It’s been a month since I’ve written here. I look back and wonder where the month went, where the words went. The month was crazy with the negative – sickness, travel, death – but also the positive – birthdays, visits, learning.

The kids grow and change. The school year slips by. So many things I want to record, yet so few things made record of.

One day, I tell myself. One day things will change. The house will be quieter, the demands will be less.

But one day, the words will be gone. Only the imprint of a memory from days gone by.

My heart says it is time to write again. My head says, “when?”

Time, it is a tricky thing. So much of it looming, yet so little of it in the moment.

~linking up with just write

Four in a row on the couch.

It’s all basically the same statement: Seize the Day

But most days, I really don’t want to seize the day. I don’t want to capture forever the memories of me yelling at the children, of the children bickering, the tattling, and back talking, and bad attitudes. And then there’s the kids!

Take today for instance.

Our day started with the children wanting me to entertain them during school time instead of participating like they should.

Then there was the whining about having to do so much school.

Then the children yelling at each other.

And the potty training toddler who refuses to tell you when she needs to potty. And the poopy panties.

Then the baby who is apparently going through a growth spurt and needs to eat every 2 hours. Which means she, too, poops a lot.

And to top it off, the toilet overflowed poopy water onto my feet.

Yeah, not so much things I want to remember forever. And do you notice a theme there at the end? Such is life as mom.

So, I don’t really want to seize the day, so much.

However, there are moments in each day, little glimpses of what beautiful community is, small insights into the love and glory of God. And those are the things I want to seize; the things I want to hold close to my heart and remember forever.

The sound of my children laughing together.

The 2+ hours the older kids played outside peacefully enjoying each others’ company.

The eyes lighting up moments of learning and discovery when the boy recognizes numbers and does his counting correctly.

The pride of the oldest girl in a job well done as she masters a spelling word or math concept.

The babies snuggled up in my lap.

Most days around here are a mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly. I prefer to move on from the bad and ugly and cling to the good.

And by the grace of my loving God I can. I can move into the tomorrows with hope. I can look at the melt downs as part of my ongoing sanctification.

I can press on hoping and praying I don’t mess these people up too bad.

Seize the day? Maybe when my children are older.

~linking up with just write

This is a story of success. Success so sweet I could eat it with a spoon. Literally.

Yesterday we were tasked with preparing salad for our small group dinner. Since most salad dressings contain refined sugar and lots of ingredients I can’t pronounce, I needed to come up with a good, homemade recipe.

Thanks to Google and a little recipe tweaking, I stumbled upon a winner.

Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing
(adapted from this recipe)

1 and 1/2 cup plain organic yogurt
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/2 cup local honey

Whisk together until well mixed. Refrigerate in mason jar or other air tight container.

This makes a full (to the top) pint mason jar. Not sure exactly how long it will last, but I’m thinking about a week.

I also made the Ranch dressing recipe from $5 Dinners substituting plain yogurt for the mayonnaise. It is good, as well, but the yogurt flavor is much more prevalent. I think it’s just something I’ll need to get used to.

Either way, the honey mustard is delicious! Enjoy!

It is incredibly difficult to get four children under 6 to look in the same direction. It is even more difficult to get them to stay still for 2 seconds so they aren’t just big blurs.

It is not, however, difficult to get them to act silly.

Happy March!

M is sitting on her own, scooting forward and backward, and getting up onto her hands/knees and rocking. Her first tooth broke through this weekend. It’s amazing how quickly she is growing!

Baby M loves her brother and sisters. She will laugh for E more freely than anyone else, she watches J very intently, and while she is cautious of S (with good reason) she still loves for S to play with her.

M’s favorite toys are her Sophie the Giraffe teether and her Skip Hop owl. She chews on everything she can get in her mouth, and drools everywhere.

She is enamored with her Daddy and big brother. If either of them is in the room and within her line of vision she can’t focus on anything else. Sometimes Daddy has to leave the room so M can focus enough to eat.

