A Paige From Our Book

An Introduction

2013-07-10T11:34:00.000-05:00

So I'm biting the bullet and have decided to introduce you to my new website... apaigefromourbook.com,

Hope to see you there!

Spring Wreath

2013-04-06T08:39:00.000-05:00

With the tiptoeing arrival of spring here in the cold north, I decided it was time to add a spring visual to our front door in the form of a wreath. I've been pinning different ideas for months and finally decided I could either wait until I had all of my ideal silk floral pieces or I could work with what I had. I really like one particular idea, but I didn't want the expense of nearly 30 good quality silk tulips. Maybe someday in the future I will make something like this one.

In the mean time here is what I put together instead. It doesn't look anything like my inspiration, but I'm not disappointed with my wreath at all. It's very springy and colorful and worth every wire poke and hot glue gun burn.

The spring sun was too bright for me to get a good picture of the wreath on my front door, so the closet doorknob had to suffice.

Here's to learning and growing in my wreath making process and capabilities. I'm excited to make more in different styles, colors and varieties.

Happy Spring!

Colton: One Year Pics

2013-03-04T15:30:00.000-06:00

Colty Joe turned 1 a couple of months ago. I think it's a bit hard for me to believe because he is still pretty content to crawl rather than walk. Last week he had a day of determination and worked for quite a while on standing up on his own, taking a few steps, falling and doing it all over again. He doesn't want to take the easy road of learning to walk by letting go of furniture or our hands. Oh well, I'm not in a hurry, so he doesn't need to be either. Cole has decided that going up and down stairs is important and at the homes of a couple of different friends, he conquered both crawling up stairs and carefully sliding down stairs by himself. I think I'll be hearing lots of "Colty do it." in the future.

Something we were able to accomplish were some 1 year photos. Since it was cold, my dear friend, Katie, who has taken all of our family pictures the last couple of years, came to our house. The light was poor and she was having issues with her external flash, but she was still able to capture some great shots of our guy and his personality.

Hm, car guy like his dad?

He loves his blocks.

Killer grin.

This guy loves his blankie.

And there is my dare devil!

Colton Joseph, 1 year old.

I love having a boy and I love that my boy is as sweet, loving, silly and tenacious as he is.

Snapshot: Audri

2013-02-22T08:00:00.000-06:00

Audri - Age 2.5

This blue-eyed bundle of fun keeps me on my toes. She's quite hysterical these days as she repeats ~~things~~ everything or pulls out words and ideas that we didn't realize she knew. She's a happy girl with a dash of two-and-a-half-year-old drama added to remind us there's lots of estrogen in this house. Her smile and giggle will brighten the dreariest snowy day.

Happy Friday!

Sister Date

2013-02-21T13:49:00.000-06:00

Novia came home sick from school yesterday and was still feeling a bit under the weather today too. I decided to brighten her day by giving the girls a little tea party during the boys' nap time.

I pulled out some antique tea saucers that belonged to my grandmother, Novia, and probably her mother before her. I wish I had more than one tea cup, but I decided against tea cups anyway. The girls had a lavish treat of organic blueberries, string cheese, a chocolate chip cookie and strawberry flavored water.

The best part was the look of delight on their faces as I brought their tea party to them on a tray. I realized that this was something I missed as a girl, having no sisters or any young girls my age for neighbors. I often had afternoon "lunch" with my grandma, but we were a bit more practical in our fare. I'm excited my girls have one another to play with, share a bedroom, secrets and giggles.

I left the girls to have their tea party and play with their Barbies. It was fun to listen from the other room to their laughter and imaginary play with their dolls. After a bit, I asked them to come out of their bedroom where the light is better so I could take their picture. They obliged and I think I captured some cute pics of a happy memory for them.

A friend from church mentioned how Novia is looking so much less like a little kid and I couldn't agree more.

I'm hoping my Thing 1 feels better tomorrow, but I'm thankful to see the smile on her face in spite of the dark circles under her eyes.

