HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Yesterday (november 25) was our 7 year anniversary. :) Clayton's grandmother called to wish us a happy one and asked "Did you celebrate?" Clayton's answer, "Yeah, we got each other cards and wished each other a Happy Anniversary." lol Oh yeah... we're SO romantic! We did have a really good day together just being home and relaxing. If we'd have been able to plan our perfect wedding, I'd have never done it right now... doing it right in the middle of the major holiday season makes the celebrating funds kinda low and you're so worn out from just doing Thanksgiving, and knowing Christmas is right around the corner, there's just no drive to go and do much. lol

This picture I posted is actually one of the few I have of us together! Usually he's in them or I am.. someone has to take them! This was literally the DAY before Samuel was born... so be forgiving when you look at it. lol I'd post an old one of us but I'd have to find one and scan it in and all of that... another day, another post!

So, 7 years married! (almost 10 together) Amazing how time flies! He's still the complete love of my life. I honestly wouldn't be me without him. He's such a fantastic man... I always feel so lucky to be married to him. I'm always proud to be on his arm and to walk into a room with him. And he still makes me feel like the most gorgeous woman in the world... he still looks at me like he did when we first met... somehow. lol (after 3 kids that's a sure sign of true love!) So, here's to my sweetie! The best guy in the world!

Thank you!

Thank you Hyland's Teething Tablets for making my baby boy smile again! Wow, these things are like a miracle sent directly to Earth from God's hand. I could hear the angels singing as my all day screaming baby drifted peacefully to sleep last night with no tears. My baby that as been biting me every single time I've nursed him for days on end, nursed with zero bites after the two itty bitty tablets. The baby boy that's only slept for about 45 minutes at a time, day and night, only woke twice between the hours of 9pm and 6am to eat and then go right back to sleep. Yes... a miracle indeed!! I will forever sing the praises of Hyland's Teething Tablets! Expect it in any baby shower gift bag I put together from now on.

It's in the air!

No, not MRSA... CHRISTMAS! This is a picture of the kids and I at Clayton's mom's house last year during Christmas. I was a few months pregnant with Samuel and the kids were 5 and 2... my how the family has changed in a year!

This morning was so wonderful. We walked outside to find frost covering everything! Carter burst out of the front door shouting "It snowed! It snowed!" and Madison giggled and corrected him. It was so cold when we first went outside that we laughed about that.... until Carter started nearly crying about it. Mommy didn't think to warm the van up before we got into it this morning so we froze for a few minutes! Everything was so beautiful all glistening with frost that it just really put me in the Christmas spirit. I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet.. but almost! We heard our first Christmas song on K-Love this morning (Rockin` around the Christmas Tree) and it got me so excited that I looked through my cd's and pulled out our own Christmas mix. We listened to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" first and then followed it with a Nutcracker mix... Madison LOVES that music since it was what their Christmas program in Kindergarten was about. (it was so cute!) I know I'll amazingly be sick of Christmas music by the time the day actually comes and goes, but for now it's so much fun to get in the mood for Christmas songs, trees, decorations, lights, hot chocolate, pumpkin and banana bread, and more turkey in the next two months than I can even think about right now. I've even just started buying gifts, which is early for me.. I do everything so last minute! I can't wait to see presents all wrapped and pretty under the tree. And, last year clayton surprised me with a bigger pre-lit tree (on major sale at WalMart!) and I can't wait to get that sucker up! Hooray! It's almost Christmas!

Parenting tips from the Bible

It's amazing to me how I can hear/read a verse in the Bible that has nothing to do with parenting but at the same time I can so relate it to raising children.

The Journey Gals are doing a Beth Moore Bible study right now called Stepping Up. We're only on week two and all I can say is WOW! Sunday night we were watching the dvd of Beth M. and she was reading from Hosea and this verse struck me. In context it's about how Israel turned away from God and started worshipping pagan gods and believing that those gods had given them their vineyards and orchards and basically all that was good for them. So, of course God was displeased.... but this is what he says...

Hosea 2:14 - "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her."

Now, God had already reprimanded them, but here he is, being merciful and even tender to the people that had basically forgotten him. After all of the sin and wrong they had done, he still was tender with them. What a lesson for me! I do try to be tender with my children... but how hard is that when they've REALLY got you peeved? When the back talking is getting to be more than you can handle, when you feel like you've said "no" a million times that day and are talking to yourself, when you're just having one of those days? If God can speak "tenderly" to Israel when they've basically completely turned away from him, then surely I can speak tenderly to my children in the midst of a bad day. I caught myself a few times yesterday wanting to raise my voice and be more of a dictator to my 3 year old (he is SO 3 right now!) and instead, I stopped, took a few deep breaths, and spoke to him in a soft and tender way. I still held the consequences that I put into place with him for rules broken... but it seemed so much more effective since I was still having mercy on his little heart. This goes hand in hand with what we've been talking about in Parenting Group. Using "I" statements instead of "You" statements. (I feel *** when you *** because ***) instead of (You don't ***!!) It's a hard thing to do in the heat of the moment.. but it's my goal! I think I need to write this verse down and hang it all over my house!

