The Quotable Madelyn: Diamond Ring

Yesterday while driving home, my ring was reflecting the sunlight into the van.  Madelyn saw it and asked what it was.  I told her it was my wedding ring.  She then clarified that it was a diamond ring.  Then she said very sweetly, "Mommy, I want one of those!  I want a diamond ring!"  I said, "Well, when  you grow up, if a man wants to marry you, he may give you a diamond ring."  In a positive, upbeat voice, she exclaimed, "Oh!  I'll have to remember that!  They're so beautiful!"  Uh-oh.

My 3 1/2 Year Old

Today Madelyn is three and a half. This evening, Troy asked her if she could bake some cookies for us. She replied sweetly and quietly, "No 'cause I'm just a little girl." Troy then asked her if she was going to bake cookies for us when she was a big girl. I watched her blonde ringlets bounce up and and down and her big blue eyes grow even wider as she exclaimed, "Yes! Mommy I'm going to be a big girl, just like you!" My heart melted, of course! She grows sweeter everyday. Here are a few more things I want to remember about Madelyn, at age 3 1/2...

~She loves music. She can actually play her "carmonica" pretty well!
~ She sings everyday. Most of the time it is "Joy to the World" that she is singing or humming. What better song, though, to sing of Christ's coming!
~She still carries around her blankie.
~Madelyn loves her brothers so much and has a kind and caring heart towards them most of the time. She is motherly to Owen at times---and not in a bossy way, but in a sweet, nurturing way.
~She loves her cousins and friends and asks to include them in our prayers.
~Madelyn loves to dress herself. She loves to mix and match skirts and leggings. She doesn't like jeans and would wear a dress everyday if she could. She has a spunky sense of style!
~Her favorite colors are pink and purple. No surprise there!
~Her favorite toys are her pink trike and her toy kitchen and food.
~She loves her kitties, animals and any living thing. She shows concern and care for even worms or ants. I found her in the kitchen yesterday giving a stray ant a pep talk about finding his home.
~She is the girliest of girls, from loving painted nails to hair pretties to anything that sparkles, but she is very down to earth and will get dirty if she needs to. She loves helping in the garden.

Madelyn, at age three and a half is blossoming in all kinds of ways, and I love to watch her grow. I just hope she doesn't become a big girl too fast!

The Quotable Madelyn: Sisters & Ikea

I've never done a "Quotable Madelyn" post, but lately, she has been saying some pretty cute stuff.  I want to remember those things.

On the way home the other day,  I mentioned to Troy that we needed to stop by Stater Brothers to pick something up.  Madelyn, not being familiar with that store, spoke up and asked, "Do they have sisters there too?"  It still makes me smile to think of it!

Yesterday, when I picked Madelyn up from her Sunday School class, her teachers informed me that she learned about Zacchaeus that morning.  She then informed me that she learned about "Ikea, the little man."  Zacchaeus, Ikea----they sound alike, right?  :)

Oh, and a couple other things I don't want to forget:

~She calls Sunday School, "Skunday School."
~She pronounces some of her h's as c's.  "Cumongous" instead of humongous and "carmonica" instead of harmonica.

Day 28: Family Valentine's Dinner

Last year, we started the tradition of having a family Valentine's Day dinner at home with our kids on Valentine's Day.  We never enjoyed going out because every place is so crowded and would much rather enjoy a date when everyone and their wife, girlfriend, or grandmother was out.  Also, this tradition is so fun!  Our kids have a blast and so do we.  It is a lot of preparation, but is so much better than going out!

I applied many pins this year.  The nice thing about Pinterest is there are people who pay close attention to detail.  Printable, free Valentines are available through Pinterest that can make those special details, like having homemade Valentines with your children's' favorite characters on them, so much easier to find and use!  (Click here for a bunch of free Valentine's Day Printables!)

For this card, I found the free chevron stripe printable HERE and the date to date calculator for date HERE.  The fact that you could have that calculated in seconds is amazing!

An idea I came across on Pinterest was to have heart themed pizzas.  How fun is that?  And how perfect for the kids!  I purchase the Bob's Red Mill gluten free pizza crust at Big Lots for a decent price.  The bag says to divide the batch into two balls, but I decided them into several balls, just big enough to roll out into a six inch circle so I could use a large cookie cutter to shape the dough.  Instead of baking the dough with the toppings on it for 15-18 minutes, as directed on the package, I baked it for 10.  The pizzas were smaller, so that was perfect.

