Can it be?

Wy getting his DS

The cakes

Lemon with orange frosting

Funfetti with vanilla frosting

My baby, Wyatt turned 8 yesterday. It is so hard for me to believe. It simply doesn't seem possible.

Wyatt is such a cool kid. He is smart. He loves to read and learn new things. He says he wants to be an astronomer when he grows up.

He is so helpful with the "little kids" he likes to make them breakfast in the morning and "look after them" for me during the day.

Wy has a love for all things comic book, especially Batman.

He has decided to take swim lessons this summer instead of baseball.

For his birthday, Daddy gave him a Nintendo DS, that is the smile in the picture, his brothers and sister gave him a Nerf gun. Mommy gave him a new room, but he got that about a week ago.

His best friend is Caden. They are constantly together. He is in second grade and Loves school.

I was looking at him yesterday, and thinking how impressed I am by him. He is approaching the age of being able to be home by himself for short bits, doing greater chores around the house and just growing up in general.

Wy has a huge heart. He helps people around him all the time. We went out to eat at a pizza buffet a few weeks ago, and Wy went up to the buffet and came back with a plate full of food for Ry and Ty with all their favorites. After he handed those out, he went back and got his own food. He loves people and wants to help everyone.

Wyatt, you are truly a treasure. I love you so very much, and I am very excited to watch you grow and discover.

Happy Birthday big guy!

my mom is better than your mom

So I have the best mom ever. She spent her entire day in my basement. In my laundry room and sewing room. The two rooms in my house that things get thrown in when we need to get rid of them. Some of the boxes hadn't been opened since we moved in 3 yrs ago.

But she kept at it. She kept me at it. And now as I sit here, Wyatt is asleep in his own room downstairs.

It was definitely time for him. He was so excited.

The little boys got a bunch of new toys today when we pulled out Wy's old rescue heroes. It was like Christmas in the living room.

Wy basement looks like a whole new space. My mom was so fabulous that while we (and by we I me she) were moving things around, they were also being organized and put together in a way to make my daily life simpler and easier to handle. So maybe I will become organized. (or at least be able to fake it)

My dad was also awesome, in that he took the kids out 2 times today, once to the playground at the school, and then after lunch on a tour of the local parks. All 4 of them. They were gone for several hours and it was great we got tons done while they were on their outing (we did discuss for awhile if we should just go have some coffee in the quiet, or maybe take naps, but decided to be productive instead)

Lonnie is now at work for his new job. He started tonight, and will be off work around 4. So I am trying to find the living room from under the laundry.

A very good day around here.

Wednesday

Today was another totally random spring break day. We got up late, had a light lunch and then decided to head out the door to Iowa City.

SO off to Goodwill we went.
Yep, this is how we spend vacation time. At various malls and Goodwills. Isn't that what everyone does with time off?
The kids rode the carousel. They loved it. Ry was so excited to get on it. Then when she got on she remembered that the horses move. Yah, not so much. So she sat on one of the benches. And had a blast. The boys loved it. Mom got a little dizzy.
We ate some supper in the food court.
Tyler and Dyllie took turns behaving well.
Dyllie behaved out of the car and through a fit in it.
Ty was an angel in the car and running everywhere out of it.
We decided it was a good thing they take turns, or it might be more than we could handle.

Tomorrow I am hoping to get a lot of work done on moving my storage room out of my laundry room.
Then moving my sewing room into my laundry room.
Then cleaning out my sewing room.
Then moving Wyatt down to my sewing room to make it his room.
Then readjusting the boys room to get it set up for the little boys.

Sounds like a nice relaxing day doesn't it?

Two more mouths to feed :-)

SO last week when we went to the Third Day concert, the concert was awesome. But even better than that was this.

The concert was put on by World Vision, the child sponsorship program. We have talked several times about sponsoring a child. Lonnie looked at me and said, go sign up. So I did, I picked a beautiful little girl in Senegal, named Khady. She is about 4 years old. After I filled out all the paperwork, Lonnie looked at a little girls profile that was a few rows away. He said, she has the same name. The girl was about 6. Also just beautiful. So after a brief discussion ( thanks Dave Ramsey) we decided we could do both. SO we added the second Khady to our information.

