June Summer Fun

We have really been enjoying our time home with Jonathan this past month. We love when school lets out and we get to see him every night! We have taken full advantage and have been fishing a few times, swinging a lot, and enjoying some much needed family time. Here’s a few photos from our last big catch. Tucker has so much fun fishing and it’s a nice relaxing break to the day. I’m so glad we all have something we enjoy doing together!

Crickets are not even a little scary to this guy. He sticks his hand right in and pulls one out to use as bate. Love his courage! (mainly because his momma doesn’t have to get them out 🙂 

For mothers day my boys gave me a picnic table for our back yard – Jonathan asked Tucker what he thought they should get me and he immediately said “I think she would like a picnic table!” To which Jonathan said ok, lets do it!Daddy’s Big Helper for our new picnic table! He worked hard helping daddy build it. Jonathan even used an old pallet to make a kids table with the left over wood. So we got two for one! I LOVE our table and we use it ALL THE TIME!

This sweet boy has LOVED riding down the sloped drive – like for HOURS!

We had such a FUN night with our life group class a few weeks ago at the redbird’s game. I can’t believe how much it rained and how COLD it was! The Donahues moved a few months after this, so we are so glad we have lots of great memories with these sweet friends!

Sweet boys! I love them so very much!!

We loaded up on several gallons of strawberries this season to make preserves, freeze for smoothies, and for desserts throughout the year – we waited for a while the last time we went to Toone to get the strawberries so we played while we waited!

It’s been a full June with tons of canning, catching up, enjoying Jonathan being out of school, weddings, surgeries, and more. It’s been a crazy few months around here! Maybe I’ll catch up with my blogging now…PROBABLY NOT!

My Boys, I Love You!

Dear Tucker & Jace,

I love you boys so very much and I just want to share a little of my heart with you today. In my opinion, today’s society is out of control. Everyone is worried about themselves, number one. I don’t want you to grow up this way. I want us to learn to serve others, each other, and most importantly, The Lord. I’m thankful for role models in my life who serve others selflessly. I want so badly for you to learn to serve our Lord in this journey of life. I pray that He will be your sustainer, I pray that He will be enough.  I want you to see that I serve you because I love you, and I also serve your daddy because I love him, but mostly I serve you all because I love Jesus.  I want you to have that desire to be a Godly young man, and I hope eventually a Godly husband and father. I know we haven’t reached the years of middle and high school, but I want us to be close, especially then. I desire a relationship with you – a good one, and I’m willing to work for it. I love staying home and being your mom.  I want to look back at these days and be so thrilled of the time that we have had together, see how you grew both spiritually and physically, and see the handprint of God throughout the entire process.

I also want you to learn that we have to make sacrifices in order to do things in life. We have to give up one thing for another. Your daddy and I chose to give up my working out of the home to raise you boys. It was a sacrifice that I was MORE than willing to make and so thankful that I made it. We looked at the numbers on the paper before we made the leap, and we knew that we would be $400 short each month, but we also had a peace that surpassed all understanding that the Lord would provide and take care of our family. And HE has. We have not missed our bills, we have not gone hungry, and we have a home to call our own (and the banks :). Realize that The Lord is our strength and He will guide our paths if we allow him. I don’t know where we will be in ten years, but I pray that wherever it is, we will be serving the Lord together and loving each other more each and every day. I’m thankful for a close knit family, and also for a life group that we can live life with. We have made friends that I pray will be in our lives for years to come – people that we love like our family, who encourage us, pray for us, and we also encourage and pray for.

If I cannot teach you anything else in this life, boys, I want you to know that Jesus is enough. He will sustain you. He will answer your prayers – maybe not in the way you thought, but he will still answer. He will listen to your cries, your desires, and your dreams. We love you more than you will know until you have your own children one day, and that will be an even scarier day than it is now, but He can and will deliver us through.

