Ordinary Moments: PB & J

The only thing better than eating a peanutbutter & jelly sandwich before bedtime...

... is being "butt nekkid" while doing so.

P.S. Is anyone offended by the little butt cheeks? Should I blur them out?

Happy two-and-a-half years!

Two-and-a-half of the quickest years of my life... and most wonderful, memorable, joyful, challenging, blessed, exciting, emotional, bitter-sweet, full-of-love, never-a-dull-moment years. And I would not trade one day of them for anything in this world.

My precious little boy - what a blessing he has been. I would have never dreamed how much love my heart could hold.

And it just keeps getting fuller by the day...

Ordinary Moments: snow day

Just a dusting.
9:50 a.m.

Just a good day.

First of all, I need to simplify my blog. There is just way too much going on here.

Today Elijah and I had an awesome day. He only earned 3 spankings, all day. Which is a record as of late. Normally 3 is the number of spankings he earns in an hour. After the first one he prayed and asked Jesus to help him obey today. I suppose his prayer was answered.

But beside the lack of spankings, we just had a great time together today. We ran errands this morning and since he was so well behaved I let him eat chicken nuggets and fries for lunch, then play at the mall play place for a while. He was so excited when he saw that we were pulling into the mall parking lot. He said "Oh, oh Mommy! I know where this is. I'm going to play with all my friends!" When actually he didn't know anyone there. But that never stopped a toddler from playing his heart out. He doesn't know the difference between his best friend and a complete stranger. I guess he's right though. Once you've seen one running, jumping, climbing little boy you've seen them all.

I love two-and-a-half. Really I do. (Despite the crack-down on discipline these days.) I'm just enjoying him so much as a person. His personality is getting funnier. He's so clever and comes up with the most interesting perspective. He is SUPER inquisitive. "Hey Mommy, what's this?" "Mommy, can you show me how this works?" "Mommy, can you talk about tractors?" etc. He plays so industriously, coming up with new ways to put things together or make things work. He's always busy with a project. Busy busy busy!! And he challenges me like nothing ever has.

Anyway, you get the idea. I'm pretty crazy about that little guy. I wonder how it will be possible for me to love this new baby that much? It seems like I'm full to capacity with affection. Can my heart hold any more? I'm sure it can. But still, I can't imagine how.

Ordinary Moments: Mission Organization

Not everyone around here appreciates a clean closet.

Ordinary Moments: Bubble Bath

Bubble Bath

Baby Name Post

I just posted this entry on Baby Names on my other blog. If anyone is interested.

Ordinary Moments 2:16 pm

"Mommy, can you turn me upside-down?"

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Piggy Bank in the Afternoon Sun

Project: Ordinary Moments

I've decided I'm starting a new project. I'm calling it "Ordinary Moments".

I stole it from Nie, who had the fun idea to post photos each morning of daily life, shared with a friend in Germany on the site Nie And You. It's just like little tid-bits into her real life. And I think it's fantastic. I had contemplated doing this last year, but didn't have a decent camera until recently. I saw an article where a guy took photos each night at 6:10 pm no matter where he was or what he was doing. It was the idea of capturing his life at that exact time each day. And the project turned out really neat. Only I don't think I'll limit myself to certain hours of the day. Fun happens at all hours of the day or night.

So Groundhog's day seems like a fine time to begin this little experiment.

Oh an the other part is that you're supposed to just make a caption for the photo and then let it speak for itself without a big explanation. Sound fun? Common, you know you wanna do it too.

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Baby Blue

Papa's got a brand new bag!

After several months (like, 6) without a paycheck, my husband has acquired a brand spanking new job! Praise the Lord for this because I really didn't think I could have gone much longer the way things were. It truly is a gift the way the whole thing worked out - from the referral by a family member, to the amazing favor he found with the interviewers, to the miraculous last-second opening of a position that would suit him perfectly, to the timing, the job hours, etc. - it's obvious God has provided for us in this. I am so grateful! (Plus, he'll finally have benefits!!!)

There are two down-sides: not the best pay in the world, and not much time for the two of us to spend together. However, I an seriously not looking at the down-sides. He'll be working second shift (4-12) after he's finished with training. I like this fact because a) he will have daytimes at home to spend with Elijah and new baby on the days I work, b) on the days I'm off we can have some family time, c) when the new baby comes it will relieve my Mom of childcare duty, and d) he's a late-nighter anyway (like stays up past 2 a.m. most nights).

What it means schedule-wise come July will be this... He'll work 4 pm - midnight, come home, sleep until I leave for work at 7:30, take care of the boys until he leaves for work around 3 pm, drop them off at my Mom's, then she'll have them from 3 - 5:30 when I get off work, I'll have them both from 5:30 until bedtime. There you go, easy peasy. And that's just 2.5 days a week. Otherwise I'll be home all day so he can sleep in and we can spend time doing things as a family. I like it.

He may not like all the added responsibility of being a main caregiver again, but tough cookies mister. Over all I think this is going to be good. I'll keep you posted. He starts this Thursday.