more of Jude says...

"Mom, you forgot to blow dry your hair."

"Mom, the bathroom is getting dirty, you should clean it."

jeneva's birthday party

We told Jeneva she could invite three friends for her 9th birthday this year.  Without hesitating she wanted Ava, Madeline, and Lydia to come.  Steve and I dropped Jude and Josie with friends and we took just the girls to the water park for the afternoon. 

We came home and had garlic bread and pizza.  This picture is kind of deceiving.  They appear to be all nice and calm and quiet.  Most of the evening was actually quite silly and noisy.

Let the sugar high begin!

Julia made these super cute cupcakes with Pez candy as the flipflops!

All smiles after only 6 hours of sleep (except poor Josie, she couldn't sleep with them)

We decorated flip flops in the evening by adding some ribbon and bows to Old Navy flips.

This was the highlight!  Brittany came in the morning and surprised Jeneva.  She did face paint on all of the girls.

Lydia and Britt

Brittany with Jeneva

Three of the girls chose matching designs.

Jude even got in on the fun! 

Seriously!  So cute!  Little Jude Knight wanted a baseball rocket.  Brittany delivered!

happy birthday, jeneva!

Today Jeneva is 9 years old!  I'll post pictures later from her birthday party this past weekend.

today

Wow, what a difference a couple of days makes.  I had two really awful days in a row.  The kids were extra high maintenance.  I was extra crabby and had zero tolerance for anything.  There was more sand in the doorways than usual.  Everyone was louder than normal.  Today is a new day.  The kids all woke up cheerful.  They cleared the table without complaining.  They "folded" the laundry on the couch and put their own stuff away.  And now all three of them are upstairs playing a game quietly together.  Do I hear a hallelujah?  I took a shower and am sitting on the couch with my laptop and a cup of coffee.  Another hallelujah.  We are going to leave soon to go look at a stroller I found on Craigslist and will then tackle our Trader Joe's grocery list.  That's always a happy place.  I feel like things are under control.  When things get out of control I easily freak.  I know that's why God allows things to get out of control in my own little world.  To teach me that I am not in control and to rely on Him.  I have no control over Steve's work schedule.  I have to trust.  I have no control over the condition of my kids' hearts.  I have to trust.  I have no control over what the day will bring.  I have to trust that His grace will get me through.  I do need to learn to control my own emotions when things are out of control and my tendency is to flip out.  My problems are not all solved.  Responsibilities are still looming.  Nothing in my life is all rosy and perfect.  It never will be.  And I'm okay with that--for today anyway.  :)

so thoughtful

Me:  I'm not feeling very good this morning.

Jude:  I'll give you all the Tylenol's in the world to help you feel better.

not the happiest post i've ever written

I am beyond crabby today.  The word crabby doesn't even suffice.  I am irritated, annoyed, tired, sinful, burdened and have a very heavy heart. 

I am irritated with these dumb curtain rods I'm trying to hang in the babies room.  How can something seemingly so simple be so frustrating?

I am annoyed because I have seven weeks left in my pregnancy and I'm already sleeping just awful.

I'm tired because I'm sleeping horribly.

I am ever so aware of my sin, my obsession with the world, and my distance from God right now.

I'm burdened because I feel like there's so much to do and really all I want to do is sit on the couch with my laptop and a cup of iced tea and no kids in the room.

I have a heavy heart because several dear friends are experiencing serious challenges and I don't know how to help besides pray.

Well kids, someday you'll look back and read this blog and perhaps you'll remember that day (or sequence of days) that mom was a crazy lady.  Or perhaps you'll remember it as the day mom took you to the dentist and was so proud of you there and then just happened to cook a really awesome supper.  Two good things happened today.  Yep, that's about it.  Oh yeah, and the sun shone and it was quite glorious. 

jude

He's my planner and my responsible, orderly child.  He always likes to know what's going to happen the next day.  And in what order of course.  It cracks me up whenever it begins to rain outside he has to either run outside and check to see if all of the toys (bikes, scooters, etc.) are put safely away in the garage or ask us if they are.  He often thinks of it before we do.  This morning we had a rain shower and when he came down for breakfast I made a comment about the windows being opened upstairs.  He said "I closed them.  I shut the fan off in my window too."  He's four and he thinks of these things?!  This thrills me to no end as I'm still trying to get a certain 8 (almost 9) year old to think of these things. 

our mid-week weekend

Steve and Jude went away for a couple of nights near Bayfield, WI with his dad and a couple of Jude's boy cousins.  They stayed in his dad's friend's little cabin by Lake Superior.  I am so glad that Jude could go away with just dad.  He needed some guy time especially after a long weekend of not seeing Steve for a few days while he was working crazy hours.  They went on a 2 mile hike, picked wild blackberries (for over an hour Steve said!) and ate them all, went fishing, canoeing, paddle boating and even took a dip in Lake Superior which Steve said wasn't quite as cold as he was expecting.  Jude came back very happy and very dirty.  It was great. 

While they were gone, me and the girls went to swimming lessons, visited a friend in the hospital, went to a funeral service of another friend Jeneva's age (so glad I was able to take her to it) and did some fun girly stuff too.  We spent Wednesday evening on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.  We ate at Cafe Latte, did some shopping, and then had ice cream at the Grand Ol' Creamery.  Thursday night Heather and Madeline came over for pizza and a movie.  We made the most out of our time with the guys gone and I think they made the most of their time while away from us!  It was so good to have them come back though because we really did miss them!  Jeneva and Jude had to tell each other all of the things that each of them did....and of course both of them were a tad bit envious of what the other one got to do.  :)

stop lecturing?

I'm not sure how to teach my kids to be patient in adversity.  Let alone be grateful.  I can tell them to "be thankful in all circumstances" and use stories from the Bible or personal situations in the lives of people we know to illustrate what that means.  But what I think it just really comes down to is simply living life.  I can't always lecture.  They just need to learn.  And our lives will be filled with difficult--whether minor or major--situations.  Jeneva had to go to the eye doctor for her yearly exam.  They referred her to a specialist because she has a hereditary (Steve has the same thing) condition that causes her eyes to be really dry and super sensitive to light.  It's not necessarily "serious" just inconvenient.  So, a week later I take her to the new eye doctor and of course they had to dilate her eyes causing her to be uncomfortable for several hours with blurry vision.  While we were waiting in the waiting room for her eyes to dilate, she was huffing and puffing and pouting and saying "it's not fair! Why does this have to happen to me?" under her breath.  She was clearly upset.  My first reaction was to lecture her and tell her how ridiculous she sounds.  So her eyes are uncomfortable for 2 hours.  Big deal!  Get over it.  I started to remind her of all of the people we've been praying for lately--Amara who was sick in the hospital with lots of pains, 3 year old James who is going through chemo, etc. etc.  I told her that they probably didn't complain very much and that their situations are MUCH more uncomfortable than hers.  I was annoyed.  I'm still not totally sure what to do in a situation like that.  I kind of think I just need to be quiet in situations like that.  Let her huff and puff.  Pray with her that God would help her to have patience--let it go--and pray that God would work in her heart.