Pics my sister took...she rocks

Go here to see her new blog...
http://valerie-photography.blogspot.com/

Goodbye for now...

I've come to a decision. I'm taking a blog break - not that I've been oh so fabulous at keeping up with it...but every time I get online and read blogs, I feel both inspired and deflated all at once. I read great ideas and thought-provoking posts...I see cute ideas for decorating, cooking, crafts, thanksgiving, advent, etc...and then I log off feeling boring, unimaginative and like I'm failing somehow because I'm not like this or that. I do realize that this is a lie...but it gets me every time. As I mentioned in my previous post I'm prone toward the negative, and in this particular area it's getting the best of me. SO...I'm taking a break...I'll be back sometime soon...I'll still post pictures, but that's probably it for a while...

Thanksgiving Thoughts

I'll be honest. I'm really a "half-empty" kind of girl. In fact, several years ago where I taught we all got to do the Birkman personality profile, and the results put you into different colors...I was in the blue...meaning that when one thing goes wrong I tend to overgeneralize it...I think the example given to me was something like, "if you were to walk out to leave for work and see that you had a flat tire, your first thoughts might be something like 'oh no, I KNEW this was going to be a bad day...I wonder what else is going to go wrong...'" I remember laughing out loud because it was SO TRUE (even if I don't always SHOW that as my reaction!)

Anyway, all of this is to say that my morning got off on the wrong foot today...and all day I've been battling a headache and feeling a little frustrated in general...I've felt...just ugh...but I do know that I have much to be thankful for. My son has this incredibly sweet drooly smile...my daughter bowed her head and prayed before our meal and I got a little catch in my heart as I watched her...I laughed with my sister about silly snl skits - real laughs that make my stomach hurt...my husband has been patient with my moodiness...my parents have been gracious providers...

and really, my lord has been so good. he has filled my life with good - because he is good. i'm working on focusing on this, rather than the things that don't matter.

spiritual amnesia...

i have decided this is an affliction that i have to battle more than i'd like to admit. often, i am in church, i hear something in a song or scripture that resonates with me. it gets me thinking about how that applies to me, or perhaps it stirs some conviction in my heart, etc. i can even be moved to the point of tears during a sermon or time of worship...and then often before i even make it all the way home the amnesia strikes. the "i really need to spend some time thinking/praying/reading on that" somehow dissolves with the needs of my children, the piles of laundry, the school responsibilities (another post entirely) and the other stresses that happen to be in my personal/family life right now.

if you read the previous post you can tell that this is kind of an ongoing battle for me at the moment...who i want to be and who i am are worlds apart right now.

New photo

My sister has started to spend more time on her interests with photography...when they were in town we had our little neighbor take a family picture, which is what you see above...don't you love how cooperative lily and jude were? ah, well, at least the rest of us look good!

Help me, working moms

Okay. This post is a plea for help in time management. Whether you're a mom who works at home or out of the home, if you have small children then your time is not your own.

My current situation is that I'm teaching, I try to leave the house between 7 and 7:15 so that I can leave right after school if possible, which puts me home around 4:30ish. Usually I'm dying for an hour break but I don't have long before my kids go to bed, so I play, feed them dinner, bathe them, etc. Jude goes down at 7:30 and Lily at 8:00. Most nights I do have schoolwork that could be done, and so I have to choose between that, hang out time with Justin, alone time for myself, or trying to see a friend and maintain some kind of social life, time to pray/do bible study...you get the point. And honestly, by the time we put Lily down at 8:00 I'm so tired, I could definitely follow within the hour.

I know I'm not the only one...so how have you found ways to "do it all" that you can suggest? I want to do all things well, and I feel like I need some help to do so...

Halloween Pics

Okay friends...I've surfaced once again in blogland to put some updated pics of the kiddies out for yall to see...Halloween was fun this year...went up to a church in the neighborhood, taking along Dr. Lily and our little monkey Jude. Why are they so grown up already???