To make the pepperoni (which is nitrate-free from Fresh & Easy) heart-shaped, fold the pepperoni in half, just like you would to make a paper heart, and cut out half of a heart from fold.  Unfold and you have a heart and a pepperoni with a heart-shaped hole.  Cute, huh?

Next, to make the salad special, I made the carrots heart shaped.  When I saw this on Pinterest, I HAD to do it  The hardest part was cutting the slit in the middle of the carrot.  After that, I just peeled the carrot to shape it.  Overall, it was pretty easy and added such a great detail!  Madelyn loved eating the carrot hearts!

And, of course, we ate by candlelight.  :)

After dinner, we played a few rounds of balloon volleyball, Valentine's Day Edition (the red balloon!).  Jackson said he wanted to play this every night.  I have to admit, it was so much fun!  (Again, this idea was from Pinterest.)

To set this balloon volleyball up, fold a twin sized sheet in half lengthwise, drape over  two chairs so it forms the "net."  Then tie the ends of the sheet to the leg of the each chair.  Be sure to blow up the balloon to a somewhat small size, so it is less likely to pop.

After volleyball, we finished the night off with brownies!

A bonus I didn't expect...my hubby gifted me Elyse Fitzpatrick's new devotion, a much needed and very pretty apron, and Thin Mints.  Yea!!!  

Pinterest was a nice addition to our family Valentine's Day tradition.  I'm happy I added those little details, and enjoyed the fact that the kids liked them too!

My Beautiful Little Girl

November 26th

Thankfulness Day 26

Today I am thankful for my spunky, silly, sensitive, sweet, and sour little girl.  Never did I imagine that God would bless me with such a beautiful little girl!  She happens to be 39 months old today.  I know---it sounds silly in months, but it goes to show how fast time goes!  I remember holding her in my arms for the first time and that seems like just yesterday---not 39 months ago!  She is a girly girl who loves kitties, Cinderella, pink, purple, jewelry, dresses, and all things pretty.  When she shows me her sweet side, her warm, happy blue eyes and sweet smile bring warmth to my heart.  She is learning to show this side to other people, but that is coming slowly.  :)  I love her so very, very much and I am so thankful God gave me the opportunity to be her mother, and I want to remember that, whether she is being sweet or sour!

My Kid's Smiles

Thankfulness Day 18
God gives us so much more than we deserve. My kids are so much of a blessing as it is, but every time my kids smile, that little blessing warms my heart. I am overwhelmed with thankfulness for these smiling faces and in awe of the God who made such beautiful, happy smiles!

My Children's Good Health

 Thankfulness Day 16

Yesterday the kids all saw their doctor for a check-up---Jackson for his five-year check-up, Madelyn for her 3-year check-up and Owen for his 18-month check-up.  They all are healthy kids!  I know that good health isn't a given.  I thank the Lord that He, for the time being, has blessed my children with good health!

Jackson covers his ears as Owen gets 5 shots.  They did them quick and Owen forgot about it in about 10 seconds, but they is never fun to watch or hear.

All the kids' percentiles.  Owen, for now, is pretty short.  No wonder his pants are too long! (Correction on the percentiles-  I just recalculated Owen's and Madelyn because they seemed slightly off.  Owen is in the 51 percentile in weight, not the 95th, and in the 14th percentile in length, not the 9th.  That makes more sense!  Madelyn's was slightly off.  She is in the 77th percentile for weight and the 55th for height.)

Our Kitties

Thankfulness Day 14

On a cold morning, there aren't too many things more pleasant than a warm, purring ball of fur tucked closely to your body.  Today, I am thankful for our kitties, Cassie and Olive.  They are both so sweet.  They are sweet and patient with our kids as well.  I couldn't imagine our household without them.  I thank God that He gives us small pleasures in life like having a companion and friend in the animal kingdom!

My Sweet Kids

Today I am thankful for my kids.  They are all three so different and I love them all so very much!  Jackson is smart and witty and constantly contemplates the world around him. Madelyn is sweet, with a little sour and silly thrown in.  Owen is my happy little cuddle bug who wants so much to be like his brother and sister.  I thank the lord for these three blessings everyday.

