lately: little moments

So many little things I never want to forget. Those little moments that seem like nothing but make up their childhood. I guess that is one reason I blog...

I don't want to forget  our Sunday afternoon family park trips. Pushing Elle on the swing, chasing James around on his bike, watching them show off their climbing and jumping skills for Lane...

I don't want to forget the way Eleanor stands up in her chair at the table, turns around to where I am in the kitchen, and declares "I yove you mommy!"...

I don't want to forget the middle of the night snuggles with Judah, or the afternoon couch (or bed) snuggles in which I am balancing Elle and Judah on my lap while trying to keep two binks in two little mouths and attempting to keep James entertained  all at the same time...

Or nights like last night, when we finally got our little night owl baby to sleep at eleven thirty, and Lane remarked that he hoped no one else would be in our bed that night. It was maybe three minutes later that Elle started crying for me. To exhausted to rock her back to sleep, I swooped her out of her crib and put her in bed between us. About two minutes later we heard James shuffling down the hall. Lane lifted up the covers on his side to let him in. So there we were: James, then Lane, then Elle, then me, all snuggled up in our queen size bed. At this moment Lane exclaimed "Well, I may as well get up and go to work." And I started giggling. Like, uncontrollable giggling. In a bed where there was hardly any room to breathe.

Those moments when you either laugh or cry. I try to always pick laughter.

Thanks for reading and allowing me to share these moments with you,
Ashley

lately: Christmas for the win

Last week was a little rough.

It started with a short (praise the Lord) flu bug for James and ended in a nasty case of mastitis for me. In between there was lots to do and lots of busyness, lots of messes piled on messes, exhaustion, and some frustration.

Nothing horrible. Just a little rough.

It is all a sacrifice, which we moms know, of course. The sacrifice of our bodies with so many little people constantly needing it- needing to be fed, to be held, to be carried, to be cared for. The sacrifice of our time, when there seems so much to do, but no time to get anything done. The sacrifice of our home being clean and orderly and beautifully decorated.

You more experienced mother's don't have to tell me. I know: it is a season, it will be gone in the blink of an eye, I will look back on these days and miss them...

And so I sit down in the middle of the mess to play dolls, or build Legos, or read one more story. I ignore the dishes, the laundry, the clutter to have a wild dance party. I give another hug, have another snuggle at five'o'clock with no dinner in the oven and two children laying on me. I wake up to the cries of three littles wanting to get into bed with me, or eat, or go potty, or needing a drink of water, or their sheets and jammies changed due to an accident.

I throw open the Christmas decor boxes and let the kids go to town, resulting in a very busy mantel, lights everywhere, and a tree that was clearly decorated by people well under five feet tall. (I told a friend recently: "It looks as though our house got in a fight with Christmas, and Christmas won.")

I know that there is no better use of my body, my time, and my house. The Lord gave these things to me to give to my family. And despite the lack of sleep, the frustrations that may come, and the disorderly state of the house, my family is the greatest earthly blessing and joy I could ever have.

Happy second-to-last-weekend-before-Christmas!
Ashley

Some posts from a year ago:
our Advent activity calendar
wonders of His love
and (what a nerd) trying to decide what to wear for date night

the thankful garland: a kid craft

During Thanksgiving time for the past two years I have made a thankful tree with James.  This year it was so fun to have Eleanor participate also...

They painted brown paper bags with fall colors to make the "leaves".

While they were painting, I left the room to change Judah. When I came back out to the table, they both proudly held up their arms, covered to the elbows in orange, purple, red, and brown paint. So, that was the end of the painting (and the beginning of bath time), but there was enough paper painted to cut out the leaves.

I never got around to writing what we were thankful for at home, so we wrote on the back of the leaves once we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Corvallis.

We sat around the fire eating popcorn and drinking apple cider and talking about what we are thankful for. As a result, many of the items written on the back of the leaves are things like "popcorn" and "fire in the fireplace".

Then Grandma Shirley strung a twine across the fireplace and we clothes-pinned them up. I think it turned out pretty cute.