Valentine's 2013 + Miracle of Togetherness

Making Valentine's for our Friends.

Good morning!  Papa woke up extra early and snuck Valentine's into our envelopes.  The kids and I loved waking up to love notes from the Man of the house. 

Since the kids are home schooled I wanted to make sure they didn't miss out on a Valentine's day party. We had a lot of fun decorating together and they were even in the kitchen till the very end: Zina making the fruit pizza icing, Wilson stirring the Macaroni, Sammy grating cheese, and Davey snuggling Mama in the wrap.  Go team go!

Everyone helping Davey like tummy time. :)

Yeah!! Welcome to our Party!  

Usually dinner time is a juggling act for me.  I am nursing/feeding Sam(why won't my two yr old eat!!)/feeding myself/cleaning up spills/pouring water/loading plates etc.  During this meal I was doing all of this as usual when I just paused and sat still for a moment.  I took in all of my surroundings and looked at each family member.  Oh how I love them!  They were eating, laughing, smiling, cooing and it filled me with joy.  I was so grateful for our moment of togetherness.  We eat dinner together almost every night, but this night I just felt it fill up my heart and I tried to freeze the memory in my mind for forever.  I realized that we won't always be together in this life.  For whatever reason - kids grow up, move out and have babies of their own, death strikes, etc. But, because of Jesus Christ we WILL be together forever.  And these little pieces of the celestial world that I feel in my own home will be my eternity.  And that is a miracle.  I am so grateful for my own little glimpse of eternity on Valentine's Day.  Because truly love really is what it is all about. 

Love notes from Mama wrapping up some yummy chocolate. 

My kids are always begging me to make macaroni and cheese. 

Mark doesn't eat a lot of cheese so I rarely make it.  They were so happy for mac and cheese!!

(Don't worry, Mark and I went on a V-day date on the 12th and had some of the best Mexican food we've ever eaten!)

This kids worked hard to fill Papa's envelope up with Valentine's.  They loved watching him open them all up.  

This picture cracks me up.  No matter how many times I tell Sammy to not climb on the table he sees nothing wrong with just strolling across to tell papa something!

We played Valentine's minute-to-win-it which no one won because NON of us got the math equation at the end right.  Haha. Not even Mark. :)

Bingo!! + love this little Mama!

My kids LOVE kiwi.  They cannot get enough of it!

Happy Valentine's day everyone!!

My New Baby & Sacrament Meeting Miracle

I've been thinking about this miracle for awhile now - every Sunday actually.  Mark's schedule changes every month and we never know from one month to the next what it is going to entail.  I have been extra nervous about going to church by myself with the 4 kids, not knowing how exactly to get up and leave to nurse Davey or quiet him down and leave the 3 other kids to fend for themselves during Sacrament meeting.  I know that my Heavenly Father is mindful of me!!  I have miraculously not had to go to Sacrament meeting by myself since Davey has been born.  Mark has had every single (minus 1) Sunday off or worked at a time other than Sacrament meeting.  And that one Sunday he woke up extra early rounded on all his patients before 8:30am and then surprised us by walking into the Church at the same time we did.  He was able to stay for all of Sacrament meeting and then returned to the hospital to finish his work.  I love him.  Next Sunday will be the 1st out of the 20 Sunday's since Davey's birth that I will have to go it alone.  What a miracle and tender mercy!

January in Pictures.

January was a tough month for us.  ICU meant 6 day work weeks +12hr shifts for Mark.  2wks of nights then 2wks of days. The last part of the month was 18 days 16 of which he worked trying to keep people alive all the while feeling totally stressed out about everything he needed to be remembering and hoping that he wasn't forgetting something crucial.  

We totally preferred nights because we saw him more and nights in the ICU are way more relaxed than days.  I'm not sure I have ever seen him more stressed out or worn out.  Not even for boards.  But then again I hightailed it to Canada during board season. :)

A rare moment with Dad!

But I have to say that there were plenty of blessings that came along with such a stressful month.  

Heavenly Father truly blessed me to find joy and happiness taking care of everything at home instead of feeling totally worn out (although there was plenty of that too).  I love being a stay at home mom.  And I am grateful for my dad for working 6-7days a week.  Seriously, when Mark and I got married and Sat. would roll around I'd turn the music up and start cleaning -because that's what you do on Sat. right?  Mark quickly informed me that the rest of the world plays on Saturday.  Say what?  

Anyways since Mark was working so much when Saturday rolled around I just turned up the music and kept working too.

  And it felt like home. :)  

I found myself laughing to myself because I was enjoying it so much.

I found so much joy in spending time with my kids.  

I love them and they missed their Papa.

There were some long hard days.

Days where you just say a prayer, square your shoulders, and then do the best you can.

(oh wait, isn't that every day!!)

