United Nations Day Celebration

Today was United Nations Day - which is something I never knew existed until today .

#1's first grade class invited all of their families to attend United Nations lunch.

Last week, they worked on decorations. One project was to draw any country's flag of their choosing. #1 wanted to choose a country she's visited, so after examining the flags, she chose Bosnia & Herzegovina. She also made a place mat with pictures of children in their different national garb. And lastly, she wrote out what she could do to make the world a better place - "Be Loving".

The class opened the event by singing three songs illustrating the diversity of the world. They sang hello in different languages and of course they sang "It's A Small World".

We then listened to a handful of parents give presentations on their families' countries of origin. You can see in the picture the two older ones listened intently while sweetly sharing their sisterly love (the reason I wanted the picture).

And lastly, we enjoyed a potluck lunch. Most of the parents brought in a dish from different countries, so we had quite the sampling of wonderful food. Admittedly, I wasn't one of those parents. I had a crazy busy weekend and am 38 weeks pregnant (read: exhausted), the combination of which is not conducive to coming up with a dish and cooking it to feed about 40 people. I'll have to try again for my next first grader.

We had a great time celebrating with our little ambassador.

Virtue Beads

I stole this idea from a dear friend of mine during a passionate parenting conversation - you know the conversation. I can't take credit for the complete idea, but I made some tweaks for our family and to make it our own.

We are trying out a new system for positive reinforcement for Good, Christian behavior.

The gist is the girls can earn colored beads for quality demonstrations of virtuous behavior. After earning enough beads, they will receive a reward.

Through a couple of family meetings, together we created a list of virtues (14 in all right now, but there's always room for change). Some examples include Generosity, Peace, Courage, Prayerfulness, Obedience etc. We drew from the biblical Fruits of the Spirit and Catholic Virtues and also used the books God's Wisdom for Little Girls and A Little Girl After God's Own Heart, both by Elizabeth George (there are boy versions of these books). Then, as a family, we defined each virtue. The girls were very active in this part and we used their language as much as possible in the definitions so they understood what was expected of them. Next to the definition we included a Bible verse or two for reference on the virtue....mostly so they could see the expectations were coming from an authority beyond their parents. Each virtuous behavior was then assigned a different colored bead.

I found some small treasure chests at Michael's for $1 each. My friend uses baby food jars, but I like the symbolism of "God's Treasures". The girls enjoyed decorating their boxes. I suppose the shape of the depository is the least important part of this exercise, but we had fun with it anyway.

Now, the girls can earn the appropriate colored bead for exhibiting virtuous behavior. For example, choosing to not tattle on a sister will earn a Peace bead, or responding "yes, mom" instead of whining will earn a Respect or Self-Control bead. We have a goal of earning 20 beads in order to earn a reward.

The girls also helped to create the reward choices. The only rules were that the rewards could not cost money and they had to go along with encouraging positive values - hopefully illustrating correlation between living a virtuous life and the real rewards it brings. So, a piece of candy or going out for ice cream was not an acceptable reward for this exercise. Instead, they have choices like going for walk with their choice of mom or dad, playing their choice of a board game with the family, or taking a special trip to the library. They are very excited about their reward choices and can't wait to earn their beads.

From a parenting point of view, we expect this exercise to challenge us a bit. Micah asked during one of the family meetings if beads could be taken away. My thought was "no, not for this exercise." There are plenty of opportunities for punishment and negative consequences as it is. This is strictly a positive exercise. However, we realize these behaviors will need to be taught. So, if we witness a missed opportunity to earn a bead, we can teach them and practice the behavior that would have been more appropriate so they are better prepared for the next time a similar situation comes up. This exercise is also going to force us to look for good behavior which isn't always easy in all the chaos.

Everyone is very excited and the girls are well on their way toward more virtuous behavior. Even #3 at 20 months old is earning beads for little things like not ripping a toy from her sister's hand and screaming "MINE". Even if she doesn't quite get it now, she will eventually and her sisters certainly get it. I hope just hope it sticks and we have one more working tool in parenting tool belt.

Lessons for Daughters....and Sons

I haven't been able to find the original author of this, but I like it anyway.

"We need to teach our daughters to distinguish between a man who flatters her, and a man who compliments her.
A man who spends money on her, and a man who invests in her.
A man who views her as property, and a man who views her properly.
A man who lusts after her, and a man who loves her.
A man who believes he is God's gift to women, and a man who remembers a woman was God's gift to man.
... And then teach our boys to be that kind of a man."

Labor Day Weekend

Micah and I were able to enjoy an adults only getaway for the Labor Day weekend. It couldn't have been a more perfect storm of circumstances for us.

We were invited to a wedding in the Wine Country of California. That weekend happened to coincide with our 8th wedding anniversary and San Francisco is the city where we lived when our relationship began. It also marked 9 weeks out from the birth of our fourth child, meaning we may not have another opportunity for alone time for quite some time. #1 not only had Labor Day off from school, but also the following day due to an in-service making an extra long weekend for her. My parents graciously agreed to take our three girls and our three dogs so that we could enjoy the 5 days. It also was marked as our last vacation on schedule before our vacation hiatus beginning in the next calendar year. Honestly, could it have been any more perfect?