Snapshot: A 'Dreaming of Summer' Lunch

2013-02-20T13:34:00.000-06:00

Snapshot: Bocephus Get's Stuck

2013-01-29T07:30:00.000-06:00

Bocephus {or Bocee [Bo-see] as Audri calls him}, has proven that he is a thick skinned, thick furred dog that LOVES being outside in the cold weather. The only day in our recent ~~cold~~ frigid snap that he was willing to stay inside was when the air temp actually went below zero and the wind was blowing to boot. Otherwise he was happy as a clam to spend extended time in the teen or even single digit temps. While it's nice to have the dog entertained and playing off his energy outside I've been worried that he would get frost bite on his paws. I check on him often and try to get him to come inside for warmth, food and warm water.

Last Friday was almost balmy compared to earlier days in the week and once again Bo was refusing to come inside {pretty frustrating when I need to get Novia to school and he NEEDS to go into the house}. The whole day was a difficult day for me and my patience was t.h.i.n. to say the least. When at last I thought the kids were all down for naps and I could finally enjoy some peace and quiet, I hear Bocee whining out in the yard. I went to look for him in his usual spot in the sun on the south side of our house, but no Bocee.

Looking out the kitchen window to the backyard I see this...

I couldn't help but chuckle and for half a second I thought about leaving him there for being such a pill earlier in the day, but I had compassion... ONLY after I got my camera.

I wish that I could have seen how he finagled himself into that position on the swing, but he clearly didn't find the humor in it like I did.

"Would you put that darn camera away and get me off of this swing?!"

"Really... a little help?"

I helped Bocee out of his predicament and laughed when he beat me up the steps to go inside the house. He was more than happy to spend the rest of the afternoon snuggled in the warmth of the "swing-free" house.

Never a dull moment with Bocee around.

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

2013-01-28T18:05:00.001-06:00

I have recently seen this poem on Pinterest again and again as an idea for either Valentines Day or Mother's Day. So, because I feel like this is my life stage right now {especially the last several weeks} and because I am sure that every other mom I know can relate to this just as much as I can, I just must share this cute version with all of you.

Here's to actually accomplishing something tomorrow!

Climbing

2013-01-22T12:00:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday, baby boy!

Still having web-host issues, but since I have no idea when the problem will be corrected, I will keep blogging... in spite of my great annoyance!

Colty turned one at the beginning of the month, though we celebrated with a party with friends just last week. I will share more about that later. All good things must wait, right? Cole is quickly leaving all things baby behind. He has little interest in walking unless he can push something around, but without my noticing has become quite adept at climbing. Up and down, up and down, up and down. If he can get his knee on it, Colt will find a way to pull himself the rest of the way.

His first feat was the little rocking chair that is in the kids' room. I walked into their room one day during "play-on-your-own" time to find Colty standing on the rocking chair trying to reach something on top of the play kitchen. He shrieked with delight for me to see his accomplishment and probably also because he knew he shouldn't have been standing on the chair.

He was rocking too fast for me to get a could picture.

The rocking chair doing double duty with Elijah and Colt.

Several days later he found a step stool at Papa and Grammy's house and made quick work of crawling up on it as well. He must have spent 30 or more minutes just crawling up and getting down and doing it quicker and quicker each time. He slipped and fell a couple of times, but like a true boy, he got right up again with no tears and went back for more.

Up and down... up and down... up and down.

Yesterday I came up from getting a load of laundry from the basement, to find Cole sitting atop the laundry basket in the living room. It seems that anything that can be conquered - will be.

My boy sitting on his perch.

