What I learned in 2008

Well as all of you know 2008 was a very busy year for us, many, many changes. I was awake last night (what else was I going to do while Jaden decided to party from 3:30am -4:30am) reflecting on God's goodness, his grace and his mercy. What did I learn in 2008 mostly to rely on him, as if I didn't already know this and I can repeat it 10 times a day, but truly in my heart I am still wrestling with control. I know he has the big picture in hand, and through the exhaustion and through the weariness, he's got it all. I have 4 of the most beautiful children in the world and a very loving and caring husband. It has been such a learning experience and since I have cut way back on my activities, (it's easier to manage the chaos) at times it's been a little lonely, but I am at peace with the challenges he sets before me and the person he wants me to become. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for our family in 2008. Happy New Year.

The Love Dare

So over the years Michael and I have done devotions as a couple, not always on a regular basis, but we have done some great books. We decided to do The Love Dare

It's from a movie called Fireproof, about a marriage about to crumble (no we are not crumbling - I really wanted to see it when it came out - I posted about it when it did - but as you can imagine babysitting for four kids - 2 very small is not too easy, I can't wait until they get a little older), but not having done a couples devotional in a while we decided to do it together and we just started it. I thought OK we have a great marriage this shouldn't be too hard, it will keep us reading and praying together, HA!!.

Day one - Love is patient - Go the entire day without a negative word toward your spouse (I FAILED THAT ONE).

Day Two = Love is kind, do one random act of kindness. (Failed that one too - by the end of the day at home with all the kids, I could only manage a snuggle before bed) I'm 0 for 2 here.

Day three + (do day one and day two as well as three day three) buy your spouse an unexpected gift (since it was just Christmas, we set a $5 limit), I have done OK today although, I was able to be patient, did not do the kindness thing, the night is not over yet, and I bought Michael his favorite ice cream from the store (any kind with peanut butter - we don't usually have it because Kaleigh is allergic and he doesn't want her to feel bad that she can't have any - I bought her some ice pops).

So I'm trying really hard here, but not doing so well, better than day one though. At the end of the book it has 20 questions to ask your mate while on a date or some quiet time, I can't wait to get to that part. Right now we just need to get through the next 40 days.

The angry face

I haven't been able to catch the pout but this is the angry face, the "NO DON'T TAKE MY TOY" face.

Sleep

Jaden always sleeps on his stomach, but it just so happen he was so tired one morning that he fell asleep in his crib on his back. Never happens so I had to catch it.

Footy Pajamas

Everyone had footy pajamas on, just coincidentally.

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas with visits from family, and the excitement of the day.

All the kids with their santa hats.

My guys.

A Barbie Cruise Ship was a big hit, even for Madison.

We were glad to have Michael's Aunt Betty share the holiday with us.

My Sweet Little Boy

New Shoes

Took the girls to the mall this weekend (yes I am insane) to take a picture with Santa (no one smiled, even after Kaleigh begged me to take them - won't bother posting the picture because it's that bad) and decided to go to Payless to buy them some patten leather shoes to go with their Christmas dresses. Well we were not successful in the patten leather shoe search but Madison HAD to have these pink sparkly shoes (She's just like Kaleigh) and we could not leave the store without them. Today she has been walking around the house with them on saying "I WIKE NEW SHOES!" at least 20 times today, she had to call Michael on the phone to tell him, and kept them on so when he came home from work she could show him how her new shoes looked on her feet. She cracks me up.

Two different Pics

Took the first picture over the summer, and a different one tonight, can't believe the difference a couple of months can make for a little guy.

Santa's little elves

It Never Get's Old

It never gets old, I love his laugh!

So Funny I had to copy it, it made me laugh so hard

My friend Courtney is a hoot sometimes and can put things in to words I cannot otherwise, this was so funny I had to make a copy.

i'm sorry

..i'm sorry, but would whoever put all those piles of dirty clothes in my house please come and wash them and fold them and put them away??

...and the same person must have made my 3 year old act like, well, a 3 year old. could you fix that? (except mine is 22months)

..and could you also make dinner every night this week since i have no idea what to make.

..and wrap the gifts...that is, if you can find them in the basement (our garage) that looks like a tornado went through it.

..and, while you're at it, could you get these 10 extra pounds off my hips/butt/thighs/stomach?

thanks! i appreciate it!

