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.