A Time For Every Season....

Drew - I delight so much in you. God gave you a mind that thing and dreams and imagines! I pray that you would use this precious gift for God's glory. I also hope that I do not squash your dream and inventions, you are constantly on the move and I find your pace very exhausting,  This year you grew and matured into a boy right before my eyes, You are now able to focus more on your school work and care for your siblings. Just last week you had me teach you how to make Pancakes and this morning you got up and made pancakes for your siblings all by yourself so mommy and daddy could sleep in. What a servant heart you have - I love it that you enjoy cooking and caring for others! This year you are learning at home - you had art classes and jiujitsu outside the home but everything else you have been working on with mommy. I am so blessed to be your teacher and guide you down the path of righteousness. You love our science lessons and learning all about flying creatures. You are espe...

Happy 6th Birthday Gabe! How can you be 6 already? Your growing up so quickly and turning into such a fine young boy. This past year you have developed so much, you started Jiujitsu and have developed the drive to never give up - I love your attitude! Just last week you completed the 3rd Explode the Code phonics book and moved on to the 4th book. You were so proud and we were proud of all your hard work. Gabe I love to see you smile and delight in watching your energy. You love serving others and are a blessing to everyone you meet. Your reading has blossomed this year, you love Dick and Jane books and are starting to tackle Henry and Mudge. You are able to focus and get most of your work done quickly. Purity: I pray for purity you Gabe, that you would guard your eyes and mind and for your future spouse. I pray your future wife is a godly model of Christ and is being raised to love and revere the Lord. Relationships: I pray Gabe would  develop strong relationships...

My sweet Drew on your 8th Birthday, How do I begin to tell you how much you mean to me. I smile and delight in who you are. Do you know  that we almost never met? When you  were 23 weeks young I went into premature labor and landed myself 3 months and a week on bed-rest with tons of medications. You are a miracle! So much for my plans for an all natural - home birth. I should have known then that you were going to be my outside the box child. Yep  - I adore you sweet boy, nothing in life prepared me to be your mother. You came out small and sleepy and spent a year puking on everyone and sleeping 20 hours a day. Then, somehow you just woke up and never looked back. From the time your personality developed I knew you were going to have determination and lots of energy. You loved routines and predictability in my womb, that never stopped. I know that God created you for greatness my son, you are God's boy, never loose your identity in Him. You made me cry this pa...

My dear Abby, Your 3! How is that humanly possible to already reach the desirable age of 3. I won't lie, I've been looking forward to 3 the  moment you turned 2, there was just something about this 2 year that made me appreciate the glorious age of maturity. You had a fun year, I say you because all the mischief and messes were quite delightful to you. Abby, you loved to throw all the clothes out of your drawer every night and at naptime - when I would go in to let you out (yes we have to lock you in), you would just smile and me and giggle. You love messes! You love every ounce of life - wet wipes too might I add. You love to pull out that poutie lip and cry those crocodile tears for attention - sadly it often works. Your hair grew so long and it just loves to hang in your face, making you all the sweeter to watch cry. Your personality is explosive - you live on the highest of high's and the lowest of lows = thankfully the lows are far and few between. I rememb...

Gabe turned 5 big ones last week! He was a mere 3 weeks early for his birth - now he is turning 5! My mind can not comprehend.... Gabe is out of the awkwardly hard two and three phase and  is in that blissful stage where he says exactly what is on his mind, there doesn't seems to be a filter. Which is why he informed me the other day that, “I would love to live at Mrs Kelly's house when you die." Seriously, I can't believe he said that, though I think Drew said a very similar thing to me when he was around 5. Lesson - Mrs Kelly is cool and they finally realize how cool of a sitter she is when they are 5, they then realize how boring mom is too. Note to self - learn how to fish and take kids to Crispy Cream more.... Out favorite Gabe phrase is "Noooo problem!" He is so obedient most of the time, always wanting to please and be the center of our joy. Gabe is a lover of life and that just blesses this momma's heart - he makes me smile incessantly...

