Listening Ears

Lately I have been reminded several times of how the kids hear everything that we hear. 

We listen to K-love a lot of the time in the car...that is, when I can manage to turn the kids praise music off without a fight and we aren't practicing for whatever the latest musical at church is going to be. Right now k-love has been doing a contest or something to win a trip to New York City for the Super Bowl. Every time Keira hears about it, she asks me to call so we can "win tickets to the big game". She has no idea what the "big game" even is and knows nothing about NYC but still she's obsessed. 

It's moments like these that remind me that they are listening. They hear our music, they hear what we talk about, they hear what our televisions have on them...they hear what we hear.

One of my very favorite things to hear is my children singing along to Christian music in the radio. It warms my heart. Keira knows most of the words now...Libby sings or hums most too...and now, Janessa tries to join in and it is so so sweet. It has really made me realize how important it is that I always have God Glorifying things for them to hear.

I know that there are lots of times that I fail with this too...I am sure I say the wrong things or the TV (even the news) is on and they hear things they shouldn't but it is something we should all be working on. We should be filling their heads with things that are excellent or praiseworthy.

Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things."

Keeping it Real

In an effort to show the "real" side of us, here is a picture from yesterday.

My four cuties. (L to R we have Keira, Janessa, Levi and Libby)

This was not taken at 8am...but more like near lunch time....and yes...three out of four kids were still in their jammies and none of the girls hair had been brushed.

Sometimes...well... a lot of the time, I think we as mommies tend to compare ourselves too much to everyone else. I know that I am guilty of this. The reality is, we all have days like this. Days where things just don't get done that we think should.

So, here is my reality. Some days, we simply don't get dressed. And you know what, we all survive...with a little less laundry!

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Shopping with 4 kids....yup.

So today I decided to venture to Aldi's to grab some food for the family. Those of you who know me know that I am an avid coupon girl and therefore I usually find myself at Tops, Wegmans or Wal-mart getting the latest freebies or good deals, however, I do generally take a once a month trip to Aldi for the essentials...and for snack foods. And Aldi has shorter hours that they are opened...and no playroom. (Ahhh...how I love Wkids at Wegmans...and I am not ashamed)

This, however, was the first time that I decided to venture there with all 4 kids by myself. I highly anticipated it being a disaster and making the decision to never do this again. but I was pleasantly surprised!

I found that I am actually learning how to function with a van full of kids 5 and under and I love it. I am not sure that people around me love it, but I don't really care. I learned a few very helpful tricks today and it really helped so I thought I'd share for any of you that might be looking to make your shopping trip just a little less crazy.

1. Get 2 carts. One for Janessa and Levi (in his car seat) and the other for food. Push the one with the kids and pull the one with the food.
2. Tell Libby and Keira a few items on my list (oh yeah..you need a list) so that they could have a job and be on the "lookout" (as if I don't have the aisles memorized). This kept them mostly occupied.
3. Hurry...like you are on a mission.
4. Make sure the kids have had a snack before you leave the house! (this I have found to be the most important)
5. Make sure everyone has gone potty before leaving the house and/or clean diapers.
6. Rather than bringing in bags and bagging your groceries in the store on the counter (where the children are running everywhere and climbing onto said counter), go out and buckle all of the kids into their seats, turn the van on  with their favorite kid tunes and quietly unload groceries into bags/boxes in the back of the van.

Now...would I like to be at the store alone....ABSOLUTELY! However, that is not really an option most of the time...so I am learning.

I would also like to say to all of the ladies who gave me dirty looks for having 4 small children or the ones that looked at me like they felt sorry for me...I GOT THIS! I don't need your pity or your dirty looks. Yes, my kids have bad moments...LOTS of them...but today they were well behaved. I can do this, I will do this, I have to do this and most of the time...I LOVE DOING THIS! This is my life, these are my little blessings from Jesus and I can only hope that in my bad moments, I don't traumatize them too much! haha.

Ok...this was a very random post but I will leave you with this verse that my daddy taught me when I was little and in his Sunday School class.

 Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Now I need to go to bed...because I took 4 kids to the store today and I didn't die.

A Long Awaited Day

That title might be a little deep for the blog post I am about to write, but oh well!

Before I had children...or even before I was married, I used to say that someday I would have 5 little boys and drive a mini-van. I would be the "soccer" mom and when I turned around in the van, it would have a bunch of rowdy little boys in overalls. 

I LOVE LITTLE BOYS IN OVERALLS!!!!!!!!

God obviously laughed at my plans when he gave me 3 little girls first...but today...TODAY...I got to dress my little boy in overalls.

Isn't he cute?