Smattering of Sunday Thoughts

Well hello, faithful blog readers.  Has it really been over a month since we last met here?  I've missed the outlet of writing out thoughts from daily life here, but "free time" has become somewhat of a joke in my life lately. ;)  In desperation last week I cried out to my husband, asking for a few hours a week outside of the house, alone, to simply sit and have a complete thought.  Today is my second Sunday of such "dates" with myself, and I hope and pray it will become a weekly Sabbath tradition, this sitting, reading, praying, journaling, blogging, etc., from the local Chocolate shop.  Yes, you read that right.  I've given up the coffee shop scene...I don't drink coffee, and can't currently have any of the frilly treats that all contain dairy products.  But dark chocolate?  Made without any milk?  Yes, PLEASE!  I can't even begin to describe to you the joy and relief I found when I made this little discovery.   So though I make no promises of this post being clear, concise, or organized, because my mind is all in a jumble these days, here's a rundown on our life as of late:

Since adding a teenager to our family, it's been interesting for me to see where my extra time has come from.  Because I certainly didn't think I had any extra time to give, but it has to come from somewhere, right?  Turns out, I spend way less time on Facebook, I gave up reading 75% of the other blogs I was subscribed to, I watch less TV in the evening, and I go to bed way later than I want to or should.  That has probably been the (physically) hardest thing about having a teenager in the house.  Around 9:00 p.m., just about the time I am ready to shut down and close up shop for the day, she magically comes alive and starts to talk.  And I mean really talk, about important stuff that she needs us to hear.  I heard somewhere that teenagers are like oysters, they open up briefly and for short intervals, so you need to jump at every opportunity to drop what you're doing and listen!  So we do.  And God has been faithful to give me the grace I need to make it through the next day even if (when!) the baby has me up multiple times a night following a late night, and prior to an early morning wake-up call.  I was SO thankful for Daylight Savings' time hitting when it did this year...it has been bliss, BLISS I tell you, having at least 2 of our 3 kiddos sleep past 7!  Sometimes 8!  The first morning after the time change I hardly knew what do do with myself when 7:00 came and went and no one was awake needing my attention.  I actually got my house dusted before they got up, for the first time in...well...I'm not going to tell you, because that would be too embarrassing, but it had been quite awhile!  I could get so much done if this tradition continues!  To be honest most mornings I haven't been all that productive...but I have been trying to catch up on all the extra zzzzzzs I can squeeze in.

Let's see, an update on the kiddos anyone?  Grandparents?  Great-grandparents?  Are you going through withdrawal from lack of pictures?

Shortly after Valentine's Day, my dad and Tim took the girls on a special date at my dad's church.  Aren't they adorable?

Audrey has really stepped up her game these last few weeks, and is truly taking on the role of big sister.  She's becoming genuinely helpful, and decided Justus needed to learn the ins and outs of some modern technology one afternoon:

Norah, AKA "Bruiser," and her broken nose.  Norah: 0, Dining Room Chair: 1

She's also been working hard on learning how to write her letters!  

She knows how to spell her name, and can legibly write a few of those out, can you spot them?

She's little Miss Attitude, most days.  Super feisty.

But as quick as she turns it off, she can turn it back on again.  Super sweet.  This girl cracks us up and keeps us on our toes.

Justus turned 7 months old today.  SEVEN MONTHS OLD, PEOPLE!!!!!  Wasn't he just born, like, a month ago or something?  I can't believe how fast his first year is flying by.  Here are some photos I took at his 6 month milestone:

I cannot get enough of these cheeks.  I kiss them all day long. Repeatedly.

And this lip....this pouty lip!  It's going to be nearly impossible for me to deny this little pouty lip.

Mr. J-Man has started a few solid foods.  And by started I don't mean he eats them, he mostly just plays with his food, rolls it around in his mouth, and spits it out.  But he sure has fun!

