Not In My Favorites

I went to open a new tab online today, and my own blog wasn't listed as one of my recent or favorite places visited...maybe the blog should have been called "80 Or So Days Of Wonderful"!  Well, the blog, as with all the other things in my life, need my attention and my discipline in order to work.  I have always struggled to be disciplined with my time, and I find that I get distracted and discouraged pretty easily.  Distracted + Discouraged = Recipe For Disaster!  I will not beat myself up over this, I will give myself a break, and I will try harder.  This blog is important to me.  It is a creative outlet and a way for me to chronicle the good things that happen each day.  Our lives get busy and hectic, things happen that hurt us, we hurt each other, we lose sight of what's important.  We get sick, our pets seem like a burden, there are worries about money, work, and household tasks.  These difficult things are a part of our day to day lives, and sometimes they seem to outshine what is important.  Sometimes I feel so bogged down by them, I don't want to do anything.  I become idle.  It is important for me to write about this because I need to remember that this is all part of our story.  All of the difficult things and all of the wonderful things are in cahoots to make us see how very much God cares.  All of it is such an important process of building character and making us stronger.  So, today, a Monday, I purpose in my heart to push through my tendency toward being undisciplined, distracted, and discouraged in order to love myself, my husband, and my children, and to allow God to be our constant reminder of the wonderful that is in each moment we have together.

Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze

Before the babies got sick, which seems like an eternity ago, we headed over to a really fun pumpkin patch and corn maze.  Corn mazes are special to Patrick and me because the first time we ever held hands was in a haunted corn maze!  I was completely terrified and grabbed Patrick's hand, and he was completely freaking out because we were holding hands!  I love that, and I love fall because it is the season when Patrick and I began dating and falling in love!  We so enjoyed taking Naomi and Evelyn and watching them take everything in.  Such a fun family outing!

They had a petting zoo, but it was hard to get the girls close up since they were in the stroller.  Next year, we're going to have a hard time keeping them from climbing the fence!

The girls each got a precious mini pumpkin from the pumpkin patch!  They also got lots of hay stuck in their tights - I wanted them to stay in their church clothes so that I could get good pictures - yep, not winning any mother of the year awards with that one...

Patrick navigated us through the corn maze in less than 30 minutes - they had told us it would take at least 45!  We had hungry girls, and Patrick was on a mission!

Glad to finally get this posted from our special day.  We love experiencing so many firsts with our little ones!

Sick Babies + Sick Parents = :(

Starting on Tuesday with Naomi's runny nose, our family went into sick mode.  Both the girls have had fevers and bad stuffy noses, and Patrick, Alaina, and me have all felt pretty cruddy.  This weekend has been really restful, and I am hoping for a healthy week ahead.  Something positive about the babies being sick is that they are super cuddly and needing to be held.  We haven't minded that one little bit!

Baptism

Yesterday at church three little children (two sisters and a brother) were baptized.  Patrick and I are still new to the church, so we didn't know the family, but it is always special to celebrate this special occasion with a community of believers.  I found it odd that the Pastor kept directing his comments toward the father and grandmother, and I wondered if maybe this was a single dad and maybe the grandmother was helping him.  Then the pastor referenced Michelle, who I figured was the mother.  Michelle didn't stand up during the baptisms, and I wondered if maybe she was sick or too pregnant to stand or something.  After the baptisms, the pastor said that whoever wanted to come forward and pray for Michelle could come at that time.  We were sitting in the back of the sanctuary, so I was never able to see Michelle during the service.  After everyone prayed, I finally laid eyes on her.  Michelle's husband handed Michelle her purse and began to push her in her wheel chair.  He turned and thanked everyone, but Michelle was too weak to even look around.  Her hair was very short, and looked to be growing back in.  I watched as this sweet husband and daddy wheeled his bride out of the sanctuary followed by their three beautiful children.  The pastor confirmed through a short prayer for the family that it was cancer that was taking Michelle's life.  He went on to explain that it was a high priority for Michelle to be able to see her children baptized.  I don't even know how to sum up this experience, except to say that seeing that young family being affected in such a brutal way made me soften up to my husband, to appreciate what we have, and to spend the day thanking God for the little moments we have together.  Seeing those three little children, not any older than 8, 5, and 3, being baptized into the family of Christ Jesus was a precious reminder of the hope we find in Him alone.  Hope that can outshine the most horrible shadow of sickness and death.   

Stand In The Place Where You Live

Carpuls and Tunnels

Patrick had carpul tunnel surgery a couple of weeks ago, and the first thing he wanted to do when we left the surgical center was to head to Best Buy to get the latest Transformers movie on blue ray!  After that, we went to Perkins to get brunch - we will take any opportunity to go on a date!  Thanks to our amazing Mom/ Mother-in-Law/ Grammy for coming and staying with the girls so I could be with Patrick on this day.  Thankfully Patrick is recovering well, and will be out in the garage playing the drums again soon!

Playing Catch Up!

Well, a lot has been going on in our household over the past couple of weeks.  The day after the girls' party, we celebrated Patrick's birthday with his family - usually there is a big celebration for all of the siblings together, but it didn't work out this year - I think this made my Mother-In-Law a little sad, and I thought of how difficult it must be to not be able to get all your kids together to celebrate their birthdays, which is why Naomi and Evelyn are NEVER allowed to leave us!!  Kidding, kind of...

Patrick didn't want regular icing on his cake, he wanted a cream puff filling type of icing.  I looked up some recipes for cream puff filling, and it actually turned out really well - I topped it with raspberries because the man loves raspberries!

This is Patrick's sister Alaina.  She lives with us and goes to a nearby university.  We love her, and were excited to share this yummy pink lemonade cake from Strossners Bakery in Greenville, SC!  Patrick's parents brought it down for her because it's her fave!

We started on whole milk!  Wow, this has been quite a challenge.  The girls aren't really fans of the ice cold beverage, but we're taking it slow, and they'll get it soon enough!  I am trying to remember the "wonderful" here of them learning something new, and trying to be patient as they get used to this change!  The picture above is of one of Naomi's many attempts at not actually holding her own cup!

The girls were wearing t-shirts representing two of my life's greatest passions - Strawberry Shortcake and cupcakes!  :) Oh, they are getting so big, and are just doing so many funny things.  The picture of Naomi was taken during nap time.  She woke up twenty minutes early from all of her naps last week, and, after I got over myself, I was really able to enjoy the time with just her - getting to look out the window and talk about how the leaves are changing.  The one of Evelyn is just a classic Evelyn face!  OOh and we even found some green striped socks to match Stawberry's! Little Evie keeps us in stitches with her CONSTANT babbling and silly, silly faces!