It's the day After Christmas and all through the house...

The morning has come and even with ALL the excitement of yesterday, my boys STILL did not sleep in! ha ha ha My husband, on the other hand, is in bed sick. I'm sick in my heart that he is having to deal with being sick on yet another holiday. Thanksgiving was pretty much horrible with ALL of us sick, and now Aaron is under the weather again. Darn it!

The boys... well, they both came out of their rooms with Pillow Pets in hand. I'm currently holding "Puppy Pillow Pet" for Matthew, so he can go potty. I'm not allowed to kiss him, because I might make him dirty... and as I gave Puppy the required hug for babysitting rights, Matthew also used his hands in hugging motion with out even realizing he was doing it. Before he would leave to potty, he "tickled" his pillow pet and said, "Goochy Goochy Goo."

Joe is in the playroom, the race track is going in full motion. He's used pieces of cardboard from his Christmas presents to add tunnels... I hear the "thump thump thump" of the cars going through the motorized parts and the giggle of my happy boy. Joe is hoping the sun will come out today because I told him I would take him to the big wide open park to fly his new helicopter if it did.

Today is a day of cleaning and packing, cuz tomorrow we leave for Kingsburg and Sonoma. I'm so excited to see my family! Here are some of the pictures both from going to our churches Christmas Eve service and from our Christmas day! Nana and Papa came to the service with us and spent the night to enjoy Christmas with us too!! So much fun!

They never new a snowflake could be so big!

Mr Personality lately! Little goofball.

He was standing on a rock, ready to JUMP!

LOVE IT!

He was DONE...the second he saw it! In Heaven!

Joe wanted this track SO BADLY!

We are LOVING his new thumb action on "Mine."

He sat in there to open some presents. Goofy Boy.

The boxes were the favorite new thing! ha ha ha

I LOVED watching his Jump Shots!

Joe & Papa shootin some Hoops!

Merry Christmas with so much love, from the Jackson family!

I saw this on someone's facebook and I was just seriously impressed with the patience it had to have taken to figure this out! Merry Christmas!!

*★Merry★* 。。★Christmas★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˚* _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•*/______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ｜ 田田｜門｜ from Our House to Yours!

Having fun with some costumes a friend gave us!

I'm so Thankful...

As this year comes to an end, and I know my 2010 "Blog Book" will be printed... I can't end it with out sharing my heart of thankfulness.

This year has not been an easy one. I started the year, still employed by Nebo Tools. I was making 50-100 calls a day, trying to sell flashlights to people around the country. That job alone is not easy, but throw in a then 4 and 2 year old and I was almost in tears each night with the pressure. Aaron had told me to quit, but I just felt the need to help provide financially so I held on and held on. I began to pray more about if I should quit or not. I knew, in the deepest part of my heart, I should...but I was scared. I went to my Mom's group: Mom2Mom at Crossroads Church and heard some older women talk to the group of us young moms. One lady said, "If you feel like you should be home, pray about it...If you STILL feel like you should be home, trust God." WOW... I hadn't realized until that very second that I wasn't trusting God with this matter and with our family's income. My heart was broken, and I called my manager on the way home from the meeting and quit. Right there, on the spot. She asked me, "When do you want to be done?"  I said, "NOW!" ha ha ha (and that wasn't a burden to the company, and I did help tie up any loose ends, just to be clear.) Occasionally I still get a call from a store who is trying to order... and I pass that on with a smile, knowing it'll make the day of the girl who now has my database and is making her 50-100 calls a day!

When I quit, the Lord DID provide. I quit in May, and we almost didn't even SEE Aaron from then until November because of all the work he had. That was something I had to learn to be thankful for. My now 5 and 3 year olds are still not a walk in the park, even though I don't have a ton of calls to make! ha ha ha It's been a process for me to learn to be thankful when Aaron is out of town for work. I am, though, thankful when we are blessed with income, especially in this economy.

