Manna

Manna--The dictionary defines it as something of value that comes unexpectedly.  True dat.

This summer has come with some challenges.  In May, our van was hit in an accident.  A couple of days later, Tim was informed that his position at SuperValu was being eliminated and he would eventually be out of a job.  A few weeks later, I lost our nice camera during my trip to Texas.  It was like Bam, Bam, Bam!!   To say that it's been a long few months is an understatement.

Things are turning around, though.

After months of wishing, and hoping, and worrying, and praying, and stressing, Tim has accepted a new position with Micron as the corporate internal audit manager and will be starting in September.  We had prepared ourselves for all sorts of things--a decrease in pay, a relocation, a period of unemployment.  None of those are going to happen now.  Manna from heaven.

It has been a humbling experience, but we have tried to keep the faith and put our trust in God, and He has not forgotten us.  I had to fight back the tears when I saw Micron on the caller I.D. and knew they were making him an offer over the phone...manna.

Other good news at our house is that Jake is finally being receptive to potty training and the kids have started back to school.  And I'm pretty sure I can start shopping for a new camera now that I'm not fearing unemployment in the near future.  It feels like I can finally breathe this week!  I'm sure there are more trials in our future, but I am glad to be done with some of these for now.  It was a great learning experience for our kids.  We told them in the beginning what was happening with their dad's job, and how we knew the Lord would provide in His own time and in His own way, and they would remember to pray for him in our family prayers.

We know of many others who have had similar struggles, some for much, much longer.  I know we are no better than they.  The Lord's time is a hard concept to grasp.  I can only be grateful for the tender mercies he has shown us now and throughout our lives.

It has been a joyous week full of thanksgiving at our house.  On to new adventures!!

Progress!!

It has finally happened!  Sunday night, Jake finally went poop in the potty!  There are no words to describe the pure joy felt by every single member of our little family at his accomplishment!  It has been a long time coming!  I seriously almost cried, lame I know...

I thought it was high time to post some pictures of his cute little underwear-wearing bum.  This is what he looks like all the time, because I have learned that he's much more likely to forget to tell me to go potty when he's wearing pants.  So he doesn't wear pants.  It means less laundry anyway, so I'm over it.  Whatever works to get this kid to do it!!!  What's cuter than a 2-year-old in Lightnin' McQueen underwear??

As I mentioned before, I told Jake he could have a new toy once he learned to do #2 in the potty.  I was sure he would want a big Mater, but he chose this Cars race track instead.  And he loves it.  And I have found that the threat of taking it back to the store if he has a poopy accident is helping to keep him in check.  Added bonus.

 It seriously makes him so happy!

 Gosh, I love this kid!  So happy that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with this challenge!

School Days

Today was the day.  We got our routine back.  I've missed being on a regular schedule so much!  And the kids have been driving each other crazy the last week or two.  We were all ready for today.

Tim went in to work a little late so he could give the kids their Father's blessings once they woke up this morning.  Always my favorite part of the first day of school--pretty sweet!  Then we tracked their growth on our makeshift growth chart, also known as the inside molding of the pantry door.  Brandon is getting crazy tall...I only have about a half inch on him now.  He'll probably pass me up by the end of the year!

Sydney is now our lone elementary-schooler.  She doesn't seem too sad about that, either.  She picked out her own clothes for today, and I didn't even intervene and try to get her to wear something different.  Gotta let go a little, right??  She really wanted her hair in 2 pony tails, and although it's still probably a little too short for that, we made it work.  Dang, she's cute!  She was most excited to wear her new tennis shoes!

 Ryan starts middle school this year--6th grade!  That means he and Brandon are in the same school for this year and he gets to start wearing uniforms.  He has already started practicing for cross country--a new adventure.  I've been so proud of him for trying something different!  He seems to be really enjoying it, too.  A friend of mine with a cross country child said they had shirts last year that said,

"My sport is your sport's punishment." 

Haha!  Brandon would agree with that statement!

 Here's our almost-high-schooler.  I told you he was getting crazy big!  He was also super-stoked to finally be able to wear his cool new shoes, too.  And this is the last year he has to wear uniforms.  He has started football practice and is loving it as usual.  In less than three more months, he'll be 14...and going to dances...ugh!

I can't say I shed any tears when I dropped them all off this morning, but I think that's partly because I still have my little Jakey Bear here with me.  So thankful for that!

