Fishing with Daddy...

Catchlights/Reflections

I got some cool reflections of myself in Ethan's eyes today.

Idol breaking.

We finished up the sermon series by Mark Driscoll preached out of the book of Song of Songs. I can't even begin to explain how awesome this series is and how Josh and I now have a completely different outlook on our marriage relationship. The very last sermon was titled "I was a wall" and it dealt with a few issues of parenting. Again, another amazing sermon.

One particular portion of the sermon really stuck out to me. Pastor Mark posed a question, "think of the times when you are getting most frustrated by your kids. What is really the cause of your frustration?". In this part of the sermon he had been talking about idols. He was pointing out how many "idols" we, as parents, have and by having kids we are setting ourselves up for our idols to be smashed and broken all day long.

It made me realize how often I get frustrated with the kids because they are ruining or interrupting something that I am doing for myself.

One of the biggest idols that my kids demolish all day long is my clean house! I'm not sure why I haven't been able to let go of this idol yet...because you would think having four kids would do that to me...but lets just say I do 'cry over spilled milk'. I mean, obviously..we have spills and accidental messes here all the time and the kids don't get in trouble for this, but inside it drives ME crazy. I am always cleaning...and looking behind to find a trail of mess and this makes me frustrated with my kids.

I do think that an organized home is best and I love to provide an "en gedi" for my husband when he returns from a hard day at work (one that he doesn't require...but does appreciate!), but there IS a balance there. I cringe when my kids walk inside and leave their shoes on, or when they are eating lunch and food is dropping on the floor.

Until now, I've just tried to hide the fact that these things make me crazy. Now that the fact that my clean house is actually an "idol" has been pointed out to me, I am trying really hard to 'lay it down'.

These last few days of summer weather have really been a test to this...as the kids have been enjoying mud puddles and all kinds of fun summer things! Of course, they have always enjoyed these things, but yesterday I actually let them walk in the house to their bedrooms with muddy feet to change their clothes!!

And trust me, I've always loved the look of dirty kids at the end of a summery day! Dirty kids equal tired kids!

What are some of your idols that cause you to be frustrated with your kids?

A baby dedication.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to be a part of the sweetest baby dedication. Not only was the ceremony sweet but even sweeter was the little baby and his entire family! I have been able to snuggle with baby Asher on other occasions and today he proved, once again, just how happy he is! He has the most loving big brothers who glow with pride for their little baby brother!

The ceremony seemed special because of its intimacy. It was a small gathering of family and friends and it was clear that Asher and his entire family hold a special place in many hearts. I was glad to be able to be a part of it!

Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

This is proud big brother Quinlan (although, I'm not entirely sure that I am spelling his name correctly!).
This is another proud big brother Zeke!

And this is Asher!!


The Pastor did a lovely dedication. My favorite part was when he held little Asher and just talked to him. Asher was completely engaged in this conversation.

I just love Quinlan's expression in this one!

Both brothers looking on.

Asher and Mommy.



Seriously...babies don't come much cuter than this!!

The fam:) (not the greatest as far as exposure goes..but at least Zeke is looking at the camera!)

(And for the record, I did a little editing on some of them in the area of exposure and cropping...but I didn't have to touch the eyes in any one of them!)

Edited to add the following picture because I meant to put it in here and realized that its not there!! I love this one of Quinlan!

My four favorite boys!

They are all so handsome!!

Happy Birthday to Owen and Josh!

Wow. This birthday is somewhat of a milestone for our family. This is the first time that we have a two year old and I am NOT already expecting or have already had another baby!

Owen totally knows that it is his birthday today. If you ask him how old he is he will say "Two!" and try to hold up two fingers, although he hasn't quite mastered that part yet. He leaves out the "birthday" part and just says "Happy To You"..it's cute!

I was thinking this morning that it will be really cool when he is old enough to really understand that he and Josh have the same birthday. I was thinking that maybe by the time he turns three he might 'get' it, but if not, definitely by his fourth birthday I think he will really understand. Josh was in the shower this morning and I was talking to Owen about his birthday and told him about how today is daddy's birthday too. When Josh got out of the shower, Josh came and told Owen happy birthday and Owen pointed to him and said "Daddy too!" with this cute emphasized little voice. It was sweet:)

So today, we celebrate birthday's with One Voice as they perform the last of the Easter performances. Last night's opener went really really well. Jessalyn did great and the boys were super cute as they ran on stage in their little Biblical outfits. Owen stole the show in the second that he was out there. He totally seems to understand his job and does exactly what he is supposed to do. We'll see how today goes though..because the show is at the exact same time that he is usually napping. We'll see. I'm trying not to stress about it...just go with the flow and see how it all comes about!

Tomorrow will be a fun day with Easter and actually celebrating the birthday's. We will get up for the Sunrise Service (6am), then go to a big Church breakfast, then have two services right in a row and then head to Granny and Papa's for a nice afternoon of relaxing and eating!

I will try to get some good 'two year' portraits of Owen..I figured I would wait until I put him in his Easter outfit (that I haven't actually gotten yet!).

I will leave you with some pics from yesterday...Owen's last day of being one!

Back to the "old Jessalyn"!

Back in December I posted a picture of "the new Jessalyn"...her, with her new glasses. She has been good with her glasses. She wore them all the time and really felt she needed them to see properly. She didn't mind them..in fact, she really liked them. She liked how she looked in glasses and as far as her self esteem goes....well, we just don't have to worry about that with her! (haha)

One thing that really bugged her was having to protect them all the time. During basketball season she tried to play without them on..but felt like she couldn't see enough. After deciding to wear them during basketball she got smashed in the face with a basketball...something that hurts without glasses but WITH glasses REALLY hurst. Not only did it hurt..but Josh had to bend her glasses back into shape after. We have had many similar examples of this...between her regular activities and wrestling with her brothers we have just had plenty of issues.

She also was really bothered by the fact that she couldn't wear sunglasses (now that the sun is finally shining!), and that when it rained she would get drops on her glasses that turn to smudges. So after lots of adjusting, cleaning and bending back into shape...in addition to some research on contacts for kids we decided to just do it.

Josh and I are happy to save her from the phase of "rec specs" (something he lived through) and white athletic tape holding glasses together (something I had the luxury of living through). With contacts she should be able to skip right passed these unfortunate stages of life!

So far so good. She was able to take them out and put them in multiple times in the office and seems quite comfortable with them.

As for me...I am happy to be able to see straight to her eyes again!!!

The moon!

Owen has finally noticed the moon. I'm sure that all kids are fascinated by it..but I just love how much my kids love it. My aunt Susie (who passed away just over a year ago) LOVED the moon. I remember being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night in my jammas and brought outside in the cold so that I could see the moon if it looked beautiful that night. If I wasn't at Susie's house...she would call me and make sure that I went outside to look at it. I always notice the moon when it is big and bright and full...and it will ALWAYS make me think of Susie. Owen was home with Melissa while the rest of us were at the Passover Seder at Church and when I came home he came out on the porch to tell me ALL about the moon! He was very excited. I went inside and grabbed the camera..not sure what type of photo I could get, but I was determined to try! The moon wasn't particulary big or full this night..but Owen noticed it anyway. I can't wait unil the summer when it gets huge and full and red...and is right above the lake!