An open door...or two

This is super short.

I havent blogged in a few days.
I am working on something and I dont have a way to describe it without giving it away.
All I can say is...the doors are opening.
 And I am walking through them holding the Hand of my Creator.

I can't wait to share it. (No...Im not pregnant : )

God is doing something big in my life.
He has been doing something big for years...and He just keeps it going.

Because of what it means...

Yesterday was a tragic day for a lot of people in the southern states.

If you know me very well...or even a little...you might know that I am very, very afraid of tornadoes.
I have always been afraid.
I have always had a "respective fear" of tornadoes...meaning I never take severe weather lightly.

And yesterday proves to me once again...why I feel this way.
It also confirms that we made a good choice in ordering a safe room that cannot get here fast enough.
(Just 3-4 more weeks)
Thankfully I have the sweetest neighbors ever...and if the weather gets so bad I can at least get my babies in her safe room. Thank you sweet neighbor.

I don't even feel comfortable writing the words I feel about what happened yesterday.
Lives lost.
Homes destroyed.
People hurting.
No way to prevent it.
Children
Mommas
daddys
the devastation of it all

my heart is heavy and hurting so

Tonight as I got my girls ready for bed, I soaked up the sweetness.
I praised God that I was there with them...in that moment.
Some people lost that yesterday.
I still have it.
I have my babies to hold.
My home is still in tact, toys everywhere, bottles needing cleaned, striped socks left by the back door.
I am leaving it all there (maybe not the bottles).
But tonight...it stays. I need to see the mess. because of what it means.

It means I have my babies sleeping just feet away from me while I type.
I have my family.

I'll take the mess and look at it with love. With thankfulness.

Because of what it means.

"Joyful Noise"...the Movie

I really don't go to the movies much.
I have a hard time justifying to myself that it's "ok" to sit still...for two hours...and do nothing but focus on a huge screen.
I call that a bad case of the Mommydoeverythingforeverybodybutyourself syndrome. :)

This past weekend...my best sisterfriend called and said hey let's go to the movies and eat.
I got to go with her girlies too which was crazy fun.
We added an impromtu shopping trip in there which does the soul good on a down day...even if you only try on 25 pairs of high heels and get none of them :)

(By the way...heels and tall wedges are not my thang...I towered over all the aisles in the store and gave my friends a good laugh at my superfreaky tall expense)
You need a good laugh? Go shoe shoppin' with me. dare ya :)

We saw "Joyful Noise"...with Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton.

I loved it. Loved loved loved it. Alot, alot, alot.

I was so glad I said yes. (Which I wouldve said yes even if she asked me to go grocery shopping...friends stick with friends right?)

Go see the movie.
 I had chills, I cried (and boohoo cry....not just tears).
 we danced in the theatre.
sang our little hearts out.
Even chowed down on buttery popcorn. (My stomach punished me for that one later...)

It was just a good movie that I cannot wait to show my hubs.

I need to see it again.
I probably wont get the same high that I got the first time, but I could use an encore for sure!

That's it.
Probably my only movie review of the year :)

Have a Fabuloso weekend!

Anchors Away...A visit from my brother who is in the US NAVY

I have always been a military supporter.

My heart has always been sensitive to those who serve and who

selflessly leave their sweet families home to make sure my family...keeps their freedoms.

Then my own brother joined the Navy.

Now...I am as close to a Blue Star Mom as you can be.

A Blue Star Sister maybe? :)

My brother came home for Christmas and brought Nathan a super cool Navy shirt.

He is here now and we are going to have lunch and hang out a little bit.

He leaves soon...and will soon be deployed again.

Can you imagine the prayers that boy gets from his big sister???

Yes. Tons. Lots. every day. All the time.

We all love him...and my kids think he is the coolest.

Natalie crawls all over him and jumps on him like hes a trampoline.

Brooklyn thinks he is silly.

Nathan just chills with him.

My brother is pretty cool.

I sure cant wait until we can see him more.

And she turned 4...

Our little girl...our firstborn princess.

She turned four this year.

January 15th.

It was her snow princess party...

I will try and upload the invitation tonight

It was really fun :)

She had a sweet group of little princesses come to help celebrate.

They ate cupcakes, admired each others dresses...and listen to Brooklyns favorite story.

A story of what God wants for his little girls.

Kindness

Grace

Compassion

Confidence

and more...

It was a sweet celebration of the life that God blessed us with just four years ago.

