In the Blink of an Eye

  So, how's your fall going? Mine is a whirlwind. It seems like it just got here... Maybe because it just went from 80 degrees to 40 degrees in a day. Anyways, it's finally here and I feel like it'll be gone before I blink.

 I was talking to a friend today and she asked what my schedule looked like and so I actually had to think about it. I realized that it will really disappear once I blink. We're in west Virginia, then New York for four days, then new Hampshire for four days. New York is a halfway point from west Virginia to New Hampshire and we have family there, so that's a short family stop. New Hampshire is a missions conference.

Once we leave new Hampshire we have to be in South Carolina three days later. Well a half way point is Washington DC and who knows when we'd be that way again so we're gonna stop and see some sights. Whatever free or cheap sights there are to see that is. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Anyways, then we have to be in South Carolina for a day then Georgia the next day for four days. After that we have four days off in which we will head up to Kentucky where my husband can "finally" (his words) go hunting. After those four days we have  three day conference in Kentucky.

Then finally it's Thanksgiving. And after Thanksgiving, even though winter doesn't technically start until like December 22, in my mind winter starts the day after Thanksgiving. Because it's Christmas season and Christmas season is in winter, not fall. Makes sense, right?!!!

 On a side note, this last week I've been sewing like a mad woman. Making carseat ponchos.

Here's little girl's, with pink pigtails and an inside pocket. (the pigtails are even and she does like it despite the look on her face). She was incredibly tired of trying it on for me.. 😁

 And here's little man's. His has dinosaur spikes down the hood and back. And as if it wasn't already difficult for him to stay awake in the car, now it's nearly impossible with this warm comfy blanket.

  I'm even more happy about these than I thought I'd be. They're the perfect thing for little kids in the cold. You don't have to unbundle them to buckle in a carseat!

  So, back to my earlier question.  What are some things we should see while stopping I'm D. C.?? 

Looking Forward to the Season

No, not the season for holidays. I'm not talking about turkey and pumpkins and bright colored leaves carpeting the yard.

I'm not referring to snow and presents and Christmas dinner and carols.

Don't you know that there's another season that comes before all that? Actually, it runs right through those other seasons. It's all encompassing and consuming.

What is this season, you ask?

Hunting season, of course.

Not that I'm an expert. I'm more of a spectator in this season. Actually, until I met my husband, I didn't know that people still hunted. In fact, when he told me that was one of his hobbies, I asked him if he knew that grocery stores now sold meat all packaged and ready for cooking.

Early in our marriage, Terry asked me if I wanted to go hunting with him, but I turned him down. Getting up in the wee hours of the morning and bundling up in multiple layers to ward off frostbite from temperatures below freezing is not my idea of a good time.

Although I don't understand it, I do know that this hobby is of great interest to my husband. And I'm okay with that. He works hard, and he definitely deserves this time of relaxation. And who can argue with the great mounts he provides to decorate our home?

He has even pointed out that his hobby helps provide meat for our table, and I certainly don't deny that. He's filled our freezer through more than one season, saving us money. After all, how much cheaper is to to just buy a hunting license? Of course in our state you have to buy a base license first. It doesn't actually let you hunt anything, but you have to buy it. Then you buy the small game license and the doe tag and the buck tag ... well, you get the picture.

And then, of course, once you've bagged your game, the butcher has a price for processing the meat. If you don't want to go that route, you can do it yourself. You'll just need a really good meat grinder. And a strong stomach.

In the meantime, while I don't go hunting with my husband, I did a little hunting on my own. I found a great sale price at a butcher shop about twenty minutes from here. They had ground beef for $1.59 per pound and boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.25 a pound. That is incredibly inexpensive for around here. I hopped in my car and headed out for the hunt. In the end, I bagged over 50 pounds of meat at great prices. I brought it all home, separated it out, package it up and filled our freezer.

Boom.