We are seeing our future in front of us in bold colors and will be securing all of the furniture down. Just this morning, Cole tried to crawl on or step on the oven door of the play kitchen and pulled the whole thing down on top of himself. Now, thankfully it's made out of plastic and is quite light {which is why it tips over in the first place}, but we had visions of other, much heavier furniture possibly tipping over on him as he gets bigger. A few weeks ago I read a terrifying account from a lady whose 3 year old daughter was killed when a relatively small and shorter dresser tipped and fell on her. The rest of the family was sleeping in that morning and heard nothing. The little girl was dead by the time they found her in her room. I've never felt such a gut wrenching horror for someone else's pain. It was a stunning wake up call to make sure that our furniture is secured. I am by no means a helicopter parent and am confident that accidents happen and our children will get hurt over their lifetime, but it reminded me that there are definitely things we can do to help keep our children safe. It's no different than locking cabinet doors to keep little ones away from cleaning products and any harmful chemicals.

**Keep your climbers safe; don't ever assume they won't try to climb a particular piece of furniture and secure those pieces that can tip. **

The days of seeing Colty as a baby are over and we are full speed ahead into the world of having a boy. I am more than sure our family and home will never be the same.

At Work

2013-01-18T17:37:00.000-06:00

You will notice some design changes around here and more are to come. I've been working on the design and layout of my blog for some time now, but a computer crash caused me to temporarily lose all of my mock-ups and then slow internet has been a barrier as well. Now I'm having some web-host issues, which is forcing me to keep this plain-jane look for the time being until blogger get's IT'S issues resolved, so this may take a bit longer than I had hoped. Well, I had hoped to have all of my changes updated by Jan. 15th, but that target date has come and gone, so right now I'm just aiming to get it updated, period. I am more than aware that it's more frustrating to me than it is to you, which comforts me some.

If you are one of my more regular readers and have been checking back for new posts, I'm sorry for the lack thereof. Thank you for looking in on me and I hope to have new material for you to read sooner than later. I just have to get these kinks ironed out.

Soon. I. Hope.

Christmas 2012

2013-01-07T12:13:00.000-06:00

I hope that all of you had wonderful and merry Christmases. I had a specific Christmas post in the works and then getting that finished and posted was derailed by sick kids, Christmas shopping and an unfortunate incident that left me unable to get on-line. Anyway, I will get those thoughts and ideas posted as soon as I'm able.

My sick kids are almost completely mended. We spent one evening in the ER with Cole trying to figure out why he had such a high fever. I had already been in the the clinic with him all of that afternoon, but everything was coming back negative. That trend continued in the ER as he was tested for what seemed like everything under the sun. They did give him an IV and doubled up the Motrin and Tylenol. Once that kicked in, we had our scrappy little guy back. We went home with no answers other than some kind of virus combined with teething, but he was so much better. For about 5 days. And then the fever, lack of desire to eat or drink anything and the need to sleep all day came back. We fed, Coley, what he would eat {applesauce and yogurt} and added some water to the applesauce to help with his fluid intake. Thankfully keeping him hydrated and staying on top of his doses of fever/pain reducers helped keep him out of the hospital again. Almost two weeks later we got a phone call from the radiologist saying that Cole had a small bit of viral pneumonia that had showed up on the chest x-ray. They couldn't have done anything for him, but I was a bit frustrated that it took them so long to let us know.

Adam and I each took our turn at being sick and I lost my voice ~~completel~~y almost completely for a whole day. I'm quite thankful for my mom being willing to come and be my voice. I typically love winter, but I am not a fan of the illnesses that accompany the cold temps and snow.

What was this post about again? Oh yeah, Christmas! We hosted Christmas with Adam's family this year {as well as a friend and co-worker of Adam's}. It was so nice that his grandmother and aunt were able to come from Nebraska too, since we don't get to see them very often. The Brachle family has historically celebrated and opened gifts on Christmas Eve, so this seemed the perfect day to have everyone down to our place. We enjoyed a lovely mid afternoon dinner, complete with our first kids' table. I think my brother thought I was crazy, but we have to start one sooner or later. After our meal, we worked together to clear the table, get the first of three loads of dishes in the dishwasher, get the kids' diapers changed and we headed out the door to Christmas Eve service at our church. We were a bit late to church since coordinating rides and finding socks and shoes for ~~the~~ my kids took longer that it should have. However late, church was lovely. It was difficult for me since I still can't sing {at least not in my range}, but greatly enjoyed the opportunity to stop as a family and focus on what we were celebrating. I had missed church the day before from being sick, so I was especially thankful for the reminder that Jesus came as flesh to save me from my sins. He humbled himself and became human, out of his great love for us and obedience to the Father.

