He's Such a Poser

We always take pictures of the birthday kid with their gift and the sibling that gave it to them. This year, Josiah's personality really showed up in the pictures. He's such a poser...

Christiana and Josiah

Kaitlyn and Josiah

Micah and Josiah

Josiah and Jim.

Gee, I wonder where Josiah gets it from???

Wordless Wednesday - Ready for Work

Joshua dressed himself to

go to work with Daddy.

Over his pajama's, he's wearing one of Daddy's

shirts and some of his big brother's shoes.

He's On Facebook Now

Now that Josiah is 13 he's allowed to have a FB page. I'm so proud of him for waiting until he's 13 (because those are the rules) to even want to open a FB account. We actually asked him when he was 12 1/2 if he wanted a page (just to find out what he would say) and he told us he wanted to wait until he turned 13 because those were the rules. Now that really showed us his character. I'm so proud of his desire to do what's right.

Of course there are rules set up for him, because we all know how FB can become addictive and can be a distraction from other more important tasks. He's learning :)

Josiah so happy to have a FB page.

Day one on my computer checking FB.

All of the sudden, he looks so grown up.

Josiah

Well, it's official, I am the mother of two teenagers. Josiah turned 13 on Saturday. I can't believe it, it just doesn't seem possible. He has filled our lives with laughter and joy and enriched these last 13 years of my life. He is so handsome and I am proud of of the young man he is becoming.

Josiah I am so proud to be your Mom. God has blessed me by giving you to me as a son. I pray that you will continue to seek God in all that you do and remember that He is the answer to everything you will ever endure. Allow His word to be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path and you can't go wrong. I love you.

Yay!

Yay! Joshua made it through the night last night without getting out of his bed. He stayed in his bed and fell asleep by himself. I am so happy and pray that this continues.

You see, for the last week or so the girls have been putting Joshua in bed with them because he wouldn't go to sleep in his bed (he likes to cuddle). So instead of fighting with him to keep him in his bed, they just cuddled with him in their bed. I wasn't sure how we were going to break this habit and get him back in his bed, until the bed set was given to us. I am so thankful for this little gift that has made a world of difference. It's amazing how such a little thing can change everything.

This makes me stop and think about how something I have that I may not be using can make a difference to someone else. What do you have that you can pass on?

Still Trying...

So, we are still trying to encourage Joshua to sleep in his bed through the night. Thanks to a dear friend, we are getting closers to accomplishing this task. My friend's son outgrew this bedding set so she passed it on to us. I only wish I would have had the camera to take a picture of his face when he saw his bed fixed up like this. I will keep you posted on how it works. In the meantime, thank you my dear friend, you know who you are :)

Wordless Wednesday - It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

Big brothers are great.

SUPER MATTHEW!!

Up, up and away

Tuesday's Tip - Magic Eraser

One thing I have recently learned is that Comet seems to clean the same things that the magic eraser cleans (for example - permanent marker from walls, stoves and washing machines, crayon marks on walls, etc.). Now I haven't tried it on everything that the magic easer works on but so far so good. One thing I've also noticed is that they both have the same texture. When the magic eraser begins to break down it feels like wet Comet in your hand, the same chalky residue. Makes me wonder how much they have in common.

So instead of purchasing magic erasers, use Comet and a wet cloth. It's soooo much cheaper and lasts much longer :)

Cuddle Buddies

These are my naptime cuddle buddies when I get to take a nap. We've learned that Joshua will go to sleep for nap if he lays with me and of course Kyle takes a nap with me also. This is a typical naptime for me these days. I do love cuddling with my little guys :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It's St. Patrick's Day today and so for breakfast we had green eggs, cinnamon rolls with green icing and green milk. While we ate, I read the history of St. Patrick's Day and we learned about St. Patrick. For the first time today, I'm fixing corn beef with veggies and cabbage for supper. And of course, we are all wearing green.

It wasn't until last year that we started doing anything with St. Patrick's Day. It was one of those days that we just wore green and that was it. A couple of years ago, though, I read up on St. Patrick and realized he was a Christian and was known for spreading Christianity in Ireland. So we decided to take part in some of the celebration and make the day a little more fun.

Do you do anything special for St. Patrick's Day?

Little, Big Helper

Saturday evening we decided to have a cook-out with hamburgers and hotdogs. Jim decided to let Joshua join him in cooking up the meat and of course I had to grab the camera.

Flipping burgers with the spatula

Daddy teaching the proper way to get the job done :)

Using tongs to grab the hotdogs

Smile!

Ok, Joshua is NOT suppose to be in Kyle's pack and play but this was one of those situations where instead of getting upset we grabbed the camera. As I've stated before, Joshua LOVES Kyle and kisses and hugs him all the time. I'm glad he loves him, I'll take that any day over being jealous. So, to show you what I'm talking about, this is what happened yesterday...

