More birthday pictures....

Hailey's 12th Birthday...

Here's Hailey at her slumber party. She had a great time. We took the girls to Justice and they all got to dress up like Movie Stars, as you can see. It was alot of fun. Although, we are still in shock that this was Hailey's pick for a party. Our Tom Boy is turning out to be a girl after all. She got all pink stuff and lots of jewelry. Can you imagine? I guess the teen years are just around the corner. ha ha ha... She had a blast. And I survived the night. It wasn't too bad, they all were asleep before two. The trick is to have it on a school night. They were all tried. I had three of them fall asleep just after eleven. How great was that? ha ha ha... Anyways just wanted to share my big princess. She's growing up way too fast. This last picture is what her dad and I got her. She was so surprised. She's been begging for a cell phone and we've been so against it that she just knew she wasn't going to get one. She was very very surprised but she loved it.

Missed opportunities...

Have you ever missed a perfect opportunity and spent the whole rest of your week regretting that decision. I had that happen this week and it's really bothered me all week. Let me preface by saying life here for us just seems like it's none stop action. We have Awana, Gymnastics, Tae Kwon Do, homework, clubs at school, ladies bible study, etc, you get the point. It just never seems to end or slow down. So anyways, I take Lauren on Monday to gymnastics. Feeling stressed and tired, just not real happy to be there. Anyways, I'm sitting in this little tiny lobby full of moms also waiting and watching their daughters. When the two ladies next to me began catching up, from not seeing each other over the summer, and at first I was just minding my own business and trying not to listen to their conversations. But one of them just began to get very distressed and almost to the point of crying. As I began to listen she was saying how tired and stressed and just feed up with all that she was doing. And she kept saying, "why,am I doing all of this? Is it all worth this?" It just about broke my heart because I could just hear how worn she was. She was talking about her kids were in this and she worked here and how her husband worked two jobs so they could have all of these nice things and on and on she went. She explained how invisible she felt, like none of them knew she existed and she just kept repeating "is it really worth all of this?" I so badly wanted to wrap my arms around her and just hug her. I so badly wanted to jump into the conversation but not knowing either woman and not wanting them to think I was some kind of nut case, I just sat there and have regretted it every second since. I pray the Lord might allow my another chance next week. I just want her to know, your not alone, I understand how you feel. Yes, sometimes, most of the time, being a wife and mom is a Thankless, never ending, exhausting job, but man is it worth every second. I'm sure she was just having a really bad day, heck we all do for that matter. But I really wish I had not missed that chance to just encourage her. Saying, "For such a time as this..." No we may not be Queen Ester, who was placed there to save a nation but we have been placed here for this time and this place, for this household. I may not can see what it's worth right now but I know in my heart of hearts that it's worth every frustration, every tear, every gray hair, every sleepless night, every dollar that could have been made, to be here, "for such a time as this." I feel so blessed that God has called me to, in my opion, the ultimate job in the world, WIFE & MOM!!! So I don't want to miss this opportunity to tell all of you mothers that might be reading this rambling of another tired mom, IT'S WORTH IT ALL!!! No, not one of us is perfect and is doing it all perfectly (I've already set up a therapy fund for each of the kids, ha ha ha..) but we all are doing the very very very best that we can and it's worth it all. It's so worth it when you here your four year old thanking God for the pool man because he's so happy he keeps our pool clean or you hold a fussing baby and they finally surrender to complete rest in your arms or you see your six year old son run to open the door for the ladies in front of us as we enter a store. All those little details that we forget about in the tornado of life are all worth it! I'm taking a Beth Moore bible study and we are studying Abram right now. One of the things that really hit home and really tied into how I was feeling about all of this, was Abram made a few bad choices along his journey with God, as we ALL do. If you think about it those few bad choices, it could have affected an entire nation, that's you and I. But because he always came back to God and said, "hey, I messed up again." God was faithful and built a nation out of his children. WE have no idea what God has in store for our children. He may be building a nation out of them. A Nation.... So can we really say, "it's not worth it????" I sure hope not. I hope you can be encouraged today and Thank God for every blessing He's given you today and know deep down, IT'S ALL WORTH IT!!!!

Tae Kwon Do....

Bryan and Hailey started taking Tae Kwon Do classes a few weeks ago. They really enjoy it. As you can see, Bryan really enjoys sharing all his new moves. Surprisingly Hailey is enjoying the class very much. In fact, we only originally put Bryan in but Hailey wanted to try it and she was hooked. She actually looks forward to it and can't seem to wait for the next class. It's kind of comical though. They are not competing against each other or anything like that but for some reason Bryan thinks he is and so ever little bit he looks over at Hailey and says, "I'm beating you..." like na na na na.... Hailey just rolls her eyes and goes on, "like don't make me come over there." But I think it's funny. If nothing else it's great exercise, that's for sure. This momma couldn't do it. LOL

All my teeth...

Okay... I know this is not the best of pictures. But it just happened by chance. I guess he wanted to show you all how many teeth he has now. As you can see, he has four on top and two on the bottom. And he really enjoys chewing on you with them. Just had to share this weird picture. I mean I couldn't have gotten this shot if I was trying too. He's just a stinker.... oh and that's not a buggie, he just finished eating green peas. So mom just missed some after wiping him down... LOL