Moving On...

Exciting things are happening over here! If you aren't a fan on my Facebook page, then you haven't heard the news!!! And Baby Makes Four is moving on! I am now Mustard Seed Mommy and I have my own site!!!! I will no longer be updating on blogger, so please check out the new site and subscribe by email or follow via Networked Blogs (at the bottom of the page!) Thank you to everyone who has followed us over the years, I can't wait to see what our new adventures are going to take us!

What a Beautiful Mess

Instead of trying to rewrite this... I thought I would just share what I posted on my personal Facebook page last night....

"I had an epiphany today.... My life is a beautiful mess. A messy, imperfect, completely disorganized, BUT absolutely beautiful mess. I am always so concerned about keeping things clean, keeping things organized and allowing my OCD to take over when the kids get dirty or make messes... But I pushed all that aside today, ignored the mound of laundry in my bathroom, the stacks of dishes in the sink, and I enjoyed my family. My beautiful, messy family."


Seriously. Do you know how hard it is for me to just sit down and play in the floor with my kids when there is laundry piling up in my bathroom, the kids' playroom is an absolute disaster area, and I've got a list a mile long to accomplish? It physically makes me nauseous just thinking about it. I'm pushing myself to an uncomfortable level, I'm allowing the dust to settle and I'm not allowing myself to obsess over the little details. This time in my life, when my babies are just that..... babies, I have to enjoy this time, I have to savor the sweet hugs, the slobbery kisses, the mismatched tea parties, the crazy dress up clothes, and whatever else my children happen to love that day. I have to be in the moment, savor every last moment of babyhood, toddlerhood and childhood my little ones have.

That's my short post for the day, I'm really trying to make more time to sit down and work on my blog whenever I can, but it just isn't happening here lately! Please pray for my sweet hubby, he's had a weekend full of phone calls and text messages from work, so although he's been off he's feeling like he's been working on his two days off. God Bless!

And.... Did I mention that my sweet boy turned 8 months old?!?!?!

Five Question Friday

1. What is on your Summer 2013 Bucket List?
Take the kids at least every other weekend to the "farm", take the kids on a hike, go to the Apple Festival, take kids apple picking (at the end of August), watch fireworks at the town's local summer festival. That's about it... we're dreaming big I tell you!

2. What is the most useless item on your child's back to school list?
Well, we don't have a list considering my kids are under 3 and we are going to home school..... so I guess a back to school list in itself would be useless!

3. What is one reality TV show that makes no sense to you?
Oh gosh, there are so many that fit into that category.... Jersey Shore, Big Brother, Real World, The Kardashians... etc etc etc

4. What is one movie you can watch over and over again? Why?
If I don't answer this honestly my husband will make it known anyways... the Twilight series. No shame! The movies really ARE NOT that great, but I just love seeing books come to life, and call me crazy but I actually enjoyed the books. No, I'm not a crazed fan, but I did enjoy them. I could also watch The Notebook, Knocked Up, and Juno over and over and over..... AND Harry Potter ;-)

5. What's your favorite back to school tradition?
We didn't ever really have back to school traditions... we always went to camp for the summer, mom bought our supplies and then we started school. I always wanted to get new clothes for each school year, I though EVERYONE just HAD to get new clothes. I guess that was me just wanting to fit in, but now that I'm adult and have children.... I'm glad I didn't fit in!

Five Question Friday

1. What is your best secret cleaning tip?
Wow.... um I don't think I really have one to be honest. I'm still "learning" how to get my house clean with children in it... and I have not perfected stain removing yet either. So, I guess the best cleaning tip I can give is to use the sunshine to bleach out stains.... works GREAT for diapers

2. What is your favorite food to snack on during movie night?
J and I usually have movie nights at home after the kids go to bed for date night... when we do that we like to make appetizers. We enjoy homemade cheese fries, twice baked potatoes, wings, nachos, etc. When we do move nights with the kids, Boogie enjoys pretzels or just her regular snacks.

3. If it was up to you , what would you have named the royal baby?
Uh, well I guess I would stick to tradition. Since he was a boy I would have used Henry or Oliver. If he had been a girl I may have named her after Diana or Elizabeth.

4. If you could be any Disney character who would you choose?
Cinderella.... because Boogie adores her and it would totally make her day! Ha!

5. What's the most important part of a healthy relationship?
That's easy. Faith. You have to love Christ more than you love your partner or yourself, Christ and your relationship with Him is what makes a relationship great. ;-)

Don't forget to link up - I'll add the link up this evening when Mama M. updates the original page ;-)

The Un-Perfect Mother

These past few weeks I have really been diving into what kind of mother God wants me to be, who I want to be as a parent, and who my children NEED me to be as a mommy. With the dawn of Pinterest, Facebook, and more... it's hard to not sit and compare yourself to other moms out in the world. I'm never going to be the mom who has a perfect well-kept house, or has dinner fixed from scratch every night, or makes all these cool and amazing homemade clothing and toys. I'm not going to be the mother who never raises her voice or makes mistakes when it comes to discipline, and I can guarantee I will never be the mother who is showered, dressed, and has her hair fixed every day.

What I can promise.... is that my children are loved. They will never question whether or not I love them, ever. I can promise that they will have grand adventures, even if those adventures are only in our backyard. They will be allowed to make messes, get their hands dirty, splash water, run through the yard in their bare feet... they will be allowed to be just what they are. Children.

