The rainbow

My small son has a problem. A nose picking problem...which we have tried just about everything to stop...but no go. Last night, as Adam put him to bed, he was diggin' for gold and, since it's so much drier here in Ft. Fun, the boogers were getting, well, a bit bloody. (sorry if you don't have small nose-picking children or if that just grosses you out in general)
Adam: "Pax, you gotta stop picking, buddy. See that red? It's blood."
Pax: "It's ok, Daddy. It's just a color of the rainbow,"
Sigh. As my husband would say...parenting is HARD!

Thankful Thursday

Today, there is just one HUGE thankful on my mind...we have a house. It's been a long road of buy vs. rent, search & search, have rentals "go with someone else"...a very, very challenging season for Adam and I as a couple, but for me personally it challenged my ability to be what I consider a successful wife and mother in the midst of massive transition, with 95% of our belongings in storage for 4 months. And now? God has, once again, provided...in the nick of time :) Adam found the house on Craigsli*t Monday night, after a weekend away...went and saw it on Tuesday...put in an application and we were approved in 3 hours. So? Tomorrow we move. Again. But hopefully for the last time in awhile...because I'm still praying for and believing that God will continue to move mountains and Adam will get into the program the first time. Oh, and, by the way, his school is 1.5 miles away from the house, through neighborhoods. He can ride his bike there!! Kind of unheard of for the Phoenix area. Today, I am thankful in the midst of packing (again) and soothing 2 kiddos who are pretty much DONE with the whole moving thing. I am thankful that God works in His own timing, not mine; and that His plans always turn out better than mine would have-even if I struggle to trust in the in-between times. I am thankful for all I've learned about faith and what it means in this situation to live out the faith that I proclaim as my life-source.
And I'm thankful for a place to call "home", at least for awhile. And a settled place to bring this new baby home to.

Wordless Wednesday: Stunning.

A picture of my cousin Janell and me, facing into the crazy wind on Thanksgiving Day...

...but I think this one is truly fabulous.

Wordless Wednesday

Oh, you kid!

 I've been forgetting to stop and write down all the funny little things my littles say lately...and they say some funny stuff! B, especially, is cracking us up right now with her explosion of sentences, her understanding of social conversation, and her goofy little mannerisms. So. Because I don't want to forget...

 Last night, for our 2nd day of our "activities Advent", we had a Christmas-themed pizza-movie night. Which pretty much just means I made Christmas tree and candy cane shaped pizzas, and we watched a Christmas show. Fun stuff!! B "helped" me make the sauce for the pizzas; and our conversation went something like this...
B: "Whatssat?" pointing
Me: "It's called garlic,"
B: "Oh. Hi gar-yic, howz it goin?"
Me: cracking up

and then there's my Small Son. Who isn't so small anymore, really...but still gets up insanely early. Today-5 AM. So, we put him in one of the extra rooms here (we call it "Grammy's Room") with strict directions to be quite, go back to sleep, and not to wake up his sister. You know, the usual. All of which he ignored. By 6, he was in bed with me while Adam tried to get B to go back to sleep (she's not so good if she doesn't get enough sleep...neither am I!). He kept wiggling, and wiggling, and whispering, and I kept getting more and more cross and frustrated. 

And then I had a revelation. I could spank him about 20 times for disobeying (direct disobedience is the only time we spank, and no, we don't ever do it 20 times. At least not all at once..)

Or I could make him clean the bathrooms.

And so I did. Don't worry, I helped-this time, at least. But this may be a stroke-of-genius consequence...he has extra chores, which as he gets older he will have to complete without help...

and I don't have to clean the bathrooms!

We gotta try something new...

....but I must say. They're awful cute, even if they are little goobers sometimes. These pictures are just a few from our Thanksgiving, spent at my Aunt Janet & Uncle Jimmy's..which will be posted about very soon. And now my Small Son is up from his "nap" (no, he didn't sleep...yes, he's going to bed at 7pm) and would like to type a little:
pax mama daddy blythe jake&joe