Happy

There really is no other appropriate title for this post. Daddy decided to give the letter to Trey and let him read it for himself when he got home from school.

his face broke out in a big ol smile when he read the words "school transfer" and "approved" and he stopped and said "i think i know what this means!" After such a sad day a few weeks ago, it was so satisfying to see such a happy boy! Thank you too all who prayed for him. God had given me peace, Trey had calmed down and come to terms with the thought of changing schools and then God chose to answer our prayer the way we hoped this time. Trey will go into middle school with all of his friends!

Raegan Elise

I want to make one of these for each of my kids but i have to start with my one and only all digital child :) Don't forget to push pause over on my music playlist before pushing play on the video!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Polly want a pocket?

Polly found a pocket. Polly didn't have a home for long though because 3 minutes after i took this picture Raegan was done with the overalls. She never has liked them. I've tried putting them on her about 5 times this winter. They were Avery's, they are so cute...Avery always wore overalls at her age. Not Raegan, she came walking out with the top down saying "dese not fit me"...so i give up on the overalls. When i put her pants on her, her reply was "dese are better mommy!" She knows what she likes, i'll give her that!

Why should i be surprised?

God knows what i struggle with. He knows that i was struggling with worry this morning. Hello, my name is Elisa and i am a worrier. :) Why should i be surprised, even shocked that when i pulled up an online devotional site that this is part of what today's devotional was...

Throughout life, we are all faced with fears of the unknown and personal problems that seem hopeless or scary, and it is so easy to get caught up in our emotions, forgetting to look for God. In some situations, we may even find ourselves wondering if God is really aware of our problems, and doubt if He really cares, but 1 Peter 5:7 is a sweet reminder that He is aware, He does care, and He is with us.

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Why should i be surprised that it felt like this devotional was written specifically for me this morning? God knew exactly what i needed and why am i surprised?

Flakes

Big fluffy flakes make a kid want to...

catch a few!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Open gym

My sisters and i met at Elite Gymnastics open gym today to let our little ones play. They got to run loose for an hr and half and be the little monkeys they love to be.

After a time or two Ethan was jumping into the foam pit without help

Raegan liked to bounce and fall. She kept walking right in front of the zip line and the rope swing. I tried to get her to go on the zip line (they were hanging on to the little ones) but she wanted nothing to do with that!

her cousin Meredith helped her to the top of the slide and after doing a summersault down the first time decided she wanted to be on Meredith's lap the next time...this is how they ended up.

natural little monkey

We went to a very busy Mia Ranchitos for lunch afterwards and all nine of us crammed into a big booth. We all were beside different kids than our own but Aunt June got the lucky seat beside the pop dumping little bundle of non stop movement. Tell us how many times did you pick up that cup off your booth June? When the kids started to make animal sounds and loudly at that we quickly decided it was time to go! Actually, they all did really good- they just got a little wound up toward the end.

Flood drill

This is very random but fresh in my mind...we had the giggles on the way to school this morning, i don't even know what brought it up. I think it might have been that Avery was pointing out that she had her pants rolled up...anyway...

It was Trey's third grade year. His teacher pulled an April fools joke on the kids that made me laugh and laugh and still laugh just thinking about it. Maybe i'm just easily amused, but i thought it was cute. She got a "message" that they quick needed to do a "flood drill". She had all the kids roll up their pants for this drill then they had to grab their rulers in case they needed an oar, and she had them all sitting on top of their desks. Picturing Trey and all his little buddies sitting on their desks just really amuses me.

Evidently she had some more steps to the "flood drill" but she got the giggles seeing all the kids on their desks, pants rolled up and rulers in hand wondering why on earth we now had "flood drills" and caved in and told them.

If i was a teacher i would so steal this idea for my class. How fun is that?! I would never be able to keep a straight face...i would bust out laughing at the first child rolling his pant legs up!

Pajama night

It was pajama night at Awanas tonight and the kids were very excited to go to church in their pjs. I must say i wasn't too opposed to the idea either as i was getting dinner ready and telling them all to go get their pjs on for church! Raegan even dressed herself...though i'm glad i noticed she was diaperless before we got very far! My picture is not a great one and i obviously had something on my lense but these days i take what i can get when trying to take a picture at 9 pm of all 4 kids together since i forgot to take the picture before church.