Before I share how much fun we had, I just have to share this awesome story. We were married less than a week before my birthday. So, I just happened to be on my honeymoon for my birthday that year....darn the luck! On my birthday, in Rio de Janeiro, Micah gave me a platinum and diamond necklace. I think he really wanted to spoil me that year, because I really haven't had a birthday to top that one since. Then, about three years ago, I was at my cousin's wedding and lost that necklace. Needless to say, we turned everything upside-down. We searched all of the luggage, all of our belongings and everything we could think of for months. I figured I must have left it in the hotel room and called the hotel, but they never found it. I was heartbroken. In the last three years, we've traveled quite a bit using the same luggage. In the days leading up to packing for our Labor Day trip, I overheard someone mention St. Anthony, finder of lost things. The only thing of any real significance that I've lost was that necklace, so it popped into my mind. I said a quick prayer, but honestly had little faith in the matter since I had prayed and searched for months without luck. It was more of a fleeting thought than a genuine plea. I didn't think of it again. As I was packing my family of five for our days away, I saw something tucked into our toiletry bag. I instantly knew what it was before I even reached in to take it out and my eyes welled up with tears and I literally had goosebumps up and down my arms. I texted Micah a picture of it immediately and I think he may have fell out of his chair. I found my necklace nearly 8 years to the day it was given to me!!! Thank you thank you thank you!! I have barely taken it off since.

Back to our trip: We stayed at a little bed and breakfast on a farm in the Napa/Sonoma area for a few nights. We toured wineries and bought some wine to enjoy after the baby comes. We enjoyed a pre-wedding 5K run the couple organized for guests. I did run and I did not come in last...a feat that made me very proud. The wedding was at a winery and was gorgeous. We also found a gorgeous winery called Castello di Amorosa which had a Sunday morning Mass in Latin. I was supposed to wear a veil, but didn't have one and was thankful they allowed me in anyway. There was a chorus of young girls and a monk who chanted in Latin throughout and it echoed through the stone walls beautifully. It really was a beautiful Mass and we asked the priest for an anniversary blessing which he gladly gave. As for weather, we enjoyed high temps in the 90's (a great relief from Phoenix which was 110 at the time) and lows in 50s.

We then drove to San Francisco to stay for 24 hours. We enjoyed the downtown area, a little beach time, visiting my Alma Mater and trying new restaurants. The weather in the City was even colder which made us oh, so happy.

The real highlights of the weekend were the simple things

- eating meals alone together and being able to get through entire conversations without interruption.

- holding hands without little people between us

- stealing kisses without little people screaming "eeewwww"

- working through goals and plans

- practicing photography without being rushed

- sleeping in

I think we came back a little more refreshed and renewed which was great because we hit the ground running when we got home.

The girls also had a great time visiting their extended family in Tucson. Since my mom is extremely busy herself having two kids still at home, work and involvement in various groups, they were on the go all weekend. They didn't nap and they were up early every morning to get to something or other. However, they thought it was so much fun because most of their activities involved, cousins, aunts, great-grandma, helping out, visiting people and lots of swimming thrown in between. When they got home, they were absolutely exhausted and slept great for us.

I think Labor Day weekend, 2011 is one for the books for all of us.

New Patio Door!

We just replaced the patio door in the master bedroom leading out to balcony.

Old Door - Single pane glass and aluminum frame made heat literally radiate from this door. Our room sometimes felt up to 10 degrees hotter in the summer than any other room in the house. I know builders use these cheap and horrible products for cost savings, but there were some days I felt it was borderline unethical to put that door into an AZ home. Not to mention this thing was just plain ol' ugly.

New Door - Double pane, low-e glass, blinds in between the panes of glass and fiberglass frame. No heat, no draft!

Bad News - We had a very firm budget on this project based on the research we had done and other projects in the house that are ongoing. When the installer came out to take the exact measurements, we found the door was 1/2" smaller than the standard size. A HALF INCH!! This made the entire door "custom", so the prices on all the options shot up and sometimes doubled. I actually had my heart dead set on another door, but with the custom pricing, it went way over budget. The options were to shift monies on other projects or delay this one, neither of which we were willing to do given we were sick and tired of being hot from the old door. The result is that it is not the door of my dreams, but the closest I could get.

Good News - Despite not being my first choice, this new door is 10 million times better than the old door. It is also a far cry from it's ugly, nasty predecessor and if I weren't still grieving my first choice, I'd call it beautiful. We are so much more comfortable and happy. Eventually, I will get over my loss and learn to love this door. :-)

First Day of School - 2011

This year, we have a 1st grader and one in the 3's class of preschool. So fun!

They both LOVE school and #3 can't wait til the day she can go too.

Health Woes

I don't spend a ton of time discussing or writing about the various things physically plaguing my eldest daughter. Mostly because it's hard to explain something for which you've never been given any definitive explanation.

Since her first year of life, she's kept doctors on their toes. She was born at a healthy 8lbs, but then didn't really grow much after that. She was labeled "failure to thrive" early on with growth percentiles in the negative numbers Also, in her first year, she had pneumonia and RSV and then continued to have pneumonia a few more times in her young life. At just under two years of age, she began the strangest of all of her ailments - every few months, without rhyme or reason, she has a vomiting episode. Each episode lasts 24-48 hours with vomiting approximately every 20 minutes. These episodes can land her in the ER to get an IV for dehydration (most recently last week).

