M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Whether you remember Mickey Mouse Club from our childhood or have become a fan of Mickey and friends through being a by-stander watching your kids watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Mickey Mouse is an icon. My children are not privy to oodles and oodles of Disney movies and toys, but they know the basic characters. When I told them that we won tickets to see Mickey's Magic Show, they were thrilled! Thanks to my friend, Sarah, our family night out was FREE! (That goes right along with our plan with Dave.)

Here are some pictures of the beautiful costumes and sets we saw to make Disney come to life in front of my children's eyes.

Our boys (in the Vikings apparel) with cousins Sami and Cullen

It was a blast!  The music filled our ears and my kids' eyes were loaded to the brim with wonder. The program kept the children and adults intrigued with the funny antics,jokes, and audience participation.  Prince Charming, Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother, Snow White and the witch, made an appearance as well as Alice, The Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts.

Here's a little video to show you the fantastic show we were treated to.

Thanks to Sarah at Sassyfrazz and her sponsor Feld Entertainment for this fabulous opportunity and a fun family night out!

A Halloween Treat

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Pumpkins Galore

Today I took the boys on an adventure

Introduced the babe to the fall elements--can you say WINDY!?

All by myself...just me and MY three little pumpkins...

It was an adventure...but a fun one at that!

Bless them.

This month, like every month has many meanings.  The most popular being Halloween, but this month is also SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) Awareness Month.  I wasn't real aware of SIDS until my first son was born in 2006.

The week after Liam was born, my husband's cousin lost her first son to SIDS on his first day of daycare.  As a new mother, this event in our family left a mark on my mothering.  I became fearful of this happening to my child and followed the Safe Sleep Checklist and read the statistics on SIDS.  I gave him a pacifier, he slept in a separate bed, but close for me to monitor him, always slept on his back, and I removed toys, blankets, and the bumper from his crib and cradle.  I was just as precautious  then as I am now with Landon and now Lachlan.

When Lachlan was born, the hospital he was born at issued Halo sleepsack to the newborns to wear in the hospital.  Halo currently works with over 400 hospitals as part of their Safer Way to Sleep Initiative.  They were a beautiful white with the hospital's signature on the front and the words, "Back to Sleep" which is Halo's campaign to place babies on their back to sleep which has proven to cut the risk of SIDS substantially. It's a wearable blanket that you never have to worry about riding up over the baby's face.  When we left the hospital, the hospital gifted us with a baby  blue version of this fleece sleepsacks which we added to our collection of cotton sleepsacks which are perfect for warm weather.

Halo SleepSacks can be found at Target and other retailers.  I highly recommend them.  Lachlan is quickly outgrowing his sleepsack (he's already a whopping 23 inches long!)  and thus, we will be making a future purchase of a larger sleepsack. 

I feel better placing our littlest love down to rest in his Halo SleepSack.  Bless this company for educating others on the safest way for babies to sleep and to reduce the risk of SIDS.

  (Cousin Starlyn holding Lachlan in his Halo SleepSack)
Follow HALO on Twitter and Facebook!

Wordless Wednesday: Whatcha Lookin' At?

Dave.

Last winter my husband and I met this man named Dave. Dave was eccentric, a little arrogant, but lived for the Lord. He was vivacious, humorous, and sometimes, a little rude.  But rude, in a good way.

You see, Dave has changed our life.  He's given us some tools to live the way we ought to live and since we've met him, WE are better. What has he urged us to do?  Well, we've set goals, made changes, and we're working as a team to eradicate some evil in our life.  Evil we call debt.  We're working to better our lives, the lives of our children, and eventually give more to those in need.  I can't wait!  I can't wait to give "away" what has been given to us, to better the lives of others.  It's fabulous.  Yes, we tithe, yes, we sponsor, and yes, we help.  But this new sense of GIVING is even beyond that.

I can't wait.  Dave has taught us to go beyond ourselves.  We are living like no one else so later, we can live like no one else.  In a DEBT FREE way!

Do you do Dave?  You can meet him here!

Fresh.

One of the best things in life are friends.  Old friends. New friends.  In-between friends (kidding).  I have always enjoyed making new friends, watching my kids make friends, and having friends make friends.  One of the most frustrating point in life as an adult, and as a kid, is the obvious "already determined" circles of friends of which you or someone else may never become a part of.  It's defeating.  I strive to be open to friendships, old and new.  I certainly have been the "victim" of the predetermined circles of friendship, especially the circle of couples.

A few years back I attended a MOPS meeting (Mothers of Preschoolers) where the speaker centered her discussion on quality friendships that help you be who you want to be.  There is the inner core friendships and relationships that are important to who you are as a person like Jesus, your family, your husband, your best friend.  Then the outer cores circles are those who support you and progressively become more less involved in who you are, but nonetheless help you form your being.  Get it?

I've had friendships and relationships that I've decidedly let dwindle to a further out circle from the core.  I could see that I was not becoming a better person with them in my life.  They are still important to me, I still care about them, but I needed to distance myself.  I want to fill my core and the circle supporting it with those that make their faith and family most important.  In addition to that, honor, morale, humility, honesty and a host of other values are of increasing importance to who I am, and who I want to share my life with.  This doesn't make me better than others, above them, but wanting the support for myself to continue to better who I am.

I'm making a fresh start in who I am.  Evolving who I was into who I want to be, and choosing to encircle myself with those with the characteristics and values that are center with the way I want to live my life and how I want to raise my family.
 

Forever Fall.

68 degrees.  Vibrant colors.  A sweet smell to the air.  Fall. We love it here!

 

A Cough in the Night

In being a parent, we have those moments where we fear for our children.  The other morning, I had one of those moments with our littlest spice

Since birth, Lachlan has been a sweet, rarely fussy baby.  Just recently he's been cooing and smiling filling my heart of the joys of motherhood.  My cup is teeming with love for these boys, I don't think I have ever loved or could love anyone or thing more than these boys. 

Lachlan has these precious squeaks, grunts, and snorts that he shares during the day and night.  When I heard more of them the other night/ early morning, I didn't think much of them.  He seemed more restless, but it'd been a day or two since his last BM, so I chalked it up to bodily functions and relaxed.  At his 5 am feeding, the snorts were joined with a loud, obnoxious barking cough.  Croup.  How could a 4 week old have croup?  We'd experienced it with our oldest, numerous times.  I knew to steam him or take him outside in the cold air, but I also knew that this babe shouldn't have croup just yet.  I went into "mom" mode, woke up my husband and started the steam in the bathroom.

He held the baby while I called the doc.  The triage nurse listened to the little guy breathe through the phone, and told me to promptly call 911. He was struggling to breathe.  The paramedics arrived and tested his blood oxygen levels, which were low.  He was transported via ambulance on his 1 month birthday.

Upon arrival at a great hospital in the area, Lachlan was x-rayed and given an oral steroid to open his airways, which were restricted.  We stayed over night for observation and were given clearance to leave the next morning since his blood oxygen levels were great! Hooray!

Of course no life event is complete without pictures, so I had camera in tow.

Praise God for medicine, great care, and a healthy babe!