Gabers - you are a boy on a mission these  days. Always wanting to keep up with Drew. You do know he is 3 years older - right? You want to read like him, do school like him, listen to the disc-man like him, and follow in Drew's shadows. You are such a delight and joy. This past school year you blossomed into a boy with great passions for laughter, Lego's and tent forts. You finished up Pre-School a few weeks ago --  you sang hard so I could hear you from the third row! I love hearing you sing "Bullfrogs and Butterflies" around the house, preparing for the concert. You have such a disciplined heart at such a young age. Your love for music makes my heart sing! I had to laugh when I looked at the book the school sent home showing how much  you had grown. You grew so much in knowledge and 2 1/2 inches in height, but didn't gain any weight all year - your still at 34.5 pounds!  You lost all your baby fat and sprouted up this year.  I love it that God made you uniqu...

It has been a long time since I've blogged about life. Our lives have been moving and moving. We've been battling a monster called the  terrible 2's and teething. I believe we're finally over the hump - (crossing my finger and praying hard...). Abby had a rough few month, she got into everything, whined all day long and was just unhappy. Then we discovered 4 eye teeth emerging and a few days later, that happy, smiley, chatty, big haired 2 year old returned as quickly as she had disappeared. It was a long few months! This is just an example of the terror she practiced every day at home. Every morning and after every nap I would go into her room to find every item of clothing, and wipe and diaper shewn about her room. I even forgot to take out the homemade eczema cream and to my shock, when I entered I discovered she had covered herself and hair in shea butter and essential oils. What a mess!!!! We love our baby girl - moods and terrible 2's and all. I'm ju...

My darling Drew, I can't believe you have turned 7 years old. What an inquisitive boy you have turned into this year. You are always asking the question "Why" with genuine interest. You love to learn new things and are always bounding around the house with fresh energy. It is hard for all of us to keep up with your fast pace most days. I am sure God has great plans for all that energy - I call it your "change the world" energy because that energy will be used to accomplish great things for the Lord someday. You are in 1st grade, you love Science and experiments. You loved Math the first part of the year, but are now not too thrilled with it since the routine doesn't vary too much from day to day. You are learning to read! I'm so proud of all the hard work you are putting in.  You tell me all the time how much you dislike reading because it is "just so hard." Don't worry my son, the very art of reading is teaching you perseverance and ...

Dear Abby, Today you are 2 years old -- our little fire cracker. You are more adventurous and determined that any baby I have  been blessed to care for. You ride this little red hovercraft thing all over the house and yard, flying around corners and moving those little feet as fast as they will kick. You are the most adorable little 24 pounder in the world and I'm a blessed Momma to call you mine. I can't believe you were only 4 lbs 6oz  at birth - you have grown so much! This year 2011 was your year. It was the year you learned to talk and walk and run and keep up with your  brothers. You spent this year healthy and flourished physically and emotionally. You learned to play and talk to us in your own little words - you love the words "shoes" and "Milk" and "Oh No!" A few other favorites are "Thank you" and "Max & Kitty" and of course the dreadful "no" which seems to be your answer to everything! You have master...

Dear Gabe, Today you are 4 years old, what a quick and fun 4 years it has been! I still look back on your birth with such sentimental longing. You were my "almost" Thanksgiving baby. I delivered two days before my favorite holiday and begged the doctor to let me go home. We were home  on Thanksgiving eve - a mere 24 hours after  you were born. I was able to rest and be pampered by all the family who was in town - like Grandma Patti and Nana. I look back with a huge grin when I think about taking you shopping in my little sling at a mere 3  days old. We went to Costco and Bed Bath and Beyond and Kohl's. Then when we got home I found you all bundled up in Nana's van fast asleep  - alone! Both grandparents had gone into the house and left you in the car. You were only out there about 20 minutes but it was a moment of laughter that I'll remember forever. The Grandma's were so  guilty!  Gabe I just love your smile and bright personality. You are always ...