We’ve given her a few tastes of food, and she isn’t sure what to think. The picture below is after a couple of bites of applesauce. (sorry it’s blurred, she was moving around)

At the doctor Friday she weighed 17 pounds and was 26 inches long. 75th percentile for weight and 50th for height. She’s a chunkster.

Her rash that I thought was yeast related turns out to be eczema/contact dermatitis. Hopefully we can keep it at bay with coconut oil and natural soap. I’m relieved it wasn’t yeast related, though, because I wasn’t looking forward to the treatments involved with getting rid of the yeast.

Overall, she is doing excellent. She’s been off of her prevacid since Friday night, and while she’s done pretty well, we have had a couple of bouts of projectile spit up. She doesn’t seem to be in pain (no screaming, writhing, etc), so we’ll see how the week goes.

She is much more content now that she is getting older. She will usually sit happily in the floor or the exersaucer for 20 minutes or so, and sometimes longer if the big kids are around to entertain her.

M is a very social baby. If we are all in a room she is happy, if she notices that everyone has moved on she is immediately upset. She lights up when someone talks to her, and she sometimes does this excited rocking thing (in your arms) like she just can’t contain her excitement.

It’s been an interesting six months around here, but we wouldn’t trade her for anything.

We love you Baby M, and are so glad God gave you to our family!

She is such a fun and entertaining girl.

S’s favorite thing to do is spin in circles. It’s just a natural part of her day, like walking or eating. She spins until she falls down and then gets up and spins some more. The other day she was spinning around as she ate her banana. She also likes to hold a stuffed animal or doll and spin while singing “Ring Around the Rosies”. One day she was jumping while she spun and told us it was a “spinning show”. She is a trip!

She loves to read books, play with her siblings, and love on baby M.

Her favorite toys are definitely baby dolls (and playing mommy). She loves to swing and slide, ride her ride-on toy, and run around outside.

S’s favorite food is “bunnies” (Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies) or cheese, and her favorite drink is orange juice.

She is still a tiny thing weighing in at 22 pounds. She is moving into size 24 month clothes but still fits pretty comfortably in many of her 18 months (except dresses; all of her 18 months dresses are way too short. Guess she has long legs for her size?). We finally made it onto the growth chart at our doctor visit last week. She is 10th percentile in height (as she has been for a while) and less than 5th percentile for weight. The doctor was fine with her growth, though, so that is definitely an answered prayer.

She talks like a big girl now; in complete and (mostly) comprehensible sentences. Some of her speech funnies are “uh vekum” (your welcome), “harms/heyes/hyegs” (arms/eyes/legs), “singers” (fingers), and “mah doocie” (more juice).

S loves to sing Jesus Loves Me and Holy, Holy, Holy. She says the prayer God Our Father at mealtimes and bedtime. She has also been heard saying a “real” prayer: tank you for bubba, tank you for Mah-Mah, tank you for sunshine, tank you for friends, etc. So sweet!

I can’t imagine life without our “miniature” girl.

We love you Boo-boo. Happy 2 years old!

A couple of weeks ago J was at basketball practice with Matt and E. Matt was helping a group of the kids practice shooting. After a few minutes, J walked into the middle of the group and said, “Stand back…the master is here!”

Last night he said to Matt: “Daddy, one time you almost got flickered by lightning.”

The other day in the car he asked me if our car has “hot wheels” or “cold wheels”. I had no idea what he meant and said, “Well, I guess they are kind of warm right now but will get hotter if we drive more.” And the conversation ended.

That same evening he asked Matt, “What are slow, Daddy, cold wheels?” Of course, Matt had no clue what J was talking about. After going back and forth for a minute trying to figure out what J meant, J said, “Are hot wheels fast?”

Matt finally realized that J was thinking about Hot Wheels cars and relating them to race cars, thus, going fast. So, in his 3 year old mind, if Hot Wheels are fast, then if it’s slow, it must have cold wheels.

