Livie

Where do I start with this little girl?  It seems like everyday I have some good story about her, or something funny she said, or something cute she did.  She is just a really funny little kid!!

Can you tell she's into to princesses??  And babies??  And PINK??  Oh my.  Seriously, if anything is pink...she notices RIGHT away.  

One night we were out at the lake and Chad kept trying to get her to watch the sunset...but she, of course, was busy playing with her cousins ;).  After awhile she moseyed over and suddenly yelled, "It's PINK!  It's PINK!  Look Dad!!".  Haha.  It actually was a cool moment - great to show her that God likes pink too :).

Here's a little video of her reciting her first verse.  Sorry about the "toot" in the beginning...I'm telling ya, she's just goofy!

That was Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth"...just in case you didn't get it ;).

She's grown up so much just in the past month.  I think some of that has to do with giving up her paci.  I honestly was dreading the day we would take it away because she was so attached to it and throwing tantrums whenever she wanted it :(.  It was getting pretty bad.

So, I thought if I could come up with something to get her mind off of giving up her paci, maybe it would ease the pain??  Haha, so we bought a fish!  Or Livie did.  With her paci.  

We took her to the pet store on a Sunday evening.  She picked out a "pink" betta fish with pink rocks to go on the bottom of the tank...surprise, right?  And when we went to the check out, I told the cashier before hand that Livie was going to be giving her the paci to help "pay" for the fish.  At first, Liv did so good...she handed it right over.  But as soon as she realized she wasn't getting it back...the crying started.  The poor cashier quickly handed the paci back to me, saying..."She can have it back!".  I was like "No, no, no!  She'll be just fine." The lady was probably thinking, "Yeah right!", as I carried my screaming daughter to the car. 

But she was fine.  After a lot of talking up the fish and talking up the fact that she was a BIG girl and that paci's are for babies...she was fine.  "My gave my paci to the fishy lady," she said over and over.  That night she did cry for about a half hour...but I just sang her to sleep and she slept all night.  And really since then, she's done great.  She did SO much better than I ever thought she would.  Praise God.

So...where are the pictures of this blessed event??  Well, I thought I would have plenty of time to take a picture of Livie and her fish.  BUT...alas, the fish lasted only 3 days :(.  I am NOT the best with taking care of any pet...even fish I guess.  Now Livie says, "My fishy died...went back to Jesus".  

We've promised to get her a new fish SOON...I just hope the next one lasts!!

So getting rid of the paci was kind of the start of having some good heart to hearts with her.  And although she's only 2, she is starting to grasp some stuff.  She does have her toddler tirades...daily.  But we just keep talking a lot about sharing, obeying, disobeying, consequences...trying to get to the heart of stuff.  I'm just praying it's sinking in!  I know we have a long road ahead of us.  But here's my cheat sheet for now (from the parenting conference) in making her see her need for a savior during our daily struggles...

Haha...trying to get answers from a 2 year-old to some of these questions is near impossible!  But at least we're trying :).

I LOVE the fact that she's still 2 though.  She brings us SO much JOY.  Seriously, we're pretty attached to this little girl...

Livie and Adalai with my Dad on his 60th Birthday...

With Neiko on Easter 

(this is the only pic I got that day :(..I need to do better next year!)

Such a trooper...

Emma

Blogging is definitely taking the back burner around here.  LOTS going on...growing, selling, building, moving, celebrating, stretching...and just trying to live life in between it all!  

While I could write a book to catch up on all that's going on...I'm going to try to split up all that I want to write about over a few days.  

And today, I'm going to start with our smallest blessing (and I'm going by size not quality here)...little Emma.  Haha, I don't know if I should call her "little" anymore though.  She may be small...but she is mighty :).  Her chub, cheeks, personality, hair...I mean, check it out!  Anytime we go anywhere, she gets comments, comments, and more comments.  And it just keeps growing...

What else?  Just this week she started to army crawl!  So fun.  And it may just be army crawling, but she's already keeping me on my toes.  Gotta watch this one...