As soon as we arrived home from church we got out the camera's to try to get some Grandparent/grand-kids pictures before the children opened their presents and the inevitable attention-span derailing. Here are a few of what I captured. They're not fabulous {nor is the shrink-wrapped window for a backdrop}, but we have them for posterity.

Colty, Novia, Audri and Stacy with Oma and Papa Duck

The kiddos with Great Grandma.

Audrianna, Stacy, Novia & Colty with Great Aunt Marsha.

I love the holiday season {at least in my mind}, but I was more than happy to take down the tree and the stockings and strive to put life back to our normal routine. I have yet to achieve that second goal, but we're working on it.

How do we love our children better after tragedy strikes?

2012-12-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

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As many of you, I am still reeling from Friday's massacre in Newtown, CT. Each moment that my baby boy woke me last night was filled with ~~prayers~~, pleadings for grace for the parents who didn't get to tuck their babies into bed last night. I wept as my husband picked our kindergarten age daughter up from her school, knowing that there were parents yesterday to desperately scanned a busy firehouse, looking for the beautiful faces of their children, only to find out they weren't there. I feel raw. There are no other words for it. I feel the intense tension of wanting to enter into their pain by imagining myself in their place, while at the same time not wanting to imagine the horror of being told that my 5 year old had been mercilessly shot by a depraved man filled with evil and hate. These words from Longfellow's I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day have been running through my head...

And in despair I bowed my head: "There is no peace on earth," I said, "For hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: "God is not dead, nor doth he sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men."

Praise God that He lives and is in control. I know that what Satan intends for evil, God intends for good. Why He providentially desired these little ones to leave this earth? I do not know. But I know that He was with them and that He was loving them in those horrible moments. I know that He will draw many to Himself through these horrific circumstances. I know that He is weeping with all of us.

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” (John 11:32-36 ESV)

I have heard responses from people around me, on TV and via the internet who desire to change their interaction with their children as a result of yesterday's devastation. Sounds great, for sure. But I get concerned when I hear parents making promises that, as time goes on, they can't keep. Our knee-jerk reaction at times like this is to hover over our children {a reasonable desire for a day or so, I would say}, but then we're also tempted to vow that we will never yell at them again or be impatient with them. We promise to work harder at always giving them their simple requests. While this is lovely sentiment and I agree that perhaps we need to step back and take a look at how we can be better parents, I also think we need to be real. Here is what I mean.

We can't vow to never be impatient or get angry with our children. We are sinful human beings, and we. sin. We sin against our spouses; we sin against our children. We shouldn't make promises to our children that we are unable to keep. We can't make our life a perfect little bubble in case something tragic happens today or tomorrow, so we can say that our last moments with our children were happy ones. We have to live life and in life we make mistakes and we sin. The important thing is how we respond in those moments. Do we feel conviction when we sin? Do we take the time to get down on our child's level, look them in the eye, confess we were wrong and apologize to them for sinning against them? Do we take that moment to explain to them the richness of the grace that saves us {their parent} from our sin? Are we an example of human weakness in need of a Great Savior? I realize this may sound harsh, but my point is this: instead of hoping and trying to make everything perfect for your children, use every moment, every situation that draws out sin to point them to Jesus. As much as I hope that my last words {God forbid my children go to live in Heaven before I do} would be happy and full of love, what is more important to me is knowing that they understand that they need Jesus to save them from their sins and that they come to place their trust in His death on the cross in their place to satisfy the wrath of God against their sin.