And here I’ll throw in a funny little snippet from Matt not too long ago. He was telling a friend that it’s about time the friend and his wife have another baby. The friend asked why. Matt said, “For entertainment.”

Oh yes, it is definitely entertaining around here!

And yes, that is currently the best picture we have of S along with her siblings.

This little sock monkey ornament came along around the time Matt and I got married (or maybe even before). For the last 10 years he has held the place of honor on our tree each Christmas.

You might think there are no ornaments on the bottom 12″-18″ of our tree to keep little hands off of them. That is not, however, the case. Once upon a time, there were ornaments in that area, but the little hands have moved them higher.

There are no gifts under our tree, but there are these two random pictures that E and J put under there last week. J’s is drawn on monster-print scrapbook paper. E’s is a handprint and leaves.

Yep, his name is Hanky Panky. Nope, I have no clue why. This little guy is a relic of my childhood. He always graced a shelf at my grandparents’ house as well as one at my parents’ house. When Matt and I got married my grandmother made one for us. I like to think of him as the original Elf on the Shelf.

Matt and I came into our marriage each having a handmade stocking (his made by his paternal grandmother, mine made by my paternal grandmother). It was also a tradition in my family that new grandmothers would make stockings for their grandchild’s first Christmas. Therefore, my four children have stockings handmade by my mother (thanks, Mom!). The stockings belong to (top row, l to r) me, S, Matt, (bottom row, l to r) M, J, E. These are one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

Now that you’ve glimpsed our Christmas quirkiness, what Christmas quirks do you have at your house?

31 Days at Bits & Pieces From My Life – A delightful series filled with insight and encouragement for young moms (and moms of young).

Kids Bored Yet? at It’s Almost Naptime – Ever wondered what swaddling clothes really are? Take a look at the first picture in Missy’s post. Pretty neat.

Christmas vs. Christmastime at Vita Familiae – interesting food for thought.

The One Thing Your Christmas Can’t Afford to Be Without at A Holy Experience – “And if there is no cross in my Christmas, then my Christmas has lost Christ, and what is the manger if it not for the Messiah, the one who saves us with the scars?” Love, love, love this post!

71. warm days in December
72. heat when it’s cold and a/c when it’s hot
73. Christmas anticipation
74. Amazon Prime shipping
75. funny things my children say
76. baby laughs
77. good friends
78. time out of the house for mom
79. time to hang out with Matt
80. breaks in the busy
81. quiet times
82. moments of worship in the midst of the everyday
83. the cross that overshadowed the manger

Yeah, I was excited, too!

Thanks to MommyParties for choosing me as a host of MommyParties sponsored by Pregnancy 2.0! As a host I received a Britax B-Agile stroller, a B-Safe infant car seat, and the Britax baby carrier with seat extender. I also received a BabyPlus prenatal education system, loveys from Snuggle Buddy, and a box full of Spry and Xlear goodies to share with my friends.

I took my goodies to my Bunco group to share with several of my mommy and mommy-to-be friends. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take any pictures as we checked out the stroller and infant car seat and tried on the baby carrier. Everyone was impressed with the functionality of the gear and really liked the aesthetics of the stroller and car seat.

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review the B-Agile stroller. I’ve wanted a single stroller for a while now. Something that was light weight (although that isn’t hard to do when compared to my double behemoth), easy to steer, and nice looking (yes, I’m a bit shallow when it comes to baby gear). This stroller meets all of those criteria and many more.

Designed for Moms on the go, the B-Agile has the look and feel of a jogging stroller. It is very light weight (16.5 lbs) and steers great. I can steer this stroller one handed (even with the infant car seat attached) while carrying the toddler on my hip. It’s wonderful!

