James - Almost 7

So this "little" guy is almost 7.  In 8 days to be exact.  Yes, that's like almost double digits.  Although it doesn't make me feel as old as saying I worked at Starbucks in the late 90s. THAT makes me feel old.

It's the gift giving season and I get to take some time to focus on each of my children. James has significantly progressed in his speech, although he is very uninspired to do his spelling, reading, language homework. When he has the freedom to make up his own stories, or posters then he's very enthusiastic.  His teacher this year is not the warm & fuzzy kind so Alex and I are having a few more conferences.

Anyways, James is still into legos. He is a mastermind of building and his mind is geared towards putting things together. So this year we're advancing to the next stage of legos, the boxes that are $40-$60.  He still loves to draw, make up games, do crafts and boss his brother and sister around.  He now rides his bike with no training wheels, although he won't use a bike that is bigger and better suited for his height. 

Like his dad, he prefers khakis and polos.  He's very sensitive to textures so I don't shop without him. 

We have a Wii and he plays it sometimes when there's free time.  He likes to play Donkey Kong and Super Mario Brothers. 

And yes, it cracks him up to make silly faces for the camera.  He is definately growing up by leaps and bounds and I just want to squish him in a box to make it stop.

Love my Little Man

1000 Truths

One of my new cherished spots has been sitting at our kitchenette in the morning and having none or maybe just 1 little monster sitting next to me. It's a lot less quiet when there's more than just me, but sometimes it lends its way to a nice dialogue. 

So on a beautiful cloudy morning, I had this conversation with James.

James to me: Mom, why isn't the sun out?
Me: James, the sun is always out.  Just because we can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.  Sometimes we just can't see the sun, but it's always there. 

I'm tearing up as I write this because as I said those few sentences, this is what I heard in my heart :
The Son is always there.  Even when I can't see Him, He is always there. 

Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Content with cloudy, rainy days?  Content with the effects of the recession on our household?  Content with a Budget????

Jeremiah 29:11-12

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

 

...Or Content that My God will never leave me.  That My God has a plan of good for me.  So I will hold on till I receive my blessing and be content that the Son is there, even when I can't see Him. 

I am going to try to commit to keep a log of 1000 truths.  It is sort of like the 1000 gifts/blessings book that most of us have read.  But I want to be reminded of and even try to look more fervently for the biblical and Godly truths that surround me even in the hard places of life. 

This is #1.  My God will never leave Me.
This is #2.  My God has a plan to prosper me, Not harm me.

Used Grounds

So, reading the last post I did  IN FEBRUARY makes me giggle.  Have I stuck with making clothes for me and Olivia? Um...No.  I've made her a few things, but that yoga skirt and other dresses I tried to make for myself failed miserably.  However, I did learn something...sometimes it's better to just wait for sales and let someone else make it.  This body isn't as forgiving as it was before children.  

But I did start running today.  Only 2 miles in the gym, but it's a start.  I might start training for a 1/2 marathon in December so I thought I should get started. 

Here's what's new with me: Inspired by a friend, I now make my own facial scrub. And let me brag about it, it's very cost effective, smells good and makes my skin look and feel incredible!  Wanna know the secret????  Coffee Grounds.  Yup!  This might not work for you if you don't like coffee or don't like the smell of it, but I do, on both counts.  So I make my pot of coffee in my French press. Enjoy the cups of coffee and then strain the water out, or you could keep a container for leftover coffee in the fridge for cold coffee. I keep the grinds in a tupperware in the fridge and then I mix some with coconut oil.  Olive oil would work too.  This by itself would work great.  I, however, add some of my essential oils to it to get some cleansing action. I add a drop of lavender (for soothing) and some thieves (for anti-bacterial).  After I wash it off, I follow up with my soap which gets the oil residue off.  But this works great as a body scrub too.  Just make sure that the coffee is ground coarse so you don't tear up your pores. 

I hope this little trick finds you the same greatness that it does me.  :)

Still here...

I'm still here but here's what I'm not:
*Not Running
*Not motivated to cook
*Not motivated to clean

Here's what I am doing:
*Reading the Hunger Games
*Making Strawberry Jam
*Planning my clothing for the rest of this year to include making all my clothes for Olivia and me...

This is what I'm really excited about.  I was wondering if I could make it through the rest of the year with only buying minimal clothes.  I can make skirts for me and Olivia and not need to go shopping. I'd like to buy her some t-shirts so I can put fun pictures on them, but making girl skirts are so easy! I"m collecting my virtual library of sewing blogs and I have plenty to look at! As for me,  I found an easy yoga skirt pattern that would be perfect for this summer.  Now onto some homemade shirts for me and it will be a stress free summer!

