Midweek Snapshots

Jacob's sister has been coming over once a week to play with the kids for a few hours. I clean and catch up on projects while she's here. It's such a blessing to me!

Reading together.

Lickin' the beaters.

Big boy.

Supper with extended family before some sweet cousins moved to Texas. :(

Mama spent lots of afternoons this summer writing down the books we read for the kid's summer reading program. It was kind of a pain to have to write all the book titles three different times. Next year I'll type them! :)

Mmmm.

The mess makers. At least they sat and read the books for a long time!

Our cucumbers did so well this summer! 

L&L love to drink out of mugs. I guess it makes them feel grown up. :)

Mid Week Randoms.

Some mornings Jacob teaches super early and then comes home for a little bit before he goes to teach more classes. The kids love to watch for him and he likes coming home to this! :)

For several weeks now, I've been going to the gym with my sister and dad at 5:30 in the morning. I love it! I love getting out of bed and getting my day started early. I get home and can have my quiet time before anyone else is out of bed.

The other day while the boys napped, Lily and I had some girl time. I gave her a mani and pedi and we played together. She had the best time.

Jacob's brother's wedding and my bro's wedding are coming up so soon! I have so much planning and packing to do! The weddings are a week apart, one is in Indiana and one is in South Carolina. Craziness!

Whenever I go to a thrift store, I always check out the books. These are some of my most recent finds - almost all of them are like new!

So much of our days are spent reading. We read these little books, but we also read chapter books. Lately we've finished Charlotte's Web, Hello Mrs Piggle Wiggle, and the first Boxcar Children book. Lily and Levi are so funny - at the end of a chapter they beg me to read more. :) I'm so glad they love books!

Levi is a rascal! He climbs on everything. The other night I walked into the kitchen and he was standing on the table! He had been sitting in his seat eating his supper, but I guess he decided he was done.

We got 4 hens over the weekend! So far we've been getting 3-4 eggs each day! The other day, Jacob was finishing up the coop and we got to talking about our plans for a garden, the next thing we knew, two of the hens were running around the yard. It took us awhile to get them back in, but I'm sure our neighbors got a laugh at us if they happened to look out their windows! :)

L&L love finding flowers in the yard to bring to me. It's so sweet.

My little ones are starting to wake up, so I must go fix a bottle and breakfast, and oh, coffee too! 

Psalm 145:8

The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

Happy Wednesday!

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!!

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!

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!

Midweek Randoms.

I started this post on Sunday and it was going to be all about our weekend. Since it is now Wednesday, I thought I would just make it a random post. :)

We went out for a family frozen yogurt date on Friday night. So fun and so yummy!

My sister-in-law got engaged a week and a half ago! So excited for her! She's getting married at the beginning of November..eeeek! So much planning, so little time! Jacob's helping with the music, Lily is going to be a flower girl and I'm thrilled to get to be a bridesmaid! Our babysitter is also in the wedding, so I've got to figure out childcare for the boys. 

Lily and Levi are playing so well together these days. They love playing house, hide and seek, etc. Such a fun stage!

The weather here in Alabama has been amazing the last week or so! We have been outside so much. The kids love playing on their swing set and with our dog, Roo.

My brother-in-law's fiancé is here visiting this week. My kids just adore their Uncle Joe and Audrey! :)

Speaking of weddings, I don't think I've mentioned on here about how crazy our lives are going to be in March of next year - Joe and Audrey are getting married one weekend in Indiana and then the very next weekend my bro and his fiancé are getting married in South Carolina! I start breaking out in hives just thinking about it! LOL Traveling with three little ones two weekends in a row, with the time change thrown in there, Jacob not being able to go to my bro's wedding because of a concert he's contracted to play in, and me being a bridesmaid in one wedding. Total insanity!! :)

Lily loves playing with my youngest brother. He even plays dolls with her sometimes!

I was so proud of Lily yesterday. One wise friend of mine said to just wait until children are closer to three to take away their paci's. Lily has been so attached to hers - but only getting it at naptime and bedtime for over a year now. Well, yesterday, out of the blue she said that she was a big girl now and was going to throw her paci in the trash can. She did and hasn't asked about it since! Can't believe how much my baby girl is growing up!

The kids are starting to wake up from naps now, so I'd better get this published. Hope y'all are having an awesome week!!

Midweek Randoms

We have been having a good week. I feel like I never stop going - but I am thankful I have three little blessings to keep me busy. 

Asher is teething and has been so fussy this week. Teething tablets are my friend!

The kids have been playing so well together lately. It warms my heart to see them getting along!

I am this "--" close to getting off Facebook. I'm just really tired of drama, controversy, negativity, and people posting things aimed at others but not coming right out and saying. I'm already not getting on but maybe once or twice a day, but just letting those of you who are my "friend" know, if I disappear, it's not because I've "unfriended" you, I'm just off for awhile.

We are having a conference at church next week. I'm helping as much as I can with the food - mainly making stuff at home and taking it for the meals. Today I did a big shopping trip to get all the ingredients. It was crazy, especially with three kids in tow! 

Playing sweetly.

I got to talk to my best friend today! It was the best 30 minutes! I seriously miss her so much and hope we can somehow figure out a way to talk more often.

Lily "working on" her shopping cart. Notice the tool bag. I love the heels too. Ha!

I called around to a bunch of speech therapists to get info and rates. I had no idea it was so expensive! All the offices I called cost about the same, so we are hoping to get in with the one in our town. There is a program the state offers called Early Intervention, which would be free, but they don't work with articulation, which is what Levi needs help with to determine whether he needs palate surgery or not.

This week I've been thinking a lot on Matthew 6. There are so many precious verses there, but these are some of my favorites:

Matthew 6:30-34

Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore, take no thought, for your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for tomorrow, for the morrow will take thought of the things of itself.

Midweek Randoms

Lily is so into talking on the phone right now. Whenever Jacob, Grammie, Yaya, or Aunt Myra calls, she begs to talk to them. She carries on conversations quite well, believe it or not. When I talk on the phone, I'm typically multi-tasking, so I hold the phone on my shoulder/under my chin...Lily hasn't quite figured out how to do it though. Ha!

Lily and Levi are always climb up on stools when I up Asher in the highchair. They love talking to him and playing with him.

All tucked in the highchair with a baby doll and a play lemon. 

Levi does not get what you're supposed to do with a tent. Ha!

A sweet girl from church came to play with Lily today! Lily had the greatest time with her. She played hard and took a nice long nap.

Silly Lily with her first up-do. :)

Asher was pretty fussy yesterday, but I think he's going through a growth spurt. I upped his milk and he was much better today.

In an effort to cut our grocery bill, we have been eating a lot of beans and rice. I've decided I'm not a very good bean cooker. The red beans turned out split, grainy and mushy. The black beans we not ready when it was supper time...even though they should have been by the recipe I went by. Oh well. Hopefully I'll perfect the cooking of beans over the next few weeks.

Levi's glasses were missing all day. We seriously searched the house from top to bottom. Jacob even searched through the kitchen trash, but we still couldn't find them. Finally, when Jacob was down on his hands and knees looking under the bookshelves for the fifteenth time, he glanced up and saw the edge of the glasses poking out from under the Bumbo. I can't tell you how happy we were to find them!

We went to visit my sister's family and Baby Cameron tonight. What a perfect little guy he is! I loved getting to hold him and chat with my sis while our hubby's talked and the kids played.

Happy Wednesday!