Salon de Ta-ron

Sadie Jane got her fingernails painted for the first time last week. Well, sortof. Seven of them got paint on them. The boys had Daddy Night at school so the girls (Taron, SayJ, me and poor Maxsim) hung out and did our nails. Taron did most of the painting...she did mine and they were better than any asian woman has done them in the past, and she not once insisted my brows HAD to be waxed. SadieJane did not like being confined or sitting still for her manicure but since that day has "talked" about it and inspected her nails numerous times. I love having a girl for many reasons, but painting fingernails might not be in the top ten, but it is still really fun to thinking of doing things like this together for years to come! Thanks to my new nail professional!

Quirky Kid

Micah has to be one of the quirkiest kids I have ever met. I've met some kids in my day...but seriously, daily I wander to myself how in the world he got to be this way? We are not patronizing parents who allow for all sorts of nonsense...or are we...when I think of his quirks they seem like nonsense, but if we don't put up with them the reprecussions are endless it seems. His biggest quirk by far is his clothing....ahh the troubles it has caused us...

Oh my word I have never seen anything like it... he can't stand collars, buttons on shirts or pants, things that are the least bit tight, socks that are not shaped like rectangles, normal shoes, dressing up, sleeping in anything at naptime other than shorts (no matter the temp outside), underwear, sweaters, anything that has elastic on the sleeves, jackets and last the dreaded jeans (oh they hurt, oh they hurt he'll exclaim for hours on end). I am sure I could keep going. Basically this leaves short and long sleeved tshirts, shorts and sweatpants. Yep, that is what we wear. Every. Single. Day. We have finally stopped trying to force the dress up issue for church in fear that he will begin to grow to despise this Jesus who insists on a polo and khakis or jeans even. But that is not for lack of trying. For weeks we've simply held him down and dressed him in "snappy casual" attire, all to hear such moaning and gnashing of teeth. This week he wore grampa sweat pants and a tshirt. Such a proud Momma I am. To be fair to him these things do physically bother him. It isn't just mental...although I am sure he gets some weird fun out of it. Stinker that he is... Bless him he has never been shaped like a normal sized boy...his head always got stuck in the onesies from the day he was born, he could never wear any cute shoes as his feet were too wide and I guess I crammed his big belly in one cute jean too many and now he's scarred for life. That is all I can figure because most, if not all, his clothingquirks have to do with things being tight or rough.

Oh and above is Micah chewing on a tbone. The child has tried steak at least five times and never liked it, over the winter break we had some steak and the kid could not get enough. He ate a whole steak and then tried to gnaw the bone like a chicken wing. Quirky, he is...

Dedicated Mom vs. Dedicated Christian

Long ago in a land far away I used to be somebody. I used to sleep in, I used to match, I used to bathe and do all sorts of crazy things. I also felt pretty confident in my relationship with my friend (and hopefully yours) Jesus. But as the children have come, so has my ability to balance and carve out time for meeting with my Savior. Sad, yes. Hopeless, no. Now I have actually learned way more about Jesus after having children than I did before, and my prayerlife has definitely improved. BUT the whole "relationship" part of my time with Him has really suffered. There is that little thing called time alone that has diminished...but I somehow still find time to blog, to text, to run(although that is good prayertime) and (I'm working on cutting back) waste time on facebook. I was going to title the post "Dedicated Christian Mother" and talk about what an oxymoron that is...as it is so hard to be both...but I didn't want it to sound like I truly thought it impossible. I don't. I actually forsee it being easier as they get older and am already finding more time and seeing ways it isn't my lack of time but actually my lack of planning. For the past week or so I have been having some anxiety issues, about things that don't warrant anxiety, yuck. I have spent alot of time assessing and analyzing and finally praying; as to why this is the case and I just keep coming back to the fact that I haven't been actively studying His Word. The lack of discernment, peace and contentment went right out the door with my Bible. Since I am in a rare and blessed position to work from home I spend most spare minutes trying to cram in a little bit of work. When the babies sleep that is my prime time to work...but it could also be prime time to spend time with Jesus. I surely don't dare "neglect" my children by reading my Bible while they are awake. Hmmmm. Anyways, I've just been struggling with balancing being a dedicated momma while also finding time to still nurture my other relationships. I mean it is a given friendships, spouse etc. might get a little less time in order for me to spend time with Jesus (and those people seem to be a little more understanding than my kiddos), but it is a battle to put that time before time with my children. I feel that way either out of wanting to do something with them or by the fact that often I have no choice...I mean I can't leave them by themselves. I am pretty sure I can look back somewhere in the files and find a blog post similar to this one...but this is where I am...whether it be again or the first time. I am just thankful that God never leaves us or forsakes us and that He promises to see us through to completion, dedicated Momma and all.

Feelin' a Little More Girly.

So I finally got a new blog design that is a little more girly. The old design was before we even became pregnant with Sadie Jane so it was pretty masculine and little boy centered. Our blog name is still a bit Micah centered but now the design is for all of us:) Purple just seemed to be perfect since purple is such a huge part of our lives, work, and attire. Now it encompasses our WHOLE family. It looks like this new look will see us through for a good long while!! There is a designer blog button on here if you want a new one too. They are really great and reasonable.