Guess Terry's not the only hunter in the family after all.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Ever since Stella was little we never really gave her a bedtime. She would always just cuddle up and fall asleep on the couch with us and then we would put her to bed after she fell asleep. Same thing with Talia. Then Olivia came along and we started a bedtime with her when she was around eight or nine months old. As she got a little older, she was staying up later like the other two. I mean late, like ten or eleven at night. It was getting to the point where this momma had no “me” time and not much time with my husband. So something had to change. 

A few months ago all the girls started a new bed time, and we have a new routine down where everyone gets in their bed at the same time. We start with our prayers, then a story and then our “bedtime song”.

It goes like this: “Goodnight, Stella and Talia and Olivia. Goodnight, Stella and Talia and Olivia. Goodnight, Olivia and Talia and Stella. Goodnight, close your eyes, sleep tight.” Don’t judge. I’m no song writer but the girls love it!

Most nights our routine works, and one or two of them drop like flies. Other nights it is like fighting tooth and nail to get them to settle down. Regardless, the point is they are in their room and are trying to go to sleep. Most nights we find ourselves repeating things like: stay in your bed, no talking, close your eyes. We get statements back like: I want a drink, Will you rub my back?, I have books in my bed. 

The newest thing during bedtime is between Talia and Olivia. We have bunk beds for the older two and then Olivia is in the crib on the opposite wall. So each of them can see everything that the other one is doing. I’ve noticed that whatever Talia is doing in her bed, Olivia is in her bed doing the same thing. If Talia is sitting up, so is Olivia. If she is kicking her legs, so is Olivia. If Talia is talking, Olivia is babbling about something too. This may have been going on longer than I realized but we may be in the market for yet another routine. 

I have noticed that if Olivia is cranky, I typically put her to bed earlier and she’ll fall right to sleep. If she waits and goes to bed with the others, she is usually the last one awake. Perhaps I should have Olivia miss the bedtime “stuff” and go to bed ten minutes before the others all the time so that she falls asleep. Or maybe I need to do everything twice?  

If Olivia isn't the last one awake, it’s Talia. A few nights ago, she was playing in her bed. We knew she was and let it go for a few minutes because she was quiet. The other two were already asleep. My husband walked by their room and told her to put all of her toys on the floor and go to sleep. We heard them all hit the floor. A little while later, we went to check on her and she had outsmarted us …

So, what about you? Do you have a solid routine for all of your kids that works?

Selfie vs. Reality

 If you are on any type of social media these days, then you have seen the huge problem we have today. SELFIES. I'm not a huge fan of selfies themselves, but the part that's really a problem is that girls today are giving us a false image of what we should look like on camera. So seeing that there's such an issue, my sister in law and I decided to do some reality shots for you. We're going to show you, what you would see on social media today and then what that picture would really be.

We're going to start with the one I titled "laughing with friends". We've all seen them.

#bestie #fun #laughing

Did I mention that hashtags are another problem? But we'll just use them sarcastically here and maybe discuss their pointlessness later.  Anyways, the above picture is "Laughing with Friends".  I am well aware that it is not even that great of a laughing picture. Do you know how many tries it took to get one that was halfway attractive?? So when you see a "Laughing with Friends" picture on social media and they look all beautiful, you can pretty safely say that it wasn't their first, second, or even thirty-seventh try. The reason is because, when you are really laughing (Which we were after about the third try) the picture below is a much more accurate laughing picture in all of it's glory... and it's also the reason try thirty-seven times.

Next we have the coffee picture. The "I took a trip to Starbucks and the world must know", but that's a really long title, so we'll stick with the "Coffee Picture". 

#coffee #spelledmynamewrong #problems 

Oh the horror! They don't know how to spell your name on your $6 coffee. Do you want to know how most people have their coffee every day?

#coffee #sixdollarbagnotsixdollarcup #ifIwantmynameonmycupIhavetowriteitmyself #momalwaysspelledright #tryit #youdonthavetoputonmakeup

I think my hashtags speak for themselves.

Next we have the kissy face. Why do we do the kissy face?? We try for this...

But inevitably we end up with this...

