birthdays and blogs....

calvary turned 2 almost two weeks ago.

there was cake. (all talent credited to the ooey gooey bake shop!)



there was presents. (much appreciated by the little man!)



there was even blue sand!!!


and most importantly there was a lot of love for the cutest 2 year old boy ever. (all cuteness credited to his creator, God)



every moment i spend with my children i become more excited thinking about the summer months we have ahead. of course we have days where we drive each other crazy, but nothing in this world is comprable to the yearning i have to be with them. i sometimes do not understand how often times i have spent my life seeking what i cannot have...when i was single, i wanted someone to love; when i was dating, i wanted to be left alone; when i was married; i couldn't wait to have children; when i had children; i wondered when i could go to the bathroom alone... but even now, if kyle and i have time away from harper and calvary we usually end up missing them and going back to get them early...i think i want peace and quiet but if one of the children is out everything seems so strange and less eventful that i beginning longing for the chaos that having two children brings---all of this makes me think and understand why people want to have so many children...i used to hold vehemently to my claim that people should only have more than 3 kids if they own a farm and need the help; but now i realize how wonderful it would be to be surrounded by a loud, exciting, chaotic family. we have quiet a while to have peace and quiet...
and right now i would not exchange the chaos i have wrapped tightly into two little bodies for anything!

train them up...don't beat them up...

monday, april 14th is Calvary's 2nd birthday. somedays it seems as if 2 years has flown by, but other times it seems as if calvary has been here forever :) i am actually really sad about this birthday. i was sad about harper's 3rd and i think watching her turn 3 has made me sad about how quickly all of this truly goes. the strange paradox of parenting is that each stage has its storms that no parent enjoys, but each stage also has perfect, quiet joys that will can never be recreated. i like to keep up with harper and calvary's funny little statements because i know that as time passes, as it already has, that i will forget these treasures.
in the car, i was listening to a cd with the song "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus" and a line within the hymn that really captured my heart was "this is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus." in that moment it hit me that nothing that i have ever done is to my own glory...no good that i have done has been my own...every bit of the right that i have done is a direct result of the redeeming blood of christ. anyone that has played a board game, cards, tennis, or really any other competitive sport with me really knows how genuinely far from righteous i truly am. however, with parenting i pray every day that God will be honored through the way in which i parent my children. just as the scripture instructs our children to honor and obey their parents, it also instructs parents not to exasperate their children.
we have been beyond blessed with most amazing people that care for our children while kyle and i work. the white family provides not only an instructional environment that has been largely responsible for the scholastic growth of my children, but they also provide an environment that enriches spiritual instruction as well. this has been priceless...i told her one day that she not only takes care of my kids but she also takes care of me. we were talking today about submissive and instructional attitudes and she made the comment that the bible instructs us to "train 'em up, not beat 'em up" and i thought to myself how often we forget to correct bad behavior and remember only to punish it.
regardless of whatever parenting stage i am at i can only say that i only learn how to parent that stage effectivley right as that stage ends... also, any and every bit of my righteousness in any area of my life is "nothing but the blood of Jesus..."

spring break...

harper, calvary, and i had a wonderful spring break. i am devastated that i have to return to school bright and early tomorrow morning. we had so much fun at home and i managed to do some things at home that i have been wanting to do for ages. the pictures above are from martha rivers park. this is truly a beautiful park. the entire play area is made to look like a giant castle complete with towers, bridges, a moat, and a (ewww) sand pit. i think i have as much fun as the kids do whenever we go here.
harper loves to play with her brother. sometimes he enjoys it too. before we left to go to imaginon harper wanted to fix calvary's hair...

pretty girl posing in our pre-spring break living room mess...it no longer looks like that. :)

harper's new room...

harper's room was ready for an updated look. i am actually the worst nursery planner ever. i want the rooms of my children to actually be places that reflect who they are and it is difficult for me to know that when they are still inside...so neither of my children had fancy nurseries; not that either of their rooms are fancy now, but they are better than they were. i am still working on calvary's room (we are transitioning him to a big bed for his birthday next month so i will get the pictures up when i finish), but harper's room is finished for now. she still wants more princess like attributes but the canopy and princess castles on her bedding will suffice for now. her room is probably the most cozy room in the house; the pictures do not quite give the peaceful atmosphere justice---maybe the auora is created by the ceaseless "romancing the sax" cd, maybe the lighting cannot be stilled, or maybe i do not know what i am talking about. regardless, i bought tons of home decor items at ikea this past weekend in atlanta. that trip made me a believer and also an advocate for the club pressuring the builders in charlotte to get moving! the prices and selection are unbelievable...unbelievable to the point where no one will understand until they experience it so i will not go any further...

