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shop in a shop

see that solid line on the right? that's chris's newest project. the first of many, many, many project he will take on for pay. don't you all know that by chris building his shop, he will be saving and making us thousands upon thousands of dollars with all the projects he will do. har!
anyways, he is building a shop, in a shop. i think it's funny. chris is building a storage shed for a coworker and instead of building it on location and being away, chris is building it in the shop and will assemble it on location. now chris tells me he really needs a truck and a trailer....inset eye rolling...

back end of the shed. (mom, this would be a shed/shack)

roof and front of the shed
while i was out taking pictures of the shed. nate got busy cleaning out the pans for me

good boy, he also vacuums, dusts, puts his dirty clothes in the hamper and can now pull up his pants...nate's future wife will love me. (esp the pulling up his pants part)
*i do like that chris is able to work on projects from the shop, i am a weird married lady who actually likes her husband and loves having him around to annoy her....ha
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flowers and candy

last week i picked up the most beautiful lily from sterling, i bought it closed with 7 buds. they started blooming yesterday and man do they ever smell amazing, as of this afternoon 5 have opened. 2 more to go. i love how they brighten up my kitchen on these dark and rainy days.
bec we are taking off to jon and jess's next week. chris and i are planning/prepping for the church picnic. today i went and bought the candy and put it together. it took 2 hrs! here is some of the candy...i couldn't get all of it in the pic...

all bagged up
a general idea of what they are taking home...on top of the bbq, ice cream and other treats provided.
i got 1 more thing checked off my "to do" list before i go...
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hand placement baby

mommy mocking the hand placement.
chris downloaded a video if our next vacation destination; but we are on a vacation break right now....but if we were to go on one say, next year, chris found the perfect place for us. iceland. seriously, it's beu-t-i-ful! anyways, nate got right onto the video. check out his hands. i had chris grab the camera and snap a pic of us, so you guys will know i am alive...ha.
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the tent

so, we need a tent. i sent chris off to get us a tent. lesson learnt. do. not. send. chris to the store.
chris came home with a tent. actually, it's a mini-home tent. this thing is huge. it has 3 rooms, an entrance, and sleeps 14. i could not get a picture of the whole thing. chris was pleased with his purchase.
i tried to get a pic of the whole thing from nate's room. it takes up what's left of my back yard.

chris, hon. i love ya but do we really need a tent this large for 3 of us? are we going to have a tent sleep over party and we need the room? oy.
i took this pic about 1/2 hr ago. i love just before a storm hits, i think it's cosy. i am so surprised more rain....
our 1 tree in the back yard. ha.
so mom and dad come up from hali to treat us to a weekend of help. they watched nate sat night while chris and i had a date. it was SO much fun. we went to graffiti (SO good) i ate, relaxed and shopped with out a toddler. it was seriously a nice break. then they took nate to church on sunday for us, chris and i were teaching and it was a super sunday, i loved the break. thanks mom and dad.
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2 thumbs up

i have been asked a lot as of late, what to teach/tell/share with your pre-teens/kids on sexuality. it's a touchy subject for me to answer because every parent has a different comfort level of talking about sex with their kids. i try to steer away from my own personal opinion (which is hold NOTHING back) and instead tell them to tell their kids what the bible says. the shocking truth is very few people know what the bible actually says on the topic...

i finally found a great book! it's a MUST read if you have kids, preteens and teens. personally, i think the younger you talk about sex, the easier it is. if you can not talk about sex with your kids, find someone who can! start young! keep the communication open! and dads, oh the power you have! spoil your daughters, love on them, fill their love tanks to over flow...if you do, she will feel no need to get it from johnny down the street...

i can go on and on...

anyways. it's a great book...if you have kids i recommend you put it in your library 0 comments

peek a boo and the shop

how could i make a post and not include a pic of naters?
shop update-it's primered and painted. yes, you read that right. the shop is painted. it's actually a nice color, not at all what i thought chris would pick....it's a greeny/yellow. when i asked him why paint a shop, he said why not? if he's going to spend a lot of time out there, shouldn't it be a fun, happy, creative color? that's chris for you.
also note the amount of electrical outlets on the back wall....yep, 6.

