Mothers do ALL with love..

A couple weeks ago Ted bought me this coffee cup from northwestern book store and it says "mothers do all with love" I love it! It's probably my favorite coffee cup I have ever owned.. not that any of you care ha ha!

Well, Every morning I place it in my Keurig Coffee maker and brew my coffee of choice for the day. As I drink from the cup I find myself reading it over and over and over again, and now I'm writing about it.. A few times when I was thinking about it it brought me back to thinking about what my mother does for me. I know now that everything my mom has done for me is out of love.. like sleeping on the hospital chair when I was in labor for 23 hours. Or telling me I couldn't go out and play until my homework was done.. I know when I was younger I thought sometimes she was being mean or just nagging me, but her intentions have always been whats best for me. She never steered me in the wrong direction and always tried to keep me on the right path while giving me unconditional love and support.

So, yes when I ask my children to clean their rooms I am doing it out of love.. If they don't have clean rooms then they wont learn to respect their belongings or when they want to find something and they have to hurdle through piles of clothes, toys, books, etc.. there going to get frustrated, things can get broken, or they wont be able to find it on time. I don't ask them to do things to steer them in the wrong direction, to hurt their feelings, or to put them down.

I have so many new and old friends that are great mothers and I do think that we learn from each other, use their ideas, and are there to support each other. So, thank you to all my great mommy friends who set great examples for myself. Also, I don't think I could thank my mom enough or find the perfect words to express the love she gave to me which molded me into who I am today, and gave me the ability to be a mother. With out her love I wouldn't know how to be a good mother and "Do all things out of love."

My coffee cup that enables my addiction, provides me with lots of thoughts, and even inspires me to blog. Thanks Ted!  (maybe every mom needs one of these!!)

 

Everyone has a little sense of humor.. Right?

Last night Ted went to Melanie and Nick's house to watch the football draft. Which left me home with the kiddos and a messy house. I do not mind that he went though I think it's great that he has friends with similar interests, because I really enjoyed having some peaceful christian music playing rather then the draft!

I tackled the laundry, dishes, floors, and both bathrooms.. Whew! Feels good to wake up to a clean house knowing I don't have to come home from work today and pick up!! As I was doing dishes I was praying and I couldn't help but thank god for blessing me with two boys who were both in their rooms being very quiet and I was able to get so much done with NO interruptions.. ( this is very rare) As I'm closing the dish washer I couldn't help but feel proud of myself and I couldn't wait for Ted to come home to a clean house.. Or so I thought..

I have always known that my heavenly father has a sense of humor.. There have been way to many incidents in my life I just know hes a funny guy! Well, Last night I was quickly reminded of that again. Right after I had finished my prayers with the man up stairs Brody came and got me and said " Mom come here I have some hay bails to show you." As I walk into his room I notice that he had taken EVERY SINGLE TOY he owns and piled them on his bed... actually I should correct myself.. it wasn't just the toys.. It was the bins that held the toys, the car rugs, and the chairs to his table literally everything.

Normally my first reaction would have been something like " Brody, why did you do this after we spent all that time cleaning your playroom.. Now you can clean them all up and I'm not helping you." This time my reaction was a full out laugh, because all I could think about is what I was praying about and how proud of myself I was. I could just picture god laughing at me! I should have learned my lesson by now. When the kids are quiet something strange is occurring! So all I said was " wow those are a lot of hay bails." Shortly after that Brody comes up to me with this little tiny flag and says " Jesus gave me this flag to put on the top of my hay bails."

Anyways, we had a good night and for the most part the kids were great, the house was almost all the way cleaned and Ted really got a kick out of what happened. Enjoy the pictures!!!

 It looked much worse in person

Where the toys used to be...

Thanks Jesus for the flag!

A lovely "nature walk"

Yesterday, I had the honor to have 3 toddlers over and my good friend Melissa. The night before when I was putting Brody to bed we prayed that we would have nice weather so him and his friends would be able to play outside... It looks like our prayer had been answered because we had beautiful weather to enjoy our day.

First the kids played inside for the morning and around 9:30 we went out and jumped on the trampoline watching the 4 of them get along and converse so well while I enjoyed a cup of coffee was such a blessing. Then we played a game of "kick the bucket" and "hide and go seek" the kids also enjoyed taking turns on the 4 wheeler! I'm so proud of them for sharing!

Melissa had a great idea of letting the kids make a list of 10 things that we could find on the way to the park. We called it our  "nature walk." Of course the kids had some great ideas but also some non-realistic ideas.. Such as Brody's idea of finding poop.. Seriously? I'm sure we could have found some but I don't think they  I would have wanted to put that in their bucket... YUCK! Anyways, they all took turns thinking of ideas while I wrote them down. Here is their list.. (needless to say we did not find a girl or a spider to bring home)

It was so cute to watch how excited they got over finding a rock or a stick.. I'm also sure our neighbors like that the kids picked numerous dandelions out of their yards.. as you can tell from my post yesterday Brody thinks their flowers and he likes to pick A LOT of them!

