when you're the only girl..

Every once in a while you will catch the only "little girl" in our house playing with some dolls..

It is quite sweet, because she is quite the little momma. She does know how to nurture and takes great care of her baby brother. And is also known to boss her older brothers...

However.. having three brothers gives a girl some interesting toy choices..

And then today.. this is how I found her. Playing legos. As a viking.

What??

Oy.. baby girl.

When mommy is away..

So, on Monday nights I go to my accountability group.. and daddy has full solo reign over the kids..

The kids dance outside at night, with their guns. Clothing optional.

And you don't have to clean your face. EVER. And daddy gives you Dora bandaids even though the rule is: there has to be blood to get a bandaid.

That's why we love daddy's.

And it is his birthday today.. that awesome daddy! Happy birthday my sexy mex! I love you immeasurably.

if you aren't watching your 2 year old...

it's your own fault..

notice the look of guilt (adorable, btw). with the blue (easy to wash away) marker positioned ever so far away from her..

the floor wasn't the only thing that received her mad skills.. both hands as well..

And with the help of a little brother, and a wet paper towel, it cleaned right up..

She will be at the next casting call for "Cinderella: The toddler years"..

(btw, for the record, I was in the kitchen, with her, making dinner.. but missed the artwork in progress).

this is why we won't get invited again...

So we were invited (of course) to celebrate Granddaddy's 90th birthday. I don't know that we will ever get invited to such a nice event again. My end of the table included 3 siblings, a cousin and my husband. That was likely NOT a good combination. Especially when two of the adults don't get out much... ehem.

My husband decided to help the servers not only know what he ordered, but what they should call him.

And what do you do when you have extra "butter spheres?" you make a snowman. Thanks babe for putting the onion arms. classy.

He was in a mood, obviously, and suggested we get a picture doing the classic drink pose. I was thrilled.

Of course this napkin captured the age we decided to emulate at such a fine celebration.

But at the end of the night.. we all had a great time celebrating 90 (that's NINETY folks) years of life for one fine fellow. Who is a hard working, amazingly smart and God fearing man. Happy Birthday Grandaddy! (his cake was his favorite: Key lime pie). ;-)

She has my heart...

Let Him entice you..

For so much of my life as a Christian I have struggled with Grace.

I have struggled to truly accept that I am, in fact, a well loved daughter of a King. Rather, I think about all the things I could "do" that might make Him happy with me. The performance treadmill. Then when my heart wanders, and it does, I wonder why I just can't "pull myself up by my bootstraps" and get over it already. I struggled for years with anger (still do).. but I have been meditating on the truth that our love, genuine care, grace, mercy and nurturing of others has to come from a place of realizing that we have been, ourselves, loved first by Him. (1 John 4:19).

Another truth to chew on.. in Hosea (you know the story.. the adulterous woman that God is telling Hosea to pursue and love as a picture of His love for His people) in Hosea 2:14 God says of Isreal: "Behold I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her."

Allure-the power to attract or entice. This is the Lord God of Heaven describing his passion and pursuit of you. That right there, my friend, is scandalous. Scandalous grace. And then, He draws us to the wilderness.. desolate. a place that we humans have no control over.. it can be stunningly beautiful but also overwhelmingly desolate. It is there that His intention is to speak kindly to us.

Does that speak to your heart? the affections that your Father has for you? Not based on anything you've done for Him or done in His name. In fact, he tells Hosea to speak to Gomer, the woman who had betrayed him, to speak to her in this way.. kindly, to show His love.

Nothing can compare to that. Can you see why that "pull yourself up" and "I gotta get right first" CRAP is such a sad attempt STILL in the name of our OWN strength? His love, is different than what I have assumed for years. It is scandalous. It is audacious. "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that His kindness leads you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4). The Law.. that was to show us our sin.. But Christ came to fulfill the Law. Now we live in His grace. His acceptance. His radiant pleasure shining upon us. That my friend is what gets me up in the morning. Not my sad attempt at what I can offer. I can't do that anymore. I am at the end of myself. I need that GRACE. I need Jesus. I need to know how much he wants to allure my wandering heart. prone to wander. For months. Prone to leave the God I love. but He takes our hearts and seals it.

