My Mother’s Day

I had a very sweet Mother's Day Week. On Wednesday, I went to Kindergarten Spa Day with Eli! A day of pampering for moms! I got my nails painted green, my hair fixed and combed, a massage, and a snack. The best part was the song Eli's class sang for us – so cute!

On Thursday, I got to have muffins with Caleb at his school (Mother's Day out).

On Friday, I spent the morning working at the Book Fair at Eli's school, with my trusty side kick – Owen. Love this boy! He has been lots of places with me and is always such a good boy. Isn't it cute how we match! Didn't even realize that until someone pointed it out to me.

Friday night, we went to Family Bingo Night at Eli's school and we won this! Such a fun blessing!

So Saturday, Lance kept the boys so that I could go shopping all afternoon!! After 9 months of pregnancy and 6 months of nursing, I was ready to shop for a few new things that fit!! It was a beautiful day, and I enjoyed being out and about. We had dinner that night at an Italian restaurant.
On Sunday, we had lunch at my parents house and celebrated Mother's Day with them. It was a good week, celebrating with my precious boys & family. Thank you Lance, Eli, Caleb, and Owen. I am a very blessed mom!

Tara

The Blessing of a Mother

I have a wonderful mom. I am a mom to 3 wonderful boys. I have wonderful "mom friends" that I share this journey with. This is a special day to celebrate all of that! I am humbled and grateful that God has given me all these blessings. There were many mother's days that I longed for a child of my own, so I know what that feels like for so many women who are still longing for this. My biggest encouragement is this - God is faithful. He may not answer your prayer exactly as you envision, but he will answer it!

As a mom, I have such a huge responsibility to shape the lives of my boys, and my prayer is that I can do it half as well as my own mom did! I wrote this in my mom's card this year and wanted to share it.

A Few Things I Learned From My Mom:

If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right!

It is the little details that make a BIG difference!

A little elbow grease can get most things clean!

Always go the extra mile

Always make people feel special.

Never say can't.

Everyone deserves a special day on their birthday!

Love God with all your heart.

Give of yourself without expecting anything in return.

Everybody puts on their pants one leg at a time!

Always do your best, no matter what.

And never, ever, ever give up!

These are priceless lessons to me and ones I hope to pass along to my children. Thank you mom for being a wonderful example!

I love this quote " A mom is a person who seeing there are only 4 slices of pie for 5 people, promptly declares I never did really care for pie!" So true, so true! Happy Mother's Day to all you moms who always give up the last piece of pie/cake/dessert for your children! You guys rock!

Tara

A Healing Heart

When Owen was born, he was immediately diagnosed with a heart murmur in the hospital. On our first visit to his pediatrician (at 3 days old) we were immediately sent to the pediatric cardiologist in town for an Echocardiogram & EKG. He was diagnosed with a VSD or Ventrical Septal Defect - a mild-moderate hole in his heart. Nothing was prescribed for him, we were just to watch for difficulty breathing, blue lips, & failure to gain weight - then follow up in one month. At our 1 month fu visit, he was a healthy 10 lbs (no problem on the weight gain) and the murmur was definitely softer, the doctor was very positive that it would heal on its own and if he had any symptoms, it would not be related to his heart! Great news! We just had to fu in 6 months.

Today we went for the 6 month fu appt. In my mind, I wasn't even thinking we would have to repeat all those tests we did at 3 days old, so I was a little unprepared when they escorted us into the echocardio room (it was a 45 minute test last time). I didn't even bring a diaper bag into the appt with us (thus no extra diapers, bottle, toys, etc)! But thankfully, with the help of his new love (the hospital issue paci) he rocked it! He laid fairly still for 30 minutes for the echo. He just played with the cord and chilled.

Then he sat still for a least a few seconds to get the EKG. I was so glad I had my phone this time so I could get a picture of this! It looks like they are trying to give him a jump start!

Check out those chunky thighs!!!

So the doctor said that he now has a tiny pin prick hole that will probably be gone in 6 months! Yippee! We have to go back for a repeat of these tests in 3 years. An hour and a half later we left (I thought it was going to be an in and out appt). Owen never fussed the entire time we were there! Don't you just love it when your kids totally exceed your expectations!

God has healed Owen's heart physically,

now we pray he will someday heal it spiritually!

Love this boy!

Tara

6 Months

Hard to believe that our littlest man is 6 months old! He is not so little any more,

in fact he may just be the biggest at 6 months than all 3 boys!