My favorite picture ever!!!

Not Me Monday - Full Diapers and Housework

Saturday when I wasn't in the house taking care of Kyle and Joshua, I tried to be outside helping the rest of the family clean out our detached carport. I did NOT neglect my housework and allow my kitchen to look like a disaster area by bedtime.

So, later that night after supper when Kyle fell asleep in my arms I did NOT lay him down knowing his diaper was very full. I figured he'd only sleep for a little while so in the meantime I would get some neglected housework done. I got the other kids to bed and settled in then began working on my very messy kitchen.

I did NOT continue working for hours while Kyle kept sleeping. I did NOT end up finishing the kitchen and mopping the floor around 2:00 in the morning. I did NOT then go take a shower and come back to find Kyle still sleeping. I did NOT have to wake him up, change his diaper and then nurse him, all the while wondering how long he would have slept had I only changed him earlier. Thankfully, he went back to sleep quickly and we were both able to get a good night's rest.

Learning to Cook

Those of you who have followed me for a while remember that I love to cook and have a hard time remembering to invite my kids to join me so I can teach them. Since I've taught Christiana (my 15 yo) to cook and she can manage the kitchen well by herself, I have not put as much time into feeling like I need to teach Kaitlyn. Fortunately, Kaitlyn is earning her cooking badge for AHG (American Heritage Girls) which forces me to teach her. This particular day she learned to make Enchilada Casserole all by herself.

Browning the meat

Mixing the corn and sauces

Casserole all put together

Carefully putting it in the oven

Everyone really enjoyed it.

Katilyn did a GREAT job :)

Now that she has gotten the chance to cook supper she loves cooking and asks me everyday if she can help. It helps me remember to bring her in and teach her. It's been a lot of fun and I have really enjoyed the time I've gotten to spend with her. It's a good thing :)

Ready

This is Joshua's idea of being ready to go outside...

Did I mention it was in the 40's that day?

Might be a little hard to run while

wearing Daddy's steel toed boots :)

Wordless Wednesday - Family Resemblance

Everyone says he looks like all the other boys...I just don't see it :)

Brotherly Love

All of my boys love their new brother, Kyle, but Josiah seems to have taken a special interest in him. Josiah absolutely adores Kyle. Every moment he can he is holding Kyle and this scene is not a strange one.

Kyle completely trusts Josiah and any time we need Kyle to go to sleep or calm down and I can't get to him Josiah is the one we call.

I love the relationship Josiah is building with Kyle, it is so precious to watch.

Growing Too Fast

Thought I would do an update on Kyle today. He is now over a month and a half old and I can't believe it. Already I wonder where the time has gone. On one hand it doesn't seem possible that he's already this old and on the other it seems like he's always been a part of our family. I can hardly remember life without him. He's such a sweet, precious little guy. He's an easy baby and I just love him so much. I'm so glad to be his Mom.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Joshua is our "Little Monkey." He's so cute and busy and always into something. If you don't keep a close watch on him he can destroy a house in a matter of minutes :) This is why he reminds me of Curious George. He is curious about everything around him and copies everything he sees.

Since I taught him to brush his teeth, he copies the way I brush my teeth. Even the part where I pull my hair back so it doesn't get in my face when I lean down at the sink. I couldn't figure out for the longest time why he would grab the top of his head and hold his hair when he brushed his teeth and then it occurred to me that he was holding his hair because I was holding mine.

It amazes me how much a child copies those around them. All the more reason for us to be careful what we do. I think God designed it that way so that we make sure we are behaving at all times :)

The picture above shows Joshua holding his hair the same way he does when he leans over into the sink when he's brushing his teeth. Of course he's holding the top of his head because he doesn't have enough hair in the back to hold it back. It was the only place that he had enough hair to grab.

He's also giving me one of his "monkey lips" kisses. When he first started puckering up to kiss us he looked like a little monkey with his lips puckered out so far. So now we ask him for a kiss by asking for his "monkey lips." And of course I'm giving him a monkey kiss back :)

Wordless Wednesday - Naptime

Tuesday's Tip - Box Frames

Don't you just hate how much stuff accumulates under your couch? Especially when you have small children. Well, we had a couple of loose legs on our love seat and Jim decided to fix all the legs by making a box frame around the whole base of the love seat. In doing so we realized that this keeps things from ending up under it, and makes for a strong base that can withstand children playing on it. So now we are considering this for our couch even though it still has strong legs.

A box base, great for support and great for keeping the clutter out from under the furniture. I only wonder why we didn't think of it earlier.

Front of the love seat.

Corner

Make sure if you do this that the flap covers the base.