As our ten year high school reunions are approaching, I’m reminded of how much life has changed for the better in these last ten years. I was so thrilled to marry your daddy, and I honestly thought that there was no way I could ever love him more, but man was I wrong. I’m so thankful for the relationship we share, the love that we have for each other, and the partnership we have in raising you boys. I’m thankful for his manly ways of doing things and letting you two be boys! I don’t mind you going out and getting filthy, smelling like dogs, or filling your pockets with rocks. I’m thankful that you are learning to work hard, fix things, and respect women. I love that you bring me flowers out of the goodness of your heart and come in just to tell me you love me and you need a hug. I love that you run to me when you have a boo boo that needs to be kissed, or a finger that needs a bandaid. Daddies are gruff with their little boys, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know that he is training you up to be a Godly young man who will be able to go out and raise your own family one day. I’m thankful for the legacy that went before him, that he was taught a hard work ethic and a love for the Lord at his home.

I’m blessed beyond measure and so thankful or the opportunity to be called “mom” from you two amazing little boys.  I just want to soak it all in and sometimes pause life right where it is, but I know it is fleeting ever so quickly and I cannot imagine my life without you all in it. I pray that day never comes. I pray that you bring in Godly young women to raise your children, who love you more than words, but who love the Lord even more. I pray for their families – that they are Godly, and serve the Lord, and have a legacy of loving the Lord in their family as well.

Boys, God gave us the awesome responsibility to raise you as children of the Lord, borrowed for such a short time, and I am in awe of this gift. I’m unworthy of it, but I believe that’s why He gave us His Word – so that we could reflect on it daily, become sustained through Him, and rely on His direction in our lives daily.

Thank you Lord for the chance to be mom to my two boys – Tucker Wiley and Jace Edwin, I love you more than words!

 

Tucker’s Marriage Plans…

This was too cute not to share…and I want to make sure to remember it!

Tucker was sitting at the kitchen table the other day eating left over oatmeal from breakfast. I was washing dishes and we were just talking about whatever was on his mind. He announces a few minutes in, “Mommy, I wonder who Jace is going to marry.”

I said, “Jace, what about you?”

He responded, “Oh, I’m going to marry Emmaline.” Just as matter of fact as it could be. I told him I had to get this on video, so I asked him again…I can’t seem to get it uploaded but I’m going to share it here:

Tucker: I’m going to marry Emmaline

Me: Why?

Tucker: Because I LOVE her

Me: Why do you love her?

Tucker: Because I play with her.

Me: Oh, ok, well then what are you going to do?

Tucker: I’m going to marry her, and we are going to pick a house, and I’m going to paint it

Me: What color?

Tucker: Blue! Then i’m going to get the furniture and build it, and then I’m going to put it inside. And I think we are going to name our baby Moses, but I’m not sure.

Me:I said: really?

Tucker: Well, yeah, I think we are!

Me: I sure do love you!

Tucker: I sure do love you too mommy!

Haha! So this is a CRAZY conversation, but I love his sweet innocence and love for his friend Emmaline. I honestly think it would be absolutely precious if they got married, but you know what, that’s a long time from now!

So he is marrying Emmaline, they are going to buy a house and paint it blue, make their own furniture, and name their baby Moses (he thinks, but he’s not sure).

I SURE DO LOVE HIM!!

 

 

A terrible fall…and Lavender to the rescue!

 

I have had the same bottle of lavender for about 2 years. I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t use it very often – pretty much just for epsom salt baths after I had both babies. Well, we have had two incidences in the last few weeks that have SOLD me on lavender and it’s many AMAZING qualities! Tucker fell a few weeks back and hit the corner of a side table. It was black and swollen within a minute. I mean bigger than I’ve ever seen (and since he was screaming uncontrollably and we weren’t at home, I didn’t get a picture of a before). I had thieves on hand, so I immediately put it on it, but knew it wasn’t really what I needed, so we left and headed home. It was black by the time we left, and when we arrived home it was very puffy and swollen. I applied lavender and then layered with Melaleuca and sent him on to bed. When he woke up the next morning this is what I saw… It was still red, but the black from the bruising had left all but above the eye.