Recently, Troy's show interviewed Keith and Kristyn Getty for Haven Today Radio and he brought home their new CD.  The third track on the CD is called A Mother's Prayer.  The lyrics are so precious because they explain exactly what I desire and pray for my children.  In the beginning of the song, I love the words...

"I pray your little frame grows strong
And that faith takes hold when you are young.
This is my prayer for you."

The song continues...

"This world is not as it should be,
But the Savior opens eyes to see
All that's beautiful and True.
Oh may His light fill are you are
And the jewel of wisdom crown your heart,
This is my prayer for you."

And towards the end of the song,

"May my mistakes not hinder you,
But His grace remain and guide you through.
This is my prayer for you."

The song says it all.  I love my kids so much and I want them to know the sweet love of Christ.  I thank God for the opportunity to love my kids by showing them the love of Christ.

God cares for the...Cats.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 

  Matthew 6:25-26

Madelyn brushing her kitty one last time before she left for her new home.

This post, as are most of my posts, is way overdue.  Mid summer, we started noticing behavior in one of our cats that was most disturbing to our life and were told by the vet it was most likely because we had two other cats.  The vet told us that she would do better in a single-cat home.  I called the Humane Society and they told me that they would most likely have to put our cat, Abby, down because she would be considered "un-adoptable" because of her behavior issue.  This tore me up inside.  My kids LOVE this cat.  She was so sweet to them and always enjoyed their attention.  I called every "no-kill" shelter within our county and the three nearest counties.  Everyone said the same thing: they had too many cats!  It seemed like all hope was lost.  I was so stressed out.  My stomach was in knots about the thought of putting this kitty down.  My worries were even affecting me physically.  I was bringing these worries to God in prayer, yet, I don't know if I was really letting Him take the burden.

In her new book, Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing, Sally Loyd-Jones writes about worry.  She says, "Worry is thinking we know better than God how something should go."  WOW!  Isn't that so true, yet, convicting?  This is a children's devotion, but it sure does a good job at speaking to adults!

In mid-August, I put a plea on Facebook for someone to take this kid-friendly cat.  It took a few days and a few phone calls, but a Facebook friend kindly offered to take our cat.  Madelyn's heart is still sad when she thinks of her kitty friend that is now with another family.  I remind her that the family is loving her and she is happy there.  The relief of our cat, Abby, finding a loving home was HUGE!  Oh!  How I wish I remembered how God cares for his creatures...be it a bird or a cat!  How I wish I didn't so easily forget that He cares for ME!  He knew of the heavy burden on my heart for this cat!  Let us be more like the birds when it comes to our worries.  God always cares for His children!

(By the way, if you are interested in Sally's new book, Haven Today, the radio show my husband produces, is doing a series on it.  Please give it a listen! http://www.haventoday.org )

Troy turns 40!

A week before Madelyn turned 3, Troy turned 40.  He had a hard time deciding what he wanted to do to celebrate the beginning of his 4th decade.  So, two weeks before the big day, he decided on a party! (Yea for Pinterest!)  We had close friends and family come to celebrate with Troy, which was hard.  If he could, Troy would have invited a lot more!  Nevertheless, he had a blast!  Here are some highlights of his party and his birthday!

The chalkboard has been one of my best purchase out of the Target dollar section.

 One request of his was bottled coke...you know...the Mexican ones with the real sugar!

 A movie themed seemed to be fitting for Troy, so behold the "backyard film theme!"

 Striped bunting and hanging mason jars.  

 Troy's mom was kind and rented a popcorn machine for the party.  We were so glad she did!  It was such a fun thing to have!

 Homemade yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

 Semi-homemade red velvet cupcakes. (I made the frosting and added some "special" ingredients to the mix!)  I made all the toppers in Adobe Illustrator.

 CAKE!

 Getting ready for the showing of Pee Wee's Big Adventure!

 My 40-year-old hubby doesn't look 40, does he?

 About to blow out his candles!

 Us.  With Cake.

 One of my favorite scenes...

 Silly boys.

 Good friends.  Just missing Scott!

 I gave Troy a year of dates for his birthday!  Looking forward to going on them!

 In N' Out!

 We ended Troy's bday weekend with a trip to the park.  The kiddos enjoyed it...

...and so did Troy!