Pumpkin Patch...sort of

Okay, so the flu has waylaid us this week. Here is our first attempt to do something out of the house...you can see that my children aren't quite back to their normal selves yet...Jude didn't actually have the flu but is fighting sinus infection/ear infection and has three teeth coming in, so he's been a little under the weather too. We might try to get some better pics later but for now...

Haircuts

Last weekend we ventured to the local salon to get haircuts for the kids...here's a few of the shots we got on our not-so-cooperative old school digital camera:

This is Lily's before shot...she's such a nut...


Getting a haircut is serious business and she can't be bothered with trivialities like smiling or chatting. The girl is focused.


Finally, she begins to relax...and yes, I know it's not all that different. But it's not as crazy as it was, and I'm sorry but I can't bear to cut the curls off just yet. So there. By the way, you can see Jude's "before" hair in the background of this shot if you look closely...but don't look too closely as this was not a day when I dressed cute or applied makeup...wasn't planning on making the pictures!


The trick to cutting a 7 month old's hair is to provide a refreshing beverage with which to distract them from trying to grab the scissors or move their head from side to side. You can have that advice for free, friends.

the kiddies

These are two of my favorite pics from the summer...my mischievous daughter with a twinkle in her eye and my chubby cheeked boy with his amazing sweetness...i must confess that while i feel we're on the right track and definitely seeing light at the end of the tunnel in this tough year we've been having, i'm still struggling to take things one day at a time and not be overwhelmed by all that is swirling thru my mind at any given minute. i want to be someone who demonstrates grace and peace despite circumstances. i don't want to snap at my children or my husband. i want to laugh more. i want to rest well when i finally hit the pillow at night. these are my simple requests before the lord this season...i will let you know how he moves...

Wedding weekend

We had a fun weekend in Dallas - a visit with our dear friends Chels and Jesse who GRACIOUSLY babysat for us while we went to some other dear friends' wedding - KJ and Travis...much fun had by all and it was so great to have a night out!


This picture is a recurring event...the 4 of us have been friends for more than 10 years, and at all major events and parties we've taken similar ones...I ADORE these girls.

Okay...

So, I've been quite absent I know. I've been moving, starting a new job, getting up at night with a teething baby, sitting in endless trainings and staff developments, shopping for affordable professional clothes (ha!), attending new churches, making bottles, filling out paperwork, reading books (namely Miss Nelson is Missing)...you get the drift...let me tell you something! I complained a lot about the craziness that took place when I worked at Yellowstone, but I have never in my life had so many rules and regulations and trainings and such to answer to. The administrative stuff is far more stressful than anything concerning curriculum and teaching...hopefully in the next few weeks I'll get into a good routine, but talk about worn out!! Shout out to all the working moms...it's really a challenge and a lesson in sacrifice of personal desires.

On a lighter note, the kids are doing great. Of course Lily especially is enjoying living with Lovie and Pops since she gets LOADS of attention and affection. I'm thankful for this season and for the quality time my babies are enjoying with my parents...you can't love on them too much, you know?

I'm hoping to get better about updating...and in the meantime I'll leave you with some funny pics of Jude...he is DARLING and sweet just like his big sister...

Quick update

Helloooooooooo...I haven't had time to think, let alone write about anything of significance in blogland...but I just wanted to say we're alive and well. I hope to get a full update and some pics up some time this week. Check back soon, faithful friends!!

much needed update...

much has happened since the last post, sorry for being absent in the past weeks. we've been housesitting in katy for my parents for 2 weeks, and then this week stayed in katy as well while i helped to teach a professional development class at neuhaus. during that time we had a fun visit from chelsea, jackson and moses...as well as lots of other fun catch-ups with family and friends.
lily and jackson playing and having a sharing lesson:


updated picture of jude:

in other news...
i've taken a teaching job in katy at golbow elementary - i'll be teaching language arts and science...so yes, we're moving back to the houston area!
i'll write more on this later, but wanted to put the update out there...hope those of you who read this are well...more soon...

early

6:02 a.m. Lily comes into my room fussing about she can't find her paci

6:04 a.m. Back in bed with Lily next to me sharing my pillow...uncomfortable but determined to go back to sleep

6:12 a.m. almost asleep when Jude wakes up - talking - ready to start the day and have breakfast

6:27 a.m. Loud thud followed by crying as Lily has rolled out of our bed and hit the floor...poor kid

Good morning!