Did I mention I love these kids. 

This was in the middle of January!! In Michigan!  Look how beautiful it is. Green grass and everything.  We showed Papa the bird sanctuary and it was really fun.  Looking at these pictures makes me happy.  Winter doesn't last forever, and neither does ICU!

I LOVE everything about this picture.   Wilson adores his baby brother.   Look at him!  5yrs  old and it's no big deal  Mom.  I can eat, balance the baby, and keep him happy all at once.  

My kids love to crank the music and then dance - leaping off of everything in sight!

Don't worry we had school too!.  My favorite thing about this picture is Zina's doodling in the background.  She was supposed to be going over word families and instead she was designing dresses. :)

LOVE them!

Finally a Snow Day!  

We had friends over (because it was a real snow day for public schools as well) and played in the snow, built a fire, made hot chocolate and nachos and built forts!

Bryce, Addie & Zina.
And don't forget Wilson in the back on top of Mouse Crumpet (It's supposed to be Mt. Crumpit but Sammy dubbed it Mouse Crumpet)

My intense little 2yr old!

Sammy is so full of love, and anger, and sadness, and frustration, and make believe, and joy, and giggles.  He is learning about his emotions and feels them all so deeply.  

Oh this boy. I have no words.

Seriously, I get to snuggle and mug on this boy everyday.  I love it!

And keep this precocious little monkey entertained. :)

I have the best job in the world.  

Don't you love that Monkey is wearing Sam's clothes?
This is Sam and Wilson's restaurant.  They always feed Monkey and Sunshine Bear their "good" food before they feed them sugar. :)  Sammy is really into "mine friends."  Whether they are real or make believe he loves them so dearly!

Zina and Wilson hopped up and made everyone lunch this day.  Wilson made me a ham, cheese, avocado, pickle sandwich.  It was really good! (even if he is camera shy :)

Zina made Sammy and her Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches.

Zina learned about fractions the other day and has since taken up baking like CRAZY.  If I let her she would bake all day long.  She absolutely loves it.  The other week when i had a bad headache I told her  the recipe for Pizza dough and she made it for Friday pizza night all on her own. I was so impressed because it turned out perfect and I didn't even step foot in the kitchen!

She also made this platter of goodies the same day with her easy bake oven.  Cornbread, scones, cheese quesadillas, strawberry crumble, fruit bars etc. 

It finally got warm enough for snowman snow!

Wilson is mad because he wanted to stand right in front of the snowman.

Oh Wilson I love you!

Snow ball fight!

unexpected nap time

Getting ready for church.

I looked over one evening to find Zina reading this. 

haha.

Sledding at Kindleberger park with friends.

And January DID end!!!  

And we got our Papa back.

sure do love him!

Daily Miracles

So thanks to some very fabulous people in our ward. (I LOVE our ward and we will be so very sad to leave them) I've decided to try and post about a few of our daily miracles.  Even just being thoughtful about it in the last two days has opened my eyes and made me realize just how aware our Heavenly Father is of us.  He blesses us in so many ways - we just have to open our eyes to see all the miracles that he gives us.  I had to sit down and write this RIGHT now because it amazed me so much.  I have been having a crummy day. Head cold, tired, achy, GROUCHY. I knew it would be a long one because on Thursdays Mark plays basketball at the church after work.  He hasn't been able to go in a long time so I wasn't about to make him come home to a sick wife, dirty dishes and bawling kids.    My poor kids.  I said a  prayer asking Heavenly Father to just help me feel a little better so I could take care of them in a happy sort of way.  We tried some Valentines Day crafts which worked for a while but Zina got upset in the end because she thought she ruined hers (I thought it looked adorable) and started bawling on the couch.  I was feeling a little bit of anxiety because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to feel any miracles about today.  Wilson and Sam were going crazy and I sent them both outside to play in the snow in a not very patient manner.  Zina eventually settled down and went outside with the promise of being able to bake in her easy bake oven when she came back in and just as she went out Davey fell asleep.  After laying him down, getting Sam (who came in because Wilson pulled his gloves off) some hot chocolate I sat down to a little bit of peace and quiet.  And if the peace and quiet wasn't a miracle in itself I found through a series of emails that Mark's basketball has been cancelled due to a scheduling conflict of the gym.  He'll be home in probably 20 minutes.  And that is a miracle.  Hope he doesn't mind tuna melts for dinner. :)

During evening family scriptures/prayers that the reason Wilson took Sams gloves off was because he wanted him to come inside and tell me that the neighbor dog ate them. 

Oh Wilson!!!!!!

I also asked this morning who the proud owner of the artwork was behind Davey in the picture above.  Sammy proudly said, "I am!! See I did this one and this one!"  Wilson wouldn't look me straight in the eye.  They were obviously in cohorts muraling our walls.