oh the discipline

Elias' favorite word is, "No". His place of residence most days? Time out chair in the hallway. 


Isaiah is lying. Oh how I hate lying. Sometimes I can't tell if he's trying to get out of trouble or if he's trying to make a joke. For instance, he will throw something, and when I correct him, he'll say something along the lines of, "Oh, I didn't know it was in my hand". 


It's a difficult time with both boys needing so much discipline, but I'm staying consistent and praying for calmness. A LOT. I get so worn out being responsible for these little boys. I'm learning so much, as well.


My discipline constantly leads me to remember God's grace. I forget how much I mess up since I don't have my mom constantly watching me and correcting me. I have a poor attitude. I have a short fuse. I am mean to my husband. I yell when there is no reason for yelling. These are things that I need to focus on in myself. 


We are constantly quoting Luke 6:31 "Do to others as you would have them do to you".  I have to stop and quote that verse to myself constantly. If I was needing to be reminded of how I was behaving, would I want someone jumping down my throat and yelling because they are tired? Or, would I want them to calmly remind me that I'm treating someone without respect? 


God's grace is AMAZING. Parenting is such a great reminder of that for me. I will never be able to be as gracious, but my prayer, as of late, is that I will be able to show more grace to my boys. I want to speak in a calm and gentle manner and allow more grace in their lives. 


I want to let the little things go. The little things that are not going to matter when it comes to standing in front of God. Little things like manners. I want to stress teaching others with respect and letting others go first, but is it really the end of the world if they slurp a little while they drink? Yes, annoying. But, not going to shape them into a more godly man...maybe a more attractive husband, but not more godly!


These are my verses I'm trying to remember...I want to memorize them and keep them in my heart as reminders while I'm disciplining, getting frustrated, and at the end of my rope. 


Proverbs 15:1
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.


Matthew 11:28-29
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 


1 Corinthians 4:21
What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?

1 Peter 3:3-5

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. 


Really, these kids are such blessings. Their laughter brings me such joy. The disciplining brings me much self evaluation, which brings me closer to the Lord. 

They are such gifts, and it doesn't hurt that they are so stinking cute! 

holy

One of my favorites songs that I blast while doing my home thing (aka cleaning, disciplining, working, changing diapers, etc) is "What do I know of Holy" by Addison Road. Jeni posted it on her blog and I hadn't ever heard it until then. I bought it immediately and have been listening to it ever since.

Here is Elias' version.

"What do I know holy. Dumptrucks go. For the Bible tells me so. I want to know Holy and the giraffe went. Go to church. Holy. I know Holy. I want to know Holy. I want to know Holy. But Holy."


I just happened to be getting ready to close my computer when he started singing it, so I just started typing as the words came out of his mouth. It was perfect timing and so stinking funny. 

Love this boy & his funny ways

the mystery of the slug

Yup. It's as gross as it sounds. We have a slug. Those things seriously give me the creeps. I despise slugs. They are so ugly. And we have one.

Do you see that trail? There was one almost every morning trailing from our sliding glass door to under our kitchen table and back to the sliding glass door. There was no hole that I could find. I have no idea where it is coming from or where it is going! Thankfully I've never seen the actual creature in our home.

I didn't want to ask anyone if they'd ever dealt with such an issue because, really, wouldn't your first thought be, "um, maybe you should clean your house more often?" I think it is so disgusting that we had a visiting slimy creature. So, I Googled it. Yup. It's a problem for others as well. *Insert sigh of relief*

I was kind of convinced it was living under our media cabinet, but was too afraid to look. I made Bryan do it! He had his flashlight and said, "Wow. I found it." He was dead serious and I about cried. I knelt down beside him (really I was cowering behind him, peeking over his shoulder). "Oh MY GOSH. IT'S HUGE", came out of my mouth. Then laughter. It wasn't a big, brown slug. It was a brown toy muffin.

My plan of action after Googling for 30 minutes? Salt everywhere. Ha. The trail was around the sliding door, so I put a ginormous line of salt outside the sliding door and inside. I almost used an entire thing of salt.

I'm proud to say, no more slime trail. I will keep pouring out the salt to keep that trail away.

