An Unexpected Christmas Blessing

As I've said in previous posts, God has been good to us this year. I will admit it alot of things have happened this year that have been really crummy but God has seen our family through
the tough times. Which brings me to share this story with you. We had decided this Christmas, we were going to scale back a bit. Not only for financial reasons but we really want to make sure as the girls grow up to instill the true meaning of Christmas. I will admit there were several things I wanted to get the girls for Christmas. I had wanted to get them this really cool kitchen that they played with at Sam's Club every time we went there. I wanted to get them new pajamas and slippers for Christmas Eve. Random stuff they really didn't need but it was stuff I thought would be fun to buy. Ben and me went a different route with their presents. Last night I was on the phone with my mom when call waiting beeped. I decided to ignore the call and call whoever it was back later. To be honest our family doesn't answer the beeps unless we think it may be important. I come by it honestly. (I love you Mom:) ) Anyway it happened to be our neighbor. Ben called her back and apparently one of her friends is having a giving Christmas with her teenagers. Her kids were to pick out a family and buy gifts for them instead of receiving gifts this year. She asked my neighbor if she knew of anyone who could use any help this year. Our name came up due to the fact I'd lost my job and Ben has helped her with many things over the last year. Ben bundled up the girls and went over to her house to pick up the presents.She also had wanted to meet the girls. ( I didn't go because of this nasty cold that won't go away.) When the girls came back they were so excited! They opened gifts there. They received coloring books,a Bible,new dress-up shoes,pajamas,slippers and a new play kitchen. Does God work in mysterious ways or what?! They may have been little things but it does proves that no prayer is too little, unimportant, or even unspoken, God is listening at all times and He does answer is awesome ways!

Piperisms

I thought I would take a minute and share part of Piper's personality with you. She is learning something new everyday. It helps having big sister Riley around to teach her so many things.
Its also a bad thing because she is growing up too fast. So here are a few things I have heard recently that has made me laugh.

Talking to Aubrey:
Ladies and Gentleman! Welcome to the Races!!!!!! (I wonder where she got that from? ;) )

Singing with Riley the Bingo song
And Bingo was his Nemo (we are a little obsessed with Nemo)

Ladies and Gentleman! Welcome to the Piper Show!!!
That's Me! I'm eating snow off my boot!

And here is my favorite conversation I had with her. I was trying to convince her to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas. I've been prepping her for our visit to the mall. I really wasn't trying to be mean, I really wanted one picture of her not screaming with Santa. I asked her "What if Santa brings you coal? Which are like lumps of dirt." She'd tell me no and say she wanted Nemo toys. The day of the visit we are going over things again and this is what she tells me..
"Mama, I want lumps of dirt. I'm not sitting in his lap."

New Traditions

I am really enjoying Christmas this year. Riley and Piper are at that age where they are starting to understand Christmas. With this has come the 'I wants'. Every toy they have seen on TV or in the store they have to have for Christmas. So since they beginning to understand how Christmas works, Ben and me decided they were old enough to learn the meaning of it. My Grammy bought a Nativity set for my mom the year I was born. It is a really nice set. The fantastic thing about it is made of durable plastic and the figures are very life like. The camels I do have to say have great expressions. One of the reasons she bought it was so I could touch it without the worries of anything getting broken. My mom passed it down to me. So this year we have been talking about the birth of Jesus. We get down all the pieces and go through the story.
Its so amazing to see things through their eyes and the part I love the most is they are so excited about it. Riley will run up and ask" Can we get your pieces down?' This has also helped Baby Jesus stay in his manger. For a little baby, He gets around. Ben and me have traditions that we have grown up with and have shared with the girls but its also nice for us to create our own too. I've included pictures of decorating the tree. I found these bells at JoAnn's and they have been a big hit.( as you can tell by the pictures.) I really thought I would only have to keep Aubrey out of the tree but Riley and Piper love playing with the decorations. There is a huge clump of ornaments in the middle of the tree. Riley and Piper moved them higher to keep them from Aubrey. Now if only I could keep them out of the tree. Oh well. Good thing Christmas only comes around once a year.

