Less is More

This is something I'm learning this week.  Our schedule is usually CRAZY.  I mean out of control crazy.  I thrive on it usually, because it offers the chance to leave the house and do something else.  During the school months we have CC, piano lessons, BSF, soccer and basketball practice and games, church, and the list goes on.  Since my surgery in February you can add physical therapy twice a week to the list as well.  We are always on the move.  All the things we are involved in are good and beneficial to us, but I'm starting to learn that there may be some other things that are more important.

Usually I'm excited to have a full day of stuff.  I try to limit the amount of TV and media we use, so days where we are home ALL DAY usually drag by for me and I find there is only so much you can do at home to entertain yourself and your kids.  Sometimes no amount of paint, crayons, legos, little ponies, and food is enough, especially on a rainy day where your stuck inside the entire day.  And if we're being honest, there are some days where I just mentally want to check out.  Sometimes I just want to curl up with Netflix and forget the pile of dishes and the laundry that has been neglected all week.

The month of May was brutal.  We had 3 family birthdays, 2 family graduations, celebrated our 11th anniversary, 2 weeks of swimming lessons, physical therapy twice a week, end of year celebrations for CC, piano lessons, and the passing of my grandmother.  Like I said, May was brutal.  When June 1 hit I had nothing to do and no where to go.  It was AWESOME!  I still have errands and PT, but most of our crazy is slowing down.  Today has been wonderful.  I've washed the dishes, done 2 loads of laundry, finished some school with the kiddo, and there's still hours left in the day.  I haven't had a day that was both relaxing and productive is such a long time.  Its making me CRAVE more days like this.  I mean I've done everything I needed to get done today and I still have time for that Netflix break.

I guess I'm realizing how refreshing home can be.  Maybe I'm finding peace in the chaos.  Life is still moving at a crazy pace, but with a little more home time I'm finding that all the other glitter of life doesn't really mean so much.  My kids don't have to be the best, my home doesn't have to be the cleanest, my hair and makeup don't even have to get done.  I'm just enjoying the fresh air, the sunshine and the rain, the peace my little corner of the world offers.  This year has been HARD.  While there have been good times, they have been surrounded with sadness.  Perhaps all the loss I've experienced this year has helped me appreciate the small things in life.  A good conversation, an amazing piece of art from my 4 year old, a not so funny joke from my son, the perfect song on the radio, the pride in completing a task, and hug from my husband.  Perhaps these things are the real glitter of life.

It's Been How Long?

FOREVER.

That it how long it's been since my last post.  Almost a year.  Life with two kids under six is proving to wipe out all free time I may at one time have had.  However, it seems I'm not the only one.  When I finally blew the dust off my laptop and jogged my memory of how to actually log in to this blogging world I've neglected for almost a year I did a little research.  Of the almost 20 blogs from family and friends that I follow only 2 have been updated in the last year!  Most showed posts from 2011 or so.  I'm guessing the fad of blogging is dying or probably more accurately said - is dead.  It's sad.  I used to love signing in and seeing who had posted this week.  Read their stories of their own crazy life and I felt like my crazy wasn't alone.  I felt part of a little army of crazy families doing life and sharing our stories of victories and failures.  We gave each other strength to go through the next day, week, or month.  I usually laughed.  A lot.  It made my insanity look normal.

It's ok.  Don't feel bad if you decide to log in one day months or years from now and see that I'm talking about you.  As I've already stated it's been almost a year since my last post, but hopefully that will change.  I love my little corner of the world where I can unload my thoughts and cute pictures of my kids.  It's fun to go back and read stories of things I've forgotten about and laugh even at myself.

So, you might be wondering, what has happened in the last year?  Too much for one post that is for sure.  We've started the process to do foster care, Aaron took a new job that brought him closer to home, celebrated Thanksgiving & Christmas, Aaron spent some time in Texas with his family as his grandfather passed this February, I had extensive knee surgery in February as well, and I started learning to quilt from my grandmother who also passed this March.  I guess that list makes it a little more clear as to why I've been away from this blog for so long.

But, I'm back.  At least I hope I am.  Let's be honest.  No one reads this blog, but it's mine and love it.  It's my little scrapbook of my life.  You can look through it if you like, and if you do I hope you find it makes your crazy seem a little more like normal.

