Husbands are cool.

This was my little cabinet that I bought awhile back to display the china that my Grandma gave me for my wedding.  The china belonged to my Great-Grandmother Gilger.  I love it.  It was stored in boxes for years before I got this cabinet.  I really liked it but knew I would LOVE it if I could paint it.

My studly husband, who knows that I can't paint anything without making a huge mess, painted it for me!  And I do love it even more! 

Isn't the china sweet?  It reminds me of the women who have passed it down to me.

Here it is with the stuff all back in it.

I love these handles.

Look how manly he is!  Thanks honey.  You always do my little projects with excellence.  I love you!

This has nothing to do with my husband or my cabinet.  But I am so excited that I finally made some homemade ranch dressing mix, onion soup mix and chili seasoning.  So easy, cheap and much better than the store-bought stuff.

You know you're a mom of a girl when...

you have to say, several times a day, "Just take a deep breath."

you have resorted to hiding your  "important" jewelry.

there is a real fear that you will lose the opportunity parent your newest baby due to older sister ownership.

there was a period of time when pink and fluffy was the only acceptable state for any purchase. 

you still have to avoid the strong smells.  These just come in spray bottles.

you always check your lipstick before you use it.

you get that, "I totally disapprove of your behavior." look and it's not from your mom.

everything is better with sparkles

your sons won't fully believe you about anything until they have checked with their sister.

you frequently try to put on socks or underwear that are several sizes too small.

you cannot hide any emotion.

there has never been so much glitter in the world, EVER, until now.

you think you have had a private conversation only to find out she, somehow, has heard every word.

you have lost ownership of most of your high-heeled shoes.

you no longer have to ask your husband's opinion about an outfit or nail polish color.

there is inspiration for a real reflection of your own hormonal highs and lows.

you are amazed at how far eyes can actually roll back into a head.

there are brushes and hair things in every room of the house.

you have formed an alliance against stinky smells coming from the boys in the last post.

kitties and best friends are the most wonderful thing to happen to humanity.

you are so happy to see your husband give his and love attention to another female.

you are amazed that one human could be so sweet, silly, goofy, sassy and spunky all at the same time.

there is a friendship and a love that cannot be described that you know will be there forever.


I love you Jolie Kay.  We will have a new list of things to write when your baby sister gets here.

 

IT'S A...?

Precious Father we thank you for giving us the blessing of children.  Please make us good stewards of that blessing.  Keep us captivated by these little treasures so that we will never forget how important this time is or how fortunate we are.  Thank you most of all for hearing the prayers of a little girl who desperately wanted a baby sister.  You are truly a God who sees hearts.  

Thanksgiving=tons of pictures

I realize that this blog has way more pictures than anyone really wants to scroll through.  But in the interest of fairness, even if I only showed one picture of each family member, there would still be 18 pictures.  We like to roll big.  So, if you can hang, here they are.

I guess we have more than one "Face" in the family.

Levi fancied this helmet all weekend.

Aunt Sara and Miss Emma

Uncle Galen blessed our meal.

The babies. (Who are actually 3 and 2 but may always be called "The babies.")

Nap time.  This may or may not have been faked.

Kyle entertained us all with his mouse maze.  It is a darn impressive science experiment.

Uncle Brad looks a bit scary in this picture but the children were full of joy as he threw them around the living room.

Pile O' boys.

Stack O' girls.

Cousin love.

Grandmolly brought the supplies to make ornaments with the kids.  Here she is giving Cody expert advice.

This is one of her favorite things.  ART!

Asher and Addison look impressed with Emma's creation.

I love this.  Loud, crazy and full of love.  (And strange smells.  Lots of them.  I do not love that.)

Addison's ornament.

Uncle Brad and Kyle had a jam session.  Of course Sara, Amanda and I had to kill it with some sweet harmonies.  You've never heard Jingle Bells until you have heard our version.

Can you see the smoke coming out of Matt's ears?  It turns out that kids don't give the best hints in a game of 20 questions.  This is a version of that game called Headbands.  It's a family favorite.




All around it was a wonderful weekend.  We have a great family full of cousins who love to spend time together.  Lots to be thankful for.  Praying your Thanksgiving was blessed!

My sad/happy day.

I am in shock.  Summer is over.  While my garden is still in production, my babies aren't going to be here to help me harvest.  They will be part of a classroom.  Just another kid.  Even though their teachers will love them, they won't know how truly wonderful and special they are. 