Baby Steps

Its official. Aubrey took her first five steps!I can't believe it. This last year has just
flown by. I knew this day was coming. She is now crossing over from baby to toddler.
With her being the last one, I've been trying to savor every moment and its gone by way too
fast. Its also been fun to watch Riley and Piper get excited with her milestones. Now I guess it is time to dig out my running shoes. This Mama has just gotten awhole busier.

A New Breed - Purple-Spotted Little Girls

I know there has been a few people wondering if this story would make it on to my blog.
At the time it happened I failed to see the humor in it. Let me set the back round and scene for you. On Monday, (Ben's birthday by the way) I had decided to give the girls a bath after naptime. Now my room and bathroom are adjoining. I have a big garden tub. Its easier to give them a bath in there because it is bigger and I can sit in the doorway and multi-task if need be. The girls had been playing great and wanted to stay in the tub longer. Aubrey had had enough of her sisters and wanted out. Not a big deal. So Aubrey was crawling back and forth between the girls and me. It turned into a game. On one of her trips to see her sisters I didn't catch the little purple bottle of nail polish she gave to her sisters. Apparently she is just like Riley and Piper, she has a knack for finding items, that she can't have and super long arms. Plus throw in a need for approval from her big sisters and you have trouble.There is a big lip on the tub. Kinda like seat. The girls play with toys there,nothing out of the normal. With their backs to me happily playing with their toys, I periodically ask if they are ready to get out. They tell me no. And things continue. Riley turns around a few minutes later and says "Mama. the purple isn't coming off." Hmmm. Weird. I go over thinking its another game of theirs. To my surprise and to be honest, my horror, there is a half purple moon in my tub. I have them get out of the tub and see that it is all over their little bodies too. A couple of bottles of nail polish remover later. There are still flecks on their bodies and my tub( Happy Birthday honey! Poor Ben. I don't think he expected to come home to that) which will just have to wear off in time. I wonder if Harold's mother ever felt this way. Days like these I keep telling myself they won't be this little forever and I will miss these days. Plus years from now they will make great stories for family functions.

Happy Birthday to My Wonderful Husband!

Happy Birthday Ben! You do get better with age. It been amazing watching you grow as
a husband,father,and and as a man of God.I am very blessed to be your wife. Here is to many more great years! I love you!

A Very Blessed Thanksgiving

There are so many things we have to be thankful for this year. Our family,friends,jobs, our health, just to name a few. God has really blessed us this year.And there are still more blessings to come! Erica Jayne arrived safely this morning at 5lbs 13.9 oz. She is beautiful and everyone is doing great! I hope everyone's Thanksgiving is as fantastic as ours is!

Definitely Not Mickey Mouse

I'm sorry its been awhile since my last post. I've been having computer trouble. I know what else is new right?! Now its fixed( thanks to Lana) and I can share the girls' latest adventure. Riley and Piper woke up at 5:00 am on Friday morning and started taking their dresser drawers out to play with them. Ben told them to go back to bed. My husband is a early riser but even that was too early. They go back to bed and get up at nine. I tell them to start putting their clothes back and I will go get breakfast ready. Sounds like a good plan right?! What could possibly go wrong? Aubrey at this point is starting to fuss and I told her to go see what her sisters are doing. Piper then sticks her head out and says " Auuubbbbuuuuurrrreeeyyy come here!" in a singsong voice. That should have been a red flag. For all of you who don't know, Piper is not a big fan of her little sister or any child littler then her. Don't get me wrong she will play with kids but prefers the older crowd. Plus Aubrey really likes pulling hair and Piper is her main target. I really didn't put too much thought into it, I figured she was trying to avoid picking up her clothes . Riley ( our resident drama queen) starts screaming bloody murder. Nothing new there. I love Riley, she is one of the biggest joys of my life but everything seems to set the waterworks off. After a couple of minutes go by (to see if they resolve the problem first)I called for her. Ready for this? Piper comes out first holding something by its tail. As she is getting closer, I realize it is fuzzy and moving.Its a mouse! Not Mickey but a real one. By now I am thoroughly grossed out at this point, I told her to set it down. Poor thing is wet and isn't moving, still breathing though. I put him in a bucket and asked for the story. Riley told me the mouse rode on Diego's head (the dog) into the room and when she tried to hold it, it bit her. Piper adds,Diego had him in his mouth and apparently she just picked him up by his tail. At this point all three girls and the dog are surrounding him. Who isn't interested in the mouse? The cat. There is something wrong with this picture right? After a million phone calls later, Riley doesn't need to go in and get a shot. Mice aren't as prone to diseases as other rodents. We released him and hopefully he will be the last mouse my daughters catch.

