my kids

We had some family pictures taken last weekend.  I love getting new family pictures.  It's fun to see how much the kids have grown and changed over the years.  (not quite as fun to see my changes...but oh well.  I need to learn to grow old gracefully :)  I'm not even old.  Josh is the old one.  He is going to be 35 on Memorial Day!   I have some cute kids, if I do say so myself...

I was really happy to see that all of the children were looking at the camera and smiling.  I have to have a photographer do this for me.  I can NEVER get a picture of my kids together and smiling.  A certain little one is always trying to run away- another one is trying to catch him, etc... It just turns into mayhem. 

I am so blessed.  These are 5 of the best kids you'll ever meet, I love them so much. 



A good citizen, and an official 2nd grader as of May 24th



Somebody is turning into a big boy.  Look at him on the big boy swing!



She likes to hang upside down on a regular basis.  I don't understand. 

Doing some before bed studying.  I really don't know what he was doing, but when I walked into his room he was studying the map, perhaps planning his world takeover. 

Enjoying his smoothie.  It's really pureed vegetables and fruit, but smoothies to us. 

Gardens

I don't know how this (if this) post will turn out.  Remember my mothers day fancy phone?  Well I'm trying to post this relying only on my phone, and only using words that appear with the Swipe mechanism. Thus its already bad because in place of the word
*only*
I wanted to use another word, but can't pick it up using this method.  Oh well.
And as far as picture placement, well..I don't even know. We shall see.  I'm pretty sure it came with an instruction Manuel, (hmmm...) but who has the time to read those? 
I would opt to USSR the...no! (use) the computer. had to correct that one!  But josh is watching a game on the computer so here I San, (am). Ugh
Outran.  (No). I am beginning to think my fingers aren't meant for this.

Okay, where was I going. Oh yes, gardens.

Life is a garden- is it not?  But that kind of sounds trite.  It is not.  A garden is a constant reminder to me of many things in reference to my heart, to my life-

It constantly needs tended
It consistently needs water
It needs the sun
It must be weeded regularly
There are weeds out there that closely resemble the plant so
Be weary...



This is quite clearly not a picture of my garden.  Rather a picture of a Flinstones like vehicle with the door left ajar by a 2 year old boy trying to escape the hands the person who wanted to bathe him.  anyway...



I love these flowers.  Don't they just look like they are smiling at you?  I planted them in the beginning of March.  They don't need much- just a little water and sunshine.





This guy- he needs much.  Much more than the above flowers.  But he is yet another fruit in the garden.  He needs tending, nourishment, weeding (correction), and to learn the difference between right and wrong.  But he's oh so sweet.  God purposefully made little ones to be sweet as honey so we mommy's would want to provide for them.



You can't see them, but there are tomatoes planted here.  Also herbs and flowers.  It will truly be an act of GOD if the herbs grow.  Those seeds were smaller than a flea!



Ahhh...lovely.  My strawberries are growing!  We won't get a whole bunch this year, but they look so cute, don't they?



Here is my apple tree.  The kids bought if for me 6 years ago.  We have gotten a few tiny apples in the past, but nothing substantial.  I think we may get some larger ones this year.  We'll see.  Maybe if little hands can keep from pulling the tiny apples off before they are ready  :)

We have yet to plant our corn and beans.  We will do that this weekend! 

Mothers day

My mom would probably FREAK OUT if she knew I was posting a picture of her on the Internet...if she really knew what the Internet was, she would MEGA FREAK, but she still lives in the time of Lotus spreadsheets and computers only being used to 'type stuff' so what she doesn't know won't hurt her. 

I'm kidding.  I told her I was posting a picture of her on my blog.  "On your what??  Oh, Sarah....What is that?"  At least she knows, kind of :)  It was not easy to get a picture of her- she is a little camera shy.  But Abigail convinced her since it is Mothers Day.

My mom has lived with us for about 9 years now.  She isn't able to live alone due to her health;  both mental and physical.  People often ask me "how do you do it?"  The thought of having a parent living in the home with you can be overwhelming, and at times, vexing to some.  I will not lie, learning to live this life has been a process.  It has not always been easy- I will not go into details of the how's or why's it wasn't easy- but it just wasn't. 

I had just had Abigail, our 2nd child.  Josh and I were living in an apartment.  It became apparent that my mom was no longer able to care for herself, but she wasn't "nursing home" status either.  We didn't know what to do.  She certainly couldn't move into our small 2 bedroom apartment with us.  So, we bought a house.  A 3 bedroom ranch with a full basement.  Josh could finish the basement, put some bedrooms down there, a bathroom, etc.. easy as pie.  NOT SO EASY!  We live on a flood plain, getting permits to remodel in a flood zone requires flexibility and lots of ability to jump through many hoops.  But we managed.  The basement slowly came along and was finally finished.  Good thing, because by this time we had 4 kids! 