Chatty Cathy...

So today we braved the heat wave because we absolutely had to check mail, send a fax and go to HEB...and to gear myself up for the workout that it is to take both my kiddos to the grocery store, we ran through Sonic for some refreshing beverages even though we'd missed the happy hour window.

Once inside HEB, Lily felt it necessary to introduce both Jude and me to every person that would give her the time of day, and also let them know that daddy was not with us because he was looking for a job. Also, in case they were wondering she was drinking a sprite and mommy had a dr pepper with vanilla. Oh, and her name is lily grace johnston, she's 2 years old. Yall, I'm not even kidding EVERY person that said hi to her or acknowledged her got this conversation...hilarious.

In other news, my little man has learned how to roll over both ways!! Woo hoo! look how proud he is:

Bullet Points from Julie and Jason's wedding

I'd like to let you in on the memories of my sister in law's wedding. Some are sweet...some are less so. Enjoy:

~beautiful hotel room looking out on the water in marble falls
~sick baby boy - fever and fussy
~swimming with lily and lovie in the pool after several unsuccessful nap attempts
~justin, me, lily, jude and lovie in one room for the night
~jason (the groom's) parents calling to say they weren't coming for rehearsal dinner but would come up the next day...huh?
~lily throwing a couple of fits at the rehearsal dinner - one that included knocking all of our drinks onto the table, floor and her dress...soon followed by jude's explosive diaper on my mom's only clean shirt for the next day.
~crying a little in the night because jude STILL had a fever and i was sleep deprived and worried about him
~lovely bridal brunch at the horseshoe bay marriott - in love with the omelette lady
~pink plastic roses made out of melted spoons - yes, you read that correctly
~"aunt bal's" arrival and added help with my 2 crazy children
~drive to dairy queen to pick up lunch - the only alone time i had with justin all week - thanks mom and val
~seeing julie when we arrived for pictures - GORGEOUS
~justin and julie (family friend) singing in the ceremony...so sweet
~julie keeping it together as she walked down the aisle
~brent's tenderness in giving julie away
~lily playing in the back of the pavillion during the ceremony
~brent (my father in law) busting a move to mustang sally at the reception - classic!
~dancing with justin at the reception
~lily licking icing off of cupcakes
~having two children with dirty diapers at once at the reception - they have impeccable timing
~passing lily and jude back and forth between my mom, me, val and justin
~justin looking cute in his pink shirt :)
~jason's parents heading back to their room before the reception was over...huh?
~sweet farewells to julie and jason wilner (lily loved the bubbles!)
~passing out in bed around 9:45 that night
~endless packing the next morning and cramming into our car for the drive back
~lovie reading the same books over and over to lily in the backseat
~HOME.

"I want to hold Jude..."

Lily says this alot. So today, I conceded.
At first he was all, "uh...what in the world?" or maybe he was just practicing his manly, "i'm too cool to smile for the camera" face

and then he decided she was alright, even if she is a little wacky...

