Mama is FIERCE!

While I was watering our garden for the past few days (we are already 6" below) I kept on hearing this squawking .I look up and a bird is dive-bombing my head.  I veer to the left, and it makes a circle to come back around and try again.  I kept on imagining Alfred Hitchcock's famous movie, "The Birds".  I look around to make sure I'm not dealing with a flock, but only one.  I turn on my hose real fast and give her a few squirts.

Why was she flipping out?  I start walking the perimeter of the garden watering, and I find two baby birds, still not able to fly hanging out on the wires of our tomato cage.  I absolutely understand why that bird tried to attack me, her little babies are vulnerable and her fierce "mama" attitude came out.  I quickly turned off the hose and ran inside as to avoid any pecking.

I sympathized with the bird because I had my Mama Bear moment a few weeks ago...

We signed Nolan up for soccer and excitedly went to his first practice.  I kept on looking for his team thinking all the boys seemed so much bigger than Nolan.  Come to find out, he's in the 1st through 3rd grade league.  Nolan's in 1st grade, and a young 1st grader at that.  I felt like they towered over him.  A week later, we arrived to practice again, and they asked the boys to run a lap to warm up.  They started running, and I heard one boy yell at Nolan, "You run like a girl. hahahaha."   I held my breath to see Nolan's reaction.  I guess this isn't a big insult in 1st grade, because Nolan didn't really respond to it.  Then, they line up to do corner kicks.  They were asked to stop the ball with their foot and keep it there.  The boy in front of Nolan kicked it out from Nolan's foot and sarcastically says, "Go get it."  Nolan was annoyed, I started fidgeting.  He hustles for his ball, gets back in line where he was, and the same boy kicks it down the field again and says, "You can't cut, go to the end of the line."  I felt the claws coming out.  Especially when Nolan hustled to get his ball AGAIN, and was visibly upset.  The coach thought he was goofing off, and told him to hustle up and control the ball.

I seriously had to hold myself back.  I wanted to go over to the kid, kick HIS ball as hard as possible and yell in his face, "GO GET IT!"  How horrible of me would that have been??  I didn't say a word though, just gave him evil eyes from the sidelines trying to send telepathic messages to cut it out.

The term "Mama Bear" is a pretty new phrase to me.  My oldest is only 6.  My definition is: "a mom who is protective of her children."  Sometimes I think there is a fine line between being protective and being a hindrance.  I was protective of Nolan, and made sure I kept my eyes on the situation.  I was not a hindrance by interfering in the situation (i.e. tackling the other kid).

 I need to push down the urge to solve every little situation that might arise.  There is so much to learn from kids working things out by themselves, I just have to step back and actually let that happen.

I will continue to still be fierce Mama Bear, but only from a distance.

From the Eyes of Mallory

During Spring Break we decided to take a camping adventure.  We went to Lake Limestone and spent 2 days and 1 night there.  Mallory was always underfoot and I needed to start cleaning up our camp site.  I gave her my camera and told her to go and take some pictures.  Out of over 200 pictures, here are some of my favorite:

Casey Bear and Papa Bear

Her fishing chair, pretty isn't it?

I've come to the conclusion that she really likes the shoe pictures.  She must have been fascinated by her shadow as well.  Her nature shots aren't too shabby either.  I love the perspective of her 4-year old self.  

You Know You're a Mommy When...

Happily, most of the things listed below remind me that I am the mother of 3 kids.  Hope you say yes to a few of these as well.

You Know You're a Mommy When...

• Spit-up and boogies don't freak you out.
• Having someone whisper your name right by your face, in the middle of the night doesn't make you call the cops
• Mac and cheese and chicken nuggets are a balanced meal
• Your dinner comes from the leftovers on your children's plates
• You can clean anything with a disposable wipe
• You hide the good food, so you don't have to share (in our house: ice cream and chips)
• You can make a toddler cry with "THE LOOK"
• You know how to remove marker scribbles from walls...and floors...and carpet
• You can maneuver through the Child's Playscape at any local fast food joint with stealth and agility
• You know all the places where "Kids Eat Free" and use it to your advantage
• You can soothe them back to sleep from a nightmare like no one else
• Your kids are bathed and dressed better than you
• You can carry a diaper bag, a toddler, a baby carrier and unlock the front door without dropping anything

These are just a few that came to mind, the list could go on forever.  What was your Mommy moment?