"Don't smell me!"

***WARNING***  In some people's minds this might contain a little TMI...read at your own risk.

So I started potty training Jake a couple of months ago.  He has done pretty well with the peeing.  I don't think he's wet his underwear in a month or so.  Pooping is another story.  I can't convince him to do it on the potty.  He seems to actually be scared of it or something.  I seriously don't know what to do.  It is making me crazy...

The funniest thing is that when you ask him if he's poopy, he gets this little sad face and says, "Don't smell me."  He knows that's how we know that he's pooped--by the smell.  It kind-of breaks the tension of me being so frustrated because he just says it so funny.  As if not smelling it will make it go away...

Hopefully he figures it out soon.  I've tried everything.  I even took him to Target and told him I'd buy him anything he wants if he'll learn to poop on the potty, and even that didn't work.  I thought for sure the promise of a great big talking Lightning McQueen or Mater would do the trick, but no luck so far.  Any tips would be appreciated.  I didn't have this problem w/ the other 3...

Bryson Reunion 2011

Last month was Tim's family reunion with all of his siblings.  Most of us get together all the time, but there are a couple that we don't see nearly as often, so it was nice to see them all together for the first time in quite a while.

Below:

Heidi, Randy, Tammy, Wally and Helen, Tim, Lane, Kip, Tina, and Shannon.  They're not anal like my family where we all have to be in age-order...

 On Friday we went to Roaring Springs, then played Minute to Win It that night.  On Saturday, we were told there would be a couple of water games, softball, and basketball.  I was thinking a few water balloons...I was wrong.  It ended up being Wally with a hose and free reign...yikes!

I had not brought towels or extra clothes or anything like that.  At one point about 30 minutes into the morning, Tim convinced me to play one of the games that seemed harmless enough.  Keep in mind that we had been at Roaring Springs the day before and I had embraced the wet hair/no make-up look all that day.  But this day, however, I looked pretty darn good--hair done, make-up nice, etc.  Long story short, Tim and Wally ended up dousing me.  No hair dryer or straightener in sight...and no desire to do my hair all over again anyway.  I wasn't really a good sport.  I think Tim has learned his lesson.  So there are no pics of me from that day...it's better that way. :)

Had I known just how wet we would get, I never would have let Sydney wear a white tee.  Good thing she's only 7 and not a teenager yet.

 Jake was happy to just throw balls and play catch with Dad.  That boy loves to throw!

Jake and his awesome daddy.  :)

 

Carpet Angels

I cleaned the carpet a couple of weeks ago.  I always do that after the kids go to bed, so it can dry overnight without being stepped on for 8-10 hours.  The kids woke up to an empty family room, and this is what they did right away.  I thought it was pretty funny.  Carpet angels, we called them. :)

 What's cuter than Buzz Lightyear jammies??

 Well, those Little Mermaid ones are pretty cute, too...

gettin our craft on!

While my momma was here, we played around with my vinyl cutter quite a bit.  Pretty sure I'm clean outta vinyl now, but that's a small price to pay for crafty time w/ my momma and all the cute things we made!  Here's what we did:

*I made Sydney her I am a child of God plaque with her name on it, but forgot to take a picture...

*I bought some simple glass canisters and made labels for them--love how they turned out!!!

*We made Mom a sign for her family room...she always tells the grand kids to "speak soft, kind, comforting words" so that's what her sign says...she likes it a lot!

*I made a sign to go above my pantry that says "simplify" to hopefully remind me to chill.

*We made my great-aunt Dottie a sign about dancing, since she's a dancin' queen and all.

It was so fun to craft and have fun and ignore the kids for the day while they harassed Poppa!



My momma and daddy :)

So like I said already, my parents came to visit  for about a week last month.  I only get to see them once or twice a year, and the kids haven't seen them in quite a while, since last time I flew to Texas all by myself.  It was such a great visit with them!  Sometimes I really miss just hanging out with them.  Thanks momma and daddy for coming to see us!!!!!

Since they were here, I used my dad's camera to get some good pictures of me and them to replace the ones on my lost camera from my trip back in June...that still makes me sad...but pictures with Mom and Dad make me happy.  And these turned out pretty great, I think!

Me and my daddy--I just love his huge smile!

Me and my momma--miss her already!

