The first to fly.

My oldest son flew out of the nest today

Pre-k is just up the road but it seems so far away

He has been expanding his wings and growing his mind for this day, for today.

The day when he will go to school and all of those things, the manners, the kind words, the abc's, the pencil holding skills, the scissor cutting practice, the paper folding lessons, the impromptu field trips, the life lessons on sharing, the importance of expressing himself in a healthy way, the ability to be who he is without fearing what others will think, today is the day when all of that is put to the test.

I pray (oh I PRAY!) that he will soar throughout the day and pass today's test, 

and the tests of all the days that lie ahead of him.

I sent my little boy off to school and I tried to hold back all of my fears and all of my tears.

I tried to speak only positive, encouraging and loving things.

I tried my best and now I pray that he will try his best.  

He's such a little cheese ball.  I pray that he has an excellent day and even at the very young age of 4 (and a half!) he will be an example to the other children in his class and to his teacher and that he will always show them the love of Christ.

As I'm sitting here typing this and drinking my coffee with only two children in the house (and my wonderful husband!), it already seems odd to be one-less during the day but I have peace, a peace that I didn't think I would have so early into the day .. silly me for not trusting God fully with every emotion and everything that comes my way .. even the mamma blues when my baby boy big boy heads to school. 

Nothing is too small (or too silly) for God's peace!

Happy first day of school Leonidas, we love you!

I will update this post with more photos from his first day in a few days because I was awesome enough to forget our memory card at home (and didn't realize it until I was trying to upload the photos) so I was shooting blanks all morning long!!  

Just something to laugh about later on!  

I added some photos of us picking Nidas up from his first day of school!  He drove his dune racer to and from school on the first day!!  Jared was in charge of the photos and it was SO hot AND I forgot to snatch the camera for a few photos of him and Nidas .. 

Unconventional, yes please!

We are a very unconventional family .. 

Jared and I are a bit odd (you probably already knew that).

I've always been a bit odd and I think know that as the years go by I am rubbing off a bit on Jared.

I'm not talking about our parenting skills (or lack of) 

(although those probably are too) .. 

Today, in this post, the word unconventional means .. sometimes we start food fights with the kids, we find a reason to celebrate everyone's birthday more than once a year, jumping on the bed (supervised) is a normal thing around here.  

My kids aren't crazy little rats but we do try to make the smallest things exciting and fun for them! 

To host a half birthday party all you need are two things:

one:  half of a birthday cake

two:  a silly little present that your child has been asking for

Nidas has wanted a "new neon better than before" pillow pet since he saw a commercial for it while we were in Missouri at my parent's house.  I don't usually purchase stuffed animals for my kids (they ask for them a lot) so this was extra special for Nidas.

I ordered this guy from a hallmark shop on eBay for $8!

Disclaimer:  I can't tell you if tossing around a few cheese balls or marshmallows at dinner is the right choice to make as a parent, or if celebrating a birthday more than once a year is the correct thing to do or even if it's a wise decision to let our children jump on our bed but I can tell you that doing silly things like this not only make our children happy but it makes us happy too.

I am also not saying that if you choose not to do these things you will not have happy children or happy moments together as a family .. these are just some of the silly little happy moments that we share, as a family.  :)

If you haven't seen it already, have a look at our first "Day in the life" video. 
I recorded everything we did last Saturday and edited into a little "movie"! 
Click here to watch our video!

20 years too soon.

I am slightly experiencing empty nest syndrome, 20 years too soon .. Aveline is nearly 20 months old and I've either had a newborn or a 6 month old baby to take care of when the others were this age and now .. nothing .. instead my oldest is getting ready to go to full time pre-k and our load is easing up a bit (so it seems) and our youngest, well we'll let this post be all about her.

Very thankful for this new phase in our lives but I didn't realize how use to taking care of a little baby I was am.  We always talked about how ready we were to be out of the baby phase and now we are well on our way to being done with the baby stage and although I wouldn't take back our permanent measures to ensure we don't have any more children it just feels odd to be nearly finished with what has been the last 4.5 years of my life as a mother.

I can't wait to see what's in store for us as a family now that we are able to go places and do things without toting along 7 bags full of baby items, pushing a stroller (yes, yesterday we ventured out to a children's museum without our stroller .. it was in the trunk of the van for security I guess .. just in case all didn't go as planned).

