She's 4!

I put her to bed last night as a 3 year old....and this morning she woke up as a 4 year old.

I'm not too sure that she's excited about being 4.  She's talked about it, but last night we discussed when she was going to turn "5".  I think that in her mind, when she's 5 she gets go to go school.  I'm continually telling her that she DOES go to school, but I guess because I interchange the words "school" and "daycare" with regard to her school, she doesn't feel quite as grown up as her brother - who truly goes to "school".

4 years old.

Wow.

Here she is a little before her 1st birthday....

And her first birthday....This party was just so much fun! 

Her 2nd birthday....
On her actual birthday - 

And at her birthday party at a park really close to our house....The thing I remember most about this party was that it was windy!!  She had a great time trying to fly her kite!

In case you're wondering about that scratch on her face, it was actually a scar by that point.  A 'friend' at day care mauled her and left some lovely scratch-marks on her face.  Luckily, the scar has faded quite a bit over time, and shows up when her face gets red or she's really hot.  Otherwise, unless you know it's there, you would most likely never notice it.

Here she is for her 3rd birthday.....This one we had in our backyard, and I'm so thankful that the weather cooperated for us!

And now we're at #4.

Have I already said wow?

Some things about Tatum....

• She can be as sweet as can be
• She can be a toot
• She's adorable while she's being a toot
• She knows that she's adorable while she's being a toot
• She loves to read and be read to
• She can count in both English and Spanish
• She can sign her alphabet in sign language
• She adores and idolizes her big brother, and wants to do everything like he does
• She can't wait to go to kindergarten
• She loves to play dress up
• She loves to have tea parties - with anyone she can get to sit down with her
• She loves her baby dolls
• She loves crafts and art projects
• She's meticulous in doing crafts and her art projects, gluing things in straight lines or 'correct' patterns, coloring within the lines, etc
• She dawdles
• She likes oatmeal, cereal, Dad's morning mess, or Grandpa's pancakes for breakfast
• She loves chocolate
• She still loves her 'lovey'
• She is a wonderful big sister to Jacey, and is ready to teach her how to do all sorts of things
• She has never met a stranger
• She doesn't know how to be quiet
• She's incredibly entertaining
• She loves to fold towels and to 'help' Mommy
• She has beautiful long hair and likes for me to fix it in a pony tail, pig tails, or pig tails with braids
• She loves to go fishing with her Daddy
• She is, and will always be, my princess

Happy birthday, sweet girl.  Always know that you are loved and adored!

Review of running - February

7 - 2.5 miles
13 - 5.5 miles
14 - 2.5 miles
15 - 2.5 miles
16 - 2.5 miles
17 - 2.5 miles
19 - 6 miles

February mileage total = 24 miles
Average mile per day (February) = 0.857 miles/day

2011 Mileage total = 16.33 + 24 = 40.33 miles
2011 Average mile per day = 0.683

As a reminder, I needed to do an extra 15 miles this month (over and above my yearly goal) in order to catch up from what I didn't do last month. Consistency.

Still working on that consistency.

Also working on figuring out what in the world I did to my ankle/insole.  *sigh*

Note to self for February - don't get so consistent that you end up injuring yourself.

Fit throwing

Jacey has full blown separation anxiety.  And on Tuesday night, we realized that she can throw a fit like nobody's business.

It was a sight to be seen.  

And heard. 

7 months, and separation anxiety.

Already?

And just in case you're wondering, I performed several 'experiments' to be sure there wasn't something actually wrong with her.

There wasn't.

She simply wanted 1) to see me at all times and 2) me to hold her.

And I melted when I finally picked her up and she buried her head into my neck, hugged me, and started stroking my hair for dear life. 

Oh boy. We're in for it with this one. 

 

 

Gerren Get-together

ALL of my dad's siblings drove to Texas last week and will be here visiting for two weeks.

I cannot remember the last time that I saw everyone together like this!

So, our family went to visit this past weekend and here are some of the pictures from the visit.

They're in order by age...Aunt Doris would have been between Aunt Mary and Uncle Eddie...

From left to right (youngest to oldest): Dad, Uncle John, Aunt Ruth, Aunt Mary, Uncle Eddie.

And what would a Gerren get-together be without some Rook?  Especially when the Ohio side of the family is around!!

Grandpa had his hands full at times....

And Jacey made her rounds, snuggling with everyone!

We ended up staying way later than we had originally planned, but it was well worth it.  The kids behaved very well - even Jacey, who was exhausted beyond belief but didn't want to let it go for fear she would miss out on something!

