a little longer...

We decided to stay a little longer in Indiana. The reception we were going to attend on Saturday was postponed, and Daddy is studying for a test tomorrow. So we stayed until this morning and arrived home around 1:00 today. It was nice to have some extra time to relax and hang out with Gram & Grandpa, Travis & Erin, even though Grandpa gave us all a big scare yesterday. He was having some strange symptoms, which we all thought could quite possibly be stroke-related. So, he spent the day at the hospital along with Gram and Travis, having all kinds of testing done. We are very thankful he did not have a stroke, and are praying that he will quickly be relieved of the symptoms of Bells Palsy that are making him quite uncomfortable!

All week the kids rode the big wheel and bike several times a day. If it was cold and/or wet outside, they rode in the garage. If all three of them were playing, one would have to wait their turn and play with the little broom in the meantime.
Sylvia: Look Mama, no hands!
Sometimes the kids didn't do so well with sharing/waiting for their turn. Once on Friday, Sylvia announced she was going out to ride the bigwheel. She put on her shoes and coat, and a few seconds later Caeden followed suit. Next thing I knew, I heard him screaming, "Get off! You get off! Get off! Get off!..." When I opened the garage door to make him stop, he told me Sylvia hit him. So, I made them both come in, take off their shoes and coats, and sit in the chair with their arms around each other for 5 minutes. They decided they did, in fact, love each other, and could work out a way to share and wait their turn.
Yesterday, Caeden and Gram were putting together a puzzle of the USA. Caeden picked up the piece of Florida and told Gram, "This one is a pewer!" (Or maybe that's spelled pyoo-er? Yeah, that looks better.) She asked him to explain what a pyoo-er is, and he held the puzzle piece like a gun, pretended to shoot it, and said, "Pyoo! Pyoo!"
Last night the little broom was a pyoo-er.
Yesterday morning the kids "helped" Gram bake oatmeal scotchies! Mmm!
Aunt Erin helped Caeden put together his Tootle puzzle--again.

Even thought the weather wasn't (and still isn't!) very springy, we had a great time over spring break. Thanks Gram & Krampa, for letting us stay, and to everyone we got to visit with!

Aunt Erin & Uncle Travis had all three kids over for a sleepover last night! They had caramel corn, played with the pups, watched Anastasia, and had lots of fun!

Caeden snuggled into the sleeping bag with Annah for the movie. He got a bed to himself, but a few minutes after he fell asleep Erin & Travis heard him wake up crying. He decided he wanted Mommy, so they called me and I ran across the yard to go get him. He decided he needed to sleep in my bed with me then. He slept right up next to me all night. I think he's a little homesick for Daddy and his trains.

The kids all LOVED getting to go to Uncle Travis & Aunt Erin's house! Thanks T & E!!!

Visits!

Today we were blessed to have some visits with more of our family and friends!

After lunch we stopped by Uncle Walt & Aunt Joyce's house to visit with Great Grandma D. While we were there, Caeden found a Tootle the Train puzzle that Uncle Walt opened for him. Uncle Walt even helped the kids put it together! When we got back to Grandma & Grandpa's, Caeden told everyone over and over again that Uncle Walt gave him the Tootle puzzle! I think he has put it together about 15 times already. He loves it. Thank you, Uncle Walt, you sure made Caeden's day! We also got to visit with the Skinner Family in their home! We hadn't seen them in over a year! While Amy and I chatted, the kids had such fun playing together rolling pool balls around the pool table, playing in the big cardboard house, exploring the toy room, and getting to know each other a little. I think Caeden's Thomas radar found every Thomas the Tank Engine toy Brant has, too! It was so wonderful to spend a little time with them!!!

WHOSE Car Collection??

Tonight at Grandpa & Grandma's, Uncle Travis came over to visit the kids. Caeden asked him to come see his car collection and play cars with him. Uncle Travis asked him, "WHOSE car collection?" Caeden said, "Mine." Uncle Travis asked him again whose car collection he wanted to play with. Caeden insisted they were his cars. Uncle Travis knew the cars were actually his cars from when he was little. But he was happy to play cars with Caeden...

planting peas with Grandpa

This afternoon the kids put on their garden shoes and plastic bag boots and trekked out into the muddy garden to help Grandpa dig and plant some peas!