The medical professionals (and the parents) go through cycles of thinking: "She's fine. This is just the way she is" and then "This isn't normal. What's wrong?"

The latter line of thinking normally creeps up when she has a dip in her already low growth curve, which happens occasionally. Often, it is pointed out that her father and I are not large people, so there might be a genetic factor. This may or may not be all there is to it. For one thing, her two sisters have never been in danger of being "failure to thrive" and although I'm not huge, I have never been as small as my daughter is. Her percentiles have been known to dip into negative numbers while I've always remained at or above the 35th mark. I also followed my own curve where she has dips. Even in our not so big family, she's still an anomaly, so I'm not completely convinced.

So.....here's where we are now.......

Over the course of the last 6 years, she's had what feels like a gazillion tests run. From all this we know.....That all of the major, serious and life-threatening issues and conditions have been ruled out (RELIEF!). All food and environmental allergies and sensitivities have been ruled out. Most anatomical malfunctions have been ruled out. Not all, but almost all, tests have come back completely normal. So what's left?

She has asthma. It's not severe and never has been. She doesn't have asthma attacks, just a lot of coughing. It has been easily controlled.

She is seeing an immunologist for Transient Hypogammaglobulinemia of Infancy. This means her body never quite learned how to make it's own antibodies very well. She is expected to outgrow this condition. However, her last blood test on this was this summer and the numbers did not change as the doctor expected them to. He was a little surprised by the outcome. She'll have another test in a few months and we're crossing our fingers that it turns around. If not, I have no clue what's next.

The ever mysterious vomiting syndrome - After years of observation, tracking, journaling, discussing, etc, we know very well how it behaves and looks. We know it isn't viruses or food related or even stress/emotion related. It is turning out that the most likely explanations are Migraines, Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome or something in that neurological arena. Unfortunately, there are no tests to diagnose these things and only come about by process of elimination. While it is nowhere near confirmed and just a working theory, Micah and I are leaning toward migraines. We've been told kids can get "abdominal migraines" that look a lot like what's happening to our daughter and then, later in life, become more classic migraines with headaches. With what we've observed over the years, this actually makes perfect sense to us, but more importantly, migraines run rampant on my mom's side of the family. A huge majority of my siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins (and myself) suffer from migraines. Time will tell if this theory is accurate. If it is, I'm relieved that it isn't serious, but heartbroken that she began suffering from them at such at young age and will continue with them indefinitely.

With all of that, none of it explains her size. There is no correlation between any of the above and "failure to thrive". I was told that even kids with Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome and Migraines tend to be normal size and follow their curve. She is a great eater, clearing her plate at every meal, making healthy snack choices and always willing to try new and unusual foods. Her absorption has been tested and looks great. No one knows what, if anything, is going on. For now, we've decided to table it again and go with "It's just the way she is", but that may or may not change as time reveals more details.

No matter what, she is an amazing, brilliant, beautiful and joyful little girl that does everything a 6 year old should be able to do. We just love her to pieces and pray she lives a full and wonderful life with whatever she given.

More on Children in Church

I have always been an advocate for children in church. I feel pretty strongly about it. This is another great article on the matter.

I have actually had it happen to me once where a priest stopped mid-homily to say "Don't you dare take that baby out of here!" He went on to finish his sermon with all the reasons children are important as a reminder of our humanity.

Peaches!!

I cannot stand fresh peaches!! I don't know how it originated, but strong repulsion from the fuzz is one my personal idiosyncrasies. If they've been peeled, cooked, canned or otherwise prepared, I think they're great. It's just the fuzz. The mere thought of touching them with the peel on makes my skin crawl, my teeth itch and my body involuntarily contort. Micah finds this fact about me absolutely hilarious.

Of course, we occasionally get peaches in our basket from our produce co-op and I have to make Micah put them away safely out of my way. Heaven forbid I accidentally touch one of those suckers. Not wanting my children to inherit this illogical fear of peach fuzz, I encourage them to go into the fridge on their own to grab one and enjoy. This way I can kill two birds with one stone: I can get them out of my house without touching them and they can enjoy a fruit I would never buy by choice. Win-win for everyone!!

Injury Prone Girls

#3 broke her arm yesterday at her well check. That's right, AT the doctor's office. She fell off a chair while we were waiting. I could tell, almost immediately, that it was broken. Doc sent us to get an x-ray and then off to a pediatric orthopedic doctor. Fortunately and unfortunately, the break is in a location that cannot be casted - left upper humerus near her shoulder. It's good because casts are uncomfortable and inconvenient. It's bad because there's no real way to protect her. She gets to determine her activity level herself. She's not bearing weight on it and so long as it hurts, she will continue to not bear weight. BUT, if she falls, it HURTS. Not much we can do.

So, here's my question:

Who is the person that started this rumor that having girls is, somehow, physically easier than having boys. This idea that girls sit quietly in pretty dresses, play with dolls and host tea parties has NEVER been true in my house. My girls are busy, rambunctious, have shown little to no fear in most situations, leap from any object and are frankly downright crazy. Their dad and I are very busy people and I'm no stereotypical girl myself, so I'm sure it has been bred into them. But when people suggest that I must have it easier because I have a house full of girls, I have to laugh to myself.