By the end of the day here’s what it looked like after several applications of lavender. I was so thankful to have this on hand!

 

Ok, so fast forward to two weeks ago…We went for our normal morning walk. I run a stretch about 50 yards from one road to another. Once I started running, within about 10 yards the front wheel of my stroller flew off and my stroller flipped (with BOTH babies in it), and I fell on top. Tucker was not strapped in, and it threw him out, but he was standing up looking at me when I stood up, but Jace on the other hand was strapped in. I threw the stroller back correctly and he was bleeding everywhere. I was so upset and trying to figure out how to get back home. The stroller was broken and thankfully this nice man stopped to get help me out. He had to bend my stroller frame back to even get the wheel back on. He fixed it so we could stroll back home.

Poor Jace hit his head, nose, above his nose, and also his chin and hands. He was so bloody and swollen. We were able to make it back home within 10 minutes and I immediately put lavender on him. The picture below is about 5 minutes after I added the lavender – the swelling was almost completely gone already. I applied several times a day for about 3 days and the scrapes were gone. I couldn’t believe how quickly it healed. He now has two “scars” right above his lip, but he has healed quickly from it and I’m still applying lavender and frankincense about 1-2 times a day to help with the scarring.

Day 1:

Day 1:

 

Morning of Day 2: 

Lavender is one of my new favorite oils and I’m learning so quickly that it’s not one I want to ever be without. I carry it in my purse or diaper bag at all times.

 

He is Risen!

Happy Easter! So thankful for the empty tomb. I can’t even put into words how thankful I am for the cross. I can’t imagine living a life with no hope, no future, and no peace. Our easter was a very full day with church and family, we had a great time celebrating our Risen King!

A little Easter fun…

Jace Loved this little work truck with tools. The boys have been playing with it all week!

This little guy was posing silly for the camera. Such a ham!

Rolling our dough with Gaga – little helper boy!

We left from church and went out to my Aunt and Uncle’s to celebrate with the Gilland’s. They had an easter egg hunt for the kids and we all spent the afternoon outside fellowshipping. We had a great time getting to catch up – our time is few and far between now that Grandmother and Popa are gone. We were constantly getting together now, but when we do it’s a much needed time spent together. This mama forgot to get a basket for Tucker to egg hunt with, so we used a bag, and I also forgot shoes, so we had to run to dollar general to get shoes…that’s why they are so lovely 🙂

We ate dinner at the Golding’s on Sunday night and the boys had another easter egg hunt. Mrs. Pam was so sweet and went and got them toys to fill their eggs. Tucker had the best time finding all the eggs because he could go at his own pace. Jace just played with the eggs and loved every second of it. I’m pretty sure they have been his favorite toys this week!

We are a little late, but since we were out of town last week, we missed getting to do the resurrection rolls, but I love what it represents, and it’s such a great way to display the empty tomb, so we did them Sunday night before bed. No reason the easter celebration has to be over because it’s a week late 🙂 I’m so grateful for the empty tomb! He Has RISEN!!

Working hard on getting them rolled…

 

Proud of the finished product – they were separated because some were rolled in butter, a few were not…ready for the oven!

 

Ready for

Dallas Trip!