There are several other features that I really like about the B-Agile stroller. It has an easy one-handed fold which works very well. The small profile of this stroller makes it easy to maneuver in stores, and it even fits in the back of my van unfolded! With a fully reclining seat (infinite recline positions) and a no-rethread five point harness it is simple to adjust the stroller to use with any of the children. The frame is designed to accommodate stride which is great when Matt is using it, no cross-bar to kick. And the canopy is HUGE (which I love!).

While I really like the B-Agile, there are a few things that I’m not wild about.

I didn’t find the one-handed fold to be intuitive. If you read the manual, it clearly states that you press the frame release button and then pull the strap in the seat to fold the stroller. I, however, did not read the manual before using the stroller the first time, thus my knowledge that it fits in the back of my van unfolded. Now that I know what to do it is simple to fold. No big deal.

I do wish the basket was a bit larger. It is adequate for holding my (large) diaper bag, but just barely.

But my biggest issue was that the harness release mechanism on ours seemed ridiculously difficult to undo. I had to squeeze the button as hard as I could and pull the buckle at the same time. I spoke with Britax customer service about this issue, and they were great; very professional, courteous, and helpful! The CS rep assured me that the buckles were designed to be stiff so little ones can’t escape (which I appreciate) and that they should loosen up over time. As we continued to talk and I explained how hard they actually were to open she was quick to offer to remedy the problem. The next business day a new seat was shipped to me so the buckles would work more easily. I was super impressed with how knowledgeable the CS rep was and how great Britax was to work with!

Overall, I am very pleased with the B-Agile stroller. It is great for strolling the toddler (23 months), the infant (4 months), or even one of the older kids (3.5 y/o and 5 y/o).

The B-Agile stroller and B-Safe car seat work great together. The car seat attaches and detaches easily and sits securely on the stroller frame. I also like that I can put up the hood on the car seat and the vented hood on the stroller and have M completely covered.

And let me tell you, the B-Safe infant car seat came at just the right time. Baby M had never ridden in an infant car seat (we installed her convertible seat before we went to the hospital), so I intended to give this one away. However, the weekend before my party the harness adjustment mechanism on S’s car seat broke and could not be fixed. Since we had the B-Safe seat on hand, we moved S into M’s convertible seat and installed the B-Safe for M’s ride.

We put M directly into a convertible because we really don’t use the carrier feature of an infant car seat all that often. I will say, though, that having one has been nice on several occasions.

The B-Safe seat is comparable to other infant car seats in weight and ease of carrying. It was easy to install with the LATCH system in our van, and it has multiple base positions to help it fit in any car. I really like that it has level indicators on both sides of the seat, so much easier when installing than having to move to the other side of the car to make sure it is level. And it attaches and detaches with the base nicely.

Best of all, M seems comfy and secure in there.

Now I will fess up and tell you right off that I haven’t actually worn M in the Britax baby carrier a whole lot. If you know me, you know I own multiple baby carriers and have plenty of opinions on babywearing devices. The lack of use, in this case, isn’t from any intrinsic dislike, but just because it is hard to set aside my favorite carriers to try a new one. However, after using it at the grocery store on Friday, I will definitely be using it more!

A few features I really like on this carrier: it is easy to get on and off, it has excess belt storage bands to prevent loose straps, the instructions are printed on the interior of the carrier, and the straps seem to be well padded for comfort in extended use.

I am not a proponent of forward-facing babywearing or rear-facing babywearing where baby’s legs “dangle” and they are not positioned in a way that is similar to sitting down (weight primarily focused on their bottom). I really like that Britax has developed a Seat Extender Insert which allows their carrier to hold baby in a “sitting” position. The insert makes it function similar to an Ergo or Boba in the front carry. I do wish that the extender insert came with the carrier instead of being sold separately.

And now for the other wonderful goodies…

Because M was already here when I was chosen to host this party I was unable to personally try the BabyPlus Prenatal Education System. I have, however, passed it on to a friend to use. I’m really curious to see if she notices a difference with her baby girl. While I’m a bit skeptical (by nature), I find the whole idea interesting. For more details on the system and its benefits please visit the BabyPlus website.