Oh, to just hold this little girl in my arms once more and smell her newbornness.

I remember as soon as we got her home from the hospital, it was me, Philip and Brooklyn.

I got on my knees at the end of our bed and wept.

I wept because she was ours.

I wept because I didnt know what to do next.

I wept because I was so deeply in love with this 4 day old baby and I didnt know how to deal with it.

I wept because she was my miracle and I knew she was special.

(I was on bedrest/restrictions basically the whole pregnancy due to the placenta tearing away from the uterus. The whole pregnancy I was on edge, afraid, trying so hard to keep her with me)

Oh to freeze time.

To keep today so still until I can soak it up enough to say

"Ok, tomorrow...what do you have for us?"

Nathan was napping the entire party...he missed the fun...but oh to have a nap:)

Worship care...

So today is Sunday...I really like Sundays. Sunday is the start of our weekend.

Today Philip and I took our turn for "worship care" aka nursery duty, at church today.
We are on the schedule once a month for the three year old class.

It was really fun.

I have three little kids at home and I have been told "dont you need a break?" haha!
Yes. Yes, I do. But beng around more kids....makes me love mine more!! Double blessing!!!

to be honest, volunteering for worship care is more of a blessing to me than it probably is for the kids.
Today we had such a fun group of little boys and girls.
I love to watch them interact, and play, and learn, and eat together and encourage each other.
(They even argue with each other a little...imagine that! :) :)

Today they were extra sweet...when we sat down for a snack...each one of them took a turn praying. They voluntarily prayed. And they encouraged each other to pray. Wow.

However, its a blessing. I believe they need to be nurtured and encouraged by many ages and people.

It takes a village right ? :) Happy Sunday...

enjoy the fabulicious weather!!

Potty training in five-yes five days! For good!

I have had the torment pleasure of potty training two children within a year.

Brooklyn potty trained at 3 years and 4 months (while I was 8 months preggo with Nathan-not fun)
Natalie just potty trained at 2 years and 10 months (with a newly crawling and pulling up ten month old Nathan-again-not so fun but with a box of toys outside the bathroom door he was fine)

My method

I am probably a mixture of a whole bunch of methods...but this is what worked for both of my girls.

They both came to me at the age above...and said "mommy I want panties!"

YAY!

(For the record...I never pushed it on either of them. I figured I would know when they were ready...and it worked! Plus...I had so much going on in my life with pregnancy and a newborn...I decided potty training would come...and it did!)

So i said "Ok you're a big girl now! Yay! No more diapers!"

So I took the diaper off and started encouraging them to drink as much water as possible.

(I put panties on both of them, but they both peed in them pretty quick, so we went bare bottom for the first day-nice-I know but I put towels on the furniture. They stayed in the kitchen coloring for the most part)

They both held it for a couple of hours, but eventually I could tell they needed to go.

They both fought sitting on the toilet (I used our toilet, not a potty chair but we do have a seat the fits on the toilet for their little bums).

I would take them back and forth ALL DAY!

The first time...they both peed a little on the kitchen floor, and I picked them up, they would pee on me, then I would put them on the toilet and let them finish.

I put them in the tub, let them wash off their legs and we moved on.

that sounds horrible I know.

Who wants to clean up pee on the floor and on themselves?

Honestly-they both "got it" after that.

They didnt like peeing out of control or on themselves.

So they would run back and forth to the potty every ten minutes, trying to pee.

Sometimes I had to hold them on the toilet and hug them while they got used to it.

But after 4-5 times of doing that...it was fun to them!

We would have lots of parties....many times a day!

The same thing with poop.

brooklyn had no problem pooping in the potty.

Right now...Natalie will poop in the potty but she runs back and forth all day because she cant

tell when she is quite ready. And she wants me with her when she poops still, which is OK!

They both required ALL of my attention for a few days and I sat with them every single time for about a week.

But its worth it!

And no more diapers!

And no accidents except the first day!

I hope this makes sense and can encourage anyone who is thinking about potty training.

It worked for both of my girls...even though they were both around three years old,

 I am so glad I waited.

They know when they are ready.

Oh...lots and lots of positive reinforcement and encouragement.

They were so excited to show me and loved when I would jump up and down and dance around to celebrate! (its so fun to see them gain confidence :))

We had an ice cream party after the first poop...

but besides that we never really rewarded with candy or food.

They were happy to have stickers and markers, and even play outside in the muddy garden!

I will spare you the pictures on this post :)