Christmas Morning

I am so taken aback by how good our God is.  I woke this morning, so blessed to be a wife and a mother to two boys.  Praise you Father for all Your good gifts.  Our boys of course are far from understanding God's amazing love for them, but we teach them about His love by modeling after Him (or at least we strive to).  It's hard as a parent not to want to shower them with our good gifts to show our love.  I know God loves us SO MUCH MORE and delights in pouring His love on each of us, His children.

Clark woke this morning aware that this morning was special.  How exciting!  We have enjoyed watching our little guys enjoy their gifts

We figured we needed something active to do in the coming cold winter months, so we have a BOUNCER!

Both boys love playing with the train table. Clark is addicted to this thing.

Joel mostly loves ripping up the tracks, but here he's enjoying pushing the train through the tunnel.

After playing, the boys ate their breakfast of cinnamon rolls and bananas on the couch while watching Thomas. Joel loved his M&M candy cane more than anything. 

Happy Birthday, Jesus Brunch

At Target last Friday, I ran into my "old" friend , Sara, and a new friend, Andrea.  We got to talking and realized we would all be in town for Christmas, so we planned a Christmas Eve brunch.

Andrea made the best pancakes I've ever eaten.  Sara brought a delicious egg casserole, and I'm not even going to tell you how pieces I ate.   I brought Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls with icing that said "Happy Birthday, Jesus".

Between the three of us, we had five kiddos that were two or younger.  But they played together really well. Clark made a great friend with Andrea's little girl.  They cuddled up in the bed and played for a long while.  I joked that this will not okay in ten years!!!

The one year olds really liked the balloons. 
Oh yes, I forgot to mention the big boys (our husbands) enjoyed playing bowling on the Wii.

It was a lot of fun getting together with friends and seeing the kids play with each other.  Thank you Jesus for giving us a reason to celebrate so so much. 
Happy Birthday, Dear Friend.

An ordinary day around the house

Yesterday was a cold, but sunny day.  So we just hung out around the house.  Joel of course wanted to ride his truck around.  That's one of his favorite things to do lately.  Where did my baby go????

Clark wanted to paint, so he painted a rainbow on a wooden train with his watercolors.  He even named his train.  (Thomas has changed his brain forever.)

Then Clark wanted to go outside.  I gave in.   I love our view from the back of our house.  It's easier to see the mountains when the leaves are gone.  Here's a picture of what we see whenever we look out the windows.  I still can't believe I can see mountains after coming from Texas.  I know it's not much, but it's a huge blessing to my heart.

Clark played outside all by himself for an hour.  It was 40 degress, but I made him keep on his hat.  I couldn't believe I have a kid old enough to go play outside. I checked on him every few minutes.  I was a nervous wreck, but I figured it was time to let go a little.  Again I wonder where did my little boy go?

Joel was stuck inside with me.  He looks sad; doesn't he? :-)

Joel's Real Birthday

For Joel's actual birthday, I was still one handed after surgery. 

BUT I had to do something.  So keeping with the theme, I made monkey cupcakes.

YUM!               

I think Joel could get used to birthdays!

Our Snowy Morning

I had to wake Clark up because I was too excited to wait.  The first thing he did was scream, "It's snowing.  I need my hat!"  -

Joel was fascinated by the falling snow.

Happy First Birthday, Joel!

This post is dedicated to our birthday boy.

Three hundred, sixty-five days ago, Michael and I headed to the hospital on a cold, dark, rainy morning.  I had to drive myself because Michael was in extreme back pain which I have to praise God for taking it away as Joel was born!  That beautiful day we were given one of the greatest gifts--a son.

Joel Michael--a few days old

Joel at one month

Six months old

10 months old

ONE YEAR OLD!!

It's so hard to believe that our baby is one year old!  It has been a great year, and we have all fallen in love with this bright eyed, active little boy.  Joel has grown so much this year.  He is walking everywhere now.  He has five teeth and is cutting three right now. His favorite word is bye-bye, and he enjoys waving bye-bye especially to vehicles passing (a typical boy).  He loves to play with and tackle his brother, climb everything, and play with cars and trucks.  He is very strong and tough , yet he loves being held and tickled.  Happy Birthday, Joel!

