Ticket to Pardise

 As a part of my birthday celebration, I took some time Saturday night to watch a movie I have wanted to see for a few months now -- Ticket to Paradise with Julia Roberts and George Clooney.  It looked like a funny romantic comedy, (which seems to be hard to come by these days).

It certainly was a cute, funny romantic comedy... but can I just say, movies are so different once you're a parent!!!!

This is about a divorced couple and their daughter graduates from school and then goes on a fun summer trip to Bali before beginning her job as a lawyer (they never talk about law school... so I'm not really sure what liberties were taken by the writers in terms of the reality of qualifications for becomming a lawyer... but I digress.

While she's on her fun summer trip, she meets a man in Bali, a seaweed farmer and she decides she is going to marry him (in four days time) and stay in Bali for the rest of her life.

The movie was funny... but so HORRIBLE!!!   This is any parent's nightmare no matter how many jokes you incorporate.

The kids and I watched Cool Runnings on my birthday, which if you remember is about the Jamaican Bobsled team who goes to the Olympics.  One of the bobsledders is very well-off and he decides not to tell his father that he is becoming a bobsledder and that he is going to the Olympics.  I found myself pausing the movie to explain to our children that they can always tell us anything I hope they would not lie to us if they were ever in a similar situation.

Oh goodness.

Movies are so much harder now that I'm a parent.

Especially Comical

 I follow a few comical parenting accounts on instagram -- mostly about the funny moments of motherhood, but there is one account I follow that is a fatherhood account.  Its called "noideadaddyblog" and it is funny.

This was an especially comical post made the other day.

Such a Time as This

 Hubby and I share links back and forth that we find on facebook or from news articles or anything we think the other one would enjoy.

Yesterday Hubby sent me this by Alex Cravens:

Don’t feel sorry for or fear for your kids because the world they are going to grow up in is not what it used to be.

God created them and called them for the exact moment in time that they’re in. Their life wasn’t a coincidence or an accident.

Raise them up to know the power they walk in as children of God.

Train them up in the authority of His Word.

Teach them to walk in faith knowing that God is in control.

Empower them to know they can change the world.

Don’t teach them to be fearful and disheartened by the state of the world but hopeful that they can do something about it.

Every person in all of history has been placed in the time that they were in because of God’s sovereign plan.

He knew Daniel could handle the lions den. 

He knew David could handle Goliath.

He knew Esther could handle Haman.

He knew Peter could handle persecution.

He knows that your child can handle whatever challenge they face in their life. He created them specifically for it!

Don’t be scared for your children, but be honored that God chose YOU to parent the generation that is facing the biggest challenges of our lifetime.

Rise up to the challenge.

Raise Daniels, Davids, Esthers and Peters!

God isn’t scratching His head wondering what He’s going to do with this mess of a world.

He has an army He’s raising up to drive back the darkness and make Him known all over the earth.

Don’t let your fear steal the greatness God placed in them. I know it’s hard to imagine them as anything besides our sweet little babies, and we just want to protect them from anything that could ever be hard on them, but they were born for such a time as this.

~Alex Cravens

Comedy Clip

 After we announced the arrival of our Baby Number 6, a friend of mine texted me and said that she and her husband were thinking about adding a fourth child to their family.  She said that her husband sent her the following comedy clip, and Hubby and I watched it last night as we silently prayed that Brady would sleep better than he has the past three nights...

It Is HILARIOUS!

Enjoy:

Senior Year

 I am currently 25+ weeks long with my pregnancy, which puts me about 10 or so days away from starting my third trimester.  That is such a strange feeling for me.

I am starting to feel physically uncomfortable (which I know will get worse before it gets better), and I'm starting to wonder how I can get any bigger... and yet I know I will (Lord willing) before the baby comes... and I'm starting to feel like my due date is still a LONG ways away, but it really will be here very soon.

All that said, this pregnancy for me is the equivalent of Senior year.

Hubby and I are in full agreement that this will be our last child, number six, which will complete our family.  We are fully at peace with that (and very prayerful that my pregnancy will continue to go smoothly through to a healthy birth, healthy mama, and healthy baby).  I feel very grateful that I have the chance to experience a pregnancy with the awareness that it will be my last.

There is something about knowing you are experiencing something for the last time that makes it extra special and that prepares you for moving on -- like Senior year of college.

Everything that is unpleasant -- you grin and bear it because you know its your last time ever to have to experience it.  You get through it because you know you've done it before, and you know it is temporary.

