That’s right, I’ve been blogging for 3 years!  I started blogging on September 27th, 2006.  Today, I’m going to look back through these great years of blogging to point out lots of really great posts that you really should check out if you are a newer reader.

So, prepare for a crash course through A Frog In My Soup! Here’s just a sneak peek at the changes in the boys from then to now…

THEN…

(Kit: Artful Mess by 4 Shades of Blue)

NOW…

(Kit {Dream On} & Template {365 Bundle 2} by Sweet Tomato Designs)

At the end of this post, you’ll be able to see the incredible journey my sons have taken in the last 3 years in the form of a fun Blogoversary photo gallery.  Be sure to read on for all the highlight posts from the last three years! (more…)

If we lived in a perfect world, we wouldn’t forget to treasure each day we have with our spouse and family.  It would come naturally and they would never be taken for granted.

But we don’t live in a perfect world, and all too often I find myself forgetting to treasure each day with my family.  All of us have that one thing that tends to remind us of our mortality.  For me, it’s anything I do that takes me away from my family overnight.

As you can imagine, it’s been on my mind a lot this last week or so as I prepare to go to New York.  Spending a little more quality time with my family and treasuring each moment has definitely been happening a lot for me.

I’ve been especially trying to make time to just be with my husband each day.  Even if it’s for only a few minutes, as long as it’s just the two of us, I’m content to spend time talking and hanging out with him.  Thankfully, this is something that we do a lot, but not always on purpose.

Today, I just wanted to take a moment to remind you to spend a little time treasuring those you love.   I know it sounds a little corny, but the fact remains that we don’t know what tomorrow holds so we need to relish each moment today!

Remember the Naptime Dilemma Post from “yesterday” (yeah, it was supposed to go up on Thursday but I goofed)?  Well, one of the distractions they use to keep themselves from falling asleep (in addition to general naughtiness and getting out of bed) is singing.

I actually don’t mind the singing as long as they don’t get too loud and obnoxious about it, it’s kind of cute.  You really never know what they’re going to sing either.  The main singer out of the two of them is Monkey (definitely) for recognizeable songs.

I had to laugh out loud though when Monkey began singing the song from one of the Geico caveman commercials.  As “Let me be myself, let me be myself, let me be myself” started coming from the room, it was all I could do not to howl in laughter.

This is followed on the heels of, “I’ve got these chains on me” (from Phineas and Ferb on Disney).  Just another thing in life to inspire a good laugh!

What’s funny about all of this though is that his main song these days has been “Glowius”…er…Everything Glorious (by the David Crowder Band).  The way he sings it is so cute.

It’s not just the songs he sings…no…it’s the passion and gusto in which he sings them. So funny!

Everything Glorious – David Crowder Band

There comes a point in every child’s littlehood that they decide they shouldn’t take naps.   If I were content to leave it alone, none of my children would have continued to nap during the day into their third year.

The thing is, I’m not content to leave it alone.  That is the only time of the day where I get a few short minutes of quiet, rest and solid work time.  Even more though, I found right off the bat with boy number 1 is that although they may hit this “no nap” sometime when they are three, most of them weren’t truly ready to give it up permanently, it was merely a temporary thing.

Through all 6 of my boys they have been very varied in their napping.  Some of them nap until Kindergarten (and even then aren’t truly ready to give it up), others are definitely ready to move on to “rest time” at the age of 4.  None of them gave it up completely before that, though they may have tried.

The twins are now 3 1/2 and sometimes struggle with the nap thing…though sleeping has never been something they excel at (LOL).  My 6 year old (Sir Lion) on the other hand, who is in half day Kindergarten this year, still shows signs of definitely needing a nap a couple times per week.

Even if it seems like the end of napping is at hand, I really like everyone to have quiet time each day…even the bigger ones during summer break.  They don’t have to lay down of course, but I do ask that they keep their voices down, there will be absolutely no rough housing, and I encourage anything quiet: reading, games, playing quietly, etc.  They occasionally slip and get noisy, but for the most part, they reap the benefits of this arrangement too.  I really do believe that it is healthy for everyone to have some quiet in their day.

So the dilemma?  Like I mentioned the twins are terrible sleepers (Ok, so I put it nicely before, but let’s not be in denial here) and at 3 1/2 they are terribly difficult to get to nap.  Do they still need a nap?  Yes, all signs point to the fact that they are definitely not doing well without a nap.  So, as unruly as they are, I am trying now to teach them about “quiet time”.  You may play quietly or read quietly on your nap bed (they do NOT do well if they are in the same room at naptime), but you may not get up.

So, in the midst of my current dilemma which may or may not mean that my last children are done being nappers (sigh), here’s a little info I thought I’d share on the subject that I’ve learned over the years.