When we pass from living in this life to living the rest of our eternal life in Heaven, I guarantee that no one is thinking about how "so and so said such and such". That guilt belongs to those left on earth. So, instead of trying to remove any possibility of having guilt, wouldn't it be better to vow to confess your sin immediately when it happens? Vow to be transparent with your children and stop letting them think you are always right. Because, you know what? They already know you aren't. They already know that you sin. What they need to hear in a moment after you have lost your patience and yelled at them, is that YOU know you sinned. You sinned against God first and foremost and you also sinned against them. They need to hear you ask for God's forgiveness and their forgiveness. They need to hear you explain the assurance of your sin being forgiven by the Heavenly Father. Your words and hugs of "I love you" will mean so much more when they know you aren't a facade of perfection with teeming sin in your heart. When they see your weakness and your ultimate dependance on the saving work of Christ, they will be much happier, because they too will learn to trust Jesus. And He alone can save.

If the Lord tarries and my children die on this earth, I would rather them find happiness and joy in their Great Savior rather than in a "perfectly" happy home where no one yells and everyone smiles regardless of what is going on. I want to be real with my kids. That doesn't mean I desire to sin against them or against my spouse in front of them, but when I do, I want them to see the work of God's grace in my life. Because it is only by His grace that we don't go on sinning and it's only through Him that we will find true joy and happiness.

So tonight as I hug my lovelies tighter and hold them longer, I am not only thanking God for them, I am praying that by His grace He will save them from their sins and adopt them as His son and daughters. I am also praying for the moms and dads whose arms ache to hug their precious child. Let us not forget to pray for them. Their grief has just begun and when we are able to continue in our daily lives, their grief will still be there. Pray for them. Pray for grace and the comfort that only Christ can bring.

In memory of: Allison. Ana. Avielle. Benjamin. Caroline. Catherine. Charlotte. Chase. Daniel. Dylan. Emilie. Grace. James. Jack. Jesse. Jessica. Josephine. Madeline. Noah. Olivia. {the precious children}

Anne Marie. Dawn. Lauren. Mary. Rachel. Victoria. {the staff}

A December Day

2012-12-11T17:12:00.000-06:00

This weekend I got my wish for snow. Actually we got a little more than what I wished for. Like 6 inches more. Anyway, due to the snow our getting out of the house has been limited. I'm not crazy enough to put 4 kids, age 5 and under, in the van and head out into unplowed streets to do anything. Novia didn't even go to school yesterday because the idea of getting hung up somewhere was just simply not appealing to me.

It's funny how I wish for snow and then feel bummed because I'm temporarily stuck in the house. The beautiful sun shining off the snow has helped my stuck-in-the-house spirits, however. It also helps knowing that this stage of life is temporary. The kids have been having a grand time though. I think snow just ushers excitement to children {and adults when we can get past the fact that we have to drive in the snow and shovel it off our walks and driveways}. The girls enjoyed watching White Christmas {again} yesterday on Novia's snow day and then later they pulled out my old video cassette of Little Women. That was a bit over their head, but I think they enjoyed the music and the winter scenes. I love that Novia came running to say that we should watch it again when daddy got home because he would really like it! I chuckled and whispered to her that I didn't think Little Women would be something daddy would enjoy.

Today the kids decided that it was a "running" day. Audrianna and Elijah were taking turns pushing the dolly stroller and the shopping cart as fast as they could around the house. Surprisingly neither got hurt. After a bit it the laughter was located solely to the living room. I put my lunch preparations aside to check it out. Novia had put Cole in the laundry basket and the kids were taking turns getting it in with him.

Cole is fuzzy because he was happily bouncing in the laundry basket.

He was a happy little booger.

Novia was pushing Cole back and forth on the carpet in the basket. She took a break so I could take her picture.

It was hard to catch Elijah standing still.

A rare capture of all 4 kids all at the same time.

A quick cousin squeeze.

This mom was thankful that the first two snow bound days of the season were reasonably fun and filled with more smiles than frowns.

