Happy Father's Day Tim

Gosh Honey, you're the bees knees! Happy Father's Day.

 

Just a few quick pictures!

Spring Family Photos {Anniversary Inspired}

I love photos, anyone who really knows me knows that. I find a way to get photos taken however I can.

Mother's Day Pictures

Easter Photos

And I just realized I never posted about our Fall photos, our Valentine's Day photos, and a few more.


These photos were originally intended to be Anniversary pictures but the snow really got in our way. Every time! Ha! But we finally got them and I'm so pleased with them.

My Boy

Not with my body though. :/ AND the mint tulle skirt I wore was completely wrong for my body, it literally made me look 14 months pregnant. It's a fabulous skirt though. I got it from Lulu and Lavender.  My next purchase from her is that deer sweater... obviously not in any hurry as it's 83 degrees here.

 The photographer, Natalie found some cute buildings in Dayton, purple buildings and blue buildings, gorgeous urban setting.

They were to match our wedding photos. Have you seen them?


I may get around to posting those, too.

Our anniversary is one of my favorite days of the year: Valentine's Day. The best part: Tim can't forget it.

Handsome Carson

The kids were not cooperative. They usually aren't for photos but we do it anyway.

These pictures make it worth it. This Carson. He's contemplative, caring, thinks about things, associates events with other events and puts everything together.

He can be aggressive, though. We have to let him be physically active and "wear him out". He's Tim's clone.

 Madeline likes the chase. I may not give her enough credit, to be honest. I haven't sat and observed her for hours like I have done with Carson.
I have held her for hours(mostly to protect her from Carson's grabbing hands). I still breastfeed her. It's nice. She's a sweetie.

She has a big kind of an attitude and can give the stink-eye like no one else, but I don't think she understands what she's doing.

 Sehara Is nurturing, she craves to be a part of things. Always wants to know what's going on and wants to be active. We are working on her self-esteem, it fluctuates. She loves to help, except if it interferes with anything she is doing.

My Favorite. 

My Girls!

Birthday Party & Bad Chinese

We had a pretty fun Labor Day weekend. We went to a Family Movie Night on Friday at the Y, and that was horrible, the kids were way too rowdy, Tim took too long working out and didn't help me (and also made me miss any good time to work out), and we started getting mean looks from people around us. Not fun.

Saturday we wanted to get some Christmas shopping done, eat a meal, then go on a date but we didn't have a sitter. So we went to the Y, put the kids in child-watch and worked out together and with Kayt. Then went shopping and got a few presents. We met up with Kayt and Larry and all our kids to eat at T.G.I.F.

I sent Tim to the movies with his brother. I think they saw the Wolverine movie and I'm pretty sure they liked it.

Sunday was pretty uneventful. Church is always scary when Tim isn't there. I sent Sehara to sit with some friends where she took notes and behaved very well. Madeline had to go sit (she slept) with Joyce and Gail because I had to take Carson out and explain our rules for him about 20 times! LOL, CRAZY!!!

Sunday night we found a chinese place and thought it was great food, since we had been looking for a place to get our go-to Chinese from. Whenever we got it, which wouldn't be often.

For Labor Day, we drove down to Kentucky for Logan's 3rd birthday party. He had a super hero themed party and was too busy for my little camera to capture him.

Pops

Home is where your mom is!

Incredible Carson

Monday night ended up being painful. I was up all night in the bathroom, I'll spare you the details. I ate leftover Chinese and that's what came back up. So gross. Then, because I didn't get any sleep, when I did feel better come morning, I was too tired to function, especially because of the 4 hours of driving. Now Sehara has gotten sick from eating it (Tim did too, but he doesn't get sick like everyone else so it's hard to know when he is, and if it's something we should look out for the rest of us). 

I obviously didn't get to go to Ladie's Class yesterday, that would have been too much. But I felt so great by the end of the day that I did join Tim for his nightly workout, then I went swimming and sat in the sauna! So relaxing.

Busy, Indeed

True to my word, I have been busy keeping busy. We have had such an exciting summer.

