Grandma Jean

A couple weeks ago my grandma had a stroke. As of right now she's in a rehab facility doing her therapy and trying to get better. It's not easy for a person her age, but she's a tough cookie. If you think of her, please, please, please pray for her healing!

During these last few weeks my mind has been flooded with memories of my grandma. I can't help but look back at the impact she has had on my life over the past 23 years. I think I have as many memories with my grandma as I do my mom and dad. My dad lived with her from the time I was 4 years old until I was 21. So as you can imagine I was able to spend a lot of time with her.

I love my grandma's history. She's lived through a lot and has a lot of wisdom to bestow. Grandma Jean was 1 out of 14 kids. She grew up on a farm in Nebraska. Every Summer my grandma would take her grandkids out to Nebraska for the annual family reunion. It was a huge deal. We had lots of cousins and aunts and uncles and it was so much fun getting to spend an entire weekend at the lake getting to know them. I've been so incredibly blessed to get to know my extended family and my family history. It's something most people don't get to experience first hand. It was one of my grandma's goals in life to make sure her grandchildren knew each other, I think she did a beautiful job of accomplishing that goal.

When I was in the 4th grade my grandma told me she was going to move 4 hours north to Casper, Wy. I remember sitting on my bed crying because I didn't want her to move. I was fortunate because it wasn't until 2 years ago that she actually did make the move. However, now that she's going through all of this it's hard to be away from her.

This was the day after I got engaged, Aug. 2006

The last time I saw my grandma, Aug. 2010

Thanksgiving Break

This week has been great! Jordan had the entire week off paid, because his work calendar follows the school district and he gets the same days off paid.. it's amazing! :)

Anyways, we've had a great time! The first weekend I had my mother in law perm my hair. My naturally curly hair suddenly went straight after all the hormones from 2 pregnancies, and I was really missing the easy hair style. So for $18 and a couple hours of my MIL's hard work I now have curly hair again!!! :)

We've also taken the kids to the library for story time; rotated days to sleep in; took LOTS of naps; baked cookies and breads; cooked lots of yummy food; celebrated Thanksgiving at church for the Something Pumpkin service and at my in laws for dinner; and then broke out the Christmas decorations! It's been so nice to just having Jordan home all day and night! I love it!

I'm not looking forward to Monday when Jord goes back to work, but it's only like 3 weeks until Christmas break and he gets 2.5 weeks off and we're going to TEXAS!!!!!!! I can't wait! It's going to be great!

Here are few pictures from Thanksgiving.

Amazing food,

Friends

Family,

Games,

And Naps!

A Dime A Dozen

I'm talking about "photographers"...

Have you noticed how many of your friends claim to be photographers?? Pretty much anyone with a digital SLR calls themselves a photographer now. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just making an observation.

I have a friend who is a photographer and he really likes polaroids and I honestly never understood why. Then it dawned on me the other day when I was looking at some photos he posted on his blog.... In order to take a good picture with a polaroid you have to be a talented photographer. You only get one shot. You don't get photoshop to fix your lighting, exposure, dodge and burn, crop, layer, etc. It's raw photography.

If we were to take out photoshop and digital cameras how many so-called photographers would still possess the ability to take a beautiful picture??

It's kind of like singers... Autotune and other studio magic tools are great, but what about when they're singing completely unplugged?? Are they still a great singer?

Think about the true ability Ansel Adams possessed as a photographer. I mean this guy was talented!!!

I took 2 semesters of photography in high school and I do own a digital SLR camera.. but I in no way shape or form consider myself a photographer.

Anyways, it's just a silly observation I made.. What are your thoughts?

Enjoy The Fruits Of You Labor!

Lately I keep having this reoccurring thought, "Why don't people do what they love and are passionate about doing?"

Maybe it's an easy question for me to ask because I'm a stay at home mom and I don't technically have a "job". I don't wake up every morning spend an hour and half getting ready to drop the kids off at daycare, hop on a bus and enjoy the 20 minute ride downtown, walk the 3 or 4 blocks to an office building, sit at my cubical, drink coffee with my co-workers and make "water cooler conversations" and of course working............. anymore.

While I was working in cooperate America I took a class about career moves. I found out I wasn't doing anything that I wanted to do. I wanted to be in ministry, working with children, living overseas!! The idea of spending 10+ hours away from my family everyday to sit in a dark room and file or stare at a computer for hours on end wasn't what I wanted be doing. I remember in that class one of my co-worker friends looked at my cards (that show you the things you're good at and interested in) and she said, "You should just quit and go work in an orphanage." to which I replied, "I would love that!"

Today during my quiet time with Jesus I was reading Ecclesiates 3, 4 & 5. I found some interesting scriptures, take a look:

3:9-13

^"9 What do people really get for all their hard work? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. ¹¹ Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. ¹² So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. ¹³ And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God."

5:18-20

"¹⁸ Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. ¹⁹ And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. ²⁰ People who do this rarely look with sorrow on the past, for God has given them reasons for joy."

