This Morning

I love mornings like this morning...
#3 woke up super early, but that was great because I pulled her in bed with me and she fell right back to sleep all snuggled up next to me.
Then #2 came in, again climbed up in bed and got all snuggley
Enter our big #1, who never snuggles and is allergic to the morning time;
(literally, every morning he sneezes about a million times and sniffles so loud I worry that the neighbors can hear)
but this morning he climbed in bed too, with no sneezing or sniffling, and cuddled in.
And we all cuddled and snuggled and basked in our love for each other and the amazing blessings and love from our Father in heaven.
And the sweetest part?
It lasted 10 whole minutes
Before #1 started poking #2, and #2 scooted closer to me to get away, but that made #3 jealous so she tried to push him away. #2 thought #3 wanted to play so he started blowing zerberts on her face, which made her laugh/cry (something she is famous for in our house and I am pretty sure she inherited from my BFF Chloe, though I am not sure how that can happen). #1 was feeling left out so he stage dove on top of me and into the fray, and I literally had all 3 kiddos WWF wrestling on top of me and in my face.
Where is my hubby?
He has rolled over and is pretending to sleep, but I can feel him laughing into his pillow.

We are blessed.

Mornings like this morning, make our family what it is, remind me of what our family can and will be, full of LOVE.
Hope you had a wonderful morning and a blessed day!!

Eating Out

Really it's the age old delima, you don't want to cook, you don't want to clean up, you don't want to deal with your kids in a restraunt, what do you do?!

Here is what we did for DJ's special birthday dinner a few months ago...

When I asked him what he wanted he said a hotdog, and I know he LOVES a delicious cherry limeaid so Sonic it was... but how to make it special? hummmm.... I know! Let's throw our playroom table in the bed of our pick up and eat our dinner there at Sonic. It was a smashing success. AND the bonus was no cooking, no clean up (besides spraying out the pickup bed), and no trying to keep the kids entertained or quiet at a restraunt. We were just as entertained by the cars driving by on Main Street as they were by us. We got quite a few honks and waves which made my DJ feel very special, like they knew it was his birthday. AND we got the kids ice cream just for being "so darn cute." What a fun time! Go ahead and file this in your mommy catalog under "what to do for dinner, when I am just NOT in the mood!"

Favorites

So... here it is, it has happened, we just found out we are on the move again! This is kind of the part I LOVE about the military (isn't that weird) but I have never lived somewhere longer than 5 years and after 3 I get a little stir crazy. I am ready to sell this house, even though I love it and I have cherished memories of all 3 of my babies learning to walk here. I am ready for a new adventure, even though technically I know a LOT of people where we are headed next (not very adventury) and I will really miss the ones we leave behind here. There is a ton of work ahead of me and as such I have to cut a little something down, trim the fat as it were. SOO, Family and Faith Fridays for the next month or so will be Favorite Fridays where I can share some of my favorite things in life.

This Friday my favorite is this fantastic man...

This is how I found my hubs when I came home from running to the store, he was entertaining the kiddos in his "poo rag" and I laughed so hard I almost peed.
I love being married to him
I love that he is the father of my children
and I super love that I get to go on such awesome adventures with him.

Here is to the move, with the loves of my life, keep us in your prayers!

Base Cattle Drive

When I first began blogging and moved from SC to here, one of my first posts was about the cattle drive across base, I could not get over it! This year was our fourth and, more than likely, last cattle drive and I am truly sad about it. Living in this small town has definitely been different, and there are things I have really missed like Target and a grocery selection; but those are things I can find if I am willing to drive for a bit to get them. There are things here that I will miss terribly and I know I can't find them anywhere else, like all of the festivals and carnivals to celebrate anything and everything (even rattlesnakes!) Knowing at least one person everywhere you go, and knowing my children are safe. I will miss our church and our squadron and all of the ways these communities have supported my family, and more importantly my sanity. I will miss this town a lot when we leave, but I am not going to focus on that now, now I will focus on the awesome time we had yesterday...

This is the girl who used to do my hair :)

All the cattle coming in, see how close we were!

This cowboy brought his horse over to see the kids.

This is our pastor! He is holding #2, the only one brave enough to get on a horse :)

They even let him wear a real cowboy hat, he talked about it all day!

