When Mommy Goes Running...

Apparently when I go running in the morning, this is what the little kids do with daddy! Turn on Pandora and have a dance party!! (Don't you love Caleb signing "more" in this picture?) :)

Where Did My Baby Go?

When you're the baby, you don't always get all the fanfare that the other ones did. Case in point - I mentioned to David in passing on Sunday morning that it was time to convert the crib into a toddler bed for Caleb. We always do it around 18 months, and somehow we missed it with Caleb and are a few months passed that. I knew he was ready though and would be fine. Well, David got Caleb up in the morning on Monday and said to me "I'm glad Caleb slept well in his new bed last night!" WHAT?!?! I didn't know David had DONE it! I told him I wanted one last picture of him in his crib but it was too late now! So Caleb did fine - I had to take this picture during naptime on Monday to show how big my baby boy has gotten!

Honest Thoughts by Josiah

I found this paper in the stack of papers from church yesterday - it was one of Josiah's:

The paper read:

"It was hard for Jesus to die on the cross, but he did it because he loved us so much and he knew God needed him to do it; it had to be done so we could all have eternal life. What have you done that was hard but you did it anyway because you knew it had to be done?"

Here's what Josiah wrote:

"I was making a card for my mom for mother's day but I wanted to play my DSI. I knew it had to be done though."

HA! Don't you love the warm and fuzzy sentiment for mother's day? It had to be done! :)

Jacob

Sweet Jacob. This is what I found when i got back from my run this morning. Worse than ever. I took him in to the pediatrician and they said it's poison ivy/oak because he's got a rash all over different places on his body. Poor kid. Looks the worst on his face for sure and it's driving him nuts. They gave me a steroid to use that should knock it out and I'm hoping he's much better tomorrow (they said he probably will be). Callie has enjoyed having him home though! :)

Can we move Mother's Day off of a Sunday?

I'm SO thankful for our Fridays because our Sundays are always crazy! I should have thought about this and just declared Friday to be Mother's Day instead of on Sunday. We had a lovely day Friday. Saturday we had great soccer games in the morning but Callie came home cranky (because she didn't go to sleep at her friend's house until 10 pm...that girl is always so afraid she's missing a party!) and I had a TON of things to do! David had a band rehearsal for our upcoming worship concert and I was preparing for the first of two dress rehearsals with my KidShape choir. I left the house at 3:30 to help with some of the staging/set design and then started our rehearsal at 5 pm. We finished up at 8 but I didn't get home until almost 9:30 pm. Totally wiped out! As we were heading to bed, David said "don't forget - I may need you to sing a solo in the first service because Laurie (the scheduled soloist) has come down with bronchitis. Oh man. I listened to the song one time and then headed to bed - sure that she was going to be fine to sing in the morning. Also was wondering about Jacob - he'd been rubbing his face a lot that afternoon and during rehearsal, and when we headed home, his eyes were looking puffy. Wondering if he had some kind of reaction to something. Took me a LONG time to fall asleep even though I was exhausted - but just could not shut my brain off!

Woke up in the morning - was greeted by sweet faces saying "Happy Mother's Day" and began getting the kids and I ready for church. David got a text as he was walking out the door from the soloist - it's a no go, she's still too sick and can't hit the high notes. So happy mother's day to me, but I'm on! That meant as the kids hurried to eat a bowl of cereal, I sat at the computer to listen to the song one more time before we had to head out the door (30 minutes early) so I could sound check my solo. Jacob's face was still quite red and puffy so I knew he was going to have to stay with me. We get to church and I sound check the solo - having sung through the song only twice - and then run to the other building where I was late to practice for with the praise band (bc I was singing BGVs for David in the contemporary service). Was able to sing through the last 2 songs of the set with them before running back over to sing in the first service. Jacob sat IN the choir loft with me (on the floor, but I saw him sit up and peek up over the railing a few times). He was pathetic - I know he was just super uncomfortable!! Got through the solo and only messed up a line or two and then took Jacob up to David's office. After we were done with both services, David asked if i wanted to go out to lunch and I said NO! I just wanted to go home. Jacob was pretty miserable, everyone was tired - we wanted to go home and relax.

We ate leftover pizza and then Caleb and I went upstairs to take a nap! The other kids played some video games with David and then when I woke up (from a GREAT nap), we enjoyed some quiet, down time. It just felt good to be all together with no where we had to go or be or do. We were going to go bowling, but the alley was closed for Mother's Day (isn't that the cutest? it's like we live in a small town or something!) so we scratched that and went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday instead. There was a 40 minute wait, so we walked across the street and amused ourselves by looking at the random (and I do mean random!) toys at Ross!

Once we got to dinner, we all enjoyed it. I had some grilled salmon and roasted asparagus that was delish, and their salad bar is always SO yummy! Jacob was petering out (as you can see - he ended up in my lap for most of it) but everyone else ate well and behaved well! We even had an older couple stop and tell us how precious our children were and how well behaved they were!

The compliment must have jinxed us because as soon as Caleb was done eating, he was ready to go. I had finished eating and took the boys outside with me while David and Callie finished up. They drove matchbox cars around outside for a few minutes, and then when we were ALL finished, we headed to TCBY!

