the christmas story

we were thrilled that the kids' colds didn't prevent them from performing in their christmas program at school. the preschool that they attend always puts on the cutest little shows! as we were sitting at dinner last night and the kids were talking about believing in santa i asked them if they knew what the real christmas story was about. i was shocked when they gave me every detail of mary and joseph traveling to bethlehem and giving birth to jesus.
i am also realizing that scripture is playing a valuable part in their everyday lives. when i was putting lucy to bed last night there was strong winds still from the snow and her room by far is the noisiest with the wind. i reminded her that we wanted her to stay in her bed all night long and she said, "but i will be scared." then all of a sudden she remembered that she didn't have to be scared. she put her finger up in front of her and said "fear not! God is always with you."
my prayer is that they always get excited to learn more about God and to read their bibles. it's a little selfish on my part because i am always learning new things from them and they way they look at scripture. i love seeing the joy on their faces when hearing a new story about Jesus.
have a merry christmas everyone!!!!

the big purge

the purge of my house is going great!! i have already gone through the whole kitchen and my coat closet. i sent a box of items to joe's office on the off chance that someone there might want some of my castoffs. joe said within a minute the stuff was gone. yayee! i love recycling.
my next area will be the basement. i will be sending my old plates to joe's office for the girls to use for lunches there. apparently they have been looking for some cheap microwavable plates anyway so this is a perfect fit. as soon as the basement is done then comes the garage. that starts to get overwhelming so i am sticking with the basement in my vision. one step at a time.
this has been fun and i have been ruthless with getting rid vs. keeping. all of a sudden i have lots of space in my kitchen cabinets.
i'll post some pix soon.

the happiest people

i recently watched an episode of oprah that showed the happiest people in the world. they had traveled all the way to denmark to feature them on the show. i noticed one common theme in the people's lives that they followed....the absence of STUFF. there houses were tiny!!! but their houses were so clean and had no clutter. one husband even said to oprah "less room, less stuff, more life" i LOVE that.

i am inspired to get rid of stuff. in the near future i will be clearing out my house, room by room. i will start with my kitchen cabinets because our new flooring is being installed in a few weeks and i would love to not schlep stuff around that doesn't even belong back in my cabinets. do i need three sets of plates? one set for the kids, one set for us, one set for the basement? no way...i will be getting rid of one set...i will be getting rid of mugs, glasses we never use, gadgets, cookie cutters, platters, cupcake tins....i am getting excited just thinking about it.

when we first moved in i remember being so excited about all of the space in the house...why is it that now i need more storage? hhhhmmmm....hopefully i won't feel that way after my big purge. wish me luck!!

the dark ages

ugh...no facebook. i guess i'll just blog. apparently somebody hacked into my facebook account and was asking people for money. one of my friends called to tell me...he said he was worried that i was in trouble until i asked for money...then he knew something was up. he said, "can't she just call joe's parents?" funny...
what should i blog about?? i guess i'll just a quick update on all of my kids.
daisy is in second grade and enjoying every single day of it. i am so proud of the little lady she is becoming. i've caught some glimpses of some negativity creaping out in her and i know it comes directly from me. i know they are words i have spoken and am now trying to change. i want to be a great model for her. daisy is quick to make friends and wants to make people happy. she is also really good at standing her ground if she knows something isn't right.
tucker is in 4 year old preschool. he will be 5 in january and is finally coming out of the f'ing fours. he has been a trial this year to say the least. learning how to push people's buttons is one of his specialties. we are seeing his kindness coming back and i love watching him take care of his sisters. he hates to see anyone upset. he loves school and God...he especially loves learning about God in school. i am toying with sending him to the private school he is attending now for kindergarten next year. i think he would really do well with a smaller class size and in a calm atmosphere.
lucy (deep breath being taken) is lucy. she is completely wonderfully hysterical and weird and mean and nice and entertaining. whew...she is an emotional roller coaster. she is gradually learning how to listen and obey but she is exhausting. she can make me scream and laugh out loud all in the same minute. she keeps us on our toes and i LOVE her for that! she is a challenge for me but i have a sinking feeling this is only the beginning. we will probably have a few great years and then BOOM in comes a lunatic teenager. i could be completely wrong about this but who knows...i am preparing myself as best i can.
joe and i are doing great too. his practice is booming and we are starting some home improvements in our family room this month. after daisy's last diagnosis of pneumonia we decided to rip up some carpets and install hardwood. that is being done over thanksgiving. after much discussion we decided to rip out our trim and repaint also. it will be a long time project but worth it in the end. i will have to post some pix through the process.
we are very blessed and we know it. we praise God all the time for the wonderful gifts he has given us.