It is a gift from God to truly enjoy your work! Some days I myself have a hard time enjoying my "work". I would rather go sit in a quiet cubical and file a million papers than listen to whiny children who don't want to use a fork to eat their food and would rather just drink milk for lunch. But those days are nothing compared to the ones where I spend hours playing with my children, reading them books, teaching them songs, taking them to the library and doing projects.

I am blessed to be able to stay home with my kids and I don't always appreciate that blessing. Staying home is a sacrifice. It's not always easy. I would love to work and have enough money to not live paycheck to paycheck and to go shopping and buy things I want! But I remember that the things they learn in the first five years will shape who they become as adults. So while my job might seem "small" in the day to day, it will greatly impact their future.

I want to remember to truly ENJOY the cards that I have been dealt!

Parental Judgement

I know everyone is guilty of being in a store/an airplane/a bus/a park and you see a child throwing a fit, being obnoxious, being disobedient and you think (or say out loud..) "My child will NEVER behave like that......."

I am guilty of this on more than one occasion. I have thought it and said it countless times. I don't know what it is that makes me think that I can do a better job at parenting these children, than their own parents. It's terrible, really. I can remember walking around Target with Jayden when he was a newborn and I heard another child crying and I whispered to Jayden, "You'll never be a naughty boy like that, will you!" hahahah if I only knew! :)

The older my children (and I) get the more I realize I don't know everything there is about raising a child. Most of the time as soon as I think I've figured it out my children prove me wrong!

Let's just be honest, when my children are being disobedient or throwing fits or just running around screaming/laughing, it's a little embarrassing. Why? Because of my pride, fear of people... or because it's completely unacceptable?? I don't know, but is embarrassing.

I want my children to always listen and be obedient the second I tell them to do something. I want them to be a robot.. but they're not. They are a small person in the human race and they are made exactly like me, with a free will. It was a disturbing moment when I realize this. Free will shouldn't be an option until they're at least 18.. I mean really. Ha!

So where is my compassion, where is my love for my kind?? These mothers who are having "one of those moments" and desperately wish that their children would behave themselves. It is one of my goals to just smile and nod with a "I completely understand how you feel right now" look on my face.

Nap Time Battles

Jayden has always been my good sleeper. He started sleeping through the night at 5 weeks old!! He never threw a fit when it was time for his nap, he always laid down and went right to sleep.... until he was about 14 months old.

He learned that he could protest his naps and not have to sleep... (unfortunately there is no way to FORCE your child to sleep).. At this point in time Jayden wasn't able to climb out of his crib and I was very thankful for that. However, he would still jump around and not sleep. Most days he would eventually give in and go to sleep.

A few months ago Jayden discovered he could climb out of his crib. I was in the shower one Sunday morning and Jordan was still in bed (trying to get 5 more minutes of sleep), when I heard fast, little footsteps quickly approaching the bathroom door. The next thing I heard was the bathroom door open and "BOO!" I wrapped my towel around me and walked out of the bathroom and saw Jordan still sound asleep in our bed. After asking his several times if he was the one who got Jayden out of bed and Jordan saying, "no." I couldn't believe it! Our son could now escape his cage, uh I mean crib! :)

He didn't show off his new trick everyday.. in fact it wasn't very often he used it to his advantage... but when he realized it was a great way to avoid taking a nap, I started losing my mind!

I have found him squirting lotion all over his body, floor, blankets... I've found him pulling his baby wipes out one by one making huge piles all over his room... I once found him in our bedroom pulling all the nozzles off my perfume bottles!

And then the most recent finding- he learned to climb up onto his changing table and get the baby powder. Jayden LOVES baby powder, every time he gets his diaper changed he requests baby powder on his hiney. On this particular day I had forgotten to take the baby powder, lotion and wipes out of his room because I needed to make a very important phone call. While I was on the phone I noticed Jayden was being VERY quiet and I remembered I had left the wipes in his room. As soon as my 15 minute phone call was over I ran upstairs and all I could smell was baby powder!!!! I flung open Jayden's door to find a fog of powder... after the fog cleared I could see the all the damage he had done in those 15 minutes. Everything in his room was dusted with baby powder. It was almost impossible to breathe! I knew I would one day appreciate this memory in photo form so I ran down stairs, grabbed the camera and the phone and called Jordan. While I was on the phone with him I was snapping pictures of our son covered from head to toe in baby powder.

It took forever to clean up this mess. I used the shop vac so I wouldn't ruin our house vacuum and the stupid thing kept shocking me because of all the powder and static in his changing pad cover. It took like 7 hours to air out his room so you could actually breathe and of course I threw everything in the wash because there was no other way to get it clean.

Instead of nap time we have "quiet time". Jayden is allowed to play with a quiet toy (magna doodle drawing thing) and read books or look at a picture book my mom made for him. Since implementing quiet time I've found Jayden sleeping 3 or 4 times!

It's a rough transition for all of us right now because Jayden gets really grouchy the closer bed time gets, but I'm still happy with having an hour of alone time to get my stuff done!