I got a FREE waffle cone since it was Mother's Day and we all enjoyed our special dessert. It's been a long time since I'd been there but it was delicious!

The mark of good ice cream - new colors all over your hands and face! :)

So I'm thankful and so very blessed that I have four precious children that call me Mom. I laughed to myself several times throughout the day because it was a crazy weekend. Crazy schedule. Exhausted. Sick child. But i wouldn't change it for the world. Except maybe to move all holidays to a different day of the week other than Sunday!

Soccer

Because we had a friend over, I let the boys play their DS games while we were waiting at the field. They had to hide in the shade behind chairs to be able to see their screens though! (and since I was attempting to video tape the games, it helped keep them occupied!)

After Callie's game, she saw an airplane fly over us and said "It's Tutu! She's flying to see us!" I told her that it wasn't (sadly - I wish it was!) and so then she needed to call Tutu and see for herself :)

Some tired little soccer players! :) I got great footage of Jacob and Callie's games - they both did great and are really pretty amazing little players. Callie and Caleb were both melting down during Josiah's game, so I'll try and tape his next time. Sigh. It seems as though every time I pull the camera out to tape the kids go bananas!!!

Gone Pickin'....Again!

I had decided that I didn't really NEED to take the boys to school late one morning but that we could WAIT until Friday after school and go immediately to pick berries. I started to worry Friday morning when it started raining mid-morning... and kept raining for a few hours. But it cleared up and the sun was shining and fields were open by the afternoon - so we were ready to go! Once the boys got home, we were off!!

Another PLUS for having a big family - lots of helpful pickers! :)

We convinced some friends to join us! Keatley was a GREAT picker!

Jacob filled up his basket pretty quickly and then started collecting them in his shirt to fill up Caleb's bucket.

I was obviously in Caleb's way of seeing something!

This picture was all Jacob's idea!

The whole picking crew! You can see Alli & Carlie way in the back, Callie sort of meandering around, Jacob hopping over plants (NOT allowed...), and Cooper and Josiah hard at work. Oh, and David with that look on his face that says "Haven't we gotten enough berries yet? Seriously we need 6 more buckets?"

Callie and Carlie - these two are hilarious together! Callie was super excited because we were doing a kidswap that night - she was going to spend the night at Carlie's house, and Cooper was coming to spend the night with us! :)

All the Schrodts! :) And 6 more full baskets of strawberries - yum!

The Michaels - their daddy was out of town but they managed to get 4 basketfuls! :)

Callie was so excited about going to Carlie's house - no teary goodbyes from her! When we got in the van to go to the strawberry field, she announced to the family "I'm going to sleep at Carlie's house tonight and you all are going to miss me so much!" :)

Deep Thoughts by Jacob

"Dad, are the sidewalks in heaven made out of gold too?"

Imagine the look on Jacob's face when Daddy told him there probably weren't going to BE any sidewalks in heaven! Jacob asked about animals in heaven, and after David answered that one (he said that there will be animals in heaven, but probably not any animals from earth that get "transferred" up to heaven with us.), he told Jacob about the creatures with 4 faces up in heaven - that captured his imagination for a while! :) Thankful that my husband knows Scripture and that my boys love to hear about how exciting the Word of God is!

I couldn't take it any longer!

I'm a bad mommy. I just couldn't take it any longer. I took Callie and Caleb strawberry picking on Monday morning while the other boys were at school.

I just couldn't wait any longer. Our fields here opened up the first week of April, and we just have not been able to find a time when all 6 of us could go! It's a HUGE family tradition - we've done it every year since Josiah was born. But with soccer and Easter and birthdays, we haven't had a chance yet.

So Monday morning I couldn't stand it any longer. I refused to buy strawberries in the store again when I knew I could get better ones in the field and for cheaper! So I took the younger two, KNOWING the boys were going to be so mad, and decided we'd just get a couple of baskets to get me through until we could ALL go later this week!

On the way to the fields, I called my Mom and asked her if I'd be a terrible mom if I sent my boys to school late one day so that we could go strawberry picking! :) She laughed and gave me her permission! (I actually think we're going to go Friday as soon as they are done with school - that way David can come too...)

So in spite of my guilt, and my frustration at only getting 2 baskets instead of my normal 6-8 baskets, we got some WONDERFUL berries. Big and beautiful and red and juicy! Caleb LOVED being in on the action this year and not just strapped in the stroller!

Later that night, we were doing "highs" and "lows" of the day around the dinner table. Jacob said his "low" was that I went strawberry picking without him! OHHHH just kill me now! I knew they were going to be mad. I told him AGAIN that I just got a few so that we could eat them and remember how excited you were when you got to eat strawberries this afternoon for snack and that I PROMISED we were all going to go picking SOON!!

And by the way, we ate one entire bucket before David got home at dinner time! Caleb's cheeks even broke out a little bit - and I think it's from eating SO many strawberries!!! Can't blame him!

Rocking out with Daddy

Caleb is singing "We Will Rock You" ALL the time these days! It's probably not a good thing that my baby wants to sing a Queen song all day long, but it is pretty hilarious! David pulled up the REAL song on You Tube for Caleb to hear and he LOVED it! He was totally rocking out! :) He'll probably be singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" before you know it!