Mommy-hood is hard

Yesterday was rough.

Well, actually it started Saturday night with a little girl telling me her tummy hurt.
After 2 bouts of sickness, 2 sets of jammies, 2 showers, scrubbing the couch, scrubbing our carpet, rolling up our rug and putting it in the garage for later cleaning...I finally got Mallory to sleep on the living room floor while I slept on the couch beside her.

The next day should have been better.  I got a break from Little Ms. Sick as I took the boys to church and Greg stayed at home with her.  I knew that Greg had to go to work for the rest of the day right when I got home from church, so I was a tad worried about having 3 kids by myself, one of them being sick.

It went downhill after Greg left.  After the kids were fed lunch, it should have been rest time, but none of them were having any of that.  Casey (11 mos.) slept for a little over an hour while I sword-fought with Nolan.  After Casey woke up, it was as though I was being pulled in 3 different directions.

Mallory wanted to snuggle
Nolan wanted to battle
Casey was...a handful.  He would cry if I would hold him, cry if I put him down.  What do you do with that???

I tried to be the good mom and get Mallory and Nolan to do an art activity.  That lasted 5 minutes.

I tried to be the energetic mom and sword-fight.  That lasted even less time and Casey got hit with a sword.

I tried to be the guilt-trip mom and put in a movie.  They were interested for 10 minutes.

Then, we all just sort of sat around, listening to Casey whine and cry for what felt like FOREVER!
(It was one of those days where you look at the clock and say, "Ok, it's 2:00 pm, I can make it!"  And after what you feel like has been at least an hour, you look at the clock and it is 2:05 pm)

I knew if I could make it to dinner time I would be okay.  But getting to dinner time was hard.  I felt like the worst mom.  I think I told Nolan, "Give me one more second." about 15 times.  Eventually dinner rolled around.  Casey was finally happy with a stuffed belly, Nolan was full and Mallory hadn't gotten sick all day.

The routine of bedtime is something I love.  It was my silver lining to yesterday.  I got to give Casey a bath, which he loves and he quickly went to sleep.  I read Magic Tree House with Nolan and tried to teach him to play Solitaire.  I finally got to cuddle with Mallory and watch My Little Pony.  I got everyone to bed, picked up the toys, did the dishes, sat down and realized (for probably the billionth time) that Mommy-hood is hard.  The good, the bad, and the ugly...and yesterday was pretty ugly.  It's something that I signed up for and do every day, the rewards are sometimes few and far between but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Home Renovations: The After

Moving in to this house 5 1/2 years ago was great for us!  But, like every house, it had some updating to do.  Through these 5 years we have done numerous updates and renovations, but I am lacking all of the "before" pictures.  Since we recently moved to a new house (as of last week!) I decided to take all my "after" photos.  This record of projects is more so for me, because when I was walking through the house I kept saying, "ooh, remember when I did that?" or "That was such a good idea!" or "That looks horrible before AND after."  

So, for your enjoyment and mine, here are pictures and a little blurb of what was accomplished in this room.

THE KITCHEN

•  Refinished all of the cabinets. (Sanded, stained and varnished)
• Replaced hardware
• Painted ceiling
• Replaced flooring (linoleum).  There was much debate on if there was hardwood floor under multiple layers of linoleum, but finding out would have been too pricey so we just added another layer.
• New countertops...one of the few things I had a professional do
• New backsplash

•  Replaced vent hood
• Replaced sink
• Replaced stove top
• Replaced dishwasher
• The oven was the next thing on the list, but never got around to it before moving.

DINING AREA

•  New flooring continued from the kitchen
• Replaced light fixture
• Painted ceiling and walls
• Added crown molding

•  Put up wall paper that looks like bead board.  It was the neatest product!  Very easy to use, I even did it myself.  Added a coat of high gloss white paint over the wallpaper to give a clean, shiny look.

LIVING AREA

•  Crown molding
• Added faux wood blinds-they are white
• Painted ceiling
• Painted walls
• Replaced fan

PLAY ROOM/DEN

•  Painted walls...multiple times
• Fixed leak in roof which ruined our first paint job...hence the multiple colors
• Painted mantle and wood accents white
• Replaced saltillo tile with large ceramic tile

MASTER POWDER BATH

•  Removed wallpaper and painted beige
• Replaced globes on light fixture

MASTER BEDROOM

•  Replaced fan
• Painted this room twice.  The first color was a dark gray, which Greg thought was too gloomy.  I repainted a lighter gray which was named "Pure Silver".