I LOVE men in flight suits and cowboy hats rounding up cattle!

We moved to a new spot to watch the actual drive and this is what we saw coming down the street.

Then all the cows took a detour to come visit us, eat some grass, and rub up on some trees.

Not entirely comfortable with how close they were.

Basically holding onto my babies with a "mom grip" like you wouldn't believe.

What a FUN day!!!

Love On Wings

Friends and Family,
I just want you to know how I love and appreciate your support for this personal blog, I have received such amazing feedback from you all it has inspired me.  I want to expand my writing, I love writing about my kids, but now I want to write more!  I want to inspire and encourage, maybe even entertain, mama's like me.  I will continue to write my babies adventures on this blog but for those of you who maybe want a bit more I would love it if you would consider following my love on wings blog.  Thank you again for inspiring me to be better, to do more, I feel so tremendously blessed!

In Love,

Toddler Choices

Choices have been on my mind and heart lately. We all have choices like who we love, how we act, how we teach our children, what we make/eat for dinner, you get my drift. I am thinking that once a week I might post on ALL of the choices we make and how they effect different parts of our lives.
Today I am going to post on toddler choices, so it's a twofer, choices + mama tips, yea!!!
If you are/have been/or will be the mama of a toddler you need to know choices are the absolute key. Toddlers and preschoolers are always at the mercy of those around them, told when to eat, what to wear, and who to play with. They NEED choices, they NEED to feel like they can be in control of something. I try to give my kids choices wherever and whenever I can. "It's time to get dressed, do you want to put your shirt on first or your pants?". "It's time for dinner, what color plate do you want?". The simplest questions can take a full blown tantrum from a 10 to a 3. Just the other day my sweet Ash was loosing his mind over having to stop playing and come to the table for dinner, what stopped him in his tracks, I asked what he wanted to drink. It's like a fancy little magic trick you can pull out of your mama hat!!

Is that a Grump or is that a Grump?
Photo By Melanie

You should be warned, however, that the choices you offer need to be actually choices between two acceptable things. I learned the hard way that "you can get dressed or you can go to school in your PJs!" can backfire in terrible ways that leave you explaining to your sons teacher why he is at school in spider man pajamas and several days of explaining to your screaming preschooler why it is NOT acceptable that he goes to school in pajamas all the time.

Three Babies

Having three babies in less than three years is not for everybody, truthfully it's not even for me, but God has much bigger plans than I do! I get a lot of looks when I am out with my brood, mostly looks of pity. I have had more people than I can count say, "well you certainly have your hands full!" to which I used to say "yes, but that is better than empty!" which always makes strangers quiet right down but always made me feel a little snarky even though that's not who I am. A great friend of mine just had her third baby in three years and told me that she has started saying, "yes, but they are full of wonderful things!" which also shuts people up but leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy inside so that is my new saying.

Having a third baby is the ultimate dealima for a lot of couples, especially if they already have a boy and a girl. So I am asked pretty frequently about the third baby, here are the things I know to be true about third babies (and if you don't believe me you can ask the before mentioned friend who texted me last night to tell me I was right on all accounts).

Nursing a Third Baby is Awesome...
** the amount of things that you can accomplish while nursing your new baby will make you feel like you have super powers! I once diapered and dressed my 1.5-year-old while nursing #3, I felt like I was bionic!
** while nursing your first born can feel like more of a chore, since you are sequestered away from everyone all of the time. You welcome this break with your third. I would just sit in #3's nursery and rock her and sing and let her nurse for ages while I listened to my hubby out side the door, "#2, leave your diaper on! #1, we don't poke eyes! Boys, no riding on the dog!" I would just grin to myself and keep on rocking.

Three is not much harder than Two, just more time consuming...
** it will take you 20 minutes to load your car up, accept it, plan for it, move on. I am ALWAYS the last person to leave the parking lot after Mother's Day Out, I even see some of the teachers leaving before me!
** the laundry is unbelievable, literally if I told you how much laundry I do you would not believe me.

