I love my little lacey-bug

Lacey's interpretation of Jesus' birth - dinosaurs & all!! :)

I am loving this Christmas.. I will say that we're a little meager this year on the gift side, (but our kids don't know that :)), and Lacey is REALLY excited. Every night when we pray she thanks God for Christmas, our Christmas tree, Jesus, snow, the pretty lights, her nativity, etc. She loves it all! Whenever we go to bed, or someone leaves, she says, "Merry Christmas!!" She LOVES sharing a bedroom with Cal. They're doing really good too! She wants to participate in all of Jay & my conversations - it's HILARIOUS ;) We'll be talking about something and she'll pick something random to comment on.. One day Jay got home from work and we were talking and he said, "I'm pooped." Well, she heard that and said, "You're poopy, Daddy?!" And she's sooo interested! I just love her. ;)

Cal doesn't know much about Christmas, but his vocab sure is exploding! He can say almost anything, loves pumpkins (he, for some reason says, "lamalalsujdr, PUMPKIN") sweets, Lacey and big-time dad when he walks through the door. He's such a little lover/cuddler. He points to the tree and says, "tee" and as we drive around at night loves pointing out the pretty lights with Lace. He is a JOY. He likes to walk around with a stocking cap on and "sues" (shoes). He's a great sleeper. (The pic below is him w/ Lace's hat on.. he's crying because I wanted him to stand back and he wanted to be right in my face, saying, CHEESE!!) love it :)

As I look back on this last year I can't help but see God's love and provision shining through. I have felt His love and protection this last year like no other. The verse that stands out to me - and I have clung to, Psalm 37:7 - "Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait patiently for Him to act." -because, eventually, in His perfect time, He always does.. act.

Christmas pic..

Oops, I forgot.. This is a pic I took of the kiddos on Thanksgiving. It was going to be our Christmas card, but I think we have decided to forgo Christmas cards this year.. bummer, I know :) Anyway, Gobble Gobble & Ho Ho Ho (and of course, away in a manger :)) haha!

Thanksgiving

We really had a great Thanksgiving.. but the only thing Lacey had to say about Thanksgiving was that she was thankful for Christmas, her cousins, and that Christmas was coming.. nice :) We actually had quite an eventful weekend (and all the fault basically lands at my feet...). Here's why: I decided that this was the weekend to move Callan into Lacey's room and move Lacey into a big-girl bed (I know, she's three and she's still in a crib?! It works - I love having her penned in :)). Anyway, coupled with the fact that it was Thanksgiving made for a busy weekend. (However, my thinking was that Jay would be home more during the long weekend and thus we could do it then and have a couple of nights before he went back to work - genius!) Well, we didn't end up doing it on Wednesday or Thursday night as I had anticipated.. It was too late on Wednesday after J got home, and Thursday night we just focused on putting up the Christmas tree. So Friday was the big day. Jay worked half day, and when he got home - we got to work. We moved everything out of Lacey's room and I scrubbed and scoured so it was perfectly clean. :) Then we moved both beds in and the dresser from Cal's room upstairs (it's bigger).
So Friday night was the big night.. It really only took them about an hour and a half to fall asleep.. but then.. oh my - Lacey woke up crying @ 2am - well, wait... before they fell asleep, I decided to lay down w/ them to help calm them down (which really, was a bad idea.. - we've never slept w/ our kids and thus it just makes them all wound up..) anyway, I climbed into Lace's toddler bed AND IT BROKE!!! what a fatty I felt like :) Jay happened to be at the gym, so I pulled the mattress off, tried to console Lacey who was, of course, upset that her new bed - broke. :) OOO good times :) So anyway, I left and they fell asleep.. And then 2am comes. I go down and lay w/ her (she had woken up Cal, so he was awake, too) I laid w/ them for awhile, but noticed they were restless.. So after about 45min, I went back up to bed.. They were quiet for awhile, but then they started playing and laughing! ;) Jay went down and they had the lights on, and Lacey was dancing around the room and Callan was dying laughing.. THEY WERE HAVING A PARTY @ about 3am! nice.. So, J had a "chat" w/ them and came to bed.. They thankfully slept the rest of the night :) Suffice it to say, things have been looking up since then - it gets better every night :)
We spent Thanksgiving @ my grandma's.. she hosts about every holiday for my family; and we spent Saturday with Jay's family. It was a really nice weekend - especially when the kids started sleeping.

Top 10 Reasons I haven't been blogging

1. Things have been CRAZY around here it seems.. (and when I say crazy, I mean mentally, not exactly "fly by the seat of our pants" crazy.) And some days I just don't think I wanted to think about it. ;) Should I elaborate?

New Title: Top Ten reasons it's been CRAZY around here and I haven't been
blogging :)

1. Baby #3 is on the way! (oh my.. it's the first time I've typed it.. yikes!)

2. Baby #3 is on the way and I still have 2 other kids to love on, take care of, house to clean, laundry to.. ahem.. do, and a husband to take care of!