Turns out they live in the same village. World Vision has a web sight about their village and will be periodically posting updates on the village and the children. We can also send emails through the organization to them. Very cool.

We told the kids all about them. They wanted to adopt them. :-) We explained that they have families that love them, just not a lot of money so we will help them. They think that is pretty cool. We took their pictures and had them blown up to put up in our living room.

We are very excited to do this as a family.

FYI: I have a friend who lived in Senegal for awhile. I thought their names were like Katie, but with a little different sound, she said it is pronounced more "Hoddy" with almost a guttural sound at the beginning. She also said it is very common, like Sara or Jenny here.

But they are beautiful. We are looking forward to watching them grow and see what God does with it all.

Tattoo or not to Tattoo?

Disclaimer:
The following blog post may become slightly opinionated. If you don't want to hear it, please disregard and go about your day.
Thank you.







Ok, so Lonnie got a few new tattoos this last week. On his birthday, that was one of my gifts to him, we just haven't been able to schedule it in yet, so he just got his present.
There are two of them. They are on the inside of hid forearms. They will not be hidden by a short sleeve shirt as the rest of his existing tats are.
I am not wild about the placement of them, but I am wild about the man, so oh well.
They are in Hebrew, one says Yaweh, and one says Jeshua, these are the Hebrew names for God, meaning "God is with us", and Jesus, meaning "the one who saves"

The fact that he got more (his others are : and Eagle, Globe and Anchor,- the Marine Corps symbol, a super man shield, some tribal around the superman shield and one his leg a cross that says semper fi over it and John 15:13 under it.) has evoked much conversation, as well as the placement of them.

Here is the deal, I totally understand the stigma that goes with tattoos. I get it. I am not an idiot. However, Lonnie does not have "prison tats" or "gang tats" they are just about the furthest thing from that.
Also, if any one has ever met him, they will realize very quickly that he does not fall into that mold. Really he doesn't fall into any mold very well or for very long.
He is very clean cut. Well educated and well spoken. He has incredibly high standards, both for himself and for those around him. He pays great attention to detail. He is also very responsible and compassionate.
He simply happens to like tattoos.
This does not change who he is. Or what he stands for. Or the Father, husband, man that he is.

The question was posed to me how would I feel if my kids, mostly my boys followed after him. This was meant in the context of the tattoo issue. I have thought a lot about it.

I would be so honored and proud of my boys if they turn out like their Daddy. To be married to the woman they love for over a decade. To have all of their children call that woman mommy. To work hard every day, through every pain to provide for their family and those that they love. To make necessary sacrifices to go through school while raising a family and paying a mortgage. To Love God. To have the desire of their hearts be to honor Him all that they do. To long to serve God more each day than the day before. To show compassion to strangers, help teens work on cars in parking lots, care for their children's friends as their own, and still manage to have some fun in life.

Yes. I am 100% certain I will be very proud of my boys when they grow up to be like their Daddy.

If they choose to put a tattoo their body, as a visible reminder to themselves daily that God made them, loves them and died for them, then I will be ok with that.

I am very aware that this is also a generational issue. People of my age do not view it as a very big deal. The generations above us have a different view point.

My conclusion to the whole thing is this, if you like tats and have some, or want some, then good for you. Do it for you, not to show someone else.

If you don't like them, don't get them. No biggie. But I don't think that anyone out there has the right to condemn anyone else, or look down their nose about it.

I think if we are all really very honest about it, many more people have them than we realize. Just ask around, you might be surprised what you find out.

But the tat does not make the person, nor does it change the person.

I could probably keep going for quite a bit about this. It kinda makes my blood boil, but I think I may go to far, if I haven't all ready.

Octopus, frog legs and exploding poop

Today was a great day.