Olivia Marie Holdgate

Our sweet little baby girl! Although this 2 1/2 year old isn't so baby anymore.  She's mostly into size 3's if the 2 is cut small.  She wears size 7 and loves pink.  Purple is a close second. She loves skirts, dresses and shoes.  Still not crazy about tights or footed Pj's. 
She is into princesses, ponies, and baby dolls!!  She is constantly carrying around a baby doll on her hip, talking to her, feeding her, making  her go potty, pushing her in a stroller. 
She also got into those Littlest Pet Shop toys, squinkies and zoobles while at her cousins house. 
As much as this little one enjoys the girl stuff, she is pretty tough and holds her own with her brothers. 

Ryan Francis Holdgate

My Sweet Ryan.  One of the sweetest boys yet so passionate, energetic and sometimes, my parenting nemesis.  He is the most photogenic and it's a lot of fun hearing the stories he makes up.  One of my favorite things that he does is a mish mash of songs.  He'll combine Jesus Loves Me, with the Itsy Bitsy spider and Hello Mr Turkey, all into one song.

Ryan is built very athletic and reminds me of a soccer player.  We put him in soccer this fall, but he wasn't very interested. 

He loves superheros, especially spiderman.  He loves to dress up in a cape, or his spiderman outfit or any other costume he can find. 

He wears a size 4 but can still wear some size 3 pants.  He LOVES pajamas!!! 

He's just starting to get into legos, but still has a hard time following the directions, but he's getting there. 

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

This is the song that came to mind today:

The Steadfast Love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies shall never come to an end
They are new every morning
New every morning
Great is thy Faithfulness O Lord!
Great is thy Faithfulness!

How have you seen God's faithfulness lately?

This might be my favorite time to blog

When I get to talk about my children. I always said I would never be that mom who could only talk about her kids.  But when I start thinking of funny things, of hard things with children, I just can't close the flood gates.

As has become tradition for my sister and now myself, we write Christmas posts for each child. 

I'll start with my first: James Alexander Holdgate

 Going on 7 years of marriage, we have seen alot of ups and many many downs.  However, these children are a major part of the ups, and I guess downs, too.  However, I am continually amazed with watching my children grown. I couldn't find a picture of our little butterball turkey so here are 2 pictures that show a bit of who this blessing is. 

Is is not uncommon to find James, like this picture shows, hands deep in a project. This happens to be a lego set he purchased when he decided he wanted to make some money to buy a toy.  So, we gave him a few extra chores and paid him for it. 

James is super smart and his mind is a sponge.  He absorbs all the information at school and we are only privvy to a portion of that.  Every now and then we'll have a conversation with him and realize just how much his little brain is working. 
He loves school.  Did I say that already, well, He LOVES school!! He loves to do his homework, he loves to draw and make his own paper books with his drawings.  He loves to build.  He loves to explain things to a point where we have to ask him to stop talking and give someone else a chance. 

He is growing out of size 5 and wears size 11 shoes.  He prefers his crocs but will wear tennis shoes when needed.  He, like his dad, would be happy if all I ever bought him were polos and khakis.  Yup. 

He hates tight clothing and tight shoes.  He does not like to wear clothes around the house, but we are working on it.  He does not prefer fruit but has discovered he does like cantalope.  He eats a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, EVERY DAY.  He loves to eat cereal in the morning with his dad. 

So, what would be a good gift for James? Any sort of new project or tool; any sort of new coloring supply, puzzles, legos and cool t-shirts. 

No energy to write

Or cool stories to tell. It's hard to remember all that happens during the day as well as make time to write about it. I do pretty well at recounting a few stories to Alex in the evening, after my glass of wine. But this story is about God's plan.



You see, Alex and I both have a desire to give. Sometimes we give and it makes people uncomfortable. Sometimes we're not able to give because, well, sometimes that's just how it is. I do find it quite healthy and freeing to give away clothes, toys, kitchen appliances, etc.



So last week, Alex told me about this guy who was working for him. He has 2 little boys, 2 and 11 months and his girlfriend. They were evicted 2 weekends ago, had their car impounded and are living in a very much less than desirable hotel room; where even the landlord told Danielle and Andy to stay inside all day. So, as a mother of young children, I couldn't even bear to think of what it would be like to be cooped up in a hotel room with 2 young ones and not even be able to spend time outside. Actually, I can understand and I know it would drive me CRAZY!



A day after that, Alex calls me from work and asks if we should offer them our guest room. At least they wouldn't have to stay inside all day and then Alex could take Andy to work. They agreed and they arrived late Wednesday night.