family

my mom just left today after visiting for a week. we had such a nice visit which makes it that much harder to say goodbye. i love when my family comes to visit but it's a tough reminder of how much i miss them. my brother who was just here for a night, managed to make me laugh so hard i couldn't breathe. we fall right into step when we are together. my dad makes me feel like his little girl again and i can't help but have a little pity party when everyone leaves. here i am all along in pa.....
i'm not really alone here because i am blessed to live near joe's family. i always cringe when i hear couples complaining about splitting holidays between two families. i would love to have that opportunity because it would mean that all of my loved ones were close. it's hard to be away...it's hard to not let my kids know that sometimes i'm sad.
right now i'm hearing crazy playing and laughter in the other room and that's all i need to cheer me up right now.

sick kids

whenever one of my kids is sick, it's such a nice reminder of how lucky i am. for the most part, they are healthy, happy little kids. my mind always goes to parents that have to deal with sick kids ALL the time. hospitals, doctors, tests, bloodwork...ugh...so far so good for us that we don't have that on a daily basis.

check out this blog
http://half12.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-know.html
this is a lady that is really hurting. she lost her daughter, tuesday, months ago. tuesday was one of her twin daughters. it's a heartbreaking blog but she needs prayer right now.

i think i'll go and hug my kids.

the poor store

so today i had the chance to go to what my dear friend carrie calls "the poor store." she calls it the poor store because you can shop there even when you are poor. it really is called BB's grocery outlet. it is about a half hour from our house and is self labeled "off the beaten path." carrie has been raving about this place since the day i met her last august and i've wanted to go along but it just hasn't worked out. so we made a date of it this week because she really wanted me to see it.
the store carries bent boxes, dented cans, even cases of drinks where the outer plastic, that holds all of the drinks together, has come loose.

it was more than i could've imagined. it rocked!! there were rows and rows of groceries all at major discounts. i was nervous that i wouldn't be able to find organic stuff...i had no need to be nervous. there was organic stuff everywhere. i got Annie's mac and cheese for $.50 a box!!! i stayed away from things that were expired and none of my boxes had smashes or dents. needless to say i loaded up my grocery cart with boxes of snacks, drinks, taco kits (for $.50), and even personal hygiene products all for $56!!!!! i was amazed. even joe couldn't believe how little everything cost when he saw it all laid out on the counter tops.

anyone that knows me knows i love a good sale and a great deal. This store calmed the sale beast inside of me for a long long time. but i still can't wait to go back!!

a lump in my throat...

when i consider this upcoming school year coming towards me at the speed of a jet at top speed, i get sick to my stomach. i can't believe that i will have all three kids in school for three mornings a week. this day seemed so far away only a few years ago and now that it is upon me, i don't want it! i love having my kids at home. i do know that it will really only be 9 hours a week that i will have to find something to do with myself. i also know that finding something to do will not be that difficult. it is my goal to get things done so when the little ones come home my attention is all theirs.
i've toyed with putting in an application at lowes. i want a job that doesn't require training and that i don't have to take home with me. i also want a discount at a store that i frequent. i don't think this is the year for a job but i know that day is coming and i am ready for it. i am not a good stay at home mom if there is nobody here. i will be bored out of my mind.
anyway, when i think of how little i will see my precious daisy is makes me cry. once we add in piano lessons and brownies for her, then choir once a week for joe and i, it makes for a very busy week. last year daisy was in our church AWANA group and she loved every minute of it. she would learn her bible verses and sing fun songs. i am selfish with my time with her though so after much prayer and discussion we've decided not to send her back there this year. instead we purchased a couple of dinnertime devotional books that we can use everynight with all the kids around the table while we are eating. i think it's something important and it's even more important that we do it together and are home and not rushing around to the next thing.
some days i am ready for school to begin.....and then others i get a rising lump in my throat. i just have to trust in God's plan for me and where he will lead me. i know i am meant to be right here right now and i have to be open for what's to come! change is good....

toys

i hate toys. whew, i feel better now that that's out in the open. i think toys are ugly, and dumb. i love my toy room but i hate cleaning it. when i start to go through it i realize how spoiled my kids are and how much we have that we really don't need. if we just had pots and pans in the toy room...that's what they would play with. if we had cardboard boxes...that's what they would play with. but for now the room is filled with dolls, and castles, and puzzles, and a whole bunch of stuff we don't need. i don't feel like any of what we have inspires creativity!!

every three months or so i go through everything and get rid of stuff the kids don't play with. usually it is about 4 huge trash bags full that we pack in the back of the car and head to the mission with. sometimes i imagine how full our house would be if i NEVER got rid of anything we have. ugh....

i know this post is kind of boring but i happen to be sitting in a spot where i can see directly into the toyroom that needs desperately to be cleaned....here we go again....

