Sweet Easter

Easter ... oh sweet Easter.. 

I love this time with my family. We are starting to create our own little traditions and they are so sweet. Saturday night we go to our church and head out for Mexican food. The boys dressed in their Sunday best... which for them meant jeans without holes and new shoes and stopped to take a few pictures before church. Umm.. I could just eat them up. 

I mean are you kidding me???

 Tylers face is so classic. And when did Ethan look so big?!!

Sunday morning we watch Veggie Tales... a lot of Veggie Tales with donuts and milk of course. Then lunch time head to Moke's house for Easter Egg hunt and lunch. The kids are all started to play together and its so sweet to see the relationships being formed. And what an amazing gift to celebrate with a family who all have a great passion for the Lord. We know it's a rarity and don't take that lightly. 

On the way to Moke's today we saw a cross on a church. Ethan then began to say "Thats the cross where Jesus died. The soldiers got em, and beat him and he had lots of boo boos. and then they put nails on his hands and feet and he died on the cross. He died so we could go to heaven. When I go to heaven I will see Jesus and we will wrestle, and I will kiss and hug him. And then he will take me to see the animals." 

I really didn't he was listening- and if he was that he got it- but he did. All except the animals bit--- I have no clue where that came from. =) 

My mom put "girl stuff" and "boy stuff" in the eggs. Ethan loved going through all the eggs and passing out the cars, dinosaurs, rings and hair bows. As you see Hannah loved her hair bows. 

i hope someone got one of all 4 of us looking at the same place. 

Mae was far more interested in looking at what the little kids were doing than looking at the camera. 

Ethan LOVES his Mae. He wants to hold her, find her bottle, get her toys, help Lauren in ANY way he can. He prays about her, asks about her, and checks in with her if he hasn't seen her in a few days. I hope these two always have such a sweet relationship. The moments with her are some of the few ones where he will actually be still. 

Can you repeat that?

As I zipped up my pants ( without having to lay down I might add) Ethan looked at me and said " mom, you have a big belly." As I tried not to bust into tears, give excuses of my lack of good diet techniques, or say any 4 letter words, I had him repeat it. "I said you have a big belly." 

Oh Lord. 

It's true. Children only speak truth and have no sense of sparing anyone's feelings. Maybe that's why it hurt a little bit.

As someone who has fought body image, being overweight, eating disorders, and comparison for FAR TOO LONG, I refuse to pass down such horrible self talk to my children. I want them to grow up knowing their bodies are temples and treat them as such. I know boys have body image issues just as much as girls and want them knowing how wonderful God made them. 

I am not one of those women who says " I am fat and I am cool with it." I am also know that mom who says " I hate my body and I will do anything at any costs to be a size 1"  I came out of the womb a size 8 and will die as such. :) I live somewhere in the gray area of the two. 

I simply knows these truths: 

My body is a temporary gift. God gave me this body for the short time I am here on earth. I will do what I can to care for it by doing exercises I love, feeding it foods I love, and doing what my grandma always taught me " everything in moderation." 

My body made 2 freakin children and I will give myself a break... Not an accuse. After children everything changes. My stretch marks and tummy sag is a sign that I grew 2 freakin people. However, that's not an excuse to give into every stress craving.  

My body is not your body. Since 3rd grade I compared my body to others. My little group of friends once sat on the playground and look down each others shirt to figure out who needed a bra. I know we were totally creepy. But since then I have tried to see where I measure up. After having kids, both my sister and my SIL looked like per a y bodies  a month after giving birth.... I still am caring around baby weight 20 months later. I am not their bodies and don't want to be. 

My kids will watch and listen to how I respond to my body. There is talk about how moms of daughters should watch what they say around their daughters. I Know that to be true. But I believe that boys will reflect it to... Not only in how they look at their bodies but how they view women around him. If I chose to surrender to being a fat mom or become a psycho dieter, there will be volumes   being said about how we should look at each other. 

After Ethan pointed out my sweet big belly he finished with this. "I love your big belly." 

Oh sweet child, what a great lesson to finish up my day. Ethan loves what I think is totally unlovable. He isn't in denial that my tummy is there... He points it out and loves it. 

Me and my big tummy love you too kiddo. 

(And just because every post requires a photo... Here's how we finished our day)

3rd Birthday Party- the best yet!

in case you missed it, Ethan's birthday party last year was  a disaster. well, at least for him. He spent the entire time in his room while the friends I thought were so important to invite had fun outside. I decided this year to actually ask him what he wanted. No expectations... no Pinterest... no Facebook comparison... no preschool expectations of "you have to invite your whole class.... Jsust what he wanted. And what he wanted was a 3 little pigs cake and his 2 best friends to just come and play. EASY!!!!! I love it. 