Have you heard of the benefits of xylitol? While I knew that it was good to chew gum with xylitol I never really knew why. Come to find out, xylitol fights bacteria. Now there is not only gum containing xylitol to help prevent tooth decay and gum disease, but nasal saline spray containing xylitol. Xlear generously sent Spry infant/kid’s tooth gel, Spry gum, Xlear kid’s nasal spray, and Xlear adult nasal spray to share with all of my party goers. We’ve used the tooth gel with S and it seems to work fine. The word on the gum (from a friend) is that it is good but loses flavor quickly. I’m excited to use the nasal sprays as I know of a few people who swear by Xlear to prevent sinus junk. I will definitely use it to try to stave off my semi-regular sinus infections!

And last, but certainly not least, we received two adorable loveys from Snuggle Buddy. These loveys are so soft that I know M will love them. The bright colors and cuddly fabrics are appealing to both mom and baby, and the great design and quality will definitely attract mom. I can’t wait for M to snuggle with her precious little owl!

If you made it to the end of this post, you definitely deserve a reward. I apologize for the wordiness, but with such a generous hostess package I wanted to thoroughly review the products offered.

I am grateful to MommyParties for the opportunity to try out these great products and share them with my friends!

*I was provided the products mentioned in order to conduct this review. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions expressed are strictly my own based on use of these products.*

I’m not much of a cold weather person (Matt is laughing right now). In fact, I’ve mentioned a time or thirty that I would prefer to live south of the Tennessee/Kentucky border for the entirety of my life. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do sometimes dream of living in beautiful New England or maybe Minnesota…but only during the Summer.

Why do I dislike cold? Well, it could be because I’m pretty much cold all the time.

But I’ve recently decided that my number one, all-time reason for disliking cold weather is coats! “Coats?” you say. Yes, coats. Let me explain.

I have four children and two arms. I have a baby (almost 4 months) and a toddler (almost 23 months) which means I almost always have one diaper bag with me and often two. I’m often found wearing someone and/or pushing someone while trying to hold two or three hands. And my children are children; meaning they don’t like to deal with their own belongings. Coats are just one more thing to keep up with. Like four children to keep up with isn’t enough in and of itself.

And not only do I have to keep up with coats, I have to add ten minutes to our “get out the door” time in order to get everyone into their coats. Then there is the terrible hassle of buckling them in car seats in coats. Or taking coats off when we get to the car and putting them on again when we reach our destination.

When it’s cold enough that we need hats and mittens? That not only adds to the hassle but multiplies it exponentially!

So if I tell you we can’t go somewhere this winter, it just might be because it would require us to wear coats.

61. Snow on the ground but not on the roads.
62. Bible Study Fellowship’s children’s program.
63. A treat for us all – lunch from Chick-Fil-A
64. The beauty of snow covered trees as we drove to BSF this morning.
65. The reminder that Christ’s blood washes us whiter than snow.
66. The Advent season.
67. The opportunity to study names of Jesus with my children.
68. The ability to give gifts to those we love.
69. People who influence my children for Christ.
70. Grandparents who love my children and love to spend time with them.
70. Fun Christmas activities.

E
1. Daddy
2. M
3. Barney the armadillo (littlest pet shop toy)
4. My suitcase
5. Mommy

J
1. Mrs. Burks (BSF leader)
2. Dinosaurs
3. Flowers
4. Mommy
5. M

I am thankful for…

46. the sweet heart of my biggest girl
47. laughs courtesy of my kiddos
48. literacy
49. the library
50. unexpected short work days
51. the funny ways little people speak
52. time to catch up with a good friend I hadn’t seen in way too long
53. my kids’ desire to learn
54. a healthy baby (even if she gets up earlier than I like)
55. Prevacid solutabs
56. a functioning washer and dryer
57. new sparkly polish to prettify my toes
58. laughing with Matt
59. my comfy, cozy bed
60. spending holidays with family

Now, if you know me, you know I’m not one to go all out with the holiday thing (with the exception of Christmas where it becomes a month long celebration). And we’ve debated over the years whether to trick-or-treat, dress up, etc for Halloween. Now our children are getting older and asking to do things like trick-or-treat, so we decided to not totally ignore Halloween (like we have in the past).