Prayer

I wanted to take a quick minute to point out the new link I added to my blog. If you click on the
little girl on the top right corner, it will lead you to the Bring the Rain blog. Angie Smith had put together seven prayers you can say for your children during the day. There are verses to go along with it. I encourage everyone to take a minute to read it. One of the most important things we should do as parents, for our children is to be always praying for them.. I would even encourage you to even check out her story too. Her faith and strength is a real inspiration.

First Day of School

Finally I'm getting new pictures uploaded! This is Riley's first day of school. She is in the Ready Four program. I thought last year was hard but this year I think it somehow was harder. She is getting so big. She is four going on twenty! Such the little adult. I'm trying so hard to keep her little but they do grow up so fast, I think even faster then generations past. It always amazes me the things that pop out of her mouth. Riley is so creative and so smart. Would you expect anything less from my child?! Just kidding. I love whenever we are working out details, whether its for a trip to Target( Greatest store ever opened!) or a party, she tells me " Mama, that will be perfect!". I ask myself where she gets comes up with this stuff and find myself pausing as I make plans with my mom or sister, telling them 'That will be perfect' Proving she does listen but only when she wants to. Back to my post, I do tend to get distracted (esp. when talking about the girls) Here are the pictures of her first day of school. Such a big girl! Enjoy!

Look Mama!

No hands!

Waiting for Riley at the bus stop

Yay! Riley is home!

Piper's Birthday

Here are the pictures from Piper's birthday. What a difference a year makes. She is becoming more vocal and has her own opinions on how things should be done, much to Riley's dismay. I also included a picture of her in her Lightening McQueen rain boots. Its hilarious. She kept stealing Riley's slippers and would run around everywhere making vroom vroom sounds. We decided the boots would be more durable.

Halloween Costumes + Toddlers = Headache

I remember when my sisters and me were little, Mom got costumes and we would wear them. End of story. Times have changed or it could be I'm just too nice and decided to ask my very opinionated daughters what they wanted to be for Halloween. Riley wanted to be a pumpkin, Aubrey doesn't care and well Piper kept going between Handy Manny and Nemo.Do you know how hard it is to find a Nemo costume? So to Ebay I went. After losing a million auctions ( who knew Nemo was so popular?) I had pulled out some the girls' older costumes for Gidyun and Lissie. In the process I pulled out the Jo-Jo the clown costume and Piper tried it on. "I want to be Jo-Jo!" she announced very excitedly. Flipping Fantastic! Right?! All of them have costumes right? No, Piper never makes it that easy for me.Monday, as Piper is curled up in my lap she says "Mama, I don't want to be Jo-Jo." Its a good thing she is so stinking cute.

One Week Later

I know I haven't added pictures in awhile. I've been having problems with our computer. With the help of a computer genius, we are working on getting it fixed. So make sure to check back for Riley's first day of school,Piper's Birthday party and Aubrey's silly faces. So I bet everyone is wondering if my floors are done and if not here is the update anyway because not much is going on in The Adams household. So with two hours and twelve minutes to spare, Ben made the one week goal. Last weekend He finished the hall.playroom and three-quarters of the living room. Then everything came to a complete halt. I think he must have read the blog (he rarely does) and decided he wanted to get the floor done. Now he has realized he has enough for the bathroom. I swear he never slows down. I really wish I had his energy level. I'm blessed to have him and tell myself that even when he starts talking about another project that won't take that long!

