Two-Faced

I have a problem. I hate routine. I have a child who thrives on it, who one day dreams of joining the Army. He reminds me so much of my Daddy; type A personality. Clear boundaries, cause and effect, consequences, and affirmation make them tick. They hate change, spontaneity causes anxiety, and they love to know what's coming next. God made me just the opposite. I enjoy jumping in the car and just driving, not necessarily to anywhere, but just to see. Feel...feel change, a break from the mundane. When I first became a mom, I immediately put Chandler on a schedule. It has pretty much stayed the same over the last 8 years. If we should ever sway, complete mayhem breaks loose, forcing me to break out the beloved "Family Schedule". His face relaxes, he wants to read it, follow it, live by it. In some ways it makes me content also, and gives me a sense of control when most of the time I am anything but :). Having a play-by-play of our days ensures me that my children will be hopefully be more organized than me, rested, well adjusted, calmer. Yesterday as we drove home from our parent-teacher conference, we had the windows down in "Ellie" our old suburban, blaring Texas Country music, feeling the wind blow our hair, soaking up the rays. I daydreamed of throwing the schedule away for the rest of the day, sit by the river and ignore the world. I longed to just have fun with the kids, but alas, things like homework, dinner, and baths must be a priority...at least on a Wednesday.

 Chandler and I made blackberry cobbler last week. Actually, he made it, all I did was supervise. That boy loves to cook!

I notice this trend often with me. Somewhere inside of me lives a clean-freak, who thoroughly enjoys scrubbing the shower, or dusting until the wood shines. Neat piles of lovely smelling laundry awaiting their home in a drawer gives me a feeling of accomplishment and a "Hey, I dig this whole housewife thang!". This will continue for a couple of weeks, until my alter ego rears her ugly head. She lives for making memories, for hoping the cleaning fairies show up for once. She ignores the fact that she's a housewife and loves to just be Lindsey. She lives for the moment, free from obligations. It's not easy balancing these two personalities. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. Raising well balanced children requires a lot of hard work, investing of time, and I think that both these women attribute to helping my kids find out who they are, allowing them to be a little bit of both worlds. At least it feels better to think that way ha!

Gunnar seems to be doing better, now if we could just keep him home instead of going down the street to play with his doggie friends!

Have a great Thursday!
Lindsey

Things happen in 3's

It's been crazy around here, I hate when everything heaps up at once and I fall waaay behind on housework and other things. I have to keep telling myself I'm not failing as a housewife, because it's out of my hands! Chandler was hospitalized again last week. The time before this was in September, but luckily this time the asthma attack ended up not being so bad. He had a virus (common cold) and then he and I both got a very evil stomach bug the last morning of the hospital stay. Glad to be home, I have lots to do...packing to move, two other kids with the same virus, getting stuff together to go to (DISNEY WORLD!!!!) for Spring Break, etc. Last weekend we noticed a very bad cut on the back of one of Gunnar's legs. We could see bone, and we weren't sure how it happened. It seems to be closing up, but that's been worrying me too. Last night after her bath Kali Mae started grabbing her ear and crying, screaming "My ear huuuuuurts!!!" for over ten minutes. I gave her Tylenol and told her I would call the doctor in the morning. She got out of bed 30 minutes later saying she couldn't stop moving around and go to sleep because of the pain. While she was laying with me in the living room she got quiet and then told me something had just popped in her ear. When I asked her what it sounded and felt like, she described a big balloon pop. I checked it for anything coming out, as usually happens with ruptured eardrums, but nothing. But after the "pop" she fell right to sleep. Hopefully the doctor tells us good news this afternoon, we all need to get better around here! Life goes on! Have a great Tuesday :)

--Lindsey

Journey

Last year this time we decided to move to Corpus Christi. It seemed a great fit for Josh's job, work was good here. Over the past year, that has proven to not be the case. Things have been slowing down and for our family, that's just not working. Josh was recently offered  a higher position in Houston, and we jumped on it! So...now we are packing our things for the second time in a year and planning our move back home to Houston. I have some mixed emotions about it all. This has been a wonderful opportunity, we have met some great people, had a strange but lovely experience living in a quaint little home on the river, and the kids got to go to one of the best schools. Houston holds my heart though. It's where all of my children were born, where Josh and I spent all of our first 26 years, and where I honestly long to be. I am so grateful to God that we have been given this chance to grow together, grow in Him, and I will never forget our adventures in this small town. In Houston we own two homes; the one that we lived in and raised the kids in for the last 6 years, and one that we invested in and kept for a rental property. The rental is where we'll be moving into this summer. God has opened that door for us in a crazy way, but I can't talk about the details until it's said and done. It's a lateral move financially from here, so we will have the chance to save for a couple of years, and eventually buy the home we want to stay in for good. I'm excited to live closer to cousins and other family that I used to live across town from. God loves to make sure I don't get bored, it seems :). That's fine with me, I'm not one for routine, I thrive on change and spontaneity.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" Isaiah 43:18-19