• Some children will go through stages of napping.  Just because they are having a difficult time napping right now, may not mean that they are done napping altogether, they may be ready again next week so keep up the routine.
• If your child is young and you don’t want them to give up napping completely, go into it like it’s a temporary thing, and continue with their routine.  They may simply lay in their crib hugging their cozy for the hour and a half they would normally nap, that’s fine.  This gives both you and the little one time to recouperate from the morning by having a little down time.  Some don’t go for this easily, and many a parent has given up after a few days thinking that there’s no hope.
• If you don’t want to continue trying to get your child to nap after a few days, that is entirely up to you.  But if you really do want to give it a fair shot, keep going every day and if nothing else, you will at least establish a routine.
• When do you know that your child needs to cut out or down on naptime?  If your child cannot get to sleep at night, they are restless when they do sleep or they wake up in the night unable to go back to sleep.
• When do you know that naptime is simply a challenge, but that your child still needs a nap?  For my children, it depended on the child.  But, by around 5 or 6pm (way too early), they would exhibit one or more of the following:  overly emotional (crying for no reason), mad at the world (crabby and angry at everyone about everything), rollercoaster emotions (laughing one minute, bawling the next – way more than usual even for the personality that does that), falling asleep in the car (especially if you go somewhere around dinnertime), bouncing off the walls (a couple of my kids get ultra hyper when they are tired – total oxymoron, I know, but they did).

I’m sure there are plenty of things I’m forgetting about, but that’s quite a bit for now.  Feel free to leave a comment with your naptime dilemmas, solutions or questions.  If you have a question, be sure to come back and check comments in a few days for an answer.

As parents we have our fair share of trials and challenges with each individual child in our family.  I have to say though that the twins tend to top them all.  Sure, we’ve dealt with imaginative children before and we’ve also dealt with common childhood issues such as taking things that do not belong to you.  But when it is at the hands (or out of the mouths) of our twins, it becomes something entirely unique to any situation we’ve handled before.

Monkey took a toy phone from church.  I know…gasp!  He stole from the house of God for heaven’s sake!  His brothers were mortified (like none of them have tried).  He kept defending himself…”I didn’t steal from God’s house! I didn’t.”  After which, Bug would promptly tattle, “Monkey stole from God’s hooooouse.”  SIGH.

This continued for most of the ride home.  The funny part is that it’s a Tinkerbell toy phone and the older boys are simply having a little too much fun teasing him about the fact that he took a girls’ toy…in addition to the reminders that he stole from God.

This is one of those “un-fun” issues of parenting.  Dealing with behaviors and challenges that are potentially unpleasant or embarassing.  Thankfully, he’s three…and although I may have been horrified by his actions had he been my first or second child, I have been around the block enough to know by now that this is simply normal behavior and if handled correctly, it will pass quickly.

Does that mean he will never do it again?  No.

Does it mean that others will see it as a simple toddler thing to do?  It depends.

I’m not afraid of what others think.  This is a simple matter of teaching a child right from wrong.   He will quietly return it to his classroom next week and he will tell his teacher that he’s sorry for taking the phone.  And the lesson will likely need to be taught to him again.

It’s so much easier to deal with this issue in a child at the age of three than it is to handle with a child who is 10!  The price to be paid is so much higher for the older child and in some ways it can be an even more poignant lesson.  We’ll cross that bridge if/when we get to it though.

On the flip side, I had a shocking thought in the midst of all of this…let’s make sure we aren’t stealing from God either.  No, of course I don’t mean physical possessions.  I mean His purpose, will and plan for our lives can be something we take away if we refuse to listen to and follow Him, and that’s just one example of how we can take away from Him.

In some ways, we we continue learning the same lessons our entire life.  I think in our own way, even as adults you can see some of the exact same little child behaviors that we are much too big for, the only difference is that they are now aimed at our Heavenly Father.

No, I’m not going to talk about another daycation or staycation, though I do have another day trip I have to get done before the summer ends LOL.  Nope, today, it’s about wondering when life begins to feel “normal” again.  And the answer is…not for several months.

We always know that the last week of July ends our summer, but it’s still an adjustment.  It gets even crazier right about now with all of the back to school preparations we’re in the middle of.

We are still not back in school…in fact we still have a few weeks before any of our kiddos officially go back.  That said though, we have a packed schedule…want a teensy glimpse?

• CJ meets his teacher tomorrow morning
• we have a new parent meeting for the school program on Thursday night
• Sept. 1st my elementary boys’ class lists are posted
• Sept 3rd is meet the teacher day
• and the first day of school for the elementary boys is September 9th
• CJ starts on the 14th.

In the midst of all of that, I’m waiting for word on when CJ starts football practice (should be end of next week for the first meeting then start the following Monday).  That practice will be Monday through Friday from 2:15pm until 5pm (or so).