Some notable quotables from the last few months:

Every time I sit down to read the girls a book before naptime, Audrey says "Mommy will you put your arm around me?" Then I do, and she sighs, "there, that's much more comfortable."  I usually try to do it to Norah too, but she removes my arm from around her shoulder and states matter-of-factly, "Mommy, I am NOT your snuggle bug."  They have different love languages, my daughters do.  It's so fun to figure them out!  Just this afternoon I was carrying Norah home from a family walk early because she suddenly had to go potty.  She was stroking my hair, telling me all about how she was taking the tangles out of it for me, then holding it out of my face so the wind wouldn't blow it.  The wind stopped blowing momentarily, and she told me "I was talking to Jesus about that.  I asked him to stop the wind blowing."  I told her she was sweet and kissed her on the cheek.  She responded with, "Mommy, I need to tell you someting.  I don't like kisses anymore."  :(  Guess what?  She's gonna keep on getting them!!  Silly girl.

Shortly after I started Justus on some solid foods, I asked Tim one night at dinner if he would sit next to Justus' highchair so he could feed him.  Norah's made the funniest face, then practically shouted, "but DADDY can't feed Justus, Daddy doesn't have BREAST-ES!"  We all cracked up so hard at that one.

One day at naptime as I was leaving Audrey's room I saw her finger begin to enter the forbidden zone of the nostril, so I gently told her to stop picking her nose.  She remarked, "But Mommy, it's like there's a loose tooth in my nose!"  Funny, I totally understood the feeling she was talking about!  (I handed her a Kleenex to get it out.) :)

Speaking of naptime, one afternoon Audrey came out of her room and told me "It's really hard to sleep when I keep swallowing saliva."

I've been experimenting with a variety of breakfast bars from Pinterest lately.  Some have been big hits with the kiddos, some not so much.  My most recent experiment was a rip roaring success; Audrey took one bite and remarked, "Mmmmm, Mama, I think you got the recipe right."

Another day she was really satisfied by my cooking.  So much so that I got a "Mommy, you made my wish come true by making this the cheesiest!  So you're kind of the hero of the day!"

One of my favorite phrases that Norah uses these days is "make sure-ing."  Oftentimes I ask her what she's doing, and she responds with "I'm just make-sureing this isn't breaking," or some such thing.  So sweet!

Lastly, I'll leave you with an answer key that I've been mentally compiling to help me decipher the text messages of our resident teen.  At the risk of sounding like an old lady, I must say that the abbreviations get seriously ridiculous.  Whatever time she saves by typing in this abbreviated faux-language, I surely spend while trying to interpret it.  For example:

"sumtn" - something
"afta" - after
"ig" - it's good
"whteva" - whatever
"N" - and
"b" - be
"wit" - with
"Idk" - I don't know
"guna" - going
"Ikr" - I know, right?
"u" - you
"tht" - that
"tho" - though
"jus" - just
"dis" - this
"Ik" - I know

Got it?  If you get a funny text from me, you'll know why.  I'm learning the language of teens, people.

All in all, life right now is full, busy, crazy, stressful, fun, exhausting, good.  Really good.  What we're doing right now is hard, but we've found that while doing kingdom work is hard, it is right where we want to be!  We cannot be refined unless we walk through the fire.  It forces us to press into God for wisdom and strength and sustenance.  So that's where we want to be!  We covet your prayers.

And thanks to you faithful ones who continue to check this blog and read it when I get around to posting!  And you get 5 bonus points if you made it all the way to the end of this long one.

That's all I've got for now.  See you again in a few...weeks, months, somethings!

Notable Quotables...and a few photos

A few conversations and photos that I want to remember when I think back on these days:

Norah occasionally sounds like a teenager trapped in a 2-year-old's body.  She's the queen of funny exclamations and big words.  (And unfortunately a few eye-rolls....already!!)

She can often be heard espousing, "Double drat!" when she's frustrated, or when something doesn't go her way.   Or "oh my peas!"  (Thank you, SuperWhy.)

And yesterday while coloring at the table I heard her say, "son of a gun!"  Sheesh.  We have Lady and the Tramp to thank for that expression.  I suppose it could be worse.

(image by Lori Kartman Photography.  I should do a post of all the pictures she took of our family, I don't think I did yet?)

