150 years of marriage

Over the Easter weekend, my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. During the celebration, they also recognized that the family have collectively been married 150 years. My sister and her husband (left, 4 kids) have been married 21 years; my brother and his wife (middle, 5 kids) have been married 15 years; we have been married 8 years, and my dad's parents (not pictured) have been married 66 years. The joke of coarse was that our family has endured a lot of suffering, but be appreciate and celebrate our parents and grandparents legacy of commitment they have set before us.My brother's family entertained us with music.Brett joined in with his new harmonica.Isn't my niece a cutie?

According to Brett and I, the best part of any party is the cake. I like to decorate it and he likes to eat it - every last crumb...even the ones that fall on the floor!It was great to have the party at a park with a playground for the cousins to play!

I love it that they have so much fun together even though we only see them a few times a year.

Reggie was so excited about the party that he was up for the day at 4am - and couldn't quite make it through lunch.

Some of these pictures were taken by my aunt, but there was also a professional photographer there. Hopefully in a couple weeks I will have some more great pictures to post.

Easter

We spent Easter at my parents' this year. The kids enjoyed dying easter eggs. The easter bunny brought Reggie a recorder, Lydia a pair of scissors, and Brett a harmonica. Brett loves his harmonica!

I didn't even attempt a picture with all 3 kids together!

if you take a toddler to the bathroom...

If a toddler catches site of you heading to the bathroom,

You might have to take him with you.

And if you take the toddler with you,

The Others will probably follow.

And when The Three are in the bathroom,

One's probably going to decide he needs to "use it".

And when he "goes" and gets praised,

Another's going to want to follow suit -

Though She has yet to "produce results".

And once they're done,

They're all going to want to wash their hands...

With lots of water and soap...

And brush their teeth...

With lots of spitting and rinsing.

And all of this provides ample opportunity for The Third to -

Unroll the toilet paper...

Dig through the garbage...

Touch yucky things...

Throw foreign objects into the toilet...

And fall head-first into the bathtub.

And while you're cleaning up the mess,

The Little Girl is probably going to decide to freshen up with her chapstick and hairbrush..

.

And as you're coaxing her out of the bathroom,

 

The Boys are probably going to escape to your bedroom.

To terrorize the cat.

Who has been in hiding for the last three years.

Which is why this is one of my favorite inventions:

forbidden fruit[snacks]

Last Sunday's sermon at our church was entitled [sin]happens. In our house, when dealing with our children, we call it a "wrong choice", so here is a little story where [wrong choices]happened:

The last time we went to visit MeeMaw and Papa, MeeMaw sent some treats home with the kids, which included a special box of fruit snacks for each child. We already had fruit snacks in our snack cupboard, so I put the boxes on my makeshift pantry/shelves in our laundry area. When Lydia was helping me with laundry, she found her My Little Pony fruit snacks and wanted them. I told her we were going to finish the ones we had open first and she needed to put them back. Over the next couple days, she repeatedly got the box out and I repeatedly told her to put them back. One morning, all the kids were playing in the family room near the laundry and I went to clean up breakfast. I was in earshot, and it had gotten way too quite, so I went to see what was going on. I found Lydia standing in the middle of the floor opening her fruit snacks...and Brett was also opening his Buzz Lightyear fruit snacks. But he was laying on the couch with a blanket pulled over his head and hands and the box of fruit snacks. He was hiding his wrong choice. Honestly, it looked so funny, I had a really hard time keeping a straight face when I confiscated the fruit snacks.

We are all born with a desire to make wrong choices. It appears as though somewhere between the age of 2yrs and 3yrs, we become aware of our sinful nature and feel a need to hide from - in this case - Mom. But it reminded me of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Hey, it was even the "woman" (Lydia) who led the "man" (Brett) to the forbidden fruit[snacks]! Once Adam and Eve had sinned, they felt a need to hide from God.

How often in my wrong choices have I tried to hide from God?

And how funny did it look to Him?

wedanfamilygrowing pains

There's a reason it's been so quiet at wedanfamilygrows. No, we are not adding more family members. But in case you haven't noticed, our family has been growing and our house has not. This winter seemed to magnify the tightness of our humble home, and we came to the conclusion that it was time to take the hit and put our house on the market.

I love our house. It took my breath away the first time we stepped foot in the door and, like a relationship, through life changes and over time, it has become part of us. It is our first house, purchased shortly after our first anniversary. On the day of our closing, Bryan carried me over the threshold with dreams of what our life would be like. We picked up a paintbrush and a hammer and made it ours. Then, we put down the paintbrush and hammer, and welcomed our three little miracles into our family and BAM! The house we love just isn't a fit for us anymore.

So we're taking the first big step toward our hope of more comfortable family living - a kitchen we can all enjoy (at the same time), a place for our guests to lay their heads at night, a yard big enough for a clothesline, garden, and swing set, and - the big one - a bathroom that is not two long flights of stairs away from new-potty-learners' play areas.

There are growing pains. It is no secret that the housing market has tanked since our home purchase in 2004. It is very likely that we will be paying to get out of our home. Keeping the house in "show-ready" condition is going to be interesting with three toddlers. And looking to the next house that we intend to be our family home for the long term, we wrestle with decisions about school districts, proximity to work, and finding neighborhoods where all of our family members will feel comfortable. On the buying end, the good news is there are lots of opportunities. We are hoping for a quick process but planning for bumps in the road. Why should we expect any different?

spring?

Please tell me spring is finally here.