Springtime ...

Our church had its 4th annual Easter Egg Hunt this past weekend and my kids of course got in on the action (mom and dad need their candy stash) ... Mac had already filled his tool box on the first hunting round so when the adult hunt came up he grabbed a larger bag to fill:) Annie picked up all of one egg ...

Inspired by a friend ..

So, needless to say down time for a mom is hard to find and usually the last thing I want to do when I find it is anything actually! Most of the time during naps I vegitate and read blogs online, read, bake, straighten up ya know that kinda thing but starting next week .. drum roll ... I am gonna PAINT:) I really like to paint. It's kinda like therapy and I never do it until a get the itch like every few .. years .. ha. However, my friend Lindsey (a serious crafter/sewer/painter .. she puts most moms to shame) posted on her blog elephantinmypocket.blogspot.com a painting she recently did of her family tree .. and she researched ancestry for it -- um yea she is one of those super motivated mommies:) So, I am posting this to keep myself accountable because I am going to paint our family tree .. stay tuned for pictures ... Here are a few pics of the last painting I did ... I am no pro but I do like to do it ...

Annie's FIRST Birthday!!!

Well since apparently I am good at loading photos backwards ... This is how lil Annie ended her evening of fun .. all bathed with a bottle and in her grandaddy's lap ... o yes and some cool new pjs! And it starts ...

Present opening .. not the pic I meant to load but too lazy to change it ...

I LOVE all the facial expressions in this pic ...

Is there something on my face??

Lovin' it ...

Cake pre-destruction ... And shout out to Publix for the free "smash cake" on the 1st birthday:)

Happy Birthday Sweet Annie Girl!!!

A picture update ...

Well this is a kinda backwards post ... So we had another baby .. Little Rex joined our family Monday ... Annie loves him already ... She is sooo relieved to know she is still the princess ...

O the thrill of adding more chaos(our token picture in the hospital) ...

And then the update on normal life ...

We make brownies ... and eat the batter ... I do still have friends in the midst of child chaos ...

We celebrate our lil friends birthdays .. Happy Birthday Hannah ...

I know random post but at least it had pictures:)

Snow days ...

I know you expected a picture of snow but all the outdoor playing has really caused my laundry to pile up .. I need to fold more and watch the snow less .... however Addy is enjoying it ... Annie is a little too small to enjoy the snow so she has found other mischevious things to do while her brother is outside playing ...

Mac is all suited up and ready to head out to sled with daddy ... Of course in the reflective "Fireman Sammy" jacket ...

My sweet boy ..

So we bought Annie a few baby dolls ... little did we know Mac would have such a fondness for them:) I heard him reading books in his room yesterday and ran in a snapped this picture ... he told me it was time for "babies night night" ... so precious ....

Just being honest ... ramblings

Normally, this blog serves as a baby book for my kiddos. Just for posts about their lives in general but I just had to post this because it's been on my mind ...

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about "life" more than usual. Not sure if it is because there is about to be a new life around here but none the less here are my ramblings ...

I went to hear a speaker on parenting at a local church a few weeks ago. This is extremely out of character for me as I have never read any baby books, discipline books, food labels, rarely remember doctors apts(actually missed Annie's last week), my kids are getting the normal shots, etc ... love me or hate me that's the kinda mom that I am ... just being honest ... Doesn't mean that I don't care about or love my kids more than life, I just don't buy into a lot of the current psychobabble fed to mommies everywhere ... that we need to read a zillion books, spend endless hours researching every disease that was ever on the planet that they could come in contact with, feed them only things you can get from pick nature(though healthy just not at all practical all the time) .. blah blah blah ...

Also...

I am a people person - love to be with, talk to, hang with people in general(now I can get my fill and need alone time) but in general I am energized by socializing for the most part ...

So my dilema ... NO ONE TAKE OFFENSE PLEASE ...

What is it about mommies that we are so obsessed with our children, that it seems no one ever talks about anything else besides parenting, baby sleep or lack there of, diapers, naps, etc??!! I love to talk about other things!! By gosh even to talk about the weather these days is a departure from the norm .. Don't get me wrong there is a time for getting advice on sleeping, discipline, etc ... but I am determined to be more mindful of my conversation because I like any other mom could ramble about my kids forever!

Our pastor has also been preaching a series on reaching out to the lost within our own community .. like really stepping outside of the box and doing some ministry ... wow .. um convicting ... step outside of my "mommy box"?? yes!!

I guess my lesson the last few weeks is I am a mom for sure but I need to not let it define all my conversations, hold me back from ministry around me, and from making my relationship with the Lord the center of my universe SECOND to my husband then to my kids(who currently rule the roost) ...

All you ladies that I know that may read this probably have this under control, but I DON'T ...
I am still processing how one juggles all of the above ...

Anyone out there understand??