Been a month of learning

This past month has been a big one for Livie. She has learned many new things this month. She no longer wants to eat baby food. She either wants to feed herself or just nurse. She also wants new things to try. And is getting where she spits out food if it isn't what she wants to eat.

She also has learned to pull herself up on furniture. This comes in handy for her when the kids put food on the coffee table to keep her from getting it.

Livie has also learned to FINALLY crawl. I actually thought she would just skip this since she is almost 11 months. Figured she would jump ahead to walking, but now she is crawling all over.

And she has gotten the baby doll bug. She will cry if Kennedy walks into the room with a doll and doesn't give it to her. Not only does she want the baby, she will hold it up to her shoulder, snuggle her face close to the baby's face, and rock it. It is quite cute.

So there are just a few things Miss Livie has learned this month. She is growing so fast and I can't believe my baby is almost a year old!

A bunch of legos!!

We were incredibly blessed yesterday! One of my friends of facebook mentioned her son was packing up legos to sell, I, being a HUGE fan of legos, asked what they were asking for them and how many they had. She said there was a lot and they were selling them for $50. Sold!!

We went and picked them up yesterday and there was 2 big boxes of legos, including a castle and a bunch of sets. The boys were so excited!! They loved going through all the boxes and discovering the different sets that were now theirs. Alex said it was the best present he ever got. JJ told me I was the best mommy. All in all, I think it was the best $50 we ever spent on the boys!!

I had a very nice, laid back mother's day today. It started with taking all the kids to church today by myself. I wanted to be able to do something before John went to work and since he is working overtime tonight, he goes in at 8 instead of midnight. So I asked him to go to sleep right after getting home instead of going to church, so we had sometime together before he headed to work early.

Today the other Sunday school teacher was out of town, so I took her kids too. They did find me another lady to help me, PRAISE GOD!!, but we decided to do a combined class. So there was a big age difference in kids and if I thought the 4 and 5 year olds were crazy I was sadly mistaken. All those kids in one room and the many different ages made for a very chaotic morning. I also think the kids were trying to get all their crazy out in Sunday school so they could be good for their moms on Mother's day. But we made it through the morning without totally losing our sanity and the kids made some cute flowers for their moms.

Then my inlaws treated me to tacos at their house and I headed to my grandmas. The kids and I sit outside with my mom and grandma and enjoyed the beautiful day. I even was able to play around with my mom's awesome camera. I went and got Alex's kindergarten graduation cap and gown and took some pics of my little man.

Then the kids and I went and picked up John and we headed to the park for the Spring Fling craft show. I never get alot at these shows, just get ideas for projects. We did leave with 2 flower clips for Kennedy, a foam sword for Alex, JJ, and Kennedy, and a smelly thing for my car. The smelly thing selection was not my first choice. We were looking at the selection of the lady's scents and she had funny names on some like butt naked, monkey farts, and fun in the sun. So we asked what they smelled like and she said we could open them and smell them. They had a sticky side on one end, so John and I were opening them and smelling different ones. JJ decided he wanted to smell one and rip open the package on the NON sticky side. So I now have a cucumber melon MERMAID hanging on my rearview mirror.

I also found a cool project for the girls' rooms. If they turn out cute I think I might make one for Bianca and Trinity for Christmas.

But now the kids are all in bed(no naps and playing outside makes for an early bedtime), except Livie. John just walked out the door, and I have a nice quiet house and the tv to myself! It is AWESOME!!! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ME!!!!

Every Friday at Platte Valley Christian Academy the school has chapel, where pastors, missionaries, and people in ministries come and speak to the kids. Well today the guy from Bethel Bible Camp came and gave all the kids brochures for summer camp. I happened to be at the school for a meeting and Alex's teacher told me that Alex had signed up for summer camp. Sounds like my boy, make plans before checking with mom and dad.

Anyway so he started telling me about the camp as soon as I picked him up and was asking to go. I said "but if you go to camp you will miss my birthday. Don't you want to celebrate my birthday." I was trying to tease him because I knew we would probably let him go. He goes "yes, Mom, I want to celebrate birthday AND go to camp. But I can only do one, so camp is more important." Made me laugh!!

Then when I picked up JJ from class, he goes "Mommy, I love you. You are the bestest mom. I love you the most on Fridays." I got a kick out of that!!

Oh my sweet little man!

I love the cute things that kids say. Lately it seems JJ is constantly saying cute and funny things. Last night he wanted me to carry him. I joked with him "I don't want to hold you, I don't even like you." He cocked his head to the side and gave me this little smirk and goes "Oh, Mom, you LOVE me. Mom I love your heart." I said "you love my heart? Why?" "Because it loves Alex, and Kennedy, and Livie, and me." Oh my sweet little man. You are so right!! My heart is full of love for you all!

And another cute thing he said today was he came in the kitchen today rubbing his hip and saying "Mom I hurt my hippo." I said, "you mean your hip bone?" He goes "yeah my hippo hip bone." He is so cute and funny.

God's creations are so awesome!!

Well this morning I was woke up at 6 a.m. with a phone call that 2 of our teachers a PVCA were sick. The only one that wasn't sick was our preschool teacher. I felt kinda bad because I am thinking it might have been our family that spread it to the school, but not much I can do about that now

So this call started the frenzy of phone calls to find subs. Luckily we were able to get the day all worked out. I did have the priveledge of going to the school this morning for a while and watch videos with the older kids. We watched some videos from a creationist talking about how different animals that have different characteristics and traits that are amazing and that prove that there had to be a creator to create their bodies to do these things, or give them the knowledge of what to do without being taught.