Number Three is Always Spoiled...
** I don't know how it happens I just know it does. Maybe the nursing time as mentioned above? Or maybe it's the fact that you are required to hold them much more, for their own safety more than anything. Who knows?!
**you will do things with your third child that you swore you would never do as a parent, and you probably didn't do with your first two. Case in point; #1 had his first french fry when he was 2, #2 had his first french fry when he was 1.5, and #3 had her first french fry when she was 6 months. It just happens, forgive yourself in advance and you will all be much happier.

Bottom line...
having a third baby just means more
more kisses
more food
more baby giggles
more toys
more love
more playing
more laundry
more pictures
just more, and truthfully I just can't get enough of it.

Super Mommy!

When you are a parent I think it is truly incredible the roles that you adapt to and become. How awesome that God gives us Grace to be able to do all that parenthood requires of us, He makes us SUPER. I have lately found myself feeling like quite the detective. It even goes beyond discovering where (or who) that funky smell is coming from, beyond telling if a mess could be chocolate or poop by sight alone, it goes beyond...

All summer long Ash has been waking up several times a night, and just recently I think I discovered why, he was cold. Ash was wearing the same summer pajamas as his brother and sister, but DJ insists on sleeping fully covered (even his face) every night under a big blanket and we have closed all the vents in Iz's room because it tends to get freezing when the AC is running; but poor little Ash refuses to use his covers and he sleeps right next to a vent. A few weeks ago I put him in some long feety pajamas and he slept through the night. Score 1!
Lately, DJ is struggling in the preschool program in church. J was called out several times a few weeks ago because DJ was lying under a folding chair and refusing to come out, and then sitting in a corner (arms crossed, grumpy frown and all) refusing to move or participate. That kind of disobedience calls for a punishment, it used to be that if you misbehaved at church you would not get a doughnut (our Sunday ritual). That was until the Sunday DJ said to me, "that's fine mom, I don't want a doughnut any way." I had to sit down and look through everything we did on Sundays, what could be turning DJ into such a monster. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, low blood sugar! When my kids start REALLY acting out I have to run through the check list

#1 are they hungry
#2 are they sleepy
#3 do they have a dirty diaper or in DJ's case when did he last use the potty. I swear DJ would hold it in until his bladder literally burst if we didn't make him go, and having a super swollen bladder makes him a crazy super grouch!

In this case while every other day of the week my kids eat breakfast, have a mid morning snack, and lunch around 11:30, on Sundays we fed them breakfast and nothing else until lunch around 12:30. No wonder DJ was crabby! We have now implemented snack time in the car on our way to church and a potty break as soon as we arrive. DJ is a different kid in class now, the teacher even used the word amazing where before she had used the word barbaric. Score 2!

Everywhere I go I feel like one of those detectives who rolls into a restaurant and within minutes can tell you the eye color of the waitress and describe the tattoo of the man sitting at the bar. Except I can tell you things like, the if the toilet lid was up when I walked by the bathroom, if the glass of milk is about to spill even if I am across the kitchen. When we walk into a new place I instantly know the things that my kids will tear apart, crawl up, and get stuck inside of, so I act accordingly. I wonder how I should use this finely honed skill once my kids get older. Can I use it to tell if they really just went to the movies, or if they really don't have homework after school. Who knows? But one thing is for sure, nothing is getting by this Mama (OK probably some things, but not a lot of things). I am excited to see what other Super Powers motherhood has in store for me.

two boys and a girl

This is what happens when you have 2 baby boys and then a GIRL.

My baby, in a boy camo creeper that I painted a pink birdie on.  I thought surely having a baby girl would be all hair bows, ruffles and twirls, not so much.  I love making things for her and I really love buying her sweet things, but for every day wear it is just not practical!  Iz is as rough and tumble as her brothers ever were, so I find myself going through their old things trying to figure out what I can make work for my girl.  I think this creeper in particular turned out wonderful, a little girly, a little tough, all Iz. 

A special thanks to my dear friend B, who actually gave me this creeper when Iz had a blow out at her house (B has all boys), then told me to keep it.  I had no clue what I could possibly do with this boyish onsie when my baby was a girl!  Then I painted the birdie on it and I LOVE it, now I feel inspired.

How cute is my Iz?



BOYS!