I haven't photographed all of the major injuries around here, but here's a taste. Note their ages - we have a loooooong way to go.

You can see #1 has put holes in her lip and bruised her teeth. This particular injury has happened to this particular child on more than one occasion.

#2 needed stitches in her forehead, but we were in a somewhat primitive location - Bosnia - so they made due with a butterfly bandage. The scar is still there. She also broke her arm at the ripe old age of 12 months.

Then, of course, the fracture #3 just got at a whopping 18 months. If you can read an x-ray, you can see the bump on the outside edge of the bone which indicates a buckle fracture.

What do the next couple of years have in store for us? I can only imagine.

Ultrasounds

I completely forgot to say what made our recent ultrasound so wonderful....

Never mind all that boy/girl stuff. It was the first time in four children we had a completely clear ultrasound the first time with no need to come back. With all of the others, there were questions or concerns that required us to go back for more investigation. Leaving the office right away knowing that everything was fine was like walking on air. Made us enjoy our new little girl that much more.

#1 - She had an unidentified object in her stomach. This wasn't just some unidentifiable blip on the unclear screen somewhere in her belly. The tech was taking pictures of each of the organs and got to the stomach - the actual organ of the stomach - and there was a definite object there. She looked at it from different angles and it was still there. It was obvious enough that I, having never seen an ultrasound before, said "What is that?" and she didn't know. I joked that I had just eaten a bowl of Cheerios and she must have gotten hold of one. She took a few pictures from different vantage points for the doc. The doctor called me a day or two later saying we had to head to a perinatologist to figure out what was going on. I was so panic stricken that I called everyone to ask for prayers. The prayers worked because when we went in to the experts, it was gone and the stomach was empty and clear. I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that whatever was there was prayed away. I know what we saw and it was definitely there one moment and gone another. Born healthy at 8lbs!

#2 - This one had a two vessel cord. Another scary moment for those lacking experience with the matter. This tech got up mid-ultrasound to leave the room and come back with her supervisor. There was pointing at the screen and then "see, that's where it atrophied." NOT words you ever want to hear at any moment. I asked what was going on and they explained. Normal umbilical cords should have one vessel and two arteries...mine had one vessel and one artery. The other artery had atrophied (as I had just heard). This condition can cause it's own issues in pregnancy as well as be an indicator of other issues. This time my doctor was the head of OBGYN at that particular hospital and was the best they had to offer. He assured me that he had seen so many of these cords and that they were very rarely a problem. One of the most common issues with this condition is low birth weight (not enough blood flow to support growth), but that turned out not to be a concern for us as she was born at 8lb 3oz. :-)

#3 - This time I had placenta previa - where the placenta is very low and possibly covering the cervix. If the placenta does not move far enough away from the cervix, it's an automatic c-section. Not necessarily the end of the world, but having had all natural births so far, not what I wanted. They hoped that as my uterus grew, the placenta would move just far enough up to clear the cervix. At my follow up ultrasound, they found that it had. This lovely was a big 9lbs 7oz with no c-section necessary. (A couple problems at birth that cleared up relatively quickly, but this is about ultrasounds. :-)

#4 - Tech: "Everything looks good."

Us: "WHAT?!?!"

Tech: "I don't really see anything here that would make the doctor call you back."

Us: "Um, okay. So, do we just leave now?"

Definitely a new experience for us, but what a relief!

Casey Anothony Trial

The Casey Anthony verdict came in a couple of hours ago as Not Guilty on all of the important counts regarding the death of her daughter. My Facebook immediately lit up with comments from people in disbelief. I've been pondering this myself since the verdict came in and with few platforms from which to voice my opinion, I resort to my blog.

I am not surprised by the verdict. Do I believe Casey Anthony murdered her daughter? At this point in time, with the information I have, I do. However, the prosecution had no PROOF of this and therefore lost the case. There were no witnesses, no DNA evidence and no cause of death could be determined. The evidence that was presented either did not link Casey directly or had alternate possible explanations. On what then, should she have been convicted? Gut feelings? Emotions are running high, but you cannot convict on emotion. I have heard a loud and general outcry that justice has not been served and that may be true in this particular case, but I would argue that this illustrates the superiority of our judicial system. I, for one, am grateful that I live in a country where my guilt would actually have to be proven to be thrown into prison for life or put on death row. Second and third world countries have judicial systems where there is no need for evidence, trials or jurys to hold a person hostage in a brutal prison system and thank God, that is not America. Heaven forbid that any of my friends who are so upset at this outcome would ever be incorrectly convicted of a crime of which they were innocent because a jury of their peers thought they probably did it, but had no direct proof of guilt.

In this case, someone definitely failed that poor little girl either in inability or incompetence. I don't know if the police botched the investigation or if the prosecutors failed to connect the dots. I wasn't there. But I know the jury is not to blame for concluding that no one was able to provide hard, undeniable proof of her mother's guilt. It may never be clear what happened to her.

