new camera

for my birthday my brother-in-law and sister-in-law gave me a nikon D40.  our nikon SLR broke last summer and we were told it would be more expensive to repair it than to just buy a new one.  well, that was not in the budget right now, so we have been making due with our iPhones. 

so you can imagine my utter shock when i opened this on my birthday.  we have been absolutely loving taking photos...real photos.  i thought i would share some of my favorites.

concentration in the backyard

swinging at the park

resurrection sunday

blowing bubbles

minutes after losing her first tooth

so handsome

practice swing for teeing off

(he's on the golf team at school again this year)

never again

there are few things in life that i hate.  but i'll readily, without hesitation, tell you that i absolutely HATE potty training.  in all of parenthood it is the thing i fear and dread more than anything else.  i'm not being dramatic.  i'm being serious.  that's how i feel about it!

i think when i was trying to potty train alaythia i commented on here that i didn't care if she walked down the aisle in diapers.  and i was serious then too.  so i have not pushed it with sophia.  grandma always makes comments to sophia on facetime about being a big girl and being ready to go on the potty.  and she probably was.  but it was mommy who wasn't ready.  i wanted sophia to wake up one day and tell me she was ready to not have diapers anymore.  when that day came, THEN and only then would i begin the process.

so why in the world did i decide on sunday afternoon that sophia was going to start potty training the next morning?

maybe it's because i felt i needed to do something really hard, since matt too was doing something really hard that day.  he had a chapter of his dissertation due that day, and i can do nothing to help him, i'm helpless.  he has a huge mountain to climb, something he often times feels he can't do.  so what in my life is like that?  potty training.  maybe deep down i felt the need to conquer a mountain too.

that said, i really can't take credit for it.  it's thursday morning, just the beginning of day 4 and i'm typing the words - sophia is potty trained.  that proves that indeed she was ready and we all know, there really is nothing we can do in the process.  they have to decide they're going to do it.  but with no accidents, and waking up with a dry diaper this morning, i'm feel confident to say it.

and as the reality continues to set in, i realize that i NEVER AGAIN will have to potty train a child.  the mountain is forever conquered.  and more astonishing yet, seven and half years straight of changing diapers is coming to an end.

measurable

in my line of work there are not many days that are measurable.  sure i make progress everyday...the dishes get done, the laundry is washed and folded.  (if it gets put away that's a fantastic day!)  but when i wake up the next day there are more dishes to be done and the laundry has multiplied once again.  i've said it here before, life is routine and cyclical.  when you're in the trenches, it's hard to see the progress that's being made.

but yesterday was a measurable day.  and i know they are few and far between.  so even though my back hurt, i was completely exhausted and it took an hour longer to put the kids to bed than normal, i was happy last night.  not a jump up and down kind of happy, but a deep inner joy.  a satisfaction and gratitude.  gratitude for the measure, for the marker, given by God to help me remember.  a boost to keep going. 

5 years

in january when we were talking about birthday parties and themes alaythia threw tons of ideas out. when we were done brainstorming she stopped, looked me in the eye and said, 'i want a surprise party! i want to walk in the door and have everyone yell surprise'. and so we quit talking about it. every once in a while i would ask her, 'well, if you had a party who would you invite?' or while at costco i would say, 'if you were going to have a birthday cake from costco, which one would you choose?' and for activities i would bring up some activities we could possibly play if she had a party and she would give the okay or the veto.

and will my gathered information i sent invites out and planned a surprise party for alaythia's 5th birthday.

i must admit, i was on edge the whole time. i REALLY wanted this party to happen. i wanted to celebrate her and celebrate her big. but with little ones you just never really know what life will bring at you. but the day came and matt and i put our plan into action.

matt had mentioned to her weeks earlier that he wanted to take her on a date for her birthday. she talked and looked forward to this from the moment he mentioned it. so about 2 o'clock, on her actual birthday, they headed out on their daddy-daughter date.

as soon as they left isaiah and i went into full swing getting the house ready. we decorated the house, got dinner ready,

set up, cake out and when the time came, the several families we invited, gathered in the living room to wait for her arrival.

when she got home i told her to come into the living room so we could talk about her date and when she rounded the corner she came to a screeching halt when everyone yelled 'surprise!' i thought she might cry, but she didn't. she held onto my leg a bit until she got her bearings and then she was ready to party!

