Laughs with the Littles

Last piece of cake left.


(For those of you that can't read phonetically spelled writing, it says "No touch, Mine, Mom said. Mariah")

The other night Marc was singing a silly song about how much he loved Mariah. She said, "Oh dad, I have been knowing that for years!"

Yesterday I went to Wal-Mart and took Mariah with me. When we got out of the van she smelled cigarette smoke and said, "That smell is enough to make my hair curl!" We went to the back of the store to pick up an order. While I was waiting I sat on the bench. She looked at me horrified and said, "Yuck, do you know how many naked behinds have been on that bench!" I said, "I hope none." She said, "Well it IS very germy!" I guess I have made my children little germaphobics! :>)
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While trying to get a cute picture of the three youngest: Malachi- "OOOH...... the baby stinks!"

The laughter erupts!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is what happens when I go running and leave the teenagers in charge. No wonder they think McKenzie is so much fun!

Thankful for laughter!

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth up the bones." Proverbs 17:22

Myles is five months!

Why is it that the months during a pregnancy creep by, and then the baby gets here and they fly!? I can't believe our little guy is already five months old! He seems to get squishier every day! He smiles all the time and babbles "mmmmm....ma". I realize he isn't really saying "ma ma", but I like to pretend that he is! Daddy is working hard with him on the "d" sound! :>)

I love the expression in this next picture. The lighting is yellow.......... one day I am going to learn how to use my camera!

He slobbers all the time. No signs of a tooth yet.

Madeline dressed him up like a cowboy!

It is late......... off to bed.

These are the best days of my life....

Those are the words I hear so often from my mother and other older people when talking about raising little ones. I shop on Tuesday mornings while the girls are at piano. It seems that there are always a lot of elderly people at Wal-Mart in the mornings. Every week at least one person will stop to look at the baby, and without fail I hear words like, "Enjoy it, they grow up so fast." Having two teenagers in the house I have at least a little glimpse of how fast it does go by. I do cherish the time I have with my children. But lets face it, it is exhausting some days! Here is a sample of some of Malachi's recent "art work"

This lovely piece done on the side of my refrigerator was done with a black Sharpie. Any ideas how I might could get it out? We have tried Windex, Grease Lightening, Clorox, Magic Erasers, and hairspray. Believe it or not, the only thing that even lightened it at all was the hairspray!

Then there was dinner the other night. He decided he would like a little pepper on his spaghetti!

Not sure why he is under the table. I think it had something to do with him getting into his big sister's pan of sweet rolls that she had just made.
We recently went to see a family that travels all over the country and sings. One of the songs that the mom sang was about cherishing the time with your children because they won't always be here. I needed to hear it, because that particular day had been a bad one. That morning I was changing the baby's diaper and he tee teed on me, Mariah was calling me to help her with her math lesson and Malachi was screaming from the bathroom to come wipe him. As I stood there with baby pee on my sweat shirt I thought to myself-- this is NOT a glamorous job! But thankfully those moments aren't all the time. There are so many precious moments that I would miss if I weren't here with them. Like hearing Mariah say to the baby, "You just think you are an old bag of chips!" (She has heard the saying, "He thinks he is all that and a bag of chips too.") Or the day that Malachi pulled on the binding of our couch (that already looks horrible!) and I heard Mariah say, "NO Bubbie! You are tearing up mama's memory!" Or when I was scolding Malachi for making a mess with the soap and he said, "Daddy said don't be means to me and no louding at me."

Or being there to see Myles's first "roll".
Or seeing Malachi give the baby a kiss and say, "Oh, my sweet baby."

Yes, even with all of the exhaustion (and art work all over my house)....... it is worth it! :>)

Oh.......... the weather outside is frightful!

Schools were canceled before the first snowflake even hit the ground! Ok, you northerners, don't laugh! It's exciting when you live where snow is a once every ten year thing! When they forcasted several inches of snow for today, I didn't believe it. (I actually didn't even want it!) My children were excited though. I didn't rush out to the store to buy milk and bread. What is it about bad weather that everyone rushes out to get milk and bread? I have always thought that was funny. No, I sent Marc to the store to get hot chocolate! That makes much more sense!