With the crawling has come some feisty personality too.  She's generally a really happy girl (giving LOTS of big smiles and love)...but in a given moment when she wants something, she shows some spice and aggression until she's succeeded :).  Haha, I think we might have our hands full between her and Livie.  

And I'm sure no one is surprised that this little girl LOVES to eat.  If she has her paci in and there is food around...that paci is quickly spat out and her head starts bobbing in attempt to try to get whatever she can :).  Oh, and if she wants more...she starts gabbering...saying, "mamamamama" with a concerned look on her face.  Very hard to resist that!!

8 months is such a fun stage with her!  She is definitely loved...  With our crazy lives right now, I am so thankful for the days (or moments) that I'm given to enjoy her, love on her, and see the little girl God has made her to be. 

serving an amazing God

The last time I blogged, I had just got my two nieces for the weekend. 

The first night and following day were GREAT.  In fact, by the end of that first day, I was thinking, "I can DO this!  Four kids ages 2 and under is busy, but NOT bad!".  I kinda felt like super woman for the day :). 

But...pride does in fact come before the fall.  Yikes.  

That evening (after the babies were sleeping, praise the Lord!) my oldest niece got the stomach flu :(.  Full blown, 12 hour, nasty flu.  She was so tough though and got through it only to be running around the next morning just fine.  

BUT the bug didn't stop with her.  It hit me about 5am and lasted all day long the next day.  I COULD NOT get out of bed without puking :(.  SO, Chad and my brother cancelled their plans and took over childcare for the day.  I was soo thankful for them!  

The next week, Livie, Chad, and my sister got it too...so it definitely swept through.  But I think we're clear now.  

Call me immature, but I love these pics of my brother reading to Liv and Adalai :).

Haha :).  In the second one they look a little unsure of that book!!  But rest assured, Livie LOVES that book...she's quite fascinated by it actually.  Silly girl.

Oh, my crazy Livie.  Always chattering and on the move.  

And she's always talking like this:

"My have to go potty."

"My tired, mom."

"My hungry...my belly hurts."

"My don't want to color anymore."

"Her sleeping." (referencing Emma)

"Her wants some food." (Emma again)

She can't quite figure out those I's, she's, and he's.  And she's always concerned about Emma's well-being.  OR she just wants to take care of her!  I think it's pretty cute.  

But Emma lately just wants to take care of herself!  I've stopped trying to feed her baby food cause she'll just spit it out.  Something about being spoon-fed?  She's perfectly happy if you put little puffs or pieces of banana on her tray for her to feed herself.  But try to feed her mashed banana on a spoon and it ends up on me or on the tray.  Which is fine...really...my only concern is she doesn't have any teeth yet.  Going on 8 months and no teeth!  So, yeah, can't really give her many different fruits or veggies as finger food.  Her diet definitely is lacking...but at least she nurses good.  

I think she's still getting enough, don't you??  :)

Last weekend, Chad, Emma, and I went to a wedding in Indiana (for my good friend and old roommate Kristen...woohoo!)  SOO excited for her.  Seriously, it was one of those weddings where I was just SO HAPPY for the couple.  Great to see her, celebrate with her, see some other friends from Indy, and be away from normal life for a bit.  I know it was a sacrifice for Chad to make the trip out, miss a day of working on the house, and miss some 80 degree fishing weather in Illinois...but I GREATLY appreciated it :).

One smart decision we made was to leave Livie here with Chad's parents.  Here's a few of the pics they texted me while we were away.  

She was living it up at Norris Lake!!  In MARCH!!  I think in the first picture, she was carrying a little minnow around her neck.  Haha :).  Funny girl.

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the LORD and not for men" Colossians 3:23

This verse has been really convicting for me with the house in the past couple of weeks.  I've realized that I've been fearful of what other's think a lot during the building process, and losing focus of why we are building this house.    

Chad seems to always have the right focus though.  I'm SO thankful for him...for leading us as he does...keeping in mind the bigger picture...serving God...and holding things with such an open hand.  

