S Club Mama

Christmas is fast approaching and while gifts are not central to the reason (that's Jesus!), they are an important part of the holiday for many families, including mine. Two years ago, I wanted to make something special for my grandma, Marilyn. I had taught myself to embroider in 2015 while pregnant with my daughter. Earlier in 2016, I had made my mom a family tree embroidery piece for her 50th birthday.  While I love the tree idea, I knew I'd need something different to accommodate the many people in the extended family tree. My grandma and grandpa had five children. There are 10 grandchildren and, at that time, 13 great-grandchildren (that number will be extended to 15 by February). I wanted something that would last and become a family heirloom, so I came up with this:  I presented it to my Grandma Marilyn at our Christmas celebration. Her reaction was perfect! She loved it (even though I had left out a grandchild...I didn't realize...oops) and cried and it got...

I've been on the look out for a good family or kid devotional for many years. Some are plain bad. Some are too short and not deep enough. Some are over their heads! I was really feeling good about "The Bible is My Best Friend Family Devotional" because it's written by Sheila Walsh. I have heard Sheila talk and really believe her heart for Jesus. We took a dive into this devotional. And we gave it a really good shot. Our problem was not the content. It's good stuff in here. It's a weekly devotion, so you'd think we could squeeze it in. And we can! I just don't know when. During the week is hard because when Big A comes home, it's supper, showers, bed. On weekends, we just are either busy or lazy. Sundays include church for all morning and naps or quiet times. Seriously, it's just a scheduling problem. But this post is about the book, not my lack of organization. image via Amazon.com "The Bible is My Best Friend Family Devotional...

Our family is definitely known for our love of superheroes and Star Wars so when a friend and her husband were shopping for their daughter and happened upon this adorable Supergirl outfit, they got it for our Princess. Thank you Duane and Amanda! Obviously, her brothers love it, too. The past two days I've been doing laundry like crazy and packing for everyone. Moose has a 5 day EEG from Wednesday - Sunday to determine where his seizures are coming from exactly (from his malformation/birthmark on his brain, from multiple places, from somewhere we haven't pinpointed yet). I am staying with him during the week and will switch off with Big A on Friday afternoon to come home to be with my littler two. I have never been away from any of my children for 3 days so this will be odd. Moose has such a good attitude about all of this and doesn't seem stressed (doesn't probably know to be stressed). He prayed this morning for him to have seizures so they can do his test. Wh...

Oh my, it's already October tomorrow. This month has flown by! There is a lack of pictures on this post because everything is on my phone and I'm a little too lazy to upload all of that crazy (499 shots). Or I'll try...we'll see with baby girl probably wanting to nap here shortly. Moose: I am finding him adjusting to school very well. There have been several notes in his communication notebook that say things like "this didn't go as planned but he took it well." Not getting to eat lunch in the classroom because he missed one on his spelling test (we are even practicing this year!), having trouble with his iPad. I love watching him grow up and mature.  Yesterday was a great friend day. He said he played Thomas and Friends with another boy at school. I love this because I've been encouraging this friendship for many years. I know he's probably a bit too old for Thomas but I don't care. He also brought home a lovely little letter from a little...

I've been thinking of closing the blog but I guess I haven't given up the idea of putting my thoughts out there into the abyss that is the internet. So here I go with an update that I hope to continue to do monthly for those interested (leave some comments so I know if you're interested!). I'm hoping to keep reviewing books and such (less though) and do a monthly or bi-monthly family update (my friend Kaila does a monthly update of her family much more beautifully). I'll begin with our newest member, Princess. I've gone back and forth over using my kids' names on here and really I'm too lazy to go back to change all of the Moose/Squirt names so I'll stick with nicknames. Princess was born July 20, 2015 at 10:15am by induction (with an epidural, praise God!). She was 8 pounds 10 ounces, 21 inches long, with reddish/blond hair and blue eyes. She looks SO much like Moose at birth! Her birth was really just different and special, like all births. W...

Not much news in the way of family. I am feeling much better (mostly) - thank You, Lord! I'm still not up for doing much around the house, but I can get some laundry done and have even done dishes (that smell is awful, let me tell you). Today I have kiddo home sick. Poor Moose. He was warm at bedtime and shivering. Even at church that morning, he kept saying he was cold. It's cold. It's Kansas. I didn't think much of it. Then after I'd turned out the lights for myself, I heard him up and in the bathroom. Diarrhea. Poor thing. I heard him a few other times in the night, but he's definitely growing up. He didn't come to me even once, although I did get up to check on him. So while we're enjoying back-to-back movies (something we only do when someone is sick), I thought I'd write on my blog (before writing more book reviews). My belly is getting bigger. This picture was taken a few weeks ago (I'm 19 weeks today). I've been running sti...

That's right folks who still read this book, we will be a family of five come the end of July! I hope this baby is as good-looking as these two boys with as sick as I've been.  I apologize for the lack of posts lately but I've been doing the best I can minus energy.  Happy New Year!

This year Moose has become obsessed with Mario Kart Wii. He talks about it, looks at pictures, thinks about it (constantly), draws the tracks. At school, at home. It's all over. His Mario clothing has never gotten so much wearing. When the kids had a 6 day break from school in October, Big A found something awesome: a go-kart track. We packed up as a family (so loved having Big A take a day off to spend with us), and headed about an hour away with a big surprise for the kids. The best part was Moose was able to race all by himself! We started off racing doubles: Me and Squirt vs. Big A & Moose. They won. Squirt insists when I'm "smarter" I'll beat Daddy. Wow, thanks for that confidence booster. And it was hilarious because he just kept saying how smart Big A was and that I needed to be smarter. Oh boys.  I think we all had so much fun watching Moose race. And he did awesome. I think he ran into the sides once at the very start...