This should work now...

Hopefully this video will work. I had just shared it from facebook before, and I think the settings were messed up. Sorry!

Lily and Levi quoting Isaiah 9:6


Merry Christmas!

Midweek Randoms

Today Asher turned 9 months old! I really don't know how that happened, wasn't he just born?!

I think I got all our Christmas cards done tonight. Just have to get stamps and send them off. 

I still have a lot of shopping to do and not one thing is wrapped yet. Our babysitter came today and I was able to run out and knock out a few more one-gift-per-store kind of errands. Such a blessing!!

We are teaching Lily and Levi Isaiah 9:6. They almost have it memorized! It's amazing how much little minds can learn and remember!

It is so hard to get a decent picture of three wiggly, squirming children! :)

I think my Endometriosis is back. It was "dormant" for the last nearly four years while I was pregnant (and the time between pregnancies was so short, it didn't have the chance to come back). The last three weeks have been hard for me. It's hard to be a happy mommy when you are hurting. I started back on the Endometriosis Diet (which is basically no caffeine, no sugar, limited grains/starches) and have seen some results! I'm so thankful! Please pray for me if the Lord brings me to your mind.

Currently: I'm sitting cross-legged on the couch in comfy clothes, the heater is running, babes are soundly sleeping, and hubby is writing emails. I need to start the dishwasher, wash up the bottles, brush my teeth, check on the babes, and get in bed. 

Happy Wednesday!

Fun Family Night

I feel so bad for neglecting my little blog. I miss all of my blog friends soo much and I miss sharing our lives. Hopefully I'll get back in the groove soon. Lots has been going on around here. With tons of Christmas things and spending time with family, and really, just life with three little kids is busy. 

I feel the need to say, that NO, I'm not pregnant. :) Over and over I've had friend's who blog frequently, suddenly have a blogging break when they are newly pregnant. I just wanted to clear up any suspicions you might've had. :)

Last night we had a fun family night. We made homemade pizza together, and while it baked, we made  snowmen. Last year, just Lily and Daddy did them, but this year we all did. 

Our snow family on the refrigerator. :)

After our yummy supper, the kids opened their Christmas jammies and Lily and Levi got Christmas books. 

The traditional "picture in new jammies" was pretty much a fail this year. I was only using my phone and Asher was not a fan of sitting still for even two seconds. Oh well.

Another attempt. 

Yes, Asher is actually going to have to get some other Christmas jams (probably the ones Levi wore last year) - I bought them from a consignment store about a month ago thinking they would fit just fine around Christmas. Ha!

Asher was done with pictures! 

We read our Christmas stories and watched Charlie Brown (with chocolate chip cookies) to finish off the evening. 

I'm so thankful for my sweet little family! Even through the difficult times we have as my babes are small, it's these special times I pray I always remember.

8 months.

Sweet Asher turned 8 months old on November 11. Yes, I'm behind...

He is a busy, busy boy! He scoots (army crawls) everywhere. I regularly find him in the bathroom, down the hall, in the kid's rooms, or in the kitchen (when I'm cooking he always comes to be with me.)

He puts stuff in his mouth. I dug a artificial flower bud out of his mouth, as well as a heart-shaped tag from a beanie baby. 

He loves to eat! He still takes 4 bottles each day and eats three meals. So far he hasn't turned away any food I've offered him.

He is such a mama's boy right now. Like, seriously, if I'm out of sight (when we are out and about), he is very unhappy.

He still takes 2 naps each day and sleeps 11-12 hours at night. 

He likes to "talk" and blow bubbles.

He has one tooth all the way in and I can feel three others ready to pop through. Teething has been hard on him.

He wear's 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

Love you, sweet boy!

such a slacker

Wow! Has it really been nearly 3 weeks since I posted?!? We have had so much going on...hardly time to sit down, it seems.

Here's a short update on our life - 

Since Jacob's Pawpaw passed away on the weekend of Jacob's sister's wedding, the wedding was postponed until this Saturday. We have been busy with all manner of things for the wedding, as well as preparing for Thanksgiving and spending time with family. 

Jacob and his team did awesome in the Ragnar race! They ended up finishing as the 49th team out of 250! They also reached their goal of raising $10,000 for the mission in Liberia! So awesome!!

Asher is a busy little man - scooting all over the house and getting into everything!

Levi has entered the "terrible two" stage, but he has a very contrite heart when he is corrected. What a huge responsibility we have to teach and train our little ones.