The one solace I have is that the murderer of a two year old baby will, one day, face the Ultimate Judge and receive eternal justice. He has all of the facts and proof necessary to redeem and condemn and human error will never play a role in that judgement.

Budding Artist

Our eldest loves art. I enrolled her in a summer art workshop through Young Rembrants. The theme was "South of the Border" and they used pastels to create Mexican images. They also studied a bit about the artist Diego Rivera. She had a really good time and learned a lot.

I think two of the pictures are pretty obvious. The other is a dragon and was copied from this Diego Rivera mural. In my unbiased opinion, I'd say these are all pretty good considering they were all done freehand.

My task now is to figure out a way to display them. Their odd sizes mean there are no inexpensive framing options. Time for mom to get creative.

It's a GIRL!!!

We had the ultrasound and confirmed our fourth child is another girl.

While we have been receiving "condolences" of sorts, we are sincerely thrilled to be having another girl. Once upon a time, we wanted a boy, but that has long passed as we have spent a great deal of time reflecting on God's plan for our family and have greatly enjoyed the three girls we have. The decision to have a fourth child was not about "trying for a boy" as many put it, rather it was just a decision to grow our brood and simply have a fourth child. There is something about raising girls that agrees with us (God must think so too) and we accept the tremendous blessings they bring to our life. So much fun!!

I have to say, the technician got a good picture of the baby crossing her arms in an "x". The girls saw it and decided it was their super hero sign and she was sending them a very important message from the womb - GIRL POWER!! It has since become the mantra in the house.

Now, we have a lot of bedroom rearranging and redecorating to do! We're fortunate to have enough room in our house for four children, but we have a lot of reorganization to do before November.

The most difficult challenge ahead.....a name for this little sweet pea.

Summer Vacation!!

We recently returned from our 10 day vacation of the summer. This was a bittersweet trip for us since we have just decided to put a hold on vacations for the next couple of years in order to concentrate all of our efforts toward making some serious headway in our 5 year financial plan. This was a hard pill for us to swallow as we LOVE travel and LOVE teaching our children how to travel. However, with a little delayed gratification now, we hope to have mountain-loads of fun later. Over the next couple years, exploration will be limited to areas close to home for shorter periods of time. *sigh* Anyway, enough of that......

This trip started in Atlanta where we were invited to celebrate Micah's paternal grandmother's 90th birthday. What an amazing thing to celebrate!! She has lived a long and full life (as an avid traveler, she's probably a contributing source of Micah's travel gene) and was happy to spend the weekend surrounded by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

We decided to continue on from there on our own to visit parts of the great South we have never seen before.....Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC. We enjoyed exploring the beautiful towns and beaches and mostly spending some much needed time together.

Personally, I love the South for it's rich culture and history. In Charleston we stayed in an old wherehouse that survived the Civil War and was later converted into a hotel. You just don't see very many buildings that old out here in the West. And in Savannah, we rented the floor apartment of an old Victorian house with a gorgeous garden - Awesome!

Our days at the beach were probably the most fun. In AZ, we have all beach with no ocean, so it was especially fun for the girls. All of them dove right in with no fear whatsoever and getting them out was nearly impossible. When they weren't jumping waves, they were gathering seashells and digging holes. Hours and hours of fun were had.

Sadly, it all came to an end too quickly and we had to come home to temperatures above 110 degrees and much to do.

Acts 9: 1-9

The Kindergarten class will be leading the school Mass this week. #1 was assigned to do part of the first reading. I should note that some schools change the scheduled readings for the younger grades in order for them to be easier to read. Our school does not do that and not all of the words and concepts were easy to pronounce and understand. She's had a lot of questions about what this all means and seems to have a pretty good understanding now.

For the Mass, the kids, of course, have the readings in front of them, so they just practice for fluidity. Today, I asked her to go get her paper so we could practice some more and she said "I think I actually have it memorized." So I told her to go for it. This was the result.

She was already pretty excited for Friday, but now she's uber-excited.

With Children Comes Grace

I ran into a mother at my daughter's school today who just figured out I'm expecting my fourth child. She launched into a fairly familiar speech I hear nearly every day. Some of the common statements mothers with larger families hear include:

"I don't know how you do it! I can barely manage the 1 (or 2) I have!"

"You're amazing!"

"Are you crazy?"

"You have your hand full."

"Did you do this on purpose?" (or some version of this question)

"How do you do it?"

Most of the time, when people say these things, I'm not bothered. Instead, I smile as I remember feeling the exact same way. I remember quite clearly, when I had only one child, seriously contemplating not having any more because it was literally the hardest thing I'd ever done and I wasn't sure I had it in me to handle two of them. I remember the occasional bursts of anxiety when I was pregnant with each of the first three children, wondering if I would actually make it through the next 20+ years without spontaneously com-busting. How on earth would I raise each of these children successfully into adulthood??

Now, pregnant with my fourth, I'm not at all worried. It took me three children, but I FINALLY figured out the secret.

No child comes into this world empty handed. Each and every one comes bearing an abundance of gifts from the Lord. With every one, I have a little more experience under my belt, a little more confidence, a little more strength to make it through each day. God sends each of these children to their parents with an entire bucket filled with GRACE! I finally have tangible evidence of what I knew intellectually, but did not fully trust until now. He would never give me one of His own children without providing me with everything I need to properly care for and raise that child. Whether it be 1, 2...7 or 8, the Lord provides the tools.

