Tower Family Reunion 2012

This past weekend was spent at our first ever Tower Family Reunion! It was really neat to meet family members that I didn't even know I had, as well as hear stories about family members that I know. My kids got a glimpse of some of my fondest memories from childhood, too.

Our family is known for playing dominoes, therefore domino brownies were a must.




Probably the first time she'd slept in 16 hours...

We decided to have the reunion over Easter weekend so that everyone could travel on Friday, since it was a good 7 hour drive for us! We drove up on Friday, picked up Clarie from the airport in Dallas, and did the same thing on the way home on Sunday. It was soooo good to see my sister, even though it's only been 2 months since she moved to Arizona. We are super excited to make a trip up to see her this summer!

Evan and Grandma Clarice hunting Easter eggs

Evan enjoying his egg bounty

One of the cutest kids I've ever seen! Other than mine, of course. :)

The kids were pretty good during the whole trip, even through all of the driving. Aubrie had the hardest time, as she didn't sleep at all from 8am-midnight on Friday! She slept a little bit on my lap on Saturday at the reunion, and an hour on the way home on Sunday... and that was it! It's been tough getting back on a normal schedule since getting home, but I think we're getting there. I think the trip this past weekend, plus maybe some growing pains, have kept Aubrie in a pretty bad mood since yesterday. She was not very good/happy at MDO today, either. I'm hoping that she starts acting better, QUICKLY! Tylenol worked yesterday...

I have so many good memories of these people and this place.

Finally, Evan had us cracking up all weekend with funny things that he would say! Enjoy:

-----

Evan: I'm still hungry. Can I have another hot dog?

Me: You can have Aubrie's since she's not eating.

Clarie: That one has your name all over it!

Evan: (stares at the hot dog for about two minutes, turning it around and studying it...)

"I don't see my name..."

Me: I think Aunt Clarie was pulling your leg.

Evan: (stares down at his leg and looks at me like I'm crazy)

-----

(While hunting Easter eggs with the cousins)

Evan: What's that?

Man: a crawded hole

Evan: no, that's an ant pile.

Man: no, that's a crawded hole.

Evan: NO. That's an ant pile.

Chris: Man, he's persistent like his Mama!

Evan: My Mommy's not crazy...

-----

(before bedtime)

Me: Evan, I want you to go potty before bedtime so that we don't wake Aubrie up when we all go to sleep, please.

Evan: But I don't have to go potty.

Me: Just go sit on the potty. I promise that something will happen.

(after going potty)

Evan: Mommy, you were right and I was wrong.

-----

(while watching his Daddy go potty...)

Evan: Daddy, when will my weewee be as big as yours?

Enough said...

Defeated

Defeated. That is the word that is on my mind right now. That, and overwhelmed. I feel defeated by this house. I feel overwhelmed at the clutter that my house creates and the way I feel when I look around me.

I'm also feeling very nostalgic. I look at my kids and see how much they have changed since they were babies. I look at their bedrooms and see all that they have, and all of the blessings that God has given us for them.

I'm always comparing myself to my Mother, and the way that I grew up. I had a really great childhood, and I'm always striving to be like my Mother. I was looking at some pictures of my family when I was growing up, and I realized that our house wasn't always clean. In fact, most of the time there was a ton of stuff in our bedroom pictures! But I have such great memories of growing up. So I guess what I need to take away from that, is that even though I feel overwhelmed at the very sight of any room in my house, my kids are still growing up and making their own memories. I also need to remember that one day my house will be clean. My Mom's house now is what I keep thinking that I need to have, and that's not true. What will my kids remember? A mom who is constantly cleaning and not playing with them? I hope they remember a Mom who loves them unconditionally, and who plays with them... but someone who can also keep a house clean!

Even after all of that, I just can't shake the tiredness. How do I balance keeping everything clean (when I'm basically the only one cleaning - no offense to anyone else in the house, I'm just the one here during the day to do it), and being a good Mom? I just feel like my whole life is tilting out of control, and I'm barely hanging on and keeping it together.

I think I'm in much need of a productive Spring Break to feel back on track... Oh, and more bible study time with the girls (that REALLY helps!). :)

Aubrie turns 2!!!!