De-Clutter check in

Just so you didn't think I had stopped my declutter attempts, here are some updated numbers for you.  I've been trying to keep up with the numbers, but can no longer say that I haven't forgotten something along the way.  And I certainly haven't been keeping up with the numbers of paper clutter that has left this house.  Wow...that would be a very large number, considering the amount of paper that come home with my older two each week!

Doesn't really matter if it isn't 100% accurate...because it's at least whatever I've kept up with and most likely, more.

Getting rid of more clutter is a good thing, in my book!

2/7
*8 items of clothing from Jacey
*6 pair of pants and 1 outfit from Tatum

2/9
*9 pieces of clothing from Jacey (7 one-piece outfits and 2 2-piece outfits)
*2 toys from Kellen

2/13
*bouncy seat that Jacey outgrew (I'm sure they'll get plenty of use out of that at the church nursery!!)
*17 pair of shorts from Tatum (she's grown a little from last year's shorts season, and yes, it's Texas, so we've already worn some shorts around here)

2/20
*Bumbo seat and tray (Jacey simply will not tolerate being in this Bumbo)
*5 onesies from Jacey
*1 workout top from me (It was one of my Rec tops from when I taught....in college!  It's actually in great shape, simply because I didn't wear it that often)


Total = 51 items
Grand Total = 218 items

See the last update here

Who knew?

Who knew that the person who could make Jacey laugh quicker and harder than anyone else was her brother?

Who knew saying, "Hi!" was this hilarious?

I love, love, love watching Kellen with his sisters.  And yes, that's plural.  He is such a good big brother.

If watching this doesn't make you crack up, I'm not sure what will.

Man I love my kids!

Fishing Fun

Over the last year or so, the kids (and by kids I mean the older two) have really gotten into fishing with their Daddy.

It's each of their special time with Daddy...so special, in fact, that Kellen accepted the Lord as his savior during one of his fishing outings.

Special time, indeed.

Tatum hasn't been able to go fishing in a while because, well...it's mostly a reward for good behavior.

She hasn't had too terribly much of that (consistently) lately.

But this last week has been much better.

On Wednesday she got a "Happy Note" from her teacher.

On Thursday, she and her Daddy had some special time doing one of her favorite activities, fishing.

Unfortunately, she didn't catch anything, but apparently that didn't seem to damper her spirits any!

Perspective

Mommy is poised, lip pencil in hand, to apply her make up to her lips.

Son, watching her, says, "Mommy, why are you going to write on your lips?"

Mommy laughs, says, "I'm not sure," laughs again, and then replies, "It's to make Mommy's lips prettier."

Son's response, "Well that's just weird."

Conversations with Kellen are quite entertaining sometimes.

Valentine's Day Craft

I had lofty ideas at one point in time about the oh-so-cute crafts that could be made for school Valentine's Day, er...Friendship (what's with that, anyway) parties.

What we ended up with, for two of my three beautiful children, were G-Force and X-Men-themed cards.

And they didn't seem to mind.

Not one eensy bit.

I was a bit creative with Jacey's set, though.  To my defense, she has fewer kids in her class.  On the flip-side of that, none of them can read so I'm not sure of my rationale, but I digress.

I used a free digital printable and made copies.

Then I found some super cheap cute socks at a local dollar store (I spent $3 on the socks.  WHOOP!).

Add one printable to one pair of socks and you have an adorable Valentine gift.

And, considering it's an infant room and all of the kids have trouble keeping their socks on their itty-bitty feet, I thought it was completely appropriate.

Scripture Memory! (Verse 4)

Next installment....

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 


Psalm 139:23-24 (King James)


To join in on the Scripture Memorization Challenge, go here.

Spiritual Running

Have you ever considered that something you do for your body can have spiritual implications?  Perhaps it will allow you to see something the Lord is trying to show you a little clearer, and teach you something along the way.

Interesting perspective, huh?

In my attempt to be more consistent with my running (and I will continue to post my mileage log at the end of each month), I decided that perhaps I should change my route.

My old route was familiar.  I like it quite a bit.  It's a straight shot down a long road near our house, and doesn't require much turning corners or anything of that sort.  You just turn around and head back at a landmark that is a mile away from where I begin.

But it's a 2-mile route.

I want to push myself a little more than that on the mornings I go run.

A couple of years ago when I was training for the half marathon, Matt and I mapped out another route around our neighborhood.  There isn't much difference in the mileage, but it's a 2.5 mile route.  That, and maybe when I get a little quicker, a 3 mile route is about what I have time for in the mornings.