When Aveline was a teeny tiny baby I tried to savor every minute of it because I knew she was our last, 3rd and final addition to our family (at least biologically).  Every meal made with one hand (the other hand holding her while she was nursing), every helpless cry, every midnight feeding, every insanely hectic bath time that consisted of bathing the boys while she was nursing (okay, I might be a little glad that part is over) .. everything that comes along with having a baby, I tried to savor it for as long as possible but soon enough I started slowly saying goodbye to the little things that I had been treasuring.  When Aveline was 1 month old she started sleeping through the night, as happy as I was that she was mature enough to sleep through the night I was also sad because that was our special time.  The whole house was quiet, all of the other children were tucked safely in their beds asleep, I didn't have to share her with Daddy, just me and my baby bird awake, sitting inside my closet (jared turned our closet into a make-shift nursery while Aveline was little so I could feed her and change her diapers without leaving our room .. it was wonderful but now, that's just a memory and until today I had totally forgotten about it) anyway, sitting inside my closet in a rocking chair, holding my beautiful baby girl that I had only dreamed about having (I really thought we were having another boy), snuggling with her, singing her songs, it all ended way too fast.  Midnight feedings ended faster than I had hoped.  I know you're thinking "who is actually sad when their child starts sleeping through the night?" .. this girl .. that was our time and it ended before I felt like I had savored it enough.  When Aveline was 3 months we moved her from a bassinet beside our bed to a bassinet in our closet (because her bedroom felt miles away from me) and when she turned 5 months we put her in her baby crib (it still felt like miles away but she was far too large to be sleeping in a bassinet).  When Aveline was 6 months old we took family a road trip to Missouri for the summer, somewhere in there Aveline started taking a bottle and by the time we left Missouri she no longer wanted me for feedings, she wanted a bottle.  When she was 12 months old she weaned herself from her bottle, Jared gave her her last bottle and from then on she has needed me less and less each day.  It's not just Aveline that I'm sad about, it's the fact that she's my last baby that makes me sad (but happy at the same time).  Aveline still needs me every day but it's not quite the same type of need as what taking care of a baby is.  Aveline needs me to help put her shoes on, she needs me to help her wash her hands at the sink where the big kids get to wash their hands, she needs me to help her into her bed where she falls right to sleep, she needs me for things that my littlest baby doesn't seem big enough for.  :) Today, I leave you teary eyed with photos of our babies on the days that they were born.

Leonidas Frank

Our firstborn, he came with so many new parent fears and worries.

He has always been our little old man.

  

Oliver Drake

Jared was gone at BMT when Oliver was born and didn't get to see him until he was 3 weeks old when we visited Jared for his graduation.  This was the first time Jared saw/held Oliver.

Aveline Rachelle

Such a determined little girl, she came 9 days early but not a moment too soon.

A mother's love never dies, it never peaks, it constantly grows.  Here lately it's been growing a lot, it's a little bit uncomfortable to see my children growing and changing so much but it is equally as exciting and I'm just about ready to be ready for what's next.

Ministry isn't the position that you hold ..

As most everyone knows, we just ended a very long vacation in Missouri, our home state.  

While we were home Jared and I both had quite a few people ask us if we were volunteering in ministry at a church yet.  

Our answer is no.  

We've been here (Texas) for two years now and we are in no way involved in our church like we were when we lived in Missouri.  We attend church and leave when church is over, we don't volunteer in children's church, we don't volunteer with the youth.  

Let me say we LOVE LOVE LOVE the church we go to now (BRCC), it fits us and our family very well.   

I am not writing this post to defend our reasons as to why we aren't involved at our church.

I am writing this post to share our hearts and where we are at right now.

(which is exactly where we are suppose to be)

We have 3 wonderful reasons why we aren't currently involved in a volunteering at our church. 

Leonidas, Oliver and Aveline

One night, nearly 7 years ago (wow it's been that long), as I was nearing the end of my 1 year volunteer commitment at the Los Angeles Dream Center I was praying and seeking God for answers about wether or not I should stay at the Dream Center or come home (Missouri). 

 I felt that God was calling me back to Missouri which was so bizarre to me because when I moved to Los Angeles I thought I was going to be there for all my life, become a lifer at the Dream Center.  When I started to feel like moving back to Missouri was what I should be doing I then felt like I would no longer be working/volunteering in a church setting .. I knew that if I went back to Missouri I would be working a job out in the world, away from the walls of a church.  

I didn't understand how God could call me out to Los Angeles and then send me back to where I was before.

One night while I was having a quiet time in my room a thought ran through my head as clear as could be ...

"Ministry isn't the position that you hold, it's the position of your heart"

Things cleared up and I knew it was a "God thing" that I was moving back to Missouri.  I came back, started dating Jared again, got a job, got married, had babies and here I am now, almost 7 years later!  

I have always held on to what I heard that night no matter where I was at in my life, working a job in the "world" when I wanted to be working inside a church, working as a nanny, working as a wife, working as a mommy .. All things that I never thought I'd be.   

I always thought I'd be a single missionary lady that travels the world ministering to 1,000's of children but instead I am a married mommy who travels the world with her family and ministers to her 3 lovely children.  

Let me say God has a way of changing our hearts and it is indescribable and I will forever be thankful that my heart was changed because I experience so much joy now, joy that I've never had before.

