Thursday, March 28, 2013

I love You More Than…..

When Scott and I started dating, we were pretty cheesy, like really cheesy. We expressed our love for each other with phrases like, “I love you more than all the stars in the sky” or “I love you more than all the rocks in the world”. These little phrases still sneak their way into Birthday and Holiday cards.

Seven years later, I appreciate those cheesy phrases more than ever!

Every night we read Lincoln his bedtime story, say family prayers and then Scott leaves the room. I take the next couple of minutes snuggling with Lincoln and saying how much I love him, “I love you more than all the toys in the world,” I whisper.

Then he tells me how much he loves me. Often he stands on his bed with his arms shaking, stretched high in the air, “I love you more than all the clams. Big, BIG, BIG LOVE!” and crawls back down to me and asks “Is that a lot of love mom?”.

It has become one of Lincoln’s favorite games. Today we were having yet another battle of Who-loved-each-other-more when he shouted, “I love you more than all the poop in the toilet!”.

I’m going to try and take it as a compliment because there is a lot of poop in this world!

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Lincoln, Jason and Jack

A few weeks ago Lincoln decided he no longer wanted to be called Lincoln. When we would ask him his name, he would say, “I don’t know, but I’m not Lincoln!” It drove us insane because every time we would say his name he would yell, “I’m not Lincoln!” but could never give us a name to call him.

Then we went on a hike with my good friend Candace and her family. Candace is Lincoln’s primary, singing teacher. He LOVES her and she is definitely his very first crush! I guess he likes his ladies a little older(like 25 years older). He is always telling me how “cute Candace is” and he colors her pictures all the time.

We went looking for our first Geocache as a family and invited Candace (a Geocache is basically a treasure hunt for grown-ups using a GPS to navigate).

This is Lincoln and Kristy in the hobbit house.IMG_4238

Finding the treasure!

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What is in it?!?!?!

IMG_4229 IMG_4230 Lincoln picked out an eye-patch

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Kristy is so stinkin’ cute! Her and Lincoln are great friends and are always wrestling and playing hard. IMG_4233 IMG_4234 IMG_4237

Walking out on a fallen tree!IMG_4254

Scott and Mav trying to find the treasure.IMG_4226

Me and Candace

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Our little family!

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Alright, so this is Candace’s family. Kristy is almost five, Joel is two and Jason is her husband. This was the first time Lincoln had really met Jason.

IMG_4247 IMG_4248 IMG_4249 When we got home from the hike and had all settled down, I asked Lincoln to do something. He replied “I’m not Lincoln, my name is Jason”.

Yep, that’s right. He FINALLY picked a name and it just happened to be Candace’s husband’s name.

Lincoln Jason said, “I’m a little bit married to Candace”.

The good news is after about a week, he stopped telling us his name is Jason. The bad news is he now wants to be called “Jack” and we can’t figure out where he has ever heard that name.

Maverick is Eight Months Old

Likes:

  • Graham Crackers
  • Playing in the water
  • Exploring the house
  • Wrestling Lincoln
  • Laughing at nothing
  • Destroying things
  • Blankets and stuffed animals
  • Snuggling mommy and daddy

Dislikes

  • When someone takes something away
  • Sitting still to eat

Milestones

  • Started walking across furniture a little after turning seven months.
  • Can get down from furniture now without falling

Sleeps

  • Goes to bed at 7:30, wakes up to eat at 6:00 sleeps until 6:300-8:00
  • Takes 3 naps

Eats

  • When I feed Mav, I let him crawl around because I can’t him to sit in his bumbo without trying to escape every 2 seconds. He crawls around while I shove food in his mouth. Sticking him to sit in the drawer and sink also help him sit still!
  • Everything that can dissolve in his mouth.
  • Three meals of rice cereal/vegetable or fruit and snacks and bites of our food

Nicknames

  • Monster Man
  • Destrocto Baby
  • Mavo

Wears

  • Size 3 diapers
  • 3-6 month clothes
  • 6-9 month pajamas

Getting into his favorite drawer. Once I replaced it with toys it hasn’t been opened since. IMG_4213 IMG_4219 Mav hates to be fed, he wants to do it himself. I give him a bowl and let him have at it while I shovel food in his mouth at the same time.