These incredible gifts that each of my children have brought to my life make me infinitely grateful. Pushing aside my fears and replacing them with faith has brought me more grace and joy than I could have ever thought possible.

More Mud

The latest craze in running seems to be these obstacle races. Mud, fire, climbing, push-ups, etc., etc. Every running events group is doing one now and Micah has caught the bug along with everyone else. He says it's more exciting than just running down the road. I just nod my head, smile and take pictures.

This past weekend he competed in the Warrior Dash - three miles and the usual obstacles. He managed to convince a few co-workers and family members to join him as well. Micah placed 2nd in his heat, 7th out of 820 in his age group and 45th out of 7222 overall for the day.

Not bad!

The girls and I stood at the mud pit at the end because it's where we can get the most exciting views. They remembered, from the last race, a man yelling "CRAWL BABY CRAWL!", so they pretty much screamed that for 20 minutes at everyone coming through. Note: You might be asking yourself why Micah is covered from head to toe in mud, while the other two guys in the picture are only muddy on their front half. Well, it's because he literally dives in while the others just start crawling. Usually the dive has some trick attached like a jump spin. His philosophy is that if you're going to sign up for this, you might as well go all out.

This coming weekend is the Dirty 6 - 6 miles of fun this time.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

Okay, okay, this doesn't exactly thrust me to the summit of the healthful eating mountain, but I nearly fell off the treadmill when I read this. Yes, I read a cupcake recipe at the gym...and I, eh hem, don't feel too badly about it. Since we're not a huge dessert family to begin with, I'm going to claim the rule of moderation. When you see something like this, you have to at least try it, right?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

They've replaced wedding cakes and some bakeries exclusively sell them -- cupcakes are not just a childhood classic anymore. But, for dessert connoisseurs who may think cupcakes are just buttercream and sprinkles, we've got the recipe for you. We've searched high and low and have come up with this 'grown up' version -- so stop what you are doing and make these!

Ingredients:

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1½ cups light brown sugar, packed

• 4 large eggs

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• ¼ tsp. salt

• 1 cup milk

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 cup chocolate chips

• Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

• Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula and mix by hand.

• Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the filling:

• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed

• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

• 7 oz. sweetened condensed milk

• ½ tsp. vanilla extract

• ¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

•To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips.

• To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture. You can be generous with the cookie dough mixture.

For the frosting:

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

• ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed

• 3½ cups confectioners’ sugar

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• ¾ tsp. salt

• 3 tbsp. milk

• 2½ tsp. vanilla extract

• To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

• Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.

For decoration:

• Tiny chocolate chip cookies

• Mini chocolate chips

Kris Schoels is the author of Young Married Chic -- a blog devoted to baking, fashion, home decor and travel.

I wish I knew then....

I've said before, my second daughter is a "spirited child". Actually, they all are, but second is the most text book version. For a complete picture of what a spirited child is, read "Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, Energetic" by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka

With spirited children, every day is a challenge, but some phases tend to be a bit harder. We're going through some of that now.

As I was sitting here reflecting, praying and refining my game plan, I had to chuckle to myself at my very first memory of her.....

I was in labor and awake for approximately 48 hours before she blessed the world with her presence. Let me be clear. NO sleep and in pain for TWO whole days. To say I was tired would be the understatement of the century.

I'm not really the type to send my fresh, newborn baby to the nursery by choice, but in this case, if I didn't get a solid couple of hours of sleep I was afraid of what might happen. So, after welcoming her into the world and feeding her, I asked the nurses to take her to the nursery and promptly passed out.

A couple of hours later, a nurse came into my room and woke me from the deepest sleep known to man and said "Mom, she's not having it. She's been screaming since she got to the nursery and there's nothing we can do to console her. She wants to be with you." Let me tell you, this is NOT what I wanted to hear from my coma-like state. She then re-swaddled my newborn and laid her in bed next to me. She instantly snuggled into me and fell asleep like she didn't have a care in the world. The two of us slept there together like rocks for the next five hours when we woke up famished.

What I didn't realize at the time and have grown to know about her, is that this was her personality in all it's glory from day one. She let us know who she was from her first breath.

She's a girl who wants it her way or no way at all. She's a girl who will make loud demands and argue with anyone who stands in her way. If she sets her mind to it, she can move mountains. She has strong opinions and is tough, is persistent and relentless - all qualities present in the most wonderful adults I know.

But most importantly, she's a girl who with just a little bit of love, attention and affection, can be the most endearing, sweet and heart-melting human being I've ever known.

Star Student Science Experiment

#1 was the Star Student this week in her class. You can pretty much guess what that entails - bringing in pictures, special show-n-tell, telling everyone your favorite colors, foods, etc....

It seems to be the most exciting thing one can possibly do in Kindergarten.

One unexpected responsibility of the Star Student is to present a science experiment to the class. It can be just about anything. Some popular topics include magnets, water cycle, animals and you can guess the rest.

True to form, no idea we came up with was good enough for our daughter. We pored over books and the internet looking for ideas and she just wasn't satisfied with any of the standard options. She wanted it to be unique and she actually wanted to be interested in the topic. The nerve.