For example a giraffe's blood vessels running in its neck were specially made different from normal vessels, when a giraffe bends down to take a drink of water his sudden blood pressure change would blow his brains out. But because God foreseen this, he created their vessels to completely close when they bends down and he also gave them a special tissue at the base of the brain, that acts like a sponge and soaks up any blood that got past the closeoffs.This is not something that can evolve in a giraffe, because the first giraffe created would have died the first time it bent down to get a drink never getting the chance to have a second generation.
Also did you know that on the 19th day, not on the 18th or the 20th, a chick still within the egg, breaks into the air sack at the top of the egg to have more air to breathe. And then it has 6 hours to break out of the shell or it dies. It has this knowledge without be shown or told what to do, because God created it with this knowledge.

I was amazed at the awesome things that God came up with when he was creating the world and all those within it. The old pick up line is so true in this case. When God created you, he was showing off. When God was creating this world, he was truly showing off all his talent!!!

I AM her mommy!!

I believe that JJ is slightly confused about Livie. Before we had Livie we watched a little girl named Mindy. We watched her 3 days a week from the time she was 3 weeks old until she was about 10 1/2 months. Then because we were having another baby I decided to not watch her anymore.

Well JJ has been asking me off and on for months now if Livie is ours? Where is Livie's mommy? why doesn't Livie go home? The other day he asked if we could keep Livie. I said yes we are keeping her! He then went to Kennedy all excited and said "Sissy we get to keep Livie!" He then asked if Livie's mommy would be sad that we were keeping her. I said "JJ, I am Livie's mommy." He cocked his head, looked at me like I was crazy and goes "Your not Livie's mommy, your our mommy." I said "I am all your mommy." He then walked away saying "Mommy your funny."

Even though JJ doesn't quite believe it, Livie is our baby. I am her mommy, and she isn't going anywhere. And here is a picture to prove that Livie is my baby, a picture of me, Livie, and JJ right after she was born in the hospital. SILLY BOY!!

Praying it is over!!

I was praying that this bug that Kennedy had would not spread to the rest of the family. And after a full day of no pukey kids and no upset stomachs I thought we were in the clear. But this morning started with me finding Livie caked in puke. She had thrown up in her sleep and slept in it all night. It was crushed in her hair. So that required a bath and watching all her sheets and blankets.

Then Alex started complaining of a stomach ache, but since he had ate a bunch of lunch meat without my knowledge I figured it was from that. So I sent him to school and got a call at 10 to pick him up. So I had him lay down and he and Livie lounged around all day just feeling cruddy, but no more puke. Then around 4 after doing some laundry I walked into the living room and found Alex puking out the living room window. Why the window I don't know, but thankfully I didn't need to clean up any puke.

So then after lunch, Livie was acting really cranky and I went to feed her and she refused, which isn't like her. I set her up, she looked at me and puked all over me. And then did it again.

Well after a shower I feel(and smell) much cleaner, but I am PRAYING that this bug is done and over with!! I don't want to be puked on anymore. My limit is 4 times in 3 days!!

My good friend Sheri took new pictures of my kids. They turned out so great! It is crazy to think that almost 3 years ago she took Kennedy's first birthday pics as her first go at professional pics and since then she has taken some many pics of different families. She did an awesome job with Kennedy's first pics and has just gotten better with all her work since. Here is the latest ones of the kids. I am so happy with them!!

Her Royal Highness Princess Mandi

I have to admit that I have been bitten by the royal bug. Even though I wasn't interested in watching the whole wedding of William and Kate, it was long and kinda boring, I did enjoy a few shows on Princess Di. I also watched 2 shows based on the royal families in England in the 1400-1500's. That then started the Internet search on all the different royal families from Europe. Did you know that one of the queens of England is known as the mother of Europe, or some nickname like that because a lot of her children and grandchildren became kings, queens, princes, and princesses of many countries in Europ?. The Queen Sofia of Spain who used to be the princess of Greece is related to Prince Charles on both sides of her parents.

I think that the times of kings and queens in the old days seems really romantic. Of course that is in my fairy tale image of them. In reality many kings and queens were not in love, slept with people other than their spouses, and lets face it using a chamber pot as a bathroom and eating food without refrigeration just doesn't appeal to me!!

So as romantic as the thought of being a country's queen or princess sounds, I think I will be content with being a princess in the kingdom of God, the King of kings!! Do you think that I could get people to refer to me as Her Royal Highness Princess Mandi?!

What an amazing God I serve

I love when I am reminded just how real Jesus is. Sometimes I tend to get so used to reading my Bible and hearing the stories of Jesus' life, that I just kinda think of him as just a character in a story. Not that I forget that he is my Lord and Savior, but sometimes I just lose sight of the reality that Jesus walked this earth, he breathed air just like me, felt human emotions just like me, bleed just like me.

Well today while I was doing my hair and feeling blue cause I was missing church for the second week in a row, this time because of a sick child, a news story came on the radio about how Israel is now offering tours that follow the path that Jesus took throughout his life. So people came walk where Jesus walked, see what Jesus saw, and experience what Jesus experienced. I instantly thought how amazing it would be to stand in the very spot that MY Lord and Savior stood. To follow the path that he once took. To feel connected to him in a way I have never experienced. Then I had one of those times that makes me fall to my knees and praise God!! I love how he draws us deeper and deeper in our relationship with him. He is not looking for just a superficial relationship, but a deep inimate relationship where we learn more and more about him everyday! What an amazing God I serve!!