The other night at dinner she kept trying to talk, but Audrey wouldn't stop talking, so she and Norah both started talking louder and louder trying to get their point of view across, when Norah finally exploded with, "AUDREY!!!  Stop talking!  I'm starting to feel excluded."  (This expression is courtesy of Fancy Nancy.  We were impressed she used it correctly in context!)

Then one day Audrey swiped a toy from Norah and was reprimanded by her little sister:  "Audrey!  You shouldn't steal toys!  The Bible says "Thou shalt not steal!"

Audrey:
One day in the car last week both girls were whining "what can we DOOOOO?"  This is one thing that absolutely drives me crazy.  Every time we drive anywhere (this was literally a 5 minute trip!) they complain that they are bored.  It's really quite ridiculous.  They ask to bring a toy along in the car whenever we get in the car.  I wrestle between wanting to say 'yes,' because it's an easy thing to say 'yes' to, and there are so many other more important things in the world that I need to say 'no' to, and I want to say 'yes' to them more often.  And yet...they're at the point where they require constant entertainment.  I want them to be able to ride in the car for a few minutes at a time and be content!  Look at the scenery!  Sing a song!  For the love!  I digress.  Continuing on with my story....

We were driving.  They were whining.  I decided to turn the tables.  I whined right back at them.  (I know what you're thinking, stellar application of that wonderful insight on GRACE I posted just days ago, right?  What can I say?  I'm a slow learner.)  It went something like this:

Me:  "What can I DOOOOOOOOOOO?  Driving is so BORRRRRRRRING!"  Wide-eyed, Audrey looked at me in the rear-view mirror and said "No, Mommy!  Don't say that!  You can't use that whiny voice all the way home!"
Me:  "Why not?  You do it."
Audrey:  (pausing and thinking really hard.)  "Because it just doesn't work like that."

Hmmm.  Her line of reasoning wasn't quite as well thought out as this conversation she had with Tim this other night:

A:  "Daddy, why didn't you flush the toilet after you went tinkle?"
Tim:  "How do you know it was me?"
A:  "Because the water in the toilet is green, and yellow and blue make green," (I've been using those automatic bowl cleaner things that turn the water blue,) "and there wasn't any toilet paper so it couldn't have been me or Norah or Mommy, it had to be you or Justus.  And Justus still wears a diaper so it had to be you."

Busted.

A word she's used a few times lately to describe a quantity is "amountment."  As in, "can you give me the same amountment of pine nuts as the peas on my plate?"

This morning when Norah woke up and came to the breakfast table Audrey greeted her with a "Good morning Norah!  How was your sleeping last night?  What did you dream about?"  So sweet and so cute.  I love listening to the little conversations they have throughout the day now.

(This image also by Lori Kartman Photography.)

Have I posted before her dilemma about how Jesus could have been with God when He created Mary if Jesus was in her tummy?  This was a big question over the Christmas season for her.  She's also been asking "what's the gospel?" and "what is faith?"  She's not satisfied with the typical on-the-4-year-old-level answers, either...so needless to say, she keeps us on our toes!

And she's been lovin' her brother to pieces the last few weeks.  It's really sweet to see.  She and Norah can get the biggest smiles and giggles out of him, more than anyone else can!

And Justus.  He's almost 5 months old now.  At his 4-month check-up he was 17 lbs 8 ounces, placing him in the 90th percentile.  Not surprising, considering I had to pull out the 12-month-clothes to accommodate his expanding belly.  The kid does not miss a meal.  And check out his mohawk!  It's red! And it cracks me up.

No quotes from him to post yet.  But he stays busy rolling (tummy to back and just recently back to tummy), spitting up all over the place, and attempting to suck his thumb.  And being cute.  That in and of itself is his primary job right now. ;)  And I'd say he's fulfilling those duties quite well, wouldn't you?

Check out those cheeks!!

Love him!

Hair bows and headlamps

After looking all over on Pinterest for a good idea for creatively storing my girls' ever-growing collection of hair accessories, I was finally struck with a moment of inspiration myself!

I liked this idea, but didn't really want to hang something up on the wall in our already pretty small bathroom.

