It's Her

My four year old
all cozied up to her
lifts his head off of her chest
and says, "Gammy, you smell so familiar," 
and I would have to agree 
She does smell so familiar
She smells like comfort
she smells like a soft place to land
a conversation in her cozy bed
or a hug in the kitchen
she smells like home
there's none that smell
just. like. her.
a smell that welcomes me
after an extended time apart
a smell that I breathe deeply in
when I say my sad good-byes
hoping it will linger
a smell that is ingrained
and recognizable
it's her smell
and it's so familiar

Wordless Wednesday : They're My Favorites

Different

I am in love with this song...and have been listening to it over and over...

Where I Come From

I come from a warm home filled with laughter

I come from a place where a sister's love is what made my day

I come from days spent outside in the snow, sledding, fort building, and ice skating

I come from warm summer days spent beside our pool or by Higgin's Lake

I come from being surrounded by extended family where the more the merrier

I come from watermelon seed spitting competitions on the Fourth of July

I come from gathering around at Christmas time to listen to my Mom play the piano while my grandma sings Christmas songs

I come from a mother's love and sacrifice to stay at home with us and homeschool her three children

I come from a father's love and dedication to work hard and provide and protect his family

I come from summer camping trips up north and out west

I come from home cooked meals and ice cream as a bedtime snack

I come from a place where my Mom's piano playing is what lulled me to sleep

I come from summer nights spent catching lightening bugs

I come from playing tennis in the parking lot at church with my Grandparents

I come from late night games of sardines with a yard full of friends from youth group

I come from shaving cream fights and bond fires

I come from grandparents who took the time to enrich our lives

I come from a rich family heritage of God fearing ancestors

I come from parent's who made sure we were in church every Sunday

I come from a Father who was on his knees every morning for his family

I come from a Mother who poured her heart out in prayer for her children

I come from a Heavenly Father who saved me at a young age

I come from a Savior who has so tenderly cared for me for the past twenty-nine and a half years

I come from a heart of worship for what He has carried me through

I come from a forgiving Heavenly Father who lavishes me with His Grace and Mercy, which is new every morning

I come from overwhelming thankfulness for everything He has blessed me with....

That's Not a Turkey...

The kids were both given a family project to do for homework.  They both had to take the picture sent home (of a turkey) and dress it up to look like something else. 

Landon was given the assignment of dressing his turkey up and then writing a short paragraph entitled, "I'm Not a Turkey!"  When I asked him what he wanted to dress his turkey up as, there was no hesitation as he blurted out, "Mario!"  So, Landon gave the instructions, I did the cutting, and he put everything where he wanted it.

Kaitlyn wanted to get the fabric, glitter, buttons, and paint out and decorate her turkey that way.  As you can plainly see, her turkey came down with the chicken pox (or would they be called the turkey pox?) and is looking quite ill: 

Around My Neck

Today marks five years since my miscarriage
I went to bed on November 4th, 2006 pregnant
and not even twelve hours later I was dealing with
loss

I dealt with a lot of sadness and guilt after
Days of feeling numb
and days where I felt as if
I had no more tears left to cry

Shortly after, I had a dream
She was there
She was beautiful
blond
chubby
round face
and blue eyes
she looked just like Landon
and I knew her
I named her Madelyn
meaning magnificent
and believe God knew just what I needed
to heal

Five years later, I still think about her.
I look around and wonder
I sometimes feel like something is missing
and occasionally Kaitlyn will talk about her

I wanted to do something special to remember
on this five year anniversary
and when I saw it
I knew

It's a nest with three eggs
three eggs for my three gifts here on earth
hanging beside it
is July's birthstone
for my precious gift in heaven

Blessings

Wordless Wednesday : Pumpkin Pie

A Little Bit of Catch Up...

The end of October flew by...I hate when that happens.  I guess time flies when you are having fun.