Meanwhile, Salesman (11) and Tater (9) are still in the thick of football.  They are going down to 3 practices per week now thankfully, so they’ll be at their respective practices Tuesday through Thursday evenings for about two hours each night.  Games are every saturday from now until possibly mid-November.

We have little Lion going into Kindergarten this year and for the first time in…FOREVER…the school decided to move our part of te bus route to Morning Kindergarten.  Any other year that would have made me ecstatic, but I had actually been hoping for pm Kindergarten this year, so on to plan B.

Remember CJ will be at home this year.  Soooo, I will be in desperate need of getting my schedule into precise detail.  Sadly schedules are something that I have become quite remiss about and terrible at.  I used to be one of the most organized and scheduled people I knew, then I had kids.

I was still pretty good at organizing and scheduling until I had several.  That’s when things went downhill.  As I’m sure you all know, once you get out of the habit of doing something like that it’s hard to re-teach yourself to get back into it!

For the moment, I’m just along for the ride asking every few minutes “Are we there yet?” and waiting for the answer to be “Yes!”.

Mornings are an interesting adventure for us.  When we only had a couple of children we could casually get up on the weekend and know that if, on the off chance, the boys were already up, the house would not be destroyed and they would be peacefully watching cartoons.

Getting up before them was definitely not unheard of either. Our Twinkies on the other hand love to get up with the sun. I cannot tell you how many mornings we have awakened by Monkey saying “Daddy, it’s time to get out of bed, the sun is waked up”. Grammatical issues aside, and even though it is absolutely adorable each time we hear him say that, I do love to get up first.

As you may have already guessed though, rising before either of our twins is a major feat. Here I am at 6:30am writing this and I’m literally walking on my tiptoes. The only thing I decided to risk so far is making a pot of coffee, but I was certain at any moment a sleepy eyed blonde 3 foot tall 3 year old would walk into the kitchen rubbing his eyes and yawning “Good morning Mommy”.

Don’t get me wrong, that is another one of the sweetest things for me as their mom. But I do long for just a few silent moments each day.

So as the coffee was brewing (a little more loudly than I was comfortable with thankyouverymuch), I decided to grab my coffee cup.

Now, when you live in a house that is 100 years old, you have creaky cupboards…well, we do anyway, but the mug cupboard was open just barely enough to squeeze one through, so I decided to make that work instead of risking the noise of opening it the rest of the way.

I almost laughed out loud as I realized that extracting that mug from the cupboard was exactly like trying to extract bones from the game of Operation. If I bumped it on the door side, there would be major creaking, bump it on the shelf side and you just have more noise. Thankfully the extraction went well.

Who knew life lessons were learned through the game of Operation? Wonder if any other childhood games will come in handy for the creaky chair I want to sit in to drink my coffee???

I’ve heard it said a million times “remember, you can’t get these years back”.   I’ve translated that to myself over and over countless times again…telling myself things like, remember today will never happen again (which could be a good or a bad thing) so make the most of it.

Whenever I’ve had a bad day, I promise myself that “tomorrow will be better” since each day “is fresh with no mistakes in it…yet” (Anne Shirley).

Somehow though, despite the warnings from those who are already past the younger years of children and my own reminders daily, I often simply don’t make the effort or (gasp) I shrug it off and act like it’s no big deal.

Yet somewhere, even in the midst of occasionally saying, “they don’t understand because they aren’t still in the thick of it like me” I know the truth. There really is only a short time I get with my little ones and I’m the one missing out.

I have scheduled myself not with the crazy list of activities that drive most moms out of their minds, but rather with a list of “invisible” things like email, blogging, designing and much more.

None of these things are bad in and of themselves, but they all distract from the here and now, and most of all they can become our focus instead of our children. Maybe most other moms can schedule their e-time more carefully than I, but for me this is probably the biggest challenge on my plate…how do I eliminate what I need to in order to get back to the place where I know I’m supposed to be.

Once again I want to stress that doing these things isn’t really the problem, it’s that I know in my heart that my priorities and time spent isn’t as it should be.

When I ask myself the following question, the answer I come up with is the true testament of where I am at (you’re welcome to take the challenge to ask yourself as well)…

How often in the day do I see my children as a joy not a nuisance?

The answer to this question, if answered honestly is where we will find our true current priorities. If we answered that we honestly see our children as a joy more often than not, then we are totally in the right place in our hearts and lives.

If however, you discovered the answer to that question is that you am forever shooing my children away or trying to “get them out of my hair” so that you can do my own thing, there is a very good likelihood that you probably feel a little sad right now. The truth is setting in and you feel a little awkward.

One of the worst things we can do at that moment though is to write it off and tell yourself that it is just too late, or too hard to change. I encourage you to pray about the situation and if you don’t know what is causing your priorities to go caddywampus, ask for God to show you. If you do know what’s causing it, ask Him to help you make the changes necessary to do the right thing…NOW…not in a year, you don’t want to lose any more time.