Along the same lines, this idea is also cute, but again, I didn't want yet another thing hanging on my walls.  

Then I went to Hobby Lobby to pick up a suction cup last week, because I had a prism I wanted to hang in the kitchen.  (Sidenote...the girls are LOVING seeing rainbows dance all over the kitchen!)  And the suction cups came in packs of 6.  I only needed one, so I ended up with a few extras.  And lo and behold...inspiration struck.

Medicine cabinet from the outside...

Add suction cups to the inside of the mirrored door...

String a ribbon between the suction cups, top to bottom.

Attach flower clips to the ribbon.

Close the door.

Project done!  I think it cost me $3.99.  Woulda been even less if I remembered to bring my 40% off coupon to the store with me!

I was able to clean up the basket of hair clips that was cluttering up the back of the toilet, (can you think of a worse place to store hair items for little girls?  It's a miracle they haven't ended up in the toilet bowl!), and moved them out of reach so a certain someone isn't devastated every time I try to explain why we need to put a few back before we leave the house.  Win-win.

And yes, that is a headlamp she is wearing.  Um...not around her head.  I guess I'm not the only creative one in the house. :)

Notable Quotables...just today

Norah brought a Strawberry Shortcake book to Tim,
N: "Will you read this to me, Daddy?"
T:  "Sure.  It's my favorite book."  (note the sarcasm)
N:  (oblivious to the sarcasm) "Yeah! It's your favorite book in the whole wide wide world!  Of Jesus!"


Audrey:  "How do the people who make things with machines make the machine if they don't have a machine?"


Norah:  (randomly throughout the day) "Gerald's in da HOUSE..........!"  (we've been watching a little bit too much Sid the Science Kid.)


Audrey:  "Mommy, am I the best thing that ever happened in the whole wide world?"
Me:  (laughing) "No."
Audrey:  "Oh, what is it then?"
Me:  "You know."
Audrey: "Yeah, I know. I just don't want to say it."  (later she admitted that Jesus is the best thing that ever happened.) :)

Notable Quotables

I kept this post open on my computer all last week, and simply added to it each time the girls said something that made me laugh, or that I wanted to remember.  Enjoy!

*     *     *     *     *

Norah: "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience...Mommy, can I tell you something?  Patience is waiting in line to take our turn!"

2 phrases that Norah says ALL. THE. TIME:  "Excuse me, Mommy, can I tell you something?  Can I tell you something?  Can I tell you something?"  (repeatedly until I acknowledge her.)  And "Rook, Mommy, Rook!  Rook at me!  Rook, Mommy, Rook!"  (AKA, "Look.")  :)

While brushing her teeth, Audrey stopped and was staring in the mirror with her mouth wide open, "I'm so sad because I can almost see some cavities!"  (There was chocolate from an M&M stuck in her teeth.)

Audrey: "Norah, don't eat too much lunch!  Don't forget to save room for candy!"  Guess what day that was?  I'll give you a clue...

(A butterfly, a caterpillar, and a cocoon.  Norah kept saying "I'm so so fuzzy and soft, everyone can feel me.")

Best quote of trick-or-treating night:  A lady handed Norah a bag of pretzels and her face fell.  She looked up and said, "I already have pretzels.  Do you have any M&Ms?"  The lady cracked up and said "yes, I'll go get some."  Norah turned around and yelled to us waiting for her on the sidewalk, "SHE'S GETTING ME SOME M&MS!!!"  She was SO excited about it.

Norah:  "Mommy, I don't yike ketchup.  Can I dip my hot dog in hummus?"

On Tuesday morning I got Norah out of her crib and said "Good Morning!"  She replied:  "I'm hungry.  Can I have something to eat?  Can I have candy?"

Norah:  "Mommy!  Mommy!  Mommy!"
Me:  "What?"
Norah:  "Not you.  I'm just yelling for the dollhouse mommy."