We ended our afternoon with a picnic and story time in the front yard! Thank you Janel for having such wonderful, respectful, and of course fun kids! It truly made my day (and Brody's) I am so thankful for each day god blesses me with!

Loss of innocence...

Lately I have been watching Brody and thinking about the innocence of children. Its actually quite amazing how they truly just act themselves in most situations.. when there mad there MAD, when there happy there happy. I notice how as adults were always trying to teach children, I truly believe if we all took a step back we would see that children have a lot to teach us as well!

This morning I'm sipping my coffee and Brody is standing on the couch looking out the window. He looks at me and says in the proudest voice " Mommy, our flowers are growing come see!" I take a look out the window and notice that he is talking about Dandelions. Yuck, was my first thought and my second thought was that I was going to have to remind Ted to get the weed killer. After I sat there for a second I was watching Brody still looking out the window at his "flowers" and then I realized it was just one of his "innocent" moments. Its actually kind of awesome how he didn't know they were weeds and there simply another beautiful flower god created.

Have you noticed how quickly kids get over things? Devin recently got himself into a pickle (ha ha love that phrase) with his best friend, and yeah, it got a little out of hand and there was alot of yelling and crying but within an hour they had both forgiven each other, decided to be best friends again, and were laughing.. Really?? How come as adults we cant behave like that... lots of adults hold grudges for years and years. and sometimes we never forgive. The innocence of that was awesome to witness. Devin simply made a mistake and it hurt his friend and they were quick to look past it and move on because it was better to be friends then not at all! Love it!

Working in childcare I get to witness alot of there innocence.. when kids are pretending they simply know that its just make believe and its not real and they are just having a good time. They can make friends with anyone.. no matter what there clothes look like, there appearance, there skin color, how much or how little money they have.. they just want to play! There kind hearts have so much to teach us as adults.

I just love the innocence and love that children have and sometimes it gives me a good reminder on how I should behave in situations. I hope everyone has a blessed day and remember

 We love because he first loved us.

Excuse me when did you grow up?

So, today I'm watching Devin run home from the bus stop and I couldn't help but notice how big hes gotten. He didn't look like a little kid anymore. As he runs through the front door our conversation went a little like this.

Devin- "Hey, I have to stay up late tonight to observe the moon."

Me- " Okay, sounds fun do you have a piece of paper we are supposed to fill out."

Devin-" Yeah, its in my backpack. Do we have any plans tonight?"

Me- " I thought you made plans to have Bradly over?"

Devin-" Oh, yeah! Well I think we will have to go to devahns house because he wants us to try out his new automatic baseball pitcher."

So, the conversation continues on and I'm trying not to tear up and smile at the same time. He uses these big words now that I didn't even think he knew the meaning of. He also walks around with this confidence that hes in charge of his own life now and doesn't need us for anything. (sad, I don't know if I'm ready for that.)

When he gets done with his homework (which he absolutely does not want any help doing) he walks up to me and says " I was thinking that I better walk to Bradly's and get my bike back." He puts his shoes on and is about to walk out the door. I said " Don't you think that you need to ask before you leave?" Devin gives me the cutest grin and goes "oh yeah I forgot." so off he went... all on his own... and all I got was a "see you later" and the slam of the front door.

I know its not a bad thing that hes becoming independent but a little part of me misses him needing me to take him to the park or just simply helping him with his homework! I was just thinking these things in my head and I'm sure many parents can relate to the feeling!

Pinewood Derby

Devin attends a class called "Royal Rangers" on Wednesday nights at our church. They have been working really hard on their pinewood derby cars for a while now.. the time has finally come to race them. Devin's car unfortunately did not finish in the top five, but that did not stop us from having a good time. Brody enjoyed racing his hot wheels cars all over the place and he liked cheering the boys on! Ted got an opportunity to talk with some other dads about ways to improve Devin's car next year. I of course had a great time watching the boys enjoy themselves and of course chatting with some other moms from church. I probably talked to long (this happens often) the kids were getting very impatient with me! haha

The kids watching the 5th graders race.

Devin's Car

Getting ready to race (sorry for the blurry picture)

 3rd grade boys with commander Kelly

 

Big Brother Devin

 Devin is such a sweet, kind hearted, silly, caring, 9 year old who loves his brother very much.. If you think I am saying that they never fight or argue and its super peaceful over here in the Miller household you are completely wrong!!

I have recently noticed how helpful Devin has been with Brody. I over hear him teaching him to count, the alphabet, and colors.. I love that! I am sure Brody enjoys it much more with his big Brother since he wants to be just like him! A couple days ago they were jumping on the trampoline together and as I'm doing dishes I look out the window into the back yard and see Devin tickling Brody and there both giggling and being silly. They both stood up and started to jump and Devin was using such a kind voice and being extremely gentle with him. As I'm watching this I was thinking to myself how much God has blessed us with... I mean truly a blessing to have these boys in our lives!