We are having a pretty uneventful week. I am so ready for Spring, i am so ready for flip flops, i will be so happy to put away the coats...i am dying to wash and detail my van and have it actually stay clean for longer than a day.

But on the bright side, we are staying in, we are staying warm, we have coats and we have a van to drive...dirty though it may be!

Hope your having a great week!

Paint

I found this cute little ceramic farm set for the kids to paint. Since today i have no intention on leaving the house, and i have all the kids home i decided it was a good morning for the kids to paint.They had fun. They painted nicely together for about all of 20 minutes.

Raegan was more interested in stirring her water than she was of actually painting.

After the good twenty minute things quickly started falling apart and fighting ensued. I would love to show you a picture of the finished projects, but they are unfinished. I had to break up the painting party and shut it down before paint started being flung about my kitchen. Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy? It's ok it didn't me either. Maybe we will try to give it a go again tonight when we have a second referree home helping me. Hopefully this paint comes out of clothing since one paint brush was thrown before the painting party got shut down!

A special wish

For some very special Grandparents! Grandma and Grandpa Seaba and Grandma and Grandpa Neir- the kids think the world of you guys and Johnny and i are so lucky to have you for parents! I know this should be on Grandparents Day or something but hey it's Valentine's...it's all about love and we love you all!! Happy Valentines Day from all of us!

The light

Finally! The last car pulled out of the parking lot, it was just me and my grandpa. It was Sunday night after church around 9:00 and my grandpa and i were still there. We were in his office paying bills. When the last bill was paid we walked around locking doors and turning off lights.

Then we headed for the back door where my grandpa's truck was. We started the truck and drove a little ways, when alight was still on in a little room,we parked in front of the church. I went inside to turn that light off. It was pitch black and a chill ran down my spine like water. I took a few quiet steps and then started running.

I was so scared! I finally reached the room the light was on. I put the switch down and the light went off. I slammed the door behind me and started running again. This time i felt like something was chasing me. I was still running when, boom! I hit something i looked and gave a sigh of relief. Was just a table. I got up and ran faster than i've ever ran before. Finally i saw the door i entered in.

I started sprinting faster, went outside shut the door and walked fast to get in my grandpa's truck. My grandpa asked if i got the light turned off i said yes. My heart was pumping like it was too small for my body. We drove and stopped at a stop sign. I turned around and the light was still on i was really freaked out. I didn't tell my grandpa because i thought he would make me go back in the church and turn the light off. I didn't know what happened, but now my brain says never to go in a church at 9:00 on a Sunday night in the country by yourself with one light in a little room never!!

This was Trey's story he wrote for his 5th grade district assessment in writing. He got 5 out of 5 points that he could have gotten! His teacher was very proud of him! He loves writing and recently wrote a 9 page story.

Cravings

Nope, i am not pregnant! But when i was, i had some major cravings. Each pregnancy was different.

So, let's start with my first...i have always loved pickles but not quite like i loved them with my pregnancy with Trey. I ate almost an entire jar at one sitting. I know, so gross...kinda makes me sick just thinking about it. I couldn't get enough of pickles throughout my pregnancy, though i never again got carried away quite like i did that day!
Then there was my second pregnancy... my body did a 180 and wanted ice cream. Lot's and lot's of ice cream. Any kind of ice cream, any time of day. There is a reason i gained 40 lbs people! This picture is an ice cream lovers dream!

Then there was my third (full pregnancy) pregnancy. I wanted some leafy goodness...day after day after day...smothered of course in ranch dressing, mmm sounds really good right about now!

And then came my fourth pregnancy. Enough with the lettuce...my body was now craving spicy! Working at Chilis did not help me out in this area because i think i ate wings just about every shift i worked. I had heartburn, i knew i would pay for it but just didn't care...they were soo good! And again smothered in ranch dressing!

No more pregnancies, no more excuses. Can't blame it on the hormones anymore. My weakness these days is chips and salsa...i just can't get enough. I could inhale it. Again, working at Chilis is not helping me with my chip habit. I bring them home from work and you should see my family. We all inhale them like we haven't seen food in days.