Lily is such a little mama. She is constantly "mothering" her two little brothers...which is not always appreciated by them! LOL 

I'm spending all my spare minutes working on the quiet books for the kid's Christmas. I have about 3 or 4 more pages (each) to do for Lily and Levi's books and then I hope to start on Asher's book. Asher's isn't going to be nearly as involved as L & L's so I'm hoping I'll get it finished by Christmas! 

I'm hoping things will slow down a little after this weekend so I can get caught up on blogging and reading all your blogs! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Running for Libera

Please go read this post by my sister. My hubby is part of the team running in this race. Please pray for the team, the race, and the mission in Liberia. If the Lord lays it on your heart to give, we would be so grateful!

Thank you!

In Heaven

Pawpaw went to be with Jesus early yesterday morning. Thank you all so much for your prayers for the family right now. Our hearts are broken because we miss him, but we are rejoicing that he is with his Savior and his dear wife.

Pawpaw.

We have been spending all the time we can over at Pawpaw's home. He is very close to the end of his journey here on earth. Although this is a very, very difficult time, it is also a precious time because of the hope we have in Christ.

Lots of family and friends have been gathered around him for the last 4-5 days. I always start crying when I pull up to the house because there are usually 15-20 cars lining the street around his house - that is love.

The picture above was taken last week when he was still able to get out of bed. He is now unresponsive and peacefully sleeping.

Please keep all the family in your prayers these next few days. Thank you!

Midweek Randoms

Monday was a really rough day at our house. All the kids were cranky and mama's patience wore thin many, many times throughout the day. I think the main reason for the crankiness was the busy weekend and not getting enough sleep. All three kids were up by 7:00 Monday morning...and they normally sleep til around 8 or 8:30. I think that day will go down in the books as my hardest day being a mother so far. I'm thankful for God's sufficient grace! I can't tell you the number of times I cried and prayed (out loud). 

Praise the Lord, Tuesday was a much better day! 

Jacob has so much going on this week - gone early in the morning and late at night.

It is so, so weird not being pregnant right now! This is the first Fall and Winter I haven't been pregnant in three years. As weird as it may sound, I kind of miss it! That being said, I can't imagine being pregnant with an almost 3 year old, almost 2 year old, and a 7 month old! Wow!

Asher started saying Da-Da on Monday. :)

Levi's favorite song right now is Amazing Grace. When I was rocking him before his nap yesterday, he asked for "Grace" and then after we would sing it he'd immediately say "again, again." 

Lily is getting to be so grown up. She is such a big helper to me and she cheerfully does her chores each day. I really need to make her a chore chart so she can mark off the chores when she gets them done.

After taking our babysitter home yesterday, we stopped by and visited Memaw and my parent's. Lily and Levi were so excited to go to the barn and "help" Papaw feed the animals. My dad is so sweet to give them little jobs to do so they feel like they are really helping. :)

Today we have errands to run and we are hoping to stop by and visit Jacob's Pawpaw. He loves to see the kids.

The verse that has been going through my mind all week is: Psalm 34:1 - I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Oh how I pray that this would be true in me!

Happy Wednesday!

Video: Breakfast at Our House

There is definitely no lack for entertainment at our house! :)

7 months.

What is Mr. Asher up to at 7 months old?

• Scooting and rolling everywhere, but no crawling yet.
• Drooling and drooling and drooling. Hopefully some teeth pop through before too long!
• Sitting pretty well.

• Chewing on everything! No, he doesn't suck his thumb, but he chews on it.
• Eating. This child seriously loves to eat! He takes 4 bottles a day as well as eating 3 meals and sometimes a snack before bed. He hasn't turned away any food yet. He just gobbles up whatever we offer!

• So far he's eaten - applesauce, pears, avocados, green beans, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, egg yolks, pumpkin, squash, chicken, and banana. I'm attempting to keep him grain-free until he's at least a year old. I didn't do this with Lily or Levi, but from stuff I've read, it's best for their digestive system.

• Weighs 16lbs, wears size 3-6 and 6 month clothes, size 2 shoes, and size 3 diapers.
• Sleeps like a champ! Usually two 1 1/2-2 hour naps each day and 11-12 hours at night (straight through). 
• He's been sleeping in his crib in Levi's room for awhile now. He usually wakes up before Levi in the morning, so I sneak in and get him so Levi can snooze a little longer. Asher takes some of his naps in the co-sleeper still. It just depends on how the day is going.

Asher, we are so thankful for you! You are a sweet little man, and we love you!

Scattered.

