Happy Birthday!

So, today is our Lisa's birthday!  We called an impromptu holiday and everyone stayed home.  Lisa had a bicycle that she loved to ride and she loved to walk or run on the beach.  This morning the kids went for a bike ride then we came home to watch The Sound of Music... her all-time favorite show with a bowl full of popcorn.  Mitchell has been working all day to make some sort of sculpture out of play dough in her honor. :)  I baked an apple pie.  I admit that I don't know her favorite choice for dessert but I know she liked apple pie so that's what I've done.  It turned out great and we ate it for dinner!  She had a magnet on her fridge saying something about pie actually being fruit so it seemed appropriate for tonight! :)
It is a family tradition to have a "singing candle" for every birthday.  On her last birthday I gave her one of her own since her ex-husband seemed to have gotten the other one in the divorce!

It was a challenge to keep our chin up today but she loved her birthday so much that being sad today, of all days just wasn't an option.  We miss her so but are so grateful for the love that she gave to us while she was with us.  We have so many great memories of birthday's past that they have definitely sustained us today!  Making it special for her was the best part.  The line she put under her photo on Facebook is now widely used among her friends and reads like this: live, laugh, love, life is too short for anything less.
Make it a great day!

Living the Life... Again!

What a long journey I've been on these past few months!  To say they've been trying would be an understatement!  Life is for living, tho, and so here I am putting my effort forward on the things that matter most to me.
I am 19 weeks pregnant now and morning sickness is finally over!  Everyone says our baby is most certainly a girl with all of the nausea I've had this time around.  We are hoping so but will not find out for sure until the doctor schedules an ultrasound.  I'm guessing we still have a couple of weeks before we do that.
                  Joe, working hard :)

Joseph is working out of town now.  He leaves on Sunday and returns on Thursday to spend the weekend with us.  We miss him but I like this schedule much better than "compressed halves"  where he works for 8 days and then is home for seven.  Hopefully his gang will move closer to home soon so our family schedule will be more normal and our expenses will be lighter.

Janie is such a blessing to me!  Where would I be without her?  She has been there helping out when I'm exhausted or sick to help with Max and housework and still manages to work on her schooling.  She attends afternoon classes at the high school and is a "straight A" student there.  Her artwork is improving and she is making a head and foot board for a bed in metal shop.  She finds that her favorite medium is chalk.  She takes a very hands on but short computer class and then spends time one-on-one with her computer lab teacher.

Mitchell started second grade full time last month.  It was a really difficult and painful decision but he is glad to be so occupied during the day.  It has taught me a lot.  We are working on his behavior now from a different angle.  Mitchell seems to require lots of attention... this we've known for a long time... and he will get it any way that he can.  I find that I need to "beat him to the punch", so to speak, and give him the opportunity to receive positive attention before he creates havoc and only gets negative attention.  Negative attention is exhausting for all of us!  We started with chores and small expectations.  Since he normally throws a fit about doing his chores, I've given him a daily deadline to complete them and if he completes them by this deadline for two days then he gets some special time with just me.  He finished his first two days today and we went to the library together.  I'm hoping that the extra attention and the reward for good behavior vs. consequences for poor behavior will make a difference for him and for our relationship.  I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Max is becoming a potty-trained little boy!  Hooray!  I always fuss about potty-training with every child only to realize in the end that they will train themselves when they are ready.  As long as he's wearing underwear instead of a diaper he will ask to use the bathroom almost every time.  He's such a cutie and a huge blessing to me.  I am really grateful for his loving and snuggly self on days when life gets hard.  His new thing is to pat his belly and say, "See my baby?"  Crazy boy! :)
All in all, life is getting back on track.  We are grateful for Spring and that it reminds us that life is full of new beginnings and there is hope in that.  Hoping for you and yours that your Spring brings the opportunity for your own budding and blooming and reminds you of the only hope that is everlasting... the hope that comes from God.