 On one of my nights off, we got out Kaitlyn's slurpee machine and made slurpees after dinner.  I love this picture because they are all waiting so patiently (yes, they are sitting on the counter)...but notice Dr. Evil in the middle.

This past weekend, my parents came out for a visit.  We were all so excited.  They haven't been out to visit in over a year so it was a special treat.  I even redid the guest room for them.  We had a wonderful time.  On Saturday, they took us to see Puss in Boots and I highly recommend that movie.  It was adorable.  The rest of the weekend was spent playing games and soaking up some Gammy and Poppy time.  We were so sad to see them go.  I was holding Collin by the front door as we waved good bye.  As I shut the door, Collin looked at me and said, "I wished they could have stayed for five days.  Guess it's back to normal, right Mama?"  I hate that good byes are part of our normal, but it does make us cherish the time spent with them.

Landon and Poppy playing "Sorry". 

Collin and Gammy playing  Memory

Gammy and Kaitlyn doing nails.

Zoey's first birthday was also on Saturday. She's the only one of our animals that we know an exact age. She had a lovely day.

The kids had a great Halloween this year. Kaitlyn chose to be a mouse, Landon chose to be a skeleton, and Collin chose to be Darth Vader. They got a lot of candy and Dan was home early enough from work that night that the kids finished up Trick-or-Treating with him and then we all sat down together and had pizza for dinner.

Can it really be November already?

Carving Time

We take our pumpkin carving seriously in this house.  It's a tradition.  It's a day usually marked on the calendar, but this year, Dan was home from work because of the weather so it was a little last minute.  It was the perfect night for it last night.  We had dinner together as a family and then headed out to the garage to make magic happen.  Dan fired up the kerosene heater to keep us all toasty...a little too toasty for my liking...and we went to work.

I scored some nice looking pumpkins at Aldi for $2.49 each.  Collin was with me that day and insisted I dig through them to find the smallest one without a stem.  I don't know what that was about.

Kaitlyn likes to get dirty...the boys, however, used spoons to scoop the guts out of their pumpkins.

Every year, I help clean the pumpkins out (I love that part), but after that it's all Dan.  He is awesome with a knife!

 My Middle Man was so happy with how his turned out.

Here's my Littlest Man with his chosen design.

 Kaitlyn drew her design herself this year on a dry erase board to give Dan an idea of what she wanted.

 And she was so happy with the way Daddy was able to make it work...she is obsessed with mice right now.

My husbands handy work.

Love this girl!  This family night was such a blessing and just what this Mama needed!

Bank of America Chicago Marathon

On Sunday, I completed my third marathon.  You can read about it here.

In the life of a carpenter's wife...

We have gotten a WHOLE LOT of rain the past two days.
I love rain.
I especially love hard rains and big storms.
But, for the past eight and a half years
I only like rain on the weekends.
Yes, a bit picky, I know.
Because when it rains during the week
my husband doesn't work
and when my husband doesn't work
my husband doesn't get paid
Nope, no paid time off in his profession
No work equals no pay.

My husband, my little man, and myself were driving home
from taking the other two to school
My little man says that he wants to build houses when he grows up
to which my husband says
that is not something that he wants to do
not something that he recommends
and I don't think I would recommend it either.

I enjoy a rain day every now and then
I enjoy my husband
climbing back in bed for another hour or so
I enjoy having him around
for our morning routine
I enjoy the time spent together
the family dinner
having him there for our bedtime routine
I love having him around for the day
Two rain days, three rain days, however,
leave me extremely concerned
fretting, worrying, running numbers though my head

and then I remember
how many times we have been here
how many times I have worried
about where the money is going to come from
how many times I have been concerned that a bill
or two, or three was going to have to be set aside
only to have the exact amount covered
some how, He always makes a way

And so, when I felt my husband slide back in bed
next to me this morning
I was worried
and reminded
a soft voice whispered to me
I. will. provide.
and I enjoyed our second rain day.