This past week we went to Dallas – for the week – just Jonathan and myself…like this has NEVER happened before! When Tucker was one, Jonathan and I went for a long weekend – a full two days away, but I’ve never left Jace and Tucker doesn’t even remember us being gone. So when Jonathan had a week of training in Dallas and wanted me to come, we figured out how to make it work! It has been SO MUCH FUN! We have visited family, had three date nights, he has had school, and I have shopped til I dropped. I made a list of about 20 things I really wanted to do while I was here, and I had over half my list completed on Monday. I apparently have low expectations about what I can actually accomplish in one day – I know this is because it is MUCH harder to get anything done when you are toting around kiddos. The boys stayed with our parents while we were gone and had a great time as well. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

On Sunday we had lunch with Uncle Gerald, Aunt Shirley, Aunt Kathy, and Uncle Kenneth. We also visited Aunt Bartie at her home. She is 106 and can carry on a conversation just like we can. It’s amazing to hear her. I just love getting to visit with her. Sunday night we ate dinner with Jonathan’s Aunt Cynthia, Cousin William and wife Veronica, and his cousin Douglas. We had such a fun time visiting with them and getting to meet their newest member David. He was born last month and we got to meet him for the first time and see Abashai and Eva as well. They are so precious!

On Monday I went to the apple store to take a one on one class, and also to Ikea. I LOVE that place! When Jonathan got out of class we went to Cabela’s and then ate at Benihana’s and it was so yummy!

Cool display when you walk in Cabela’s. I’ve never actually been in one, it was a neat place!

On Tuesday I went back to the apple store to learn about aperture, and also met Aunt Cynthia, Katie, Aunt Kathy, Al and Christy, and baby Luke to shop a little and also to eat lunch. We had a great time! Tuesday night Jonathan and I found a few western stores and also walked around the historic part of downtown Dallas. We ate at a place called Vila Brazil in Irving and it was DELICIOUS! It was like a Texas De Brazil but 1/2 the cost and it was so yummy! I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area.  We topped off the evening with a little Marble Slab. Great end to the day 🙂

Wednesday was a bit of a relaxed day.  I hung around the hotel in the morning and worked on preparing for my young living meeting I’m teaching on Saturday. I also met Jonathan for lunch and then went to the cutest little shopping center on the square. It had some great little shops and was absolutely adorable!  We went out to the Byrd’s in Van Alstyne that night for dinner and had a great time visiting with everyone.

Thursday I shopped a little around the hotel, ate lunch with Jonathan, and then went back to the hotel to work on easter baskets and also start packing back up for Friday. Thursday night we went to dinner at Saltgrass Steak House. It was AWESOME! We really lucked out on the places we ate during the week. They were all fantastic and I would highly recommend each one of them.

Friday we headed home once Jonathan got out of class at 11. We had such a fun trip. It was a long time away from the boys, but I feel recharged and ready to jump back in. I love my boys and missed them so much! I am so glad Jonathan and I had this time together – it was great for us and great for me. The Lord provides little windows of time to help us rejuvenate sometimes, and I’m so thankful when those come. I’m also thankful for our parents taking care of the boys while we were gone. They were more than happy to keep them, but I also know that’s a big deal. I don’t take it lightly and I’m so thankful they were willing to let us go!

And here are a few of the boys while we were gone. They had a great time!

Tucker – time to warm up his biscuit at Gaga and Papaw’s. This boy loves home made biscuits!

Precious little boy!

Silly Tucker and Mimi

I love this picture of Tucker and his animals. Sweet boy smiles!

 

Outside playing!

A little play dough fun – this boy LOVES him some play dough.

 

Cow even got in on the fun

 

I love this little sleepy morning face

 

Every little boy should play in a muddy ditch, right?

 

March and April

Sweet boys exhausted from church!

 

This boy loves driving cars…Hoping that doesn’t mean there’s nascar driving in my future

 

I know it’s a mess, but this is one of my favorite memories right now…Sundays are pizza night at our house. Tucker looks forward to it all week. We eat in the den (A VERY RARE TREAT) and sit and watch a movie together as a family. I love spending time with these guys. They are so precious to me and I want to cherish every second.

 

Eating outside on our “new” picnic table. I bought it at a garage sale and Tucker wants to eat out here every chance we get. It’s been so fun to do this for lunches as much as possible. I see this being one of the best $2 investments I’ve ever made!

