When words can't do it justice...

 ...just enjoy the photos!  Reese taking Sienna on her first "jeep ride."

I'd rather be...

 Over the last couple weeks I've been wrestling with some things...there have been some struggles.  I'll admit, I've been feeling a little jealous, I've been feeling a little dissatisfied, doubtful, impatient, tired and frustrated.  It's easy to let these feelings creep in and leave me at the end of the day with an overall feeling of discouragement.  

But the problem isn't with my children, my husband, or my life...the problem is with me.  You see, it's really easy for me to fall into the trap of "the grass is greener on the other side."  I'll see another mom from my neighborhood out for an afternoon run and think to myself, "I'd rather be her!"  Put the girls in preschool or daycare a couple days a week, put Carter in school and finally get some 'me time.'"  I'll hear another mom talk about how her kids all take three hour naps in the afternoon and she can get some housework done and think, "Why don't my kids do that???"

I get caught up in reminiscing about the past too...thinking back to our days before kids...to the trips we took, the weekend adventures we went on, going to work everyday and interacting with other adults, going out to restaurants that were nicer than McDonald's or Burger King, more frequent "date nights".  It's easy to think those were the "good old days" and that the days I'm living in right now can't even compare.

And then other times, I get caught up in wishing for the future....I'll start thinking about the kids being old enough to take care of themselves and all their basic needs, dreaming of everyone sleeping through the night, wishing for the days my floors will not be littered with toys and crumbs and miscellaneous articles of clothing.

My mind wanders a LOT.  When I'm feeling the pressure of being a parent, it's easy to become disillusioned, to become very self-centered and to miss out on all the blessings I could be experiencing each day.  I could ALWAYS find someone else nearby whose life appears easier or better, or look at my own life and think, I wish I were in the past or the future, but not where I am right now.  But by doing that, I'm missing out on this amazing present...this incredible blessed time I am experiencing right at this very moment that I will never get back.

"There is a time for everything and a season for everything under the sun."  (Eccl. 3:1)  This statement could not be more true.  My "time" right now is to be a parent to my little ones, to love them with everything I've got.  And I'm 100% sure that someday, I'll look back and wish I were right here again, living this craziness all over again with my babies.  Embrace what God gives you today, though it may seem like chaos at times.  He is teaching you something, through everything.  We grow most through our trials, we hear His voice most clearly in times of difficulty and pain.

Rainy Saturday

We spent a rainy day getting caught up on some things around the house.  Carter played in his second soccer game this morning in spite of the wet weather and his team scored 14 goals (he scored 4).  Go Carter!  (And yes, his team won)

Sienna is walking all over the place using her little push cart...it won't be long now until she tries to walk unassisted.

Reese finally appears to be healthy...hope it will last!

 Carter snapped almost all of these pictures today on his own camera...I was pretty impressed.  He said to me after dinner.  "Mama I want to do something nice for you.  I will take a picture of you and Dadda."  SOOO cute!

Pitaland...with some apples on the side

 We took a field trip to Pitaland today in Brookline.  It was so cool.  The owner was there and personally gave us a tour and told us a little of his background.  He was a French Teacher in Lebanon and came to the US for his honeymoon back in 1974...ended up staying and eventually opening this restaurant/business.  He knew nothing about baking bread but took classes and figured it out on his own. He was so generous, giving each child a pita to eat, some dough to sample and a whole bag of pitas to take home.  They loved it!

 Afterward we visited Simmons Farm to pick 2 bushels of apples and visit the farm animals.

The constant student

If there's one thing I've already learned from being a Home School parent, it's that my style of teaching is very loose in the sense that I don't subscribe to any set curriculum or style of "doing school."  Part of what I love about Home Schooling is how flexible it is as far as making a schedule and not being bound to the traditional "sit at a desk all day" style of learning. Everything we do throughout the day each day has the potential to be a teachable moment.  There is so much more to learn than just what you find in a text book and what I have already found is that it is way more interesting to teach kids about things they are actually experiencing than to try to get them to grasp things from a textbook that they may not even really understand.  I truly want to adapt this philosophy to my own life...trying to never take for granted any opportunity to learn something new.  Last week, for example, I was teaching the kids about lightning...which led to a conversation about forest fires and how they are caused...which led me to talking to Carter about how sometimes, forest fires can be beneficial for forests.  We found a YouTube video about it and lo and behold, I learned something new.  Not only are there certain pine cones that only drop their seeds when they are heated to a high temperature, but there is a certain bird, the three-toed woodpecker that only lives on trees that have been burned.

I was reading a book this morning about prayer and really liked this passage:

"Spending time daily in the ultimate conversation with God - listening to Him in prayer and meditation upon Scripture - will increase your spiritual understanding.  As you interact with the Father, you begin to comprehend His Word in deeper ways than ever before, and He allows you to see your circumstances from His perspective.

Always remember, the Lord is constantly teaching you, patiently demonstrating His love and wisdom to you through every event and detail of your life."  (taken from Prayer: The Ultimate Conversation by Charles Stanley)

The pumpkin again...before he painted it rainbow colors today

I like the idea of being able to learn something new every day and the thought that even the most mundane things could somehow be used to teach me a valuable lesson.  It seems at times that my life is very mundane, and it's easy to get frustrated with the kids and the constant chaos that is present in my home.

Just as with school or general knowledge...we can have an active and open-ended approach to our faith...we must have this approach because we will never know it all.  There is always more to be learned.