One Week

We have been talking about what to do with the carpet in our house for awhile. It has just not held up the way it should have and Ben who has been itching to start a new project ( Like he doesn't have enough going on) wants to lay new flooring. I asked him the famous question, How long will this take. Anyone want to guess his answer?! Not that long. As the voice in my head is screaming, "That's what he always says!" The girls room took two weeks( It was supposed to be done in a weekend) I calmly without rolling my eyes or making a snide remark, ask for a more specific timeline. He tells me a week. He originally said a weekend but because he is helping with putting the roof on the pole barn for our church on Saturday he extended it to a week. Stay tuned to see if he finishes in time.

A New Beginning

I know a few people are questioning My New Found Freedom status on my Facebook page.
As of yesterday I have found myself without a job. This is the first time this has happened for me, so I'm trying very hard to stay positive and keep things together. I don't talk about my job much on the blog but I will say this. I did very much love where I worked and people I worked with. I still do. The last six months have been very hard though. There were alot of changes made and I was passed over for a couple of job promotions. Plus it seemed we were working short-staffed quite a bit. Needless to say I was getting burnt out and I made a mistake.I'm only human. Granted I think it was a little extreme that I was let go and not giving a warning first but I had a responsibility to perform my job and failed. So I am going to take some very much earned time off. Spend some time with my wonderful daughters, organize my house,(Lord knows it really needs it) work on my book, and wait to see where God leads me on this journey.

Visting The Mother Ship

We had been promising the girls we would go to the zoo for the last two weeks. So on Labor day we decided to head to Grand Rapids to see the zoo and maybe do a little shopping while we were there. To our dismay the zoo had a water main break and they were closed for the day. After talking up the zoo so much and getting the girls so excited we felt we could just turn around and go home. So we headed off to BattleCreek to the Binder Park Zoo. I'm so glad we did. It was amazing. There was so much to see and do. We hit the cafe first to grab something to eat ( it was lunchtime by then) There were peacocks wandering around the cafe looking for scraps. Riley and Piper tried to catch one. The one thing Riley wanted to do was pet the Giraffes. I kept trying to explain to her we could look but not be able to touch them. The exhibit where the giraffes were was a two mile hike up a hill. There was a tram to transport visitors up and down the only catch was you couldn't bring the wagon with you. The stroller yes, wagon, no. We didn't want to be chasing or caring the girls around while we where there so we began the two mile hike up the hill. Man it was hot that day! It was good exercise right?! When we got up there it was set up like a little African village. The girls discovered drums you could beat on and they liked having their picture taken with the giraffe statue. When we finally got to the giraffes, we discovered you could buy special cookies to feed them and yes you could pet them. That made Riley's day if not her entire four years of existence. The little monkey had the nerve to tell me, "See Mama, you can pet them" Smart alec, gets it from her dad. I think Piper was disappointed to see that the giraffes weren't dancing. (Her favorite book is Giraffes Can't Dance. )We saw the zebras,wild dogs, birds and of course monkeys. We couldn't go to the zoo and not see the monkeys right?!
We headed back down and passed the stand where you could buy stuffed animals that you stuffed yourself. We had already passed this once and Ben had told them we'll see. Well while we had been walking around, Piper had been hanging her head outside the wagon. After several warnings to keep her head in, Ben went to make a turn and Piper caught her ear on the fence.He felt horrible. So now as Ben is getting ready to say no, Pipe starts complaining about her ear.Stupid this girl is not and knows Daddy is a big softie. So Riley got her Snow Leopard, Piper her Nemo (a new obsession) and Aubrey, her monkey. After riding the carousel we headed over to the petting zoo. They got to pet rabbits, horses, goats, ect. The goats they got to feed and brush. Ben at one point had a small herd around him. He is now the Goat Whisperer. Aubrey didn't care for them. One of them bleeped(Is that what they do?) at her and she started screaming. After that we moved on. All in all we had a great day. The girls were fantastic considering they missed naptime and had a lot of fun. As we loaded them all in the van, Riley asks " Hey Mama, When are we going to go to the zoo?" Kids say the darnest things!

