Friday's Fave Five: June 25

I took a couple of weeks off, which means I have even more to be grateful for! Life has been pretty busy lately and then last week I was away on our annual middle school summer camp trip (with 62 middle schoolers!) so I am started to feel caught up now...although that never lasts more than a day or so!

1. Judah Time! I got to spend a week (while I was away at camp) bonding with just my youngest. Micah got to stay with grandma and spend time with friends, so he had a blast...but it was nice and special to have lots of Judah time!

2. Cuteness! My boys are just so stinkin' adorable! Whether they are awake, sleeping, or screaming (okay, so in that moment I am not thinking how cute they are, but they still are!)...

(don't worry, he is not in pain, he is desperately wanting something other than the broccoli he is supposed to be eating...and yes, that is a tattoo on his stomach, but it washed off in the pool...it was fake.)

Still SO cute!

3. Father's Day. I started about 2 weeks early since we were going to be gone the whole week leading up to it...I was excited that Micah could "help" make something this year for "dadda" but it didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped. Ultimately, I wish I had someone standing by to film the process because surely that would have been a much better present than our final result. A couple of pictures that I managed to take...

For some reason it didn't equate with him that it was just finger paint. Surely it was face paint, or mouth paint, or food...something better than just finger paint!

You might assume part of the process was eating some chocolate...nope. This is when he decided to eat the brown crayon instead of coloring with it on the paper! Fully eating the crayon! Had to go brush it out of his teeth! The kid refuses to eat broccoli, but when it comes to brown crayons he is all "mmmmmmmmmmmm"! Crazy day!

4. Hand-me-downs. I am all about them! About 95% of our boy's clothes have been given to us. And their toys and shoes and whatever else they use besides diapers. It's a great way to go. Toys are SO expensive and who knows what they will truly end up cherishing...well, Micah LOVES trains...and lo and behold we were given a great train set by a friend that he adores! He just sits there and plays with them and sings "choo choo" in a high pitched voice over and over!

(We are going to redo these floors like we have the kitchen floors, but they are still in the hideous stage right now!)


5. New Kitchen. It is coming along so great! We have very minor touch-ups at this point, but for the most part, it is new, and improved, and SO nice to walk into each day.

I don't have a great before picture, but this gives a view of some of the layers of flooring we took up to find the wood, shows the white counter tops and yellow walls...doesn't show the metal sink that wasn't terrible except for the nails-scraping-the-chalkboard noise when the water was running!

Hard to get a picture of it all, this still doesn't show the new sink. We found a great one on craigslist and it works, sounds and looks worlds better! And this shows the white, gray, and red walls that we painted, the black "marbled" counter tops that we painted, and the newer-looking freshly painted cabinets. It feels great.

We've been busy. But it's been a good sort of busy too. I feel like I could keep writing things...which is good. It's good to feel so grateful!

I am linked up at Living to Tell the Story.

Black and White

I can be a pretty black and white person sometimes. Actually, usually. It's taken me a while to come to terms with this. To know that it doesn't mean I am a bad person, I just have a harder time seeing the gray than others do. I am learning. Learning to be more gray, or at least to see the gray once in a while. But there are some things that are just black and white. Or at least they should be.
Like 'yes' and 'no'. I'm not a fan of 'maybe'. Most of the time, 'maybe' means 'no'. It means I don't have a good reason to say no right now, but I don't want to say yes, so I will say maybe, give some hope, and then come up with a good way to say no. Maybe is for people who can't commit. Sometimes it's good to just say no and be okay with that answer.
I digress...
Back to yes and no. And black and white. I like these to match up. Black is black, and white is white. That's just the way it is. And I wish this were true about yes and no. It should be, but it's not always this way. At least not with everyone. I try really hard to make my yes YES and my no NO. Without exception. This is important to me. I want people to know that my word can be trusted. And I want to trust the word of others.
I have encountered a few situations like this recently, but don't want to rant too much. But I think the worst is with kids. If I tell Micah yes to something, then I need to follow through. And the same goes with my no. I can't say no, or tell him he can't do something or can't have something, and then not follow through. This doesn't teach him anything.
And when your kid is at the pool squirting a water gun directly in my kid's face (after you have repeatedly told him not to, but he continues without blinking an eye) I am going to step in and tell your kid what to do. Do you want that squirted right in your eyes? From 10 feet away?! Doesn't feel too good anymore, does it?
At what point do you take the water gun away? Never? After the third time that he doesn't listen to you? After the 30th time that he doesn't listen to you? If you say 'don't do that' but never do anything about it when he does, what makes him want to not do that? Probably nothing.
It's hard to punish out in public (especially when you don't spank). I'm learning this as my toddler is getting to the stage where he is testing the boundaries. But I have to set boundaries, and I have to keep these boundaries, or else...
I digress...
All I'm saying (in a really long and ranting way) is let your yes truly mean YES and let your no truly mean NO. In all areas of your life. 

Friday's Fave Five: June 3

Not sure how it became June SO fast! Not sure how my youngest is 3 months old already. Not sure how we are almost halfway through the year already! I'm still getting used to saying 2010, and it's almost half over! Oh well, here are some things I am grateful for, some things that haven't totally slipped by without me noticing.

1. New glasses. I got some a couple weeks ago, but kept forgetting to mention it. But it's been exciting! It's my first pair in about 4 years, and I actually got 2 pair. I think that's the more exciting part. I don't wear makeup or jewelry (besides my wedding rings) so this fives me something to change about myself depending on my outfit. No pictures, but I got a nice black pair and a slightly funky green pair and this has been the most exciting thing for me when getting ready in the morning (or afternoon or evening or whenever I actually make it out of the house!).

2. Memorial Day Weekend. No expectations. No responsibilities (besides kids and family of course!). Lots of sun and water and time with family. Time to be relaxed. Time to be spontaneous. Time to just go with the flow and eat good food and have good conversation and enjoy life!

3. A fixed van. We bought a used van a while back. It's quirky. It's definitely used. We got what we paid for (or maybe less) and we try to see it as more of an adventure (when it randomly doesn't start) than a nuisance (when we have to crawl from driver's side to passenger side to unlock doors). This past weekend as I was leaving for church it wouldn't start at all. Usually we try a few times, slam a few doors harder, and eventually it comes on. Not this time. When hubs got home later he found some cables had come apart and just needed to be reattached and cleaned up a bit. No cost. No biggy. And it has started every time since!

4. Baking with a friend. It doesn't happen often, but it was nice. Nice to talk to someone my age. Nice to have someone else hold my baby that really loves to be held all the time. Nice to have some cookies to send home for her and her family. I'm inspired now to have more times like this in my week!
lots and lots of salad!

5. Enjoying my boy's stages. I know I mention them a lot, but they are a really big part of my life. And I really do enjoy them. Obviously not every. single. moment. of the day, but I do. I enjoy the stages they are in. The fact that they can wake up from a nap and look older to me. Like they aged during that 2 hour nap! The fact that my Micah (@ 17 months) is trying to repeat everything we say (also makes me think about what I am saying!) and it is cute how he tries to say some things. The fact that Micah can play with the same toy he played with 6 months ago, but now he plays with it differently, like really trying to stack the blocks instead of just knocking them over. The fact that both of their personalities are shining through and I can already see so many differences. The fact that they can show each other love at this age (Micah kissing Judah and Judah with big smiles at Micah in return). The fact that the world is theirs to explore and they get to discover new things each day. I love them a lot!

I am grateful this week. I have not been grateful every moment of this week, but this is always the perfect reminder of all that I have to be grateful for!

Head on over to Living to Tell the Story to read more favorites from the week.