A few things I don't want to forget

The next couple posts are really just for me. Just a few snap shots from life right now that I don't want to forget.

Aspen

First, a little background. Mark and I have had some discussions lately about our family, and one part of our discussions has been about recognizing the many great qualities Aspen has, and not being so hard on him. Since Aspen is the oldest and SO MUCH like Mark, he tends to be harder on him, and loses his cool with him more than with the girls.

Last night I went to a jewelry party. I left Willow in bed, and Mark, Aspen and Journey playing flashlight hide-n-go-seek. They were having a blast. At bed time, Mark lifted Journey into Aspen's bed (he has a loft bed) for prayers. This was NOT okay with Aspen. He is very (rediculously, over the top) territorial of his room and bed, and hates it when the girls go in his room. To the point that, I think, Mark instigates things like this to confront the issue.

Since I wasn't home, Aspen wasn't able to pit Mark and I against each other to get his way. In this situation, when I'm home, I'll admit we generally will just divide and conquer. I'll take one kid and Mark will take the other to pray with to avoid the conflict.

Anyways, Aspen proceeded to throw a fit, yelling at Journey to get out, screaming in frustration as Mark wouldn't back down in asking him to give a good reason why Journey couldn't be in his bed for a prayer. Apparently this lasted for a good 20 minutes. Pouting, bad attitudes, yelling, screaming, etc. All the while, Mark kept his cool, didn't raise his voice or freak out on him (something very difficult for him because Aspen knows how to press all his buttons!).

Finally Mark told Aspen that he was hurting Journey's feelings by being so rude (one of the reasons he said he didn't want her in his bed was that sometimes she stinks, not true, but one of his "reasons" nonetheless). All the while he was throwing his fit, she was sitting quietly on his bed, sometimes quietly interjecting that "God wants us to be nice and get along". Eventually they prayed.

Just as Mark was tucking Journey into bed, her nightlight went out. Now she is crying (scared, more about that later). Aspen volunteered that he might have an extra bulb in his room and went to look. Mark said he could see the gears in his head turning, thinking about whether to give her his nightlight, but he didn't say anything. There were no more bulbs, and Mark went to try to appease Journey by propping the door open a little to let some light in.

While Journey was still crying, Aspen came in quietly with his own nightlight. Not only did he give Journey his nightlight, but he apologized for hurting her feelings and not letting her in his room.

Mark said he was overwhelmed with the whole scene as Aspen came in with a true, genuine, heartfelt apology, and Journey responded with forgiveness, saying "I forgive you, Bubba". The whole night ended in hugs and loves, and Journey felt safe knowing that her brother came through for her and felt bad for hurting her feelings.

This morning, Aspen retold the whole story to me, but added that "in the dark, when no one could see, there was water coming down my cheeks" when he thought about what he said and how he made her feel.

Mark ended the night feeling pretty incredible. He made it through the stress and drama without loosing his cool, and he got to witness a beautiful scene of love and forgiveness between Aspen and Journey.

It also opened our eyes to see how Aspen manipulates us by pushing Mark's buttons until he looses it, and then uses that against him by saying things like "you don't love me" or "you are always mad at me".

We love our sweet boy, but man, does he keep us on our toes!

Pumpkin Patch (late)

Okay, so this is SO late in posting. We actually went to the pumpkin patch around the 15th of October. But better late than never. It was such a fun afternoon, and I don't want to forget it.

We started the afternoon by checking out the animals.

Waiting for the rest of the cousins to arrive.

The cousins are here!

Riding the tractor pulled cow train.

Christina and the girls

Journey and I rode the cow train together. So much fun!

The hay pile was a hit with the kids.

In the picture: William, Adam, Brendan, Janie, Shyann & Journey.

Zoe and Willow

William, Aspen and Luke

Janie, Ava & Journey

We took a hay ride to pick out our pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. The hay ride was fun.......but the pumpkin patch....not so much.

The pumpkin field was SO muddy. As in, sink 6 inches in mud and try not to fall down, mudddy.

We got our pumpkins and got out of there as soon as we could!

Showing off their pumpkins

We had so much fun and great weather. Can't wait until next year!

Moody

I'm officially ready to admit that my baby girl is a bit, WELL, moody.

Today was a particularly moody day for her.
It's amazing how fast she can go from this happy, adorable smiling face....

To this....

And this......

Then, this.

All I'm missing is the next frame where she's on the ground throwing a fit!

Yep, I think she's going to be my fit thrower. And yes, we are already working on curbing that behavior.

I never allowed Aspen or Journey to throw fits. They weren't particularly inclined to them anyway, so it wasn't hard to stop the behavior. Willow, on the other hand, is definitely a strong willed little girl who knows what she wants, and wants what she wants when she wants it.


We all love her so much, and she has such an engaging personality, and is just so darn cute that it's hard for us not to smile or laugh when she's having her "moments". But I must remember the future. What's cute now will not be so cute in a year or two :)

It was a perfect day

A perfect day to get married.

Troy and Kirstyn's Wedding day! We love you guys and are so happy for you.

Of course my camera died just after this picture. Why wouldn't it? I missed Journey dressed up as cute as can be as the flower girl, the wedding party, the beautiful bride and groom, the setting, everything. Hopefully I can get some pictures from the other people who took pictures that day.