It was Caeden's first time in the garden, and he was serious about digging!



Sylvia helped dig some weeds out of Grandpa's strawberry beds.

Sylvia has been searching for any sign of spring she can find. She showed Grandpa some pine needles she thought meant spring is near.

The kids had a science lesson with Grandpa, and he taught them about the hornets' nest he knocked out of a tree last week.
Gram showed us some crocuses peeking up--a definite sign spring is near!
Soon there will be birds nesting in Gram & Grandpa's birdhouses, right? Spring? Hello, spring?

"Spring" break-ing

The kids and I are visiting family in Indiana right now, and last night Krampa & Gram took us to see Horton Hears A Who! We all really enjoyed it. Caeden said, "That was the bestest movie I ever saw!" and he laughed a lot!

This morning we visited Great Grandma C for a while. The kids set out a jigsaw puzzle for Grandma and played with dominoes.

Caeden and Great Grandma had fun talking and teasing each other!

Next we went to the Mountaintop Cafe in Churubusco with Grandma Mc and Grandma L met us there for lunch.

After lunch we visited Great Grandma Mc for a little bit. She teased Caeden about pinching his nose with her grabbing/reaching tool, which he thought was pretty hilarious! He is pretty rambunctious for Great Grandma's small living space...

Caeden and the Lobster!

A few days ago Caeden was supposed to be napping upstairs in his room, when I heard him call, "Mooooooooooooommyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! THERE'S A LOBSTER CRAWLING ON THE WALL IN MY ROOM!!!!" I instructed him not to touch it, that it wouldn't hurt him, and that I was on the way. By the time i got there, the "lobster" had crawled into a hiding spot, so I couldn't identify it. I asked Caeden all sorts of questions to try to figure out exactly what he might have seen. According to him the lobster was black, about 2 1/2 feet across, did not have wings or lots of legs, did have pincers, did not make noise, and was pretty scary looking. I tucked him back in bed, assuring him the lobster was not going to hurt him, but to call me again if it came back. Of course, a minute later he was calling me again, and I ran back up to his room to see a small brown wolf spider climbing up the wall. Mommy squished that big ol' lobster in a tissue so Caeden could take his nap.

A while later, having obviously not slept at all, Caeden came back downstairs ready to play, and I asked him, "Caeden, what happened to your nap?" He replied, "Uhhhhh, I uhhhhhhhhhh, I LOST IT!" I think Mommy is going to have to learn how to deal with not having [kids'] naptime every afternoon...*sigh*

Celebrating Easter!

The "Easter Bunny" visited our house last night, of course.

Sylvia was pretty impressed with the loot the bunny left, though last night when I was tucking her into bed she told me, "Mommy, I care lots more about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins than I do about all the candy we're going to get."

Even though they were barely awake enough to get dressed, the idea of see if there was an Easter basket got them downstairs!

Yes, we let them bust into the candy and have a little for breakfast.

We had to get a few pictures of the little cuties before we left for church. Gram made all these darling outfits! (THANKS GRAM!!!) Annah slept with sponge curlers in her hair, we used hotsticks curlers in Sylvie's, and Caeden actually let me comb his! They clean up pretty well, eh?!

It seemed pretty nice outside...until we started seeing snowflakes getting bigger and bigger on the way to church! They've been blowing around all day!

After church, there were Egg Hunts for all the kids! Over 3,000 eggs!

Caeden and his buddy, Samuel, met up to hunt for eggs.

During first service Jeremy played trumpet (He's playing on the worship team every week now!), and was a "demon" in the Resurrection drama, and I played organ. In second service, Jeremy helped in KidZone. I played piano and sang, Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone for the offertory. I had wanted to sing Nichole Nordeman's song, Why? but the music I ordered for it still hasn't come in! (I figure it will probably get here tomorrow, but apparently God had plans for the other song to be used today!)
Pastor Scott's sermon today was about living a life of crucifixion and resurrection every day. He talked about how it our job to die out to ourselves daily and allow God to give us new life daily. I pray I will live this way and celebrate Easter every day!