Some things that we've done:

As a family:
A BIG trip to Texas for the Pugh Family Reunion. It was amazing. The drive there was so good for us (Tim, Missy, and I) to get to know each other on a deeper level. You get to truly see a person when you are literally with them 24/7. It was great.We were gone for a week. That's a long time!

Sehara:
Sehara got to go so many places. She's been down to Kentucky, spent so much time at friend's houses. She had been to Fort Hill Christian camp. and to Berea, KY for the Eco-Village reunion.

The kids and I (sometimes Tim, depending on work):
We jetted to Berea.Which was another big deal. We have been to play-dates almost every Thursday that we've been in town. We have explored Fairborn, and a little bit of Beavercreek and some of Centerville. We still have a long list to get to. We have spent a lot of time with friends. We went to Young's Jersey Dairy. The kids love that place. We also enjoyed the 4th of July Parade. Us girls go every Tuesday to Lady's class. The kids especially love the splash pad.

We've tried new restaurants, seen some movies, gone on long family walks, explored parks

Looking at my list, it doesn't seem like as much as I thought, but when I think about it, we have to schedule things around church, and naps, sports, diapers, and all that fun stuff.

We still have some things to do:
Kings Island
Ice cream and window shopping in downtown Fairborn with Kayt and her kids.
Berry picking at different farms around here.
A weekend trip to Kelly's in Kentucky.
A weekend trip to my parent's house.
The spray park and snow cones at the Greene with Kayt and kids.
Visit with Connie and see new places,
Visit Kaylee and meet her kids,
Visit Amanda and meet Elijah,
Visit Jodi and meet her girls,
Visit Donna!
And, get more traffic to my blog!

It may take until the end of the year!

Another Wednesday, Worded

I've been waking up late, lately and I don't like it. I had every intention of going to a senior yoga class for a morning stretch and slept through that. I eventually got up and got the kids dressed for a splash pad date with their cousins. The clouds parted and the sun beamed like it was meant for us to be there.
They played for almost 2 hours! What fun! I love to go there, it's right beside the YMCA. It's free and 5 minutes away.
Back to the house for lunch and nap time, and that was great by me! Madeline fell asleep without even a peep in her bed and Carson walked me to his bed so I could sing his good-nap song. Sehara was Sehara and asked me a billion questions when I didn't feel like being awake, much less answering them.
I took Sehara to jazz, then picked her up and got us all to church in time. I even made a Kroger pit stop in between all of that.
I really missed my husband throughout the day. It's such a long time for me to go without him. I mean, but he's working, so I am definitely not complaining. 
We got some nasty weather alerts and I'm going to bed, while Tim and Sehara watch the Justice League cartoons.

A Busy Saturday

My day has been so busy. I made a goal for this summer to keep busy with my kids, providing them ample opportunities to develop social and physical areas.
So this morning, we had Carson's swim lesson in which he has greatly improved in regards to comfort in the water.
We took a long, hot shower, then it was Sehara's turn for swimming. My girl has progressed from the beginner class, which I shouldn't have put her in, to the advanced class. I think they are called the "sharks". She has always been a water bug.
Madeline stayed with her Auntie Jeanine for the swimming because Tim had to work and I didn't have anywhere to put her.
We rushed back to the house for a quick lunch full of nutritious foods! This was the point where Sehara decided she wanted to argue with me about a picture in the paper. Not that I argued back, but she kept going. She threw away an opportunity to have a sleepover with Elli.
Right after that, we had her soccer game, where we ran into the tail end of Garon's game and got to see Kayt, Larry, Addison, and Garon for a few minutes. Kayt gave me her leftover cookies and those saved my life and her waistline. I'm a good friend.
Sehara performed so well during her game! Her team gets better every week!
Melanie, Gabe, and Hunter came out to cheer her on! She loves visitors!
I grabbed a diet coke, and we went back to the house so the kiddos could nap. I dropped my brand new and fresh diet coke on the carpet!! UGH. I soaked it up while Carson played on the stairs (a no-no). He wouldn't go upstairs! Madeline had soaked her diaper and onsie and she was starving. I got everyone up, plopped her on the bed and got Carson in his bed. I fed Madeline and messaged a friend(the mother of Elli to let her know Sehara wouldn't come and why).
So now, I have started a soup for dinner. Chicken is thawing and Tim should get off work in 30 minutes. I'm so excited! I miss him.

