Mommy Day

Imagine a day where your husband goes skiing for 4 days, Grandma and Grandpa take the kids for 2 nights and you, Mom, are home all by yourself. Does that ever really happen? Yes, it can.....and it is! I am truly enjoying this day of silence. I will be happy to have everyone back here, but for now, I am happy too! So what does a mom do when there is no one home? Well, today I decided to thoroughly clean the kids rooms. From top to bottom. So far Austins room is clean, now it's time to head to Halies. I learned an important lesson about cleaning 5 ft long blinds today. 1. they do not fit in a standard, nor a large bathtub (i'll save you the trouble, don't try it) 2. it is probably alot more enjoyable to spray them off and soap them up on the driveway when it is not raining (i didn't have any other choice, they were soaked and half clean). The good news is that they look great now! Clean toys, clean floor, all dusted, smells nice! Oh nice, I just got a call from a friend and I am going to see a movie in a hour! Woohoo!!!!

Everyone is healthy again! Well, the kids are at least.... It's been a good week. Here are a few pics of the kids over the last week. They were cracking up in the tub playing tug of war with the letter "O". Austin enjoyed a free ride around the house in the laundry basket!

Currently, Paul and I are relaxing, watching Curling. Interesting game, I can't find it in me to call it a sport, sorry.

Austin has really come to life over the last week. He has started chitter chattering all the time. He is definitely trying to talk, I'm just not sure what he is saying! He has found joy in bothering his sister. She has not found the same level of enthusiasm about him! I think he just really likes playing with her, and just happens to want everything she has. He flashes his little mischievous smile often. Today he did yoga for the first time. Halie got out the yoga mats and was doing her "exercises" and he joined her. He did a pretty impressive "down dog". I got it on video, but again, can't figure out how to get the video on the blog.

Halie has been just as energetic as ever. She had the day off of school today, so she was my helper around the house. She did a great job helping me clean today, she will always enjoy doing that with mom, right??? As much as Austin bothers her, she really is a great big sister to him. She know when he is doing something he isn't suppose to, helps him get things, gets in his crib and plays with him when I need her to, feeds him (they both get a kick out of that one) and really does love him.

I hit a mile stone in my training for the half iron man, I ran 12 miles yesterday! That is the first time I have ever done that and my body let me know it at about mile 10. I got through it though. After finishing that run, I began to understand how much more work I have to put into this over the next 9 weeks to get ready, so I took the day off today!

Where are we????? The snow just continued to fall all night and we woke up to a winter wonderland!
School was cancelled on Friday. Halie missed school on Monday because we had some family in town, Wednesday she missed because her and Austin had pink eye, or what I thought was pink eye. It turned out to be a very long lasting virus of some sort. And then Friday, no school. The kids are sick, we couldn't get out and do anything. Mommy was getting a little stir crazy in the house, so were the kids! Thank goodness Halie was well enough to go play in the freezing snow! How can you not let a kid go out and play in that in Texas?


She had a blast playing with the neighborhood kids. Her poor little hands and feet were frozen when she made it back inside after about an hour.

Halie made a little bird feeder a few months ago with a pine cone that we lather with peanut butter and then roll in bird feed. We have refilled it a couple times, but I have never seen a bird eat from it. A cardinal couple has now claimed the feeder. They are beautiful with the white background. They have hung around for a couple days eating from the feeder. Halie thought that was pretty cool!

Ahh, the new coffee maker! You really don't appreciate your coffee maker until you don't have one for a week. After 7 1/2 years of faithful service, our old machine died. The new one arrived this week and we love it! It actually grinds the beans for you right before it makes the coffee!

Austin seems to be feeling better today, he slept all night last night, woke up at 8am. This has not happened in about a week. We made it to church and got to join the land of the living again! Hopefully this week everyone will be healthy.

And snow we got!!!!

7:00 this morning, I went to let Chewy outside and was greeted by a layer of white fluffy stuff! What a surprise!

We got to build our biggest snow man yet in Texas. It was perfect snow ball and snow man snow!

Daddy joined in the snow ball fight. Halie loved it!!!

Halie and I planned a special Valentine's Day dinner for Dad. We had a candlelight picnic on the floor in the living room and watched "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs". Halie wrote him a note and drew him a picture. The note was "I love daddy because..." 1. You're sweet 2. You give me hugs and kisses 3. You read me bible stories 4. You are in our family 5. You wrestle with me.

13 hours later, the snow continues to fall. We just heard on the news that this has been the snowiest day on record in Dallas!

Pink Day

Last night Austin came down with pink eye. This morning Halie got it too. Today was Halies Valentines Day party at school. Needless to say, she was unable to go. She was very, very, very upset about it. We made it a fun day around here anyway. Halie helped me with some of the cleaning around the house. Then she made me lunch all by herself. It was so sweet! She made me a peanut butter and honey sandwich, 5 blueberries and a tea cup of water. She said she made it for me so I wouldn't have to stop cleaning and worry about making lunch. She was so proud.

This evening we had a picnic in the living room and watched the movie she picked out at the store, "Bolt".

Then we made our annual Valentines Day cookies. She loves to decorate cookies! Unfortunately, we will not be sharing these cookies with friends this year. I don't think anyone else wants pink eye with their cookies :)

Austin has started doing this new "squatting" pose recently. Daddy joined in on the fun!

Bath Time!!!

Tonight before Halie went to bed, she told me that this was a great day. Hopefully tomorrow will leave us with clear little eyes, and maybe some snow.....

