Motherhood

To be honest, it really isn't what I imagined it to be.

When I was pregnant with the boys I thought about all the fun things we were going to do: playing in the snow, making crafts, having them help me with dinner, going to the park, cuddling and watching movies, and the list could go on.

I never stopped to think about the tantrums, the incessant whining, the schedules, the meals, the mess, the disobedience.

Then my two miracles arrived and all of the sudden I realized how much work and sacrifice comes with being a mom.

(This is where you should call your mom and thank her for everything she has ever done for you)

I knew that it isn't always fun and that it would be hard at times, but it was much more so than I expected.

Some days I find myself wondering if we will all survive to the end of day. Some days I think I might actually be going crazy. Some days I just want to cry and pout just like my boys. Some days I just want a babysitter to come over and watch the boys while I go on a shopping spree. Some days I want this never-ending job to just give me a short break. Some days I feel like pulling all my hair out. Some days I feel like a really mean mom.

But...

Everyday those smiles melt my heart. Everyday those cuddles and kisses and little voices saying "Mommy" mend my soul. Everyday I can choose to have joy amongst the chaos. Everyday the laughs, the playing, the really good moments turn into priceless memories. Everyday all these things outweigh all the sacrifices and all the work.

I've learned a lot about myself since having kids. I always thought I was a pretty patient person and that I could tolerate pretty much anything. I was so wrong. It's amazing to me how God uses our children to teach us, to draw us closer to Him, to develop good character, to grow.

Motherhood changes you.

I can now multitask like never before. I can juggle 30 different things all while trying to get two boys out the door. I can change diapers in my sleep. I start crying whenever something touches my heart while my husband looks at me like I'm a little crazy. (seriously, I was watching "Up" with the boys they other day and cried about 3 different times). I can take care of two children after a sleepless night with only having coffee as my aid.

I've also had to learn how to rely on God for strength, pray through tough days, give thanks in all circumstances. I've gained a deeper understanding of God's unending love for us, His amazing grace, His constant presence.

Motherhood is so worth it. Every hard day, every heartache, every frustration.

Our job is so important. We are enough. We are the perfect moms for our kids. God is using us in the mundane ordinary days. We have a purpose. We are all in this Mom thing together.

To all my fellow moms, You Got This!

Welcome Sign DIY

I was at Target the other day and I always stop by the $1 bins just in case there is something I really need ;)  I found this super cute framed chalkboard for just $3 and immediately envisioned it hanging on my front door.

This was the only one left (at my Target in Wichita), otherwise I would have bought every single one and made a ton of these for friends. 

It needed a little something extra though before I hung it on my door, so I decided to make some felt flowers to go with it. Now, I'm no felt flower expert, but I looked through some tutorials on Pinterest and kinda made my own version of felt flowers.

For the first type of flower I made, I just hand drew a flower with four petals on a piece of paper and cut it out to use it as a template for cutting the felt.

Then I traced and cut out 5 sets. I stacked them alternating the petal positions each time and then sewed a button in the middle to keep them all together. 

Simplest felt flower ever!

For the next flower I drew a circle on the felt and several small half circles (varying in 3 different sizes) for the petals. Once again I hand drew a template on a piece of paper and then used that for marking on the felt. There really isn't an exact science to all of this, so you can really just play around with different sizes and see what you like. 

I cut out 10 larger half circles, 5 small half circles, and 3 small half circles that were shaped a little differently than the others. After cutting out all the petals, get out the trusty glue gun. Arrange the petals (starting with the largest size) around the edge of the big circle and glue them in place with the glue gun. For the next row of petals arrange them around the edge of the row of petals that were just glued on and so on and so forth until you fill the entire circle with petals. 

I hot glued on a button in the center. 

Then with a chalkboard pencil I wrote "Welcome" on the chalkboard. Chalkboard pencils are great and so much easier to write with than actual sticks of chalk. 

For my last step I just hot glued the flowers onto the sign and hung it on my door. It was a super simple project and probably only took me 30-45 mins. 

I'm hoping my "springy" sign with help bring warmer weather soon. I'm ready to stop wearing coats and boots and being stuck inside most days. 

Craft Weekend

I got invited by some friends to join them at a girls craft weekend.
I said YES! ;)

And we had so much fun!

We stayed at an amazing craft house in Newton, KS. It was a crafter's dream. I felt a little like I was in heaven.

My bed for the weekend. 

