She would be 11...

I've had this blog post idea swirling around in my head for over a week now. On the morning of Sept. 12th I was listening to the radio and the DJs were talking about the 9-11 memorials. They were asking their listeners (me) if there was anything in our lives that we memorialize year to year and how God has healed us over time.

I immediately thought of our sweet baby girl and the tradition we started 11 years ago.

Here we are at the cemetary on Christen's 1st Birthday

R worked so hard in that little plot of dirt. We planted trees and spread lava rock and rejoiced in the miracle of life. In the midst of our sorrow, God had blessed us with hope for the future ~ Christen would soon have a baby brother.

July 26, 2002

This was the picture that started the tradition. I really had not set out to do this every year. It's just something that happened. Instead of blowing out the candles and singing, "Happy Birthday" we sat as a little family smiling...for we were blessed.

July 26, 2003

July 26, 2004

July 26th, 2004; now this was a special day. Just about two hours before heading out for our traditional birthday picture I found out that R was going to be a big brother. I cannot tell you how it made my heart sing to find out this wonderful news on Christen's 4th birthday. Once again...blessings.

July 26, 2005

Look at those sweet little faces. So happy to be able to share this day with our sweet babies.

July 26, 2006

I remember as a child feeling very uncomfortable going to cemetaries. It's always amazes me that my kids are totally fine with it. They've grown up knowing this is where we go to celebrate their sister's birthday. They run around looking at headstones. Now that they're older they like to read them. They fix the flowers that have fallen out of vases. They are especially interested in the smaller headstones...

July 26, 2007

I love these pics from 2007. I wish I could go back and hug those little people that have grown so much over the last few years.

July 26, 2008

K's 4 and R's 7 and we're smack dab in the middle of summer baseball, but we make the drive south to the cemetary to take flowers and a picture. Our little family is growing and K talks about her sister as if she's right there with us. I love how this little girl, who was born almost 5 years after we said good-bye to her sister, keeps her alive in her heart.

July 26, 2009

K went with me this year to pick out the flowers. She loved the butterflies and helped me arrange the vases.

July 26, 2010

This picture almost didn't happen. My camera had just enough battery to take one picture. Thank you God for this one picture.

July 26, 2011

Here we are this year. I love these pictures. I love how the kids are posing behind Christen's headstone. I love how, in their hearts, they know they will see her someday and the cold stone that makes her real today will be replaced with loving arms.

This is our memorial. This is proof that God is a God of hope. We will keep going every year and we will keep remembering what God has brought us through.

We love you sweet girl...

A campout for Socks

This was one of those mornings. It started out fine; they always do. I woke up in plenty of time to get ready and I'm usually in a pretty good mood. Then 6:45 rolls around and I have to wake "the bear cub." Some mornings are great, but there are some mornings that I'm convinced aliens descend upon our home in the middle of the night and replace my sweet 6 year old with a grouchy bear. Well, this was one of those mornings. I will spare you the details and just say that I wouldn't have won any "Mother of the Year" awards today. K was banished to her room for most of the short morning before leaving for school, so I could at least fix lunches and feed R breakfast. Before you think I'm too horrible, she did get to eat breakfast; after she shut her brother's head in her bedroom door, which resulted in a much needed spankin'. My blood pressure is rising just typing this...

Anyway, we finally made it out the door (most of the tears had subsided by this time) only to find the Tahoe was locked with the keys inside. After running back in the house to get the spare key, grinching the whole way because someone had locked the car, I hear K say, "Socks is locked in the car." What?!? That cat had spent the entire night in the Tahoe! I was really worried about what I would fine upon opening the door, but luckily he has a big bladder and apparently a taste for beef jerky because he had ripped open an empty package of jerky and licked it clean. There's no telling what goes through that cat's mind, but I wish I knew sometimes.

We finally decided that Socks locked himself in the Tahoe. R had left the door open for a few minutes the night before, that's how he got in in the first place. The way the morning was going, I'm surprised Sam hadn't been in there as well.

Here is Socks trapped in a much smaller box.

I will end this blog post on a much happier and sweeter note. No one wants the images of my horrible morning swirling around in their head all day. So I will leave you with this old journal entry I came across this morning:

Written August 29, 2009

On our way to school to take Socks our cat for R's Show and Tell, he was under the seat meowing (crying.) K said, "Do you think God is in the kitty's heart saying, 'It's o.k. It's o.k.?'"

I just love that girl (even if she is a bear in the mornings.)

The Best Smoothie Ever

K at 11 months enjoying, you guessed it, The Best Smoothie Ever.

How my smoothie recipe came to be is a rather long and interesting story, and maybe in the near future I will bore you with the details, but for now I'm just going to share the recipe.