Amazing Grace.. how sweet the sound. That song has new meaning to me now.

and I thought this day would never come..

She put on her own SOCKS and SHOES.

She was quite happy with her work.

In fact, in the past few weeks I have required more "hands on " help from my kids.

-Jorge and Alex now put their own clothes away (after I fold them).

-Jorge unloads the dishwasher (minus the knives) and places all the dishes on the counter and I put them away (except, he puts away the silverware).

-they are bringing me their dirty clothes hamper (it's the little things) when its time to do laundry.

-they put their own dishes away after dinner and help clear the table.

I know im forgetting stuff.. but I am certainly enjoying having some independent, semi-self sufficient helpers around.

And here I thought this day would never come.

what are some of the "helper" things your kids do in your house??

Controlling? Who Me?

Last night at our accountability group (of sorts).. we talked about relationships that rub us. And also areas that we try to control: areas of other peoples lives.

Moms: please don't confuse this with keeping our kids out of harm. Keeping them from certain consequences is helpful to them (protecting them from the pan on the stove).

The control I am learning about is areas that I try to "do" for my kids because I want them to "do" according to my expectation. Some of it is age appropriate and some is not. Lemme bust out an example for me in my season.

Behold....

My older boys' dresser. Jorge has the top two (big) drawers and Alex, the bottom two. I even put little cards to show who's was who's and which was for shirts and which for pants. I fold laundry, but the boys are responsible to put it in their drawers. Jorge is 5 and Alex is 4.

Once they are are in the drawer they magically turn into the picture above. A disheveled mess. This rubs me. I want to go in there and fold it again. But why? For appearances sake. But guess what? I can live in that tension that it's not going to look the way I want it too. The boys are, at this age, doing what they can. Folding, neatness and order are foreign concepts to them. Just getting them to be helpers putting it away is lesson enough. For now.

I did open their drawer to take the pic. Otherwise I do ask that they actually keep the drawers closed (which means the clothes have to actually be inside, folded or not).

But they do NOT have to be concerned with my level of expectation.. for now.

What about you? what are areas/relationships that rub you..that you realize are not for you to control?

Oh happy Monday..

We did not go anywhere today.. (also because Eva has a GI something and Isaac is recovering from a cold).

The kids had fun playing today. For the most part, they played well. We even got some school done today.

Who knew that I wouldn't have lost my mind by the end of a day with sick littles and having been inside all day.

Quote of the day was when my husband called on his way home from work and asked if I wanted him to pick up dinner on his way home. I replied: "Nah, I'm good. I'm just going to do some easy tostadas for dinner." He said, "oh well, I heard a couple of kids crying and wasn't sure." Then I said, "Oh that's totally normal.. the kids crying. Its when you hear me crying, then yes, please bring dinner."

haha. I love my humor.

MY little SISTER.. the college Gymnast.

Please visit the link below to watch my little sister perform her floor routine for the University of Alabama!! Roll Tide!!

http://www.gymnastike.org/coverage/238317-2011-MetroPlex-Challenge-College-Session/video/441939-Alabama-Rachel-Terry-9825

Parenting Tips Numero 2.

Almost two years ago I posted about parenting tips (read here). I had so much fun looking through that post that I decided to do another one. Because quite honestly, you can glean a lot in two years (and two more kids).

So, here ya go.

When homeschooling and behind on school work. It's best not to slack off on reading. Find anytime to take the opportunity to read.

Do not allow your children to torment the other. Nor take pictures of it.

Don't allow your children to eat their food with their fingers. Thats just gross.

It's best not to let the children dress themselves for bedtime. Yes. Bed time.

Don't let your kids play "guns."

Always bring a change of clothes for the baby. Or an older siblings' extra fleece pull over.

If you must have your child around explosives.. keep them at a safe distance.

Please teach your child to be reverent at church. Please.

Keep believing that your baby has no ill will against you. ever.

That's it.

Now your turn. Please.

Post your blog post in my comments so that I can have fun reading it.

just dreamin'

my sister's kids with Alex and Jorge..



I look at this photo and wish that my sister and I lived in the same city.

Im sure we'd run all over boundaries and be kid swapping all.the.time.

and I'd love it.


love you m.