Discovery Center w/ G-ma and Poppa

While my parents were in town, we went to the Discovery Center. Sydney had gotten a free family pass on her field trip a few months ago, and they let us use it for all of us that day. We had so much fun. Tim even got to come since it was his Friday off. Then afterward, we went to the park for an impromptu picnic of fried chicken. Pretty great day!

I think my dad could have stayed there all day. Right up his alley!

Little Jake. :)

Ryan.

I love this pic of Jake on my mom's lap!

Sydney raising the nails as Ryan is lying on the bed of nails

Brandon and I made an arch!

Ryan's picture from the green screen room.

My pic from the same room...could my tongue be any bigger??

Brandon decided to go headless for his picture.

Sydney blowing bubbles in the giant bubble exhibit.

Silly faces--G-ma is on the other side.

I think she could stare at herself all day long.

Sydney's turn on the pulley chair.

Jake and my mom...you can't have too many grandma pictures!

Sydney's turn on the bed of nails...she thought she was pretty brave!

More Jake and G-ma.

Like I said, this was his kind of place...

Sydney and Brandon making a tornado.

More bubbles...this is to show that, yes, Tim was there. :)

Lue Lankie

When Jake was newborn, my oldest sister, Melanie, crocheted a blanket for him.  It's so soft!  He has loved it since he can remember.  Even before he could talk very well, he has called it "blue blankie."  But he just now can say the "b" at the beginning, so it actually sounded more like "lue lankie."  He has to have it every night and he asks for it when it's snuggle time and I make him take a nap.  It instantly calms him down.

 None of my other kids ever had a "blankie," but this kid loves his...it almost makes up for the fact that he would never take a binkie.

The best part is that he just came up to me and let out a shriek:  "That my blue blankie!!!" as he looked at the screen.  Love him. :)

Sydney is SEVEN!!!

Sydney turned 7 a couple weeks ago! I can't believe that this time next year, me baby girl will be getting baptized! She shares her birthday with my mom, and we were lucky enough to be able to celebrate with them both. My parents drove up from Texas and got here just a few hours before the party. Sydney chose to have a pool party at our neighbors' house where she swims all the time. It sure made planning easy--let the kids swim a long time, do presents, swim some more, have treats, and done! She had a great time and had a ton of friends over. I even played the role of "FUN MOMMY" and swam with the kids the whole time. I can be fun when I want to. :)

She got way too many presents...I guess that happens when you invite so many friends.  I love her face in the picture on the top in the middle--pure joy and excitement.  She felt pretty special getting presents on her party day, which was 2 days before her actual birthday.  She tried real hard to let me open her gifts from us that day too. That was taking "fun mommy" too far...she had to wait!

 For her treats, she wanted to same rainbow cupcakes that we had done for Ryan, but with purple added, of course, to girly them up.  We also had ice cream cones, in keeping with the easy-on-Mommy party theme.  All 24 cupcakes and 3 containers of ice cream disappeared in no time!

 My dad was a great entertainer to Jake once he had spent enough time in the pool and while I was still swimming with the kids.  Jake thought it was great fun to get his hands wet, then shake them on my dad's face.  I can see where that would be fun. :)  It was so great to see my kids with my parents...they don't get much time together each year...

Once it was Sydney's and Mom's real birthday, I let Syd open her presents from us.  She has been begging for new bedding for her room for months, and we had been "window" shopping several places.  She really loved this zebra bedding with purple and hot pink as accent colors.  So she mostly got stuff for her "new" room.  I was pretty excited that she's moved on from Littlest Pet Shop...

That day, I took my parents and the kids out to Winger's.  It was nice to be able to treat my parents to lunch for once.  Too bad our service at Winger's was A-W-F-U-L!!!  But in the words of my mother, "We made a memory!"

For dessert that night, we had raspberry Jello poke cake and homemade vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries on top.  It was delish!  The best part, though, was Sydney...  Tim and my dad had gone to the little neighborhood park to fix the pump for our irrigation system and Syd wanted to go see what they were doing at one point.  She was gone for a while, then when she came back, she was COVERED in dirt (see photo above...).  I don't know that she's ever been that dirty.  I took the hose to her, but not until after I got a picture!  My sweet little girl--all boy!  That's why in the pics of her and my mom later at dessert shows her with wet hair--she had to have a spray down followed by a bath before dessert--typical Sydney Grace!