Happy times

Lately I've found myself really trying harder to savor this time I have with my kids. I honestly can get myself worked up over the fact that they're growing up so fast (they're 8, 4 1/2 and 7 months). It truly seems like just yesterday that Jared was born - I can't believe it's been 8 years!! If I dwell on it, I actually get sad, and maybe even a little depressed over it. So what I've been trying to do more, is just savor this time - each day - that I have with them.

Recently a family who is from the same area that I am from in Missouri, suffered the loss of their little 6 year old son. It was a tragic school bus accident...I can't even imagine. That morning, a Mama unknowingly kissed her baby goodbye for the very last time. It pains me to just think of it, and I don't even know these people. Was it a good morning? Did she get up early and fix breakfast for him? Did she get irritated with him? Who knows...what I do know is that it definitely inspired me to appreciate my kids more. We have no idea how much or little time we have with them. And even if they do grow up to be a ripe old age, we still only have a few short years before they grow up and are on their own.

So to all one or two of you who actually read this, take a little extra time today and appreciate your kids. Kiss them a couple extra times, snuggle for just a few more minutes. Read that extra bed time story. I'm sure that mom would give anything for just a few more minutes with her baby.

Cleaning cleaning cleaning!

It's the story of my life! Lol!! It's ok, really - I'm so happy to get to stay home with my kids - I truly don't mind that it's a never ending job. I think the hardest part may be teaching the kids to clean up their own messes. It is sooooo much easier to just do it myself! I finally decided something had to be done w/Laynie. (At 8 years old, Jared pretty much has it down, thank goodness!) She just would NOT keep her room clean. You could literally go in her room at any given time and not be able to see the floor, because she drags EVERYTHING out at once, rather than just having one thing out at a time. So the other night I decided to give her a reasonable amount of time to get it clean, set the timer and told her when the timer went off, anything that wasn't put away in its proper place was going into a plastic bag and staying in my room until further notice. Mind you - I have her room set up so it is VERY easy for a 4 year old to clean. I don't feel like I'm asking her to do something unreasonable at all.

Well, when the timer went off, I gathered 2 Wal-Mart bags of things that were either not put away at all, or put away in the wrong place, and those 2 bags are in my room. I told her if she can keep her room clean for 7 days, I'll let her pick a couple of things out of the bags to have back. We're on day 5, and she's doing FANTASTIC!! I've been helping her remember that before she gets something new out, to put away the first thing she was playing with. She's doing so well with it - I'm really proud of her! Hopefully we can keep it up!

Pictures!

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids decorating some sugar cookies we baked. As you can see, they had lots of fun with all of the icing!

Since we were going to be traveling on the days before Christmas, we got to have our celebration a bit early - the kids each got a few gifts - here are their snuggies. Princess for Laynie, and Cars for Jared.

And here they are modeling them!

Levi got a few baby toys, and some bibs - as you can see, he wasn't overly impressed! (Though he did have fun opening them!)

By far, the kids' favorite gifts were their Pillow Pets - they wanted them so bad, and we were so excited to be able to get them for them. It was all Laynie talked about for WEEKS before Christmas - "I reeeeeeeeally want a pillowpetunicorn!!!" (She'd say it really fast like that every time - so cute!) We saved these gifts for last - kinda let them think they were done opening presents, then I "remembered" that there was ONE more gift for each kid on our bed - they came in and were so excited!!

At my parents' house, we got to spend some time with the newest members of the family - cousin Jasmine, and cousin Ethan.


Jazzie girl!!!

Precious Baby Ethan w/his Auntie Lala!!

And of course, we can't leave out Bella-boo! Not the best pic, but you can see her adorable Christmas outfit!

Snow in GA!

Well, technically this is not our first snow of the year, but it is our first snow that we're HOME to....."enjoy." Anyone who knows me knows I HATE snow, but I do love watching the kids have fun with it! Here are a couple of pictures of them playing outside today - they had so much fun!

My Laynie Girl

Not too much to write about today, but Laynie said something funny yesterday I thought I'd share. I was sitting at the computer browsing through some pictures of some college friends of mine on Facebook, and she climbed up in my lap. She asked, "Who are those people, Mommy?" I replied, "Oh, just some friends of mine." She very innocently said, "You have friends?!!" Lol!! Just goes to show that her little 4 1/2 year old world doesn't extend much past herself at this point. Gotta love her!

Crazy!

Of course I'm sure my life is no more crazy than anyone else's but that's my excuse for not updating my blog in 3 months....not that anyone really cares, but I do wish I could stay more on top of things.

How do moms do it all? I'm seriously trying to figure out how I'm supposed to get everything done, and I only have ONE kid home-schooling! I have to admit sometimes it's a bit overwhelming. Is it too much to ask to want a clean house, clean, well educated kids, and healthy meals on the table? If anyone has it all figured out, please let me in on the secret!!

We had a fantastic Christmas! Michael didn't get to have any extra vacation days (other than Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) so we had kind of a rushed trip home to MO but we did get to see both sets of parents, so that was good! The kids had such a good time. This year was Laynie's first year of getting to GIVE her own gifts, so she was super excited about that! At my parents' house we go around the family (youngest to oldest) taking turns giving one gift at a time. That way it's not all madness, and you can actually see the reaction each gift gets. We absolutely LOVE doing it this way! Laynie was so excited to give her gifts, she kept asking, "Is it my turn? Is it my turn?" It was sweet! :)

Anyway, we're home now and trying to settle back into a school/housework/baby schedule - haven't quite gotten there yet but we MAY be close. When I get a chance I'll post some pictures!