Easter Pictures 2011

I think I'm going to have to learn how to use photoshop.
Conor leaves hours before me, so the first set of pictures was just me trying to get the kids to sit on our front sidewalk.  On a side note, right before we came outside, Kyler decided to put everything he could find, including a brand new box of tissue, into the bathroom sink and turned the water on full-blast.  Then he ran outside for pictures.  Thank you my son.

 The second set I had some help with, but still, Darby is chewing on a jelly bean and Ky is ready for his nap. 

Pretty sure these will be even funnier to me in about 10 years.

Strawberry Patch

A good friend here in Austin invited us to go strawberry picking with her two Fridays ago.  I called her to tell her she was crazy.   But this past Friday, tax season was over which meant my mom & sister could come to keep that kid to adult ratio lower.  I mean, I'm sure Kim and I could have taken the kids and made it through the time without losing any children and maybe even come home with some strawberries.  But let's be honest.  It would not have been fun.

So with the additional help, we gathered the kids, packed some lunches and drove just under an hour to the Strawberry patch.  My mom wrangled Kyler the whole time (Bless her) and the kids had a great time with their friends wandering the strawberry patch....

They even picked a couple strawberries.  Darby was mostly interested in the flowers on the strawberry plants.

Kyler loved the process but also loved the way the strawberries squished between his fingers.  Pick, squish, put in basket.  Pick, squish, put in basket.

Carson was a trooper.

I'm not sure we got a single strawberry that was bigger than a hershey kiss.  And half of them were smushed.  The rest of them were pretty much destroyed when the kids spilled their goat food into the strawberry basket.  The goat food resembled rabbit poop and the strawberries were pretty runny since half of them were picked...and smashed... by Kyler.  So...I threw them out when we got home....

Yet another stellar mom moment.  We left the lunches we packed at home.  So the kids ate pretzels and cheezits for lunch and we picked up some 35 ingredient McDonalds chicken nuggets on the way home.  
There were also goats that the kids could feed.  Darby and Carson loved them. Kyler wanted nothing to do with them.

Love trying to get group shots of the kids.  Here are Darby and Ky with their friends Caleb and Callie.  For reference: Callie is 2 1/2 or so.  Darby turns 4 next week.  Callie's a tall 2 I suppose but mostly Darby's just still a peanut. Caleb is 4 1/2 and full of personality...if you couldn't tell...

Overall, I'd say it was a successful outing.  We made it home with all the kids, no injuries, and no huge meltdowns. With 5 kids 4 and under, that's pretty impressive.

Poker Chips and Gladware

So in order to keep moments like this

to a minimum we sometimes have to come up with creative ways to keep our little guy occupied.
His newest obsession is poker chips.  He knows where they're kept and loves to pull them out and sling them across the room.  But lacks the dexterity to put them back in their little sleeves.  So our new solution:  Gladware.

I stole this idea from the gymnastics class at the YMCA.  They slit a hole in the top of gladware and the kids LOVE putting poker chips through the slit.  Genius.  And cheap. 

So now when I walk into a room and the floor is littered with poker chips, I can hand him the gladware and ask him to pick them up.  "O-Tay mama" he says (LOVE how he says that.  Don't ever grow up little man.)   Clean-Up is now a game. :)

All the Rules

As I wipe down the table from lunch, two boys peacefully down for naps, and one little girl in the bathroom washing her hands, I hear the words of a little girl's honest, private prayer.

"God" she says, and she doesn't know I hear her as well.
"God - I know you love me very very much.  And you love me even when I disobey.  But the rules are so hard.  Can you please make the rules easier?"

My heart squeezes and I smile as I hear this honest prayer from a little three year old that struggles to obey.  I hear her heart and how much she longs to and so often I see her flesh rise against that desire in her heart and she struggles. 


