Fabulous at 5!

Olivia turned 5! I've decided to hold back the tears and embrace her growing up. I will not cry when she starts kindergarten (or is it kindergarden? I googled it..you can spell it either way) but instead will be excited for all of the new things she will learn and the all of the new friends she will make.

We had 2 birthday parties for her this year. We had a family party at Grammy and Pappy's house and a friends party at Soiree "French for Party" in Collinsville. They were both so much fun and she is soooo blessed to be surrounded by so many people who love her.

Here are just a few of the things we LOVE about our little 5 year old:

She knows what she wants and she's not afraid to tell you.

She is an AWESOME big sister. It seems like she had just matured so much lately and is so helpful and motherly to Gray. There's been several times lately that she's wiped his face for him or helped him clean up a mess just because she saw that it needed to be done.

She is girly as ever. She changes her earrings daily (sometimes 3-4 times) to match her outfit and even has designated "sleeping earrings." Pedicures, shoes, sunglasses, bows, jewelry, make-up..all of those are right up her alley.

She loves to cook and bake. And eat. She get it from her mama.

She likes to be on the "go" and doesn't want to stay home much.

She is a social butterfly. She loves people and parties and talks to everyone anywhere we go.

Most of all, she is a joy to have in our lives.

There were too many pictures to post so I made a slide show instead:

http://www.photosnack.com/slideshows/155cb296b2247870ab1fd19da1333293

Summer is here!

I've been home from work for 2 weeks now. We are having a blast! I haven't quite figured out the "staying home" part of being a stay at home mom. I still feel like I'm on an extended vacation and will go back to work next week. I was a little worried that I would be bored at home but that has not been the case at all. I've been trying new recipes, couponing, volunteering more for the church, crafting and organizing. We've done an activity (very cheap or free) every day and we've already made some great memories. Someone recently pointed out that you only have 18 summers with your kids and if that's the case I only have 14 left with Olivia and 16 left with Grayson so we've got to make the best of them.

Here are some things we've done so far:

Yesterday we had craft day at home:

We went to the Blue Bell Plant in BA with our Friday Fun Day play group:

We also went to the Zoo with our Friday Fun Day playgroup

We've spent several days at the pool:

Michael Phelps? Oh, that's just Gray.

Swim Lessons: Grayson is a fish. Olivia's not so sure about it! Gray got mad at the teacher when she didn't dunk him under.

Many trips to the library for the summer reading program and weekly story time. Last week we had a huge visitor at story time!

One day Olivia wanted to make puppy shaped biscuits. One of her favorite books is about a puppy named biscuit. I love to foster her creativity!

Everyday I've just been sooooooo thankful for the time with my kids. I really am appreciating every minute of it and I'm so thankful for a husband who works so hard for us so that I can be home with them. God is soooo good!

Career Changes

Almost a year ago I started feeling the call to come back home to be with my kids. I wrestled and wrestled with the decision. I kept waiting on things at work to slow down so my part-time job could truly be part-time again. I kept waiting and waiting on God to give me an answer. Because the work PRCO does is so good, I didn't want to let God down by stepping back.. I have LOVED, LOVED, LOVED my job and everything the PRCO stands for, but I was no longer able to manage the hours without having to consider full-time day care for the kids. That was not something either of us were willing to do, nor did it make sense financially. My stress level was way higher than it should be and I broke out in hives a few times after a stressful day. Finally, Michael and I did a 5 day Daniel Fast to seek guidance on what we should do. The answer was very clear to both of us, but it was still a scary thing. The PRC had been my baby, my 3rd child for 4 years and I had watched it grow from a small little ministry with 2 staff (less than 200 visits my first year) to a fully functioning medical clinic with 6 employees with and estimated 2000 client visits this year. It was HARD to imagine passing that on to someone else. Would they keep it going? Would they let it fail and all those women wouldn't have a place to go? Finally, it was as if God knocked me on the head and said "Hey Lindsay, it's My ministry, not yours!" Oh yeah...



Although my salary certainly didn't make me the breadwinner, we really depended on it so in order for me to stop working we had to make some major financial adjustments to our family budget. At first neither of us thought it was possible but when after reading Crazy Love by Frances Chan, we realized that a lot of the "extras" really don't matter. What matters is that our children are loved and that we raise them to love God and love others.






We made some cuts from the budget and immediately started living on the new budget even though I wouldn't stop work for several months. I'll admit, although I was 100% sure we were making the right decision, there were days when I wondered if we could truly do it. One afternoon, I "mourned" some of the things we may not be able to do such as rent a jupiter jump at the kids birthday parties or go on vacation but in the end, if I get to be home with them everyday and know that they are taken care of, none of that will matter.

And it's true, with all of the fun we've been having so far we haven't missed the extras so far. I was blown away by the applicants for my job and even got to be involved in the interview process. The woman who took my was MORE qualified than I ever way and I'm confident she will do a wonderful job.

During the process someone said to me: "You can always go back to work but you can never get this time with your kids back."

Soccer Girl

Olivia wrapped up her first season of soccer a few weeks ago. She was so excited to get started but at her first game, it was pretty obvious soccer wouldn't be her thing! She would fall down on purpose so she didn't have to run after the ball. She would just sit down in the middle of the field and the coach would have to come get her up. If the ball came by her, she would just look at it. We would say "Olivia, run and kick the ball" and she would say "they are running too fast."

She would run over to us and sit down in the chair during water breaks as if she was just sooo exhausted from all the running. They always got to get snocones at the end of the games so that was her favorite part.

We never figured it out... she wouldn't really do much during the games but on the ride home we would ask her how she liked soccer and she would reply "I loved it! It's great!" So we went back week after week.

Look, I can still see with my jersey on my head!

Towards the end of the the seaons, she figured out if she could stay in front of the goal she wouldn't have to run down the field as much!

Pre-K Spa Day

Today was Mother's Spa Day at Olivia's Pre-K program. I got a formal invitation a few weeks ago and Olivia was so excited to for this day to come. Every day she would ask me, "is today Mother's day?"

I arrived at school and was greeted with a huge smile and a hug. My first stop was the massage table, then on to get my nails painted, then I got my hair done complete with lots of barrettes and bobby pins. Next I moved onto the tea and cookies table and my last stop was to get my new piece of bling, a noodle necklace.

Next all the moms gathered around the they sang us some very sweet songs and gave us an adorable necklace with their picture on it for our present. I was very impressed with the whole set up! The kids and teachers worked very hard and it was a day I will cherish forever.

I just didn't want our girls day to end so we went for ice cream afterwards. It was our little secret from the boys!

The poster she filled out about me. Apparently cleaning is my favorite thing to do.

The necklace she gave me.

What did I ever do without this sweet girl?!

She was very polite and helped me to my seat at each station.

Check out those nails!