Sweet Snore

Caeden has this cute, funny way of pretending he's asleep as soon as I tuck him in bed. He does this little fake snore that cracks me up. I keep asking him to do it about 5 times a day and had to capture it on video to keep forever. This was about the 3rd take, and he was being bribed to get a toy back that I've been hiding on top of the 'fridge for 2 weeks, so he was a little quicker about the snore than usual. But, you get the general idea...

Hearts at Home

Friday I was able to attend and volunteer at the annual Hearts At Home National Conference. I have been 2 or 3 times, but hadn't gone in a few years, and was so glad I did! Jeremy took the day off work to stay home with the kids too!

I was so excited, I was wide awake at 4:20 a.m.--a time I usually consider to be the middle of the night. I tried to go back to sleep, but got up about 20 minutes later to get ready. I had to be there by 7:00 a.m. to find out what I was doing for my volunteer job. It turned out my job was to stand outside on a bridge (Thank you Lord; it was a gorgeous day!!) between the morning workshops and help people find whichever buildings on campus their workshop sessions were taking place. Jeremy thought it was humorous that I was looking at a map and giving directions, but I'm pretty sure I didn't steer anyone wrong. :) It was neat to get to be a tiny part of helping the day go more smoothly. I would love to get more involved in volunteering with Hearts-at-Home, but really need to pray about taking on something else right now! Anyway...

Since I was there early, I took advantage of checking out everything in the convention shopping area! Everything there was tempting to buy, but I did come away with some great thigngs. I picked up copies of these books: My Heart's At Home by Jill Savage, I'm Glad I'm A Mom by 50 wonderful moms, The Complete Guid to Getting and Staying Organized by Karen Ehman (She was sitting there when I bought it, looking so exhausted, but she was kind enough to sign my copy.), and at the MOPS table I was given a copy of Lorilee Craker's book, Just Give Me A Little Piece of Quiet.
A wonderful pencil sketch artist, Alice Craig, was there selling her beautiful work. As soon as I saw this amazing print, I bought a small copy for each of the kids and had her personalize them. What a dear, sweet woman she is; I had a chance to visit with her while she worked on the kids sketches and she seems such a gentle soul.

The morning session was wonderful. Cheri Keaggy was there again, and she is just so sweet and beautiful. I got to speak with her at night for just a second and thank her for sending me sheet music to her song a few years ago so I could do it for Caeden's dedication. She was so kind and asked about how he is doing now. She has gorgeous hair too; made me wish for my long hair back. Ha!
It was the 15 year anniversary of H.A.H., and so the morning speakers spoke on the power of 15. Elise Arndt spoke about the power of 15 hours...at the side of a sick child, perhaps...the difference your presence can make to someone over 15 hours. Karen Ehman spoke about the difference 15 minutes, days, months can make. And Jill Savage, the founder of HAH spoke about the difference 15 years can make...putting things into perspective... She made a very powerful point, saying to pause and consider each situation before you react and think about whether or not it will really matter in 15 years or not, and if it won't then just let it go!

The first workshop I attended was called How to Survive Motherhood Without Losing Your Cool, with Trish Berg. She was hilarious, and such a real person. The second one I went to was about having a contented heart, with Micca Campbell. She was phenomenal. She was super funny, but also so tender and inspiring. She shared about how her husband died when she was 21 and they had a 2-year-old, and the tears were just streaming down every woman's face. The scriptures she shared she has held onto, I think I am going to create a scripture card book from these and some others that were referenced at the conference. Micca also shared this story. Take the time to read. Do. My heart was definitely blessed being there.
The next workshop I attended was called Do Your Kids A Favor: Love Your Spouse, and it was by John & Kendra Smiley...after their new book being released next month. Oh my word, they were fantastic speakers together. Kendra is hysterical, and together they were even more funny. But they made some excellent points. Going to have to get that book too!
The last workshop I went to was with Susie Larson from Focus on the Family. She spoke about Living the Promised Life and seeing with eyes of faith. Man, she is a dynamic speaker; so poignant and inspiring! I will have to go over and over my notes from her talk to take it all in well!
As if all that weren't enough, in the afternoon main session, Julie Ann Barnhill spoke. She is one spunky lady! And Ken Davis was there!! I have not laughed so hard in my life...for real!!! I was almost hyper-ventilating I was laughing so hard! I bought one of his DVD's for Jeremy, and we watched it last night...ha!!
Also, during both sessions, there were other mothers (who are not so well-known) who shared their unique, amazing stories of motherhood, marriage, family legacy, and faith. And, in the afternoon, I met up with my friend Lisa and we had a great evening together at dinner and the Mom's Night Out concert!
My heart was just so uplifted from the day, and I feel so affirmed and re-committed in my job as a mother now. I need to make sure I go to the conference every year. All through the day, I kept thinking about my mommy friends who would benefit so much from this conference. I am going to have to invite some of my Indiana and Ohio friends to come out next year and go with me! I'm so thankful I was able to attend, and I'm so thankful I have a husband who supports me in what I do.