A DATE

Had a date with my favorite guy. We went to Michael's company Christmas party on Friday Night. It was a lot of fun, it was held at the National Air and Space Museum at the Udvar Hazy Center (satellite museum out at Dulles from Washington DC) it's 5 minutes from our house (that was nice). We had food, music and we got to see and IMAX movie at the end of the night .. good for a break for my feet (I haven't worn heals in a year) it was different and fun. Unfortunately I left my camera in my coat when I checked it and didn't get any pictures from the night, this is the only one we got before we left the house. Don't mind the Tostitos bag.

Some Days

Some days I am so busy and caught up in the daily grind of life (our chaos) that I don't even get the chance to slow down and on those days that I do, I am over come with emotion on how much I love these children and my husband. I know God gives me those epiphanies so that I can keep going, even when I am exhausted and think I can't do this another day.

The below videos

A friend of our sent my husband this video with him and his wife in it, so Michael updated it with the girls pictures since High School Musical is their favorite movie.

HM3 staring Jordan

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HSM3 staring Kaleigh Cole

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One of my favorite pics

Getting ready for the christmas card picture.

A couple of pics from Thanksgiving

My grandparents and my aunt and the girls with the daughter of one of my cousins.

Angel (cutie pie), Jordan, Kaleigh and Madison.

Just the Same Old Same Old

Can't believe it but I shouldn't be surprised, all 4 kids have strep throat and I have a bad virus, but I am grateful no trips to the ER and no one's in the hospital, it could be worse.

A New Name

Not sure what to rename child number 3. Exhibitionist, Mountain Climber or Escape Artist.
Can't seem to keep her clothes on, climbs everything in sight, including counters, bunk beds, tables, or escapes out of her crib..ALREADY!!! She's not even 2. Maybe I can just call her TODDLER AMAZING!!! It suites her.

Check out that wild hair!

My 5month Old

I can't believe he's 5 months old. In some ways it seems like he's been here forever (of course that is relative when you aren't sleeping), but he's just the perfect fit for our family.

**He has curly hair already -it's going to be wild once it grows in (as you can see)

**He has eaten solid foods since about 3 and 3/4 months old (to try to get some more calories and weight on him).

**He weighs only 10lbs 13 oz (he's tiny like his sisters - except Madison- seriously we don't know where she came from she's so big) - he's not a big eater.

**He doesn't sleep more than three hours between night feeding and maybe two if I'm lucky during the day (it would be great to get him and Madison on the same nap schedule one day).

**He's been sick twice (bad upper respiratory virus and now strep throat)- my heart aches for him and me.

**He LOVES his sisters (all of them) smiles and laughs for them constantly except when he's tired.

**He's definitely a momma's boy, loves his daddy but is definitely a momma's boy (he knows where the food source comes from).

**He's very sweet and pretty happy once you address his issues (he's a little demanding I have to say).

**All those things I've heard about boys (smells, noises, burps......all true with him)

**We can't imagine life with out him (or any of them......except the noise level at 5:00 at night might actually be audible in our house instead of deafening).

**I wouldn't change it for a thing except maybe some more sleep.

Tae Kwon Do - White Belts

The girls finally earned their white belt, took a little longer than normal since they have missed a lot of classes from being sick here and there, but they were so excited when they came home, they came rushing in to tell me, Michael got to watch, while I stayed home, we had Shepard Group that night. Apparently the white belt is the hardest to get (other than black) because is the first one that sets the foundation (I don't know, that's what I'm told) but now they are excited about continuing to earn the different colors, yellow is next so we'll see how long it takes to get that one, they did an awesome job working at it and Michael worked really hard practicing with them.

Happy Thanksgiving

I have some pictures from Thanksgiving that I will post later but trying to squeeze everything in is a little chaotic at this point, especially because Jaden has strep throat. Rare but true he has it, leave it to us to get the rare stuff.

We had a good Thanksgiving the kids traveled really well, even Jaden. once we understood the issues we were able to address them, the ride up on Thursday took 7 hours a normal ride is 5-5 1/2 so a little longer than expected, but the ride home was even longer 8 1/2 hours, Jaden had had enough around 7 1/2 and proceeded to cry the last 45 minutes. Made for a long ride but we made it home and we were glad we had Sunday to do nothing but recover. Of course with the little guy being sick with a fever and up all night since Wednesday, pretty much the only one's who got any sleep were the girls. Sorry this seems like a downer but just stating the hard facts. 4 of my kids is hard.