Is it a Boy or Girl?

I thought I would give you an update on my sister Jennifer. As most of you know she is due with her first baby this December. They were supposed to find out the sex of the baby in July. We thought that was cool because the ultrasound was scheduled on my Dad's birthday. Unfortunately the baby wouldn't cooperate and they couldn't tell. You can already tell the baby is showing personality traits from our side of the family. Jen has been having some problems with her Kidneys. The doctors thought it was kidney stones, did another ultrasound and they got a nice butt shot from the baby. They put a stint in to try to alleviate the pain. She is still in of alot pain (if you can keep her in your thought and prayers that would be greatly appreciated.) They did another ultrasound this past Thursday to see what was going on with the stint, Third time was the charm! Its a Girl! We are all very excited and are looking forward to meeting little Erica Jayne when her time comes. We are betting she comes out with a head full of curls like her Mom!

More Fishing Tales

Since we had such a great time fishing with the girls the last time, we decided to do it again. The girls had colds during the week and by Sunday they were still a little whiny and testy. Mistake number one. It was also Labor Day weekend. Mistake number two and we only had a couple hours to fish. Mistake number three. We tried out a new location and it wasn't as good of a spot as the last time. The fish weren't biting and so the girls got bored real quickly. One of my biggest fears is that the girls are going to catch their hooks on somethingor somebody. That's one of the reasons we cast for them. Piper managed to get her line tangled up and while trying fix it, Riley starts playing with her pole. After being told to be careful and wait just a minute till I got Piper situated, I felt something snag my shirt. I look down to see a big, dirty,slimy,creepy crawling,very much alive worm attached to my shirt. I hate hate worms. At this point I'm trying to stay calm and call to Ben I need his help. He tells me to hang on while he casts in another spot. By this point I'm so over the fishing trip. Thank goodness for undergarment with padding otherwise it could have been alot worse. Ben finally managed to unhook me. A little disappointed because it was a new shirt and one of my favorite undergarments. Oh well! Least it just did damage to my clothes and not me. Riley was told to sit while we packed up. Piper no matter what always feels the need to sit with Riley. She tossed her pole aside and claim " I don't like to fish!" Lessons we learned that weekend. Never rush anything, strollers are not meant to go off roading no matter what my husband says and never leave worms in the frig but that is a whole other story! Aubrey's Fish Lips

Riley and Ben

Piper following behind them but is enjoying the scenery

Ben caught the only fish that day

Riley in time-out

Misery loves company

Happy Birthday Piper!

Wow! I really can't believe Piper is 3 years old. How time flys. It seemed just like yesterday I told Ben that Riley was going to be having a little brother or sister. Piper came in to this world at 2:15pm on September 4,2005. A full month early. I remember waking Ben up early that morning to tell him I thought it was time. His response?! " Okay, I'll go take a shower." The second child is always different. She was a surprise and still to this day is always so full of surprises. So in honor of her birthday here are ten things I love about Piper.
1. She is a free spirit and very opinionated.
2. She can say No! at least 10 different ways.
3. Her laugh
4. The way her eyes sparkle and the mischievous grin appears on her face before she does something shes not supposed to do.
5. How she says 'I don't like that!' before she does anything.
6. The way she dances
7. Shes fearless
8. The way she gets excited over the smallest things.
9. Her Imagination
10. The way she thinks her Daddy can do anything.
Happy Birthday Chicken! You have brought so much it to our lives! We look forward to watching you grow older and seeing all the amazing things you will do!