This Was My Day...

Before I begin lets just say its been a while.  Believe me I know.  Life has been happening.  Homeschooling, BSF, cooking, cleaning, laundry, kids growing, soccer practice, swimming lessons...okay you get the idea.  LIFE.  Its a funny thing how life keeps me from some of the things I love like blogging.  However, my life is a beautiful mess that I love.

Now back to today.  Today was one for the record books.  It all started with a nightmare.  The worst kind.  Perfectly normal dream turns into a nightmare in seconds and you can't breathe.  You are paralyzed in your dream and when you wake up your heart is pounding out of your chest, you find breathing difficult to do, and I'm frantically hitting the other side of the bed to make sure that my husband is indeed beside me and not dead in the middle of the street.  Guess you can figure out the gist of the nightmare.  I was in full panic mode.  Even had to wake him up just so I could fall apart into full sobbing wet tears.  He was the perfect husband and consoled me in my crazy state even though he'd have to get up in a little more than an hour for work.  Like I said he's the perfect husband.  Miraculously I was able to fall back to sleep for a few extra hours of rest.  I had no idea this was just the beginning of my crazy day.

By 8am kids are up and at 'em.  I'm exhausted because not only have I been up during the night in a full panic attack thanks to a nightmare, but the day before we had full birthday celebrations for my son.  So this mom is worn out.  New birthday present packages are all over the place from him opening his new toys and of course he needs my help with it all.  I finally make it to the kitchen to get breakfast for everyone when starting the dishwasher I notice something strange in the sink.  Worms!  Earthworms are in my sink!  What?!  How?!  I call my animal loving almost 6 year old in there to deal with the situation to which he informs me "That one is too big.  I'm not touching it."  What?  I had a boy for a reason.  This is the reason.  To pick up creepy crawly bugs for his mom.  I call the hubs because what else am I to do, only to find out he apparently didn't put up his fishing worm stash as well as he thought he had.  Crisis taking care of, but now there isn't enough time for me to shower before swimming lessons so its the "I meant to put my hair in this bun and hope I look cute" kind of day.  After swimming lessons its off to the library to return some DVDs and then a quick stop by Mema's because its lunch time and I don't want to take them out to eat.  A few chicken nuggets later I'm headed to the store to pick up my very short list of groceries.  Pull in the parking lot and it begins to pour!  Seriously?  Can I not catch a break today? Hubs comes to the rescue and will stop by the store on his way home.  Like I said he's the perfect husband.  This day is crazy and I'm headed home.  Little did I know crazy was waiting for me there too.

Pull in the driveway and the kids hop out.  I'm left to get everything out of the car on my own when I hear "Mom, I got some bad new."  What now?  "There is a bird in the house."  WHAT!!!!!  My kid has a knack for being a jokster, so I ask if he is serious and he says "I saw it with my own eyes."  Great now I have to get a bird out of my house.  (On a side note we had a bird build a nest in our garage that we just found and she had babies and now the babies are learning to fly.)  I peek in the window and see nothing so I'm thinking its just his imagination or perhaps he saw a reflection.  I walk in and put everything down that I was carrying and then begin my search.  Sure enough there is a bird in the laundry room.  Who knows how long its been in there.  At least a few hours that we've been gone this morning.  I devise a plan and get to it.  After a few mini heart attacks of the bird flying towards me I finally get it to fly back into the garage.

Throw in the towel.  I'm done.  I need a chocolate bar.

This has been complete craziness, not to mention all the other regular craziness that follows me around on a daily basis.  Its like I said though my life is a beautiful mess.  Today was more mess than beauty, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Because I'm Sure You've Been Wondering

AGG!  I went to go blog and realized I haven't blogged at all this year!!  I know I posted in February, but that was for Nomes' birthday and she really turned 2 at the end of the last year.  My personality really wants me to go back and post every awesome activity we've done so far with pictures of it all, but my lack of time says a short synopsis will have to do.  I know I could just skip everything in the last 4 months, but my personality won't let me do that either.  It seems like since moving back from NC that life has been in fast forward mode and just won't slow down.

