Thankful Thursday

This is one of those taking-it-a-day-at-a-time weeks (or possibly taking-it-an-hour-at-a-time).

We got home from vacation, hit the ground running, and haven't stopped since.

Two birthdays in our family, a big birthday party, an amazing wedding, in-laws visiting for the weekend, doctor appointments, a family photo shoot, errands, a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, a cousin sleepover, playgroup at the park, and more have happened in the last week, and today, we are packing for our annual church camping trip.  Therefore, my mind is spinning just a bit and body is soooo tired.

I am thankful for all that has happened and all that is to happen as our lives are full, full, FULL!

But for now, I must continue packing for our trip.  I have hours ahead of me and my littles are all finally tucked in beds.

So this shall be brief...I am thankful for tomatoes from the garden, cousins here from Michigan, early morning errands, homemade muffins, Army Wives, Micah's first theater class, Sophia sitting up, a new haircut, beautiful summer evenings, and my hubby home from work.

Thankful for a camping weekend ahead with our dear church family, and thankful that it has been an incredible summer!!

What are you thankful for today?

SIX

Micah, you have had a big year.

This year, you learned to read.  And, oh, how you are loving this new world that has opened up to you.  You read everything, everywhere, without any effort anymore.  You just read.  And I love watching you discover the world around you through the written word.  What a gift.

You also learned to ride a bike.  You are still practicing, but you did it by YOURSELF!! That was a huge conquering of your fears, and we are so proud of you.

                                      

You participated in your first t-ball league, and you loved playing games against other teams.  You ran as fast as you could all over the field, and I loved watching you from the sidelines each game.

                                                

You left home for a week without me for the first time, on your most incredible Florida trip with Nana, Papa, and Lil Chuck.  What a special trip that was!

You learned to do the monkey bars, and now that is usually your first pick at the parks we go to.  I love watching you swing from ring to ring, bar to bar.  You are so strong!

You swam out to the pier at Grandma and Grandpa's lake in North Oaks all by yourself, and you loved the reward of standing on that pier and jumping back in the water!

                                    

You also became a big brother for the third time, and you are smitten with your Sophia, loving on her, helping me with little things, and being so kind and devoted to her.

You have grown into such a little boy over this past year, and I have loved watching you grow.

I love your sense of humor and the way you laugh from your belly.  I love that we can now laugh together at silly things your brother or sisters do.  

I love your intellect.  You share with me the most amazing facts, like all the different kinds of bats the world has discovered, the tallest mountain in the world, the hottest planet in the Solar System, and details from the Bible.

I love your responsibility, the way you remind me about things, follow the rules, take care of details, and never leave me worrying about whether or not you will behave when I am not with you.

I love your love for games, and I love the way you explain, in great detail, all the different levels of Angry Birds or Jetpack Joyride or whatever game you are into at the moment.

                                                 

I love your smile.  It lights up your face.

                                       

I love your heart.  It loves people well.

                                                    

I just love you so much, Micah Zachary.

I am beyond humbled that God chose me to be your mama.

Happy Sixth Birthday, my precious son!

Ella is TWO

My Ella is two today.

I cannot even put words to the joy that this child exudes from every part of her being and the joy that she has brought our family.

She is crazy...boy, is she crazy. She talks all the time, she gets into her brothers' buildings and creations and she pushes herself right into Sophia's personal bubble for kisses and a chat.  She already has strong opinions and loves all things girly.  She gets into things right under my nose and makes messes I never knew were possible, and she has caused me to throw my hands in the air and groan many, many times.

But, oh, how my heart beats for this child of mine.

If you have interacted at all with Ella, I am sure that you have smiled. She just has that effect on people. She causes people to turn heads and smile and comment and wave and have a little “hello” conversation.

Because Ella loves life to the full. She giggles and squeals and jumps and dances. She hardly knows how to walk as those feet are always running or bouncing or dancing. She is loud, loud, LOUD, but she lives LOUD and loves BIG and enjoys life WELL and I so want to be more like her.

I really cannot believe she is my daughter. How did we get so blessed?