It's not attractive, people. 

Lastly, we have the Pinterest makeup tutorials. Don't you love how they say it's so easy and anyone can look like a beauty queen??  They look like this...

#Pinterest #cateye #fabulous

Generally, when an average person tries, they turn out  like this...

#Pinterest #nailedit #cateye #meowwww

Now that I have made you feel completely incapable of ever taking a picture of yourself. Let me tell you. There is hope...apparently. We did some research and found a guide on how to take selfies. We will demonstrate these for you now. 

#1 Hands and arms should always be in a relaxed position.

but maybe not too relaxed, so you don't look like a rag doll.

#2 Make sure to lift your chin...but not too much

#3 Hands on or near the face can be attractive.. but maybe be careful not to hide your whole face.

#4 Make sure your pose is a natural body position. Because I stand around all day like this, don't you?

I hope that this helps you in your selfie taking future. Disclaimer - we are both mothers of young children, but no young children were neglected in the making of this post. Only our sanity because it took us a long time past bedtime. Thank you to my sister in law for being willing to show reality on the internet! 

Boyd Land

So here's some of the things that have happened since I blogged last week:

My granddaughters had a sleepover at Nana's house. While they were there, they found a measuring cup, a makeup brush, a roll of tape and a few other items that had somehow made their way into the toys.

Talia, who never stays all night in her own bed, slept the night through. (This is not the first time she's done this while at Nana's house). When the girls are over, they sleep on a pallet that I make for them on the floor of my bedroom. Talia's parents have threatened to make her sleep on the floor at home in hopes of her sleeping through the night.

Stella, while talking in her sleep, informed me that she was dreaming she had a baby brother (her parents are NOT expecting) and that she got to wear a really great pair of shoes.

A girl after my own heart.

I fell this week and really hurt my arm. My elbow's all bruised and I think I hurt some nerves because my whole arm is in pain. I fell off the table while trying to screw back in the globes that I had just cleaned from the light fixture. I told various family members that I hurt myself when I fell off the table.

NO ONE asked me what I was doing on the table in the first place. Apparently that's just standard behavior for our family.

I also had the following comments/conversations with my family throughout the week:

*I led someone to the Lord over xbox live!

*I feel like a real housewife.

*please pray because my foot got crushed between two pallets at work.

*I think I have a sinus infection. I feel like there's a spike going through my head.

*I feel swollen.

*Can you pick up 10 pounds of chicken for me today?

Family Member:  My computer's not working.

Me:  It looks like your hard drive might be fried.

FM:  Is there anyway to get all my stuff off of there?

Me:  Don't you back stuff up?

FM:  No ... unless it's on the cloud.

Me:  Did you save it to a cloud?

FM:  Not that I know of. I just thought it might be up there somewhere. (Picking up his/her phone) Okay Google.

Me:  You have an iPhone. You have to talk to Siri.

And that's how we roll in Boyd Land. Happy weekend!

A Birth Day Story

Today’s post is about this cutie. 

She just turned three on Sunday! So because it was her birthday, I thought I’d share with you a short story of her birth!

The night before Talia was born, I was having some contractions they weren’t super painful and were still about 10-12 minutes apart. I was keeping track on a little notepad and I can remember Matt asking me often, are you having another one? I never had contractions with Stella because I was induced. I wasn’t sure what to expect or how things were going to go. The contractions I was having with Talia became more consistent and a bit more painful as the evening went on. I called the hospital and they said if I felt like I needed to come in, do it. I remember it was about midnight when I decided I was just going to try and sleep because it probably wasn’t labor. I tried using the heating pad to relieve some pain and took a Benadryl to help me sleep. Neither of those things helped, as I woke up 15 minutes later, still in pain. I didn’t want to go in to the hospital yet because they said contractions needed to be 3-5 minutes apart. At this point they were still 5-8 minutes apart. It was about 2:45 am when I finally decided we should probably go to the hospital. 