You know that feeling when something is just right? Well, we have it. So, Danielle helps out around the house, watches the kids if I need to run out and is very happy to be out of that hotel. I am happy to have some other little kids to distract my kids and have an adult to talk to. Alex was happy to have someone help him clean up our backyard.



So today, I was putting some stuff together for Danielle, out of my vast supply of coupon deals and started filling up one of my 31 cosmetic bags for her. This particular bag, I had bought back from a customer ( a year ago) because she didn't like the color of the monogramming on it. So, I look down and see that the monogramming is DC. Her name is Danielle Crabtree. I couldn't believe it so when I gave her the bag, I couldn't help but say that there is a reason God has them here. She says that she knows, she prayed to get out of that hotel.



All of this to say that God does have a plan and he sometimes gives us very concrete, visible signs. What's next for our friends? I don't know. They paid to get their car out of impound, and now it doesn't work. So, they're looking for a car so at least, Andy can drive to work. Alex has enough work for a few weeks for him but we don't know about after that. Then they'll consider moving back to where Danielle will be closer to family and can get some help. I think they'd like to come back to Charleston eventually, once they can get a cushion to fall back on.



So, I'm continuing to pray for their sweet family and sweet little boys. I'm so glad God brought them here and I hope that they will see what God has planned for them too.

Random

I haven't been posting but I have been thinking.  I've been concentrating on cleaning up my house (flylady.net), focusing more on respecting my husband (Love & respect) and reading through Grudem's Systematic Theology (1/2 off at the local christian bookstore). 

House Cleaning: No, it doesn't come natural. My theory, you either get the cleaning or cooking gene, I got cooking.  Can I get an AMEN!!  Okay, so this Flylady Kelly lady tells you certain things to do on certain days. This might come natural to some but not to me! I want a clean house, I just don't know how to do it.  So, I've been motivated to go minimal with our stuff and hoping to make some big improvement this summer.

Respect:  Turns out, I need to work on showing my respect for my husband. Need I say more? I'm looking forward to listening to Love & Respect. 

Systematic Theology: After going to a Holy Ghost sunday school I got inspired to get this book. AND it happened to be half off....I'll be posting more as I read more...

That's what's been going on.

Paper Mache

Ryan told me one day that he wanted to do paper mache.  He didn't announce it appropriately and I'm not sure how he knew how to do it, but he wanted a pinata.  So, he found wrapping paper, lined paper, water and a spatula.  I ended the project soon after this picture because I couldn't handle the wads of water drenched paper all over the kitchen. 

New and Happening

Here it is Jamey.  I have one picture to share.  She turned 2. That should say it all.  Meanwhile, she should be sleeping, but our cat, Gerdy got locked in her room and no nap was taken.  Olivia is upstairs yelling to Gerdy " Gerdy!" "Stop!". Yes, she's TWO!!! 

And she likes shoes and she likes certain outfits.  This skirt, for example, had to be left on at night under her unicorn pj's.  The boots did come off though. Have I mentioned how confused I am by her hair. It falls forward, is fine, and curly in the back.  Alex cut a few of her bangs....Can you tell?

But this was a cute picture I thought my sister would enjoy. 

Lip vs. Comode

I hope that's how you spell that word.  No, I don't blog much because I'm finding it really difficult to think in straight lines anymore.  My blogs sort of end up being random run-on's and partial thoughts.  But this one has a central theme.

Ryan's 2nd ER visit.  Remember the first one where he was 'stung' by a pussmoth?  Well, Ryan was playing in the living room when he got that look in his eye and ran to bathroom shouting " I have to pee!".  That was followed by a very loud thwump which I thought was the sink or the toilet.  I ran into the bathroom after I heard the very loud painful cry to find my sweet little boy holding a very bloody lip.  While still screaming, we managed to look at the lip and the huge chunk that was bit  by his very sharp teeth.  It looked really deep and had a sideways hook design. We were concerned that it was really deep and it did cross down into the chin area. 

So, the pediatrician recommended the ER so we rushed him off again.  We have a friend who is in plastics so we asked him to stop by to check it out. The options:
1. take him home, put on neosporin and keep him from bonking his mouth.  There would be a little scar but nothing too bad.
2.  Wait till 11 to get sedated (while eating no food), put in 1 stitch and still have a scar. 

Our decision was easy; we opted for neosporin which was free cuz they gave us samples. 

We had a great experience there and I even saw one of our nurses today at the fabric store.  We chatted for a bit and I feel like going back to have some coffee with the girls. 

