It's a Golden Life

With Father's Day right around the corner (tomorrow) I have been thinking a lot about what it means to have a father in my life and for my children to have a father in their lives. My husband. He is amazing. He is a really great dad. His laid back personality can fool anyone but me. In this house, he is known as many things aside from "just a laid back guy". He has many jobs and rolls to fill here. He is the tickle monster-lurking around every corner just waiting for a frown. He is the pushover who lets scared night stalkers slip into his side of the bed because "it's probably much more comfortable than his own bed" and doesn't count the number of chocolate milk "sippys" that are given once he is home. He is the epitome of Mr. Fun who suggests outings such as a couple hour trek to the zoo with an infant and a toddler because it he knows how much fun they will have. He is who everybody can't wait for to come home. He is a wonderful dad and s...

Halynd is 11 months old today. I can't believe she's already been in our lives for almost a year! What a sweet baby girl she is! So far little miss is: *17.6 lbs. (5th percentile) and 26.5 inches long (7th percentile) *She stands by herself and has attempted to walk, but realized crawling is a whole lot faster. *She is switching from the bottle to the cup Mmm MMmm :) *She drinks water, apple juice and soy milk from her cup. *She sleeps from 7:30 pm-7:30 am, and only wakes up every once in a while. *Takes a morning nap from 9-11 and and afternoon nap from 1-3. *Has four teeth completely in. She is working hard on her top two left. *She eats anything. I have not found anything she doesn't like. She made a funny face with squash, but still ate it :) *Loves Malachi and tries to hug and kiss him. *Says: Mama, Dada, Chi Chi, Dada, Hi, waves bye bye and her favorite word to say is Dada. Even when he's not around. Punk. *Loves to get her picture taken, smiles all the time, giv...

She started walking on May 17th! Big girl! Our kiddos are getting SO big! Halybug started walking on Monday (May 17th). She has a long way to go with balance, but she is trying and self motivated-and that's important! Mr. Chi is growing up so fast. He worked for almost an HOUR on Friday on a single picture of a dinosaur. He just sat happily with his box of crayons and baggie of markers at the kitchen table-coloring away. He worked very hard on it, so we hung it up on the fridge! He was so excited to show Donovan all the colors (I'm pretty sure he used all of them). Summer is just around the corner-next month! I hope the weather will proove this! So far, it's been pretty cool for this time of year. I think the temp is mainly in the 70's so far. We have a few projects that we are going to plan to get finished before summer is through. First, we are going to organize our garage! We will be getting book shelves, because that is about the only boxes we have left in there. Th...

At her 9 month check up she has officially gained a whole pound this month. She is now at 15lbs 14 oz! She is eating everything in sight. She loves black beans, blue berries, bananas and of course bread. She is a great sleeper, going down at 7:30 until 8 or so. She has pushed in 2 bottom teeth this month and had a grouchy disposition for about 2 weeks to get them! Still our sweet princess, into everything and on the verge of walking. She says dada and mama and many other words we don't yet understand. Her swim suit! She loves to lean over the side of the pool and lap the water with her hand! She learned quick that grass is scratchy and must be crawled in a certain way to avoid being uncomfortable. She looks like a cute little frog! Precious.

This picture sums up Malachi. Loud. He has a ton of energy and loves to be very expressive about everything. He has been practicing his nurturing skills by lovingly laying his animals and woody doll down for naps. So sweet. He LOVES to play with cars. Donovan's brother sent him his Chevron cars from when he was younger and Malachi is definitely digging them! He thinks that you can't see him if he closes his eyes. He is mischievous and makes quite big messes. This was minor with peanut butter from snack smeared all over his face, hair, shirt and legs. Another instance of his love for dirt/dirtyness. He loves mud!! Acting silly is one of his favorite things to do. He loves to laugh. He is now officially a big big boy. He has graduated to a twin sized "Cars" bed with his very own book shelf for all his books. He has been binky free for 3 1/2 weeks! (BIG accomplishment) and he is completely potty trained including nap and night time! What a big boy we have here! I love th...

There was a "choo choo pane" and Chi just had to ride it! He is actually very afraid in this picture. We told him it was a real dragon and he was very cautious about it the whole time it was in his sight! Malachi wanted to pose with the Lion but refused to look at the camera. We threw Halynd in there and she loved holding onto the lion. Look at this sun hat. She actually kept it on! It's good that she did because the sun was hot! She loved the swing. Each time she would go back and forth she would squeal with delight! Daddy showing Chi the ducks. There were tons of catfish eating the bread people were throwing in. Malachi was a little cautious of this guy too. He is very scared of snakes. In fact, any scary dreams he wakes up from are always from snakes. Look how gigantic this Boa is!!! I love the reflection of the lady in the electronic wheelchair behind us. She was a real firecracker and was taking up the entire walkway with her chair. She was stinkin cute though. No t...

I have been thinking a lot recently about my husband. It seems as life gets busier with school, work, kids....life-that my appreciation for him gets put aside. It's tough to think about all the good he really does when I am overwhelmed or stressed out because we are so rushed or so busy. It seems like even though I am home all day, I can't wait to see him and spend time with him, but frequent plans are made otherwise. I act unappreciative and not understanding. I become selfish and am over taken with my own emotions. More recently, as my spiritual life has been growing, I've realized that....it's kind of NOT all about me :) I am not here to be served by my kids, my husband or anyone else for that matter. I am here to serve. I am here to be the best wife and mother possible that God has allowed me to be. My life is so full of blessing. I am so loved and taken care of yet sometimes I lose sight of this and get caught up in the moment. It's not fair to those around me ...