So, here are a few things we've been up to since ringing in 2013.
 - Attended the annual Together for Life Walk to end abortion.
 - Stated back at BSF.
 - Started back at the Y.  We missed them and they missed us.
 - Aaron & I went back to NC to attend a wedding for some small group members.
 - I took the kids to the aquarium (maybe I will post a few pictures from here).  We had a great time.
 - My Moo Moo fell and broke both of her legs :(  We've been visiting with her quite a bit.
 - Aaron & I went to the Good Friday Celebration.  It was amazing.
 - We celebrated Easter with lots of good food and egg hunts.
 - The soccer season started in full force.
 - I went to see Mary Poppins at the Fox.
 - We've decided to continue with homeschool for next year and will be doing Classical Conversations.

As you can tell we are super busy with life, but its a beautiful life.

There's No Place Like Home

We received official notice yesterday that we would be returning to GA at the end of the year.  While we have mixed feelings about the move we are excited to get back to our home as well as our family and friends.  We should be there by Dec. 31st, but may try to move back before Christmas.  Just last week Aaron & I were praying that God would give us some answers for how long we would be in NC.  We were both expecting to be here for several more months, so the news was a little surprising.  I hesitated to even post because I don't really believe it just yet.  However, God is good and gave us answers where we were asking.  He is faithful!!  While we don't know how long we will be in GA, we are going to be back for the foreseeable future, but something tells me our adventures are just beginning.

We will definitely miss NC and all it has offered us over that last 8 months.  Here is just a few things we will be sad to say good-bye to:

• Great Smokey Mountain National Park.
• Cataloochee and the elk.
• East LaPorte park (across the street)
• Webster Baptist Church.  Small group and friends.
• Blue Ridge Parkway
• NOC
• The mountains.  I'll definitely miss the mountain beauty each and every day.
• Family Saturday adventures.
• The gym and park being 5 minutes away.
• Wal-Mart being 10 minutes away.
• Aaron's job being close by and eating lunch with him everyday.
• All the punch bugs.
• Catamount Gap

What we are looking forward to in GA:

• Babysitters!!!
• Family!!!
• Friends!!!
• A house with normal size shower and lots of closet space.
• BSF
• Grandparents!!!
• TV so we can actually watch football.
• Being able to decorate, paint, hang pictures, etc.  

We'll see you all soon!  

Every Life is Beautiful

Aaron & I are huge advocates for LIFE.  We have been blessed beyond measure with our two children.  I seriously couldn't imagine my LIFE without them.  Getting pregnant does not come easy to us, and we have had to say good-bye to two children through miscarriage.  The grief and heartbreak of such a loss is more than I can put into words.  These experiences, both the joy and sorrow, have led us to realize that every LIFE is beautiful.  Through this realization our hearts have been opened to giving LIFE to those who need it, so we are planning to adopt within the next few years.

We have made a commitment to stand up for LIFE in every opportunity that comes our way.  The recently release move October Baby deals with the issues of abortion, adoption, LIFE, and the gift of forgiveness.  From its website this is what is said about the movie;  "With its powerful, compelling story of a young woman who was adopted by loving parents after a failed abortion attempt, OCTOBER BABY will remind moviegoers that every life is beautiful. As it does, the movie will open eyes and hearts to the sanctity of life."  We just viewed the movie last week and it was amazing!  I definitely recommend that you watch it.  Part of the movie's agenda is the Every LIFE is Beautiful campaign.  There are stories of abortion survivors, the beauty of adoption, children with disabilities, healing after an abortion, LIFE, and death.  Each video is just 1-3 minutes and is so worth your time.  You will be blessed I promise!  Please check it out here at everylifeisbeautiful.com.  If you'd like more information about the movie as well there is a link to it from the website.  Please join me in standing up for LIFE and showing others that every LIFE is beautiful.

Watching

Today I watched my children.  I watched them play.  I am a stay at home mom so I watch my kids play all day.  Everyday.  But rarely do I sit back and really watch them.  Truth is I'm usually doing things while I'm watching them.  I'm doing laundry, dishes, cleaning, bathing, cooking, and so on that I sometimes miss those moments because I'm caught up in my chores and such.  I'm not oblivious to them or ignoring them.  I'm just multi-tasking which means I'm playing with one hand and doing some chore with the other (or at least thinking of what chores I need to be doing).  But today I sat and watched.  I didn't participate I just simply watched them do their thing.