We all slept in.
We went to Davenport as a family and did some light shopping.
We went to a new restaurant.
Wyatt and Lonnie ate 3 or 4 kinds of shrimp, salmon, scallops, squid, octopus and finished it all off with some frog legs.
Rylee ate chicken nuggets and ice cream.
Tyler ate macaroni and jello.
Dylon had a poop explosion.
I ate salad.
Then ice cream.

Rylee told us she likes it when we can all be together just as a family.

We went to the mall and looked for some stuff.



A dear friend had a baby today also, I am so very excited for her and the whole family.

Tomorrow we have rented a pool at a local hotel for a few hours to help break up the spring break boredom.

Lonnie is off work until the 19 so he gets to hang out with us too.

We are going out tomorrow night to see the watchmen. Should be fun.

And in one week I will be getting ready to go get on a plane for exactly the 2nd time in my life. Not that I am worried at all. Nope, not at all.

I am now in the process of making a bunch of marshmellow lollipop thingys for the party tomorrow.
If anyone wants to come, let me know and I will get you the info.

Great Date

On Sunday afternoon, at about 2, Lonnie got a text from a friend of ours asking if we had gotten tickets to the Third Day concert. No.
She was volunteering there and had a certain number of "friends and family" tickets to give away. Did we want them?

So as Lonnie was texting back and forth with her about the tickets, I was mass texting friends and sitters to see who could watch the kids.

The concert was at 7:30.

I got confirmation on a sitter at about 3:30.

And we went.

It was a new band called Revive, Brandon Heath, and Third Day.

Completely Awesome. We both loved every minute of it. It let out at 11. But totally worth the missed sleep.

We went there fully intending to go there and get back row upper balcony tickets. We were very fully surprised to walk to the front of the auditorium.

We sat in the 5th row. Actually the first real row of seating, the only people in front of us were the chairs that had been set up on the floor.

Amazing.

I left my camera in the car thinking I wouldn't be close enough to get a decent picture anyway. I regretted it the whole time.

The best date night we have been on in a awhile, definitely beats dinner and a movie.

Thanks so much to all the people who helped make it possible for us, thanks Shana and Joy, we can't say thank you enough to either of you.

Where's Tyty?

He's not in his bed.

Where could he be?

Dilly's bed of course :-)

Where else would he be?

tid bits

I had a chance to visit with my aunt for a bit, and then have my nephew over for a bit. All in all a good day.

Wyatt wants to have a benefit for his birthday, and give the money to St. Jude.
I really don't want to discourage that, but we starting with something a little different and going to be going through clothes and toys to give to a local charity that doesn't charge.
When I told him about the place he got really excited, and wants to make fliers to hand out at his school to get other kids to collect toys and clothes too.
Really, how can you argue with a heart like that?

I love that kid. In a major kind of way.

20 lbs

total randomness

looks like i am a friday poster. oh, well.

my kids are outside.

they have played outside three days in a row!

we are going through bath soap like it is going out of style, but it is totally worth it.

we even went to a park yesterday after school.

it has been great.

i am really trying to be productive and get much done since they are not in here.



lonnie is off doing some testing so that he can start his new job after next week.
his last day at his current job is thursday. he is very pleased.



my aunt is in town this weekend. i am very happy to able to see her and invite her into our insanity for just a bit.

i think anything much longer than that window and she wouldn't come back.

love her!



lonnie's folks are back on US soil after a few weeks in isreal. glad they are home.


friend's kid is in a play tonight. have to squeeze that in.

gotta go be productive now.

warning

ok so these are two things that i don't recommend you do unless you have lots and lots of time on your hands, and more cleaner than you know what to do with it:

1. start wiping any of those mysterious "spots" off of any wall in your home. it will just make every other wall look dirty and you won't be able to stop.

2. look closely at your cabinet doors. especially if they are light in color and you children are short. not a good plan. same thing as with the walls, once you start you are kinda committed to seeing it through.

you all want to go look now don't you?

i warned you, just so you know.

(rebecca, you might want to put it off for a week or two until you want to start labor, then have at it ;-) )