A Resurrection (of the Blog)

Peek-a-boo! I am here and alive! And clearly a mom to start out a blog post with "peek-a-boo." Sigh.

We are so thankful for the arrival of spring and the fresh air that comes with it! A couple months ago when I last wrote, I didn't do very well at hiding that I was really feeling depressed and discouraged. Something about knowing you can go outside, whether I do or not, just makes me feel like I can breathe a little easier. Now that we are also seeing green grass, moving water, and flowers, life is really good. That is, besides the parts of life that are not really good.

I briefly read through my previous post and wanted to follow up on the boys' nighttime comfort habits. The pacifier thing with Micah went great. But after two months, we finally gave up the fight with Levi and his bedtime finger sucking. Our next attempt will probably involve cutting off his fingers. Tonight he told me he was going to put some bag clips on his fingers so he wouldn't suck on them. We'll see how that goes. My hopes are as high as the deepest sea on that one.

Another thing I never followed up with was when I started potty training Micah last August. I finally got tired of potty training two boys at the same time and just put him back in diapers for awhile. Now that Levi has been consistently doing decent in underwear for a couple months, I impulsively decided to resurrect my potty training efforts with Micah last week when I woke up Monday morning. Matt was going to be gone for work for several days so I had no need to leave the house for seven days straight. Plus, the grandmas gave us a good supply of Easter candy to use as potty motivation (Levi is once again getting rewarded for going potty since it's his candy too). He has done miraculously well so far, and I was feeling pretty good about it all until I was reminded this morning that leaving the house is a giant hurdle that we hadn't yet faced. He kindly gifted Grandma with a stinky underwear episode when I went to town this morning. Nonetheless, we aren't giving up hope.

Sorry. I really am a mom if I can talk this long about pacifiers and potty training.

It has been over two months since I last updated on our super-duper exciting lives! For one thing, it is because I/we have been really busy doing very few reportable things (besides changing diapers and potty training). For another thing, because I have discovered a new hobby called decluttering and organizing my house-yes, the Konmari way. Perhaps I will speak more on Konmari later. The task of decluttering is one I have found to be an extremely effective stress reliever. After a few hours of going through things, I finally feel like my breathing and heart rate can return to normal. I'm not sure my husband's stress levels are reduced by taking van loads of miscellaneous items to Goodwill. But he likes it when I'm happy so I guess he just lives with it. As long as I don't touch his garage...I know better than that.

Oh. So blogging. You, my beloved readers, should feel extremely honored because I gave up my very important naptime routine to write to you. Perhaps that is something very few people understand. But I have learned that without my naps, I cannot function fully through the evening. My children and my husband suffer from my wretchedly exhausted state. But when everybody fell asleep one afternoon, I couldn't relax and decided to sit here and write. I also gave up an early bedtime because nobody was tired that night. You are so welcome.

Now that we have all those bases covered, I'm going to bombard you with a bunch of pictures that have been stacking up.

Joanna at 7 months old! (Two months ago...)

Police Car!

Comfortable sleep position.

We finally went to the effort to get everyone bundled up and out in the snow! This is the first time we used Joanna's new snow suit. I thought she looked like a Teletubby. 

Back in the good ole' days where she only got into things she could access from her walker. I think those were my exact thoughts when I snapped this picture. Wow, I will really want to remember how nice it was when all I had to worry about was towels and aprons strewn all over my kitchen floor. Hehe.

We took the floor bed out of the children's room and put Micah into Levi's bed. They now each sleep on an end of the twin bed while Joanna claims the crib. 

One morning after weighing in, I wondered if I could fit back into my wedding dress...and wahoo! I did it! Thus, something else I didn't follow up on but really intend to do one of these days...one year on the Trim Healthy Mama plan has been wonderful! (Nevermind the disaster the boys are creating in the background of this picture.)

This is the day Levi wanted to eat a sandwich and a computer for lunch. I had to smile when I realized his "computer" was a waffle! Clearly I do not cook enough waffles in this house for it to be a part of his vocabulary. 

The boys' birthday gift from Grandma Massner was a play date to Shug's Tiny Town! They had such a grand time! 

Back out on the ice for our final skating evening (end of February)!

 

March 2nd was Dr. Seuss's birthday, so I made green eggs and ham. Levi was extremely unimpressed...  

...until he tasted it, that is. Then he was begging for more. Hmm...reminds me of another person we just finished reading about.

Bath time just got lots more fun now that Joanna can join in! 

Here is a belated wedding picture from December I received...but too sweet not to share!

Wearing Mommy's old dress!