We've been busy--birthdays, block party, and surgery (again)

Life has been wonderfully full lately. We had the privilege of throwing a neighborhood block party last weekend which included a hot dog roast, games, and a hayride! We had so much fun.

And Clark made it finally to the Olan Mills website at Olanmills.com.

Michael's birthday was the 1oth, and since Grandma and Pawpaw were in town, we threw a dual party for Joel too since he'll be one in a few weeks.

He ate every bite of his cupcake that wasn't smeared to his face and highchair.
The boys had fun playing with each others stuff

Since Daddy and son were going to share a cake, I spent some time planning the perfect cake for the situation. I call Joel our little monkey because he crawls on everything, and Michael loves chocolate. So hence we had a monkey chocolate cake with chocolate chips in the batter, covered with homemade fudge poured on while warm and hardened, and then it was topped with chocolate butter cream (a crazy plan, but the idea came to me late one night)

This cake wasn't monkeying around...it was GOOD!!!

I (Jenna) have been in a lot of debilitating hand/arm pain, and we discovered that I had two or three pinched nerves in my wrist that had caused severe nerve damage in my right hand. So I needed surgery quick to release my nerves and stop the death. That took place yesterday on Michael's birthday. Tangent: I also received the worst haircut ever on the day I discovered I needed surgery (I went in for a pick me up.) Good news is I got my money back, a year's worth of hair cuts (by the manager of course) and a year of free products. Anyway back to the surgery, my right hand will take 10 days or so to use, and six weeks of recovery. That's going to hard with two kids, but I know time will fly by. I hope the nerve damage will slowly get better, and I can get back to making cookies and chopping firewood. :-)

Lastly, Pumpkin, our stray kitty, has been growing and surviving the torture of two little boys.

Hope this all makes since; it's 3:00 am, and I couldn't sleep with my arm hurting.

Our First Halloween with Joel

For Halloween night, Joel was a panda. Clark was a dinosaur; he was inspired by the new PBS show Dinosaur Train. We got lots of candy and had a great time!!!!

Daddy and Clark carved Joel's first pumpkin. It had three teeth in honor of Joel.

Choo choo boy to the rescue. Clark is "rescuing" his friend on the trampoline.

On Friday we went to a fun Halloween party. We are the Tetragrammaton Warriors (a fancy way to say God's Warriors).

Michael's super identity was All American Man. His super powers are house repairs of any kind, chopping wood in a single swing, saving the day five insurance claims at a time, making a two year old eat vegetables, calming a screaming baby, and defeating the algebra monster.

Jenna was Wonder Momma with the powers to push mow the lawn while carrying a child on her back; fall off ladders without breaking bones; keep house, play with her kids, and help mankind all on a few hours of sleep.

Clark was Choo Choo Boy with the powers to recall all of Thomas and His Friends, leap off tall objects and get up to do it again, say hello to every single person we pass and make most of them smile, and make Joel giggle.

Joel was Blink with the powers to climb the stairs when no one is looking, put everything he shouldn't in his mouth, eat a banana at lightning speed, and destroy Clark's toys and games all in a blink.

A Haunted Meal

Before children, I always struggled with what to do with Halloween. It's such a contraversial day. But it is my favorite holiday because I love fall, pumpkins, and candy; there's no stress; and it brings neighbors together. So I've embraced it for now. Here's our pre-Halloween dinner from last night: Mummy dogs, ghost mashed potatoes, frog eggs (peas), and tomb pies (homemade cherry turnovers). I really don't have a creative bone in my body, so I take no credit. Clark and Michael were thrilled, and I could tell that they really enjoyed the food. I think we'll be doing this meal again next year. It was fun and yummy!

"Mommy and Daddy, I had fun!"