Mariah was out singing to the top of her lungs as the first flakes came down.

Dad trying to retaliate after Matthew got him with a snowball.

Malachi was not impressed with the snow. He went back inside and watched a movie. (Smart kid!)

Malachi didn't have a heavy coat that fit him until a couple of weeks ago. (That should tell you a little about the climate here.) I found this coat at landsend.com It was regularly $56 and I paid $19! I love a deal like that, especially when it won't be worn much.

Now that I am looking at these pictures, they don't look as pretty as it does now. The snow is still coming down. Oh well.......... STILL looking forward to spring!

I am sure McKenzie will post lots more pictures on her blog. She has only taken about 100! :>)

Wednesdays evenings.........

Wednesday evenings my husband and two oldest children go to church. The church we go to is over an hour away. On Wednesday nights the men have a Bible study and the boys have their Boy Scout meeting. McKenzie goes to a lady's house to quilt while they are at their meetings. I enjoy the time with the younger ones. Each week I try to do something with them that I might not otherwise do. Last week we made cookies. Malachi was helping dump the chocolate chips in and they spilled everywhere. He started eating them as hard as he could go! Now remember when you look at these pictures, my photographer is gone on Wednesday nights! :>) Marc bought a Nikon D 60 for me before Myles was born. I am just not a technical person! I think I took prettier pictures with my old 35 mm! McKenzie knows much more about the new camera than I do!


Eating chocolate chips as fast as he can!


Finished eating their cookies!

Good raw milk! Chocolate and milk just have to go together!
For those of you that want a "healthy" cookie recipe, this is our favorite! We just adapted a chocolate chip cookie recipe to the way we like them. Anytime we go out of town we take a batch with us. Maybe not exactly "health food", but a whole lot better than store bought stuff! :>)

2 sticks butter

2 cups sucanat (we use sucanat with honey or raw cane sugar)

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups whole wheat flour (we have used hard and soft wheat)

2 1/2 cups oats

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup raisins

You make them just like any cookie recipe, creaming the sugar and butter, adding vanilla and eggs, then dry ingredients. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes.

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This week they had fun making Valentines!

Malachi got caught with his sister's purse. (No, he didn't want the pink purse, he wanted the chocolate that he knew was inside the purse!)






"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

One year of blogging.......

I started this blog one year ago today! McKenzie had been trying to talk me into blogging for a while. I already felt like there weren't enough hours in the day to get what I HAD to get done, much less blog! When I found out I was pregnant she said she thought it would be neat to journal my pregnancy......... so that is when "Baby Blessings" began! It has evolved from being just about my pregnancy with Myles, to rambling about our family life. I think one day when the children are grown it will be fun to go back and read it! And no, I still don't have enough hours in the day (which is why McKenzie does my pictures for me!), but I do try to capture a little of our life!

Here are a few more pictures of Myles for your viewing pleasure! :>)

"Sick" of his four month photo shoot! :>)

Looking so much like his big sister Madeline did at that age

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I love to run every afternoon. It is my "outlet". When it was just the oldest two I often ran with them in a double jogger. Over the years I have gotten it out once in a while to take someone with me. To be honest, I really liked running by myself! It was "me time."(our joke around here from the line in the movie "Fire Proof"!:>) This past fall Madeline and Mariah decided they wanted to start running. I have a two mile loop that I do back and forth until I get my mileage for the day in. I let them do a mile at the beginning of my run with me. This Christmas they both got bikes. Madeline has decided to be my partner now, she rides while I run! She told me one day that she enjoyed the time with just me. I now look forward to having that time to talk to her. The other day I was sitting on the front porch with Myles letting him get some sunshine. It was a rare gorgeous day. (We have had SO much rain lately.) I needed to go run, but I couldn't stand the thought of taking him inside. Our jogger is in the barn covered in hay and who knows what else! We got the stroller out and took him with us for the first two miles. He loved it and I discovered why they make joggers! Stroller wheels vibrate like crazy when you try to run with them. Myles loved it though, so it was worth it! :>

Madeline and Myles getting ready to go!

Check out those cheeks! :>) A lady at church yesterday called him a "puff-a-lump"! I thought that was so funny!

And we are off...........

Well, things to do...........until next time!