Everything that is special is made all the more special because you treasure it with a sincere appreciation, knowing it will not return.

Just like a part of me will always feel nostalgic for my college years (and especially my Senior year of college), I know that my college years were a wonderful season of life, but they were just that -- a season of life.  They were not meant to last forever, and after Senior year, it was time to move on.  Even when I have missed my college years, I have never really wanted to go back -- after graduation, it is time to move on.

That is exactly how I feel about these wonderful, blessed, incredible past 8 years I have been pregnant (or postpartum, or nursing) as Hubby and I have been able to grow our family.  I am sure I will always be nostalgic for the years I was pregnant and nursing -- they were an incredibly beautiful season of life, and I will remember them with joy, love, and (I'm sure) a slight ache of missing them.  But really, this was meant to be a season, and Hubby and I are both ready for this to be our Senior year, and then it will be time to move on to other wonderful seasons of life.

And, just like Senior year -- I have made choices that I was perhaps too focused or responsible to make during my earlier college years (or earlier pregnancies) -- I have probably indulged more pregnancy cravings this time around, and I have allowed myself to put my feet up on the couch a few more times without any guilt knowing that this is my last chance to help my body grow a tiny human, and that deserves a little R&R, or an extra slice of pizza.

And for fun... here is a picture from my "Senior Year" pregnancy... and a few funny pictures from my actual senior year of college.

A Parent's Christmas

 So true...

Nothing Feels Right

Published in Her View From Home

As the School Year Nears, Nothing I Choose Feels Right.

Homeschool doesn’t feel right

Virtual school doesn’t feel right.

Hybrid school doesn’t feel right.

Delaying school doesn’t feel right.

Starting school on time doesn’t feel right.

Getting temperature checks doesn’t feel right.

Having my child wear a mask in school doesn’t feel right.

Having to choose between my children’s health and education doesn’t feel right.

Worrying if I send them to a school that not only looks different but feels different doesn’t feel right.

Worrying that later on down the road sending them to a school and wearing a mask and getting their temperature checked constantly will somehow impact their mental health doesn’t feel right.

Worrying about them possibly seeing a classmate or teacher become sick and worrying if that person will ever come back doesn’t feel right.As parents we aren’t just thinking about this upcoming school year, we are worrying about how this will impact our kid’s health and mental health now and in the future because both of those things are equally as important.

Because the truth is this school year nothing I choose feels right and the only thing that would feel right is school back to how it was last year before all this came along.

Originally published on Grief to Hope with Nikki Pennington

Vigilante Justice

Last night Lee Lee broke a nightlight in the kids' room and Caroline came in and told on Lee Lee. We told Caroline to send Lee Lee into our room. Lee Lee ignored Caroline. Caroline came back to report that Lily was ignoring her. We sent Caroline to bed and told her that we would handle the situation.

Next thing we know Caroline is dragging Lee Lee down the hall to our bedroom.

Lee Lee was in her stomach and Caroline was pulling her by her ankle. 

Amazingly, no one was crying. 

Vigilante Caroline.

Next School Year - MomTruth

There are two moms from Canada who have a pretty funny take on Motherhood.  They have a youtube channel, a book, a podcast, and probably more things of which I am unaware.  They have grown in popularity over the past few years and I have enjoyed their videos and diatribes for probably two years or so.

I do not share many of their posts or videos on my blog because they are a little crass for me... but I saw a video the other day that pretty much articulated many of my stressors at the moment... so despite their language and style, I decided it was worth sharing.

If you like the video, check out Cat and Nat on youtube for more of their thoughts on motherhood.

Nothing More True

I'm going to be honest... 

I think I have read nothing more true than the below meme:

Independence Day and The Patriot

Last night, Hubby and I watched The Patriot together.

I have seen it twice before -- it is a great movie, but not one I can watch over and over again because of the very dramatic content, historical accuracy, and heartbreaking story.

It was my first time watching The Patriot as a parent.

Everything changes when you are a parent.

Our oldest is six years old.  It is so hard to want my children to have an appreciation for our country but still shield them from how hard and horrible the world is.

Part of our conversation from last night went this like,

Me:  A long time ago a king in Europe ruled America.  What continent do we live in?

Howard:  North America.

Me:  Right.  And Europe is a long way away.  A king from Europe was in charge of America.  Do we have a king?

Tracey:  No.

Me:  That's right?  Who do we have?  What is the person we elect to be in charge?

Tracey:  God!

Me:  No.  Not God, but that's a really good answer.

Me:  Who is the person who is in charge of our government?

