Birthday Girls

Today both Brandi and my Grandma Pat celebrate their birthdays. Brandi turns 12!
This time twelve years ago we were all in shock after my mom was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night with pre-eclampsia. We woke up to a phone call saying we had a sister three weeks early. Gods timing is always perfect! He soaked up our extra three weeks with her and she's be special to us ever since. She's a wonderful young lady who makes me proud to be her sister and friend.
She'll forever be frozen in my mind as a little girl but we're so enjoying watching her grow up. And we're so thankful that she's taking her time.

My grandma gracefully shares her special day with Brand with no reservations.
We are always happy to celebrate her, and birthdays are no exception:)
She is an amazing woman that we all look up to, especially us girls. She always takes time for us, and makes a point of knowing how we are and keeping track of what we're up to. She's an inspiration and we're blessed to know her.

We love both of you ladies sooo much!
Happy birthday!

GREEN EGGS AND HAM!!

Mark has been in charge of groceries and meal plans for some time now. I was thrilled to see that one of his breakfasts for this ween was green eggs and ham. Where does he think of this stuff?!?
We pulled out our copy of the book and got reacquainted with its silliness while daddy cooked. The boys were so surprised to see their pages come to life in such a fun way. Thanks for a memorable morning Daddy.

Am I dreaming?

No, this is really happening. I'm the mom of three incredible little boys. I could have never imagined the amazing joy this job provides. One the best compliments my husband ever gave me came yesterday. He said "you never tire of having kids."
Simple but true. They're awesome, even when they're throwing a tantrum on the floor, biting each other, or digging in the litter box.
Lord, I'll never deserve them, but thank you for blessing me anyway, in spite of me.

Happy birthday Weston!

I can't believe our littlest man is already 1!
Last year this time we were marveling over our almost 10# baby, born at home!
He's such an absolute joy to be around.
He loves his daddy fiercely, and has a decent right hook when fending off his big brothers.
He took his first steps shortly before his bid day and since yesterday he's been cruising around the house (sniff, sniff).
Mark and I absolutely adore this stage. Each day we have a new experience with him and a new milestone to celebrate.
God, thank you for another completely uniquely wonderful addition to our family.

Change of scenery

I'm a very visual person, so every few months our home undergoes change of some kind, be it ever so mild. It just allows me to mentally refresh. Sometimes it's a new piece of art, furniture, or room color. This time we decided we were bored with our upstairs. We moved our room into the playroom (or middle room) and moved the playroom into our room. We realized a few things; we personally didn't need a room that big just to sleep in, and we wanted a second living room or "family room" ( like my grandparents have).
It has turned out to be one my favorite changes in our house ....ever. We spend so much family time up there playing and watching movies after the kids go to bed. I'm also excited to decorate our new, very quaint, bedroom.
For now, here is the new look of our "family room".
(let's ignore the mess, shall we?)

Our little snowman

We finally got a small dumping of snow here by the lake. Our boys were ecstatic! Without saying a word Oliver got his snow-gear on and went out to shovel our steps. He's maturing more ever day. We're so proud of the little man that God is molding.

Finner-ism

"I wanna live like captain hook."

What to do with your digital "negatives"

You know that sheet of tiny "proof" pictures that comes with your order of digital prints?
I usually toss those along with the envelope.
Rewind a few months back; I had requested a paint sample book from a website (the name escapes me at the moment).
I cut the photos leaving most of then with
a small white border.
Then, I used double sided sticky tape to attach them to coordinating paint swatches.
This was the result....

Busted!

While I was on the phone with my mom this morning Finley took the opportunity to dig right into the bag of powder sugar. You see, we don't generally have refined sugars in the house, so this was more than just curiosity. He's most likely been planning it since that bag came through the door. :)
My mom heard the commotion and reminded me to take a picture of the disaster.
While I fumbled with my phone Oliver and Weston were literally licking the sugar off Finley's clothes.
As chaotic as it may seem, i've always secretly looked forward to messy moments like this. It's a sort "you've arrived" moment.

Smoothies

This was five seconds before his first brain freeze.

Oliver-ism

Oliver was watching me clean the bathroom. When I squirted the toilet cleaner in he offered up this suggestion:

"You know what you could do? You could use 'Kaboom Bowl Blaster'. You put it in purple then it's green when it's clean."

Well done Kaboom marketing!
1/18/13

Finley: "That's not yours! It's Weston's, for his birthday!"

Oliver: "Yes but birthdays are to be shared."
1/19/13

Art- Oliver

I'm crediting my sister-in-law for the idea of saving your children's art digitally.
Thanks Holly!

Still life: "Bacon" -by Oliver MELBY
(Note the grease stains from the actual bacon model)
Medium: crayola on recycled paper

Loving

"to love means loving the unloveable."

I can't believe what she said
I can't believe what he did
Oh, don't they know it's wrong,
Don't they know it's wrong,
Maybe there's something I missed
But how could they treat me like this?
It's wearing out my heart
The way they disregard

This is love, this is hate...
We all have a choice to make

Oh, Father won't You forgive them?
They don't know what they've been doin'
Oh, Father, give me grace to forgive them
'Cause I feel like the one losin'

Well it's only the dead that can live
But still I wrestle with this
To lose the pain that's mine
Seventy times seven times
'Cause Lord it doesn't feel right
For me to turn a blind eye
Though I guess it's not that much
When I think of what You've done.

This is love, this is hate...
We've got a choice to make

Why do we think that hate's gonna change their heart?
We're up in arms over wars that don't need to be fought
But pride won't let us lay our weapons on the ground
We build our bridges up but just to burn them down
We think pain is owed apologies and then it'll stop
But truth be told it doesn't matter if they're sorry or not
Freedom comes when we surrender to the sound
Of mercy and Your grace, Father, send Your angels down
-tenth avenue north

Fear

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. ~Les Brown

Fear is a habit, so is self-pity, defeat, anxiety, despair, hopelessness and resignation. You can eliminate all of these negative habits with two simple resolves," I can! and I will!"

You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind. ~Dale Carnegie

The key to change….is to let go of fear. ~Rosanne Cash

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. ~Ambrose Redmoon

The last Packer's game with the Wilson's

Friends of ours from down the street cane over to watch the last Packer's game of the season (booo!).

This is the face of concentration

Milwaukee art museum

We've been wanting to visit the art museum since we moved here. I can't believe it took us this long! It was awesome and in general very kid friendly. However, Mark and I both agreed that we'd like to return for a date to just absorb everything there is to offer. There was a Rembrandt exhibit but the line to get in was huge so we opted for the less populated galleries.
In short: if you live near enough to visit, don't delay! It's well worth the time/money.