God in a box

I have started going through the book, Lord I want to know You, by Kay Arthur in a small group bible study at church. We started it about a week ago and I am really starting to see how easy it is to put the complex God into such a small box that makes sense to my little world. The book takes the names of God and breaks them down into their meanings and what that means for us as we get to know Him better. These thoughts will be somewhat scattered and I am not sure I even have a point to what I am writing, I'm just trying to process some of this new information in my finite little mind. The first name is Elohim. This name designates God as creator. In Hebrew the El means God and the Him is plural, indicating more than one. The whole concept of the trinity is a hard one, but through this book and 2 others I have read over the last few weeks I am starting to see the 3 distinct persons more clearly, that they are really 3 distinct persons......but still one God. Still working on this one..... There have been a few verses that we have read that have initially been disturbing for me, again, I am feeling like my "God Box" is being opened and expanded, so I am working through some of these new thoughts. I know that God is sovereign and that He is good, and there is no bad in Him, so I know these following verses are all good. Exodus 4:10 "Moses said to the Lord, 'Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in times past, nor since Thou hast spoken to Thy servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue'". God's reply Ex 4:11 "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" Then jump to the new testament, John 9:2-3 "and his disciples asked Him saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?'" Jesus' reply "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him". Wow, God takes the credit for the disabilities in people. Hard for me to grasp, but I know He is good. Next eye opener to me comes from Isaiah. The name for God in this particular section is El Elyon - The Most High God, talking about His control over everything we could possibly imagine, from kings and rulers to birds in the air. Isaiah 45: 6-7 "I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these". Again, huh????? He creates calamity and takes credit for it. My box is definitely way too small. He is much bigger than I can wrap my little head around, but I am praying that He continues to show me more of who He really is. Lastly, today we read in Job and it talks about God and Satan talking about Job. The first confusing thing to me was in Job 1:6 it says "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them". I can't figure out why Satan chose to go before the Lord, then he does it again later in the chapter. It seems after looking at this that God and Satan actually have a relationship of some kind. Hmmmmm........ The more you learn, the more questions there are! I am so thankful that through all the questions I have, I can trust that He is good, He is in control and He loves us.

The Stand Off

Halie, seated at her seat at the dinner table. Mom, seated in her seat at the dinner table. A nice meal of halibut sits in front of mom and dad. Out of a kind spirit mom prepares a special kid friendly meal for Halie, a tortilla, smeared in peanut butter, cut up into spirals and pierced with a decorative toothpick and a small cup of kids yogurt. Halie, in her seat, refuses to eat her meal, mom in her seat is really starting to loose her patience with this kid who makes every meal a BATTLE! So, the stakes were set high tonight. If Halie did not finish the special meal mom made just for her, from here on out she would be eating fish with mom and dad, or enchiladas, or whatever else it is that she does not want to eat. 1 1/2 hours later.......she ate her dinner and then had the guts to ask if she could have anything else to eat, meaning dessert. Hmmm, I wonder if she got dessert.....

That leads into my memory verse for the week. Ephesians 4:2 "be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love". Do you really think He meant my 4 yr old when He wrote that??? Me too, I think he did. Nothing like a little practical application to what you are learning about.

She can be a sweet heart most of the time and sometimes she just blows me away by the things she can process and think through, she is very analytical, like her dad, and I am glad for that, but sometimes she really stumps me. I have had to pray for discernment in things I talk to her about, because she is asking some very deep, well thought out questions, but there are just somethings that a 4 yr old doesn't need to worry about yet. We talk about God and Jesus alot, but also, as I have been talking with her, I feel for her to really understand what Jesus did for her, she has to know what He saved her from as well. Well, that lead to the topic of hell and satan. I really didn't want to get into too much detail, because satan is scary and we can talk more about that when she is older. But, of course, she has lots of questions. The most recent one has been if Satan can be invisible and could he come to our house? I'm not sure, but I imagine he probably can be and could if he wanted to. I didn't tell her that, just told her that God would keep her safe. She has asked about it a few more times and gotten the same answer each time. Then yesterday she came out of her room with one bike glove on a hand and wanted to wear it to church. I told her she looked like a singer named Michael Jackson that used to be alive. She immediately processed the comment and asked if he knew God. Quite the little thinker she is. We have recently started giving her an allowance for chores she does each day. She gets a nickle for each chore and gets her money at the end of the week. She usually gets about 80cents - 1 dollar. We have 3 piggy banks that she splits her money up into each week. Church, Savings and Spending. She wants to buy a 3 musketeers barbie doll, so I told her we could count up her money and see how much they cost and if she had enough she could buy it with her spending money. She then said she wanted to by 2 dolls and told her she could buy one and then save more money for the other one. She immediately looked at the piggy banks and said, "what about my savings money, why can't i use that??" The kid doesn't just take what you tell her, she listens, and then forms her own opinions and plan. I love it and don't love it all at the same time!

Austin has become quite the little brother recently. I think little boys are born with the need to bother their sisters. He has started coming up to her, grabbing whatever she has and running away with a huge smile on his face as she chases him She is not usually as pleased as he is! Today I cleaned the house, it looked so nice.....for about 1 hr. Austin woke up from his nap and started to empty out anything and everything that he could. He would find a drawer, a basket, his kitchen, whatever and just start throwing out everything that was in it and then move onto the next thing. He is lucky he is so cute..... He has recently started saying Halie's name, it's so cute. He loves her so much. It's so fun to see them starting to play together a little bit more now.

Ok, I've got some decluttering to go do around the house. I've started this "cleaning program" if you will, called Flylady.net. It is great, doesn't take much time and my house is starting to be much cleaner and more organized than ever before. As weird as this sounds, it is almost empowering to feel like you have some control over your house!! And with that I will go spend my 15 minutes decluttering something, a drawer in my kitchen i think!!!