It is never so obvious to me that my boys are in fact crazy, as when we have family and friends over to visit.  Nobody ever says anything, they don't have to, it's their wide eyed fear as they watch DJ bodyslam Asher off of the couch that speaks volumes.  Or the way they avert their eyes when the boys run into a room in head to toe knight/viking/superhero gear because just the sense of violence to come is so overpowering.  The way visitors all move up to sit on the edge of the couch when Iz is in the room because they know at any moment a brother could come tearing around the corner and take her out.  I am tempted to say, "my boys are ALL boy," or "boys will be boys," or "at least Iz will be a tough little girl,"  but these are all cliche and not at all true.  My boys are something, let's say something "special" and they terrify just about any person who is not around them constantly (like me or J or our dear friends in OK who have come to embrace the epic violence in the Newberry household). 





I recently joined a movement on FB called "21 days of prayer for boys" all about learning to pray scripture for the ones you love, especially the boys in your life, however, I truly learned so much more about my boys.  I learned that their epic violence is not unique, it is not super common, but it is not unique.  I read this blog post and I felt the weight come off of my shoulders...
"when boys are just too much"
strangely enough the author of this blog post is the same author of the "21 days of prayer for boys" apparently she feels my pain.  We are all born selfish, we are born with only thought of ourselves and desire to only do what makes us feel good.  For some of us the desire to please is what makes us feel good so we behave and do as we are told, for others (my boys) we feel good when we are in control, when we lead and are able to do whatever whenever.  Now I can bribe and threaten my boys to get them to behave themselves (and I do) but that only works 75% of the time. It is only when their hearts change that they will have the character and the obedience that I desire for them.  It is only when their hearts change that they can truly love and be great leaders. 





Who can change hearts?  Certainly not little old me, only God can change hearts and so my prayer from now until the day I die is that God softens the hearts of my children.  I am committed to being a living example for my children (although I do mess this part up on a fairly regular basis, I am trying), and I am committed to letting my children be who God has created them to be.  There is a fine line to be walked between letting my kids be who they are in the depths of their souls and making sure that they are socially acceptable human beings in public. 

I am praying every day for the hearts and souls of my children but I also need to remember to pray for myself.  For patience and wisdom, for God to open my eyes to see the things in my children that come from Him and to notice the things that are out of place or wrong.  I wish that all of the people who come to visit could see the things that my kids do when no one is watching.  The way that DJ will lovingly brush the hair out of Iz's eyes.  The way that Asher gives kisses by holding your cheeks in his chubby hands and puckering up so huge you think he might swallow your face.  The unsolicited "I love yous" or the way that they tell me at least six times a day that I am pretty or precious or cute, they also love to tell J that he is "the best daddy in the whole life world contest."  Yes my kids are wild, and violent, but they are also loving and caring.  God entrusted these babies to me just the way they are, and so I will indulge their wild side by slaying dragons and having pillow fight wrestling matches, but I will also show them what is loving and caring.  Most of all I will pray for their little hearts because in the end it is not really me at all that will make them mighty men, it is the All Mighty that will do that job.

Mama Tip #2

When you are potty training your 2-year-old with a 1-year-old in the house you are bound to run into problems.  My solution is when someone is trying to potty (this can work for you too, I know I never get a moments peace, even in the bathroom) and my 1-year-old appears, entirely fascinated by the whole process, I put him/her in the bathtub.  This worked with Asher and now its working pretty well with Izzy.  They can still see what's going on, but they can't touch anything that will make you gag.  Plus they are very distracted by the idea of being in the tub with their clothes on and no water, sometimes its hard to talk Izzy out of there!  Just a little tip for you Mama's out there who are knocking your baby making time out like I am!

Upcycled T-shirt

This was at one time an XL mans shirt that I got from Goodwill for $1

Here is what I did to it...

I cut it apart at the armpits so I had a large tube of fabric

I used a tank top I like to make the marks for cutting the appropriate space for my armpits (I never realized how yucky that word is :/)

I then sewed a hem large enough for my ties to feed through at the top of my front and back piece

and I used my seam ripper to make a little hole in the hem already at the bottom of the shirt

I fed elastic, cut 1" shorter that my waist measurement, through the bottom hem and sewed it together

Then I fed the tie (that I made the same way I made the belt here except without the button or closure) through the tunnels in the top front and back pieces (much like a pillowcase dress).