So my amazing husband went to town on the cake. He decided to do the 3 hourse... straw on top, the sticks, then bricks. Ethan LOVED it... and I think it turned out amazing!! He even bought a little wolf to put on the tray.

Yes.. each house had it's own door. And the candles were the chimneys. 

Our street is being renovated, so we moved the party to my parents house- what a blessing to have them in town. SO LAID BACK. Hot dogs and cheetos, juice boxes and cake. DONE! 

And the perk of having the party at Moke and Diesels house is getting to use their bubbles. Nothing better than grandparents who share. =) 

Even time for some dress up. 

As you can see this little boy LOVES his girls. His two best friends could not be more precious, sweet, or generous. They all love holding hands, talking about Frozen and asking where the only one is if someone is missing. Too precious for this mommy. 

Diesel is the best to play with!! 

Now, I accept Tyler to be one who invites his whole class... but I kinda hope Ethan always just wants 2 people. 

Spring a ling a ling time

I must say, I loved Spring Break a lot better when I was a teenager. No school- playing with friends- no bedtime. I can even imagine what it will be like when the boys are teenagers and they sleep all day- WONDROUS!! However, Spring break with two toddlers is HELL! 

All 3 of us are creatures of habit. I am lucky to have married a man who can go off schedule- but I can not. I need routine, boys need routine. And so I dread summers and spring break. YIKES! By Wednesday morning we were all cranky. Amongst the craziness I loved capturing the every day sweet memories though. 

 Like waffles (and pink eye). 

Like watching all the big trucks "break our street"... yep it was lovely having to park on another street and walk home with the boys down the alley. 

Like the playroom looking like a tornado hit it. 

Like brushing our teeth several times a day for fun. And apparently checking out our muscles. 

Like doing EVERYTHING our brother does. 

Like birthday parties. 

Like hanging out with Mr Todd. 

Even though I am certainly ready for tomorrow when our routine kicks back in, I do love every second I get with these two. Even on mornings when I am losing my temper,losing my patience, hurting my feet on legos, yelling "dont spit on your brother" for the 384848534356 time, singing the Frozen songs AGAIN... I wouldn't trade this chaos for anything. I prayed for this. And boy am I thankful this chaotic life is my life. 

"Let's Give It To Mae"

May I introduce Mae. Ethan's sweet cousin and our tool to get rid of Ethan's paci. 

I knew that it was time for Ethan to be done with the paci. Let's face it, he should have been done a year ago. But honestly, I am just not that mom that cares that much. Until one day I looked back in the rearview and he looked like a giant in that carseat with a big paci hanging out of his mouth. SILLY! 

So, Bryan and I decided that Spring Break would be it. He is NO WHERE CLOSE to potty training so, I wanted to tackle at least one obstacle. We told him that paci's were for babies, and he is almost 3 so he is almost a big boy. I asked him to think of babies he knows and he said "Mae!" Perfect. I said, "well lets call Lala and see if Mae could use a paci." As I called my sister, I just prayed not only that she would answer, but that she would be sitting at home just waiting for us to come over. 

Luckily they were home, and were up for being part of this. We loaded in the car and went to Mae's to give her the paci. He was frustrated that his 6 week old cousin wasn't shoving the nasty paci into her mouth. He kept saying" Here Mae.. here is the paci.. I am a big boy now." As much as I am glad that that nasty thing is gone, I did shed a few tears watching up give it to her. It's just another reminder that a stage is ending for him. Time is flying WAY faster than I would like. So I cling to each day and love every phase.. the good the bad and the insane. 

The follow up was much easier than I thought. He went right now to nap without it. At night he asked for it for bed, and I reminded him that we gave it to Mae. "Well," he said "then let's go to her house and go get it from her." After I reminded him that he doesn't need it anymore, he went right to bed. And it's been a perfect dream over since. 

Now... potty training... that's a different story. 

Iphone Purge

So many sweet memories I won't ever want to forget. 

Ethan with his new friend (and cousin) Mae. I have a feeling these two will be sweet friends. 

Helping Mae decide what toy she likes (by placing them all on her body).

What a sweet blessing these two are... amazing teachers for Ethan and amazing friends to me.

This crazy kid takes the hairgel out of my bathroom and asks for "mohaaaaawk!" So here he is in all his glory. 

The perk of working down the hall from my boys is that I get to sneak over for all the holiday parties. 

Ethan's best friend in the whole world is sweet Elliott. Nobody makes him happier. 

During community group, when I told him he had to stay inside, I turned around and saw this.