3. Baby #3 is on the way and it was a TOTAL shocker!

4. Baby #3 is on the way.. I'm about 14 weeks pregnant and am still SHOCKED by it!

5. Thankful that baby #3 is on the way.. i.e. Thankful for GOD's BLESSINGS!!!

Wait, I think I've digressed... How bout a new title.. "Things I'm thankful for"

1. That baby #3 is on the way :)

2. God's provision

3. God's Word

4. God's love

5. A wonderful husband who works hard all day and comes home and loves on me and our children..

6. Wonderful children

7. God's direction

8. Prayer

9. God's blessings

10. Patience (ok, this one I'm working on, but when I have it, I'm thankful for it!!)

I am also very thankful that on Monday I get to hear the baby's hearbeat!!!!!!!!! I am soo very excited to meet this little one - I think a little more so then the others because this one is such a surprise.. Excited to see why God wanted this one in our family.. NOW :)

Here's to more crazy times!

It just goes sooo fast!!

Quick thought tonight.. I just love holding and rocking my babies.. But (sooner than I think) they are going to grow up and be big people like Jay & me, and will I still have that urge to just pull them in my lap and hold them?!? I think I will, and that makes me sad.. (that they're going to grow up, I mean.) I know that sometimes it's maddness around here and I wish they could do more on their own, but the truth is, I don't. I want everything to stay the same it is right now. I love them and my life just the way it is. :) (that's not selfish now, is it :) )

Fun Times!

I haven't written in awhile, but that's not because I don't have anything to write about.. We had a GREAT June! Cal is now walking, and we've been playing outside, swimming in our little pool, going on bike rides (borrowing Aunt Jessica's bike & trailer - we love that!), and walking. Lacey's vocab is just exploding (like in phrases, i.e. yesterday she said to me, "mom, you're a genius!" - how great is that!) And the other day she said, "Mom, I'm going to make all your dreams come true." It's gotta be a movie or something. :) (we have just discovered Blue's Clue's.. hmmm.) Cal has has also become a pretty good little "signer." He now signs "please," "more," and "all done." Now he's not the expert and didn't do it as early as Lace, but he didn't have Rachel the master teacher. :)

Our only two bad experiences (that I can think of..) were #1 the Morton fireworks - really, there are no words to how bad it was. Lacey was a wreck!!! She worked herself up soo bad that literally she was asleep in the back seat of our car (legs on floor head in the seat) by 8pm. She didn't like the loud booms of people setting fireworks off, the sparklers - she wouldn't have any of it! Absolutely terrified. We really felt so bad! Especially because it's not like you can leave - you kind of get jammed in the VFW parking lot. Still, 3 weeks later at least 3 x's daily I hear, "mom, I don't like the fireworks.." I think she's traumatized.. #2 was that Cal chipped a tooth.. Not exactly sure how, but I was in the kitchen and he was in the living room and I heard a "thud," then some loud crying. I came into the room and he was in the coat closet and blood was coming out of his mouth.. (eeks..) I gave him some ice to chew on (safe in a mesh holder), but he's not the type to let me look inside his mouth.. So the next day I got a look and there was a gash on his gums and his bottom, right tooth was chipped! Poor baby! It's a good thing it was a baby tooth!

But, overall, it's been really good. We had our cousins from Florida (my cousin, his wife and two girls - Isabel (2) & Sofia (7mo) here this last week for my (our) grandpa's 80th birthday. We went to Wildlife Prairie Park, the zoo, and capped it off with dinner at my parent's house. It was a really great week!

And tonight, as I finished putting Lacey down for bed (and this has been happening a lot lately), I just get almost overwhelmed at my life.. (in a good way). How much joy and peace fill it. I am overwhelmingly thankful to God for first saving me with His son's death on the cross and second, for my wonderful, beautiful, challenging & rewarding family. He alone provides our every need and I am so thankful to Him. He has allowed me to stay at home with my children, and even if it doesn't last forever, I'm trying not to take a minute of it for granted. I am soo blessed. My prayer and goal is to continually live and love for Him alone.

So, I tried something new today.. Something I've heard people doing (a long time ago)..

I HUNG MY LAUNDRY ON THE LINE :)

I tried it for several reasons.. 1. As if it isn't hot enough 2. thriftiness - let's save a buck and dry our clothes for free! 3. I'm trying to go "green." 4. I've heard people say how much they love the smell of their clothes dried on the line!
Here are my observations.. (I know, another list, but it keeps me organized and on topic ;))
Pros: it is free, and I love that; and surprisingly, the clothes dried quite quickly! And the clothes dried great - I bought some clothespins, and just hung them up on the line - no prob.
Cons: the towels feel like cardboard.. it looks like they could stand on their own! And I'm not a fan of the smell.. they don't smell like I even washed them!!
Conclusion: I will try to continue to hang my clothes up to dry because, "hey, it's summer.. the second you put your clothes on you start to sweat anyway, so who cares what they smell like!" (I guess..) But I have a few "won't's" to go along w/ it.. I won't put "skivvies" on the line - nobody wants to see that, and I won't put anything for church on the line - you can't smell like dirty laundry for church!
Overall, it cracks me up.. Now I know why dryers were invented - for soft, delicious-smelling clothes - that no bird can poop on or no bug can crawl on.. What a genius that guy was :)