Wow! My baby (toddler) girl is now 2!!!! We had her party on Feb 4th instead of her real birthday, because our weekends are so busy in Feb. It was a great day, filled with lots of people in our house (which was full, but actually ok), good food (yum, chocolate fountain!), and a beautiful little 2 year old.

Aubrie LOVES any kind of art; painting, markers, crayons, pencils, etc. So, we had an art party! It was really easy to plan, since we could go with any color palette. The food was a variety of colors, and we had different colored table cloths and pompoms everywhere, along with some great art projects for the kiddos! I worked myself hard to get the garage cleaned out and ready for art projects in case it rained, and I'm glad that I did... because it did rain! Now I have a cleaned out garage, too, so it was all worth it!

We had pulled pork sandwiches for lunch, amazing cupcakes and truffles from my friend Marie (The Truffle Box) plus a ton of other goodies on our "Starving Artist's Food Table." We also used "U-Stencil-s", and had "Paint Chips." For art projects, we had a table with shaving cream, bubble painting, ziplock baggies with paint inside (for "clean" painting), melted crayon art, make your own handprints for the kids to take home, and race car art (which we didn't do because of the rain). Oh, and I don't know if you can see the walls in any of these pictures, but I found "paint splatter" wall decals on clearance at Office Depot, and it made the house look so fun!

(she was "upset" that they put a baby doll in the stroller... and not her :)

(I think that the adults had a great time at the party, too!)

Aubrie is talking like crazy, although it's in the stage where Chris and I are the only ones who can understand her most of the time. She's now trying out new words, so we can't even understand what she's trying to say sometimes. She still LOVES her drink and blankets, especially if she's unhappy about something, or sleepy. She's in a bit of a Mommy phase right now, and going through a bit of separation anxiety when I leave her somewhere. She is all smiles before bedtime, and is really easy to put to bed. She loves her brother, and it's so cute to watch them play together! Evan is really enjoying her more often, now that they can converse and play a little harder.

It was so much fun to have everyone over and visit while we celebrated Aubrie's birthday. Before we know it she'll be turning 3!

(pics of Aunt Cherry with the kids on the morning that she moved to Arizona!)

(Aubrie playing with her birthday present from us!)

(a lot of these ideas came from Pinterest)

What Did You Say?

We hear this phrase about 20 times a day from Evan. It's kind of a joke around our house that he responds with this to everything we say to him. Maybe I should have his ears checked....

Evan is now only a few months away from being 4, and he's keeping us on our toes! He's growing up into such a fun young man (boy)! He gets so excited about everything, that we are frequently asking him to keep his voice down and to hold still for a few seconds.

We have some really great conversations with him, too. The other day we were visiting with our friend, Lizette, and she told him that he had beautiful eyes. She said, "Where did you get those beautiful eyes?" He responded with, "Um, God." Then she said, "and how old are you now?" "Three," he responded. "And when will you be 4?" Evan says, "After three." Haha, well of course, right?!

Goodness, I could right all day about the funny things he tells us, but it would be our entire conversation from the day! Love that boy; what would my days be like without him?!!!

Why I'm Not God

I've been thinking a lot about God lately. I mean, as a Christian I am taught to never cease praying, but I've been thinking about God even more than usual lately. After finding out some life-changing news for some friends of ours, it's gotten me thinking about a lot of different things and how my own life is going.

I have been thinking about why God does things. It's so frustrating sometimes to be the one on the other end of things and not have the big picture. Not that I'm frustrated with God; I know that He has a plan and does all things for our benefit. Sometimes I just have a hard time seeing the good that is coming out of it.

But then I sit down and watch my children laugh and play together before bedtime, or my amazing husband who does the dishes for me 10 minutes before he has to leave for work because he knows that it will be one less thing that I'll have to do that day. I notice these things a lot more now, and am thankful for the blessings that God has given me. I don't understand how bad things happen to people who are so much more "good" than I am, and wonder why God has blessed me so much, and yet taken from others. I don't feel like I am worthy of such blessings, but I'm thankful that God loves me enough to bless me anyway. I only hope that I can turn around and be a blessing to someone else in return.

I know I'll never understand any of it, and I'm ok with that, as long as I have faith that God really is looking out for me.