And I thought that just because they aren’t in a conventional school setting doesn’t mean they should miss out on the “school party” experience. So, I made our own…

A couple of my students came to school in costume.

(she’s wearing a fairy dress, though it’s kind of hard to tell)

And this one came as her silly self.

We made spider web snacks.

And ate them.

We did a little digital pumpkin carving.

And some pumpkin science.

(does it sink or does it float?)

Then we had lunch.

(they did eat sandwiches, too)

After Daddy got home we carved our pumpkin.

And described it with our five senses.

(touch)

(taste)

And then we did a little trick-or-treating.

I think the kids enjoyed it. I know I did.

Then E came along. Her first Christmas I sent cards, but instead of a lovingly composed note each card got a hastily written greeting and signature.

Then J came along. Christmas cards were purchased, but never composed and mailed. And that is how it has remained. In fact, I might still have those cards around here somewhere.

But this year Tiny Prints has generously offered me an opportunity to choose cards from their lovely holiday greetings collection. Tiny Prints has any type of card you could want; from contemporary to vintage, whimsical to traditional.

So, I will try to get my act together and send out something adorable like this:

(I love the ornament cards; such a cute idea!)

Too bad those children don’t look like my kids. Now I have to try to corral the four of them in one place long enough to get an in-focus picture; don’t expect everyone to be smiling. Or even looking the same direction!

I love to receive Christmas cards, and I love the idea of sending them. This opportunity and some super cute cards just might be the motivation I need.

Keep an eye on your mailboxes…

Tiny Prints provides simple, modern, and unique stationery from Christmas cards, New Years cards, party invitations, and address labels to thank you cards. Once the holidays have come and gone, Tiny Prints will still be here to fill your stationery needs with their exclusive designs from the nation’s top designers. All year round, you’ll find business cards, birth announcements, and even custom wedding invitations. Come try the easy card personalization, a powerful preview engine and top-notch customer service and paper quality for yourself. With Tiny Prints by your side commemorating every holiday and momentous occasion is a cinch!

**I received Christmas cards from Tiny Prints in return for this post. All stories and opinions expressed are purely my own. The italicized portion of this post is text provided by Tiny Prints.

32. beautiful Fall days.
33. blowing wind and swirling leaves.
34. healthy children (it seems I’m reminded constantly these days that children get sick/die due to the fall of man).
35. friends who are more like family.
36. in depth Bible studies.
37. God’s faithfulness.
38. the promise that although life is failing now (Fall/mortal bodies) it will be renewed (Spring/eternity).
39. days at home in my pajamas.
40. fun weekends with Nonnie and Pops.
41. the washer and dryer running in the background (we have plenty of clothes and the ability to clean them in our home).
42. cloth diapers.
43. the abundance God has blessed us with and the responsibility to share that with others.
44. warm days in November.
45. contentment in my soul.

(All of my “Thankfulness” posts can be viewed here.)

So, here’s our plan for the week.

Friday – order pizza
Saturday – lunch: picnic / dinner: barbecue, roasted red potatoes, baked beans, cheese biscuits
Sunday – lunch: leftover barbecue / dinner: small group – french toast, sausage, fruit
Monday – chicken pot pie
Tuesday – leftover pot pie
Wednesday – slow cooker potato soup
Thursday – leftover soup

My slow cooker bit the dust this weekend after cooking the barbecue, so I’m not sure about the potato soup. I guess I’ll try the same recipe but cooking it in the stockpot on the stove. We’ll see how it turns out.

Have a good week!

I know it isn’t a great shot, but it is what I have.