs or if they are a result of his low oxygen levels from his heart condition
but  IT DOESN'T MATTER!!
We love him just the way he is!!

his friendly smile,
his determination,
his unconditional love,
his bravery,
his ability to adapt to new situations without missing a beat,
his sense of humor,

his appetite =)
his contentment,
his super smart little brain...

Birthday's are always a reason to CELEBRATE!! 
and CELEBRATE we did!!


Robot Style

I like to make fun cakes for the kids birthdays and this one was pretty simple except for the "gray" icing.
According to my trusty friend, GOOGLE, mixing blue and orange creates a "cool gray" that's sounded like what I was aiming for but there was no orange food coloring to be found in my house and no chance of running out to pick some up at 10 o'clock at night.  So option #2, red and green produces "french gray" they say. Well, let me just say that I've never been to France, but whatever they call gray there sure looks like GREEN
at my house. Oh well, little boys are pretty forgiving about this sort of thing! He thought it was awesome!! and since it was whoopie pie cake with lots of creamy filling it tasted great and that's what matters!

Mr. "Robot" Heads
(painted nuts, bolts and washers with magnets for unlimited creating)


Found this idea online too (sorry, can't remember exactly where.)
Again thank you my kind GOOGLE friend!

 

These boys get to call each other "cousins." Aren't they super lucky?
No one make a better friend than family! 

 Happy Birthday Buddy!

 

A Sweet Brother and Refreshing Getaway!!

Last week, [well actually 2 weeks ago now, since it took me an entire week to finish this post] was a TOUGH one at our house!! After much hassle and many phone calls to the Dr. we  started Zachary on a medication which he completely reacted to. That stuff literally turned the poor little guy into a monster. Besides turning his world upside down it made it hard for him to sleep. So I was dealing with his meltdowns on Very Little sleep. Oh yeah, and Kyra was busy pushing her first tooth through so when he was sleeping, she wasn't. Makes me weary just thinking about it!!!

One evening I had to deal with some urgent discipline issues in the middle of Baby Girl's dinner. I set her cereal on the table and left her crying screaming for more. When I came back about 15 minutes later she was happy as could be and the cereal was no where to be found. Now a busy mother can sometimes look right at something and not see it and occasionally I search for something that would bite me if it could. But really, a cereal bowl on a table, those I can usually spot without much trouble. I questioned the most likely candidate, my 10 year old, who knew nothing about what became of the cereal. That's when I found the empty bowl and dirty spoon in the sink with the dirty dishes. That's when a little voice beside me said, "I feed baby Cheera!" You what??? Yup, the little guy took pity on his starving howling sister and did a pretty good job of it too. The bowl was scraped clean and the baby, the bib and the seat were no messier than I had left them.

He's got this Big Brother stuff down, man!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We ended our stressful week by tossing the offending medicine in the trash can and enjoying

a great cabin getaway!

5 High School Friends

Who...

...Married 5 great guys (who actually get along quite well as well)

...have 23 kids + 2 on the way

...get together about once a year

...can pick up and reconnect as if we got together every week

...can and will cover any and every subject of conversation in 2 short days

...challenge, encourage and inspire each other 

to be

Better Mommies

Better Wives 

Better People!

...come home severely sleep deprived and looking forward to next year!!

So Refreshing!!

( I think this is the only weekend of the whole year when I actually F.O.R.G.E.T. to take pictures. not sure if it's the late night sleepy brain. this conversation is too interesting to miss a few second syndrome. or the fact that there are sooo many people in such a small space that it'd be impossible to capture anything orderly or recognizable. But there are NO pictures, not even one!)
 

A sweet treat from a sweet friend will brighten any day!!

And a little more coffee never hurts. =)

the NOT SO TERRIBLE 2's!

I really have to wonder where that phrase "Terrible Two's" came from. Seriously, if there is an age that's my favorite, it'd be this one right here.....

I loved this stage with every one of my kids (lest you think I'm playing favorites here) and I've often wished I could "Freeze" them like this at least for a while.

The tiny baby stage is nice. They smell really sweet and you can sit and hold them and watch them peacefully dream for hours. Yeah, right! At my house they smell like used milk and anything involving sleep is predictably limited in duration.

Baby Doll -- 1 month old (Oct. 2010)

And there is certainly good parts about every age as they get older...

Excuse Me, wasn't it just a few weeks ago that you were 2??

 

but the "two's" are just. SO. MUCH. FUN!  Oh, don't get me wrong, we have those little (and sometimes not so little) "I'll do it my way" scenes at our house too. And his currant favorite word is undoubtedly spelled N-O.

But really, with one quick swoop, I can still pick him up and deposit him on the "time out" spot. (Discipline certainly gets more complicated to administer as they get older/bigger.) Typically, after about 30 seconds there, he decides my way is more workable than he originally realized. 

(Wow. Sometimes I wish I could "get over it" in 30 seconds.)

And yes, sometimes it takes multiple visits to "the" spot but in exchange for all of that, I get this......

In case you're unsure, YES, that is a SMILE!

 ......I just love listening to their little "mispronunciations" and all the other cute stuff they come up with. Like these.......

***The other day he was climbing down from his seat at the table when he reached out a sweet little hand and said "Mom, I wanna use your hand."

*****Today while I was sweeping the kitchen floor he was rather upset about the fact that I "combed"  (sweep = brush .... brush = comb....yeah, I'm following you now) his "piggle toes."

******* These may be some of the sweetest words a mother can hear from a 2 year old's mouth....."Mom, I need more "loccoli," (broccoli) I like "loccoli."

***** And every night, I give him a hug and a kiss before I put him in his crib and tuck him in. Then I move on to do the same for his brother. That's when a little voice says, "Mom, kiss me down here!" It seems good night kisses are just not effective from 24 inches higher. And yup, it works E.V.E.R.Y. time! =)

And besides all of that, he still loves me to pieces No.Matter.What!   I could really learn a thing or two from this boy about unconditional love!!! Actually, I HAVE learned a LOT of things from all of these little people in my house, they're GREAT teachers if you give 'em half a chance