We enjoyed keeping Ben & Bethann and their two sweet boys for Invite-a-Guest weekend in March! The boys all got along great and had so much fun! (On another note, we also enjoyed having Jon and Sharon and their two little boys a couple weeks before. Our boys love to play with new people!)

Joanna's first days of standing on her own (right before the eight month mark)!

The day after I first heard about Konmari, I came home, watched some Youtube videos, and went back and folded all of Joanna's clothes using the folding method. I still haven't gotten around to going through and discarding the children's clothing...that task sounds dreadfully daunting. 

BUT I have completed the phases of going through clothing (mine only), books, papers, all kitchen-related items, office supplies, and seasonal decorations. This is a picture of the book phase, in case it's not obvious. These were all the books I collected from our entire house. For those unfamiliar with the Konmari method, you go through things by category, collecting every item from the entire house and putting it in one big pile. Then you go through each item and decide whether you will keep it or discard it, based on the criteria of whether it sparks joy. Then you organize the items you have decided to keep. I am quite thrilled with the progress we are making. My whole brain and life are feeling so much less cluttered now that my house is getting uncluttered. Ah, a topic I could go on and on about...

Tadpoles! 

I think I never mentioned that my family did an eight-week wellness challenge for the beginning of 2019. We had a point system and spreadsheet all set up. Everybody created their own goals. The five winners got to have a fancy dinner put on by the five losers. So here we are, the five winners smiling after our gourmet meal. Billy and Johnny were the servers, Mom and V were the cooks, and Travis was the childcare provider. I think the losers had just as much fun putting on the meal as the winners enjoyed being served. 

 

Worst hair day ever...morning after pigtails. 

Didn't take much to start looking sweet again. We love this little girl so much! 

 

Feeding the ducks with the leftover communion bread.

He is learning all the ropes to shaving. 

Micah is learning the ropes to car mechanics.

...and big bumps on his noggin. They were a daily occurrence as I was waiting for the perfect day to take his two year picture. 

 

We did Resurrection eggs this year. Here were the contents before I filled the eggs. The boys opened one egg each day leading up to Easter and we read the corresponding Bible account that went along with the Easter story. I used this version. The only modifications I made were adding a small cracker with the thimble/cup and changing the quarters to dimes (per Matt's pointer that it made more sense for the three coins to add up to thirty cents). I chose this version because it was all items I could come up with around the home. The only change I would make is to maybe do the version with only eight eggs so we can start with the palm leaf on Palm Sunday. 

I let the boys decorate their egg cartons. It was a fun way to teach them the Easter story and they looked forward to opening their eggs each day! 

One day, I finally got up the energy to take the boys' two and three year old pictures. Yay! 

I can't get over how sweet he is. I also intend to do a child update sometime too. Oh, the things I would do with more blogging time...

In an effort to get Levi to cooperate for his pictures, I told him to smile really nice for a good picture, and then I would let him pick what he wanted to do. So these pictures are some of the results of his own choice poses. 

 

"Picking weeds."

We enjoyed a weekend at a hotel in Cedar Rapids with my family a few weeks ago. The boys loved swimming in the pool and getting lots of attention from their uncles!

...and we played lots of games! 

Micah loved the water! Levi didn't do too bad either.

We found a good deal on a boy at Pizza Ranch during our 30 minute wait!

...and enjoyed some fresh air on the rock outside. 

Home again, home again...

This is one of several occasions when Levi asks me to take a picture. 

 

We got our garden all ready to plant (if I ever get around to buying seeds)! I ordered some strawberries and flowers in the mail, so we got those planted. It is so nice to be outside! 

This little girl especially loves the fresh air!

I found a good deal on boys' underwear at the Shopko closing sale. Perhaps that was another thing that inspired me to start potty training Micah...an abundance of underwear to get dirty. Micah wanted to keep these underwear on all night. So they didn't come off until after breakfast the next morning. Silly boy. 

Another day he wore himself out and couldn't even eat his supper. 

Nine months old! She is now walking pretty freely, getting into everything and keeping me on my toes as she can get all over the house so quickly! Joanna enjoys eating any kind of food we give her, is always happy except when her brothers are beating her up, and wakes up a few times during the night to be satisfied with a pacifier or nursing. We love our growing, sweet and smiley girl!

 

Then Easter weekend arrived! We started out at my Mom and Dad's for Saturday lunch, then spent the evening with the Lanz family, and then went to Mom and Dad Schulz's for Sunday evening.

Easter Egg hunt!

We enjoyed the afternoon in the beautiful weather! This is an example of how Matt relaxes...by fixing up the landscaping around their tree. Poor man can't sit still and doesn't really know how to relax. I obviously still remember how to relax. :)

And this is how Levi and Micah chill out. Levi reads books and Micah runs in circles around the tree. A very true picture of their personalities.