missed moments

i tend to rush out of the house when i decide i need to do something. when i have a mission it's go go go until it's done. yesterday i was trying to get lucy dressed and rushing her along. finally it dawned on me, we had nowhere we HAD to be and nothing we HAD to do. i waited patiently for her to finish putting her jessie doll to bed. it had to be one of the cutest things i've ever witnessed. she was such a good mommy to her jessie doll, speaking softly and telling her she was a good girl. it was too cute for words.

it did make me wonder though. how many of these moments have passed me by because i was rushing to get to the next thing?

note to self: live life in the moment and don't worry about what's coming next.

fluffy the wonder pet

daisy could not have been more excited at her surprise birthday party when she received a hamster from our neighbors. it is the gift she wanted most of all and one that a parent just can't (in their right mind) pull the trigger on. daisy is actually at the perfect age for a pet like this. for the little attention that it requires she is happy to deliver it.

for a couple of weeks now daisy has been bugging us to create a maze that fluffy can find her way through. we've been putting it off and putting it off and finally yesterday we found the perfect box. actually, it landed on our doorstep (complete with my hot rollers i had ordered.) we went down to the basement and searched through our load of craft supplies and found just what we needed. with a little tape and some imagination we made a maze for this little creature.

i had the best time spending time with daisy imagining and creating together. what surprised me the most? how excited i was when fluffy made it to the end of the maze!!

and then they were blue

i've shared this story with a few people but thought i should blog about it so i can remember how gracious our God is.
moving to PA was one of the hardest things i've had to do in my life. i'm always looking for a new adventure but this was a big one. i moved away from my entire family and didn't know anybody besides joe when i got married. his family was nice but still not the same. when we moved into our home now i planted a bunch of hydrangeas. i wanted our home to feel like MY home so i bought the blue ones from the store. great, i thought, now i can feel like i am at home. as soon as those plants were planted in the ground the blooms that were a beautiful pale blue turned pink. i was so mad i could spit. everyone told me to put coffee grounds in the soil, or buy the special store made stuff to turn them blue. but to me, it just wasn't the same. i had crappy pink PA hydrangeas.
after my big summer trip to east hampton last year i noticed how truly special my pink flowers were because they are very rare around where i grew up. i started to appreciate the colors that my flowers had to offer and for the first time driving back to PA i felt such a contentment. i was going home...to MY home...pennsylvania. i was excited to be home and felt so good about being there. i couldn't stop thanking God for this contentment...i always felt guilty for feeling the way i did before and didn't want my kids to think i wasn't happy. i was happy...i am happy.
as the days wore on little things began to happen around me. i started noticing friendly faces in the grocery store. people that i knew would pop up in walmart and we could chat for five minutes. i would even notice cars on route 1 that i recognized...i would speed up and wave to my friend or family that happened to be there. i never once took these little things for granted because for a few years i hadn't had them.
this summer we've been doing lots of outside yardwork like planting trees and adding some mulch beds. in one of my weeding frenzies i happened to be right in front of my hydrangeas that was filled with buds. out of the corner of my eye i noticed something....my buds were blooming in BLUE! i ran around the yard like a crazy woman screaming everytime i got to a new one with another BLUE bloom!!! everyone that was blue when i planted it was now blue again after two or three years being pink!
people can think what they want to think...a change in soil...too much rain...whatever. i know my heart needed to be in the right place for me to get those blue hydrangeas. i know God taught me a lesson and every summer when those flowers bloom again (pink OR blue) i will be thankful for what i have.

Phillipians 4:6-7

i'm so glad i'm not the type of person that gets annoyed with a kid coming to me in the middle of the night. i figure if they are waking me up there must be a reason and i'm happy to be patient with them while they are scared, or frustrated, or just sad from a bad dream. i had the opportunity last night to hear a thunderstorm coming before any of my kids woke from it. as i was closing the windows in their bedrooms i noticed each one of them was a little nervous from the noises outside and the huge flashes of light. i quickly ushered them into my bed and cuddled them tightly to calm them down.

i love when i can be patient in God's timing and feel calmed down from my own anxious heart. it's so reassuring to know that He has a plan for us and we are in control of nothing. whatever happens is part of His masterplan and we can rest assured that He loves us and wants the best for us.

i'm sure God has the same feeling about His children as i do about mine. what a joy to be able to comfort them when they allow me to pour my love on them. when they come to me, i am here for them. what an honor to have these little blessings in my life...that God would even think i am worthy of having them and teaching them and training them up to be the amazing people they are meant to be. i sure don't feel worthy but i know that it's all part of the plan and that i don't have to worry a bit! such peace....