Speaking of learning new things...my recipes were starting to feel a little repetitive after the summer go-tos have been used so many times so I decided to try a few new ones today...all turned out great:

Brownies for the kids

New Green Bean recipe

Sweet Potatoes on the grill!

When a pumpkin is more than a pumpkin

 Who knew a $1 pumpkin would bring such joy to my kids' lives?  I was cracking up when Carter nestled his in a pillow and laid down next to it to watch an afternoon cartoon...and Reese followed suit as she watched some Peppa Pig in the kitchen.  The simple things...

Apple time!

 We took our first Home School field trip today, up to Soergel's Orchard to see how apple cider is made.  It was actually quite interesting and the kids really enjoyed seeing all of the apples and the huge cider-making machines.  Of course I tried to quiz them on it when Derrick came home, "What did we see at Soergel's today."  "Apples."  Well, duh!

We have a trip planned for Friday to see how Pita Bread is made...excited for that!

This afternoon I scored a major find at the thrift store.  Carter has been telling me he wants to be a clone trooper for Halloween and I was dreading trying to figure out how to make that costume...but the thrift store came to my rescue and for $9 we got a full clone trooper costume AND an Obi Wan Kenobi mask too.  I know, you are practically speechless at the amazingness...












Every time I see someone wearing the Obi Wan mask I bust out laughing...see for yourself, it is hilarious...

Totally useless...

We went for a hike today and Carter was really excited to find a walking stick.  One part of the trail got a little steep and he stopped and waited for Reese to catch up and asked, "Reese would you like to use my walking stick?  Here, it's really useless."   (We then had to fill him in on the difference between the word useless and useful.)

I've been doing different little experiments with the kids each week to try and make school more fun for them.  Today we made a gooey substance out of glue that you stir into a water and borax mixture...it comes out looking like a silly putty/gak type substance.  Anyway, the kids were so enamored by their blob of goo, they even named it...Bert.  Not sure where that came from but they were referring to it as Bert and aparently Bert is a boy...he even wanted to go on a walk with us tonight.  Then Reese conveniently left Bert on the seat of the stroller and he conveniently became stuck onto the seat (being that he is made of glue and all.)  Needless to say, Bert is significantly smaller after I scraped what I could off the seat....

Live by Faith

 Today was just a stay-at-home with no real plans kinda day.  Fall was in the air with much cooler temps...just that crispness in the breeze that makes you realize, summer is almost over.  Oh how I hate to see it end!  It's not that I don't like Fall, but I do miss the warm nights when it's light past 8 pm, going barefoot all day long, and being outside for hours on end.

After I photographed Reese on her chalk rainbow, a huge storm blew in and the rain just poured down.  We were sitting up on her bed, watching it rain and rain, and I noticed a little plaque I have hanging on her wall.  I hung it there...but the phrase kinda resonated with me today, more than it ever has in the past.  The plaque says, "Live by Faith."  Not live by success or by making loads of money, not live by your own intellect or live by your own strength...no, just simply live by faith.  It is very tempting to take over, to take the reigns of our lives and think we can handle it all.  Then something hits us hard, something completely out of our control, and we suddenly realize that the things we thought we could handle are way out of our league after all.  It might be a health problem, a family crisis, divorce, death, loss of job...but someday we will all come to this point of great trial and difficulty and need to ask the question, "from where do I draw my strength to go on?"

It was a good reminder for me today, and should be every day...I need to keep God as the focus, I need to trust Him to direct my paths in the way I should go, the kind of parent I should be, how I spend my time and my energy.  Living by faith takes the pressure off of me to figure it all out...because I never will.  Living by faith is knowing that He has our best interest in mind and will take care of us through all of life's twists and turns.  It's a promise to us, He'll never leave or forsake us.  What a blessing, indeed!

Happy 1st Birthday Sienna

Enjoying some cake on her big day

 It is so hard for me to believe that a year ago today, my little Sienna entered the world.  She stormed her way in on the one day I was hoping she wouldn't be born, and she has taken our lives by storm with that same vigor and zest for life over the past 12 months.  I never imagined how crazy, how sleep-deprived, how hilariously funny at times, how difficult, how exhausting, how rich our lives would be with this addition to our family.  We certainly can't imagine life without her now!

 I never really paid much notice to the passage of time the way I have since becoming a parent.  For with each year that passes by, no matter how difficult, there is always a sense of sadness.  You never stop to think on the hardest days that even those LONG difficult days are but a blip in the life of your child.  And once you start ticking off major milestones you realize, you never get those precious days back.

I've been through this three times now, and still, it puts a lump in my throat to think about.  I may complain about how hard it is all the time but the truth of the matter is, I love my kids and I love that I get to be home with them, enjoying these precious years and the memories we make together.

Happy First Birthday, my Sweet Sienna!

All kinds of fun....

 We had a fun and very busy weekend leading up to Sienna's birthday!  Saturday I ran in the Ohio Township 5K while Carter started his first week of soccer.  The afternoon and evening were a wonderful break for Derrick and I as we attended a wedding...NO KIDS!!!!

We celebrated Sienna's 1st Birthday with the family on Monday and she loved her cupcake!

 Reese was admiring her painted nails today and told Carter he could get his painted too if he wanted.  He told her boys don't get their nails painted.  She said, "But Carter I have blue nail polish."  He said, "No Reese, girls get nails painted and boys get tattoos."

Windsock for a lesson about the wind

Red-faced after the race

Manicure...Sienna can't wait!

Going to a wedding

After the game...