I ran the new route last week for the first time in ages and discovered something.

I didn't do as well on the new route.

It wasn't that much longer, but I seemed to tire easily, I wanted to slow down and/or even walk some (which I rarely allow myself to do - the walk part, not the slow down part).

As I thought about the reasons for this, I realized that perhaps it was precisely because it was unfamiliar that I struggled.

In my old route, I knew when I was a quarter of the way through.  I turned around and headed back at the halfway mark, and then knew I had a quarter mile left.  These mental markers were motivating to me, they allowed me to keep pushing, because I knew where I was on my journey.  It was familiar.

The new route wasn't familiar.  I didn't have my mental markers.  I had no idea when I was a quarter of the way through.  I had no idea when I was halfway done, because it's a large circular route and I don't actually turn around.

I simply didn't know what was around the next corner or how much longer I was going to have to keep going.

And the unknown zapped me of my strength and endurance.  Even though I was completely capable of running that 2.5 mile path.  Completely capable.

It would be so much easier to continue to run only my familiar path, but then I wouldn't stretch myself.  I wouldn't improve.

Isn't that the way it works in the spiritual realm?  Isn't that the way it works with assignments or directions God gives us?

It's easier for us to do our familiar thing - our familiar routine.  But many times God calls us to be stretched.  To improve ourselves.  To give more of ourselves.

It doesn't matter that we don't know where we are on the new path.  God does.

God knows every inch of our new journey, our new endeavor.  He's prepared and will continue to prepare us to be able to handle the new route.  He'll be with us every step of the way.  He'll give us the knowledge we need.  He'll give us the endurance to keep going, even when we don't know how much longer we'll be.  Through Him, we'll be completely capable.


I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.  Philippians 4:13 (KJV)


Armed with this realization, I ran this new route again this week.  And you know what, it was a great jog.  It was a great jog even in spite of being only 12+ hours out from the longest jog I had undertaken in over two years.  And I was reminded that with God, I was completely capable of finishing my new journey.


What new journey is He calling you to?

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Do you have love on your mind today?

Need to smile?

Awana Grand Prix

Kellen participated in the Awana Grand Prix last weekend (not this past one, but the weekend prior).  He had originally decided that he wanted to make his car Superman-style.  When he and his daddy went shopping for the things needed to decorate said car, he changed his mind.

He wanted to decorate his car like a monkey.

For those who know Kellen at all, you'll find that incredibly fitting.

Matt couldn't for the life of him figure out how to make the car look like a monkey, and was trying to discuss options in Hobby Lobby with Kellen.  I'm told that after a little walking around, Kellen pointed out some thin, wooden monkeys.

And they had their inspiration.

They worked hard on that monkey....my monkey and his daddy...

They weighed the parts, trying to be sure it was heavy enough, but not too heavy...

They painted, and painted, and painted some more.  They took apart the wooden monkey, carefully cut it, glued it back together, and constructed a wonderfully brilliant creation.

My monkey and his monkey...

Kellen and Daddy took the monkey to the church to get weighed in....and realized that although they weighed carefully, the scales must have been ever so slightly off.

So they drilled holes in the bottom to get the weight just right.

And the next morning, Monkey Car raced against several other cars.

Well, truth be told, it raced against two cars, because it was a double elimination tournament.  Yup, you read that correctly....Monkey Car was cute, but very slow.  Perhaps next year they'll concentrate on the mechanics and aerodynamics of the car.

But they weren't concerned with that this year.

Their creative genius payed off, when Monkey Car won first place in the Creative Design category!

Dinosaurs!!

Kellen was busy coloring dinosaurs as gifts for his Daddy and I (although we were NOT allowed to see them in-progress), so I decided that I should try my hand at making baking a dinosaur.

Take one silicone dinosaur pan that has a dozen spaces - like cupcakes - in the shape of a dinosaur.  Insert yummy chocolate cake batter.

Cook.

Realize you overfilled the sections with batter.

Make a mental note for attempt #2.

Let cool.

Slice off excess to make all sections even.

Flip over and place on a large surface, and frost.

Wait until the kids (and adults) eat their dinner, then attack the dinosaur!!

Snow Day!!

So TAMU decided on Thursday evening that they would delay opening until 11:30 on Friday.  Friday morning, the school districts close school...meaning no school for Kellen.  Since the daycares to which both Tatum and Jacey attend follow what College Station ISD does, that meant no school for them, either.

By 10 AM or so, TAMU joined in on the snow day fun and called everything for the day.  So we proceeded to line up our fun.

