Black & White Beauties

Is Wednesday over yet?

It may be hump day, but I feel like I'm on the uphill side of the hump. Ever read the book Wacky Wednesday? That's pretty much what's happening in my house today.

For starters, everyone in my house got up entirely too early and I'm beginning to wonder if everyone got up on the wrong side of the bed as well? This bleak weather doesn't help. Is Wednesday over yet?

My house is TRASHED. And I mean that. I have no ambition to pick up toys and crumbs or this morning's breakfast. Clean laundry is piled on the couch needing to be folded. Towels were folded and in the basket needing to be put away until a certain 2 year old tore them all out. Remnants of yesterday's cheese and cracker snack remain on the floor. It's gross. Is Wednesday over yet?

I couldn't get the fire going this morning and smoked up the house. Then got irritated that I was building a fire on May 12th. My freshly washed hair smells like smoke and it's bugging me so much I think I'll be on shower number two if time permits. Is Wednesday over yet?

Both my sons are whiny. Kaleb has stripped down to the buff twice already today (and probably counting). He's had 7.3 meltdowns and has said "I want daddy to be home" at least 13 times.

Nothing I do will keep Jaxon happy. Is Wednesday over yet?

I ate 3 pretzels and a yogurt for lunch. I've popped 3 tylenol and 3 advil (not at the same time) because my stiff neck hurts so terribly bad, but I don't feel an ounce better. Is Wednesday over yet?

I'm looking forward to home group tonight to get out of the house and have adult conversation. I'm cooking side dish for dinner but don't have the carrots I need.
T-minus 2.5 hours and daddy will be home! Hopefully he'll have the carrots.

Psalm 5:3

As I sat in the bathtub last night I spoke to God. It was a wonderful time of relaxation and peace, but also a time of much needed conversation with my heavenly father. As I poured out my soul to him, he revealed to me that I need to be more disciplined and spend more time with him in prayer. I was convicted, once again, to spend more time in prayer with Eric and set strong examples for my children. How will they know to pray if they don't see me/us praying. It became more clear than ever that I was doing a disservice to my my marriage, my children and my soul.

Eric and I have never been good at praying as a couple. I can't say there's a reason why we don't. Recently however, we had a conversation about our desire to pray together and how important it is to do so. After discussing our schedules, we came to the conclusion that WE HAD NO TIME TO PRAY, except in the EARLY MORNING.

Those that know me, know that I am an owl rather than a chicken. I don't do mornings, let alone early mornings. If this idea would have been presented to me a month ago I would not have been ready to commit to rising early to pray with my husband. But God really does have mysterious ways. You see, for the past month or so, Jaxon has been waking around 6:30. At first I thought he was just off his schedule. But morning after morning of waking bright eyed and bushy tailed, smiling and laughing and greeting the new day with glee, I realized this WAS his schedule. One can't help taking on the gleeful attitude of a happy baby, even if it is in the six o'clock hour of the morning. Ironically, I have grown to become less grumpy and more happy, and perhaps for the first time in my life, actually ENJOY rolling out of bed at an early hour. This is only one small example of God's perfect planning.

At 6:30am this morning, I rose, grabbed a cup of strong coffee made by my loving husband (I didn't mention that he is a natural early bird) took a few sips, grabbed my bible and retreated for the couch. Right behind me was Eric. We sat, in the still of the morning, held hands, and prayed together. We prayed for our children, for our marriage, for our families. We thanked God for his infinite wisdom, that He is in control of our destiny, our house selling, our next stepping stone in our life that we get so stressed about. We thanked him for the beautiful morning and the purple mountains. What was suppose to be fifteen minutes turned into thirty.

Probably the biggest irony yet is that this particular morning Jaxon decided to catch up on sleep and slept in. God's scheduling brings a smile to my face.

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayers unto thee, and will look up." Psalm 5:3

A Mother's Day Tribute

"All that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." ~Abraham Lincoln

Thirty three years ago my young, beautiful mother posed spontaneously for a Montana Standard photographer. I was on her hip. It appeared the next day on the front page as a Mother's Day feature photo. I've never given the photo, that lay tucked away in my baby book, much thought.

Now that I'm a mom, it takes on a whole new meaning. It's a special photo because it represents a bond that mother and child have, but especially mother and daughter, which started for us, I'm sure, the day I was born. It's not possible to appreciate and cherish that bond until one becomes a mother themselves.

I've reflected a lot on this photo, realizing that being a mother is possibly the greatest gift God gave to woman. It's easy to take for granted at times, those little people that we love so much, and cause us gray hair, and sleepless nights. But I try hard not to take this very important role for granted.
I love my mom, I love being a mom, and I'm thrilled there is a day to honor the loveliness of mothers.

To each and every woman that reads this, take a moment to reflect on the loveliness of your mother, and your mother's mother, and yourself, if you're a mother.

CHEERS!

1977, my mother and me. 2010, my son and me.

Budding Artist

I found my box of art supplies. It had been buried in the garage for over 2 years. I was going to throw my old watercolor paints away and start fresh, then decided to let Kaleb use them for art projects. It gave me great pleasure to give him his very first watercolor lesson.
I started taking lessons when I was 9. A local artist held a watercolor workshop for kids and my mom enrolled me. I loved it so much my mom decided to get me into private lessons. I'm pretty sure this is what eventually caused me to give up my love of volleyball, and my scholarship at Montana Tech, and enroll at Western to study art.
It's such a wonderful thing to know how to do, and though I haven't picked up a paintbrush seriously for many, many years (8 to be exact), I have many desires to do so. Someday when I'm short on distractions and heavy on time I will pursue it once again. And when I do, it's going to feel so good.

PAINT
WATER
BRUSH
ARTIST
SALT
SPRINKLING THE SALT
PAINTING
A MASTERPIECE

Hodge Podge

There's too many pictures, too much fun to keep up with around here lately! And I haven't been very good at updating the blog so now I'm a little behind. I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures and write captions. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words anyway, right?

May 2nd: The princess and the doctor.
At Great-grandpa John's 75th birthday. Madeline and Kaleb get ready to blow out the candles.

May 1st: My new double stroller.Come on mom, let's go! It didn't matter to them that they still had PJ's on.

Double the fun at the May Day Festival downtown Dillon. It was chilly but having the stroller for both boys was a life saver. They could both get under the blankies!



April 30th: On the job site with daddy - in his snowsuit

April 27th: Trying to get a good picture to send out with Mother's Day cards. It was not happening this day.

April 21st: THE CURL. It happened on accident one day after bath. It's so cute I can't help but put the curl in his hair everyday.

April 18th: Fishing at the Kid's Pond. The bobber went under and Kaleb starting reeling. I'm sure the adrenaline was running through his veins. He was so excited.

But once it got to shore and started flipping around, excitement turned to hesitancy and he wasn't so sure he wanted that fish after all - as you can see by his body language.
Jaxon loved being out and about at the fishing pond too. After the traumatic fish experience the poles were retired and we threw rocks in for hours (probably not that long but Kaleb could have done it for hours.) We let Jaxon sit on the rocky shore and he too was fascinated with the rocks, which then went directly to the mouth.

John Deere Boys

The John Deere tractor sat all through the last summer because Kaleb was too timid to drive it. This year is a whole different story. He not only drives it now, he pulls a load behind him!