So there you have it. Silly post i know, but kind of fun. So what did you crave when you were pregnant?? Or what do you crave even when not pregnant?? Join on in and share...

Be still

So easy to say the verse..."be still and know that I am God", another thing to live it and actually be still! So hard sometimes to let go of the reigns (that sometimes in our minds we think we hold) and sit back and trust God.

When it comes to my kids, i have a very hard time when things are out of my control and i see them hurting in any way. I am a typical mommy, i just want to make everything better. I want to make them happy. I want to solve any problem, any hurt, any fear. That unfortunately i can not do.

This minor bump in this game of life is not minor in the eyes of my 11 year old boy who will more than likely be going to a different middle school than any one else he knows next year. Our transfer request was denied and although we are meeting with a letter of appeal, we are going to try to not get our hopes up too much.

We had planned to have moved into the area where our kids school is by now but sometimes things just don't go quite like we plan and here we are still in our tiny little house that i in no way take for granted and am so thankful for, please don't get me wrong.

When i am sitting with my big boy while the tears are pouring and he is so upset he is shaking it is all i can do to keep it together.

I know he will quickly make new friends, he a funny, loveable guy! We have been through this before when he switched to public school in 2nd grade and he did great. It will just be an adjustment that we will walk him through again. He doesn't like change, i passed that along to him. I don't like change, i don't like getting out of my comfort zone...but who really does??

While i was in tears on Friday, trying to compose myself enough to talk to Trey after receiving our letter of denial i listened to the song"Still" over on the side of my blog on my playlist. Even though it just made me cry more, what a great song! God is with us, beside us, carrying us through everything. Even something as small as having to go to a new school and make new friends.

Be still...i am going to try really hard!

if you have a chance, listen to that song (you can scroll through the songs by clicking on the forward button, it is the very last song) it is my new favorite at the moment!

A man in our yard

The snow was perfect. It wasn't terribly cold. Avery and i headed out to build the snowman that Avery has been dying to make. I quickly learned that i am a "not-so-hot-snowman maker". one peek at my progress and Daddy quickly came to the rescue(more than likely shaking his head)...thank goodness, cause i really was doing horrible, my second part of the body was twice as big as the bottom...that just doesn't work!

Anyway, in no time at all Daddy and Avery had a snowman built. We were not prepared and didn't have a carrot and tomorrow i think we will be finding something else so the poor man can put a smile on his face!

When we got home tonight we realized that "Frosty" had a friend staring at him from across the street. We will just call his friend "Sam" they are just hanging out having the worlds longest stare off tonight.

even though i am not a huge fan of winter and or snow i have to say it was beautiful today!

thank goodness Daddy saves the day!

Avery and "Frosty"

Ethan was working so hard shoveling and carrying the snow to the front porch till i caught him and convinced him to shovel it towards the street..."OOHH, ok mommy!"

A lotta pink, a little brown

I am getting so excited. I have been coming up with all kinds of ideas in my mind. I have promised Avery a new girly girl room. It's going to include a lot of pink, which she is very happy about. We plan on doing an accent wall. The thoughts are swirling around in my head. Hopefully i will be able to rope them all in and come up with her "perfect" room that she of course will still share with her little sister. I've already had my eye on a fuzzy pink rug for their floor since Raegan destroyed the one they did have in their room.

One thing Avery will get for sure is her name on the wall in white letters. I did Raegan's before she was born and have never gotten around to doing Avery's. I have so much brown, pink and white on the brain...hope fully by spring i will have some before and after photos to share!

Chopping time

Raegan's hair has been driving us crazy! She hates getting it washed, she hates getting it combed and she hates sitting still. The combination of those three and the fact that she has only had one little trim to even things up when her hair was growing back in after she scratched it all out made for a desperate need of a good trim of a few inches.

she was ultra thrilled with the idea of a haircut!

she cried through the whole thing. thank goodness jini is quick!

still not completely thrilled but daddy looks extra happy!

when we got home she didn't want to show her hair but thought you might like to see her tonsils

at long last...i caught a smile. i can't wait to comb through a few inches less of hair tomorrow!