Wow, how is it I haven't blogged since October 5th!?! We have been incredibly busy! I wish I could say that life is going to slow down a little, but I really don't see any slowing down until the middle of March. Yes, March! 

So this is just a run-down post of what we've been doing so I don't forget.

Last week we spent nearly the whole week preparing for a huge yard sale on Friday and Saturday. It was a fundraiser yard sale like we had back in May. All the proceeds are going to help build a mission house in Liberia. The sale was at our house so all week people were bringing donations. 

This is what one side of the living room looked like by Thursday night. The other side had just as much stuff. It was crazy! Myra and I were pretty much the people organizing and running the sale but our husbands and our Dad helped tremendously! 

Friday morning we got everything set out, had a few sales, then we had nearly an inch of rain fall in less than an hour! Myra, Daddy, and I were running around like drowned rats trying to get stuff out of the rain. Myra and Daddy called and rented a huge white tent for the remainder of the sale. The guys came and put it up in the pouring rain. So we spent the majority of the day Friday drying stuff off and throwing away stuff that got ruined.

Saturday was a much better day! We had a great sale and ended up making between $500 and $600!

While we were packing up all the remains of the sale, Lily, Levi, and my nephew, Ridley, were jumping on bubble wrap. All of the sudden, Lily fell to the ground and called me saying that she was hurt. I thought maybe Ridley had jumped on her foot (she was barefoot which isn't unusual). She didn't get back up so I went over and saw that she had a cluster of 3 staple-gun staples in her heel. Apparently she had jumped on the staples and they were super deep. :(

I ended up taking her to the ER to get them out. She was so, so brave! Barely any tears the whole time, and she fell asleep while we were waiting on our discharge papers! Jacob was gone to play a wedding and I am so thankful it happened when my family was still at my house, so they could watch the boys. Myra came with me until Jacob's mom got there. It was a blessing to have the support of everyone because I was kind of a mess.

Friday was Jacob's 30th birthday! I pretty much flopped on all the fun things I had planned to do for him. :( With preparing for the yard sale, I didn't have much time to do anything, but my debit card got hacked halfway through the week...so I had no way to get cash from the ATM or use my card to buy any gifts. 

The birthday cheesecake is store bought (thanks to my mom) because I couldn't buy the ingredients to make the homemade one I'd planned to make. The three candles take the place of the awesome 3 and 0 candles I've had for months...bought specifically for this occasion, but forgotten. Ugh! That's only the tip of the iceberg in the fail department.

We had supper with Jacob's family at his favorite mexican restaurant. Then we were able to pull off a surprise party afterwards! It was fun and he was definitely surprised!

I love this guy and I'm so thankful he's the Daddy of my babies!

Saturday night we visited with Jacob's Pawpaw for a little while. He was doing pretty well that night, but he's gone down hill really fast and has hardly eaten anything for several days. Please keep him and our family in your prayers if you think of it. 

Hope you all are doing well! I miss keeping up with you and hope to get the chance to again soon!

Snapshots.

happy girl.

little sweetie.

{yes, the L's "decorated" the front of the truck. ha!}

sleeping with "bird" that daddy slept with as a kid.

hangin' out with bessie - my in-law's dog.

yes, he fell asleep like this! haha.

Happy Weekend!

Midweek Randoms.

It rained Monday and part of Tuesday so we've been busy building couch cushion houses, playing play dough, playing hide and seek, and reading tons of books.

Levi has had a cough, but it seemed worse today. Not sure if it's allergies or something else. 

We have been buying locally grown apples by the peck. We've made the best fresh apple juice and applesauce! The other day I found Lily and Levi hiding snacking on apples. Little stinkers!

We had Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili for supper. It simmered in the crock pot all day and made the house smell soo good! Everyone loved it! It would be a great meatless meal too - the beans and sweet potatoes make it super filling.

I'm so proud of this guy! He's training to run a Ragnar Race (from Chattanooga to Nashville) in a few weeks! He's part of a 10 or 12 man team - it's like a relay race. I'm hoping to take the kids to Nashville to see them cross the finish line - Jacob's not the guy running at the end, but it'll still be cool to see them cross!

I love Eric Carle books just as much as my kids do! :)

I really need to get in the kitchen and clean up the dishes from supper.

Aunt K has been coming to visit and play with the kids a few hours each week. The kids just love it and I enjoy the adult conversation in the middle of the day!

It's so hard when two (or all three) of my kids need my attention at once. I think God should have given mama's more than two hands! :)

Lily is currently singing Mary Had A Little Lamb as she goes to sleep.

I love my family!