Sunk

2012-12-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

When we are in Alabama, one of our favorite activities is taking the golf cart down to the pond and playing on it's shore. This year the girls found a remote control boat in the cottage and the wheels in Adam's head began turning immediately. After our annual trip to Bass Pro Shops {another favorite in our visits} complete with the purchase of some worms, we loaded the family in the golf cart and sped off to the pond. Did you know that golf carts have a power stroke? According to Novia, they do. {If you don't know what a power stroke is, ask a knowledgeable truck owner in your life... or just google it.} Adam got the fishing line, bobber, hook and worm set up with the boat and in it went into the pond. I will let the pictures I was able to capture tell the rest of the story.

Adam's co-worker, Mark, taking video for posterity.

The girls were very excited to see the boat catch a fish.

Novia patiently waiting for something to happen.

Checking the line for weeds.

A captivated audience.

Wait, what?
{Forgive me, I missed photographing the bobber going under the water from the fish.}

Where did the boat go?

"Mom! Daddy sunk the boooat!"

Insert the mental picture of hysterical adult laughter behind hands, elbows and cell phones here.

In just moments Novia's afternoon of fun with Daddy turned into utter horror that he would dare let the boat sink. Between you and me, I think Adam's inner child was thrilled to watch a fish snag the hook and sink the boat. Oh and Papa Jack, much to the chagrin of Mark and myself, told Adam he didn't have to replace the boat since he didn't know where it had originated from anyway. Our inner children were hoping that there might be hysterical consequences for his fun moment. The day was definitely one of those family memories that won't soon be forgotten.

December Wishes

2012-12-06T15:44:00.000-06:00

Tis the season to be jolly.

Tis the season for snow.

So where is the snow anyway?

Snapshot: Dirt Is Fun!

2012-11-14T14:21:00.001-06:00

We are in the south for just over 10 days and the girls are beyond enjoying it. We're staying in our little home-away-from-home cottage again and life with no tv and limited toys is grand!

Happy "dirty" Wednesday!

The Battle with Self

2012-11-12T15:52:00.000-06:00

We have been reading Little Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan {adapted by Helen Taylor} to the kids each night before bed. Several nights ago I read from the chapter where little Christian receives his armor from Discretion and her daughters, Piety, Prudence & Charity. I have long been familiar with the passage of Scripture that talks about putting on the armor of the Lord.

"Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Ephesians 6:14-17 ESV)

We know well from Ephesians that we must put on the whole armor of God as we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the evil one and all of his schemes. Something interesting struck me though when we went on to read the next chapter about Christian. The very first battle that he had to fight after he received his armor was against an enemy called Self. Christian was assailed with Self's battering of lies and feelings of doubt and self pity. It caused me to think about how quick we often are to remember our armor when we think we're going to "take on" the devil, but we forget about it's necessity when we fight ourselves. The devil uses our Self against us just as much {or more} as he uses other things. This is why preaching the truth of the Gospel {fastening the belt of truth} is so important and being ready with the Word of God {the sword of the Spirit} is crucial. By doing these things {preaching the Gospel to ourselves}, we take up the {shield of faith} by telling ourselves what is good and true and acceptable by the standard of God's word and guard our hearts from the fiery, lying darts of listening to our feelings and buying into self pity. We fight the devil best when we fight to kill Self. When we stop listening to Self and speak to him instead, we use the whole armor of God in one of it's most beneficial uses.

The Holy Spirit brought something else to my mind and confirmed it through a dear friend. We tend to "speak" truth to ourselves quietly in our mind, but I think when we do so, we are not properly using our armor. I have often heard from others and many times wondered myself why the truth that I know in my head doesn't change what I feel in my heart. I would contend that if we are really to preach the truth to ourselves, we ought to do it out loud and here is why.