We got our toddler out of bed and loaded her in the car. We didn’t want to bother anyone if it was nothing, so we just took her with us. When we got to the hospital at 3 am, I was already dilated to a 7, so they took me to a room right away. Things were moving pretty quick and they were prepping everything so there really wasn’t time to call for someone to get Stella. We told her to quietly lay down, and she fell back to sleep in the chair in the corner of the delivery room. 

The contractions were really strong at the point, and I was progressing so fast they told me an epidural was no longer an option. It was super painful and as each contraction happened, I remember looking at the ceiling a lot of the time because it had a lot of little squares. Side thought: During this pregnancy I played candy crush--a lot! So each little tile on the ceiling to me was a candy crush game which actually got me through labor. My doctor arrived fairly quickly. 

I was fully dilated by 5 am, and by 5:15 our beautiful baby girl had arrived. Shortly after she was born we were all moved to our room and Stella woke up. 

A few minutes later my husband was asleep and now I was awake with a newborn and a toddler and did I mention I just gave birth? I mean, waiting for a baby to come is exhausting right? Perhaps the adrenaline wore him out or maybe he was tired because he had been up almost 24 hours!

So now it's your turn. What did you do to help you get through labor? Did any of your husbands fall asleep?

Where Does the Time Go?

  Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday my babies were newborns,

 

and now I have these little people in my house that can actually carry on a conversation with me.

  Our son doesn't have many actual words that he says, but he likes to mimic everything. His most recent word that he learned was "fries" or "ries" as he calls them. I think that one will actually stick with him because this boy loves his "ries". He's also the kid that will scream to have his shoes taken off the second we get into the van, but when we're at home he won't be caught dead without his monster feet slippers. He got some monkey slippers a while back, but they were too big and he hasn't been able to wear them, but he really liked them. So I found some $5 monster feet slippers at Walmart and when I came home with them, he was so excited. He wears them from the moment he wakes up, till the moment we take them off of him after he's already fallen asleep. And if for some reason they fall off during the day, he comes looking for me to help him get them back on. 

  Our daughter is talking more and more every day. One Sunday recently, she was just so chatty on the way to church, I mean question, after statement, after question, after statement.  My husband finally looked at her and said "you are really gonna give those nursery workers something to listen to, aren't you?".  She just laughed as if she knew exactly what he said. Sometimes the things that come out of her mouth just shock us. Not that it's any huge, profound statement, but it still shocks us at times that she knows those specific words and the sentence was put together correctly. I still expect the "What doing?" or the "need fries", not the "What are you doing?" or the "I don't need nuggets, just fries for me". She actually said that to me tonight. My two year old! 

  Where did the last two years go? Does any of you other moms out there remember those days when you were single and the year seemed to drag by and you felt like your life was going by so slow and you were never gonna find that guy, and be married, and have kids? Now that you have kids though, isn't this how you feel? Didn't we just do this whole Christmas thing a couple of months ago? Wasn't your first birthday just last week, not four months ago?? Why are we flying the "W" again, didn't they just do this world series thing? 😏 (That's for you, father-in-law). I just feel like every time I blink, a week, or a month has gone by and I don't know how!

   Now, I'm not the girl sitting at the single's outing at Steak and Shake wondering if that guy is ever gonna come along, but I'm the mom sitting at the Cracker Barrel quietly singing "This Little Light of Mine" for the 5th time so that my kids will be quiet until the food comes. Yes, I sing to them in public. My kids love to sing. So we whisper sing in restaurants sometimes while we oh so impatiently wait for our chicken fingers and "ries". A couple of weeks ago we went out with a pastor and his family after church, and there I was in the corner of the table whisper singing all kinds of songs, until  we got to the B-I-B-L-E. Little tip, that's not a song you can whisper sing. We got to the end, and both my one year old and my two year old belted out at the top of their lungs "BIBLE!!!!!!". Well, that got everyone's attention...in the whole restaurant. What can I say. My kids are not ashamed of God's Word. 😆 I should take a lesson from them because I'm pretty sure I looked like a bright red tomato.  Guess I'm going to have to get used to it because with one more baby coming along, I'm pretty sure things won't be getting any quieter. One more baby... Where does the time go??

