I was reading in my devotional today about God's abundance. Psalm 4:7: "I have God's more-than-enough, more joy in one ordinary day than they get in all their shopping sprees". Even before I read this I was feeling so thankful (counting my blessings-lol:). I've been able to help the neighbor each morning with wound care and am thankful I'm able to help the family. I am thankful I made it through grocery shopping and now have fully stocked cupboards. I am thankful for a napping baby! This reminds me of something funny Logan said yesterday. Yesterday we went to the Pike Fair and the kids wanted to ride the rides. It was the day before payday and we did not have a lot of extra money. Just one ride for Logan and Grace cost $8, plus they wanted fair food which is around $5 depending on what you get. So I told Logan that they could ride on 1 ride and get 1 treat and no more because we don't have a lot of money just before payday. We had a fun time and they did fine with only 1 ride and 1 treat. When we were tucking the kids in later that night Logan was upset (mostly from being overtired) about his first loose tooth. He started to cry and I tried to be positive about loosing his first tooth telling him that the tooth fairy will come and give him money. Logan thought about this and then asked me, "Will the tooth fairy come even though we're poor?" I assured him that the tooth fairy would come and we were not that poor, although we're not rich either. It's so hard not to laugh at some of the things my children come up with. Logan has been stopping me in my tracks with some things he says. Recently I asked him how he was doing and he said "marvelous". He thinks so deeply about things.

It has been quite the year so far and its only May. My brother, Mike, and niece, Claudia came to live with us from January to March, which was quite the experience. Then "Aunt" Lis came home from Japan and was here for April- she is now in Missouri doing an internship, so its back to just our family again. The house seems so calm now, which is good perspective with 3 children! The kids have been sick a lot on and off this year, so I am extra happy to see spring arriving. Yesterday was mother's day, a beautiful sunny day that I was able to enjoy, relax, dinner with family, and even a good nap- whcih has become a rare thing. Andy and his brothers completely re-made the garden in front of the house and finished it in time for mother's day- I love it! We also got a new zero turn mower this past week- which I also love. We've struggled along on a very old mower for the past 4 years, which was worth it, but hopefull it will no longer take almost 3 hours to mow each week.
My little baby is not really a baby anymore, he's now 1 year old. I still feel like he is my baby, but when he is around babies I see how big he is. He is walking when holding onto things, -not on his own yet. He says mama, dada, and ball. He is full of smiles and quickly gives them to anyone. I love that about him.
Grace turned 4 recently and she is very proud of her age. She got her ears pierced on her birthday and did great- such a big milestone. She loves school. My favority Gracie saysings are- when I ask her to do something she says, "yes Your Majesty" and "yes mother dearest". She loves all things princess, always wearing dresses. She likes to help cook and clean- pretending she is Cinderella and singing while she works. She shares a room with Logan right now and they get along very well.
Logan is 6 years old now- hard to believe. He is so loving, always quick to give a snuggle or kiss. He has given his teachers a little bit of a hard time this year, but they are handling him well, He gets distracted easily- which he definitely gets from his dad!! Hopefully Logan will grow out of his, lol. Logan loves to investigate how things work. He loves doing crafts. He is reading now and doing a great job. He is also writing his own sentences- which are fun to decipher. Kindergarten will be rapping up soon and next year he will be in first grade- Grace will be in pre-k every day- that will be a busy year!
I am hoping to go on vacation this year. Last year we went camping, but its just not the same as a real vacation. Andy and my 12th anniversary is coming up in a few weeks, so I'm trying to come up with ideas for that as well. Fun times:) Andy was looking into going to police academy this year but it didnt work out. I am relieved, but disappointed for Andy- we'll continue praying to see what is the next step for Andy's career. My career continues nights/weekends at VNS and I pray that continues throughout these years before the kids enter school so I can be home with them. I'm interested in seeing how the next few years go as the kids get older, what my and Andy's jobs will bring, how the kids will do, what other things I'll be doing as well. I've been doing more catering- will that end up being a career field, any massage work, parish nursing? We'll see....

New phase of life

My children fill my life with so much joy and just as much work. I always say it's good that they do such cute things to make up for all the work. Just when I thought my plate was completely full, we now have my brother and niece living with us. My sister-in-law left, leaving my niece with my brother. He works 6 out of 7 days a week, long hours, and needs help caring for my niece. They have been living with us for a month now and we're starting to settle into a routine.
As I'm writing Logan and Grace came out and Logan's excuse for getting out of bed is: "My throat is dried up like I haven't had water in two days!"
-My little Evan baby is growing up way to quick. He is 10 months old and in a month and a half he will be one year old! He now has two teeth, he crawls everywhere. I spend much time chasing him- he thinks its a fun game to crawl to the woodstove, giving my heart attacks. He has had a cold for over a month now and it breaks my heart to see him stuffy and hard for him to nurse. Even through his cold, he is still good natured. He is full of smiles. Today at the grocery store we constantly had people come up to us and comment about how cute and smiley Evan is.
-Grace is still my beautiful princess, in every sense of the word. She loves her dresses (although she still likes to wear nothing if we let her- hard to keep clothes on her). Grace loves to get all dressed up and prance around asking people how she looks. Logan is very good with her and always tells her how beautiful she is (he is going to make a great husband some day- just like his dad;). Grace's favorite thing is dance class and she is soooo cute with dancing- I love that. She also loves school! She has nursery school 2 hrs 2x/wk. Her recent report card had all excellents, including that she knows her shapes, numbers, letters, and colors. Grace is doing very well starting to write also. We spend quite a bit of time together while Logan and Claudia are at school- I adore how loving she is- always saying, "Mommy, do you know I love you". I get at least a hundred "I love you"s and kisses each day. LOVE IT!
- Logan is such a little man and quite a deep thinker. I love the questions that he comes up with. He is very smart and does well with his academics. He is very kind with his sister and cousin- always ready to compliment them when they are looking for that. He is starting to take some chances, with the help of his cousin helping him be a little braver. Logan likes to wear sweaters and his footie PJs because they are for snuggling, we call them his "snuggle sweater" or "snuggle jamies". Logan is making progress with learning to read and write. He has been doing Karate for several months now and passed his first test, earning himself stripes for his white belt. We just signed up for year 2 of soccer this spring/summer.
- Andy is going back to school, to police academy. I am glad for him, although I am scared about the amount of work it will add to both our lives.
That's all for now.....