I watched as they lined cars along my bathroom counter (never-minding how it was going to be all in my way later when I tried to get ready) and then ran from their bedroom back to the bathroom carrying one car at a time to add to the countertop. I watched as Naomi ran as fast as she could to keep up with her older brother.  I watched her little legs run and how awkward, but completely normal her running was.  I even chuckled at it.  I watched as the laughed as they chased one another from room to room only to do it all again until every Hot Wheel and Matchbox car in our house was lined on the bathroom counter, and believe me we have our fair share of cars.  Then I watched Levi's imagination take over as he named the cars and raced them 2 at a time using the big bathtub as a race track.  And then I watched a his little sister mimicked his every sound and movement.  I watched them play and get along.  I watched their imaginations, their learning, and their friendship.

What's even better is that twice during my watching they let me know that they were happy that I was just there.  Each one without prompting and at different times suddenly at some point in their play just to hug me and give me a kiss.  No words were exchanged.  No words were needed.  It was the highlight of my day.  I know my multi-tasking lifestyle will continue because I am a mother and that is what we do, but hopefully I'll try to take a few extra minutes everyday to just let them play and I will watch.  Watch them grow and become the adults I'm praying they become.  I'm always aware that I'm blessed more than I deserve, but today I got a little glimpse firsthand.

Science Lesson

In an earlier post I talked about Levi's obsession with caterpillars and our quest for catching them, keeping them alive long enough to build cocoons, and hopefully have beautiful butterflies.  Well, we were successful at getting some cocoons, but not butterflies...just moths.  Clarification - 1 moth.  Honestly the moth was a little creepy.  I just shivered writing about him.  Yuck!  I digress.


Several weeks ago we found a bright green bug we assumed was some sort of caterpillar.  It looked just like this:

Since the "normal" looking caterpillar (see below) turned into a moth we thought we might get lucky and this one (assuming he/she lived) might turn into a butterfly.  

Well, literally like a day or two after we caught him we thought he was beginning to make some sort of cocoon, but it looked a lot like this:

Aaron thought it was a cocoon, but I seriously had my doubts and figured we had just killed another poor caterpillar.  This cocoon looked nothing like our other ones or ones I'd seen online.  I mean it literally looked just like a brown, dead version of what we had put in there.  But for whatever reason we just left it there, untouched for the last couple of weeks.

Well last night I saw something flying in the container and low and behold is was a wasp!

We had no idea how it had gotten in there, but assumed it must have slipped through the tiny cracks at home small development stage.  Well today we cleaned out the container to use to catch fireflies and low and behold the brown, dead caterpillar really was a cocoon and the wasp had come from it.  I had never heard of such so thus began my obsession to find out what I could.  Here are some interesting facts you probably never knew and really could care less to know now.  Turns out there is something called a parasitic wasp and it takes over the caterpillar in order to grow.  I don't think this is exactly what happened in our case.  I think our caterpillar turned into a cocoon and the wasp was already inside of it and grew instead.  However, if you really want to be educated you can check it all out here.

So there you have it.  We were hoping for a butterfly, expecting a moth, and got a wasp.  Go figure.

Lately

So here is our lately in pictures.  Just snapshots of the last month and what we've been up to.  Nothing spectacular just life.  Well I guess when you think about it that in itself is pretty spectacular.  At least my life anyway.

Siblings.  Best friends.  

 Went to Asheville and ate at Chick-fil-A.  This is just Levi being silly.  Something he's doing more and more often now.  I love it.  Moving to NC has really opened him up.

 Naomi smiling.  I know it doesn't look like it, but it is the cutest thing in the world.  Cheese!

 We went to GA the middle of June.  Aaron has a presentation there so we made a little trip out of it.  My parents church was doing a VBS kickoff and we stopped by.  Gave us time to hang with some friends and family we don't see often enough.  

 She was content in the stroller and then...

 she just had to sit by her Poppy.  

 Aaron's birthday was that same weekend we were in GA so we did a little celebrating.  We bunked at my sisters' place and DQ came to our rescue with a cake.  Delicious it was.

 We are lame and had no candles so he blew out a candle from a jar.  Happy 32nd Birthday Honey!