Last night we went to the "ice cream for books" event at Devin's school. Its just like a book swap. You also get to play Bingo, hear a story, and obviously have ice cream. I could not get my eyes off of how much Devin loves to care for Brody. He was so involved in making sure Brody had books to bring home, that all his numbers were correctly checked off during Bingo, and just making sure he was having a good time. These kind of nights are my absolute favorite and even though not every second of every day is like that it surely outweighs are not-so-good days!

I enjoy watching Devin grow into the young man he is becoming and not to take any day with him for granted. I swear I blinked and he went from a little four year old who used to sneak out of bed every night and squish himself behind the couch thinking Ted and I wouldn't notice... to an independent young man who gets home from school, quickly rushes through his homework, throws his helmet on, jumps on his bike, and is off to play with his friends until dinner time!
 Ah, time truly does fly by and life here on earth is short.

I just want to give Devin the biggest thank you for being exactly who he is, for embracing everyday with a positive attitude, and of course for being THE BEST BIG BROTHER!

-I love you more then words could explain! xoxo

SUPER BRODY!

As many of you already know Brody has been having some problems with his tonsils and reoccurring sinus infections. We have done several sleep studies on him which determined that he has sleep apnea caused by his airways being blocked from the large size of his tonsils and adenoids. Today we had another Dr. appointment to check how he is progressing.. or in his case not progressing. Good news is that his tonsils have decreased about 2 sizes since they checked them on Monday however, it still isn't enough progress to say they are going to go back to normal. So, his Doctor decided it is time to take those bad boys out and hopefully this will help his Ears, Nose and Throat not have so many problems. In addition to getting the tonsils removed they will also be taking his adenoids. Since Brody is still only 2 years old and recently diagnosed with sleep apnea there is a great chance we will be spending the night in the hospital.

I have to say that we have been so greatly blessed with people praying and giving advice. God is giving us patience and lots of love to share with the boys through all this chaos. We would not be where we are without all the support we have!

 We went to the store today to get Brody a new humidifier since his other one broke.. for some reason we can NEVER go and just get whats on out list. Today Brody found a cape and glasses and he was in love with it his actual words were " mommy I need this!" I'm not a huge fan of buying whatever the kids want every time we go to the store but today I felt was a little different because hes not feeling the best, I know hes been through alot lately, and we have been spending a lot of time couped up in the house. So why not?!

Instantly he had to put the cape on in the store. He could not stop talking about how strong he was and this cape was going to make him feel all better! So cute! I just had to share these photos with everyone.. I love how even through everything he has been through lately and how crummy hes been feeling he still puts a smile on and is still my happy Brody.. (most of the time)

Quote from Brody "Mom, I'm super Brody and you are my best girl!"

Messy, Messy Mud pie

Noun

1.

mud pie - a mass of mud that a child has molded into the shape of pie mud, clay - water soaked soil; soft wet earth

Mud Pies have been bringing fun to children all over the world since 1895 (probably even before!!)

Brody has been a little under the weather lately so today I decided to bring him outside to get some fresh air. He decided to make mommy some mud pies, cherry pie, Popsicles, and ice cream. Such a sweet boy!

We had so much fun digging up the dirt putting it into buckets and adding some water. Brody would make the pie and then bring it to me on little shovels so I could pretend to eat it. Listening to him talk to himself while proudly cooking up a storm just melted me heart. We ended the afternoon with a warm bath, a Popsicle, and back under the covers with a movie!

Here are a few messy photos of his eventful afternoon!



Sleepy head!

What is so bad about nap time? Seriously, I wish Brody could understand that he is not going to miss out on anything while he is napping. I sware he thinks that everyday when he is napping that I am having a huge party with big slides and ice cream. Reality is I am getting as much cleaning done as possible.. and I will be honest there have been those days that the boys have just worn me out and I am completely guilty of sitting on the couch starring at the wall just trying to relax before the chaos starts again.

I can't seem to figure out why he does not want to rest.. If I had an opportunity to take a nap I would be all over it. Everyday I put him down for a nap say a prayer, read a book, and listen to his excuses why he shouldn't be trying to fall asleep.. I have to go potty mommy, I want a snack, I'm not tired, I'm to hot, Rusty wants me to go throw the ball for him ( yes, he seriously used that excuse once.. good to know that Brody can talk to animals and understands what there needs and wants are.) Then you talk to other mom's that are like "William is such a great napper I have no problem getting him to sleep." When I hear that I am thinking to myself " what the heck am I doing wrong?"

I have tried so many different things and have taken so much advice from people. I have come to the conclusion that Brody just does not like going down for naps.. Period! Yes, he still needs a nap because if he doesn't then at about 4 pm he looks like a walking zombie and acts like one to! I am just going to have to live with the fact that he needs a little extra attention going down for a nap everyday! My children will never be perfect and I love them just they way they are!!