What's with the attitude?

I was walking through WalMart, boys in tow, yesterday morning after dropping off Madison at school. We were having a really great time! We went to the "Christmas Shop" section and literally looked at every single thing in there. Isn't that the best?! We finished up there and headed to grab diapers... passing the women's clothing section to get there. They had several shirts hanging up with frowny or mad or frustrated looking faces on them. One said, "I think it's cute that you think I'm listening" and another said, "When I said I liked you I was lion." (a lion pictures on the front.. ha ha) Does anyone else ever get really tired of seeing this stuff? I mean, seriously.. if you're attitude is SO negative that you feel the need to display it across your chest perhaps you should seek counseling or a more positive way to get those feelings out! It's like people are just totally accepting and satisfied with having a chip on their shoulder and have no problem telling everyone around them to "watch out." What's the message you're trying to get across? "Don't approach me." "I hate people" "I'm mean" "I'm in a bad mood.. permanently"?? If you just like the shirts with sayings and pictures on them.. why not pick the ones with the big yellow smiley faces on them that say "SMILE" on them? One with a picture of the cross and an uplifting Bible verse on it? Or the infamous "Peace" shirts with the oh so groovy peace signs across them? I just wish we as a society would think more about what we put out there for the public to see. No wonder Americans can be so depressing and rude and unhappy! Sometimes I wonder if people think that smiling at a stranger is just something old fashioned or "fake" people do. So, my good people, let's all try to think about what kind of person we're presenting to the world when we walk outside of the four walls we're in right now. And, trust me, I'm aware that I can sometimes have an attitude.. but I do genuinely TRY to be humorous about it. Laughing about things is my way of trying to get over it, or lessen my negative feelings about it. That's why I tend to call my friend "Silly Me" (sorry, I don't know how to link you!) when I'm frazzled over something... she tends to do the same thing. I called her just yesterday to vent a bit about my wonderful hubby and we ended up laughing quite a bit about our men in general... THAT'S what we all need. A friend that helps pull you out of your slump instead of joining in the gripe fest with you, telling you how RIGHT you are, how awful your husband is. That, to me, is a sign of a good christian friend. One with a good attitude, that you know you can call to vent about your husband to and you KNOW they know you still love and adore your man and they think nothing less of him and can help you laugh yourself over it. That's what we all need, a good laugh. Every single day. At least a real smile everyday. lol So, as you step out into this big grand world, double check what message you have, literally and figuratively, written across your chest and what impact it might make on the people around you. And ask yourself what impact it is you're on this earth to make. Thank you and goodnight. ;)

Belated Halloween

So I'm a bit behind but still wanted to share a bit of our Halloween with you all. Here's a picture that just makes me laugh! It's so "us' right now. Carter loved digging the "seaweed" (yeah, that's what he called it) out of the pumpkin and then playing with it in the garbage bowl. Notice his almost evil laugh going on? Samuel is licking and biting my arm because he thinks that if it's Mommy's skin.. there's a chance milk just might seep out. And I'm acting like I'm not getting slobbered on and I'm not quite afraid that pumpkin "seaweed" is about to be flung all over me. I think I pulled it off okay. Madison was dying to carve pumpkins and then got really bored with it really fast... hence why she's not pictured here. Clayton did ALL of the work yet was nice enough to snap this picture like I had anything to do with it. (well, I did hold the baby)

Here are the kids in their costumes. Madison was a fairy (she didn't have her wings on here though.. phewy!) and Carter was Bobba Fett from Star Wars. He didn't like the helmet so it's also not pictured. Samuel didn't wear a costume... he wore a "Baby's First Halloween" shirt that was covered up by the Ergo the entire night. (so I'm glad I didn't spend any money on another costume!) He's the first Moss baby to not have a costume.. I just knew I'd be carrying him all night and wanted us both to be comfy.

Pardon this pic of Samuel.. I was a busy mommy and didn't take one of him before we got home from trick or treating and he'd smeared carrots all over his outfit and face. You get the idea though. He's cute enough to pull off the messy look. I love my boys!

Sleeping In

Since Clayton is still on nights I've been taking full advantage of him being home in the mornings. This morning he got up with all of the kids around 7:30am and I got to "sleep in" until around 9am. (yeah.. seriously!) My question is.. is it really "sleeping in" if you're up every hour from 4am until 9am and you finally decide to just get up at 9am rather than try to sleep? And, you didn't go to bed until around midnight that night? (Samuel was SO much fun last night... ) Just wondering... because when I crawled into the living room this morning, Clayton asked if it felt good to "sleep in" this morning... and I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh or cry. It's amazing how even being in bed for that long... you can still sleep so little! Thankfully we've had a GREAT day today. Samuel and Carter spent around 5 minutes straight just laughing hysterically back and forth at each other... it was so sweet!! That's the first time that's happened... there's that "brotherly love" I guess! Sam's not been napping well today... so I'm praying he's saving it up to sleep many many hours tonight... wish me luck!