 Naomi never falls asleep outside of her schedule except if we are in the car.  This was a rare occasion, but she was a cutie.

 Found her like this after her nap one day.  

 My parents came for a visit this past weekend.  They actually took Levi to their cabin for some bonding and we had Naomi for the day.  It was a sweet time to be able to give her some undivided attention - something she doesn't get very often.  When they brought Levi back we took them to Cataloochee to see the elk.  It was a little early, but we were able to see a few up close.

 It is calving season (having their babies) so the Elk Bugle Corp (volunteers that inform the visitors about the elk and help protect both the elk and visitors from one another) were out in full force.  The antlers were theirs.  

 Last but not least we have superhero mania at our house.  Not just with Levi, but Naomi as well.  She gets her hands on his cape and you better not even think about taking it away.  I finally made her one of her own, but haven't gotten any pictures yet.  

 Of course we had to have one in blue too.

 We recently has a big boy celebration here with Levi graduation from his car seat to a booster!  It has actually been long overdue, but with the move it has just gotten pushed back, not to mention that he wasn't too keen on the idea.  In case you don't know my son at all he hates change.  Period.  We made a big deal about it and was really excited.  I on the other hand need my children to stop growing up so quickly.   

Until the next installment....

Cocoons

We now have 2 cocoons in our caterpillar habitat!  Hopefully soon we will have 2 beautiful butterflies!  It was actually kind of neat to watch them make them.  Even though it was a several hour process we were able to watch them wrap themselves up.  It was pretty interesting.

We are heading to GA in the morning!!  My cousin's wedding is this weekend and then we are headed to the beach for a week.  When we come back we'll stay in GA another weekend to celebrate the little guy's 4th birthday.  I am so excited about seeing some family and familiar faces!

Caterpillars

The caterpillars have been out in full force at our house.  Levi easily finds 4-5 every time we go outside.  He loves them and I feel pretty bad for the poor souls since he tends to love them a little too much sometimes if you get my drift.  He found a bright green one the other day that he grew attached too.  When he came inside I noticed he had built this contraption on the porch and so I asked about it.  He enlightened me that this caterpillars was his best buddy and he didn't want it to get away and so he built this.  The caterpillars is inside the middle while pipe.  One end is closed by the chair and the other end is closed by the other pipe.  This way the caterpillar cannot get out.  Pretty ingenious for a 3 year old right!  Realizing he was going to kill all the caterpillars in our yard this way we set out to keep our caterpillars alive.

A trip to Wal-Mart = $6.
An excited kid with pet caterpillars = priceless.

We are hoping that they will build cocoons and we can watch them change into butterflies.  That is assuming that they live.  Somehow we've already managed to let one die in the one day we had them :(  Sorry little fella.  We are hoping he is in caterpillar heaven.  Hopefully none of our other friends will join him anytime soon.

Boxes

Right now my life is about boxes, Boxes, and more BOXES!  Now back to the box at hand...

Movin' On Up!

... to North Carolina that is!

Yup!  You read that right.  We are moving!  It has all happened quite quickly, but we are excited for this new adventure.  Our move is for Aaron's job and it all happens at the end of THIS month!  Aaron will be reporting on the 26th (12 days from now!) and the rest of us are likely to go up the following week.  Don't fret!  Our move is only temporary.  Aaron will be working on a road project and once the project is done we will be returning to GA assuming another opportunity doesn't arise.  We are looking at 6-7 months with a possibility of it being extended to a year.  We will be about an hour south of Asheville and only about a 3.5 hour drive from Covington.  We are in a mountain area and then scenery is beautiful!  This is a great opportunity for our family.  We are going to be able to keep our house here GA, so we plan to visit often.  We are just considering this an extended vacation.  I'll be sure to keep you all posted as the adventure begins!

Proud to be an American

This weekend is the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks on America. I say America because it wasn't just the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the people of New York, or politicians. It was an attack on all of us. An attack on the ideals, values, and freedom that America is built upon. It is true that life goes on, and it must, but to forget is a travesty. To forget means to forget about those that perished in the attack, those that gave of themselves to save those they could, and those that volunteered to risk their lives to protect our freedom. It means to forget those that have fought at any time for the freedoms we continue to enjoy today. It means to forget the the sacrifice.