Here is his bear pic:Owen at 6 months Eli at 6 months

Caleb at 6 monthsOf course, we always have some "outtakes" while trying to capture the perfectish shot!

Happy 6 months buddy- so glad you are part of our family!

Tara

So anyway

Lots of things going on around here, as is the case in everyone's life I'm sure. I just have a hard time taking a moment to sit down and write a post. So, the longer I put it off, the harder it becomes, thus a month since my last post - you get the picture. Anyway, here is a quick peek at what we've been up to. I'm hoping this will get me motivated to post a little more frequently.We had a super fun Spring Break, with lots of fun things. A highlight, was visiting the Orr Family Farm in Oklahoma City with all the cousins. It was a beautiful day and barely crowded. We definitely made the most of our break!

I hosted a little baby shower for my friend who was due with her 3rd (a boy) in April. I made this super yummy pistachio cake, in fact the whole shower was planned around this cake! Ha! You can't really tell in the picture, but the cake is green with a light green frosting. Update: Owen's new little buddy was born 5 days after this shower!

I recently took this picture of Eli's jeans for one of my Picture of the Day (POTD) pics for Project Life. I decided to submit it to Becky Higgins - the creator of Project life. She posts POTD ideas on her facebook page and she used the pic I sent. I was super excited! Totally made my day & guess what, this was my POTD below! This little guy is almost 6 months old! I can't believe he is halfway through his first year of life! Lance made these pancakes for the boys one morning. Amazing pancake skills don't you think! Of course they loved them and gobbled them right up!So anyway, a little of what has been going on around here.

Tara

Here we go, one last time

We've been dealing with sick kids at our house for the past 8 days or so. Well, only 1 1/2 kids. Eli has been sick and Caleb only sort of - but enough to miss a day of school (Mother's Day Out) and our Wednesday trip to the library. Thankfully, Owen has not gotten sick, but his sleeping has been out of whack. So, that means some lack of sleep for me and my husband. Poor us, right!

Anyway, today my mom watched little Owen for me while Eli and Caleb were at school. I was so excited! I haven't been away from Owen for more than 3-4 hours since he was born. Today, I had 6 hours to myself - seemed like an eternity!! So, what did I do? Actually a lot of little things - but mostly working on this

Owen's First Year Baby Book. I've done one for each of my older boys and I'm finally getting started on Owen's. It's a good feeling and something that I enjoy doing for their 1st year of life. It's sort of like therapy for me - allows my creative juices to flow. I love looking back at all their milestones and I hope that he will too. So, one last time, I will do my best to capture the first year. Love this process! So, if I'm not blogging, dropping off/picking up kids at/from school, doing laundry, cleaning toilets, changing diapers, feeding baby, fixing lunch or dinner, reading books, wiping bottoms, or taking pictures - I'll be working on this! Ha!

Tara

Something I’m proud of

One of the goals I set for our family in 2010 was to make an organized effort of teaching our children to have giving hearts. So the idea was born to do a giving project each month with our kids. It had to be something "hands on" for them so it wasn't just mom or dad doing it. Let me preface this by saying I am not posting this to brag on myself – that's not my intent or heart (if you know me, I hope you would agree). I just wanted to share this in hopes that it might inspire someone else, or spark an idea. I get so many of my ideas from reading other blogs! My parents instilled such a heart for giving in my brother and I, so I want to do the same with my kids. I had a plan that worked for us and since I set it as a goal, I was motivated to find a project we could do each month!

What fun we had giving back to others in 2010! Here is what we did: January – collected coats, hats & gloves for our Community resource center; February – filled backpacks of weekend food for kids in need; March – made cinnamon rolls & passed out to postal worker, garbage truck driver, librarian, hair stylist; April – picked up trash in our neighborhood; May – made gifts for their teachers; June – made & passed out flower pots in assisted living / nursing home; July – sent a package to a soldier; August – collected pencils for The Pencil Project; September – donated & filled sacks in our church's food pantry; October – made cookies for a neighbor with cancer; November – Operation Christmas Child; December – made chocolate popcorn for each of our neighbors.

It was definitely work and we found things that they could "do". I'm so proud of them. My 6 year old really got into everything we did – it was having an impact on him. My 3 year old didn't exactly understand everything, but I trust that he learned as well (even though, many times it would have been easier to just leave him home – we pushed through)! We enjoyed doing this so much and plan to do it again this year. We have been blessed so much by God and out of that abundance, we give! Hope you are inspired too! Happy giving in 2011!