Let me tell you, it was A LOT of work to settle on something, but we finally did.

DISSIPATION

We based the experiment off of this, which luckily came with a video. Easy peasy.

Micah, aka: Mr. Arnold the Science Guy, with the help of his lovely assistant, explained to the class that permanent ink is "hydrophobic". However, it dissolves in rubbing alcohol and the ink molecules "dissipate".

The children wrapped a square of t-shirt material around a cup and secured it with a rubber band. They made designs on their t-shirts with colored sharpie markers. Then, we went around the class using medicine droppers to drop alcohol on the designs. The collective "WWWHHHHOOOAAAA" that echoed through the class told us we had done well.

The children were pretty impressed and the teachers couldn't remember seeing the experiment before which meant our Kindergartener had ticked all of the boxes on her list = SUCCESS!!

After getting through this with her, I'm not sure how much I'm looking forward to the science fair projects of later grades. But, I am quite proud of her joys and victories.

Happy 6th Birthday!!!

My oldest "baby" turned 6 this past weekend.

I don't think anyone has ever been more excited to turn 6.

We invited the girls from her class and had a nice party in the park with pizza, cake and a bounce house.

She and her friends had tons of fun.

I love my toes!

I recently discovered how much I take my toes for granted. I never realized how much I use them until I broke one. :-(

The other night, I woke up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water. Still half asleep, I kicked the metal frame of a baby bouncer on my way back to bed. It has been sitting in the exact same spot out of normal traffic patterns for over a year....I have no excuse other than being asleep.

I immediately knew I broke it, but since I was still asleep, I just climbed back into bed. For the rest of the night, all of my dreams revolved around broken toes. It was quite bizarre, but I'm guessing it was triggered by the pain. In the morning, in those moments between wake and sleep, I tried my hardest to will it away and prayed with all my might that it was nothing but bad dreams. Alas, when I finally woke up, without removing the covers, I knew my toe was broken.

There is pretty much nothing that can be done for a broken toe. I taped it to it's next door neighbor and all I can do is wait....maybe 4-6 weeks. The pain is pretty severe (especially when I tripped this morning). Mostly, I'm just really frustrated that can hardly walk and will have to miss/modify my workout/yoga routine that I've come to depend on. The recumbent bike sounds the most promising, but I might just go crazy.

The older girls have been very compassionate and helpful, not wanting me to walk around too much. The baby - well, she hasn't mastered the art of compassion yet. God bless her as she runs away from me!

Take care of your toes!

Man it feels good to be a Spartan...

So, ask my wife and she'll tell you that my favorite runs are the ones where I've gone off reservation and come home bleeding, scraped or bruised with some kind of hair-brained story about kicking a cactus or free-climbing boulders on the trail. Which more or less sums up the Spartan Race, in which I participated yesterday.

Promoted as "8+ miles of Hell" I knew it would be my kind of race...and hosted just south of my house on the Gila River Indian Reservation at Wild Horse Pass Resort this is familiar territory for me.

For the last few weeks I've been following the Spartan Race Facebook page complete with daily workouts and lots and lots of smack talk from the potential entrants. Marines, SEAL's, Army, ROTC, CrossFit, Triathletes, etc...I was psyching myself up for a serious butt-kicking, and walking past all of the "USMC" shirts in the parking lot didn't help.

So I quietly mixed in with the group near the starting line b/c I knew it was going to be nuts out of the gate. and it was...starting with the girl spitting fire at the racers and spinning flaming metal balls on chains. I could tell a good time was ahead. A host of "AROO's" went up from the crowd as we started and then it was off to the races: Out of the gate through Smoke Bombs, up and down a natural dirt berm, turned hard left and went up and over a pile of hay bales and then (seriously) they had built a huge hurdle out of DuraFlame logs (!!). They were freshly lit and totally flaming out of control when the first of us went through them, so we just sucked it up and ran through a wall of fire, praying we didn't come down in the middle of them.

There were tunnels, then we had to swim across the Wild Horse river 2 times...um, crawled through 100 yards of mud, crossed crazy zig-zag balance beams, went over a cargo net wall, crouched under a low tent while running up a river, over/under/thru successive 5' walls...oh and if you failed a task, it was pushups or burpees or some other kind of punishment.

Oh and then we got to the brick drag (but not before you had to solve a rubix cube or do 50 pushups). They had attached those concrete anchors you use for a gazebo or deck structure to 10 foot ropes and you had to drag them forwards about 50 yards, then backyards 50 yards then hand them to the person behind you and then try to run out again...(woof).

So this is basically how the day went...finished by hopping an 8 foot wall, swimming the river again (Thank God! It felt great!), going up and over a diagonal/slippery wall, rocking the traverse wall (think rock climbing but you had to go across a 20 foot wall without touching the ground or the top. Penalty=30 burpees!) and then arriving at the spear throw. Seriously, throw a spear at a big bale of hay wearing a Spartan helmet. Miss and it's 20 pushups (for the record, this was my ONLY penalty of the day!!! I also got to do my penalty pushups right in front of my lovely wife and girls who now know that I cannot hurl a spear with any great accuracy, though I am more used to doing pushups with girls on my back then not). From there it was a straight shot to the next mud crawl, hard left hand turn into a pit with 5 gladiators just trying to keep you from crossing the finish line with pontoon sticks, throwing hay in your face, pushing and hitting you, etc etc and (phew) you're done. That's it.