Audrey has an incredibly hard time settling down for naps.  Only about 1-2 times a week do I force the issue, when she's SO tired and I know she just needs to sleep.  I can usually lay down with her, put an arm across her body, and every 30 seconds or so remind her to stop wiggling, stop whispering, etc.  On one such occasion, I could feel her alternately contracting her backside over and over again.  I said "what are you doing?"  She said:  "I'm trying to make a pumpkin with my buns."  !?!?!?  Anything to keep from sleeping, I guess.

Audrey:  "Mommy, thank you for this yummy supper!"
Norah:  "Mommy, fank you for dis yucky supper!"  (Ha!  Good manners coupled with sheer honesty.  Gotta love it.)

Audrey reading the Chex box at breakfast:  "E-X sometimes makes the sound 'ex,' as in "Chex."

A typical rapid fire line of questioning: (Keep in mind that I have conversations like this approximately 137 times per day.)
Audrey:  Mommy, what are you doing?
Me:  Flipping the sausage over.
A:  Over what?
Me:  To the other side.
A: Over to what side?
Me:  The other side.
A:  What does that side look like?
Me:  It's brown.
A:  Does it have lumps and bumps?
Me:  Yes.
Norah:  Can I feel the lumps and bumps?

And those of you who saw my facebook status one morning probably already heard this:
You know you've been pregnant (too?) often over the last few years when your 4-year-old begins a sentence with, "Mommy, when you get another kid in your tummy..."

Audrey at breakfast:  "When Jesus made the world, was He in the world or out of the world?  Because He couldn't make it if He was IN it."

According to Audrey. Who is now 4.

Audrey says funny things every day.  99% of the time I can't remember them later to share with you all.  1% of the time I write them down so as not to forget.  Last week she cracked me up at the breakfast table with this:

"I love that baby on your lap.  He's the cutest baby boy you've ever had.   But I wanted it to be a girl.  I wanted to name it Rose.  Sometimes I call him Buddy.  Because I don't like to say the S at the end of Justus."  I had no idea!  But it's true, she does call him 'Buddy.'  And it's very sweet.

Whenever Justus cries, she remarks, "he probably needs a nap, or a diaper change, or to be burped, or he's hungry."  Yep, that about covers it.

Occasionally she gets more specific when he really gets to wailing.  "I think he's hungry.  You better get out your breast."  :)

She's a very matter-of-fact child.  Last week she watched Justus spit up all. over. me.  We're talking shirt, pants, socks, all the way from head to toe.  She didn't blink an eye.  Didn't show an ounce of worry or sympathy or any other emotion.  Just said, "you need to go change your clothes."

Thanks to some new books I bought recently, we've been having a lot of amazingly deep conversations about heaven at our house.  Audrey is really excited to go there someday, to attend a great big party with God where she is convinced there will be lots of cake.  When she asked what would happen to her body when she died, and what she would look like when she got to heaven, I told her we would all get new bodies.  She asked what hers would look like and I told her I didn't know, but that it would be perfect, and wouldn't ever get hurt, etc.  She is going to put in a request with God that her new body have black skin. :)  She thinks that would be pretty great.  She wants me to be in heaven with her, but was quite concerned about the possibility of me going before she does.  She wanted me to promise that daddy would stay here with her, in this house, to keep her company until it was her turn to go.  I promise you I did not initiate this conversation!!!  SO not prepared to go into such depth with her on this stuff yet...but if you say a word like "heaven," these are the gazillion rabbit trail questions that her mind leads her down.  She's a thinker, that Audrey!!

Over a month ago she turned 4.  I'm just now getting around to posting pictures.  She requested a Thomas the Train party.  The girl is obsessed with trains.  Thanks to some amazing garage sale finds, we were able to deliver her dream gift...

Heading downstairs with daddy for the big reveal.

A few spins just to disorient a bit. :)

Love this one.  Her first response was to give him a huge hug and say thank-you.  So sweet.

I took this birthday off from cake decorating, seeing as I had a 3 week old occupying most of my time.  Thanks to Hy-Vee, we got Thomas AND a major sugary frosting overload.

She's looking so grown-up these days!

Lots of cousins came to celebrate with us!  (Not pictured are my parents, my sister-in-law, and my grandparents who were also in attendance.  Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate Audrey!)