i heard it through the grapevine

funny sayings heard around the house:

lucy to mommy while hanging on the table leg: "look mommy, i am dancing on a pole" yikes!

daisy to mommy while i rehearse a song: "it doesn't sound like you are getting any better at that"

tucker to anyone who will listen: "first the chicken eats nala and then nala eats the king...chicken nala king!"

lucy to mommy "i just screamed like a boy!"

tucker to joe while discussing death and heaven...tucker never wanting anyone to be upset: "okay dad...you can die if you want to"

lucy to mommy: "i didn't toot...my bottom took a breath!"

there are many more but i just had to share a few....

and then she was three....

today my youngest is turning three! i just can't believe it. i hope in twenty years i am saying the same thing "where has the time gone?"

i remember gearing up for her arrival not really knowing what to expect. my older two kids were somewhat easy arrivals but lucy's i was nervous about. i had an almost three year old at home and a 15 month old. unless you've ever had that combo you have no idea how hard it is.

the first year was rocky. lucy was collicky but so sweet. i loved her...i hated her. i loved my life...i hated my life. i couldn't imagine my life any different.

lucy is amazing. she is hysterical, beautiful, independant, caring, nudgy and wonderful!

lucy-i love you so much...more than you will ever know. i can't believe you are three today and i can't wait to see what the years bring to us through you! you are a joy to have around and i love you with all of my heart. happy birthday lucy lovey!

put on your easter bonnet

i happen to love easter. it's one of my favorite holidays. not because of the bunnies or the eggs...they seem to be more trouble than they are worth. i love it because of Jesus rising from the dead...how amazing is our God?? i love teaching my kids about Christ dying on the cross and being buried in the tomb. i love getting everyone dressed up and going to church to hear what i know will be an amazing sermon even though i've heard the story a million times before. i love that family gathers on such a special day...and i love how exhausted i am at the end of the day because it means it must have been extra special.

i have a lot of memories of easters past but my favorite ones are the ones we make for ourselves each new year. i love blending traditions from joe's family and traditions from mine...and of course coming up with new ones just for our family.

He is risen. He is risen indeed! happy easter!

mothering

lately i'm wondering if i should've been a mother of four. perhaps we made a hasty decision to be done having kids and perhaps not. sometimes i'm just so content with my three and they are just enough (sometimes more) for me to handle. then there are times that i feel like something is missing...a little craziness. i like a little chaos here and there and i think that's why i've taken on new pets so quickly. a rabbit last summer and now our newest addition...ducklings!

we have had so much fun in the last week with these little ducks. i love hearing my kids laugh at seeing them dive through the bath water and explore things in the yard. today i was brave enough to let them out of their fence just to see what would happen. we played for hours outside and they stayed with us. they would move where we moved and eventually fell asleep in the grass near the sandbox where the kids were playing. how cute!!

we will give the ducks a better home in the near future but for now i am enjoying mothering some babies again!

cousins

i was lucky enough this week to catch up with some of my favorite people...my cousins! not many families are lucky enough to grow up as close to their cousins as i did. we were close in proximity but also close friends! i love each one of them and get excited about seeing them. i had the opportunity today to see the same love for a cousin in my kids' eyes. i brought my nephew silas home with me to PA and oh boy were my kids excited to see him. what a gift family is!!

thanks mom for a great week and for being such a trooper. i had so much fun and as much as i enjoy our recuperating visits with each other i hope we don't have another one for awhile.

thanks amanda for letting me take your precious silas! i will take care of him very carefully as he is so special to me and my family!

rock eternal

yesterday we piled in the car and headed to church for the 11 service. it was a rare occasion that i actually got to listen to the service instead of serving in the 2 year old room where lucy attends. it was an amazing service about fasting and praying. joe and i came home wondering what we could fast for the next 12 weeks. food? joe says no...he can't do that. computer? hhhmm...can liz do that? we know the point of it is to hunger for God instead of the material item and God will fill our needs. working out? that would be too easy. we'll come up with something. i have a feeling it will be along the lines of tv, computer or food. i'll keep you posted.

i was asking daisy about her church service. she went into detail about mary and martha and i was quite impressed with what she remembered. she went on to sing me a new song that they had learned. "Our Lord is a rocky turtle, a rocky turtle!" i'm sure she meant a rock eternal...and that He is!

getting started

daisy and i are trying to figure out a way to start this blog. the first thing everyone should know is that i never use caps unless i am talking about God. i just think lowercase looks cooler. weird...i know. i am not the best writer by any sense. i tend to just blurt things out in no particular order but i wanted to do this blog for a number of reasons. first, so i could keep family and friends updated on our lives. secondly, so i could remember funny things or meaningfull conversations between my kids and me and joe. we hope you enjoy!