I am thankful for teh fact that I got to see my family, and some friends that part is always good, it is hard to travel with a family of 6 and try to find enough space for us to be comfortable, I am grateful to my parents for sqeezing us in even if it is a little tight.

The tooth fairy has been pretty busy

The tooth fairy has been pretty busy in our house lately as Kaleigh lost her 2nd tooth in a two week time frame and Jordan is losing one as well, the tooth fairy's going to go broke in our house.

This Past 2 Weeks

This picture pretty much describes the past two weeks in our house. Oh if only I could get sleep like that.

Good Bye Binky

Took the girls (Jordan and Kaleigh) to the dentist to have a regular cleaning, which they did great, but he told Madison to hop up in the chair just so he could see what the future was for her and her teeth. First she is completely opposite of the other girls she has plenty of room for all the teeth in her mouth as compared to her sisters who have absolutely no room for teeth, something we have to be careful of with them, but he said Madison's teeth would be perfect and beautiful IF we took away her pacifier now. AAAGGGGHHHH, I'm not ready to deal with that battle, she loves her binky, not as much as Jordan did we got rid of hers at age 3, but a little more than Kaleigh her's was gone by 15 months with little issue, so when I came home from the dentist and put her down for her nap I told her that the binky's had to go bye-bye. Actually she seemed OK with it, she asked for her blankie, which sounds a lot like binky but that was OK. Gave her the blanket and her stuffed dolls and she after about and hour and half of talking in her bed to her dolls and some mild complaining about wanting her binky she fell asleep for 45 minutes. Put her to bed last night again no binky, only her blanket and dolls and she went right to sleep didn't complain at all. HUH, we'll see how this goes tonight. She's still under the weather and so is Jaden so maybe not feeling well has her exhausted but she seem to do OK. Maybe it was just me letting her hang on to babydom.

A visit from the Tooth Fairy

Kaleigh lost her first tooth she was so excited, she's been wanting to lose a tooth for the longest time and now she finally got her wish. So the tooth fairy came and took her tooth and left her a note with some money, she was so excited this morning.

A Huge Blessing

This past year in January or February of this year our shepard group (small bible study group) broke off to form another group. As if we had not been blessed by the group we had been in, we were in it for almost 4 years but our current group is simply wonderful. They are very godly people with a heart for service. One of the mom's has offered to bring Kaleigh home from preschool so I don't have to disturb Madison's nap, and on Friday two couple offered to come over to our house and babysit our 4 children along with their 3 for a total of 7 kids so Michael and I can go out for dinner. It was so nice to have dinner together, I had dessert first and then my meal (how fun was that) we had adult conversation (amazingly not centered on our kids) and we weren't too tired to have a conversation at 8 - 9 o'clock at night. Thank you Osborne's and Garn's you have truly blessed our family and we can't thank you enough.

SICK KIDS!!!

OK so not only were we sick not too long ago, at least 3 of our kids were and Michael and I but the kids were sick AGAIN this past week. It started the week of Halloween, with Kaleigh and a sinus infection and then I had to take Jordan and Madison to the doctor on Halloween, Jordan with a sinus infection and Madison with strep throat. Then over last weekend Jaden caught a virus and has since spiraled into a nasty croupey lung thing. So now I am nebulizing three kids, Kaleigh at least 2 times a day and Jaden every 4 -6 hours including the middle of the night so any hope of sleep this week has been dashed. I was awake last night at 1:30, brought him to bed with me and nursed him to sleep, he woke up choking at 3:30 took him back to his room, nebbed him and fed him again, got back to bed at 4:30, he sounded like he could barely breathe. I go get dressed, because at this point I think I am going to take him to the ER at 5:00 in the morning, Michael suggests I give him a minute to see if the nebulizer treatment works first because it always makes Kaleigh cough for a little while at first and then she can get some air. I check on him at 5:00 and he is sound asleep. I go back to bed only to be woken up by him at 5:30 hacking away. I pick him up and it seems to clear him up, and he falls right back to sleep in my arms with a pacifier and so I decide to bring him back to bed with me so I can hold him up, his bed by the way is at an angle which he starts on the top of the bed and eventually works his way down to the flat part so he starts out Ok but ends up at the bottom. Not a big issue except when you can't breathe. So after coming back to bed with me at 5:30 he sleeps until 7:00 when everyone gets up. It's been a long night and Michael and I promised Jordan and Kaleigh we would take them to the movies, I'm hoping not to fall asleep. We take them to see High School Musical 3, it's hard to believe the price of a matinee for a family of 4 is $30. I guess we won't be going to the movies as a family of 6, that plus popcorn and you have spent $45 total, for 2 hours. How crazy is that, thank goodness we only go once a year. The girls had a great time, I didn't fall asleep and my mother - in - law had a happy toddler and baby who actually was great for her. Took a bottle and slept when he was supposed to and he seems to be a little better this afternoon hope we have a good night.