Anyways, the day was perfect. Edgefield is absolutely gorgeous in the Fall with all the changing colors. It was a beautiful crisp fall day with clear blue skies. Kirstyn was radiantly happy and Troy was too (although not like K!).

We got to Edgefield by 5:30pm for family pictures. Journey was super nervous, and every time anyone asked her if she was excited to be the flower girl or if she liked her princess dress, she said "No". Haha, she didn't know how to deal with all the attention.

She was adorable, and did a great job following directions. She was very deliberate about each flower petal she dropped and didn't look at anyone as she made her way down the isle.

Shortly after the ceremony was over, Dan met us at the reception and took all the kids home for us so that we didn't have to miss any of the wedding.

The wedding was a blast. The food and drinks were great. It was fun to catch up with people we haven't seen in a while. The dancing lasted long after the bride and groom left. You know the wedding's good when the party keeps going after the bride and groom leave!

Anyways, we love you guys. I couldn't have hoped for a better new sister. I love you Kirstyn! I always hoped you would be the one for Troy. :)

Aspen wants more sisters.....so he can fight?

Sometimes we have the funniest conversations at bedtime.

Tonight, as I was putting Aspen and Journey to bed, we were talking about Aspen's friend Nash. He's had a lot of behavior problems at school (he's the one that Aspen punched last year for pinching him on St. Patrick's Day, and also the one who Aspen got in a fist fight with on the playground last week. I know, I know, parent of the year here.). I was telling Aspen that maybe he needs us to be praying for him because sometimes bad behavior is a result of bad things happening at home or outside of school.

That got Aspen thinking.

A: "Mom, you know where you pay and get a kid?"

Me: "Hmm, you mean Foster Care?"

A: "Oh, yeah! Like where Janie came from! Well, do you think we could get one of those kids?"

Me: "Uhh, yeah. Maybe someday."

A: "Well, if we did, I'd want us to get another girl. (insert nervous laughter) Cause I like being the biggest brother to my sisters......You know why?"

Me: "Why?"

A: "Because I like to FIGHT!"

Then he proceeded to act out about 40 different scenarios of how he would protect his sisters and beat "them" up if they messed with them. Journey and I just sat back and laughed at all the different ideas he came up with to let "them" have it.

Oh, I love my boy! He can be such a challenge, but is so great with his sisters. They both adore him. Tonight as we were eating dinner, Willow crawled up to his chair, stood up, and hugged around his leg. He calls her "Baby Girl" and says it in the sweetest voice.

I'll have to agree with him, though. He isn't scared to fight. He has a strong sense of justice, and has no problem berating those he sees cheating (and backing it up when they get back in his face too). Ack. I have more work to do in teaching him self control - words and actions...

Sushi Date

We are continuing to work on scripture memory around here. My goal for the year was to have the kids memorize one scripture a month. So far, we are close to hitting that goal.

This time, Journey memorized Romans 8:28. For her reward, I gave her the option of going out for a coffee date, smoothies or sushi date.

She loves sushi and was so excited to go out with me to SushiLand.

I wasn't sure how Willow would like sushi. Gotta bring the fishies just in case!

Journey ate 4-5 plates herself!

You can't tell from the picture, but Willow is eating a bite of sushi too.

Well, we tried our best to get a girl's group shot after sushi.

Either my arms aren't long enough, or the girls are just too wiggly.

It's not easy to get a good shot!

But they sure are fun. I wouldn't trade them for the world, and am enjoying our time together while Aspen is in school so much.

Last year was such a whirlwind of a year with Willow just weeks old when Aspen started school, juggling his 3 hour school schedule, the changing nap schedules that come along with having a new baby, and just the busyness of three kids. Things are a little less hectic the last couple months now that Aspen is in school and Willow is down to one nap a day. I'm so thankful for that, even if it just lasts a little while!

September Beach Trip

Once school started in September, we weren't able to make it back down to the beach until the first weekend in October. We had a lot of fun, just hanging out as a family and great weather. The ocean did not cooporate for Mark to get one last fishing trip in (can anyone say, YAY! ?), so we did other fun things together like go down to Oceanside for the morning, walk to the beach and coffee shop and make fires in the back yard fire pit.

These are a few random pictures from that weekend.

Ok, terrible picture of pretty much all of us, but I wanted to include one of our breakfast out. We rarely go out to eat as a family. It's just too crazy. But we went out for breakfast one morning because we had to leave and didn't want to clean the kitchen up again :)

Waiting for our food to come. Can you feel their energy? :)

Willow is a Daddy's girl. She LOVES crawling all over him, saying 'dadda', and getting quick snuggles and kisses from him. Quick, because you know she is always on the move.

Journey and Willow playing dolls. Oh, and check out Journey's shoes.

The 'beach kitty'! It seems that wherever we go, there is a neighborhood cat that adopts us. The best kind of pet to have!

Over the weekend we worked a little more on clearing out the brush infront of the house and around the creek. Making progress. Soon we will be able to see most of the house from the street.

We worked on clearing the brush while the girls were napping. Aspen was a great help hauling trees and branches, using the clippers and learning to man the sawzall.

Bath time.

All the kids LOVE bath time at the beach.

Besides sharing a bedroom, Aspen and Journey love watching movies in the easy chair together. Pretty special since we don't watch movies at home very often.