I have to talk myself down from a cliff everyday. I won't lie... I am a perfectionist, a perfectionist with a little OCD. Not a good combination in my opinion. I WANT my house to be perfect. I WANT my children to be clean and dressed ALL the time. I want control. I want things to go MY way. But that's just NOT how life goes. My laundry totes may always be full of dirty laundry, my sink may always have dirty dishes in it... there may be dust on every surface (even though I do dust daily!). I am not perfect. It's OK to have toys scattered, it's OK to play in the mud. It's OK to dump all the pillows and blankets in the floor and have a slumber party. Why? Because my kids are having fun... and I want to live in those moments and not be held down by cleaning and organizing and perfectionism.

I am an un-perfect mother. But for my children, for what they need and desire, for when they want to play and cuddle and go a little crazy... I can be that mommy. When my daughter wants to play tea party, we'll have a tea party. When my daughter wants to sit and snuggle, then we'll snuggle. When my son wants to nurse for hours on end... I will sit and nurse him to his heart's content. These precious babies of mine... they won't be babies forever, and I am determined to look past my messy house and my piles of laundry and savor these moments with them. Someday Boogie will no longer want to climb into my lap and put her hands on my cheeks and tell me she loves me. She will no longer ask to be princesses and ballerinas. Someday she won't be willing to hug my neck and dance with me. Someday Bubby will no longer desire mommy milk or to nap in my arms. Someday he won't need me like he needs me now. So today... my house is a mess, the laundry is piling up, and I admit it's driving me bananas.... but I'm going to look past it and do what I do best. Love my children.

Family

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am that J's schedule is getting back to a normal rhythm. There are still a few crazy days when he has to go back in to check on his staff or stay over for meetings... but the majority of the time he is home early enough that we can enjoy the afternoon and evening with him! Yesterday was one of those days! We went to visit a place called Antler Hill Village, there's a small barn where you can pet animals (we didn't get there in time for that), shops, restaurants and always music! Boogie thoroughly enjoyed it!

This is the same place we took Boogie for the Radio Disney event, she seems to really enjoy going out there.... so I'm sure we will start going more frequently!

As you can see, it's absolutely beautiful.... even on a cloudy day! And it was one of the first days that it didn't rain (at least until after dark! lol!). 

We also found this field of sunflowers.... 

Boogie got to watch goats, chickens, sheep, horses, etc. around the farm... we played at a playground... not sure if I would really call it that but whatever. There were a lot of BIG kids there, so we ended up talking her into walking into the village for some ice cream!

And my sweet boy wasn't all that thrilled with the trip... I had been wearing him but he is SO hot natured! So we let him ride in the stroller while Boogie ran around. 

There was a great little area to cool off... she got SOAKED. So she is a little wet in most of our pictures (and those pink stains on her shirt were from her yummy berry sorbet!)

She also loved this fountain, she likes to lean over the edge and run her fingers through the water.

This guy came close to the fence when we got ready to leave, so I walked Boogie back down to meet him. He. Was. Huge. So we didn't touch him, lol! Anyways, we had a great time! I hope to have many more fun adventures with my crew!

Another Long Overdue Update!

We finally have our new computer and printer set up... thank goodness! I've been waiting and waiting to get some file folder games and such printed for Tot School! I've found so many wonderful goodies for Boogie, and I'm sure the sweet girl I will be babysitting starting in August (we'll call her Miss V) will enjoy them as well!

It's been a great month for our family, Bubby turned 7 months (and we are creeping up to month 8!), he now has 5 teeth cut through with 3 more trying to break through (that's loads of fun...), and he is figuring out how to get around without crawling! Boogie is her normal, ornery self of course, we took her to a Radio Disney event, it wasn't what we expected but she had fun nonetheless! We even took the kids on a little trip to Gatlinburg, it was Bubby's first vacation and trip to the aquarium! And.... J bought his first motorcycle! I may actually have my car to myself again! YAY!

As for me, I am slowly updating my wardrobe... which is AWESOME. I haven't bought myself new (or new to me) clothes in a long time.... and maternity clothes DO NOT count lol! I bought one new outfit from Old Navy, and the price KILLED me, so the rest have come from consignment stores (both online and in person!) I ordered several things from Thredup.com, they have children's, junior's, women's and plus size women's clothing for GREAT prices! (If you use that link above, you will receive $10 credit on your first order!) I have also signed up to be an Origami Owl consultant, I will post more about that in a separate post later... but let's just say that this company is AWESOME and it was started by a 14 year old young lady!

Now... how about a picture update?

This is J's Nanny, she has been in and out of the hospital. She is doing much better now, but please keep praying for her!

Our big guy is eating so well! He's had lots of different vegetables, fruits, and even some meats! Yay Baby Led Weaning!

My Bubby and I at the fireworks!

He was super excited.... can't you tell?

Boogie really enjoyed playing before the fireworks.... however we ended up leaving shortly after they started because they scared her :(

8 months old!

My failed attempt at a sibling photo.... this was the BEST out of the bunch lol

We got all of Nanny's grandkids who have children together and took a big photo of all of them, along with individual pics of the grandkids with their babies... I am not going to post the other family members out of respect for them and their privacy ;-)

Took a trip to the aquarium....

Bubby stayed asleep through most of it!

Excuse my red complexion... it was HOT.

Boogie dressed up as Sofia the First for a Radio Disney Jr Event!

We had a tea party :)

J's new toy!

So... Bubby is in this picture too... Breastfeed without Fear ladies! 

She thoroughly enjoyed our tea party :)

Origami Owl Takeout Menu - I'm so excited to tell you more!

He's a little excited...