From My friend Courntey

MY FRIEND COURTNEY IS SO INSPIRATIONAL SOMETIMES AND TRULLY HAS THE HEART OF GOD. I CAN'T WAIT TO DO THIS.

Americans spend 450 billion dollars a year on Christmas.
It would cost 10 billion dollars to SOLVE the issue of clean drinking water COMPLETELY.does that hit anyone else like it hits me?what are we DOING?!??!?!?go here to donate if that's all you need to hear.keep reading if you need to hear more.(brace yourselves...this might be long.)i KNOW we're in this "crazy" economy right now. and everyone is worried about jobs and money and gas prices, etc, etc.well, when your child says, "i'm thirsty, mom!" today, are you worried about it? do you think, "what am i going to do? we don't HAVE any water? and if we do, and they drink it, they might get a disease and DIE?"probably not.yes, we have things to think about (jobs, money...) but let's keep things in perspective!i truly believe that we can solve this problem.over. done.EVERYONE can have water to drink if we just open our eyes and give a little bit (or a LOT!) of our hearts and money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K14c4NGuhDI

don't you want to be a part of this thing?(not that you would do it for that reason.)but something BIG is going to happen here...and you could be part of it!the lack of access to clean drinking water is the LEADING cause of death in underdeveloped countries.and we can CHANGE that!4500 children die EVERY day due to water related diseases.and we CAN change that!$20 gives a person clean drinking water FOR THEIR WHOLE LIFE!$5000 digs a well for an entire village.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AqlLyLeJuQ

so, are you ready to do something?To donate:-go here-mail your check here: Charity Global, 150 Varick Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10013. Make the checks out to Charity Global and be sure to write Water For Christmas in the memo lines.-if you don't want to deal with that, get your money to me and I'll get it where it needs to go(FYI: this organization is EXCELLENT. they don't just go in and build these wells and leave. they TEACH the village how to MAINTAIN the well to continue giving them clean water.)Ideas...-use this as an opportunity to TEACH your kids about giving and the poor“I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me….To the extent that you did it to one of these, even the least of them, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:35,40)-give your kids one less gift this Christmas. i don't think they will miss it. give the money you would have spent.-every little bit counts. choose NOT to get the diet coke from Chick Fil A and donate that $1.63 instead. (sadly, that's a hard one for me...)
-literally GIVE the gift of water. a girl is making bracelets in her ETSY shop to buy and the proceeds go to clean water! i think Tshirts will be coming soon...give a bracelet or tshirt as a gift instead of that lotion or sweater that he never would have worn anyways.
-and PLEASE pass this on! put the button in the top right corner of my blog on your blog. email people and tell them to check this out. talk about it. PRAY about it.
want to read more? Jody, Cassie, Tesi (and others) are the ones that launched this whole thing.
read their hearts. (about clean water and other things - they are just amazing women!)
and then GO!!!
we can DO this!!!
(i'm so excited i can hardly sit still here in my seat!!!)

Carving our pumpkin

Where did she come from?

Where did she come from? This is my little girl, and I say little in the figurative way, because she is just big. I have little babies, I'm a fairly small woman, so my kids are small.

Kaleigh had her 5 year check up she's in the 25% for her height and weight, Jordan 10th percentile, Jaden barely 5%, Madison 70th percentile for height and 50% for weight, I can barely carry her she's so heavy, and yet she's just my sweet little girl. I know my kids will all be bigger than me, I mean come on it's not hard, but I'm hoping she's not bigger than me at age 10! But she will always be my little baby.

PreHalloween

Getting ready for Halloween.

My Sweet little Boy

He looks so much bigger than he actually is, it's incredible.

She just loves him.

Catching Up

We have been busy the last couple of weeks, Michael had pnuemonia, the girls have sinus infections, so we're just getting a chance to catch up.

All of us at Cox Farm. The kids love this place and we went with my parent when they were here for the weekend of Kaleigh's birthday.

She's not a big hay person.