They won't know just how precious and tender Jolie's heart is towards others.  They won't see the sweetness in Asher's somber and serious way.  Their hearts won't fill with joy at the twinkle in Zaddok's eyes.  I mourn this loss.  I will miss my babies. 

 But the excitement they feel makes up for my hesitation.  They are so ready to be part of that classroom.  They can't wait to be one of the kids.  And they are so excited to show the teachers every reason why they should love them! 

This is the hardest part of parenting.  Letting them be who they are apart from us.  We know that everything we have taught and prayed covers them.  We pray that their hearts are guarded and that their spirits are protected.  We hope that they have a really wonderful experience. 

"May the Lord bless you and keep you.  May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.  May the Lord give you Peace."

Matt took this on his way home from work. *sigh*

Have a sweet day my babies. Mama's gonna cry a little. Then I'm gonna go get a coffee with only one child by my side.

At least he is stinkin' cute. 

This is the corn we grew this year!  Isn't is cute?  Thanks Papa!

We have been blessed with a good production of cucumbers.

Our girls have been busy!  I saved them to make some breakfast casseroles for the freezer.  Great easy school morning breakfasts.

Thanks for sharing this day with me.

El Reunion

July is reunion time for my husband's family.  Everyone loads up all of their camping gear, every bit of food they own, and some sweet talent show skills and heads to the New Mexico high desert.   It is always a fun time spent with our sweet family.  The kids LOVE it!  They just roll around in the dirt and eat cookies whenever they want.  It's a kid's paradise.  The grown ups; my husbands cousins, aunt and uncles, grandparents and some old friends just enjoy being together.  Of course there are pictures!   

Usually, my Jolie is over-run by boys.  Not true with these cousins!  Girls were everywhere and Jolie was content.

Did I mention these were her kind of girls?

These are some of our boys.  They were like wild animals.  They were hard to spot.  When we did, it was even harder to get a picture!

With the exception of occasionally messing up a girl picture.

  People get my husband and his brother confused. This is not my husband.  This is my bro-in-law with my niece Emma. 

This is the heart of the reunion and the family!  We love you Popper and Grandmother!

If Grandmother and Popper are the heart of the reunion, then this is the stomach.  Not sure which is bigger! ( Okay, so the heart must be bigger because the stomach couldn't handle all of that food.  Can you say leftovers?)

This is the Mullins/Stokes compound.  We had a nice cozy spot beneath the trees. 

And my fear of snakes slithering around the campgrounds came true.  Thankfully my husband/hero caught it and thankfully it was just a bull snake.  The kids were so excited!

iPhones on a camping trip?! Hey, can you check my Facebook?

We finally got to meet Ms. Teddie.  (Teddie's mama Rachel is not only family but is also a blogger friend. Cozy Green Cocoon)  Now they have gone East.  We won't get to see them again for awhile so we were all thankful for the chance to hug them!

This was the only time I saw my son all weekend.  He turned Survivor Man on us.  We got him back when it was time to leave but he had a thick coating of dirt all over him and wouldn't let go of the weapon he had fashioned from a stick.

You know how everyone has a crazy uncle?  Well, this is ours and he is glorious!  We all love Uncle Brad.

You know that dirt coating I was talking about?  Here it is in action.  Nice uni brow son.

Matt and his cousin AJ.

He's the handsomest.  Sweet Popper.

We got to celebrate Grandmother's 80th birthday.  It was so special to have everyone together to honor her.  It was a surprise party that really surprised her because her birthday is not until November!

The most beautiful girl in the world!

These littles played into exhaustion everyday.

We have a traditional talent show at every reunion.  The kids put on a great show.  This year, Popper participated with his Magic Hat trick.  Everyone was gathered in anticipation.

It was a great trick!  See the awe, confusion and excitement in their eyes.  Priceless!

My little wolf cubs emerging from the cave.  They slept like rocks and woke bright and early.

It was a gorgeous weekend.  God was merciful and gave us cool weather and beautiful sunsets.  We couldn't have planned it better.  We feel blessed to be a part of a family that has so much love to give.  Everyone had a blast bonding with cousins that live far away or getting to know each other better.  I pray that these moments will be included in some of my kids favorite memories.  I know that they are in mine.