Wild Man

My, my, my! This boy is a wild man!

These pictures...

were all snapped...

in about...

45 seconds.

Odd, and a bit disappointing.

What are all of you looking at?

Oh of course, the TV's over there.

No matter how much we shelter, ahem protect our kids, they're still gonna end up pretty "normal", aren't they? Our TV is on for maybe an hour every day...cartoons during breakfast. Do they innately think life revolves around the television? This was seriously difficult for me to see:(

Freaky? Clowns do it for some people, perma-smiling dollies do it to me.

Miss Independent

Atta' girl. You put those jammies on yourself. You wear that jammie top backwards. You're cool. You can work it. You're a big girl now. Don't even feel silly about it babe. We can dig it!

Sylvia, you ROCK!

Snow Fun

Before the temp dropped, the girls got out and played a bit. I threw some kitchen spoons and plastic bowls out there with them and they were busy for ...well, not a long time, but longer than I expected:)
























After attending pre-school and experiencing recess in the public school system, Olivia has become a seasoned snow-bunny. She had a BLAST!



















Sylvia...not so much.



















What a couple of, dare I say, cutie-patooties!

Conviction, from the mouths of babes.

I'm here to tell you that God has a way of bringing me to my knees, even and especially through my children. I do recall wondering recently just what God was wanting from me these days. I've been smacked upside the head, so to speak, as He is now dealing with me in a God-sized way.

Today, during an "ugly Mommy moment", I lost my temper with Sylvia. My mean, loud voice was used, yes I have one of those, and empty, ridiculous threats were verbalized. I'd just had it with the pokeybarely3yearsoldthatwantstodoeverythingherselfbutwantshelp child. You know that child, right? Well, after loading up the other children into the van, stomping and huffing and throwing my own little tantrum, I found a misunderstood, confused, possibly even frightened, pokeybarely3yearsoldthatwantstodoeverythingherselfbutwantshelp Sylvia waiting for her mean Mommy, lip quivering and all, back in the house. As I composed myself, I knelt down and looked her in the eyes. I knew I was wrong. I motioned for her to come to me and as I embraced her, she whispered into my ear, "I foe-give you Mommy".

Ugh. Talk about conviction! There I was being forgiven by my littlest pre-schooler, and it hadn't even required an apology on my part! Don't get me wrong, I was immensely sorry for my actions, and I further prayed for the Lord's forgiveness tonight as I tucked the girls into bed.

Sylvia may infuriate me in her pokeybarely3yearsoldthatwantstodoeverythingherselfbutwantshelp ways, but she showed me Jesus' heart today as well. She forgave me as He forgives me.

Thank you Sylvia, and thank you Jesus.

Please pray for my patience in parenting and the courage to make Godly mothering choices.

Practice Makes Perfect...or something like that.

Since Olivia hasn't been attending pre-school very often lately, due to the weather delays and cancellations, we've been putting in some extra time with academics at home. Check out below, where she practiced writing her numbers.

The 2's gave her the toughest time, but she stuck "two" it and got them down:)

Where do I begin?

Above is a difficult situation to explain for the following embarrassing reasons:

• Matt wearing snow boots with his shorts
• dirty diaper on the floor in the kitchen
• dirty bathroom towel on the floor in the kitchen
• other various filth not captured in the particular picture:)

Funny, huh?