another shot of the color
and more electrical outlets on the other wall. chris has a lot of tools to plug in. he's going to be 1 busy guy making all those things he has promised me....saving us thousands of dollars....*cough*
i also want to add. yes, the electrical outlets are all at waist height. i mocked this at first. i have how ever made some humble pie and ate it. i have them in the house also....love them. i never have to bend over to plug the vacuum or mop. i have a plug at each light switch. love it....and yes, it would be a swiss thing.
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sunny sunday

we FINALLY had some beautiful weather yesterday. so we took nate to the water splash park. he was a wee bit overwhelmed (me too) by the hundreds of kids.
getting more comfy with this whole water park thing

cute shot of my boy
there is this huge, yellow bucket that fills with a large amount of water, when it's filled in tips over and splashes the kids. nate was scared and yet intrigued at the same time. he spent a lot of time just watching it.
still watching
wheee water
after the bucket would spill, nate would run over and tell us what happened. when he doesn't know the words to use, he uses his hands to demonstrate. ha

then we went to the park. where i sat on the blanket and watched him play

peeking out to make sure i was still there
whee. big boy. he doesn't need my help anymore. sniff, sniff.
chris now has this great (ok, it's super cool) idea. he wants to make our driveway a mini splash park. he wants to rig up some pipes, get a motor and install a mini splash pad before we pave/concrete the driveway. i think it's a cool idea. really, how many ppl have a splash/sprinklers in their driveway?
on a nate note. he is doing better. i know that he is totally testing me. i am praying that god will give me the right words at the right time, the right ideas and creative way to discipline and communicate to him....this parenting thing is hard!
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the longest blog evah!


Ahh. The day has finally come. I have been warned by those who have been here before. I have been watching and waiting...….those "terrible two’s" have arrived. I how ever have changed the title, instead of the “terrible two’s” it is now being called the "teachable two’s".

I know that nate is discovering his emotions, he is learning new things daily, new words, new sights, new people, he is constantly changing and growing. Naturally his emotions, will, character and personality are also growing, and changing. He is testing new boundaries. And watching for my response.

I think the phrase terrible two’s is a bad name. I don’t think there is anything wrong or abnormal for nate to all of a sudden throw a fit because he wants something….all though I really, really, really wish he would not chose those glorious public places like grocery stores and malls to do so. Gotta love judgment from strangers.

It’s my job to teach him right from wrong, what acceptable behavior is and what is not. A wise person once told me that you want to break their will, not their person.

During the past few days, I have come to terms that it’s not just nate that is being taught, I am also going through the wringer. It’s tough when you are not sure how to deal with a situation, especially when you are in public. I want to do the right thing but I am not sure what exactly that is! Throw in some insecurity, strong feeling of being overwhelmed, confused, fear, emotions and hormones…well you just have 1 big old mess.


This mother thing is not for the weak. I adore my little miracle boy but some days I just look at him and wonder what the heck happened? The whining, the frustration, strong willed, hitting, kicking, throwing toys, the list goes on and on. Taking advise from a mom who is doing a fabo job at raising her kidlits ( big peace of advise-go to those who have the results that you want and have them speak wisdom into you! ) she told me to kill the seed while they are young, the younger the better. To ignore is the easy way out and you will face it later on…on a bigger scale.



Who would have thought that nate challenging me would bring me to my knees, not in prayer but in tears of discouragement and fear. Fear that I am not qualified to do this job. That some how god mixed up babies in heaven and gave me the wrong one…even as I type that I know I have the child god wanted me to have. I just never dreamed that god would use him to teach me, to show me where I am weak and most vulnerable. I really hate that. Blah. Who wants to feel weak? not me!



So instead of me focusing on nate, I am now learning that I must focus on god. No matter what, no matter when, no matter why. Every thing that happens can be a teachable moment….which leads to this morning….



