beautiful pumpkin carving day.

i was getting sick of seeing easter pictures on my blog...so in the spirit of randomness, here are a few pictures straight out of our camera from a perfectly lovely fall day at nana and papa's house carving pumpkins they grew themselves.

 

 wow, madeline was a real goof ball this day.

 our beautiful sophie is the hardest one in the family to photograph. she can't master the fake smile like her sister and brothers can. so these pictures we got of her laughing are quite the catch. :)



 ben was a good supervisor.

and a few of our crazy cutie pie...

well, there you go...and unless i get a sudden burst of inspiration and time, i  probably won't post again until i get tired of seeing these pictures over and over. :)
thanks for visiting!

easters 2013

we started out the morning by ringing bells, taking jesus out of the tomb and eating breakfast together/

we loved going through betsy's easter reading for young children this year. they are short and sweet and have meaningful activities to go with them. :)

the kiddos each got a special book just for them and a few little treats.

 

i left our newly planted tomb out in the snow for several days...but the message is the same, even without grass: Jesus is ALIVE! 

after church we had lunch and an egg hunt at nana and papa cary's house.

madeline loved wearing her flower girl dress again from auntie bethany's wedding

sweet, adorable sophie girl

daddy made will work for his eggs this year.

ben loves his bow-ties and obviously they were made especially for his cute cheesy self. 

cute boys

my mommy and i

 more easter sweetness at grandma and grandpa's house

happy easter!

ballerina/pirate birthday party

these two turned 5 this month. each year that passes i am more in awe and (by God's grace!) more in touch with how vastly unique and precious these girls are. so proud and so blessed to be there momma. 

this year they had their first friend party...i wasn't sure how it would mesh since the requested themes were ballerina and pirate...but it ended up working out great. i'm learning that embracing their unique differences is much easier than stressing about them. and we all had a super time. so much fun. they kept saying in the days leading up to their party, "our friends get to say, 'i'm going to a ballerina party and if i get bored of that i'll go to a pirate party!' " :)

these were the invites- ballerina on one side, pirate sewed onto the other. :) 

side note: i finally made the girls their own dolls even though i was pretty sure sophie's would live her life on the shelf... but to my surprise they both LOVED them- sophie probably even more than madeline. mini- sophie goes nearly everywhere with her and is always tucked in bed with her at night. and madeline thinks its pretty great that her dollie has pink hair since she always draws herself with pink or purple hair. so sweet and such a gift to me that they are treasured. :)

2-tone pretty pink four layer cake inspired by my sissy for the lovely and oh-so-sweet ballerina

my beautiful pirate and her ship cake. 

all credit for the cake goes completely to handyandy...without whom there would certainly not have been a bow spirit(??) and rudder among many other things. this cake was her favorite part of the party. for good reason. :)

"dress the ballerina" game:

pirate treasure hunt:

very blessed with festive friends :)

Happy 5th Birthday sweet girls!

love is hard...a valentine recap

i love valentine's day. i love how it transforms the thought of february into all things sweet and happy. 

i love how easy  it is to make things festive and fun.

things as simple as a garland of paper hearts

and these plastic heart plates from walmart.

little boys who insist on wearing bow ties with their heart throb tshirt also help. 

oh and pink milk and sprinkles on cinnamon rolls help too.

but i tell ya what...the decorations and the sugar are the easy part...
the daily loving of little sinners and being lovable myself is where it gets dicey. big time.

even sugar cookies can't help make that easier...   (that little chubby hand in the corner helps a tad.)

last year i bought these little mailboxes from target and committed to writing some kind of love note to each of the kids everyday from february 1st to the 14th. and this is hard. 

because at the end of the day when i'm trying to write specific, thoughtful, loving notes its hard not to dwell on all of their shortcomings, disobedience, selfishness, and ugly hearts.

it's much easier to remember the whining and grabbing and yelling and pouting...

on valentine's day we had a pretty darn rough morning...we were supposed to go to my mom's house for a little party at lunchtime but as we were trying to leave the house i {shamefully} kinda lost it on them. i don't remember much of my lecture except these words, "guys, it is HARD for mommy to love you sometimes!" i remember getting some surprised looks from my little darlings as it was obvious this was a concept their brains had never considered before. i felt pretty righteous in my rant. reminding them of all the work and sweet things i had done to make this month and day special and i how i could use just a little help, a little effort to love each other enough to get us out the door without more drama ...blah, blah, blah.

it wasn't until we were around the table at my mom's house and my mom mentioned how much she loved valentines day that Will piped in, "i love valentines day too. especially when mom yells at us." It was then that i saw the mirror go up.
while what i had yelled said was true, it wasn't said in love, it wasn't said in humility or grace or patience. i was telling them what i needed to make my life at that moment easier.
i wanted something in return for the sweet mama that i had been. :S

thankfully Will forgave me and i was grateful for the opportunity to show him my need for the gospel but sheesh, its hard and humbling.

today i read this short post from emily anderson and there were several little nuggets of mothering truth that were good to be reminded of, but these two below really stuck out to me. i pray God will change my heart and fill me so full with his love that it bubbles over to the children he gave me to raise for His glory and my good.

your heart is what your children will draw from.  and what you're like in your home is a mirror into your heart

for our kids to believe in god's love, they have to be loved well by us.