The dining room

Isn't this the cutest house?

It was so dreamy! A true crafter's paradise.

This was in another bedroom, but I just loved the wall decor.

The HUGE crafting room.

 I was the first one up in the morning and snapped this picture while everyone was still sleeping. I also didn't stay up as late as everyone else. I can't pull all-nighter's anymore. There were thousand more pictures I could have taken, because this is just a small portion of the house. I could not stop OOOOing and AHHHing over everything. 

I mostly just worked on hand painting signs. My hands got so tired, but I was so productive. It was the most crafting I think I have ever done in a weekend. 

One of my favorite quotes by Ann Voskamp

I made this to go above the window at my kitchen sink. 

These are going to be giveaways for a women's conference at my sister's church.

I had such a wonderful weekend and I feel so blessed that I got to be a part of this craft weekend. It was really refreshing to just get away for a little bit. 

For those of you who have been following and praying for Mitch here is an update:

The doctors have turned all the sedation off and he has been opening his eyes off and on. He is breathing on his own for 2 hours at a time, three times a day. This is definitely a huge improvement. Please keep praying for his body to continue to heal and to stay calm as the sedation wears off. I am so grateful for all that God is doing in his life and for each and everyone of you that have been praying for him. Your prayers are making a difference. 

Winter Recap Part 2

About a week after Christmas, Eli got his cast. It was terrible. By this point, Eli was so freaked out by any doctor getting near his arm that he screamed while they put his cast on. They had to move his arm around a bunch so I'm sure it was also painful. I let him have a sucker and the pain was soon forgotten after it was all over. We had sticky blue slobber everywhere, including my clothes. But, when your baby is in pain you are pretty much willing to do anything to make it better.

He thought it was pretty cool that we could write on his arm. Lane thought it was cool too and kept asking for me to write on his arm. As I already mentioned in my last post, Eli got his cast off a couple days ago. He has bounced right back to being a crazy stunt man. My boys have no fear.

We ended up having our 2nd Christmas with my family the first weekend of January. It was short, but very sweet. The boys loved getting to play with all their older cousins. They really weren't very interested in opening gifts at either Christmas celebration this year. I think they are just too busy to actually sit down and rip wrapping paper. 

The boys playing with their Papa!

Me and my sweet niece Nora

We got her one of those Generation Dolls that are supposed to be like American Girl Dolls and I think it's safe to say that she really liked her gift.

The boys got these really cute remote control dogs. They have been a hit. 

Loved getting to spend some time with my mom and sister. It always goes by way too fast!

And the best picture of the day award goes to this girl. She stole the cuteness show. Enna is so much fun to be with.

We had a great year full of wonderful memories, laughter, and good times. I'm looking forward to this year and all it has to offer. 

*Update on Mitch: The pressure around his brain has gone down to 5, which is really good! He does have pneumonia now, so please pray for that to go away. He is still in a coma and needs lots of healing. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for him and his family. We appreciate your prayers so much. 

Winter Recap

Christmas flew by, the New Year flew by, and we are already almost halfway through January and I haven't blogged about anything! So this is going to just be my recap of all that has happened in the past month. It may even have two parts, because a lot has happened.

4 days before Christmas we took Lane to the ER and found out he had pneumonia. When we got home from the ER our house was really cold and we suddenly realized our furnace wasn't working.

This little fireplace sat on our island (so the boys couldn't touch it) heating our house for the next couple days until we were able to get everything fixed. We had to replace the whole thing. That was a fun bill right before Christmas. 

Christmas Eve, right before I was getting ready to put the boys to bed, Eli fell off the couch and broke his arm. We knew it was broken right away because you could actually see that his arm was bent where it was supposed to be straight. Talk about a traumatic experience for mother and baby. 

It broke my heart to see him in so much pain and know that there was nothing I could do to take it away. He was such a trooper though and ended up falling asleep on me while we waited for the doctor to put a splint on his arm. It was a really long night. I'm happy to report though, that we survived the broken arm and the cast actually came off today. Eli and Lane celebrated with a really long bath that included lots of splashing. I cannot tell you enough how tired I was of that stinky cast and sponge baths. 

Christmas morning with his splint. Poor little guy!

The hospital gave us child sized sling, but it was way too big for his little arm. Good thing in know how to sew ;)

The next day we had Christmas brunch at our house and I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull it off or not since we had a rough Christmas Eve. It was a wonderful day though and we really had a nice time together and the food tasted good ;)

Making that yummy brunch in my new kitchen with my new apron that my husband got me for Christmas. 