I was cleaning up the dishes from making cinnamon buns (yum!), nate was grouchy and bored. After coming in and out of the house a dozen times (dragging the mud and water from his boots) I gave him the ultimatum. IN or OUT! He wanted in, fine. I clean him up, give him some toys…which he threw at me…then I had the brilliant idea of letting him play in the left over water from the baking dishes (kitchen sink). As I am humming away, tidying the house, waiting for the buns to finish baking, think how nice and oh so ever picture perfect it would be…the buns will be done, I will make fresh coffee, call chris in and have a family snack of fresh baked goods…..i come back into the kitchen to a wall of water….somehow nate had grabbed the huge dish towel, soaked it with water and was flinging it around….bathing my entire kitchen and dining room in water. I yelled NO! then grabbed him from the chair, as I put nate on the wet floor, he somehow slipped and fell onto the cup he was holding. Bang.



I look to see a wonderful red puddle of blood; I slowly turned him over and watched the blood fall from his mouth. I went into auto, cleaned him up, and checked him out. Called chris in. As I cuddled and rocked to calm nate down. The tears began to pour from my eyes, down my face and into his hair. Then the thoughts came:



“you are not qualified to be a mom”


“you have got to be the worse mother in the world”


“your anger caused nate to slip and fall”


“everything you do sucks”


“what in the world will people think of you?”
“how will you explain this?”


“you are a huge failure”


“you are so stupid”


“you fail as a mom”


And so forth. I am well aware of what the word says, I also know that those thoughts were not of god, yes, I get that every mother feels like this at sometime. Heart knowledge and head knowledge are 2 separate things.



I have the choice to:



Grow from this or


Stay where I am at and believe those thoughts



I choose to grow. As painful as this day (ok, week) has been, I know it will only get better. I know 1 thing, no fear, anger, insecurity, discouragement or anything i do can separate me from my father’s love.



His love will keep my chin up as I go and wake my precious (and strong willed) boy up to take him to the dentist to have his tooth checked….and know that I am not the first or the last mother to feel this way.



I am a daughter of the king, hear me roar.


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bugs, rocks, sticks and dirt

another day with no rain! must go to the park! this time we went to mapleton. it's a lovely park, lots of maples, birds chirping, squirrels running wild and ducks!....they came right up to us and sorta freaked nate out so he fed them from the safety of his stroller. i used the stroller cause his leg is still not strong enough for a 30-40 min walk
after we fed the ducks, we ditched the stroller and found some fun...

this park had all kinds of fun things to explore....what dose nate do? like a moth to a flame baby, he finds the only dirt pile and climbs on it
good thing he is in his play clothes....which would explain why he doesn't match....when he's dressed to play i don't care what happens to his clothes...
nate's new hobby. finding bugs and watching them....check out that intensity

a few minutes later i find nate hobbling around the gravel with no shoe. there i found his shoe, stuck in the wood pile
shoeless nate
off to collect all the sticks....
ohh another bug

and another
and another....
nathaniel would find a bug and yell "MOM, bug, MOM, bug" which sounds like "mom, bog, mom bog"
my little one is made up with sticks and stones, dirt and bugs. i would not trade him for a gazillion girls.
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finally a place to sit!

i caved. i finally bought a patio set. it was super cheap, the right color and i liked it. chris on the other hand wanted to get a huge, 8 seater with a large table, umbrella and why not get the swing also? cause you know we will need it in a few yrs....*insert eye rolling* umm, no. a small 4 seater set will do just fine and fit on the patio!
nate was so into helping chris. he was actually a help. chris would give him the packaging and nate would put it in the garbage.

maybe we should hire nate and give him an allowance?

ohh those perty *gasp* green chairs
while the boys were working outside, i was in the kitchen getting supper on. i went to the door to see the progress when i saw this. i grabbed the camera and snapped it. nathaniel loves his daddy
voila. to bad we couldn't use it last night. it started to rain, shocking isn't it?
so, i have started giving nate mini jobs to do, easy things like take things to the table, put his dirty clothes in his hamper, put away him clean clothes (the ones he can reach) he is responding very well. on sunday, he started to put the kids toys away 1/2 way through the morning. good boy! ha. i wonder if he's ready to mop? hummmm....
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