Easter morning! By the end of the day, Joanna's dress was in shreds, her hair clip had broken, and she had puked all over her cardigan. She was clearly not meant to be dolled up. 

Matt encountered this "Redneck Roundabout" during his travels for work last week. 

Joanna loves being outside and often stands at the door hoping somebody will be gracious enough to let her out!

Seth & Brenda's kids came over last Friday evening. Matt was working out back with Shadrach and left me in charge of all these hooligans...five children under age four! Fortunately we have no shortage of swings!

This boy...he can fall asleep wherever. Even in the middle of our nighttime family singings.

A proud little girl to have an apple all to herself!

Our flooded pond this week.

Levi got all dressed up to play church. He has on suspenders, a "tie" and his finishing touch: a "belt." I am glad he has a good imagination. A stool probably wouldn't have been my first choice for a pretend belt...but hey, it got the job done. 

Hope you all had a blessed Easter and are enjoying this beautiful spring weather (the rain around here is getting a little dreary, but it is certainly more refreshing than snow for me)! Thanks for reading! :)

Snowy Days and Celebrations

Our 2019 has been primarily dominated by exhausting amounts of winter weather that has confined us to our homes much of the time. I pretty well feel like we've been quarantined, as ice and snow and cold have kept everyone from coming and going. One week it seemed Matt got stuck in the driveway every time he came or went. He even had to stay home from work one day due to the cold. Other weeks have been filled with icy roads. School has been cancelled, delayed, or let out early about every day (it seems). Which may not seem like it should affect me, but it does affect piano lessons, which is my only connection to human life outside of the five lovely people who dwell in our home. 

I have never considered myself one to need to get out of the house. It is rare for me to feel stir-crazy because I normally don't mind staying home all the time. BUT. I have been starting to feel it. One morning, I actually got all three children loaded up and drove to the library just for the sake of getting out. Desperate times call for desperate measures, my friends.

I've also struggled to maintain a cheerful spirit around my husband and children the past several weeks. Though I would like to give the weather some credit in that area, I know I am the only one who determines my mood. So I suppose I should just blame myself and put more effort toward getting out of this slump.

Of course, there have been plenty of highlights to brighten up our winter...

Travis and Jesse took one of their snow days to come over and take the boys sledding! This was our boys' first sledding experience and they seemed to have lots of fun! :)

Glasses and cars...

Levi said he wanted "Cheerios and Peanut Butter" for breakfast, so I concocted a new recipe: melted PB + cream + honey +  Crispy Oats (you can probably sub Cheerios if you are the hoity-toity-name-brandy type, but we prefer Crispy Oats.) ;)

Joanna decided to start folding the laundry for me while I was away for a few minutes.

We came out one morning and Levi was getting ready to start making eggs for breakfast. He loves helping Daddy make breakfast when he is home! 

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

Then began the birthday celebrations. First, Joanna's half-birthday. We didn't actually "celebrate" with a half cake or anything. But we're on a birthday theme right now so bear with me.

Measuring somewhere around the 75th percentile for height and weight. A very healthy and happy girl.
Starting to sample solid table foods, but seems to prefer nursing rather than eating real food.
Rolls all over. Loves scooting around the kitchen in her walker.
Favorite hobbies include reading and singing.
Wakes up twice at night.

Our half-birthday celebration!

PIGTAILS!!

So big! 

Five days later was Levi's third birthday. He was pretty excited! 

Birthday pancakes!

We spent the morning decorating his car cake! He helped out a bit, and made special requests that I add trees, cats (those green dots under the trees), a horse, and a wolf. 

We celebrated at Schulz family night!

The Massner uncles gave them a sled for their birthdays! 

Levi's third birthday milestone was quitting his finger-sucking habit at bedtime. We'd been telling him that when he turned three he couldn't put his fingers in his mouth anymore. So we started taping his fingers together at bedtime. It was a rough first week or two, but he eventually figured out how to fall asleep without fingers. Almost a month later, he is finally starting to take naps again and master this finger-less sleeping business (still with tape). Neither Levi nor I function well without our naps. Which is one of several factors that has contributed to a rough past few weeks.

While I'm on the subject of birthdays, I'm going to skip ahead to Micah's second birthday. He was such a sweet birthday boy! The second birthday is so fun...they are old enough to realize the day is special, but young enough that they are still so cute. :)

We celebrated a day early with my family this time, and Levi opened his birthday gifts too since we never actually gave him anything on his birthday.

The uncles gave them a musical card that they love to open and reopen and reopen and reopen...