DONE

in one nap time

for $1 and some left over fabric from my Easter Skirt :)

** A little note if I make another one I will use a smaller shirt, this one has a LOT of fabric.  In order to achieve a good length I would cut off the sleeves and straight across the shoulders instead of straight under the armpits

Mama Tip #1

Since I had several babies all at once fellow Mama's often ask me how I do things, and the answer is necessity.  They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and that is a fact.  When you need to get something done and you have 3 babies screaming all around you, you just have to work it out! It also helps to pay very close attention to the mothers around you, I am always picking up new tricks.  Anyhow, I thought I would start to put a few tricks down to help me remember what I used to do and maybe help some other mamas out along the way.  This is a tip I got from my friend Janine, and she got it from her friend Kim, who probably got it from her friend (fill in the blank), and so on, that's how we mama's roll.  Any how it's brilliant and share it all the time...
juice box handles!

You would think he would be more excited about getting some juice

Ahh, there we go

You just pull the little triangle box tabs from the side, it helps release the pressure and gives you kids something to squeeze besides the box itself, which when squeezed will send a fountain of (undoubtedly red or purple) juice all over everything.  One of my biggest mom fears, the juice fountain, conquered.  Now if only I can figure out how to conquer the fountain type mess these boys leave in my bathroom...

Have a Happy Juice Box Filled Summer!

21 days of prayer for boys

Today I am starting 21 days of prayer for boys with my friend Mary Chris @ http://mc4him.blogspot.com/
I am so excited to see what God can do with my passionate prayer on behalf of my sons!

My Baby Turned 4

My first born is a 4 year old!!!  How did that happen?!  One minute I am rocking him to sleep and this week I am not aloud to kiss him on the lips any more, I am beside myself!!  How emotional does it make me to have my boy turn 4?  Here is a little taste..
DJ has been asking for exactly one year (since the day after his 3rd birthday party) for a dragon cake "when he turns this many," picture 4 chubby little sticky fingers held high in the air.  The movie "How to Train Your Dragon" came out right around his 3rd birthday last year and it was his first movie that he saw at a movie theater.  J took him for a little treat and DJ was so worried it would be too loud we sent him with a set of earphones, that he put on before the theater was even dimmed and left on the entire movie.  DJ was also too little to keep the seat down on his own, so J had to hold it down, I happen to know my husband and I know he sat through that whole movie, holding DJ's seat down, grinning ear to ear and overflowing with love for this sweet boy...

Long story longer, we HAD to have a how to train your dragon birthday this year.  I got online and found some cute favors and Viking birthday hats, not as much as I usually do for birthdays but I really thought I could find quite a bit at Wal-mart or the dollar store.  The party was Saturday and on Thursday I finally got to go shopping, first dollar store nothing, second dollar store nothing, Wal-mart I head for the bakery and order a "how to train your dragon birthday cake please," NOTHING!!  Let me say as a disclaimer I actually asked a friend to make a cake weeks before this and she was going out of town so I looked at the Wal-mart cake book, saw the dragon cake I wanted, and came prepared to order on Thursday.  APPARENTLY they still had the cake in the book but no longer had the items needed to make it, cue my misty eyes.  The baker (and I use that term loosely) did tell me if I brought her a dragon toy she could make a cake to go with it, so I jaunted on down to the toy isle, NO DRAGON TOYS.  Seriously not one, anywhere, cue the hysterical sobbing.  I managed to take my phone out and call J, who was in fact willing to jump in the car and drive 2 hours to find something, and when I got home he had already pulled several tutorials off of the Internet for me on how to bake one myself.  If you know me, you know baking a cake in a circle is difficult for me, in the shape of a dragon impossible.  Once I pulled myself together I remembered the United grocery store and gave them a call, they saved the day with an awesome cake that not even a jump castle could pull DJ away from.  I tried one last dollar store and found the party favors I needed.  I sat down and painted a "Toothless" shirt for him to wear and set out the new kid camera and donuts that were his birthday morning surprise, and found some peace that even though he probably won't remember this birthday or even this last year I did my job, I did all that I could to make him feel special and celebrated and loved and those feelings will be with him for a lifetime even if the memory of the perfect dragon cake won't.