Caroline:  Daddy!

Me to Chris:  Oh my.

----------------

We clearly have a lot to learn as we work on our appreciate for our country... but our respect for God and Daddy is very strong.

1000 Words

1000 Words

My Receipt!

We are trying to teach our children the value of money.

They have chores they have to do every day which are an expectation -- dress themselves, brush their teeth, clear their places from the table, pick up toys in the house and the yard, and help feed the animals.  Those are expectations.

The fact that our dishwasher stopped working presented a chance for them to earn some extra money over the past week.  Since there can really only be one washer and one dryer, I also created some other opportunities for extra chores to earn money.

The kids were charged with picking up the basement -- which was a DISASTER, and rewarded with $2 each for that job -- because it was a huge job.  In addition, one day I had to fold MOUNTAINS of clean laundry which resulted in a tremendous amounts of folded piles of laundry which needed to be put away properly.

The twins each $.10 per trip upstairs to put away laundry and Lee Lee earned $.01 per trip.

Caroline walked way with $2.40

Howard walked way with $1.60

and Lee Lee cashed in with $0.08.

All of those chores led to a discussion about money -- how many coins equal bills, how many bills equal bigger bills... and the greatest excitement -- how and where they were allowed to spend their earned money.

We tallied up everyone's piggy banks, and discussed how much money they might want to take to a dollar store in Grand Junction and how much money they might want to put "In The Bank" (Daddy's safe) for another time.

After much deliberation, Tracey, Howard, and Caroline each decided to take $6 to the dollar store with Daddy in Grand Junction.

I stayed home with Lee Lee and Hunter, so I don't know everything that transpired in the store, but I do know that Howard happily came home with a new basketball and hoop that cost $6.  Tracey came home with a set of stickers, markers, tattoos and jewels and a pack of candy purchased with her $6.  And Sweet Caroline bought a Mickey and Minnie painting set and a bag of candy.

Howard even ran in to greet me saying, "Here is my receipt!!"

Lee Lee with her pennies!

Perfect

 

Over this weekend I realized how perfect life is right now. Sure, there are things hubby and I struggle with and things we wish would change. There are things we are just checking off the days on our calendar to get through and stages we wish our children would out grow.

But, our oldest is six - and a young six, she just turned six. And the greatest heartaches our five children feel are so minor. Yes, their world is devastated when their sibling wrecks their Lego tower. Or, when mama says no we cannot have candy after breakfast. Last night Tracey was bawling in the shower because she wanted a bath not a shower. But, truthfully, these ages that our children are currently - six, four, four, two, three months, are perfect. 

We are not dealing with bullying. We are not dealing with cell phones. We are not dealing with “mean girls“. We are not dealing with eating disorders. We are not dealing with body image issues. We are not dealing with friends who use foul language. Our children are not talking with friends about drugs or sex. 

We have so many hard times ahead of us as parents, but right now, the biggest issues are teaching self-control, politeness, kindness, truthfulness, and making sure that we don’t go deaf when children throw temper tantrum‘s. 

Life really is perfect right now.

A Good Reminder

Our children's preschool sends home a weekly email newsletter and this week's contained what I felt were two really good reminders.

I need to read these regularly.

If I Could Keep You Little

One of my favorite internet families posted a new video yesterday to the poem, "If I Could Keep You Little."

I had never heard this poem... and I'll be honest, I don't struggle with wanting my children to stay little.  I don't want to rush to their growing up either... I just feel so blessed watching them grow up into the healthy, loving, curious, amazing people they are becoming.  I don't want them to stay little.  I don't want them any older than they currently are.  I really feel like I do pretty well cherishing exactly where they are for the time they are that age.

That being said, this was such a beautiful video.

Most especially, the family has three children the exact ages of our three pregnancies up until this fourth one.  Their youngest is two months younger than Lee Lee.  Their middle child is about four months younger than the twins, and their oldest child is two months older than Tracey.  This is such a beautiful picture of exactly where our children are right now and how amazing the parenting journey is as they continue to grow.

I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did.

What a Gem

When my kids are in school four and five days a week, I have much fewer pictures of them for the blog.  Less hours spent with them simply means less stories to tell about them and pictures of them.  It's a little sad.

So... due to an absence of cute pictures of my children today... I will share this gem:

 

So True

So true...

 

This Stage

I am feeling this cartoon so much during this stage of parenting.  My phrase though is telling my children not to back-talk... and Tracey always responds, "I am not back-talking."

 

Happy Valentine's Day!