a plug...

an ode to a stroller...

while not the type of "plug" lori and jonathan lovingly offer their son, jonas, i have recently decided to write a sort of ode to my double stroller. the blog, charlotte smarty pants, which offers so much amazing information, just recently posted a message about the her double stroller. her blog made me realize how much i do love my stroller. investing in a good quality stroller is a tough and crucial decision...right up there with choosing a proper name :) when kyle and i realized we would have two small children we decided that we would need to buy a really great double stroller. thankfully, we were at the ideal location to think about such decisions: disney world. disney is like a stroller shopping mall. every make and model can be found at some point in the park.

i remember it as if it were only yesterday.

kyle and i were traveling the hot september day with great lassitude...

epcot's sights were but a haze until...

we spotted it...

a perfect maclaren twin traveller...

the handles were at the perfect height to where neither kyle or i would have to suffer pain as we pushed the bundles of joy nestled safely inside its sleekly designed seats.

it was at the moment we both knew we had found the stroller for us.

that faithful day was three years ago this september and i am proud to say that the love we have for our stroller has only grown.

it folds nicely and fits easily into any (almost--there are still those stores that make if virtually impossible to shop unless you are kid free) store.

it has endured with great fortitude my two children.

so to any mother out there shopping for a stoller of any kind...it may be wise to look into a maclaren.

baby messes...continued.

the other day kyle offered to clean the living room and asked if i wanted to run to the store while he grueled over our messy lair (i think he may have been up to something :) ). i took the opportunity and headed off to the grocery store. when i returned the house was way too quiet. i yelled "hello" as i walked into the living room and i heard kyle's voice return "in here!". "in here" referred to the bathroom and when i asked why the children were in the bath he replied "because they are in so much trouble!" he started berating the children, trying to convince them to admit to their misdeeds but the children just sat there...trying not to laugh. kyle was seriously mad so i was trying my best not to laugh. kyle then proceeded to tell me the story that ends with the timeless moral "do not leave your children at home with a man unless you want trouble for all, a house in a mess, or children (and a husband) hopped up on junk food." while kyle cleaned up the living room harper started to mix all of the paint she found in a sand bucket on the deck. the concotion created a purplish hue of gunk that calvary (of course) knocked over all over the deck. kyle was made aware of this mess by harper's screams trying to allevieve herself of any guilt. kyle then quit cleaning the living room and started cleaning the deck. every attempt he made to clean the purplish hued gunk off of the deck was thwarted due to harper and calvary's new love for leaving their mark on the world. everytime kyle would clean their hands and a bit of the deck he would inevitably have to return to the kitchen for more water and paper towels. which, at this point, harper and calvary would stick their hands back into the remaining paint and start the process all over again. it was this cat and mouse game that left kyle frustrated and the children (and me ) amused. as kyle related the story to me i diligently focused on keeping a straight face and even mustered up a sincere "we do not use paint without a grown up watching," but it was everything i could do. my first reaction was to ask, "did you take a picture?!" it makes me smile to think of little baby handprints all over the deck...but alas, (or thankfully) i only buy washable paint...

funny pictures...

i thought it might be time to update and let everyone know that we have bought calvary his very own dress up clothes. our first attempt of a train engineer costume failed miserably. calvary would not go anywhere near it. we saw the spiderman costume at wal-mart one afternoon and decided to give it a chance. we got it on him long enough to get this picture and he ran around with it on for a little while...harper has always been a great sleeper. we took the babywise route with both harper and calvary and had tremendous results. harper has only recently started to get out of the bed and she is going to be 4 in august. every night i go in to check on her before i go to bed to make sure that she is tucked in and take the books out of her bed. not long ago, i walked into her room to find her not in her bed but in the chair in her room. it makes me laugh to think about what must go through her mind in that time between wakefulness and sleep...

harper in kyle's "jimmy neutron" slippers
calvary eating cake...his shirt says "i enjoy ice cream, insightful cartoons, and long walks on the playground." he was a true valentine...(we have recently cut all of his hair off, so he no longer looks so unkempt :) )