Wordless Wednesday - A Good Big Brother

Caleb, will you please help me with Leah while I work on dinner?

He is such a good big brother.

Wordless Wednesday

If you know what these are, you may chuckle.  If you don't know what they are, it's not nearly as funny. :)

Sisters

On Sunday I took this picture of my girls...

And it immediately made me think of this picture...

Sarah and Leah are the same age difference as me and my sister (just shy of six years apart).  I often wonder if they will be similar to us.  Their age difference is the same, but the rest of the family is not the same, so I wonder how that will play a role - and by that I mean, Sarah is not the oldest child (like I was) and she has one child before her and two after her.  I think it's very interesting to see how birth order and how many siblings a person has affects how they relate to siblings.

What makes siblings close or not so close?  I find that very interesting!  As an adult, I know which of my friends are close to their siblings and which ones are not.  It doesn't seem to have anything to do with age, so I really can't figure it out. :)

To my sweet sister,
     I know we are so very different, but we are also very alike!  I love you and I know that even though we've had moments when we've wanted to kill each other, one thing is true: I trust you.  I trust you with everything about me.  And I've learned over the years that trust is huge.  So I hope you remember this when I drive you crazy!

What do you think is the key to closeness among siblings?

New Paint (last post about the house, promise)

Well, maybe I shouldn't promise that this will be the last post about the house.  I think bloggers do tend to write about whatever is happening currently in their lives, and this just happens to be one of those things that's been on my mind.

Caleb was our only kid who was genuinely disappointed about not moving.  His primary reason for being excited about the move was the pospect of having his own room.  He had a paint color all picked out and was ready to make his space his own.  So when it all didn't work out, I knew I wanted to get his room painted.

It used to look like this:

And now it looks like this:

We need curtains, and I know he would like Phineas and Ferb bedding eventually, so I might get matching curtains, too.  The ones I found are a contrasting color to the burnt orange, and I like that idea.

Since we're staying here, it seems like we've come up with a few ideas here and there to make the house seem new.  Paint is definitely one of them, and I really hope to paint bathrooms and my room soon, too!

I think I will be glad I wrote about all of this when I look back at my blog. :)

A Normal House

If we are prone to be discontent as Americans, I would say that Pinterest and HGTV are huge sources of that problem.  Or maybe I should just speak for myself.  I just told my mom the other day that as I look at my kitchen, a kitchen I once found to be just fine, I now wish I could rip up the flooring, take a sledge hammer to the cabinets, and replace the appliances.

I think it's because we don't see enough "normal" homes on the internet.  I would consider my house a normal home.  It's not huge.  It's not fancy or perfectly decorated.  My sister-in-law did help me update my living room two years ago, and I'm sure thankful for her!  But it doesn't look like something someone would put on Pinterest.

So I think I'll post pictures of my house.  When I thought we were moving, I took a picture of every room - even the bathrooms.  I took pictures of the front and the back of the house.  I wanted to remember it!

Close up of front

Our back yard (probably my favorite part)

Living/dining as looking from the front door

Living room as looking from kitchen

Kitchen

Another angle

Guest/kids bathroom

Master bathroom

Our bedroom

Boy room (we painted it recently...I'll have to update!)

Girl room

What is it like to see a normal home? I think what prompted me to post this is seeing a post (or two, or three) on Pinterest where people say "Come tour my home!" and the homes are just crazy huge and crazy perfect.  Which is fine, don't get me wrong!  I have friends who have homes that could easily be pinned. :) But for others, I just think it's important to know that if your home doesn't look like that, it's ok.

It's more than ok.

I think the most humbling thing for me through our house selling/not selling experience was when I found out the family who wanted to buy our house was the same size as ours.  That's right...six people would be living in our house...the house I wanted to leave for the sake of more room.  Which brought me to realize something...it's true for me and it's true for you, no matter where you live:

There is someone somewhere who would love to have what you have.

I still don't know if I'll be here forever.  I don't know if we'll add on to our house or just leave it as is.

One thing I do know...when I clean my house, I'm glad I didn't move to that big house. :)

Kid-Free Zone (sort of)

When we had our first child, I'm pretty sure my living room looked like a daycare.  Everything he played with ended up out there, we even had a toy box that we kept under the window.  We had a Little Tikes basketball goal next to the tv, a John Deere mini gater next to that.