Boasting of My Success

I've been incredibly successful in the past couple of weeks, and I thought I'd share with you some of my latest accomplishments:

So, got anything you'd like to boast about today?

The Best Decision I've Ever Made!

When I was 15 years old, my grandma had asked me to come over to her house. She was taking a soul winning class, “Operation Go” and wanted to get some practice. She started going through the steps of Salvation with me as if I were someone she were going to witness to. She got to the last few questions: Do you know if you will go to Heaven when you die? Is that something you want to know?

At that moment, I knew she was no longer practicing and was really trying to lead me to the Lord. I prayed along with her. When she was finished, I felt tricked but believed that I had gotten saved. A short time later I was baptized.

I believe that,  after you’re saved, you should see a difference in how you act, in the things you say, and even your dress. I believe for myself I would act one way for my friends and another while I was at church. I didn’t apply myself in the areas that I should have. 

Later, I started getting involved in ministries but still didn’t participate as much as I should have.

It wasn’t until Christmas break during my Junior year of high school, my parents and I were talking with my youth pastor about some options for me as far as school goes. I wasn’t happy with how school was going for me at the time. With thinking and praying, we came to the decision that I wasn’t going to return to public school when it resumed after break. It was sudden, it was hard, but it was one of the best decisions I have made in my life. 

Some changes were made in my life and I began seriously praying about what God wanted for my life. I prayed for God to show me who I was supposed to marry.

In May of 2010, God answered that prayer. My husband and I have now been married for 6 years and have 3 beautiful girls. 

In May of 2014, We had a Revival at our church, and a Salvation message was preached. As I went home from church that evening, I was feeling so convicted. I thought I was saved, but I was having serious doubts about whether or not I was going to Heaven when I die. The next evening I was feeling the same way, and I had to do something about it. May 1st, 2014, I trusted Christ as my personal Savior. I know without a shadow of a doubt where I’m going when I die. 

If you don’t know today that you are 100% saved and on your way to Heaven, talk to someone! It is the best decision you will ever make in your life!

Hobbies aren't for mothers!

   Today, my husband told me I needed a hobby. You see, he has several hobbies, but his hobbies only require a one time purchase that he made back when he was a teenager. For example, He loves to hunt.

But other than a hunting license every year, he already has the bow, and the rifle, and the tree stands, and the camouflage clothing. He's had all of that for years because he's hunted for years.  So when I try to explain to him that having a hobby is too expensive, he doesn't quite understand.

  I have several hobbies. I love to do crafts. But the craft supplies don't just appear out of thin air. Say if I wanted to make a wreath for my front door. That seems thrifty, right? Because making one would definitely be cheaper than buying one already made. Have you seen the price of a simple wreath at Hobby Lobby or Michael's?? So making a wreath is cheaper, but still, there's the wreath, and then any flowers, and decorations, and add ons that you want. Even with sales and coupons it still comes out to about thirty dollars to make a wreath. That's fine for a once in a while thing, but not for a hobby.

  I also like to sew and crochet. But again, yarn and material don't just appear out of thin air. Have you ever looked at a crochet pattern before? You need 10 skeins of this color, and another 7 of that color, and don't forget the 4 skeins of that other color for the border. Crocheting is also not a pocket appropriate hobby. Sewing is a little cheaper especially if you wait for sales on the material, but I made some tote bags last year to sell and make a little extra Christmas money. I was shocked at how much it cost me just to make a bag. When you're selling them for $15 and you're making them for $7 or $8, that's not a whole lot of profit. So, I sold them for $20. 😁

  Along the crafting lines, I like to re-purpose pretty much all of my house decorations. I have painted, or spray painted, or burlap wrapped nearly everything I own. I enjoy that and changing the way things look around the house, but again, the paint and burlap aren't free either. Again, not a hobby.