Picture is on facebook.

Running from the Po-Po!

Yes, I know it's their job, but really?!  How many times do I have to have my plates run while sitting at a stop light. I've become so paranoid that when I see a cop behind me, I make the next turn so he won't have time to run my plates.  I"m waiting to get pulled over and have him say" Ma'am, you were yelling too loud at your kids". 

It happens in the same general vicinity, but it's not as though I can avoid ALL police areas.  So, my tags expired because I didn't change the address on my license and didn't get the bill. No big deal, I just have to go to the farthest DMV to pay them and then go to court to show the officer.  He scheduled me for the week we'll be in Texas, so I had to fax in a letter explaining why I should get a continuance.  I am so scared that they'll say NO, that I faxed them my flight itinerary. Just in case they feel as though I'm fleeing my duty to pay car taxes....

So, today on the way to Ryan's school (we were already running late), I saw the flashing blue and had to pull over. I quickly grabbed my license and previous citations to give to him.  I had some sort of excuse about sick kids and no babysitter and he said " I understand. My kid is home with a double ear infection." Yea, so let's see if his wife pays her taxes :)  Anyways, I'm wondering how many more times I"ll get pulled over.  My kids are used to it now that it's fun. I had some donuts in the car so Ryan thought I should give one to the cop.  I didn't.

?

Me: Ryan, don't hit your sister's bottom
Ryan: Okay, I'll Booty Knock
Me: ???!!
**Booty Knocking - 2 people bonk booty's. Or 1 person walks their booty into another's

Either way, it's been classified as a new fun game.  This might also be known as a 'bee sting' if you get some momentum going and can knock the other person over.

Is this the definition of Insanity?

So....I pride myself on a few things and I know I shouldn't.  I'm not that strict when it comes to certain parenting, but after having 3 kids, I thought I'd be able to handle things much more smoothly.  I've never had major sleeping or napping or eating issues with the kids.  So, when something comes up that I've never encountered before, I have a rolodex of ideas and plans to go through. One of those has got to work, right?!  Well, I'm used to sleeping my 7 hours at night. I'd prefer 8, but going to bed before 10 is almost impossible.  And sleeping past 6 is almost impossible too. 

So, when a child of mine has interruptions in their sleep schedule, MY sleep schedule  is interrupted. I'm not so gracious after day 2 of interruptions, so this time I reached out to my Facebook family for ideas.

Sweet little Olivia.  She takes 1 nap in the afternoon, generally around 1 to 1:30.  The past few months, she'll randomly not nap. That is, she'll go down screaming, be quiet for up to 45 minutes then start yelling for me.  This past weekend, she did that both Saturday and Sunday.  And Monday. And Tuesday. I am at the end of my rope because she's been clingy, screamy and just hard to handle.  If she was in good spirits, then I could deal with no nap and an early bedtime. 

Is it the light? Is it sugar? Is it not enough playtime? Did the doorbell wake her up? Is it teeth? Is it an ear infection?

I just could not do anything to get her to go to sleep. She's too young to understand the 'stay in bed with your eyes closed' idea but I will try that eventually.

Today, I gave her lunch and let her run around till 2 o'clock. Then we read a book and I put her to bed. It's 445 and I'll probably have to wake her up for dinner. Dare I let her sleep through the night? No, I'm too afraid she'll wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning.

Let's pray that she takes one tomorrow too!

My Favorite Things

So, I thought I should put into writing some of my favorite things.  Here I go in no particular order.

1. Yoga / Pilates -- I hit my year mark on my gym membership and while I started off with step, weights and zumba, I became a consistent attender to the yoga / pilates class.  I've been able to do more and more of the moves and now pay more attention to myself and make sure I"m doing it right.  Alex tried to do a few moves with me and some weren't as easy as they looked.  My next step....running.

2. Arbonne - After child #3, I had a horrible time trying to keep my face from looking like a pubescent teenager.  For about a year, my current skin care was NOT working.  Nothing like being tired and looking in the mirror and not being able to fix those unsightly bumps.  I met a new friend who sold Arbonne and who let me try out their skincare for a few days.  Nobody gives samples of their skincare line so it's really hard to tell what will work.  So, after 2 months, my skin finally cleared up.  My early thirty fine lines have appeared, but my FAVORITE item is the eye corrective cream.  Somehow it just smooths out that area under the eye and gives a more youthful, less I didn't get enough sleep last night look.  P.S. I can sell these products, just FYI

3.  Bare Minerals - refer to #2.  I tried this make up years ago and it just didn't work for me. I couldn't use it a few months ago because of the condition of my skin.Now, however, I was able to buy Bare Minerals on sale and use a coupon (which is really uncommon for Bare Minerals).  And now, it goes on the list as one of my favorite things. Why? It's easy to use, light and looks nice :)

4.  J.Crew - I do hate to admit this.  However, this past holiday season and the one the prior year, I was able to buy $7 jeans and many, many sale/clearance items that have proved to be a staple in my closet. 