But at some point, I decided that I didn't want all that stuff out there.  I didn't mind if the kids brought something out to play with, but I didn't want the designated location of such things to be the living room.  I just wanted the living room to look like a grown up place when it was all picked up, not like it was owned by the children.

Don't get me wrong...right now with a baby in the house, we have a baby swing out here.  And when the kids got an inside trampoline, we left it out in the living room.  For the most part, though, if we have a grown up gathering, everything has another place to go.  When my husband had his fantasy football draft for example, they could feel like manly men in our living room, no Winnie the Pooh anything!

My kid-free zone...when it's picked up anyway!

 But...there is one thing I can't seem to avoid having out here...

That is...

The Legos...

Above the china hutch.  No, there is no china...we already packed it when we thought we were moving. :)

On top of our china hutch is the designated location of the Legos.  It's good because it's up high, and since Caleb works hard on some creations, I really have to keep it out of Gabriel's reach.  I trust Caleb to get on a chair to get the stuff down.  That might sound bad, but I've seen him do it countelss times, and it works.

When our house was on the market, and I knew I needed a spot for the stuff if the house was shown, I did make a spot in the boys' closet.  But on a daily basis, it just wasn't practical.  Above the china is what works for now.  And since we have an open floor plan, the living room looks into the dining room.  So it's not my favorite place for Legos, but it will have to do.

Other than that, we are free of kid stuff in the living area if need be!  It's a miracle, actually.  But I work at it to keep it that way.


What do you do with kid stuff?  Do you have a kid-free zone?  Or do you like their things in the living room?

Misc. Monday - 20 Items or Less (and some stuff about the kids)

Haven't done a Misc. Monday in a while.  It felt like the right prompt for today!



 1.  I've been noticing that sometimes the red color between Leah's eyebrows is dark, and sometimes it's not.  Gabriel had the same thing, and I remember the doctor telling me it would go away.  Most days I didn't notice it at all on him, and I guess the same is true for Leah.  Maybe it's the weather?  Maybe it's the lighting?  Maybe it's what she's wearing?  Not sure.

I see it more in the first picture, not as much in the second picture.  But when I first took the second picture, I didn't notice it at all until I went back and looked at it today for this blog post.

I think she's gorgeous no. matter. what.



2.  Gabriel and I are sure having fun with it just being me and him and Leah during the day.  The first week or so, I think he felt lost with out his big sister.  He plays with both Caleb and Sarah, but especially Sarah since Caleb has already been in school for two years.

He loves when I give a horsey-back ride!  And...when we go outside, there's always our dog Abby to keep him company. :)

He starts pre-k tomorrow, and I'm very excited for him.



3.  As I mentioned in my last post, Sarah turned 6 on Saturday.  We had a pretty calm day since we already celebrated with family on the 12th.  But she did get a new bike, so she got to ride it around the block several times.

New helmet...new bike...happy girl!



4.  Caleb love Legos.  I just had to post this pic of him.

5.  During a recent Walmart trip, my husband about lost it when he saw a woman with 55 items in a 20 item or less line.  Ok, we don't really know how many items she had, but it was a lot!  And yes, I had the nerve to take a picture. :)

If you can tell, the cashier has a full bag in her hands, that's not counting the full bags that are already on the bag holder thingy.  Then the conveyor belt was full, and she had more still in the cart.  This doesn't tend to bother me all that much, but I do understand why it is frustrating to others.  I mean, I'm not sure why they have the line if people aren't going to abide by the 20 or less rule?

Yeah...I know...quite the first-world problem. :)



6.  Did you know that if you see words in bold green/pink within a post, it means I've linked it to another post?



Happy last week of August.

In Honor of Her Birthday

Sarah turns six tomorrow, and I usually have a sweet, sappy post all lined up for my kids when they have a birthday.  But instead, I want to share a funny with you that happened about 2 1/2 years ago.  I sumbled upon this old entry recently, and it really made me smile.

I love you, Sarah!  Even when you embarrass me...happy 6th birthday! :)

Mother/Daughter Bonding Time - original post date January 12, 2010

When she would have looked like this:

My trips to the store are often with my three small children. Unless it's my bi-monthly, big

grocery trip, then I just go on my own. But occasionally, I take just one of my kiddos, usually Caleb or Sarah because they are good listeners at this point and don't fuss like Gabriel does in the cart.

One afternoon, right after Josh got home from work, I said I needed to make a run to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. I said I would gladly take Sarah because I really felt like some mommy/daughter bonding time! So we put on our coats, walked out to the garage, and climbed into our van for our trip to Rolla.

