My little 3 year old

"Birth Day"

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday






Where does the time go? I feel like we were just experiencing the overwhelming feeling of new life entering the world and now that little life has been blessing us for 3 years!
Samuel Scott Greer is a funny, stubborn, independent, loving, loyal soul. I think his daddy would agree that he is a mama's boy and I cherish beyond words those sweet, sweet hugs I receive when he wakes up and when is going to sleep.
Love you baby boy!

I am the MOM!

These are some pics I took Saturday as we played outside on a beautiful, spring-like Saturday afternoon. They make me laugh...our children and these pictures! Sam was showing me his mean face, Gracie requested I take a picture of her, and Haley is the consummate photo "ham" in our household. The one of all three is my favorite as it perfectly captures our life: fun, nutty, silly, loving and imperfect.
Usually when I wake up in the morning, I wonder how I survived the day before and how am I going to survive the current one. This mothering stuff is H.A.R.D. and they are still small...what in the world am I going to do as they teeter into their teen years?! I think about that all the time! There is only one word I can think of: Jesus. Give me Jesus. Give me your love, your patience, your grace, your forgiveness.
I have a lot of thoughts that roll around in my head but never can seem to get the words down on "paper", then I read a blog by Lysa TerKeurst. I found her through the daily devotionals I receive from Proverbs 31 (http://lysaterkeurst.blogspot.com/). She expresses perfectly what I've been thinking/feeling regarding motherhood...here's what she had to say:
"So.Yeah.Today's post isn't for my mommy friends who don't struggle. I love you. I applaud you. I heart you mucho. But I can't join your club.I wish I could.But my reality disqualifies me. I find being a mommy the most stretching thing I've ever done. I carry with me evidence of this stretching. Marks on my body. Marks on my heart. It's thrilling. Heartbreaking. Sweet. Exciting. Disillusioning. And incredibly unpredictable.Just when I think I've figured a few things out and I'm about to shine my mommy halo, something happens. Something loud and tearful and frustratingly difficult. And I find myself knee deep in drama wondering if I will survive this season of 4 teens and one pre-teen.It makes me laugh when I think back to being pregnant with my first child nearly seventeen years ago. I was convinced I would die in the child birthing process. I even set up a special meeting with my doctor to go over exactly what happens in the birthing process and tearfully gave him all the reasons I was convinced I would not survive this process. What in the world?I so wish I could go stand in front of my little, um huge, pregnant self and say this:"Honey, you will not perish giving birth. This part of motherhood will seem like a walk in the park in just a few years. You will not only survive giving birth but you are about to spend the next twenty years having your tiny little brain and your tiny little heart experience more highs and lows than you can shake a stick at.Just remember one thing... You are the Mom. That's right you da' mama. Repeat after me... I am the Mama. I am the Mama. I am the Mama! Don't ever forget that."Yes, I would tell my little huge pregnant self that because it's easy to forget sometimes who's really in charge. My kids want to be in charge. And while they certainly have the strong wills and wonders of leadership... it's immature leadership. Leadership that needs to be shaped and molded and corrected and reigned in.1 Corinthians 4:20 says, "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." This reminds me I am not left to my own pitiful attempts at this daunting task but because of Jesus I have power. Real power. Not just theories and words given by human parenting experts whose advice may or may not work. I have power to rise up be da' mama.The mom my strong willed, delightful, amazingly capable, beautifully adventurous, wildly wonderful, and uniquely special kids need. I have been perfectly designed, shaped, molded and assigned these children because I have what it takes to be their mom.I have what it takes to be the mom!You have what it takes to be the mom!... I AM THE MOM!Love that."

There are days I pray I am not permanently screwing up my children's lives but then I must remember that I am flawed but I am forgiven; I am NOT enough, but Christ is and I was CHOSEN for my children and they were CHOSEN for me. (http://www.incourage.me/ - Angela Nazworth). Did you need that pep talk? I sure did and I wouldn't trade my life with my little trio and husband for anything else in this little world we inhabit for this short time.

SNOW!

It was a beautiful to wake up to the blanket of snow covering the port city. The kids enjoyed their first experience with the white stuff (and so did the dog!)!

Here I am!

It's been a while, huh?! So pardon the random steam of consciousness that is about to follow!After the wonderful craziness of Christmas, we settled back down and tried to get back into our somewhat normal routine. January consisted of several birthday parties which the trio enjoyed despite a variety of meltdown for a variety of reason. They love to sing "Happy Birthday" just not at the time their friend is being presented with a lovely cake filled with candles. They usually wait until we're on the way home to sing and continue wishing that friend happy birthday for several days. It finally clicked for Sam that birthdays = fun and presents. We also told him that his birthday is in February and he is FIRED up! He'll tell you he'll be three in February but when I try and tell him it's February 23rd he says "no mama, my birthday is February"! He doesn't get the date part but oh well. Incredibly hard to believe that my baby will be celebrating his third year of life in just over a week. He's a funny kid and I can't imagine our lives without him.

On a side note, H, G & S have now decided they are the Wonder Pets. H is Linnie (who she specifically stated lives in a cage), G is Tuck and S is Ming Ming. They wake up in the morning referring to one another by their Wonder Pet names. The other night when they were taking a bath, they sang the theme song and told me I was the baby turtle that they were off to save. Their little imaginations are just blossoming and it cracks me up to hear the conversations they have among one another.

For me personally, I have a new semi addiction to home decorating/crafting blogs. I've found some really great ideas out there and for the most part, they are thrifty projects that I can do without spending too much money. I did make one significant purchase and it was my Cricut Machine as seen here:


I can make all kinds of fun shapes/letters when/if I choose to pick back up my scrapbooking, but it also lends itself to making fun banners like this:


I've got big plans in my head and I'll keep you posted as they come to fruition!

Another idea I ran across were these cute heart rice krispie treat pops. As I was making them last night, I was mumbling under my breath that they were not as quick and easy as recipe stated; however, when you've got three children and you're making treats for 30 children, it takes some time. I was a little impressed with the way they turned out. Now I'm just praying that this winter blast doesn't cause the schools to close tomorrow meaning I'm stuck with 30 rice krispie treats as the Valentine's Day parties are tomorrow!

Speaking of Winter Storm 2010, here are a few pics I snapped of the snow earlier today. It's hard to tell, but it has been coming down pretty hard since 7:00 am. It looks nice from my cozy office, but I'm not a big fan of the snow. My children can't wait to make a snowman and snow angels but I'm kinda hoping the white stuff doesn't stick around!