I enjoy reading. I enjoy reading a lot actually. As long as it's one of those books that gets my attention in the first couple of pages. Otherwise, I'll spend a good 6 months trying to read the same book and maybe never get through it. Now, reading is a hobby I can afford because my mom practically has a library of Christian fiction books and she knows what I like to read so she only gives me the good ones. Plus, you can always find books at thrift store for less that a $1. So, why is reading not my hobby you ask? Well, because of these two little toddlers that run around my house. Every mom knows the struggle of sitting down to read, whether it's a book, a recipe, an article, or even your devotions and after about 5 minutes you realize that you've read the same two sentences thirty times and still you have no idea what they said. My kids will want absolutely nothing to do with me until I find something that I would really like to turn my attention to, then suddenly I'm a jungle gym, or they need another snack and more juice, or he took her toy and so she's screaming, or they're trying to brush their teeth on their own...with toilet water, or she has a belt wrapped around his neck and is trying to play doggy. 🐕😕 Yes, unfortunately that has happened. ok, so for the safety of my house and children, reading can't be a hobby. Wait till they're in bed? Is that what you're saying? Umm, sometimes I almost don't make it until they go to bed, so I definitely don't stay awake for long once they are asleep.

So for now, my hobby is just simply these guys and their little brother or sister that is on the way. And I think I'm totally okay with that for now. 

See you tomorrow!!

Due to unforseen circumstances (meaning it was a late night and I'm traveling today and I am too car sick to write in the car😁), your regularly scheduled Monday post will be postponed until Tuesday.  See you guys then!!!

Taking A Knee

Who has not heard that phrase in the past few weeks?

"He took a knee ..."

"the entire team took a knee ..." 

"the team announced they will not be taking a knee ..."

It's become the latest statement - the latest apparel choice in the fashion of protest. But taking a knee hasn't always meant a protest. Taking a knee used to mean other things:

Sometimes it meant an attitude of submission:  "Yes, m'lord", said with humble grace and a bowed head.

Sometimes it meant an attitude of prayer re: King Solomon ... the Apostle Paul ... Tim Tebow ...

I've taken a knee in prayer before. I've taken a knee in servitude as I struggled to button coats and tie shoes of my darling grandchildren. Shoot, I've even taken a knee as I looked for my favorite shoes under the bed. 

I've even taken a knee in the choir, although that wasn't on purpose.

Twenty years ago I sang alto in the choir of a very large church. For the morning service, the choir would march into the choir loft from the side rooms off the platform during the prelude. But for the evening service we were a little more informal. About five minutes before the service began, members of the choir would begin meandering up to their seats in the choir loft. The idea was to be in place 2-3 minutes before the hour so that they could start the service with a rousing "opener" - a stirring chorus that started the service.

One Sunday night I was headed for my place in the choir when someone stopped me with a question about the blood drive I was organizing for a man in our church. I tried to answer the questions quickly, but suddenly I realized that the piano was doing the introduction to the opener and I wasn't in my place. I was already at the front of the auditorium, so I made a quick dash for the platform, trying to get to my seat in the choir before the beginning notes were sung. 

I made it up the two stairs to the platform and hurried across to the stairs up to the choir loft. I was breathless and sweating, but within reach of my goal with only 3-4 notes to go in the introduction when the unthinkable happened.

I tripped on the stairs.

I didn't just trip - I snagged the toe of my shoe and literally fell to my knees on the stairway. Everything slowed down to an agonizing crawl as my momentum carried me forward, and I threw out my hands to catch myself. As the choir drew in a collective breath to sing their first note, I wallowed on my hands and knees on the stairs with my rear end waving at the congregation. 

I bounced quickly back to my feet and scurried to the nearest chair, my face glowing red. Half the choir had seen my acrobatics, and so their first notes came out in choked laughs and giggles. The other half of the choir couldn't keep their notes or their tune as they wondered why the choir director was laughing so hard tears were streaming down his face. 

My "taking a knee" made quite a statement and definitely created a memorable start to the service.

So when's the last time you took a knee? Was it on purpose?