We bundled up...all of us! (Don't worry, you'll get a better pic of Daddy later...)

First there were snow angels

Then there was the snow day snow man (of course!)

You may notice that Tatum is no where to be found in the latter snow man pictures.  She was oh-so-done with the snow once she actually started getting cold and went inside to warm herself by the fire while Daddy and Kellen finished the snow man.

After the snow man was complete, we all came inside to warm ourselves by the fire and drink some hot chocolate.  We watched a movie, had lunch, and I prepped chili in the crock pot.

Snow day fun!!

Scripture Memory!

It's that time again (only this time I'm just a few days late).

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

To join in on the Scripture Memorization Challenge for the year, go here.

Hapes Hilarity

Kellen says to me as I'm dressed in black pants and a yellow shirt (with a black belt), "You look like a bumblebee."

As Matt and I dissolve in laughter, he pauses and then asks, "What, was it something I said?"

My bubble

As far as current events go, I live life in a bubble.  My dear husband continually admonishes me to read the news, watch the news, stay current on events around the world, etc.

But I don't.

I tried once. I read some news articles that led me to the testimony in a murder case. It was a child abuse situation that led to a two year old's death.

Reading that transcript broke my heart.

I was shaken. Disturbed. Questioned why in the world God would allow the mother of a child to be so enamored with a boyfriend and emotionally distant from her flesh and blood that she could be convinced to beat her child - repeatedly - for a solid day. To continue beating that child when she looked at her mommy and said, "I love you, Mommy." To literally kill and allow her child to be killed in front of her eyes.

It still disturbs me.

I like my bubble.

I'm naive in my bubble.

It's safe here.

Here in my bubble I don't have to acknowledge that these types of horrible things occur. Or if they're acknowledged, I rationalize it away by saying, "But that's [insert location here], not here. Things aren't like that here."

Sad to say, but that's my attitude. Even though deep down, I know things are like that here. Things are like that everywhere.

That knowledge messes with my sense of fairness.

It's not fair that a child would be beaten to death by its parent.
It's not fair that somebody can get their hands on sensitive documents and leak them to WikiLeaks. And it boggles my mind that no one can seem to stop them.
It's not fair that innocent lives are being taken by their own parents through abortions.

A lot of things aren't fair. And thinking about those things makes me mad.

Very mad.

And then I think that I need to be doing something about it. And that overwhelms me. What to do? What can I do? What can one person do?

I feel helpless. Powerless. But still angry because my sense of fairness is getting messed with something fierce.

So it's just easier on my emotions to live in ignorance and stay in my bubble.

But I wasn't called to live in a bubble.

I read a post not too long ago about chocolate.  One might think that would be a good thing for me, right?

Not so.

Apparently, the majority of the industry is flawed, deeply flawed.  And uses child labor to work the cocoa farms. Read more about some of the injustices at the Mama Manifesto blog post.

Who knew?

I had no idea. Did you?

I may never look at chocolate the same again. And since I'm a self proclaimed chocolate lover and am quite addicted to the stuff, that's saying quite a bit.

This is just another reason that I like my bubble.

With knowledge, I feel the urge to act. To react. To do something.

But what?

Apparently, this site has a list of free trade system vendors that ensure proper labor practices are being utilized. Check it out.

Cleaning, continued....

I subscribe to the FlyLady, and February's habit to work on is decluttering.  Fitting, I think, considering my goals for the year.  In case you have never heard of FlyLady, here is a link to a post about ways to declutter.  I personally have a hard time with the baby steps.  I want to dive right in and typically get overwhelmed and burnt out...shocker, I know.

Anyway, in picking up around the house tonight, between dinner, checking home work, and disciplining (don't ask), I decluttered another 2 pieces of my clothes, threw away a pair of sunglasses that were scratched (beyond the point where I could wear them), and an outfit of Jacey's.

Then I did a 27-fling boogie, and got rid of more than 27 items of trash.  I haven't been counting papers in my decluttering totals, but managed to purge quite a things tonight (for the purposes of my total, we'll just say 27)!

Here's the last post about my decluttering, and the total is now 165 items out (either blessing someone else or in the trash).

Then Jacey woke back up and I snuggled with her.....how can you not smile when you see this precious little girl?  She reminds me so much of Kellen right now, especially when she finds and sucks on her thumb.

Spitting. Image.

Oh my, oh my....I just want to snuggle with her and soak in her sweetness!!

I can't decide if I want to keep going with another declutter attempt or just hunker down with some hot chocolate by the fire.....hmmm...tough decisions at the Hapes house tonight.