Micah was very proud of himself for turning two. And yes that cake was lots of fun to make! :) (And I finally got brave and made a sugar-free and gluten-free cake that I could eat without going off my diet. And it was pretty good. I gave everyone else the option of ice cream in case they needed to cover up any unwanted undeliciousness.)

Birthday pancakes again...this may become a tradition! :)

Talking to Daddy during breakfast. Matt had to spend most of the day driving for work. 

Micah's second birthday milestone was giving up his pacifier. Much easier than quitting fingers because you can throw pacifiers away. We told him ahead of time that when he turned two, he wouldn't have his pacifiers anymore, so he was almost proud of the big day when he didn't need a pacifier for bed. We stuffed all his pacifiers in a balloon, blew it up, and set it up on his dresser when he went to bed. In the morning when he woke up, the pacifiers inside had turned into M&Ms and he got to eat them all up! He fell asleep without a problem and was perfectly ok with it. :) Now if you ask him what happened to his pacifiers he will tell you they turned into M&Ms. Because that's what happens when you turn two. I normally prefer to be completely honest with my children, but I really hope someday he will forgive me for telling him his pacifiers turned into M&Ms.

Naptime and bedtime certainly aren't as serene as they used to be, but I'm trying to convince myself it will be ok.

Around Micah's birthday time, all the kids ended up with fevers, coughs, and icky noses. Nothing got serious or lasted for more than a couple days, though I did keep Joanna home from church on Sunday. We have been very thankful for the blessing of health God has given our family so far!

BACKTRACK TO FIRST WEEKEND OF FEBRUARY...

The first weekend of February we took a road trip to Latty, Ohio. We decided to break it up a bit and drove to Bloomington on Friday night to spend the night with Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy! It was good to spend some time with them and we appreciated their last-minute hospitality.

 

The boys were terrified of the dog when we arrived. By the time we left, they actually dared to touch her.

Our hosts in Latty were Arthur and Wendy! We enjoyed an evening with several other young couples, and the opportunity to visit both Latty and Junction churches on Sunday. As always, it was a wonderful chance to renew friendships with many brothers and sisters in Christ that we haven't seen in a while. 

The boys loved the ball pit in Arthur and Wendy's basement! Their daughter Kaylee is the same age as Micah. 

Traveling went fine. As in, we all made it there and back safe and sound. Very safe and very sound. Micah cried half the way to Bloomington on Friday night, and Joanna cried half of the way home Sunday night. Other than that they all traveled really well.

SKIPPING BACK AHEAD TO...VALENTINE'S DAY!

I love Valentine's Day and think it is one of the loveliest holidays to celebrate. It comes along to brighten up one of the lowliest, most depressing, slowest time of year. It is a beautiful opportunity to show your friends and family how special they are to you.

Matt hates Valentine's Day because he doesn't like to spend money on an over-commercialized holiday and he doesn't like thinking of ways to be romantic.

I despise Christmas; he despises Valentine's Day. We're all fair and square now.

So this year I decided that rather than wait for my husband to sweep me off my feet, I would help him out and sweep myself off my own feet.

He asked if it counts if I have to buy my roses for myself. He said there was a good deal going on at Aldi and I was headed there anyway. I told him, of course it counts...as long as I have a lovely bouquet of roses on my counter, I'll feel loved! I also went ahead and bought myself a gift for him to give to me. That made him happy, too.

A dozen roses...love is officially in the air. 

My mom gave the boys chocolate valentines she had made...they were pretty pleased! :)

The flowers were wonderful, but we hadn't made any special Valentine's day plans, so I decided to make a candlelit dinner for ourselves at home. 

Matt's favorite-BBQ ribs- and green fries (a THM favorite), strawberries and dip, grape juice, and peach cobbler for dessert (a healthy peach cobbler, of course). Yes, I accidentally ate that whole plate of ribs and could hardly move the rest of the evening. 

Ahh...it looked so calm and pretty and romantic. Of course, we still had children around. I told the boys they were going to pretend to be Daddy and Mommy at their play kitchen table. They were supposed to pray, eat, and read the Bible all by themselves while we had a date at our table by ourselves. 

Levi had just woken up and was entirely unimpressed by this strange turn of events. Micah did pretty well besides spilling his water and having trouble feeding himself. Joanna was an angel and spent the whole meal quietly playing with her toys in the corner. 

This is how we spent much of our meal. But we did give ourselves a big ole' A for effort! 

The rest of the evening was complete with a dance party, a game of spin the wrench (since there weren't any bottles around), and hymn singing. Those three activities pretty much do not go together at all. But it was a lovely evening and we enjoyed our time together as a family!