Those words are music to a parent's ears, and today Clark declared this to us after our hike to our favorite hiking place. Clark is growing up so fast that we can't even keep up. Today Clark did the hike all by himself and did well. He really got into throwing rocks into the water. We enjoyed a contest to see who could make the biggest splash. Daddy of course won! The hike was spectacular with the roaring of the white water and glorious colors of fall. I have to give a "shout out" to God for creating such a beautiful creation that even my two year old took notice of and appreciated.



One of the beautiful sights along the trail

We came prepared to carry Clark with the backback, but like I said, he's growing up too fast.

Clark carried rocks every second of the hike. Even when he fell he got up and started begging that we find his rocks. It wasn't hard since there were one billion rocks. He must really like rocks. Joel had a great time riding on Mommy and checking out the sights.

Clark threw rocks with all his might

a life lesson learned through oatmeal

I was busy with all the hustle and bustle of the morning--making oatmeal, cleaning up oatmeal, washing oatmeal off everything in the kitchen, and wiping oatmeal out of my little boys' noses, hair, face, clothes, etc. You get the drift. This is something I do everyday just about and don't really enjoy. My kids love oatmeal and I HATE oatmeal. Well....I found myself overcome with thankfulness that I get the privilege to clean up oatmeal every morning.

I haven't always been like that. There was a time in my life I was flat out angry and self-absorbed. Cleaning up the oatmeal day after day would have caused a bad attitude. But not today. Today I find myself honored to clean up the sticky goo. I remind myself daily that I might not have tomorrow with them. I only have TODAY. The reason why....my heart was broken. Brokenness is God's secret weapon to bringing us to Him (it seems in my life). God used a little girl to bring me to my knees. Before I was a mommy to my boys, I was a mommy to a little girl. I have her to thank for teaching me how to love, to cherish every moment, and to keep perspective.

The hardest and saddest and most confusing thing that has ever happened to me was losing my "first child". If you don't know, my sister was in a bad car accident, and she had a lot of life problems in 2005. So she gave us her daughter to raise, and we made plans to adopt her. We didn't hold back our hearts, and we fell completely in love with her. Well, my sister got better, and she wanted her back. So we lost our little girl. NO, she didn't die, and we still get to see her. BUT our hearts were shattered, and we felt the unbearable pain of loss.

I realize that God used my broken heart to make me a good mother to my boys. I wouldn't be the mother I am without that terrible time in my life. I believe that God can use every awful, sad, lonely, scary, tough, tragic, discouraging, or painful time in your life to shape you to be a more like His son Jesus. When we allow His tender hands to mend our hearts during those hard times, the fruit will pour out on our children.

Currently, I have several dear friends of mine who are in the middle of those tough times experiencing loss, anger, medical/financial troubles, broken hearts, dashed dreams, sickness and death. My heart is hurting for my sweet sisters. And I am praying that God WILL use these hard times to shape their hearts and bring quick healing and the sweetest fruit.

So back to my title....the lesson I learned today as I was cleaning up all the blessed oatmeal is-- if I am a GOOD mother it's only because God is a GOOD GOD!!!!! I hope you can see how He is working in your life and heart through your "oatmeal mornings".

Happy Hanukkah--my son is a model

This post is nothing more than a proud momma bragging on her baby. So stop now if you'll get sick. ;-)

Okay so in the summer we participated in Olan Mills model photo shoot for their winter advertisement campaign. There were "billions" of kids getting their pictures taken for free. Then you get hundreds of dollars of free pictures. It was FABULOUS, and we were so thankful! The only problem for me was Clark was a grumpy little guy during the shoot. They only managed to take ONE picture of him because he was throwing a tantrum (it was past his nap time).

Well as it turns out Clark made their website--front page!  It was Clark's ONE picture had made it unto their final cut. He's on one of their promotional photo cards.

The neatest thing is one of my MOPS friend's son was selected as the top model, and his picture is on everything. He is a cute kid!

So if you are in Olan Mills looking at their Christmas photo cards choices, you might seeing Clark with the inscription below saying "Happy Hanukkah". (yes that made me laugh)