I also wanted to point out that I did something great last night. I love to help people out, and not be recognized, usually. But here's where I'm going to pat myself on the back because it has to do with helping AND avoiding sin. I donated my time and some money for a friend, and went to do physical activity to show support (it was a group thing). When I handed the money over, I was told to wait so I could get some raffle tickets. I wondered what for, because I didn't understand and I asked about it. I very politely said, "No thank you, I am just donating money and I don't need the tickets!"

Look at me, actually applying lessons from the Bible to my everyday life. In case you're wondering, raffle tickets are a part of gambling. But we won't dwell on that.

I know this post misses my pizaz and flare, but here it is! I didn't fill in the cracks, and there's a lot of them. I'm not asking for a super mommy reward or any of that junk. I'm just telling ya about my day thus far. ;)

Family, Zoo, Driving, & Church

My little family and I went to Kentucky this past weekend. We picked Sehara up on the way down, from Carrollton and made it to Buckner.

Saturday morning, we went to the Louisville Zoo. We met up with our friend Josh and his daughter, Mira, and his family. Boy, has she grown! I love seeing my friends! My goal is to try to meet up with as many as I can, when I can.

The trip to the zoo confirmed that we do need to go ahead and purchase that double stroller I have been wanting. I'm even willing to put my single strollers in storage! (I love my babytrend jogging stroller) It's officially not just a want, but now it's a need. :D

We spent Saturday evening back at my parent's house. Went grocery shopping and made the best tacos and fajitas for dinner. We ate too many donuts, but had fun. Tim and Daniel took the shutter off the house and cleaned up. Daniel invited Tim to bowl (Daniel's on a bowling league) and they had a blast.

Sunday morning we hosed down the front porch and scrubbed the bricks and pebbled area right in front of the door. It felt great outside and we all just lounged around on the front porch while the kids played on the swingset.

We left a little before 3 and got stuck in stop and go traffic for over an hour and made it back to Fairborn and church 2 minutes before it started. Sehara packed in shoes (and left another pair in KY) in her duffel, Carson had gotten his shoes muddy and and wet his whole outfit. We were a mess when we pulled in the parking lot. But we made it!

Staying At Home

Being a stay at home mom is rough. Being a stay at home wife is rough. Most days, I fall short of myself, and I don't feel like I get anything done or accomplished. It's a horrible feeling.

So what I have done is I have tucked this post away until I was feeling better about staying at home. I don't want to lead on to people that I hate myself or my job, but I do want to express how difficult it can be more days than not.

This is actually something that I never envisioned myself doing. I thought that when I graduated college, Sehara and I would have a really nice apartment and I would get a great job, or not even great, but a busy job and we would go from there. I never thought I would get married, I never thought I would have more children.

I think we are supposed to be challenged in life and ever-changing for the better. Staying at home with kids and having these high expectations for taking complete care of them, loving them, teaching them, making sure they stay alive, AND having to run errands and get things done for Tim is exhausting. It's rewarding, also. I think that this is more challenging for me than going out there and having a job.

I keep telling myself that just getting to love the kids, and know that they know that I love them and that they are my babies is satisfying in of itself, because it's true. You just never feel love until you love your baby.

Now, I see myself having two more kids with my husband, a house, a busy soccer-mom life, and maybe also having some kind of income-based job.

A Good Morning

I feel pretty good today. Like I told my mom, I think I stopped feeling sorry for myself this morning.

Or it could just be that I actually woke up, got a few things done, took Sehara to the bus stop and had fun with her on the way. Then I got back here and put the recycling out, fed Madeline, got Carson up and cleaned him up and then played with him, too. Like, I actually got on the floor and chased him. Tim woke up in a good mood as well and that helped. I helped Carson interact with Madeline gently and successfully. I even fed Carson breakfast (I usually pass him to Grandmama for that).

It's a complicated process to have all of our ducks in a row. I'm glad they lined up this morning.