You can endeavor to do many things in life, having goals is a great ambition and I highly recommend it. But we have to set reasonable time frames for those goals to be accomplished so that we don’t miss out on NOW.

Ironically, I write this as I sit in the parking lot of one of my sons’ football practices. I feel content and happy here, I am where I know I should be. If I was at home, there is a good chance that I would be busy on my computer, but I wouldn’t have slowed down enough to listen for the inspiration prompting this post.  The worst part is that after a long and harried day when I’m already tired and grumpy, I wouldn’t be spending the time with my little ones that I KNOW I should…time I only have today, for I know not what tomorrow holds.

Time doesn’t stand still for any of us. As difficult as it is to have 3 year old twins, and as often as I wish they were “just a year older ‘cuz maybe it would be a little easier”, God knows where I’m at.  Although He doesn’t expect me to be perfect (thank goodness, right?), he does wait for me to come to Him and I can imagine that like any other parent, He hopes that my choices and priorities are the ones He has shown me. The question is, am I living up to that or settling for second best?

It’s my choice, and I’m realizing more and more that I honestly need to ask myself if 10 or 20 years from now will all of this seem so important? In my ever present effort to walk by Christ’s side and become more like Him, I have to be honest and say that if it isn’t furthering the kingdom of God, it isn’t going to make a difference in the end.

So, though being “just a mom” can feel like a lowly position to have at times, I am learning more and more that there is no greater gift I could have been given…and no greater difference I can make in the world than to focus on instructing these amazing creations that call me “Mom”.

I don’t do many book reviews here, but every once in a while, there is a book that comes along that must be shared and since so many of my readers are moms looking for encouragement, I simply had to share this great book!

If you are a mom that is feeling a little bit like a blob of play dough, this is the book for you.  Tricia Goyer is the author of Blue Like Play Dough, the shape of motherhood in the grip of God.  Teaching mothers how to allow God to shape us and mold us (kind of like Play Dough but in the hands of God) into who He wants us to be while in the midst of the challenges of motherhood.

What an amazing encouragement.  Being in the thick of so many stages of motherhood myself, I found this book to be encouraging, warm and…well…lovely!   I laughed and I cried often as she shared her heart because I relate so much to what she says in this book.  She’s real, doesn’t cover over the difficult parts of motherhood, but shows us how to learn and grow through our motherhood.

Be sure to check out Tricia’s website and her Get One Give One campaign!  Bless another mom by sharing this book when you are done.  It is honestly one of the best motherhood books I have ever read and is now on the top my list of recommended mom books!

For more details on the book, author, where to purchase and to read the first chapter please go HERE.

Disclosure: I received this book for free to review and share with all of you.

“Well, no one can ever say that our life is boring.”  This is statement that I hear my hubby say on a regular basis (at least once a week) and it is very true.  I doubt very many families have boring lives, there’s always something to keep you on your toes right?

If you have a toddler or preschooler you are in the thick of some of the craziest parenting years you will ever encounter.  Not to say that you don’t have to call upon some seriously strong parenting tecniques once you get to the tween and teen years, but you don’t feel like you’re running your heels off to keep up (just your brain and your car’s tires LOL).

I’ve heard many moms of (especially boy) preschoolers say that “They just haven’t grown a brain yet.”  That feels so very true!  They do things that absolutely without a doubt should definitely kill them, yet, for some reason (usually because we somehow managed to intervene) they are still alive and healthy.

Parenting doesn’t have a time clock, and rarely do things go according to plan.  That is kind of the name of the game with parenting though I think…to help us grow and change in ways that we could not if we do not experience the power of parenthood for ourselves.

I can easily say that right at this moment as both of my twins are peacefully napping away and all 4 of the older boys are busy doing other things on their own.   It’s a lot harder to see the benefits when my heart is in my stomach as I pull a three year old off of the 6 foot high cubby shelves in the living room, or find him standing precariously on the back of the couch leaning over to try and grab something off a shelf of a cabinet a few feet away. (And how do they get themselves into those predicaments so quickly, less than a minute is not exaggerating a bit!)

Because parenting is a day in and day out event, we definitely change as time goes by, but we rarely take a moment to really look at those changes.  So today I have a challenge for you…I want to encourage you to think back a little, grab your journal and write down at least one way you have changed for the better simply through motherhood.

If you can’t think of anything, I encourage you to pray about it and think about it over the next few days or this entire week even and see what you come up with.  If you have kept a journal over the years, you may have an easier time by looking back through those.

Here’s one of my examples: 

Through motherhood I have learned to respect the differences of my children and try to look at people a lot more objectively realizing that personality has a lot to do with how they perceive the world around them.  Through Motherhood I am still learning to act as the situation dictates instead of reacting to everything that comes my way.

I pray that you are blessed by the answers you find as you look back too!