(I couldn't help but fill this post with pictures...there are just too many of this spunky, full-of-life girl.  Don't forget to click on the picture to see it larger or to look at the pictures more easily.)

Happy 2^nd Birthday, my sweet, crazy, joyful, beautiful, one-in-a-million Ella Jo.

Keep dancing that dance and singing that loud, loud song to the tune of life.

You are going to change lives, my sweet girl.

I can't wait to watch it happen.

I love you.

Thankful Thursday

Right after we stopped for dinner and got the kids all situated in their jammies, we talked about what we were thankful for today for Thankful Thursday. Here are everyone's gifts for right now...We have much to be thankful for. Thank you, God.

Sammy's Gifts

-the Lego store

-the fountain show

-Branson Landing

-Missouri

-Mommy, Daddy, Micah, Sammy, Ella, and Sophia

Micah's Gifts

-a pink firetruck

-playing on the playplace

-Mommy and Daddy

-that we went to Chick-fil-A

-that we went to the Lego store

Ella's Gifts

-Jesus

-Satan (haha!!...clearly we have to work on our toddler's theology)

My Gifts

-a novel that makes me laugh and cry

-laughing with my husband

-Sophia's arms flailing and legs kicking when she gets excited

-Ella's giggle

-ice cream cones

-a safe drive home

-the anticipation of celebrations this weekend

-a beautiful sunset

-Sammy squealing at a computer game

-Micah's fever gone!

-a road-trip stop at Chick-fil-A (Tangent: I have never been to such a kid-friendly fast food restaurant! Little cups of cheerios for toddlers, sticky placemats for the tables, cleaning wipes for the highchairs, books instead of cheap toys in the kids' meals, grilled chicken nuggets – perfect for my son with a dairy allergy, and a quaint playplace, too. Great experience and yummy food, too!)

Zach's Gifts

-the beautiful sunset

-frozen custard from Ted Drewes

-the children winding down as our car ride comes to an end

-that I was the one who drove the twelve-hour drive (we've decided this is the easier job when traveling with children)

-Sophia's chunkiness and smiles

-great meals on a budget during vacation

What are you thankful for today?

Vacation Endings

Well, the time has come for vacation to end.

Sigh.

It has been wonderful.  We have had such fun-filled days, loving our kids, watching them enjoy the world around them, and have succeeded in creating sacred family memories.  Zach and I have laughed so much together at all of our children's little idiosyncracies, like Sammy's constant Monsters Inc. discussions (I think they have watched that movie about ten times since we left home!), Micah's out-of-this-world intelligent questions and topics of conversation, Ella's dancing and clapping with delight at life, yelling and talking and giving us a play by play of everything around her, and Sophia's constant smiles and amazing ability to take anything within inches of her hand, grab it, and shove it in her mouth as quickly and forcefully as possible (the poor, teething baby).

We splashed in the pool, sat in awe at the Dixie Stampede, played at the park, ate picnic lunches, went mini-golfing, went out for breakfast, played games, made puzzles, baked cookies, took naps, and made meals together.  The kids built Legos and read books and watched movies, and Zach and I enjoyed our time after the kids were sleeping playing games, eating ice cream, and watching movies, ourselves.  We laughed a lot, relaxed, and enjoyed doing family.

And now, I admittedly am nervous returning tomorrow to "real life."  I was starting to feel some tension creep up at the thought of going home to chores and schedules and appointments and busyness and doing the stay-at-home mama thing while Zach goes back to work.  But I know this is life, and I am desiring to take with me the calm, un-rushed way about us we had this week.  (If you know me, you know that "calm" is not necessarily my strongest personality trait.)  I want to create time to come and go so I am not always flying out the door, yelling orders at the kids, and losing patience when they don't obey quickly.  I want to work hard to create our family's schedule with more down time so we can enjoy each other more and not always have a full calendar.  I want to love my kids as best as I can and make sure they know every day how crazy I am about them.  This is how I want to return from vacation.

Thankful we had this special time together and knowing that, only by God's grace, can I return transformed.