IMG_4261 IMG_4255 IMG_4258 IMG_4260 Then we throw him in the sink, his favorite place to sit, and he splashes until my floors and counters are dripping with water.IMG_4165 IMG_4305 My little bird. He always crawls up to us and stands and squawks until we feed him. He squawks when he wants something and hardly cries ever, but instead yells at us! IMG_4306 IMG_4296 IMG_4299 IMG_4300 IMG_4303

He can’t resist a blanket or stuffed animal. If you place one in front of him, he dives on it and starts attacking it with his mouth. He LOVES Lincoln’s animals!IMG_4339

Oh my goodness do we love our Monster Man, he looks just like Scott’s twin but his personality is exactly how I was as a baby. My mom says I got into everything and was a crazy child! I walked at eight months and was go, go, go. Every time I tell her about my Mav, she just laughs and says, “sounds like you!”.

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And now for my favorite picture: Mav is squawking at Lincoln because he’s touching his head! I love it! IMG_4309

I better go, he is busy ripping apart my decorations…again.

Monday, March 4, 2013

A Penny for a Pinecone?

My parents weren’t perfect parents, they could be a little strict, did some redneck-strange things and often drove me crazy, but one thing they did do right, was teach us how to work hard.

When I was little, probably ages six-nine, my parents had a massive pine tree in their back yard. It was big and it was beautiful, but it also had a lot of pinecones. We couldn’t mow the lawn until they were all picked up. There were hundreds, sometimes thousands of pinecones on the grass at one time.

To help motivate us, my mom offered to pay my sister Eleena and I a penny for every pinecone we picked up. The money we earned usually went towards school clothes and supplies. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to make money! We would go outside and pick up pinecones in sections, counting each one into piles of 100. Then we would load them into a grocery bag and drop them on the other side of the ditch to be burned. One day I remember making $11 each. That is 2,200 pinecones we picked up! We counted every single pinecone honestly and always got the job done. The lesson my mom taught us is simple, if you want something, then find a way to get it even if the work is hard.

I read somewhere this quote and from memory this is the best I can do (If you know the exact quote and its source, let me know)

Do not say “I cannot afford that” but rather ask yourself “How can I afford that?”. Saying you can’t afford something, is the lazy man making excuses.

Scott and I want to buy a home in the near future, but most lenders require at least 5% and usually 10% down. This might not seem like a ton, but on a 300k home this is up to $30,000(homes in Washington are expensive). I keep finding myself mumbling, “We can’t afford a home”.

The lesson my parents taught me keeps returning, “If you want something, then work hard for it”. Most people wait around forever for the  “job” that will buy them all their wishes and dreams, they pass up penny-for-a-pinecone-jobs because they are beneath them and their desires always remain unreachable. Being a stay-at-home mom can be frustrating at times. How am I suppose to make money if I don’t want to work outside the home? I don’t want to go back to work (I was lucky in Idaho that my job only took me away from Lincoln during his naptime) because being a “mom” is the most important job in the world to me, but there is always something I can do.

And that “something” is make sacrifices.

We currently live in a very nice, large apartment. It has three bedrooms, two baths, a laundry room, dining room, huge kitchen and tons of closets and storage space. I love it! The rent is reasonable for the area, but our complex is increasing our rent by $200 a month!

That’s when I asked myself, “How can we afford a house?” and the simple answer was downsize. And downsize is what we are about to do! We are moving in less than two months to a one bedroom, tiny, tiny, tiny apartment. Yep, four of us in ONE bedroom. It probably sounds crazy, almost as crazy as picking up a pinecone for a measly penny, but it will save us about $1000 a month and the end reward will be a beautiful house.

It is going to be difficult and my children and husband might not make it out alive, but I know that it is what we are suppose to do and in the end this small sacrifice will all be worth it.

If there is something you want and is a little out of reach, ask yourself, “How can I afford that?” and remember the answer isn’t always make more money.

The one thing I’m not willing to sacrifice, is time away from my babies.IMG_4030

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