•  I loved this wall color!

CHILD'S ROOM

 First, it was Mallory's room and then Casey's.  That is why it leans toward girlish

• Added owl mural.  This was done with a bottle of Mod Podge and paper from around the house.  The tree is out of brown paper bags, the owls are from scrapbook paper and the flowers and leaves are from some floral wrapping paper I had on hand.  This project was a max of $5-$10.

•  Added a chair rail
• Painted lower half a flat white...bad choice.  Should have been satin or high gloss.  You can see where the bed used to be and that sort of bothers me.

•  Painted the top half of the wall a beautiful jade color.  When I first put it up, it almost looked black, but once the natural daylight hit it, it took on this beautiful jewel tone that I was going for.
• Added curtain rods and curtains

FULL BATH

•  Painted walls (twice).  The first time I painted this HORRIBLE neon yellow color.  Went with a light tan the second time around.

•  Replaced light fixture
• Added frame around mirror
• Added nickel fixtures and hardware
• Replaced countertops
• Added backsplash
• Replaced sink and faucet fixtures

•  Tore up white tile to find mint green tile underneath!  Replaced with tan tile with an accent edge.  My knees were killing me from crawling around so much after this little project.

NOLAN'S BEDROOM

This room has always been Nolan's room, but he had to start sharing it with Mallory after Casey was born.

•  Replaced ceiling fan
• Added curtain rods and curtain
• Painted above the chair rail white after Nolan drew on the walls (he was almost 3).
• Painted under the chair rail a color that I hated, but the kids picked out.  I thought, "How bad could it be?"  It reminds me of the color of macaroni and cheese, but worse.  For some reason, it also took multiple coats even though the can boasted that it would cover in 1 coat.  

...and that was just the updates on the inside of the house!  I will have to tell you about the outside another time.  When looking for a new house, I wanted one that needed a lot less updating.  I'm a little burnt out on updating right now, and knew that it would be much harder to do having 3 small children.  Let's be honest, doing ANYTHING with 3 small children is hard :)

I'm hoping the new owners will love our house as much as we have.  We don't have buyers yet...so if you are interested, give me a call. ( I know, shameless plug, but I'm trying to sell a HOUSE).

Have fun renovating, be better than me and take before AND after pictures.

The Night that was Horrible, But Could Have Been SO Much Worse!

On Friday, our family and Greg's parents loaded up in our car to drive to Palestine.  We were traveling to the Polar Express!  The kids were very excited to see Santa, their lists were written and they were ready!  

Only a few miles away from the Polar Express, our car started making a weird sound.  It was coming from the engine, but since being only a few miles away from our location I really didn't worry about it.

**Just as a side story:  I have taken my car in to local shops NUMEROUS times for a mysterious engine sound.  It would make the sound for me, the mechanic wouldn't hear the sound and return the car back to me.  The last mechanic finally heard the sound, and his opinion was that the sound wasn't bad enough to do anything to the car, so he suggested until it get REALLY bad.  Not great advice, but I took the car and really paid attention to any sounds/lights that came on**

We had a wonderful time at Polar Express.  The kids danced in the aisles with the "chefs".  We drank delicious hot chocolate, and got to meet Santa.  After the train ride, and hitting up the restrooms, we were in the car ready to head home about 7:15 pm.  Our goal was to be home by 10 pm.  Sadly, that didn't happen...

In Palestine, we stopped at McD's to get some food for all of us.  Not even a mile from there, the car started beeping at us.  We made sure we were buckled...still beeping.  Doors all closed...still beeping.  Engine starts smoking...

We pull over and Greg and his dad start looking at the engine.  It's the radiator.  Greg gets a cup of water to cool down the radiator so we can make it to a gas station.  When driving to the gas station I hear that thumping sound that I heard the first time when coming to Palestine.  The guy's guess was that the radiator was leaking coolant onto the belt, which was making the belt make a horrible sound.  We got to the gas station, got everything patched and the prayers started, "Just let us get home safely."

If you've ever been to Palestine, you take a lot of dark country roads until you meet back up to I-45.  My biggest fear was breaking down on one of these dark roads...with three kids.  

Around an hour later, it happened.  The belt broke, breaking a huge hole in to the radiator.  Coolant spilled out, causing the car to overheat quickly.  Thankfully, we were near an exit, pulled in to a gas station/Arby's.  

