My baby turned 3

Seth, today you turned 3. I was excited for you because you were anxiously awaiting your birthday, I realized though that the thought of having a 3 year old truly means you are getting older. Diapers will soon be gone, and though you aren't 100% potty trained, you have made great improvements and I know it won't be long until it's official. I won't miss changing them, but it's another phase of motherhood that will be done and that is bittersweet.

You have an amazing happy personality! You still have the ability to make anyone that meets you smile. You love your brother and sister and still prefer to cuddle up with Josiah at night to go to sleep. :) You communicate your thoughts and feelings very clearly now and you say the funniest things that makes our family laugh regularly ("this looks like a job for...SUPER SETH!). We have pretty much moved beyond the biting phase (that is a phase I was willing to give up!)...thankfully!!

Though WE didn't plan on having baby #3 (you), I'm SOOOOOOOO glad God knew better. I can't imagine our family without you. Your smile, laughter, energy, love for life and love for everyone around you is something I can't imagine living without. You have taught me so much about being a mom, about humility, and you have challenged my/our parenting many times and made us better parents. You are still a mama's boy and would love it if I would lay with you each night and cuddle real close and let you play with my hair. Most nights....I do cuddle up for a few minutes because I know it won't last forever and I love that you enjoy being so close still. Baby Seth, Super Seth, Setharoo...whatever we call you...you are one of a kind and I'm so glad you're mine!

I love you -- mom

Potty Training....

Yes, I've finally decided to work on potty training. He's been able to go on the potty for a while now, but not consistantly and not without us telling him to. Sooooo...this Saturday he turns 3 (I still can't believe that, but that's another post) so I decided to plan a week where I pretty much stay home and work on training. I have to say (though I'll admit I have a bad attitude when it comes to potty training) he's done really well. He's had a couple accidents, but nothing major and he's been doing great at going in the potty all on his own the last few days. Last night when we had Missional Community at our house I thought for sure he'd be wet by the end of the night due to excitement and distractions...nope, he was still dry!!! I realize we're not done yet (part of the reason I dislike potty training so much) and that there will be accidents and it will still be a process, but we are doing well so far and I hope it continues to improve from here!!!


Could it be possible that we will have NO MORE DIAPERS at any of our Christmas celebrations? With 11 grandkids on one side and 7 on the other....all very close in age...every year for the past 10+ years there have been multiple kids in diapers. What a strange thought...I've changed diapers for more than 8 years now....I really can't imagine not changing them....don't worry, I'll adjust! :)

Multiple Adventures!

Last week there was no school on Thursday and Friday...Dan and Josiah had a hunting trip scheduled with Dan's dad, his brother and his nephew. Josiah had been thoroughly excited and anticipating this hunting trip for quite some time! They had a blast and Josiah's favorite parts were shooting his new BB gun, riding 4-wheeler, swimming at the hotel and playing DS in the truck (he doesn't have one and loved that he got to borrow one)....and let's be honest, he was having guy time with some of his favorite guys, what's more fun than that!?!? Here's a pic of the crew and some of their loot. Now if only I could find some good pheasant recipes......


While those 2 boys were off hunting....Seth, Alayna and I were left wondering what to do.... I opted to NOT just stay home, we went on our own adventures! :) We headed to St. Cloud for "2 sleeps" and visited friends and family. During our 2 day trek I visited a long ago friend who used to live in Fargo, a college friend, my sister, another dear friend who used to live in Fargo (was it something I did...they moved away!!) :), my sister in law...and of course since we stayed at my in-laws we had good chats and fun play times there as well. It made the time without Dan and Josiah go by much more quickly and even fun!! Thanks dear friends and family for making time to hang out!

What do you want to be?

This isn't a question we even ask the kids, but there are times when I look at their personalities and wonder what God has in store for them in the future...

Lately Josiah has been talking a lot about becoming an engineer someday. Not really the job most kids aspire to be when they are in 3rd grade, but he does. Anyway, he LOVES to build, construct, design and most days after school he comes home and we talk about the day and do any homework and then he will go downstairs to the work bench we built for him (I was tired of my outside freezer being COVERED with all his building projects) and build with a variety of things. Along with these desires he also loves math...he would love to help start a math club at school. Not really something all kids would find 'fun'...not really something this mom thinks is fun! :) He likes to keep parts from various things to try to make them into other things. His mind is always thinking up ideas of things to build. I don't know what God has in store for him, but in this season of his life he is definitely excited about building, constructing and math.


Seth on the other hand...well, I've been cooking and baking a lot more lately and he has always been one that likes to be right by my side or on the counter so that he can be part of the action. He loves to help dump, measure, mix, peel/core/slice apples, etc....if I'm in the kitchen...he is there too...whether I like it or not! :) Needless to say, it's a bit messier when I cook and bake now. Who knows, maybe he will be the next Bobby Flay...ok, probably not...with me as his teacher I won't hold my breath, but I would love to make sure my boys (as well as Alayna) are able to hold their own in the kitchen and he's off to a great start. :)

Dancing the night away

My step brother got married a couple weeks ago. When you bring kids to a wedding and have to be there early for pictures, plus sit through the wedding and reception...well, I was prepared for some meltdowns. However, the kids did great! Seth took a nap in the van and we were all able to sit through the wedding. Oh, did I mention my sister has 4 kids and my brother has 3 and we all sat by each other during the wedding and yet all 11 kids made it through without being too loud. Impressive! :) Anyway, by the time the dance came along we were thankful for the ability for the kids to move.

Seth and daddy dancing...ironically enough the boy who never runs out of moves at home wasn't sure if he wanted to be on the dance floor with so many other people. He only danced a few times. Go figure!

Dancing with Grandpa Hacker

A twirl around the dance floor with daddy

Time to dance with the groom!

Alayna, unlike her brothers never tired of dancing! I couldn't get Josiah on the dance floor even once, he was just too embarrassed to try...bummer!

Organization makes me happy!

I wouldn't say I'm always organized, but I enjoy organizing. I think it makes the day to day stuff go much smoother. There's one area however that I have NEVER been organized, (some of my dear friends who know me well are waiting to find out what area that might be) RECIPES!

I have had multiple books with a few things marked in each, loose pages that I've printed, a book that I got when we were married that ran out of room to add more recipes, recipe cards that people gave me, magazines...well, you get the picture. Recipes in all shapes and sizes and I never quite knew how to make them all work together so that I could have the recipes we like all combined together.

This past weekend I took the plunge to organize them and boy am I glad I did!! It's just a simple binder, black card stock, double sided tape and sheet protectors. Pretty basic stuff. Once I put it all together it looked like this and I LOVE knowing where all my favorite recipes are and I LOVE even more that when I find new ones that I like I can EASILY add them to this system. Hooray for organization!! :)

Thankful

Sometimes I get caught up in 'life' and forget to step back and realize how blessed I really am. Has everything been easy in my life...no...but does that mean I'm not blessed...absolutely not!

I stepped back today and watched my 3 kids playing together in the backyard, my husband called my on his way home to remind me that he loves me and is looking forward to getting home, I have food cooking on the stove because we have money to buy food, I live in a great house that is more than a house...it's home, and most importantly, I serve a great God that has for now, blessed me with all these things.