A New Creature In Christ

This year has been an amazing year. A lot has happened. I'm going to share what has happened in Ben's life. I asked Ben if he wanted to write it but he decided he was going to let me do it. Here's a little bit of the back story. Ben and me come from strong church families. When moving to Traverse City, we had a hard time finding a church that we liked. Our jobs at the time required us working Sundays and soon gave up the search. When Riley was born, I felt the need again to find a church. I wanted her to have the great experiences that we did growing up. I started going to West Side Community Church with my sister and anytime Ben had off he would go with us. Ben would go but it did it more for the social part of it and for Riley. Skip forward to last fall, I encouraged Ben to go to Grief Support, a small group that our church was hosting. (Ben lost his brother in 93' and his dad in 05') You could see God starting to work slowly in Ben's life and Ben opening up to it more. Ben had never fully dealt with his brother's death and I had worried that he would do the same with his dad's. Guy's Stuff started shortly after Grief Support and after the first couple of weeks, God moved in amazing ways in that group. It really opened his eyes and Ben decided that he could and didn't want to do it alone and gave his life to God. They ended the first year of Guy's Stuff with a retreat. He came home from that weekend a changed man. He told me he had had closure to alot of issues he had with his childhood and with his dad and wasn't doing his job as husband and father. At this point I was a little confused. Ben is a wonderful husband and father. When I questioned him, he said that he wasn't taking on the role as a spiritual leader and wasn't setting a good example for the girls but planned to do so from now on. We have always had a good relationship and family life but things are even better. We try to do when we can devotions and include the girls too. The girls love reading from their Bible and are always asking questions. Which now brings us to this past Sunday night. Ben with commiting his life to Christ, showed his faithfulness by being baptized in water. It was an awesome night. Ben, you have made so many changes over the course of this year and I am truly proud of the man of faith you have become. I thank God every day for you and look forward to seeing what God has in store for you and our family!

I Don't Wanna Take a Nap!

All my girls have such different personalities. It truly amazes me. From day one, Aubrey has always put in her opinion. She is no doubt a Mama's girl. Its gotten to the point that if I put her down for a nap, I need to make sure she is sleeping because if I go into the room and she sees me, she won't stay in her crib. On my day off I had alot of things I wanted to accomplish and Aubrey was due for a nap. She is cutting teeth and was getting cranky but she knew that we were going to make cookies and didn't want to be left out. S0 I put her in her crib and then discovered Duchess, our new kitten had darted into our room and was hiding under the crib. So I went in to grab the cat and discovered her at the other end of the crib, near the door waiting for me to come in. The poor thing was so tired this is how she fell asleep. I couldn't resist taking her pictures.

Fish,Bugs, & Frogs Oh My!

To my husband's delight, we went fishing today. Like most men, Ben loves to fish and hunt. After the girls came along there wasn't alot of time for him to go. We went and let the girls pick out their poles. Princess for Riley and Dora for Piper. They all were so excited to go. So this afternoon we went out to a lake in Interlochen. Riley kept telling me she was going to catch the biggst Fish I ever saw and was going to eat it. Ewww. For those who don't know, I don't eat fish unless its fish sticks. Then she was going to put in the popperdaddy.What is a popperdaddy, you ask? It took me a minute to figure out what this was. She was saying it so fast. Its a pot for Daddy. Luckily we were doing catch and release today. I honestly didn't think we would catch anything. Within minutes of getting there hooks baited and lines cast they caught something. Aubrey even got in on the action! Ben caught live five fish, Riley caught at least four and Piper caught three. Me, you ask? I caught quite a bit. Sticks,seaweed and lilypads. I know, you don't need to tell me I'm a great fisherman or woman, whatever. It was really bad. I would hang on to one of the poles and as soon as I handed them over, someone would catch a fish. I just bring everyone else luck. I was really surprised Ben even caught anything. He spent more time baiting hooks and untangling lines from the tree stump ( Sorry honey, its been awhile since I last fished Great legs though! ;) )Towards the end the fish quit biting and Riley sat down on a log and said "I didn't order a fish" then Piper sat down next to her and said " I didn't order a fish either." They were too cute. They were soon distracted when Piper discovered a frog. Who needs to order a fish when you can chase a frog?! Here are the pictures from our adventure!