My baby fever has been kicking into full gear, but we have to wait for at least a year before we seriously decide to take the plunge into adoption options. I came across this amazing organization called Project Cuddle, and wanted to share. They help find homes for babies who would otherwise be abandoned, or worse. They also find ways for troubled birth mothers to keep their babies and thrive in motherhood. It's pretty inspiring. Check it out. 

Happy Hump Day!

--Lindsey

Party for my lovebugs

I have never been an over-the-top Valentine's Day fan. But the lovebug crawled up and bit me this year! I feel like yes, you should celebrate love every day of the year. People seem to love that excuse for not celebrating this holiday. But I think today can be used to focus on love with your children...the meaning of it, and discussing God's amazing love for us. We have never given our children gifts for Valentine's Day, mainly because I just don't see a point to it. If gifts are ever given, it should be between me and my husband. That rarely happens though! Usually we're happy with a date night (which is another rarity around here!). The kids had their class parties last Friday and I made their shirts, Kali Mae's bows, and her bag to collect her classmates' valentines.

I found these cute mugs and decided they'd be cute filled with Hershey Kisses for teacher's gifts.

Me and Kali Mae at her class party.

All dressed and ready to go before school! They were excited for their Valentine's parties.

These were the valentines the kids chose to do this year. Thank you Pinterest! They were a hit!

I had been pondering throwing a family party for the kids this year, but just didn't know if I would have the energy or the time. But raising kids is a one-time deal. So I ran around this morning gathering things that I had around the house, crafting decorations, and coming up with activities for them to do. It came out way better than I anticipated, and they loved it!

I made the "lovebugs" out of tissue paper, much the same as the tissue paper pom poms. I was going to make those originally, but realized that I didn't have enough sheets. So, I made these cute lil' bugs that will probably end up hanging in Kali Mae's room. I spread red paper doilies on the shelves of the hutch and brought the "Love" sign out from the wall in our room. I filled a jar with candy hearts and moved my paper heart banner from my mantle. The Valentine boxes were some that I painted earlier this month. I had a station labeled "Love Notes" that said "Everyone is a gift from above. Write down the reasons for your love". The kids had fun with this, and so did Mommy and Daddy! I wrote one to each of them, and Kali Mae even did one for her teacher :). The rose is one that Josh brought home from the store for me, I love knowing that he thinks about me often. I then had another spot set up on the table for cookie decorating. It was labeled "Spread the Love" and said "Cookies are a yummy treat, decorate one with care. Pass it on to someone sweet, because it's even sweeter to share." They weren't allowed to eat the cookies they decorated. Instead the rule was to give them to someone else. They really thought that was neat, and got pretty creative with their cookies. Even Mommy and Daddy got in on the fun!

Trent snuck a bite of Daddy's cookie as I was passing it him. ha!

I hope everyone had a great day full of love! 

xoxo,

Lindsey

I'll be linking up at 

Better Together

Before and After

The kids' bathroom was the first room I changed when we moved in. For some reason, I only enjoy cleaning when I'm cleaning a room that I like. To me there is nothing worse than scrubbing or mopping in a space that's ugly and doesn't feel like "you". So I spent 8 hours a day for 3 days painting every wall, cabinet, and piece of trim in their bathroom.

Here is the before:

It still scares me to see those.

Here it is now...forgive the horrible pictures, it's a small room and very hard to get decent shots.

(excuse the missing trim...the laundry area is getting a facelift as well)

made this from a chippy piece of scrap wood that was under the house

this mermaid was in Kali Mae's old room, and works perfectly in here

i know the top cabinet door is off...i am thinking about painting the inside blue also and putting a basket in there

the white bin houses all their bath toys

We are planning on taking out the tub/shower combo (bleck!) and putting a real bath tub and tile surround in its place. But for now, I worked with what I had and the kids love it!

Have a great Wednesday!

--Lindsey