The Best Smoothie Ever

*2 Cups Kefir (I use the strawberry/banana flavor)

2 Cups cold water

Handful frozen strawberries

Handful frozen blueberries

about 6 frozen cherries

*1 pkg Unsweetened frozen Acai

*Scoop whey protein powder

* scoop Garden of Life fiber

*2 Tablespoons Coconut oil

I learned about Kefir and Acai while reading a book called the Perricone Promise by Nicholas Perricone about 7 years ago. This smoothie recipe has evolved over the years. I just started adding the protein powder, fiber and coconut oil in the last few months. Needless to say, I have to make the smoothie without all that stuff, pour it up for the kids and then add the rest of the goodness just for me. I've been able to pull the "protein powder wool" over their eyes the last couple of time I've made it, but the coconut oil is a no go. Of course, if I had started 7 years ago with the oil (and I do wish I had) they wouldn't know the difference and we would all be happy campers. Anyway, every time we have this smoothie, which is about 3 times a week, I feel really good about what's going into their little bodies. My mom, who is getting over some pretty major intestinal stuff, was told by her gastrointerologist to start taking Kefir. Hmmmm...should it upset me that it took a man in a white coat telling her this to make her believe it? Maybe, but whatever works. I've only been preaching for 7 years, but whatever. :) Mom told the doc about the smoothie I make and how my kids consume kefir quite often and he was very impressed...yes, I did pat myself on the back and say, "I told you so." I'm really not that big of a brat, but when it comes to health and wellness, I'm pretty passionate. I also realize that people are not going to listen to me because I do not have the appropriate letters at the end of my name, but that's ok. I'll keep reading and learning and taking care of my little corner of the world.

I hope you try the smoothie, and if you do please let me know what you think.

I do have to say, I have the best parents ever! They saw my love of smoothie making and bought me a Vita-Mix ~ the greatest blender in the world! Thanks Mom and Dad ~ Love you both bunches!

PlanetBoxes are Totally Cool!

This may sound like a crazy thing to want to blog about, but I can't help it. When I get my hands on something as cool as this, I want everyone to know about it! Back several months ago I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, PaleoTalk. This podcast is about eating Paleo. I won't go into the details, but it's awesome!  If your interested in checking it out you can find the link for the podcast at www.everydaypaleo.com. Who knows, I may blog about it one of these days. :)

Anyway, on this show they were talking about what they send in their kids lunch boxes and Sara (yes, I'm on a first name basis with the hosts,) was talking about these totally cool lunch boxes she found for her kids and how everyone at their school was wanting to know how to get their hands on one. After looking it up online I knew PlanetBoxes would be on our "must have" list for school this year. Being the procrastinator I am (you didn't know that about me did you?) I finally ordered them when school started. The kids have been asking all summer if I was going to order Planet Boxes...I finally did, the first day of school. :)

The much anticipated "PlanetBoxes"

This morning was a lunch box packin' party! I've never seen two kids so excited about packing lunches. It was crazy and fun ~ it was crazy fun! I'm loving these lunch boxes because for the last 4 years I've been limited to what I could send in their lunches. I'm a zip-lock baggy mama and strawberries, cherry tomatoes, blueberries and such don't do well in baggies. The kids refused to eat squished berries and tomatoes. I don't blame them; unpacking their lunch boxes was a pretty gross job. But no more ~ Planetbox to the rescue! If you think you might be interested I highly recommend going to www.planetbox.com to watch the video. 

I can't wait for the kids to tell how me how lunch was today!

We're a Football Family

R has been saying for two years he wants to play football, but for some reason sign-ups always seem to come and go and we would say, "Maybe next year." Several months back when news of the Pop Warner league coming to our area was all over the place my mom asked if R was going to play. I didn't think much about it; I guess I always figured we would get enough football in a few years. After visiting with some friends and finding out their son was going to play, we decided to look into it. Next thing I know we're signing the papers, paying the fee, getting weighed and being fitted for a helmet (not me, R.) Over the course of several weeks we were inundated with emails from our new coach about all the upcoming practices, game schedule, fund raising, t-shirt purchases, etc...I was starting to wonder what the heck we had signed up for. Then I get the practice schedule ~ three nights a week with games on Saturday. Yikes, I was beginning to think we had signed our lives away for the next 4 months.

Fast forward 4 weeks and here we are the day of the Pop Warner opening ceremony. We have to be there at 7:45am, yes, you read that right, am. The ceremony starts at 9, and our team plays a scrimmage at 12:15. Ok people, that's alot of sitting around and waiting in this heat. We were sweating, the boys were hot and hungry and I was dealing with a 6 year old who wanted to be anywhere but there. She loves her brother but come on this is ridiculous.

The scrimmage finally starts, I video every play (do you know how hard it is for me to video, watch the game and control my screaming? I'm taking the tri-pod next time for sure.) I realize it was only a scrimmage, but the boys played their little hearts out and we got a glimpse of what this season is going to hold. I honestly have never seen Ryan genuinely smile like he smiled coming off of that football field. I think he finally found his sport and so have the rest of us.

This is just the beginning and I'm so excited! These are the "fun years." Watching my kiddos participate in activities, seeing them excel in the things they enjoy, encouraging all they do, at the same time making sure they know this is not what defines them. They are growing, discovering their passions and having fun along the way. I can't wait to see what the future holds ~

* Just a little funny ~ during the ceremony all the little cheer leading squads were sitting on the sideline in front of their respective teams (our team doesn't have cheerleaders this year or we would have been all over that.) K turns to me and asks, "Are the cheerleaders just for decoration or are they going to do some cheers?" It was hilarious!