This year DJ...
Became a Big Brother, again

Graduated from Mother's Day Out

Likes to play with "sets"

Was in his Nini's wedding

Got a new "stuck together" bed

Got his first baseball mitt

Got a Daddy hair cut

He also had his first sleep overs with friends Jake P. and Athen K. (no pics unfortunately).
DJ uses adjectives for items, like a towel is a "dryer" and a gun is a "ka-poom thing"
And is really beginning to learn about and understand what it is to be a Christian.

We are so blessed with such an amazing boy, who loves his family with all of his heart and soul.  DJ is a warrior and a leader and I just know that if I can guide him and teach him in the ways that are good and right then he will be a great great man of God, who will change the world.  We love you handsome boy, Happy Happy Birthday!

the recycled t-shirt dress

So, one day I am shopping at Wal-mart and a woman says to me, "look at you with all your little ducks in a row," and I became obsessed with the idea of making little duck shirts for my babies.  I made the duckling shirts for myself for mother's day and that Saturday I thought, "I have nothing to wear for mother's day", and thus this dress was born.  I used a yellow t-shirt of mine that was too short (why is it after having babies 86% of your shirts become too short?) and a white t-shirt that I stole from my hubby.

Step #1 was to measure myself around where I wanted the white part to start (30") then I measured from that point to about how long I wanted the dress (23")

Step #2 I divided the first number in half and that gave me the measurement for my first rectangle, 15"X23"  and that is my back piece

Step #3 Now because I am trying to hide the fact I have had 3 babies and I HATE doing sit ups I added 3inches to the first number for my second rectangle so 18"X23"

Step #4 with right sides together sew your rectangles along the 23" seam

Step #5 now you have a long tube that will be your skirt, at this point I did a gathering stitch right in the middle of my front piece about 3 inches long and played with the gathers until the skirt fit and the belly was hidden

Step #6 I tried on the yellow shirt and marked where I wanted the skirt to start  and continued that line all the way around my torso.  I pinned my white tube to the top all the way along that line.  Now I had a vision of the raw edge of the knit being visible in the dress so I just sewed the skirt right onto the top, it did not look as awesome as I thought it would so when you connect the two you might want to sew them with the right sides of the fabric together.  Now your dress can be done, but mine wasn't it was lacking a little something.  I grabbed some of the extra t-shirt fabric from Izzy's dress and I made a little belt.

There are probably a million tutorials out there on how to make a belt, here is how I made mine...

Step #1 how long do you want your belt to be?  Add 2inches.  How thick do you want your belt to be? Double that and then add 1/4inch.

Step #2 cut your fabric according to the numbers you got above, now you have one loooong rectangle.

Step #3 fold your fabric in half, hot dog style, and iron (if you have a right side to your fabric make sure it is on the inside of your fold).

Step #4 sew the strip together to give yourself one long tube

Step #5 pin a safety pin to one end of the tube and begin to feed it back into itself turning your tube right side out, and turning your seam in.  Iron your tube flat and so that the seam goes down the middle.

Step #6 fold the raw ends of the tube inward and sew closed.

Step #7 try your belt on and decide how you want to close it, you can make your belt close any way you wish.  Here I added a button/button hole, you could also use Velcro, or snaps, even just tie it, its your belt do what you want!

TADA!  The t-shirt dress, not super original I am positive you could find better instructions out there somewhere.  This is just me, and how I made my first dress for myself using what I had on hand.

Now this little cutie...

is also wearing a dress made from one of Daddy's t-shirts for mother's day (see the little duck ;)) To make this dress I used a tutorial on MADE (I am pretty much in L.O.V.E. with her blog).  I did mess up a bit though, for some reason when I gathered the front of the dress, I didn't realize I should do the same to the back part of the dress.  So the yoke is too big and there is not enough fabric for a proper tie.  Unfortunately I also finished this dress that Saturday night so when I put it on Sunday morning we just had to roll with it.
I used freezer paper to stencil the duck on this little dress and also on her brother's t-shirts.

Trying to get a pic of anybody was like trying to jump over the moon!

There you have it, my crazy mother's day dress making extravaganza!