So, in sum, I took 22nd overall in the race (Official results here. yahoo!!). If I had known how good i would feel at the end and the day after, i would have gone harder, I think. I was prepared to get kicked in the teeth, be bloody and hurting at that end, but I believe that I gave that course a good what-for. So happy to have almost no penalties...ready to rock the next runs that come this way (Warrior Dash, May 1; Dirty 6, May 7).

As I thought to myself on Saturday: "It's a whole lot more fun than running 13.1 miles down a straight, paved road" and "...to think that some folks just woke up today to play golf!". Rock on y'all.

Jenny Bars

We love love LOVE LaraBars! I love them because the only ingredients are real fruit and nuts (only 3-5 ingredients depending on the flavor). I also love them because they are convenient to carry in my purse and healthy for the kids. They love them because they taste yummy. I sound like a cereal commercial.

What I don't love is the price tag. They used to sell them at my Costco, but no longer. I was searching online for a way to buy the bars cheaper in bulk and inadvertently stumbled upon a plethora of homemade recipes. I decided to try it.

I used this woman's recipe as my template, but there are many others to choose from. I took pictures of my process, but hers are better, so check out her page.

I bought all of my ingredients in bulk at Whole Foods.

I processed 1 cup of dates with 1 cup of dried cherries and set aside. In another container, I processed 1/2 cup of coconut, 1/2 of raw almonds and a handful of Chia Powder. Then I slowly added the fruit mixture, blending between additions. Be careful, your food processor my overheat like mine did. My template said to add water if needed, but I didn't seem to need it.

Then, I pressed the mixture into the bottom of an 8x8 pan. These bars looked too thin to me, so I repeated the process and pressed the second batch on top of the first. Next, I put the pan in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, then cut into bars.

I made another double batch of apricot bars and the put all of them in the freezer.

Last, but not least, add your name!

These are the PERFECT snacks for my family to pack for work, school and errand running without costing a fortune. SUCCESS!!

Productivity

My sweet, sweet husband gave me an iPad for Christmas. I'm notorious for being behind the curve on making technology work for me and tend to not use my gadgets to their fullest potential. This time, I'm bound and determined to change that. I have been investing a lot of time and energy in making my iPad a useful tool rather than a mere vehicle for games and ebooks. I must say, I'm doing a pretty good job, so far.

Calendar- With Micah's help, I was able to sync up the calendar on the iPad with my online calendar. The best part is that they now automatically sync up via the wireless connection and I don't even have to push a button. I can now take my iPad to meetings, school or wherever, enter things into my calendar and then just go home. Everything I entered while I was away goes right to my computer. I can also set up email reminders as well as alarms on my iPad

Chore Chart- The girls and I have been struggling to find a system for chores that we (mostly me) like. We found a chore app that just might fit the bill and kill a few birds with one stone. I plan to write more about the chore chart once we work out some of the kinks.

Cooking/Fitness- There are countless cooking and fitness apps available. I've downloaded some and plan to use them....my favorites will probably evolve. Right now, I can look up recipes by meal or main ingredients. I can look up substitutions if I don't have/like an ingredient in the recipe. I can also record my workouts and look up the nutrition facts of my favorite foods.

Motivated Moms- This is my favorite app so far! It's a "chore chart" just for mom. MM generates a daily list of tasks to help you keep your house clean and organized. There are tasks that have to be completed daily like dishes, sweeping, cleaning the kitchen counters and sink and your daily bible reading (these readings don't match my bible study, but at least the reminder is there). Then, each day, you get a short list of tasks outside of your daily responsibilities. All of these tasks are rotated on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly or semi-annual basis. Some examples are: clean toilets, change a/c filters, clean out purse, clean out car, vacuum behind refrigerator, organize medicine cabinets, etc. I wake up to find things on my list that I either never think about or at least not until it's way past due. Now I know that if I follow the list, it will all get done. I don't think I have EVER cleaned behind my refrigerator, but it was on my list last week. I can tell you my house already feels cleaner knowing that's done.

The best part is that the daily list is really manageable which is very important to me. I don't have to spend the whole day cleaning. If I have five minutes, I can cross something off my list. In my worst case scenario, I get very little done all day. However, I can count on the list being reasonable enough for me to finish it off after the girls go to bed and still have time to relax.

Motivated Moms has a free app for iPhone and iPad which I've been using for a while. It gives you the list and allows you to check things off. For $10, you can purchase the upgrade which allows you to add your own things to your list and to move things around between days. MM also has an online ebook available here.

I feel more productive and I'm looking forward to finding other ways to use my iPad.

100th Day!!

Just in case it's not clear from the picture, she recently celebrated the 100th day of Kindergarten. It was a very exciting (and super cute) day.

Half Marathon

Micah and Ryan (his friend from Denver) ran the Phoenix Rock n Roll half marathon this past weekend. It was a beautiful day for it with a high in the mid 70s and lots of sun.