we had dinner, destroyed yet another pinata,

watched a slide show of her first 5 years of life (seen a few posts back), and opened presents. we ended the night well into dark, with several of the kids outside twirling glowsticks in the night.

it was a perfect night to celebrate my alaythia and all of her 5 glorious years. she is so full of life, she is a deep (and random) thinker, she is nurturing, joyful, determined and oh-so-ready for kindergarten.

i know i've said it before on this blog, but still, even after 5 years of life with her, i find myself staring at her in wonder. wonder at the gift that she is and trying to wrap my head around the fact that she is my daughter. she surpasses any ideas i once had and is such a rare treasure.

7 years

i know that february is busy. i prepare mentally for it. but i must admit february of 2012 took everything out of me. we had a great valentine's day, but just a few days later we threw a spy party for isaiah.

here is matt with our trainees. he is explaining the obstacle course where we were testing their agility. my favorite part about this time was as matt was explaining this he told them that he would demonstrate because, 'he was the only one who was a super agent spy.' at this point, one of the party attenders piped up and said, 'well...and my dad too right?' this little guy's dad flies cobra helicopters in the military and actually led the initial push into fallujah. matt and i laughed hysterically when joshua said this...yes joshua, your daddy is for real.


when we were done testing them they were all given a sheet with pictures of objects in the neighborhood. as a spy they were supposed to always be aware of their surroundings. i meant this to be just a simple cool down as we headed back to the house. but they were so excited about this activity - working as a team they were done in minutes.


we came home to weapons training. they were paired up and shot nerf darts at the glass door with a target drawn on. we went several rounds in this as the boys could not get enough...until we were told a double agent had planted a bomb in the house that we had to shut down.


we told them they had 12 minutes to have the buzzer hit 8 times in order to turn the bomb off. we set the bomb in the back bedroom and put a taboo buzzer in front of it. each attendee had to get through the hall of lasers without being touched.


once the bomb was turned off we had to take it in the backyard to destroy it. this bomb however was filled with treats!


it was a lot of fun to celebrate isaiah and his turning 7. and he is worth the celebrating. his wit, his sensitivity, his leadership, his care for others, his love for Jesus, his endless amount of energy. as he continues to grow i continue to be overwhelmed with all that he is, and the joy and blessing it is to get to live life with him.

sorry for that last post...i was trying to post the video i made for alaythia, but couldn't figure out how to get it to show up correctly. apparently i didn't delete it like i had thought. this link should take you to the actual video on youtube where you can see the whole thing....

first annual godshall valentine's day

valentine's day i hope was the start to a new tradition in our family. february is so busy for me, with two birthdays...that naturally i signed up to do the valentine craft in isaiah's class too!

i took the girls with me and they loved getting to be in isaiah's class and get to see daddy teaching. sophia sat on isaiah's lap for the activities and alaythia helped pass everything out. once the kids had passed out their valentine cards

we headed to the lunch room to eat with one of our favorite boys.

we loved being at the school together.

several months ago i read a book by andi ashworth called, 'real love for real life' and she had some great ideas regarding valentines day and how to make it a family event. it was a great night as a family, sharing our love for each other.

we had a fancy candlelit dinner. they loved eating off china and drinking out of stemware. we all shared about our days even little soph shared about getting to go to daddy's class.


when dinner was over we headed to the living room where we all began our love note reading. those of us that could write had written notes to every other member of the family. we took turns standing up on the piano bench and reading to each person.

the person being read to sat in the chair in the middle of the room.


since alaythia and sophia can not write yet, they stood up and told each person why they loved them. alaythia's revolved around playing with her, soph simply said, 'i love you bro bro.' or 'i love you mama.' so sincere, so sweet.

needless to say this time ended in tears... it was such a rich time of being purposeful and expressing our love to each other. i saved all the letters and hope to each year so that we can keep a record of our love notes over the years.

we played some valentine games. a 'minute to win it' candy obstacle course, a maze and we ended the night shooting cupid's arrows onto a heart (q-tips out of straws) but that soon turned into a shooting war. which actually was quite fun.

i love that the day was not just about me and matt, but being together as a whole family, expressing our love to each other. i am blessed to get to live with this crew of people!