Playing catch-up...

Oh boy, I have soooo much to post! I have been so completely consumed with praying for Baby Stellan and following Mckmama's blog-I even get her twitter updates on my cell phone now!-that I have let all of my posts go, and now I'm putting them ALL in one post as I try to catch up! Before I go on with all my normal stuff, I just want to remind everyone that Baby Stellan desperately needs our prayers! His little baby heart has been in SVT since Sunday (it's beating way too fast!), and he can't go on like this for too much longer. I am frustrated and my heart breaks for their whole family. I continue to pray that God will show Mckmama the right path, as she is extremely mad at the lack of progress by the doctors. A mother's intuition is real, and I hope that she will stand up for what she feels in her gut!

Ok- now on to my stuff...my 93yr-old grandmother was recently in the hospital struggling with pneumonia, and the kids decided to make her a get-well sign and take a picture with it to send to her. Here's the sign... And here's The Gang with the sign...
Oh, and this is cute! A couple of weeks ago, Allie was asked to prom in a really fun way- a sign on the window of her car along with a rose. So, for fun, Allie decided to write on the car of the guy that asked her to go, and here's what she wrote...
I love it! We'll be shopping for prom dresses this weekend, and I'll be sure to post the pics of Allie trying them on- at least the ones she doesn't choose. We'll save the winner for the prom pictures! How exciting:)

This next set of pictures is hysterical! Jacob got his hands on the squirt bottle that I use to get the boys hair wet in the morning, and he figured out how to use it! You can see the results below...

He was SOAKED!!! But he LOVED it!!!

This picture is not very good, but it's what I did for Easter in my buttler's pantry. This was the table centerpiece that I got for my birthday, and it's been so fun to change it and do different things with it. It's so versatile, and I love it! Thanks again mom and dad:)
This next set of pictures came about when I decided that I am sick and tired of being a waitress and short-order cook every night of my life!!! I didn't start out that way- the girls ate everything I made when they were little, but at some point I got completely off track and let the kids eat things other than what I made because it was just easier! Ha, what a laugh! It doesn't happen every night, but it happens most nights. Sometimes it's just one kid that wants something else, and sometimes it's four kids. I finally reached my breaking point the other night when I made chicken enchiladas and had four kids telling me YUK, without even trying it! That was it- I had had it!!! I let the kids know at that point, in no uncertain terms, that they would eat what I made for dinner or they would not eat at all! I then decided to add to that and insist that they would absolutely have to try a bite before they could tell me that they didn't like it. Sophie decided she would just keep her mouth shut and eat only green beans, Noah finally gave in and ate after about 15 minutes of sitting on the floor under the table and whining, Jacob had a bite and spit it out (but he's only 15mos, so I decided to cut him a little slack!), and then there was Matthew...
Yes, this was his hysterical (and by that I do not mean funny) reaction to me asking him to simply try ONE bite...
As you can see, it was a VERY small bite, and I even removed his plate and the rest of his dinner... I just wanted him to try this LITTLE bite...
He refused in his true 3-yr-old-stubborn-fashion, and things went downhill pretty quickly from there...

I'll spare you all the details, but after about 45 minutes, I finally convinced Matthew that he could get down and go play if he would just take this one bite! He let me put the bite in his mouth, but then spit it out. I reminded him that I knew how badly he wanted to get down, and he just needed to eat this bite, and he let me try one final time. FINALLY- I thought I had won! But this is Matthew we're talking about, and the next thing I knew, the food was dangerously close to falling out of his mouth, that was now completely full of spit, and Matthew was gagging himself to the point that I think he actually threw up a little in his mouth! So now, he's got food, spit and vomit in his mouth, and a nice mom would have said OK, spit it out, but not me! Where do you think Matthew gets his STUBBORNESS from??? I perservered! Yay me! I calmly, but firmly, told him to swallow and take a drink, and I think he knew it was all over and I had won. He finally swallowed, and when I asked him if he liked it (yeah, I had some nerve!) he shook his head and simply said "yucky!" Well, I must admit, by that point, it probably was!!!

And finally, we went to Sophie's orchestra concert tonight, and it was so cool. It was a huge concert that involved elementary students all the way up to highschool students, and they all did a fabulous job. I really loved to see the progression from the little kids to the older ones. Sophie's age group was amazing- such a joy to listen to:) Anyway, I noticed something while at the concert that sort of bothered me. There were families there with kids of all ages playing in the orchestra, but there were hardly any small children in the audience (it was easy to tell because we were in a gym and were sitting on all sides in the bleachers with the orchestra on the floor below). As Matthew and Jacob got a little noisy, I noticed people turning around to stare at us, and I thought what on earth is wrong with bringing our children out to a family event? At what point did we stop including our kids in our activities as part of our family unit because it's inconvenient and may bother others? At what point did we start using babysitters on a daily basis and decide that our children are a burden to be left at home? We're NOT doing our kids any favors by hiding them away and not teaching them how to behave in public. And we're not teaching them that we value them. And we're not teaching them that supporting eachother's endeavors is important. Our kids go to ALL of our family events. If one of the boys is playing soccer, you can bet you will see my two teenage daughters sitting there, cheering them on. And not only will they not be complaining about it, they will enjoy being there and will be there by their own free will, because that's what families do. Ok- time to end this VERY long post! Remember to say a prayer for Stellan...