Amy's Blog: Long Time No Blog

Hello all :)

I can't believe the last time I blogged was in 2011!!. I was reading over my blog and have probably missed a ton of stuff I would have liked to remember.

The kids are growing up and doing well. Sam is almost 5 (Ahhhh! Make it stop!!), Liam just turned 3 a few months back, and we have our sweet Lily May who turned 1 at the end of November. The kids keep me busy, as does being a full-time homemaker. We have our ups and downs, but I'm enjoying the ride and (slowly) learning to be content with what God's blessed us with in the here and now.

I read something the other day that talked about how we can always be looking ahead to a "future self". She's just so organized and put together. She menu plans and schedules like a beast. She's dressed every morning and never wears pajama pants all day. Dinner is always ready on time and laundry never piles up. My favorite part was that this "future self" is a total flake. For some reason she just never shows up. It made me laugh, but it also made me realize that I have to stop longing for this made-up, future self and learn to love who I am now. It's right where God wants me to be. The kids will never again be 4, 3, and 1, so I need to enjoy them now. Someday they might not want me to snuggle them, or read to them, or build Legos with them. They'll be able to bath themselves, read to themselves, etc. Those days will come and I want to look back and be satisfied that I did all that I could to enjoy every little bit of them and give them wonderful childhood memories to look back on and, most importantly, a solid foundation, Jesus, to stand on.
Just a little something I'm working on. I truly believe that parenthood is the ultimate refiner.

And now a little update about our family:
(I'm sorry that the pictures seem all over the place. I have no idea how to get them put on here in an orderly fashion).

We're going on 8 years come March. Woo hoo! Thank you, Lord! I love this man! This picture was taken February 2011, so it's a bit dated, but we have very few pictures of us together and I just love looking at this one. This was taken at my lovely sister, Kerri's, wedding just
weeks before we found out we were pregnant with Lily.

Sam

Ah, my Sam-boy. My almost 5 year old. Eek! I almost have a 5 year old!!

Sam is such an awesome kid. He is so smart! And fun! He comes up with crazy ideas and can draw better than any kid I know. He is incredible to say the least. He's a lefty and after reading a bit about lefties I feel like I understand his way of thinking a bit more. Lefties use the right side of their brain which is the creative, imaginative side, so, needless to say, he is very creative and imaginative. Not to say that right handed people aren't, mind you.

Sam likes to build with Legos. I broke down and bought him the tiny ones and he's a pro at them. He's very methodical at his placement and very matchy-matchy. He also likes to shoot guns and pretend he's a pirate. I seriously tried to keep him from ever knowing about guns, but, let me save you some time and tell you that, weaponry is ingrained in boys. Just go with it. He typically leans toward "protecting" me, but when we start shooting Mama the guns are put away.

I am excited about our upcoming season in life. Sam will be 5 in March and, come June, we will be starting our first official year of homeschooling! I'm following a trend of a few friends that do the bulk of their schooling in the Summer and Winter when the weather is just insane. Too hot/cold to go outside. We will take a month break in the Spring and Fall and around holidays.

I've been working on turning the 4th bedroom we added to our house last year into a school room. It's coming along nicely and I think it'll be really fun when it's all finished.

Liam

I read past posts on Liam and boy was I ever right about the fiesty, craziness of this kid. It's just grown bigger along with him. He's my big 3 year old, rough and tumble, nutcase. Liam has recently acquired the urge to act and talk like a puppy. He will respond to me only in "ruffs" and attempts to eat from his place via his face. He is definitely a goofball and cute to boot.

Liam loves trucks and driving them around. He is content to sit quietly by himself playing with the truck of his choice. He is also quite happy to pester Sam and Lily. Or to have a complete, total freak-out melt-down because something fell apart, or he can't button his pants, or his reflection looked back at him. You just never know with this kid.

He's fun and sweet and always down for a snuggle and a kiss. On the other hand, he's got a huge attitude and has been rolling his eyes at us for years. He follows right along with Sam and is happy to join in on anything Sam's heart desires, good or mischievous.

Since I'm going to be schooling Sam I've got to come up with a way to keep Liam occupied, as well. So I'm working on building a preschool curriculum for Liam to work on. That way he feels included, is busy, and is learning along with us. I look at it as more of a trial run for our schooling years. Kindergarten is definitely nothing to stress over; it's mostly learning through play and interaction, so it should be a good time for all of us.

Lily

Beautiful Lil. My little, sweet, baby girl. 13 months old.

How set I was to have all boys until she came along. I'll take more girls, please! I've been super blessed with awesome babies. Lil is no exception. Amazing girl, sweet and happy. Loves to be around her bros. She is spunky and fun. She likes to pretend she's talking on the phone, saying "Hel-lo" and "Hiiiiii". She especially loves talking on my phone to her Daddy whom she adores above all others. That is her man!

She'll play happily by herself and will crawl around the house hollaring "Ma?!" when she's ready to come find me. She eats anything and everything. Baby food? Pass. This girl eats real food; the bigger the better. She has been pulling up to her knees. I'll have another late walker, but that's ok, keeps them little for a bit longer. She is FAST and content to army crawl herself around.

She has tons of teeth; molars are making their way through. She doesn't seem to mind them.

Her best buddy is her cousin, Deacon. They are a hoot. As soon as they see each other they laugh and swap pacis. Hers is pink and his is blue. I don't know what it is, but they've been doing it for months.

Speaking of Deacon, I wanted to mention this little cutie. He is my sister, Kerri's, little guy and he is a wonder! He is 10 months old and his Auntie's little sweet. Deacon makes grandbaby #8 for my Mama.

Come March and my sister, Shelby, will be welcoming her first little boy!

Fun sibling fact: all 4 of us girls had boys first and my brother had a girl first.