Yuck. Yuck. Yuck!

isaiah's first day

Oh. My. Goodness. My baby is in pre-school. How can that be?!

He is attending Stafford Academy, and his teacher is Mrs. Robertson. She is a fabulous, young mom who just started back to teaching this year. Isaiah adores school and adores his teacher.

Bryan and I took Isaiah to school and left Elias and Raelynn home with my mom. Elias was so sad to get left home, but my mom eased his pain by letting him make sausage balls with her (his favorite breakfast!).

We took some pictures, and left for school.

And we were 25 minutes early. Oh my word. It was perfect, though. I told Isaiah he could come sit with me in the front seat. So we chatted and talked about how fun school would be. Just before we got out of the car, Bryan prayed for Isaiah and his first day.

That's when I lost it. I told myself I wasn't going to cry, but once we prayed, it took everything in me to keep my tears in. I wanted Isaiah to be excited not scared.

We walked Isaiah to class, and talked with his teacher a few minutes. Once we told him good-bye, he looked a little out of his comfort zone, but ready to face the day.

I held it together until we got to the car. Then the tears slid right on out. My boy was so brave, so excited, and so ready to meet new friends. His teacher seems fabulous, and I'm so excited for him to experience new things!

Crazy times.

Once we picked up Isaiah, we went out to lunch with my mom and then went to the airport to watch a few airplanes before my mom flew back to Idaho.

labor day

For the last few years, we've been getting together with my family for Labor Day weekend. This year was spent in Lincoln City at the same house we stayed at last year. Ben, Karen, and the kids didn't get to come this year. We definitely miss getting to see them!

We spent the weekend playing games, eating good food, watching BSU football, playing on the beach, and celebrating birthdays.

Since I can remember, my Grandpa and I have shared our birthday party. My birthday is September 4 and his is September 10. We also celebrated my cousins, Daniel and Sarah's birthdays.

It's such a crazy, chaotic time, but I look forward to it every year! This year we were blessed with a beautiful, sunny Saturday. The kids had a blast playing in the sand, and I got some great pictures! I absolutely love how the pictures capture the kids joy and the beautiful blue sky!

my boys

Isaiah: I'm going to be a princess. I just need a bracelet.

Elias: And I'm going to be a bad guy.

hypocritical times

Bryan asked me the other night if I had any desire for an ipad. I made a very lady like snort and said, "Really? We each have a computer, and a desktop. How materialistic do we need to be?" I then started discussing (more talking to myself) how there are so many more things we can do with our extra money. I talked about possessions that did absolutely nothing for anyone other than ourselves. I talked about trying to concentrate spending our money on things that could actually benefit others.

Anyway, after all that talking, I blew up at Elias.

I let the boys vacuum my bedroom while we were packing up for the weekend. I thought it would keep the boys out of trouble and out of my way while I finished up. Wrong about the trouble part.

I was in the kitchen and heard a repeated banging noise. I hopped up and over everything laying in the hallway and got to the bedroom to figure out what was being destroyed. It was my night stand. Elias was repeatedly hitting the night stand with the vacuum.

I lost it. I was so mad. I took the vacuum out of his hands and told the boys to get out of my room. I had to sit there and remind myself that Elias was more important than a night stand. The night stand was not a big deal. I was seriously furious. How was the fact that Elias was more important even something I needed to remind myself about?

Then it all just left. I was so ashamed that I was so upset over such a DUMB thing. The night stand has no benefit to anyone but me. Yes, I like it. Yes, it was pretty. But really, it's a hunk of wood and not important in the grand scheme of life.

Then I remembered my rants to Bryan the night before about materialistic stuff being so distracting, so selfish, and not necessary. And yup, the shame just got worse.

So, I had to apologize to the boys. The boys need to learn to take care of things and not destroy things, but I need to keep my cool while teaching them. How are they going to know that possessions are earthly and not important if I get mad so easily over them?

Once again, being a mom is teaching me and changing me.

cute words

This is what Isaiah said to Raelynn in the tub while I was giving her a bath this weekend.

"WaeWae, did you know dat ur my bes gurl? Did you know dat? Yeah, I think ur goina be a cowgurl"

Um adorable. He loves her so much.