So, what's our bigger picture?  And why are we building right now?  Our generic answer is for the glory of God.  What better answer is there to give?!  All we have belongs to Him.

Now, of course we would love to live there, raise our kids there, and use it to serve others as well.  

More specifically though, we see it as an investment.  God has given us the talents and resources to build a house like this at this time in our lives.  Maybe we will live there 5 or 10 years.  Maybe we will live there just a few months!  

Truth is, we would LOVE to do full time kingdom work someday.  Right now, we have no idea what that would even look like.  The how? where? when? what? questions have yet to be answered!  But we trust God with our future.  He's always got a plan.  

Currently though, we have other responsibilities filling our time.  The business and our young girls being primary.  And we truly see those as our main ministries at this time.  

But if God would desire us to turn around and sell this house to a perfect stranger THIS summer...so be it.  We would sell it with open hands and hearts.  God's given us A LOT of grace to accept that possibility!  (And I'm sure if that did happen, it would be a lot harder to part with the house than I can even imagine right now.)  I try to just not think about that ;).

So, as we build this house, we try to keep ALL that in mind.  For me, it's been hard to not get lost in the details, not to get attached, and to remember that bigger picture.  But when I remember the Lord and all He's done for me...for US...it's a lot easier to surrender it to Him!  We serve an amazing God.

some flooring

I was hoping to blog a little on what God's been doing in my heart regarding the house.  BUT, I just got my 2 nieces for the next 3 nights, so that blog post will just have to wait.  My hands are just a little full :).

Anyway, I wanted to post these pictures of our floors cause I've had a few people ask how they're looking.  GREAT!  I love the slate looking tile we picked out for our laundry room/mudroom.  They look just like slate, but they're tile AND maintenance free :) :).  

This isn't floors...but our beams came in!!  Can't wait to get them up on our ceilings.  Loving the rustic-ness they offer.

And the hardwood.  We wanted a lighter floor...and Chad wanted natural hickory.  So, here's what we ended up with.  Can you see all the dust and dirt on it?  No??  I can't either!!!  I LOVE that about it!  Not because I don't want to clean all the time, but so I WON'T clean all the time :).

The details are definitely coming together.

Looking forward to the next few days.  Four little girls 2 and under will keep me busy...but it'll be a chance to kinda slow down, stay at home :), and enjoy the blessings God has given us!!

what's been goin' on at home...

Weeks are flying by around here.  Here's a little of what's been going on at home...

Livie has a new obsession with coloring.  Multiple, multiple, multiple times during the day I hear, "Mom, want to colllooor". Coloring includes everything from actual coloring, drawing, writing on her hands...

She's also getting more independent with going to the bathroom.  At least she thinks she is.  One evening last week, I was taking her potty right before bed and quickly noticed that there was already some pee and poop in her her little potty.  She must've taken herself sometime earlier in the evening when I was on the phone!  I'm sure she wiped...ha :).

She's the one who has me laughing one minute, disciplining her the next, and wanting to cuddle with her whenever she'll let me ;).  

Speaking of cuddlers, Emma's still the best.  She's got the chub and cheeks and knows how to use them :).   She's eating more and more solid food, sleeping through the night (after a little sleep training...yeah, it was getting bad when she was up 4 to 5 times a night), and sitting up pretty good now.  Loving this stage with her!

Here's some snapshots of our past 2 weeks:

Carm, thanks for taking this one!  Cute...

Cousins saying "cheese"

"Rems" and "Ems" (that's what Adalai and Livie are calling them these days)

Individual shots 

(Adalai's is blurry cause she was busy "dusting"...haha, I'll claim her as my niece!)

Emma is loving baths more that she can sit up better

Love that smile!

House update to come later this week...

dry wall!

So, while were were on the cruise, here's what happened at our house!  It looks completely different...

from the front door

great room

kitchen

dining area

nursery/Emma's room

looking up at loft

master bath

looking down from loft

working hard

Livie's room

Looking good :).  This week we picked out paint colors - it'll all be painted before we know it!