Julie's wedding

My sister in law got married this past weekend in Marble Falls...much to say on the occasion, but until I can organize my thoughts, here are a few pics courtesy of my sister...

some new pics...

hello all...here are a few new pics of the latest happenings in our lives...spent the weekend in liberty with justin's family and lily experienced crawfish for the first time. wasn't so sure about their pinchers...and then wasn't a huge fan of them as a meal either...also, you'll notice that my children were being especially cooperative when i asked justin to take a picture of us, because i have no pictures of me with them since jude was born...and yes that was 3 months ago...ridiculous...





also, excuse the weird blur on lily's face in this picture, (from a mysterious fingerprint smudge on the camera), but i wanted to let you in on the secret that apparently multiple headbands at once is the way to go in up and coming fashion trends...

faces of jude

when i don't have anything of interest to say, at least i can post pics of my cute baby...

Country Living

Living in the farmhouse has been a whole new adventure for us...I'm not a wimp about bugs and such, or all things nature for that matter. I do hate snakes. And as you will see in the post below, there are no pictures of snakes. This is because seeing a slithering line move gracefully through the pond while I sit safely on our front porch is closer than I'd like to get to one. But rumor has it there was one in the bushes next to our steps. Thankfully I never saw it. More on this later...

Here is one of the perks of country life - watching little baby birds peek their heads out and go from this:

to this:

then, there's the unexpected surprise of a huge bull showing up in your front yard. he lived with us for about a week until his owner finally decided to track him down. lily and my sister named him simon. we grew kind of attached to good ole'simon. oh, and simon's owner graciously told us he saw a snake next to our front steps when he came to retrieve his wayward bull. (shudder)

the following, however are visitors that i do not appreciate. the pictures will be self explanatory. especially the pile of bees that we fly swatted out of the window in our bedroom. yes, you read that correctly. prepare to be amazed.

this makes me sad.

i realize that i don't know this family. i simply watch their life on tv. and i haven't followed this season's show while they're living in their MONSTROSITY of a house. but i have watched in the past and i have found them to be incredibly endearing. okay, so kate barks at john a lot...they have 8 kids, people, and she is about the most type-a person i've ever seen! i have always been impressed by the time they spend together as a family...constantly trying to expose their kids to new experiences, the amount of planning that goes into their outings, their organic meals, their parenting, etc. i teared up when i watched the episode where they renewed their vows in hawaii - kate said to her husband "thank you for marrying me again" and i felt like there was so much behind that statement.

so what's up with all this drama? i don't know what's true and what isn't...i pretty much don't pay attention until it's in people magazine - but i can't even bring myself to read it because it makes my stomach hurt. if john did cheat - it breaks my heart. if he didn't - all the exposure and gossip makes me so sad for their family. i realize that people in the spotlight often get caught up in all the exterior perks and begin to stray from what's important...and i don't really react when hollywood couples don't make it, simply because that's so common...but this one gets me because they were just normal people. i hope they're able to make it work and be a picture of reconciliation to all the viewers that follow their story.

enough writing about the lives of a family that i don't even know. but i have to admit that i'm still sad.

a few words about lovie...

this is a post to praise my mom - she keeps me grounded when i feel overwhelmed. she speaks with wisdom from a combination of scripture and life experience. she doesn't worry or freak out like i do. she walks confidently and with grace through even the most difficult of circumstances. she is incredibly generous with her time and her resources. she is a servant in every sense of the word. she works hard and fills her time with meaningful things. she loves the lord. she deeply loves her family and friends and demonstrates her love well. she honors and respects my dad. she showers my children with lots of affection. she has spent lots of hours doing bubbles, reading books and chasing after lily. (and shopping at target for cute clothes for lily and jude too!) she has been at the hospital when my babies were born, and cried as she kissed their little cheeks. she is always willing to help when i need it - even during the week that jude was born and she lost her own mother all at once. she drove all the way to brenham to bring lily's beloved giraffe - and then had to drive all the way back again with jude's carseat base that we left in her car and she didn't complain. she has made countless meals for us...and cleaned up countless meals as well! she is thoughtful. she is encouraging. she is exactly how i want to be with my husband and children. i love you mom. thank you so much for all you do. i'm sorry i don't tell you more often how lost i'd be without you.