with me, with you

Caeden to Gram, this afternoon as he wanted her to go up and play trains upstairs in his room: Gram, will you come with me?

Gram: Where are you going?

Caeden: With you!

there is goodness and sweetness too

After the post I wrote last week about Caeden's being so strong-willed, I wanted to add...He's not like that all the time! He has some moments of real sweetness, and even snuggles in him if you catch him when he's sleepy or while watching a movie or reading a book. And recently, he's starting telling us "I love you!" many times each day, which of course we love!

We are working really hard on being consistent with our words when disciplining him without emotion and not giving in. I think we are already seeing a difference. When he is really tired and upset, he will say, "I'm not gonna obey you!" but, he is learning to choose to obey rather than receive a spanking or some other punishment.

Sylvia's 5th Birthday Butterfly Party!

Wow, what a wild and fun day we had celebrating Sylvia's 5th birthday with a butterfly themed party!

Grandpa & Grandma Mc and Uncle Travis & Aunt Erin arrived last night, and we enjoyed some Monical's Pizza in honor of Aunt Erin's birthday.

Today, the day started with my teaching music lessons while Gram & Aunt Erin and some little assisstants (Annah, and 2 of my piano students) decorated the kitchen! It looked really cool!

As a surprise to Sylvia, her friend Haley came for the party! We started with lunch, which was chicken and butterfly pasta with Alfredo sauce, salad, and broccoli.

Uncle Travis, ready for the par-tay to get started!

Each kid got their own set of butterfly wings!

Sylvia had help with her gifts from her ballerina friend Haley, who danced around her while she opened her gifts.

Annah gave her little sister the Barbie Rapunzel movie.

A Webkinz pet has been the desire of Sylvia's heart for many months now. Uncle Travis & Aunt Erin fulfilled her wish with a fuzzy brown Clydesdale horse. She named her ChocolateChip, and she will now not let her out of her sight!

Sylvia's favorite gift was this little Tinkerbell pretend make-up set. She has thanked us repeatedly for it. I was surprised she liked it so much, but she doesn't know I found it for $3 in the Wal-Mart clearance aisle. ;)

soft, bendable butterflies from Caeden

I am sometimes surprised by what little things bring joy to kids. Sylvie wanted a little silver food dish for her stuffed pets. She was happy to receive one.

A leotard and at least one session of gymnastics for Sylvie! She will start classes in April!

Caeden was chomping at the bit to get the Thomas puzzle Gram brought for him to work on while Sylvia opened her presents. He was so excited when he finished it!


Gram helped us with a little crafty project, iron-on rhinestone butterflies for the girls canvas treat bags. They turned out cute!

"Button, button, who has the button..."

Daddy, Annah, and Haley played the "Get Dressed" game, racing to put on everything in their bag of clothes first. When I put the bags together, I chose some of my smallest clothing items, thinking it would be just the kids playing...That made it quite humorous when Jeremy decided to play. Ha!


Haley was such a great sport!
pretty butterflies

Sylvie went for a cupcake-cake this year. It was a great success, and so cuuute!

Sylvie and Haley playing with the new vanity set.

Now, I know this is just not right to put up in a post about a little girl's birthday party, but you can just tell her daddy that!
After the party, the guys decided to work on putting up some drywall. They did the wall in our entry way right quick-like! Thanks for the help Dad and Trav!