I was sad.

Greg was mad.

Nolan was crying, thinking it was his fault.

Casey was wet.

Mallory was asleep.

I call my sister Jenn's cell phone (which she doesn't usually answer, living in the country gives her bad reception).  She answered on the second ring!  She will leave in 5 minutes to come get us!  Yay!  Too bad, we were almost an hour away...

Mallory asleep in Arby's, and then she woke up and cried.

We all headed in to Arby's where Mallory slept, and Casey cried.  Nolan found a Hot Wheel at the gas station, so he was happy again.  After Arby's closed, they shooed us out, but the gas station had a trucker's living room. We all settled down.  After a little over an hour, our hero was here!  The sight of Jenn and her working car almost brought tears to my eyes.  We all loaded up, and headed home.  

We pulled in to Greg's parents driveway and unloaded all the kids.  They were staying the night to go to the movies tomorrow.  I tucked them in, and they were exhausted.  Greg and I went home, and after all was said and done, it was past midnight.  But we were home safe!!

Since I'm an eternal optimist, here are some things that could have made it worse:

• The car dying on some scary, dark road with ax murderers hiding in bushes
• The car dying a few weeks ago in the dark roads of the Hill Country, with ax murderers hiding in bushes.
• The kids could have FREAKED OUT, but instead, somewhat kept their cool
• Jenn not answering her phone, or saying no to picking us up (she does have 4 kids herself)
• Did I mention the ax murderers hiding in bushes????

So, now my car is somewhere in Madisonville.  It won't be looked at until some time on Monday (3 days away).  I am car-less, but I am perfectly fine just sitting at home...I think I'm done with adventures for a while.

My Kids and Religion

Questions I asked myself today at church:

What is my short term goal regarding my children and their walk with God?

What is my long term goal regarding my children and their walk with God?

How am I going to help them achieve this?

First, I suppose I should start with my own experience:

In middle school we moved towns.  Prior to moving, we (me, my sister and my mom) attended church every Sunday.  My twin sister and I would go to a church camp every summer.  When we were 10, we decided to give our life to Christ and got baptized.  

Then we moved, and it all stopped.  No more going to church, no more church camp, no religion at all (except for the Christmas story during the holidays, and prayer at the Thanksgiving).  I really can't give you a reason either.  I was probably old enough to request to attend church, but that thought never occurred to me at the time.  Aren't your parents supposed to MAKE you go to church, not the other way round?  Instead, on Sunday I would laze about and at the age of 16 started working on Sundays without giving it a second thought.

In college, I went to church on Sunday asking for forgiveness for my behavior (or lack of Christian behavior) from the previous week.  Isn't that what all college kids did?  Then, after hearing a sermon that bothered me, I stopped going.

Fast forward quite a few years.  I had married a Christian man (Methodist, if you're curious).  We, as a couple never attended church together and seemed to both have the inability to start going again after such a long pause in our faith. 

Then, Nolan came.  We wanted something greater for him.  To give him a good foundation, to depend on someone greater than mom and dad.  So, to be quite honest, we started going back to church for him.  

  Here are some desires I have for my children and am working on daily:

• Make it a habit to give thanksgiving to God.  To feel grateful for all we have, because we really don't deserve any of it.  
• To know there is someone greater than himself, someone more loving than mom and dad, someone he can always depend on and lean on.
• To rely on the words of the Bible as truth.  To find his own meaning in those books and to look to them if he has a question that no one can answer.
• To know that, even though all the statistics say that he will walk away from his faith during college, he will always be accepted by God, always have forgiveness in Him.

We've been lucky to have a child with a desire to learn about God.  It honestly gives me goosebumps and brings tears to my eyes when I hear him sing our worship songs in church, or be so proud of himself that he got a Holy Bible and can read it himself. 

I honestly don't know how long this desire for faith will last.  We might hit a few bumps in the road as he gets older; but as long as the foundation is there that we've been working so hard for the past 6 years (and hopefully for many more) to lay, I think (and pray) he'll turn in to a Godly man. 

Oh, almost forgot.  My short term goal for my child's faith:

• Make it through Big Church
• For him to listen during Children's Time and not act like a ninja or a big clock (I know, odd).  

Hoping you find your own desires for your children and their faith.  It's going to be hard work, but the outcome will be fantastic. :)