As I was driving today I noticed that many schools, fire houses, and places of business had OUR flag flying at half mast this weekend. It moved me. Reminded me that patriotism is still alive. Reminded me that although it seems as though many of us have forgotten what it means to be an American that there are some who have not forgotten.

I guess I wanted to write this to simply say that I have not forgotten. I haven't forgotten that we are fighting a worthy war. I haven't forgotten the men and women, my friends and family, that are protecting my freedoms on a daily basis. I haven't forgotten that we are built on the principles of God. A holy God. The one and only true God. I haven't forgotten the blessings that He has poured out upon us. Day after day. Year after year. We don't deserve His favor, but He shows it anyway.

On this 10th anniversary I ask you to remember. Say a prayer for our service men and women. Thank God for all that He has given you. Given us. Given our country. Ask Him to continue to watch over us. May His peace be with you and your families. God bless you and God bless the USA!

Bad at Posting

Lately I have been very bad at 1) taking pictures, and 2) posting the pictures I actually do take. However, I have taken a few here and there that for whatever reason I haven't uploaded to post. Here is a little taste.

Naomi is rolling around everywhere! She is trying really hard to crawl, but hasn't quite mastered it just yet. This day she roller herself right under the TV cabinet.

At Levi's 3 year check-up the doctor noticed a heart murmur and sent us to a pediatric cardiologist to have it checked out. Levi wasn't too sure about it all. After being hooked up to all these cords and an ultrasound of his heart, the doctor told us it was just an innocent murmur and nothing to worry about. We have to go back in 5 years to make sure it hasn't developed into anything more serious. Can't believe Levi will be 8 then!

The is crazy man being what I like to call bucket head. He is so much fun!

So Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A was well over a month ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting this picture. Aaron's sister, Cara, dressed him up. I think she did a pretty good job. Just wished I had gotten a picture of the whole outfit. He definitely enjoyed his free meal!

Big Brother Sweetness

Levi is proving to be one amazing big brother. Naomi has not been sleeping well at night. Usually she wakes once at some point and it only takes a little snuggling and she is back asleep. I'm hoping it is due to teething, but we'll see. Anyway, Sunday evening I was woken up around 2am to hear Naomi crying. When I woke up I noticed the living room light was on, so I go to investigate. I walk around the corner and look into Naomi's room to find that Levi has crawled into the pack-n-play with Naomi. He has given her a pacifier and is telling her "Its okay." She actually seems calm and almost asleep. That is when he saw me and said "Mommy, Nome's crying." So I pick them both up, give Levi some juice, and send him back to bed (after I tell him what a wonderful brother he is). Naomi is back to sleep and in bed by 3am. When morning finally arrives I decide to sleep in since I had to get up with the kids. Around 7:45am I hear Naomi crying again so start to get out of bed, but before I can I hear my bedroom door shut. I get out of bed and walking into the living room to hear laughter coming from Naomi's room. I head that way only to find that Levi has crawled in bed with her again and they are laughing. When I walk in he says "Mommy, you awake?" To which I reply "Yes." Realizing that he thought I was asleep I ask "Did you shut my door so she wouldn't wake me up?" He looks at me and says "Yes." How sweet is that? I definitely have one sweet little boy.

Family Pictures

Two weeks ago we had some family pictures taken. I love how they turned out! A very special thank you to my cousin Stacy from SCC Photography for doing such an amazing job. There are so many that there is no way to post them all, so I picked just a few of my favorites.

Its Good To Be Silly

We are a silly family.

During the last month...

We have been busy. We'll that is a bit of an understatement, and May is looking pretty jam packed too, so enjoy this post because I never know when I'll get another update on here. Here is a look at what we've been up to.

Just a typical day in our house...building bugs and then fighting with them.

We celebrated Easter by hitting up a few egg hunts and lunches with family. Levi was super excited about all the candy, and really had a great time finding eggs. We even had to rehide some for him to continue looking. He is too stinkin' cute! We also had an Easter production at our church where Aaron participate in the role of Christ. He did an awesome job as always. Just a swingin'!

So excited about his prize in the egg hunt...a monster truck! Naomi is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I can't believe she is already 4 months old. I've taken a few photos of her lately (a few would certainly be an understatement). Here are some I love...

Love these little toes!