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

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

ch-ch-ch-changes

My poor blog has been severely neglected for the last 6 months...but for good reason. We moved to our little house on the river in July and are loving it! There were many adjustments to be made for everyone. We miss our family and the things we grew to know so well in Houston. We miss our church and their wonderful preschool program. The kids miss having their own rooms, more space for toys, and their old neighbors. But God lives! And He is working on everyone in this family and has been since we made the decision to move here all those months ago. We may miss family, but when we get to see them we cherish it that much more and enjoy every minute that we're together. Thank God that we live in a time where we can speak on the phone or computer at any given moment. We have found a new church that the kids love and we really enjoy as well. We walked in their doors at an awesome time...they are moving locations and growing to accommodate the increasing amount of people coming to hear God's word. The kids' best friends live only 4 houses away, they have room to run and play, and how many kids have a river in their backyard? The children are all three sharing a room for now, and though they still bicker now and again, I see them growing closer and becoming more tolerant, patient, and respecting each other's space. I for one am appreciative that there is not as much room for toys and material things. I know it will make them better people in the end. Try telling that to a 7 year old! lol

The house is still a major work in progress, but we are getting projects done as we can. I think it's coming along pretty well considering there are 3 little people running around, a busy husband and a tight budget for the time being. I don't quite remember if I'd posted pictures of it before, so here are the ones of the rooms we've worked on so far.

Dining Room before:

Dining Room after:

It looks different in the dining room since this picture was taken, but not much. The banner was from a back to school party I hosted for the kids, and the carpet is gone. Now we have laminate wood floors, thank goodness!

Hmmm thought I had taken an "after" picture of the kids' bathroom but I guess not. I'll post those tomorrow, it turned out really cute. Here's some pictures of the house decorated for fall:

The other side of the dining room

Fall wreath I made

boxes I painted for my mom and mailed to her

We brought this little guy home some time in August. His name is Gunnar, he's a Lab/German Shorthaired Pointer mix. So sweet.

Then the last week of September happened. Kali Mae's birthday party plans needed to be wrapped up, my parents were coming in that weekend to stay with us and be here for the party. Chandler ended up being hospitalized due to asthma for a couple of days in the middle of the week. The morning after we got home from the hospital stay, our amazing dog Oliver was hit by a school bus and died instantly. It was a horrible week and even worse day. It still makes me depressed to even play back in my head. I made it through with prayer and family to helping to get everything back to "normal" and in order. We are blessed!

Kali Mae and Oliver a couple of months ago

I'll leave you with this:

weekend happenings

This morning we packed up and headed down the freeway to sign the contract for the new house!!! Next week we'll be closing on it and moving our things in! I feel like Houston will always be home, but we are so looking forward to new adventures in another city and growing closer as a family.

We spent Sunday at my aunt and uncle's house for a family 4th of July celebration. The kids had so much fun in a kiddie pool and eating the yummy patriotic cupcakes and hamburgers.

Trent sat in the dining room talking to my grandparents for a long time, it was priceless!

my daddy

my mama and me

my Nana, mom, me and my aunts

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

Dog Days

We've had gorgeous weather here this week, minus rain....we're all praying for it! It was nice and hot yesterday so I told the kids to get their bathing suits on, and I tried to hook up the sprinkler for them, to find out it's broken. So...I had to improvise, filling our dollar store sand buckets to the brim with hose water, gathering water guns and sidewalk chalk to entertain them.

 "Mom, take a picture of me being like a soldier!"

looking at these pictures, Chandler looks so old to me...long gone are his baby cheeks, and now he is over half my size. i feel like it's passing so fast and i can't do anything to slow it down. so i just want to soak up everything about them...like tiny hands playing in a bucket of water....

or wispy hair and lashes sweeping chubby baby cheeks...

my kids are so bonded, it makes my heart swell. i didn't have that growing up with my brother, although we are close now. i love that they are always there for eachother, for holding hands, giving hugs, drying tears, or just helping get something accomplished:

those two are like twins, hardly ever apart. even though they have their own bedrooms, they always sleep together. he teaches her things he learns in school, and she makes him laugh. of course they fight, but the good greatly outweighs the bad. they both adore Trent, to the point that i often have to tell them that i'm his mommy, not them...it makes me smile when Kali says "there's my baby!" 

 having fun with her shadow ♥

watchful big brother



After the fun, they dried off and headed inside for baths, popcorn, and movie time.

kali and i cuddled up on the couch and settled in to watch Mary Poppins. Field Day and our afternoon outside made for heavy eyelids.

Okay, so maybe he does still have hints of chubby cheeks :)

I've been having so much fun creating things for kali's party...it's been like therapy for me lately. i will post about that tomorrow.