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Brotherly Loves

Micah and SadieJane are really having fun together lately. My favorite time that they have together is before naptime. Micah insists that Sage wants to play in his bed with him and he tackles her like in the pictures above and she laughs and laughs...until ...she cries...because Micahbird wont let go. But seriously SadieJane LOVES her Bub. Micah sleeps like a teenager so often times SayJ is awake two or three hours before he decides to grace us with his presence so the other day during breakfast she realized he was MIA and put down her spoon...looked up at the ceiling and started yelling "Bub, Bubbbaaaaaa, Bub!" Hilarious. Micah also has missed out on school for a while due to snow, etc. so he finally went back this week. We had gotten so used to having him home, both days when the lady came to get him from the car Sage started crying and reaching for him...even pulling out of the parking lot she was still calling for him. The feeling isn't all the way mutual yet as Micah continues to push, shove and generally ignore her for the most part. BUT there are those glimmers of Brotherly love that I see and am hoping they grow...like when his buddy Jaxson or Hayden do something to her, he all the sudden gets territorial and says "hey, that's MY sister, ya know!" I am so thankful that they have each other and while I would like to give them another sibling (my mother's shaking her head here) they both seem to be content with just each other. Micah most verbally esteems, "we got ONE baby, we do NOT need another, and you (me) couldn't handle it anyways." Such confidence my kid has in me, he must have been talking to my mom lately. Ha. ha. ha.

Many Faces (& Hairdo's) of SayJ

Pigtails...in timeout. She puts herself in Bubba's timeout spot every now and then...

Yes, that is ketchup on her shirt. DISgusting. My parents introduced her to it and she is in LOVE. I despise condiments.

Trying to get a picture of the back of her hair. The long mullet part wont fit in the hairholders.

Doing a silly dance.

Sadie Jane's favorite part of the snow was eating the ice. Yum.

She does this thing where she puts her neck on her shoulder all the time. It is so strange.

Daddy put a balloon on her head and it stuck.

It followed her around while she walked. It was so funny. She did not think so after a while.

So like everyone with the second I have so slacked off on documenting her milestones and changes. They just happen so fast and I can't remember to put them on the blog. And they aren't that interesting. Which is why I am pairing them with supercute pictures to offset the boringness. But here are some facts about SayJ for me:
She can say Momma, Daddy, Bubba, Jenny, Haydee, Nana, Pops, Budda, Bay, Jax, Max, duck, cat, meaow, cute, open, again....none of these sound like the actual words I've just typed, but I know what she means. Hee hee.

She will eat anything and alot of it.

She can show how big she is, her muscles, clap and can fix her hair.

She is super observant and will copy anything you do and go and do whatever you are talking about even if you aren't talking to her.

She loves baby dolls. Her favorite is a naked Baby Wendy doll (Aunt Wendy gave it to her). She bathes her (with wipes), puts diapers on her and carries her around.

She will go look for anything you suggest...and often locate it before you do.

She loves her sleep now, (thank you Jesus!) and takes a good nap and sleeps through the night. I rock her then put her down, sometimes she insists I put her in her bed with no rocking.

She is so dramatic. Often crying with NO real tears. Ugh. Trouble.

She is pretty obedient. Well in comparison to what came before her anyways...

She gives the best kisses. She grabs me around the neck and gives a big smack. Love it.

She loves her Bubba fiercely...I am going to post about that too later.

Will NOT sit still through a whole meal. Grrr.

Ok, enough already...I just seriously still can't say enough about her.

Another post...for Jenny.

No speeding.

Micah holding on for dear life.

Haydee crashing into fence.

Mick and Haydee racing.

Blizzard of '11

My stylish snow bunny.

Rearview...

Sadie Jane sledding in our makeshift sled...aka an under the bed storage container.

Hayden laid down to make a snow angel and couldn't even make a dent because of the ice. Mick chopped it up and made a pretty good one.

Obviously SayJ is the only one with a matching snow outfit:)

Hayden. With no eyes!!

Micah and Haydee sledding together

Sending Haydee off.

Thankfully you don't see the end of this sled ride. It was a tough landing.

The bird on the porch where he found some soft snow.

Nemo and Ironman playing with Micah.

How we feel about being cooped up.

The kiddos the other night before bed:)

So far after the Blizzard of 2011 we have ventured out twice. Snow days always promise to be fun but there are always a few snafoos (or whiny children). Hayden stayed with us this weekend and we had so much fun that we decided we wanted him to get snowed in with us! So he did and was definitely the most excited for the snow this morning. He is such a good egg. He is actually working on his homework and an art project now:) That is for Jenny...well the whole post is since she claims to miss the little guy. But she is getting to read and do things for herself so I am glad he is here. Our first venture out this morning Micah refused. He has such an aversion to his clothes being a certain way that he couldn't bare the thought of "layering" things on top of his pajamas. It literally sent him over the edge. I thought to myself, how did he get like this? It is insane his quirks. I got everyone else dressed...woke Mick up:) and we headed out. I was determined SayJ wear her snowsuit that we bought last summer for 4 bucks and she wore it proudly. Only problem she couldn't really move with all the layers on and rain boots. She loved being outside but insisted I carry her so that she didn't have to figure out how to get moving. The one time I sat her down she just fell backwards...the suit is so thick it kinda stays straight and she couldn't really fight it. We took Hayden to find some big hills and he loved the sledding. Then we came in for a bit then convinced Micah to come back out with us. He never layered so he was pretty cold. For those that don't live "round here" it snowed then iced so even thought it looks pretty it is a sheet of ice on top of some powdery snow mainly. Micah insisted on wearing his tennis shoes so he just slid all over the place and was again whiny. Grrr. We headed inside for lunch and played dress up and jump and dance party. Overall very fun day. But I am imagining three more days of this and I could be a little stir crazy. Something about being "stuck here" that makes you want to eat everything in sight...and it isn't like I am going running on the thin sheets of glass out there!