"It is more blessed to give than to receive"

Acts 20:35
Tara

Snowpacolypse 2011

Since January, we have received 35 inches of snow! Amazing! The first snowfall was lots of fun. The blizzard that dropped 21 inches of snow was pretty cool too (especially since we were safe, warm, and well prepared)! The 6 inches of snow that fell this week was over the top for me! Eli is now going on 9 straight days of missed school. It's crazy. Thankfully in the next week we are supposed to have almost a 100˚ degree change! That's right this past week recorded temps of -21˚ and forecast is 70˚ next week. Thank you God for sending us 70˚ weather to melt our mountains of snow! I think I'm done with winter. Here are a few notes from past 2 weeks we've been confined to our home.

• snow days are not relaxing when you have a 3 month old, 3 year old, & a 6 year old (I never got to sit by the fire and read!)

• For some odd reason snow days = low motivation (had a difficult time accomplishing anything)
• Snow ice cream loses it's luster after 3 straight days of it!

• Wearing pajamas all day gets old after 3,4,5,6 days!

• Dinosaurs make a good way to measure snowfall
• I've made a record number of meals in a row
• I love snowboots
• I thrive on a routine for my little family
• Owen is an awesome sleeper – seriously!
• Thank goodness for Facebook to give me a little socialization!
• Eli and Caleb have been great little playmates for each other.

Here are some pictures of our little snow life!

Our house during the blizzard

Outside the front door – the snow is deep!

Snow fort!

A familiar site

Snow tunnel

Snow after the blizzard – a mere 6 inches, but a fun way to document it. I was planning to wake at 3:00am to get a pic of the progression, but slept through the alarm. I know, I'm crazy!

My house looked like this at some point every single day!

Hopefully life will be back to normal next week! Ha!

 

Tara

More Snow Fun

Friday was another snow day, so we made the most of it. I had so much fun playing with the boys out in the snow. One of those days when I was glad I wasn't in a hurry and could just "be" with them, if you know what I mean. Check out what we did – we made some snow paint. Food coloring + water + squirt bottle. Note: the squirt bottles worked much better than the spray bottles. Here is a little of our artwork. Caleb had the yellow squirt bottle and he painted here and there and it looked like you know what in the snow! You can see it in the upper right hand corner of this picture! This was lots of fun! Next, onto snowman making.

Pretty cute if I do say so! Oh what fun! Eli and I made predictions on how long it would take our snowman to melt. I said 5 days and he said 6 days. Lastly, was some sledding fun down a perfect little hill my parents have in their backyard! They both loved it. Hot chocolate made by Pamma was a perfect ending to our fun time in the snow! Eli prayed for snow, God answered, and we enjoyed!

2 posts in a week – seriously, I'm on a roll!

Tara

Snow Day!

I'm back! But I'm not promising much people. Can't. Catch. Up. Oh well, today was a SNOW DAY! Eli was so pumped about missing school. They couldn't wait to play in it. After bundling each kid up (15 minutes per child I might add) they were set for an afternoon hour of fun in the snow. Lance went out with them and pulled them on the sled – lots o' fun for them. He's such a good dad! I'm pretty much a wimp when it comes to being cold. My 4 boys – aren't they handsome.

And then, I had to capture Owen in his first real snow, so I used the bumbo seat that I just borrowed from my friend (thank you Stacey!) to capture this.

I can barely stand the cuteness. This is just one of those pictures that makes you smile when you see it! Love this little one.

We completed our snow day with chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate! Good times. Tomorrow – another snow day!

Tara

Happy New Year 2011

So much to catch up on but for now, this will have to do. We got this little beauty this week - a Dyson Ball vacuum cleaner. Let me tell you, it works like a charm! Now, you may be thinking, who would spend that much on a vacuum cleaner - I am too. In fact, I wouldn't buy something like this - I'm too cheap. Our previous vacuum was 6 years old and we got that by using some award points (points that you use like money to order stuff from an award catalog)that I had earned from my previous Lilly job. It now makes strange funny noises and has a crack in the "dirt collector thingy", so it was time to get something new. So, we chose this Dyson and used some award points that Lance had from his job! For my first run through the house - this is what it collected!
Can you say nasty!!! From this picture, it would seem that we walk around in a layer of dirt - not so. But I guess we have lots and lots 'o hidden dirt! Another thing I like about the Dyson is that you don't have to buy filters for it - you just wash the filter out with water and let it dry overnight every 3 months. My vacuuming just got a little more fun! Here's to a "dirt & dust free 2011". Oh, who am I kidding, I have 3, no make that 4 boys!

Happy 2011 to you!
Tara