5.  Bed, Bath & Beyond - They do returns with no receipt, you can use multiple coupons, they're helpful and friendly

6.  Crocs - A brand I have come to really love.  I buy these for my kids and here's what sets them apart from similar shoes...they don't stink.  They do wear down and get dirty, but they don't stink.  None have fallen apart and my kids wear them religiously.  I recently bought a pair at 1/2 price and I love them. Super comfy and they feel superb!!

7. TV Shows - Justified, The Closer, Men of a Certain Age, Blue Bloods, Leverage, Rizzoli & Isles and White Collar. 

8. Webcam - I love being able to call up my brother or parents and see them whenever I want.

9. Thirty - One - I've only been a consult for 8 months but I did manage to get a recruit.  I'm not ready to give up but I'm still trying to figure how I fit into the whole direct selling thing.  I'm not a natural seller so I'm trying to get there. But, it's been a challenge and a lot of fun getting to know new people. I did have 1 huge party which had party sales of $1500 so that made me super happy!!

10.  My Family - It's a contented feeling knowing that we only have 1 in diapers and 3 incredible, enthusiastic sweet children.  I do love my husband also.  6 years and although we have our struggles, I wouldn't want to struggle with anyone else.

11. Wine.

Nothing goes unnoticed

I know that's not really true. There are plenty of things that go unnoticed and sometimes I feel like that 'thing' is me.  That's all I'm gonna say about that (no pity party here).  But, the point of this post. 

Today was the first day back to my Fall bible study and I couldn't wait!! It's been 2 long months and I was super excited to get there today.  So, I drop off Ryan and Olivia in their respective classrooms and head to meet my friends, Hillary and English. 

Afterwards, I go to pick up Ryan and his teacher came to me and told me how polite Ryan was today and how sweet he was.  I was very excited to hear this, although I also know that that was true. He is a very sweet boy. 

Ryan: Mom, Can I have a present?
Me: Why?
Ryan: Because I listened to my teacher today.

Hmmmm.  He got some gummy worms.  I still don't know whether or not he encouraged his teacher to tell me those goods things or not.

One Proud Mama

So, I attended James' first real parent/teacher conference.  It was just routine and a way to connect with the teacher. We love his teacher, Mrs. Trotter.  She speaks fluent Spanish and there is a large population of spanish speaking kids in the class, so we're hoping for some bilingual understanding.  Anyways, I went in to the meeting expecting to hear things like "We like James. He's sweet and smart and his speech has really improved". All of which, is true. 

Now I get to brag.  Mrs. T said he is the highest intellectually out of all the kids and she had some stories to prove it.  For example, she gave all the kids a plastic baggy with an ice cube in it.  They were then told to take the ice cube to where they thought it would melt the fastest.  All the kids took theirs outside, but James put his near the space heater.  Unfortunately for James, it was the warmest day all season and the ones outside melted first. 

I tried not to be the parent to just gush all over my kids, but I did contribute a few stories of how James wanted us to make an ice castle at home, or how many envelopes of cut of paper he brings home and how he asks us 3x a day if he has school tomorrow. 

There were a few more stories, but I don't want to be one of 'those' moms, so I just want you to know that I AM a proud mama. I was so proud that I wanted to reward James for working so hard at school. So, I got him a little gift yesterday.  That won't happen all the time.  We'll probably reward with milkshakes or something

First Haircut

I always promised myself that I would take good care to make sure my little girl had a nice girly haircut. Due to a few mishap haircuts by a certain sister of mine (I know she had good intentions), I've become a bit sensitive to short boy haircuts.  Well, Olivia has this hair that I have no clue how to manage. 

It was getting long in the front and the back and beginning to resemble a mullet.  The only thing I could do what pull the long hair back into a pony tail, but it looked kind of silly.  So, we went in to pay $10 for 5 minutes of cutting :(.

Doesn't look too crazy here, but it was a low humidity day.

This is how it looked brushed out.

This is how it looked right after the cut. I know, it looks like a boy cut but it smoothed out and looks good. It's a bit of a bowl cut, but its growing in nicely.  It's curling under in the back but the top is still straight.  I'm still not sure what to do, but I think it's in the right direction.