And now we have 5 kids, 1 Grandma, and 2 parents living in this house.  So how does one manage?

1.  Pray a lot.  There was a lot of resentment on my part at first.  (woe is me...why did this happen, can't someone else bear this responsibility...blah blah blah...)  I did way too much complaining the first couple of years. 

2.  Accept the fact that this person is your parent, and you can not control her/him, even if you want to.  I can't make my mom do anything- so as much as it frustrates me to see her lying around "not doing anything" (in my opinion) she is entitled to live her own life, the way she wants to, as long as it is not endangering her or my children.

3.  Understand that it is your duty to take care of an elderly parent- if it is within your capability.  I'm not saying there won't be a time when my mom will not have to go to a nursing home, because there are some things I am not able to do- she may require care that I can not provide.  But until them, I will offer her our home.

My mom gave me life.  She loved me, she still does.  She enjoys playing card games with the kids, drinking coke zero, eating donuts, doing word searches, and playing the keyboard.  She is hoping for an organ, but I'm not sure if any organs are going to magically appear any time soon.  She plays by ear.  The other day she told me that she played 50 Beatles songs.  She often plays the entire soundtrack of Grease, and various other musicals. 

I love my mom- for who she is, and I am thankful for her. 

Happy Mothers Day!









Next item up for bid...

Today was a busy day.  What am I saying?  Everyday is busy!  Josh bought me a fancy phone for mothers day.  I must admit, at first I was very apprehensive about such an extravagant gift, but I really love it!  Especially the fact that to text people I don't even have to type in real words!  It's amazing, it's like my phone has a brain- and that brain works better than my own.  Just a swipe of the finger and- voila!  you got yourself a word!  amazing.

                                                                               Don't mind these guys.  This is the reaction got when I said we were going to Meijer instead of Target.  THE NERVE!  Target has samples of  grapes and smoked sausage.  And free cookies. 

So I have a sink in my back yard.  It's for sale if anyone wants to buy it.  (just kidding-(( no really, if you want to buy it you can contact me.))  My brother says it could be worth a ton, considering it's lovely blue color. :)  I am no stranger to having junk in the backyard.  We have been doing a lot of renovating lately!

 Josh thought today would be a good day to renovate the bathroom.  It has been much needed.  Little did he know it wasn't going to be the simple swap out the toilet and sink- slap some flooring down and call it good.  NOOOOO....He should know by now that no project is ever what it seems. 

Upon pulling out the sink (see above) the taking out the toilet (I don't even know where he put that thing) then removing the old flooring, he discovered, much to his dismay, that the subloor was completely rotten.  Well, our house is over 60 years old, so it shouldn't have been that surprising!  He removed all of the sub floor, then merrily went to Menard's (his favorite place to be- where you save BIG MONEY and bought some material.

Meanwhile...
My brother came over to pick up the tiller.  In exchange for the tiller, we got Jacob.  The boys had fun playing together.  He has 4 sisters, so it was probably nice for him to have some boy time.  He is a sweetheart. 



I don't know why Christian always makes ridiculous faces when I try to take a picture.  Oh well- boys.  What can you do?



Abigail's friend from school also came over to play.  It was nice to have her over.  They decided to do each others "makeup"  but instead ended up looking like- well, I don't know.  Lipstick on the face is not easy to get off. 

Have a wonderful Mothers Day!

my, how fast 2 years can go by...

Last week I was doing the seemingly endless task of sorting through pictures.   Very overwhelming.  I don't know which ones have already been printed (with a few exceptions) so that made the job even more difficult.  As I searched through the pictures, I remembered something. Life is short, and while you're living the day to day- you just don't realize that your kids are growing up.  Here is an example, I still call Jeremiah a "little baby" does this look like a little baby to you?

I didn't think so.

This is what a little baby looks like, it's amazing what 2 years can do to a person!

Christian starts kindergarten in the Fall...I still see him as a toddler.  I think I am way off. 

Present day Christian

(well, actually this picture was taken last fall- but still. he is big)  

There was a time in the distant past (to me) forever ago (to him) in which Isaac LOVED Elmo.  He's way too grown up for that now.

He is much more into sports now.

And while she still likes Barbies, she enjoys reading, being outdoors, and creating things much more.

She likes climbing trees, even ones that aren't meant to be climbed.

Well, some things don't change.  He still loves lego's.  But he's so involved with other things; school work, baseball, piano, running, that he doesn't have much time!

A lot changes in two years...he still has a young looking face, but he has grown so much! 

I love my kids. 

I need to start scrap booking...I have a lot of catching up to do :)