So where we are at right now is exactly where I know we are suppose to be and I'm not talking about being in Texas or attending the right church.  

I'm talking about me, being a stay at home mom, making it work, ministering to my children and using every situation (good or bad) as an opportunity to show my children the love of Christ and how awesome/important it is to consistently rely on Him for all of our needs and to teach them how important a personal relationship with Jesus truly is.

So no, we aren't currently involved in volunteering at a church but YES we are (and always will be) involved in ministry and right now our ministry is our children and our marriage, building a strong foundation that our children can look back on and be thankful for.  

A strong foundation that will hold up when everything around us crumbles, when things aren't going well, when we feel we are all alone, when we wish we made more money, when we reach for things that are still just out of our reach, 

a foundation that will hold up against the unknown things that lie ahead of us.

It's always nice to post cutesy little photos of our children and talk about the fun times we're having but this is a tid bit of my heart our hearts because I know Jared and I feel exactly the same about this. 

Disclaimer:  I'm not saying that ministry isn't inside of a church or that people with children who work in a church aren't doing what they're suppose to be doing.  

I'm just saying where WE are at right now and that we feel it is where we should be.  :)

This is one of the only family photos we took the whole time we were on vacation but at least it's awesome!  

This was the last day of our vacation and we decided that creekin' in the rain was the best way to end it all.  :)

"Daddy, this is the BEST.DAY.EVER!!"

We're back and we're busy.  Busy un-packing, catching up on laundry, catching a stomach virus, re-organizing the house, sorting through 24 G worth of photos, deciding how to incorporate that many photos into one blog post, decorating, crafting, spray painting, getting Leonidas ready for preschool, trying to detox our children from all of the sweets and rotten attitudes they acquired while we were on vacation, hunting down decorations for Oliver's room (we're changing the theme of it), finding the right fabrics for Oliver's bedding, making a practice sheet for his bed, thinking of Christmas gifts for the kids, (yes I am thinking of Christmas gifts already!), ideas for their birthday gifts, figuring out when we can get away to the beach again this summer and so so SO much more.  

We have hardly had any time to catch a breath while the kids are awake.  

I was just itching to do something fun and spontaneous with the kids because we've just been so busy.  

Jared and I scheduled a pajama party on our calendar and let the kids know when it would be.  

Wednesday morning Oliver and Leonidas both woke up and said "Is it popcorn pajama night yet?"

We declared Wednesday afternoon/night a popcorn, pajama, tent party kinda night.  The boys picked out their pajama party pj's.  Nidas chose an angry birds t-shirt with fleece sonic pants and Oliver chose an angry birds t-shirt with paul frank flannel monkey pants.  <3

I grabbed some of these awesome afghans and quilts that I acquired while we were in Missouri, almost all of the kids' blankets and quilts and I threw them downstairs and turned our living room into a magical tented wonderland for the kids (and the adults!).

 As soon as I had the tent all ready to go the sky turned grey, the sun hid behind some clouds and next thing I knew we were setting sail on a ship (the sofa) through the ocean to find pirates.  As soon as we set sail it started to rain (really, it was raining outside).  Nidas was the captain, on the look-out, making sure there weren't any pirates or ocean monsters coming our way. 

  

 Leonidas was giving directions to his shipmates, telling Oliver to go take pictures of scary things in the water.

  

 After the we finished playing pirates everyone snuggled up underneath the tent and laid there,

waiting for daddy to come home from work so we could start our movie!

 Aveline was piddling with my phone and I heard her saying "BaPa .. BaPa" and she had called my dad and was talking to him .. I guess she saw his face by his number (how she was able to get into my contacts amazes me) and touched my dads photo icon which caused my phone to call him and she was just jabbering away with CatPa on the phone.  :)

 Daddy came home, everyone greeted him at the door with open arms, dancing feet and excited stories to tell him.  

Daddy brought home some peanut m&m's to toss into the kids' popcorn, they thought that was awesome!

 Daddy put on his pj's and under the tent he went.

 Set the camera to auto picture taker mode and slid under there as fast as I could .. here's a few "family photos" from last night.

At one point during the movie we were all dog piled on top of each other and everyone just stayed where they were, squished, cramped, feet in our faces but the kids didn't care at all .. they were happy and when they kids are happy, we're happy.

 Leonidas was laying on Jared's back like this for quite a while and Leonidas said "Daddy, this is the BEST.DAY.EVER!" :)

Sometimes all the kids need is just a bit of imagination, a couple blankets and a big rain storm.

 If you're looking for pictures from our trip to Missouri, don't worry, there will be a post with them but I don't know when, a few weeks I suppose.  For now, I might just go make another tent and take a nap inside of it while the kids are napping in their beds. 


My husband, my children, my family make me so happy.  I.am.beyond.blessed. :)