And I am thankful.
I am so thankful that she struggles.
I am overwhelmed with gratitude that at the tender age of 3 she has learned the lesson we all must understand.  That we will never follow all the rules.  That we will always come up short.  Isn't that what Romans says?  "All have sinned and fall short..."  All.   The 'rules' as she calls them are not there so that we can follow each one and check each box and fall in line.  They are there to show us that we can't.  That we lack.  That we need.

Grace.  A Redeemer.  A Savior.

The only One who ever could follow all the "rules" - and who died to fill the gap of what we lack and bring us to the One we need.  So we could have relationship.  Life to the Full.

And I am so thankful that she can not follow all our rules.  That she struggles.  That she rebels and makes mistakes and in turn sees us make mistakes.  How else would she understand?  How else would she see her need?  How else would she understand this Easter and the cross and the resurrection? 

A mother's heart is filled with joy at a little girl who knows she needs Jesus.

Sad little men and Pet Doctors

Remember that cute, sweet little boy that just turned 9 months old?  Oy what a day he is having.
On Saturday we went to Texas A&M for the Vet School open house.  My sister in law is finishing up vet school and thought the kids would enjoy the day.  They did - only one crazy meltdown at naptime, but for the most part they did great.  Aunt Christina performed surgery on (stuffed) "Lamby" for Darby and Dori the fish for Cory and we got to see a couple animals...
There was a petting zoo but the line was long and we have 3 kids under 4.  We don't really do long lines.  We did one for the teddy bear surgery and it led to the crazy meltdown. 
We had a great time and Darby has decided that she's going to be a pet doctor when she grows up.  She's been practicing on her stuffed animals ever since.

Well after the fun time at the mostly indoor event we realized we were going to have to walk back to our car.  There'd been a shuttle on the way but we didn't catch it on the way back.  Long story short, little man got a sunburn.  I have a list of excuses.  We weren't planning on being outside.  He wouldn't keep his hat on, it wasn't even that long  etc. etc.  But he's burnt.  And it's pitiful and my heart breaks seeing his little red chapped face..  It's awful. 4 years of parenting, 3 kids, never a sunburn. I'm so mad.
Well that's not where it ends for him.   The cold he's had all week traveled to his eyes.  I called the pediatrician (who I was sure was going to call CPS on me about the sunburn) and scheduled an appointment.
While I was getting dressed, the little man fell and knocked his cheek on the windowsill of the bay windows in our room.  AND during naps scratched the thin skin on his nose. He looks like he got in a fistfight.

So at the doctor:
Double ear infection.
Pink Eye.
Bruised cheek-soon to be black eye.
Sunburn.
Cut on nose.
Bad mother.
 

On the way out, the doctor told me to flush everyone's eyes with sterile water or saline. Ha!
So I pinned him down, peeled his eyes open, and poured sterile water over his sad little eyes.  While he screamed. Like he needed any more torture today.

9 Months

Carson is 9 months old (and about 5 days)
That means we've lived in TX for 8 months now.  Hard to believe. 

In order to celebrate our youngest - and try to keep up with the pictures we took of the older two.  Here are some 9 month pictures of Carson.  I'll have to retake his official 9 month pics for the baby book soon.  My lighting was bad and pictures are blurry, plus he ate my "9 Month" post-it note before I got any good shots.

He's such a sweet boy and gives the best hugs.  He wraps those chubby little arms around your neck and squeezes with all his might.  Especially for his mama. :)  He chases Darby and Kyler around the house, desperate to keep up with them.  And they love him.  They take great pride in making him giggle.  He has an amazing belly-laugh.  He's pulling up, cruising, playing peekaboo, and waving.  We're just hoping for a few more months before he starts walking.

We love this 4-toothed, big grinned, red-headed little man

And on a side note.  SOMEONE that I will not name here has determined that it's time to cut off my baby's precious red curls.  He said he can't decide if he looks like an old man or Billy Ray Cyrus.  I think that's a slight exaggeration.  But I'm hiding the clippers.

ps please feel free to comment about how my son does NOT yet have a mullet and the baby curls need to stay.  His father Someone needs a little convincing.