 

Swinging is one of our favorite past times around our house. Especially with the big tree – we can go really high 🙂

 

Precious little guy sleeping the day away

 

Last Friday night we got home LATE from Dallas and I didn’t have any food at home, so we made an early Saturday morning run to the grocery for the essentials for the weekend. I let them stay in PJ’s and Jace drove in the car with Tucker for the first time – they had the best time “driving” together :).

 

Holding hands in the car – brotherly love.

January and February

Here’s a few photos from January and February – I know they are late, but better late than never!
Sweet boy crawled under the table and got stuck  – he thought it was funny, but only for a minute!

Here’s Tucker making his own bow.

Jace is practicing walking a lot around here – I’m surprised he isn’t walking already, but I’m not rushing it! I love this stage 🙂

This boy is ALWAYS climbing on something. He gets on top of the tub constantly.

A real bow. He loves it!

Happy Valentines Day! Sweet boys at breakfast, a little bit of cinnamon roll love for Jonathan, and cookies for him to take to work:)

 

Love this family picture – Tucker has a biscuit in his mouth, but it’s actually a good picture – that’s hard to come by these days!

 

Valentine’s Day Date Night with my honey!

 

This is Jace’s blanket. I know it’s kind of random to have a photo of it, but it’s his favorite thing in the world. We have other fuzzy blankets, and he could care less about them, but this taggy blanket is his life line to sleep. When I show up in nursery they are always asking if I brought his blanket. He is in love with it and I never want to forget!Fun day the the bellevue playground!

 

 

Brotherly love watching a movie together!

 

 

Playing in the crib together. This didn’t actually last very long – it was a little too rowdy for a big boy to play in a small area!We went to a work dinner down at the Peabody. Had a great time and got to go on a date in the process 🙂

 

 

The boys while we were gone…

 

Testing out his new bike helmet after his birthday – it was a birthday present with a bike from Mimi and Papa (3rd Birthday)

 

Tucker got this computer for Christmas from the Golding’s – he has liked it,but lately has really loved playing with it for a good 30 minute span at a time. I’d say that’s pretty great.

 

Boys and their toy guns

 

So proud of the prayer “bucket” we made. We now can draw someone to pray for each time we sit down at a meal, it works out nicely because Tucker loves drawing some one and he gets excited about praying for them.

 

My little driving buddy

 

Just love capturing sweet moments and memories!

 

Daddy brought home little trucks for the boys and you would have thought it was Christmas morning. They loved them. Such a sweet and thoughtful daddy!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

We celebrated Jace’s first birthday on Saturday. We had a great time! I cannot believe my baby will be one on Wednesday! Where has the time gone? Here’s a few photos from our fun afternoon! We had tacos in a bag, cookie cake, and gluten free/dairy free brownies with coconut cream (and the other half icing). They were delicious! Jace is allergic to both dairy and gluten, and I’ve never cooked anything gluten free, so I’ve got another learning curve 🙂 I don’t mind one bit! Tucker is also allergic to dairy, so I’ve been learning to cook dairy free for three years now, I’m just learning all kinds of new things! Our brownies turned out delicious and I honestly wouldn’t know they were gluten free – they were that good!

Happy, Happy, Happy with Papaw.

Sweet boy and his momma 🙂Birthday boy with mommy and daddyThere was a balloon war after dinner and before presents – all the adult guys ganged up on Tucker (except Gaga jumped in and helped him fight). It was too funny!Gaga and Say Say.

Birthday Cake time! He enjoyed it, but didn’t get too messy and didn’t really want to finish it all – he would prefer his meat over sweets!

Present time  –

Jace received a book (well a few), but when this one came out Tucker said “ohh mommy, can you read it to me” and proceeded to jump in my lap. We had to finish opening presents, but we will enjoy reading it for sure!

Jace LOVES fuzzy blankets, and Gaga found the perfect size and weight. As soon as it came out of the package he was putting it up to his face to cuddle with it. Sweet boy loved it!

A little balloon fun.

