Facebook

I have had lots of people ask.....so I thought I'd tell....

So did you quit Facebook? Are you not on FB, anymore? etc....

Well, yes. A bad 'ole hacker hacked into my account. He changed my password and proceeded to chat with all of my friends trying to get money out of them. When I got on my moms account and tried to chat with him I told him who I was and he said give me $200 for your new password. It really struck a nerve with me. I ended up having to get facebook higher ups involved. Long story short...I felt like I was spending too much time on there anyway and felt God's intervention. So for now I am not on FB.

But the good news is, I'm still blogging.....at least for the moment.

Four Wheelin

Yesterday, Josh and I took the kids to blast off a model rocket and then to ride their four wheelers. They were so excited. They had not been able to ride them since last weekend when I was in Houston. Here are all the four wheelers lined up on the trailer behind my car. (By the way, did I mention that my husband bought me a new car in October? Well he did. I had been driving the big black F250 long bed and was so ready. He surprised me up at school with it. Isn't he great?)

I loved this sweet picture of Gates. What cracks me up is Hogan in the background wearing his helmet in the car all the way out to my grandparents farm.

The boys eventually fell asleep with their helmets on. Poor things were so excited.

We had so much fun. The kids drove around like crazy people. Sometimes have to not watch because it makes me so nervous. Beck is the only one that really still needs help and someone to ride with him. He is really still too little and will run into everything because he forgets to brake. Ha!

Busted

Yesterday, Josh kept the boys while Elisabeth and I ventured out for some girl time. I had a few errands to run and we needed to pick out some stuff for her new room. After all the errands were run she wanted to go to half price books and pick out a new chapter book. On a side note, that girl can read. Every time I buy her some new books, she has them read within a few days. We are constantly buying new books.

So after picking out what we wanted, I got in line to check out. While in line, I spotted this stack of little books up on the counter. The art was old and the title read: The History of Farting. I couldn't help but be curious. Elisabeth was distracted with some note cards so I quickly picked one up and hid it in my stack of stuff while no one was looking. I surely wouldn't want anyone to see me buy such a foul book. Soon it was my turn to check out. I hand the worker my stack of books. I'm feeling a bit nervous like a kid who's doing something he shouldn't. My parents NEVER let us say that word and my upbringing was still getting the best of me. As the checker got to the "book" he says: "OH this is one of our best sellers!" I'm thinking yeah yeah just hurry up and pick up and get the next book and put it on top. Instead, he faces it out towards me and holds it to his chest so that all can see. He begins saying "I love the way the art on the front is. It is so old fashioned....blah, blah, blah" By that time, Elisabeth had noticed that he was talking about one of our books. She quickly came over. She read the title and began to laugh. I was totally busted and embarrassed. I had already seen a friend from church there and I did not want him to see my new book. I quickly finished my transaction and headed out the door. I don't think I will be visiting that store for a while.

A New Year...

Wow! I can't believe another year has already swept by.

All year I struggled with the fact that we are always in a hurry....

The hustle and bustle that life continuously throws at us makes me feel like we are doing something wrong....

From the moment we rise out of bed to the moment we fall to our pillows, life is busy......

Breakfast, off to school, clean up, midday pick up, 3:30 pick up, homework, soccer practice, piano lessons, golf lessons, dinner, bath, stories and prayers, ironing and packing lunches for the next day, off to bed to start all over again.......

Maybe it's the fact that we have four children all born within four and a half years........

Maybe, we want them to be too well rounded.....

Maybe, I can't say no......

But, it feels so wrong all the same.....

So this year, as I reflect on our year, I am wondering what we can cut?

How can we simplify?

How can we hurry less?

All the while trying to bring glory to God.

Trying to seek His will.

Trying to raise children who love and know God.

What are some ways you've been able to find the balance?

Three Children and the POD

Since I was on such a roll with the blog posts, I thought I would post some pictures I took during the big move. We used PODS to move and store our stuff while we wait for our house stuff do be finished. PODS have these fabulous blue doors on them. I thought they were the perfect back drop for some pictures of my children. However, my camera battery died when it got to Hogan's turn so he is left out. These were taken in October but I couldn't help but share.

Four Wheelers on the Farm

Two days in a row.....I am blogging. Maybe I can make this a habbit again. I really do love to blog. It is therapuetic for me. However, my crazy life takes over and well....there is no time.

My brother and his wife had their first baby on Sunday and my sister and I drove up to Houston to see her. She is precious! I need to get the pictures from Shannon because I forgot my camera. But I promise to post some pictures soon. That's if I continue this new habbit of mine. Anyway, while I was in Houston, Josh took our four children, their four four wheelers and our two 6 month old labs to a friends farm to play. Isn't he a great dad. They had loads of fun and were covered in mud when they got home. Our friends have 5 children. They are all much older than ours but precious. They are so good with our kids!

So here are a few pictures of from the day. Yes, Josh remembered to take the camera that I forgot. He had all the kids and the dogs and he remembers.....I have nobody and I forgot. Somethings wrong with that picture.

Above is sweet Abby with Elisabeth on her pink camo four wheeler.

This is Conner and Beck on his blue four wheeler. Conner is a big dude. He looks like donkey kong driving the car on Mario Kart on this thing. The kids said he popped it up on two wheels and flipped it backwards causing him to fall in horse poop. They think that story is hillarious.

This is Shelby and Gates on his red four wheeler. Shelby is so fun. She likes to get the boys to be her boyfriend. Little do they know she is a beautiful model.

While they were there, they got to ride horses. Here's Abby taking Hogan and Beck for a ride. Looks like they had a good day. I wish I could have been there.

Little Christmas Update

This year has been such a mess. We moved out of our house on Halloween. We were supposed to close on our new house December 10th just in time to throw everything in and celebrate Christmas. Well things didn't quite go as planned and we are still living with my parents hoping to close on our new house January 8th. Please say a prayer that things will go as planned.

I attempted to take some pictures of the kids before church one Sunday hoping to get a good picture for our Christmas card. However, getting four children to all look good is next to impossible and with all the drama with our new house I opted to not send Christmas cards for the second year in a row. YIKES!

Santa brought all four of my children four wheelers for Christmas. I'm going to have to start taking anti anxiety meds soon. The plan was to be in our new house for Christmas. Our new house sits on six acres. Lots of room to run four four wheelers. However, the plan did not work out so the kids road them up and down my parent's street.

Beck played so hard he wore himself completely out. While sittling on the desk watching my brother in law play computer games, he completely fell asleep for the night. It was only 6:00 and he did not awake until 8:00 the next day.