Bed Switcheroo

Last week we finally moved Anya out of the closet and into the crib.  That meant we had to move the crib from Lincoln and Creighton’s room to Kate’s room and switch Creighton to a new bed.  We tried to get him to sleep on the bottom bunk of Lincoln’s bunk beds, but he didn’t want anything to do with that, so when a friend offered to let us buy their toddler bed, we took her up on it.  Creighton really likes it and has COMPLETELY SHOCKED us by staying in his bed at night and for naps. We did have to switch his bed around because he insists on sleeping a certain direction, so now the sides are actually by his head.  :)

 

While he does stay in his bed, he is still our lil’ mix of Curious George and Dennis the Menace.  All dessert is now kept on top of the refrigerator after he ate 1/4 of a pan of texas cake.  The first time he only dug into the frosting and I didn’t learn my lesson and didn’t move it and then he actually ate it.  This boy keeps us on our toes!!

 

It snowed today and the kids had a snow day!  Who would have thought their only two snow days would come in March??  Anya watched from her bumbo. 

  

Back to the Pictures

 

Last week it snowed close to sunset and I tried to capture a picture of it snowing with the sun in the background, however, professional photographer I am not, so I couldn’t get it quite right.

 

Kate has a fantastic teacher this year and they put on a space play last week.  I didn’t get many pictures, as I was taking a video of it.  Kate was a star, you can see her head peeking up over the star. 

Creighton is 2.  Need I say more.  He wanted to wear his coat backwards, so we just went with that.  =)

After being quite sick for a week, we were really thankful when Anya started to feel like herself again.

  

I’m Not Perfect And That’s OK!

 

Warning!  This is not a picture post!! =) 

For the past year or so I have really struggled with my inability to achieve perfection in being a wife and a mom. Every day I have AT LEAST one wrong reaction, or selfish thought, one situation that I wish I had handled different, made one wrong choice about what should or should not have been made a priority and I’ve just raked myself over the coals thinking, “why can I not get this right?” Over the past couple of weeks, several times, the truth that I will NEVER get this perfect has been taught to me and it’s starting to sink in. Just because I believe in Jesus, that he died for my sin, was buried and ROSE again, does not mean that I will ever get things perfect. I’m not sure when the false concept snuck into my brain that made me feel like perfection was actually attainable this side of heaven. Over and over again, every day I would struggle at the end of the day with being incredibly discouraged about my less than perfect performance as a wife, a mom, a friend, a person, a follower of Christ. For the past two months I have been surrounded by teachings that have helped me so much. I’m not perfect and that’s ok. Perfection is NOT the goal, imperfect progress is. If your goal is perfection you are going to get to the end of each and every day defeated like I was. You have to learn to give yourself some grace, give yourself the permission to fail and strive for imperfect progress. Begin to focus on how you can have one more right reaction than you did yesterday. You are daily being perfected to be more like Jesus, but you are never going to arrive. This is no license to sin, just a realization that if we could be perfect, Jesus would not have had to die for us. We are called, with the help of the Holy Spirit to keep at it. One decision at a time.

Along those same lines, I’ve noticed in myself the tendency that I have to compare my rotten insides to other people’s “outsides.” If you look at the picture of my family at the top of our blog and you read our blog you could easily be convinced that our life is perfect all the time. Well, nothing could be further from the truth, I am just by nature more of a the glass is half full rather than half empty sort of person. My personality is such that on those truly awful days, most of the time God grants me the grace to laugh (and sometimes cry) rather than yell and throw things, although that is occasionally a temptation.  If you doubt, please come watch what goes down at our house from 7:30-7:55 every morning when I am trying to get people out the door to school. =) There are times when things are nothing short of a complete disaster. At the end of most days it looks like a toy store erupted in our house. Sometimes when I make lunch the breakfast dishes are still sitting on the table. Sometimes I literally don’t brush my teeth until right before my hubby gets home because I never had two minutes to do it.  I take kids to school covered in puke, I’ve been seen around town looking like death warmed over. Sometimes I talk to my kids in a tone that I would be mortified if someone overheard. Sometimes I react in anger over some little or big circumstance when I should exercise self control. Sometimes I whine and pout and make bad choices. What is the point? I’m not perfect but I am being perfected.  To sum it all up, if you are like me and struggle with these things, I encourage you to celebrate the things you get right, let the things you do wrong humble you and teach you, and offer yourself and others the freedom to fail. Because of the miracle of God’s grace, I think you’ll find freedom and joy in that.

Who does Anya look like?

 

We get asked all the time, who does Anya look like?  She obviously has some similar features to the others, specifically they all have the same nose.  These are pictures of our other 3 at 4 months.  Anya is only 3 months in her picture.  But, who do you think she looks like?

Nothing Too Exciting. :)

The past few weeks we’ve had some sickness run through our house, so not a lot of excitement going on over here.  We’re looking forward to spring and enjoying seeing the sun shine here and there lately! 

Toward the end of February we got some more snow. 

Lincoln and Norah had fun playing in it one afternoon.

  

Their siblings joined them after school.

Creighton and Anya have been sick, but both are improving every day.

 

Kate had a solar system project to do for school. 

 

Lincoln and Mike went to a Men’s Event at church so Kate and I (plus the Littles) stayed home and ate pizza, watched Strawberry Shortcake, and I painted her nails.  :)

  

Kate and Lincoln continue to hold Anya as much as she will let them.  :)

 

Sledding

Last Saturday we had the chance to go sledding.  The snow was perfect for little people and their sleds. 

Creighton all ready to go.

Lincoln and Kate went really far on their sleds.  They slid right into the field at the bottom of the hill.  Lincoln is the dark spec in this picture.

Fun on the sleds

  

Climbing back up the hill

  

Their version of snowboarding

 

Getting ready to head home for hot chocolate!

 

February Birthdays

 

It’s rough being a baby. 

 

I went to both Kate and Lincoln’s Valentine’s Parties and somehow only managed to take 1 picture.  Oops! 

Chef Kate

My Mom took Kate to the Grandma and Me Tea and my Dad took Lincoln to be his helper for a few hours last Saturday.  What a treat for them both!!

   

Sometimes friends walk into your life and even though you’ve only known them a short time, it seems like they’ve always been there.  That has been our experience with Josh and Penny.  We had another great evening of pizza and laughs with them! 

 

We celebrated February Birthdays with the Rassi family last weekend.  I didn’t get a picture of all the birthday people together, but here are a few individual shots.  It was a special birthday for Dad R and we all enjoyed the opportunity to spoil him a little. 

    

Anya is still the center of attention around here.  =) 

 

February is always a rather long month for me.  Vacation is done, spring seems kind of far away still.  This year the days just evaporate in record pace and I’m left at the end of the day wondering if I checked anything at all off my to do list.  =)  But, I’ve been really trying to be intentional about focusing on the kids and enjoying this stage of life with 4 littles.  Life is much more peaceful when I make the effort to set a fun and light tone for our house, rather than an uptight or irritated tone that seems to want to creep in so often in the winter months.  So, if you’re anything like me right now and starting to get a little stir crazy and maybe a bit overwhelmed, remember, this too will pass.  Take the time to enjoy today for what it is. In the past few weeks I have rubbed shoulders with those who had to bury their child, those who received a phone call that more testing is needed regarding their health, read of a woman pouring herself out to help those trying to escape human traffiking.  In all of that, I read it, and I try to think, what can I learn from all this?  I think the answer is simple.  Serve God where you are at with everything you have.  Second, enjoy today, you really never know what your tomorrow might bring.