Oma and Opa with the grandbabies. It's impossible to get everyone to look at the camera.

Me and my nephew Fallon. He is such a cutie. I think I spent most of the day holding him. I got my baby fix!

The family minus the boys and the photographer : Brian's mom. 

I'm so glad we got to spend this time all together. I'm not really sure how to share this next portion, but that lovely young couple on the left side of the couch really need your prayers. That lovely young couple is Mitch and Karen, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Just last week Mitch was in a very serious car accident and was taken to the hospital unresponsive. He is now in a coma and has a lot of brain swelling. They are having a hard time keeping his brain pressure stable and are not really sure what damage there is. Please pray for him. We are praying and hoping for God to heal his body. Would you please join me in lifting him up. Also please pray for his wife. I can't imagine how hard this is for her. If you would like to give towards their medical bills and upcoming expenses, go HERE to donate. Thank you all in advance for you prayers and support. 

It's crazy how sudden life can change drastically. It's really not something you ever imagine happening. This has been a reminder to me, to cherish every moment. A lot of times I find myself looking forward to the future. Looking forward to when life might seem a little easier, a little less stressful. Instead I really want to start enjoying every moment, because things can change in an instant. I don't want to miss out on the joys of today when I'm focusing on making it to tomorrow. 

So, I'm going to end with that. There will be a part 2 soon though, I promise. 

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him

Only 5 days until Christmas...and I'm just now posting about my Christmas decor.
I kept it simple this year. Because of our house reno I didn't have a whole lot of time to spend on decorating. But, I'm really liking the simple.
I don't like the stress that comes with the holidays, because really that's not what it's supposed to be about. So I try my best to get all my shopping done before december and my presents wrapped early, so that I can just focus on making memories, having fun, and the most important our Savior.
That's not to say that Christmas is completely stress free, because I still stress about little unimportant things, but I try my best to get most of the stress out of the way! I just want to enjoy this time. I don't want to feel rushed or lost in all the holiday craziness.
I want to be still and reflect on the glorious birth of a babe in a stable.
I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. I'm humbled by the great love of our Father.

What I've been enjoying most this december is the Advent study I've been doing with She Reads Truth.

I've done a lot of studies with She Reads Truth and I've been blown away by the goodness of it all. I've learned so much and grown in character. If you are interested in doing their online studies, go check them out HERE. They are starting a new study on John in January. And trust me, it's going to be good. 

Alright, now for a look at how I decorated this year:

Our tree and Eli!

It's amazing how well the boys have done with not destroying anything on the tree. I thought for sure something would be broken within seconds. So far so good. I'm not much of a tree decorator. I don't use fancy ribbons or color schemes or anything like that (because that is a lot of work). Every year I buy an ornament for everyone to go in their stocking, so my tree is full of just a bunch of different cute random ornaments. We've got tractors and trains, and farm trucks, and horses (can you tell I'm living with boys?) I even have some ornaments that Brian made as a little kid. For me ornaments are all about the memories. I can't wait until the boys are old enough to help me decorate the tree. 

It's great when your mom has too many Christmas decorations to count and starts giving them away. These white trees are favorites. I'm surprised they are still in tact with two little boys running around.

This is the boy's favorite decor. They are intrigued by the little cabin and we've already lost a tree in the front. :) And look at those little cuties in that picture frame. It's hard to believe that was last Christmas. They love to point at the frame and say "baby"!

The manger scene and my little advent cabin. 

I just threw a couple of festive pillows on the couch and called it good.

This is what I have on the table. I love these reindeer.

And this is why I wanted little shelves in my kitchen. :) I got this snow globe this year at Lowe's. Who knew they had cute Christmas decorations? I sure didn't. I snagged this up on one of our many trips to get house supplies. 

I bought those little snow angel baby figurines last year, because they reminded me of the boys :)

And finally some wall decor:

Favorite chalkboard ever, painted by ME!

Also, one of my favorite Christmas signs. Brian made the tree and I painted it. :)

Bought from a store...sometimes you just can't make everything ;)

And I won this sign at MOPS. It just happens to be my favorite Christmas carol. This sign was handmade by some pretty cool gals from my MOPS group and they have a blog too. You should go check them out HERE!

Ok, well that's all folks! I hope you all have a very merry Christmas filled with joy, laughter, and good memories.