This tractor is the PERFECT size. He can actually walk with it but not actually sit on it. He had the best time screaming, jumping, and walking with it. I think this will be a great toy to help him learn to walk even quicker.

Jace Edwin – what a great year it has been. You are SO sweet, so happy, and such an easy baby! You have brought so much joy to our home. I love your sweet spirit. You are an incredible eater, loving bananas, oatmeal, any meat, green beans, beans, apples, squeezies, and hummus. I think the only thing you don’t really like is corn. I can live with that! You LOVE your soft taggies blanket, and when its bedtime nothing else will satisfy. You have nursed for a whole year and doing great transitioning to almond milk. It’s been a very easy transition. I just cannot even tell you what joy you’ve brought to our home this past year. It’s so sweet to see you whip your head around looking for Tucker every time he comes down the stairs. You get almost giddy whenever you see him! I pray you are the best of friends forever. I’m so thankful for your sweet personality and your constantly happy attitude. What a true blessing it has been to become your mom. I pray I have many many more years to raise you up in the Lord. I love you Jace Edwin, happy first birthday baby!

Reflections of 2013

I know it’s already March, but I wanted to go back and reflect back on 2013. We had so many big things happen during this past year!

In January we transitioned Tucker to a big boy bed and his new room upstairs, in February Tucker turned two, Jace arrived in March, Tucker potty trained in April, We took a family trip with the Golding’s in May, put up garden produce for the year in June, went on a family trip with the Gilland’s in July, Katherine and Scott got engaged in August, we had our annual labor day trip with the Golding’s, Clarks, and Byrds in September, David and Bethany got engaged in October, as well as Jonathan getting saved! In November, Jonathan was baptized and Jace was dedicated (on the same day), Katherine and Scott were married, and Tucker was saved from drowning in the Clark’s lake.

This was a crazy, busy year, but I’m finding that it keeps getting busier with each child added to our family. I feel like it goes so very quickly!

I’m so thankful for…
1. Our family – especially Godly grandparents who reflect Christ to my children
2. Our Life group at church – love living life with each of these sweet families
3. The boys – they delight in each other’s company!
4. Family Time – We do not take this for granted – really trying to cherish our time together
5. Date Nights – I love my hubby! We went fishing and hunting for a few dates this past year and had such a fun time
6. Being a wife and mom – this is the scariest and hardest job I’ve ever done, but I wouldn’t change it for anything!
7. Learning to really pray, study, and rely on the Lord through His Word.

What I have learned throughout this year –
1 Being a mom is hard! I knew this already, but I need Christ’s forgiveness for my failures and shortcomings daily, as well as direction on how to parent each of my sweet boys.
2 My Children are SO forgiving and loving. – I’m so thankful or the forgiveness and love of a child. I fail them daily, yet they still snuggle up, forgive, and love me! What a wonderful reminder of how Jesus loves us!
3. A spiritual head of the family changes the dynamics of a family. I’ve seen so much more scripture being breathed into our home in the last few months, and it’s so cool to see Jonathan get home and read his Bible to Tucker, and we discuss what was read. Tucker loves being read to, so it’s such a great way to teach him The Word.
4. The joy that the Lord gives in this life is such a wonderful and amazing blessing – I just want to soak it all in.
5. Our boys are growing up so fast – it makes me realize how much I need to (and I am) cherish this and every stage. This is taking so much more meaning to me.
6. The most important thing I can do for my boys is love Christ first and their daddy second – I’m loving getting true dates with Jonathan. We haven’t had very many since the boys came along, and we need to have dates – and often!                                                                                                                                                                  7. Scripture is something that I have always worked at memorizing but never something that I’ve been very good at doing. I’m working with Tucker to memorize scriptures together. Obviously these verses are short, but it’s so impactful in our every day lives. Quoting scripture in our home is something I want to be second nature.

 

The Lord has blessed our family in 2013 and I’m looking forward to seeing what he has in store for 2014!