"How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching... So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:14 & 17 ESV) **context**

Romans speaks here about the need to preach the Gospel. How are we to believe {the Gospel} daily, if we don't hear, and how are we to hear unless someone preaches? Well on a daily basis we must do the preaching. We must speak the truth of the God's word to ourselves so that we can hear it and believe it in our hearts. We can know God's word, but it's truth doesn't make a difference unless we really hear it, believe it and are transformed by it.

-- So the next time you are in a battle with Self, don't back down, put on your armor and fight with the precious weapons you have been given. --

**"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10: 9, 10 & 13 ESV)

Bocephus

2012-11-06T13:47:00.000-06:00

More than a month ago now, we said goodbye to our faithful dog-friend, Maverick. We still miss him very much, especially when we run into another uber friendly, sweet natured lab. We knew right away that we wanted another dog, we were just unsure of what and when. During a family picnic at a nearby park, we saw a lot of different breeds, sizes and personalities. It was nice to dialogue about what we hoped to have in another furry pet. It was also hard to imagine our family with anything different than what we already had and knew... Maverick. We gave the conversation and thought process a rest, knowing that we weren't in a place to adopt another dog given the fact that we have an extended out-of-state trip.

Well, two weeks ago Adam started talking about two different puppies that he had recently seen. One at the warehouse for his work and one who belonged to a friend for whom he did automotive work. When he called to check with me about us puppy-sitting overnight as a favor for a guy, I somehow knew my life was about to change. One night is what it was supposed to be. One night turned into the weekend when the owner needed to go out of town for a family emergency. Monday arrived with the news that the owner really wanted us to take the puppy for good as his {the owner} own health was not great and his relationship status had just changed. The weekend turned into FOREVER.
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Snapshot: Sibling Snuggle

2012-10-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

I couldn't help but share this photo. It's hysterical to me that Cole is smiling perfectly while one sister pretends to pick her nose {Yes, she's pretending... it happens every time I bring my camera out when she would rather be doing something else.} and the other makes a quirky face. You can also see that Rapunzel clearly has the girls' ultimate focus. I'm glad I was able to capture this sweet snapshot as well.

The color difference in these two shots is simply white balance. Sometimes a photo is too good in personality to NOT delete even if the white balance is off.

Bye Bye Pacifier!

2012-10-17T18:25:00.001-05:00

Audrianna's nightly comforts... "pa" and "bankie".

We've all seen them. You know you have. Those children that, as adorable as they are, are too old to be walking around with a pacifier in their mouth. Now, I'm not saying there is a definitive "right age" to take a paci, nuk or whatever your family calls it, away {children are different and family circumstances are different}, but I'd say if they are in preschool... it might be more than time to let it go.
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Trials of All Kinds {Pt. 2: Creepy Crawlers}

2012-10-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

**Disclaimer: Reading this post could leave you feeling itchy and paranoid of crawlies on your person and/or in your bed. Don't freak out, take a deep breath and if you need to clean... clean.**

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Last week this time I was thoroughly exhausted and actually somewhat despondent from the circumstances of my week. I was struggling with indigence and a sense of entitlement to a "normal" life. It had been my hope once Adam got home from his business trip, things would settle down a bit and not be so crazy. Last week, being his first full week home, did not go as I had hoped.
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Snapshot: Happy Birthday, Audri!

2012-10-02T23:43:00.001-05:00

Trials of All Kinds {Pt. 1: Saying Goodbye}

2012-09-29T00:11:00.000-05:00

I sit here at my computer tonight, completely exhausted. Mentally... physically... emotionally... WIPED OUT. It wasn't supposed to be a week like this. It was supposed to be the first full week with Adam home and living life back in our normal. Well, this week has been anything but normal. If I were a superstitious person I would look back and say that I should have known it was coming by the events of Monday morning.
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Messages From Daddy

2012-09-17T23:19:00.000-05:00

On each of Adam's recent business trips he has sent the kids video messages to help get them through the separation. In the past their response to the messages have been quite hysterical and I've regretted not taping them watching these messages.

Snapshot: Novia's First Day of School

2012-09-13T14:57:00.000-05:00