When we arrived, I needed to make a quick stop to the restroom, so we went there first. I didn't notice if any of the "normal" stalls were taken, but I went to the handicapped one because it's bigger and easier to have a little 3-year-old girl in it with me.

"Sarah, just stay here with mommy and I'll be done in a second," I explained to her.

"MOMMY! DO YOU HAVE TO GO POOPY OR POTTY?" she said in her bold, little girl voice.

I thought to myself what answer will keep her from elaborating about my current trip to the restroom? I softly whispered, "Just potty, Sarah."

"OH, MOMMY...NO...YOU'RE GOING POOPY!" she exclaimed once again in her bold, little girl voice. "GOOD JOB, MOMMY! GOOD JOB!"

Dear Lord, please do not let anyone else be in here right now I quickly prayed.

But I could hear someone, and they were holding back laughter. Perhaps if I waited long enough they would exit the facilities and I would not have to look them in the eye?

Before I could get myself together, Sarah decided that she wanted to open the door to the stall. "Mommy isn't done, Sarah! Please, just wait for mommy!" But her eagerness prevailed, so as quickly as I could I composed myself, chased my daughter, and kept her from opening the restroom door. I needed to wash my hands before we went on to do our shopping, and of course, there was the lady who was in the stall next to me. She just gave me a smile, and I wondered if this was her comic relief for the day.

I do enjoy the time I spend with Sarah when it's just the two of us. I will not, however, use the restroom with her ever again.

In the morning with Sarah...

Sometimes she wears it down, which means I've used a straightener...

 Or a tiny bit pulled up in front...

Or I do double braids...

Or try something new...

I have no idea why this is so important to me.  It's not that she looks perfect every day.  I'm not really all that girly after all.  But every day, if it's a school day or church day, I will do something with her hair.

No matter how tired I am, even if baby Leah and sweet Gabriel are fast asleep on a school day while Sarah and Caleb get ready, which means I could sleep in a bit, I will get up and do something.  Maybe it's the time with her.  Maybe it's so she knows I care and want to help her feel pretty.  I'm not sure.

Is this just what girl moms do?  Or some girl moms?  Would she look fine if I just said, "Put a brush through it, you'll look great."  Yes.  She's adorable after all.  But there's just something about doing this for her.



What do you think about spending time with daughters to help them look nice?   
What do you do with your daughter?
What did your mom do with you?

When Your Dream House Doesn't Work Out

Back in June, I wrote a post about having a big year, and in it I included our housing situation:

Then, exactly one month later in June, we decided to put our house on the market.

Two weeks after that, we accepted an offer and it was under contract.

One week after that, we found a house we love and the owner accepted our offer.

We close on both houses on July 20th.  

Guess what?  We did not close on July 20th.  We had to move our closing date to August 20th - that's today.  But we're not closing today.  The couple who wanted to buy our house didn't work out, and the owner of the house we wanted decided he didn't want to wait for us.  So we lost a buyer and lost the house we wanted.

In every aspect, the house we wanted was our dream house.  It had 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.  It had a fireplace and a basement.  It had a beautiful back yard and was close to everything we do.  It was in a pretty and safe neighborhood.  And most importantly, it fit in our budget, which is a crazy good find considering we're a one-income family.

But, it's hard not to feel like God is speaking directly through the realtor when she says, "Chrissy, I just don't think this is supposed to happen for you guys for whatever reason!"  I mean...she's the one who makes money off of the sale...and even she thinks it's not supposed to happen.  We had TONS of roadblocks, so many that she said it was the strangest thing she's seen in 29 years of being in real estate.

And it's also strange that I am not a frazzled mess about this.  In fact, I think my husband didn't understand why I wasn't visibly upset after the call from our realtor about all of this.  I mean, yes, I was disappointed.  I think it took about a day to really process the fact that we're not moving - even after we had packed our entire kitchen and had started to clear out other rooms via decluttering and donating things.

I'll just cling to what my friend Maegan said: "See, I was right!  I knew you were content where you were!  Otherwise, you'd be all upset!"

It's true.  Even last night, as I watched my kids kick a football in the street...or ride their bikes down the road, I was thinking about how much I do love where I am.  Do we need more room?  Sometimes it sure feels like it!  I'm not saying we'll never move, but I'm thankful to be in a place that I love in the meantime.

Because afterall...home is where the heart is, right?  And my heart is with these people...