This year, my family had to say goodbye to Donny, which was one of the first blogs I wrote. That was heart wrenching and still brings me to uncontrollable wet eyes just at the thought of him. I've also had to learn to be thankful there. I'm thankful Donny is out of pain and helping the Lord to prepare the best place for the rest of my family who join him. If there were one family member who would do that job best, it IS after all, Donny. I'm thankful, before he went to be with Jesus, he poured his knowledge of nutrition into me and I'm so thankful for that... and I'll be even more thankful when I use it! ;) Having to let go of Donny on this earth REALLY helped me to be thankful for my boys. To be thankful for their health, and to try to grow as a mom and build them up as young men.

I sit here now, with a month of financial struggle, not so much work, and little things all over the place seeming to break all at once. Aaron and I talked about how little things are probably always breaking, but when the work is good the little things don't matter so much... you just fix them. It's these months when work hasn't come, that the little things build up and I struggle not to fear how it will all get taken care of. Our dryer broke (praise the Lord, Aaron took it apart and fixed it after buying a $20 part!), my windshield has a pretty bad crack (but praise the Lord it's on the passenger side and can wait), my blender just stopped working and I make the boys smoothies all the time (but praise the Lord Costco took it back even though I don't even REMEMBER when we bought it, and I was able to get a new one!), the driver's side window rolled down the other day, but then it wouldn't roll up (but Praise the Lord Aaron took it apart, figured out what was broke and we have the new part...$50 instead of the $35-450 the dealership wanted)... You can see all the little things that have built up, and that's not even all of them for this month... BUT PRAISE THE LORD that they have because I'm getting to see Him come through for us with blessings from others and giving Aaron the wisdom to know how to tackle some of the problems on his own.

This is just not an "easy" time (if those even exist)... but I just wanted to express that I'm SO THANKFUL! I'm so thankful when times are hard because it brings us to our knees and we get to feel the strength of our Father picking us up again.  I love the song, "God will make a way, when there seems to be no way. No matter what you're going through, God will make a way for you."... IT IS TRUE!!!

For anyone who may have actually read this far on this particular blog... thank you. I'm blessed with compassionate friends and a family that is so steadfast I have no doubt they are with me. God will make a way and my eyes fill with tears in knowing, that is true... no question about it, and I'm just so thankful.

I pray your family is blessed with an amazing Christmas this 2010 year, and that all of our eyes are opened to His way and His heart for our lives and our moments in time.... Nicole

18 or Older...

Joe just walked in, "They said you have to be 18 or older to order Bendaroos, it was just an accident I got them early." I said, "I'm 18 or older and I ordered them." He said, "Oh wow, you only have 2 more months until you are 20...18, 19, 20!" lol So cute.

Joe's Friend Sleeps Over!!

Joe and Jackson have been friends since before they knew it. Their dads have been friends almost since they were their age... aka: A LONG time! (love ya babe)... We knew the day would come for a sleepover, but just hadn't planned for it. The Duncans were coming over for dinner and Joe says, "Hey, I have a sleeping bag, so Jackson could spend the night!?!"  Aaron and I looked at each other and came to the conclusion Joe was right. Jackson COULD sleep over, now WOULD he?  Aaron gave them a call and Jackson made the decision that he would! Both boys were SO excited. As Jackson packed up his bag with his mom, they had no idea that Joe had the same pajamas. They LOVED matching!

When it came time to sleep, Joe's room freaked Jackson out a bit. There are hundreds of glowing stars on the ceiling and hanging glow in the dark planets. Jackson said, "Nicole, could you please leave the door open just a little bit so I can see the light and know I'm not REALLY in space?" Ha ha ha, so cute!

So, with the door slightly open and the two munchkins in their beds, I walked out fully aware that they were NOT going to sleep! Although I knew they wouldn't, I didn't expect the mayhem that was soon to follow. I kind of thought they would stay in their beds and giggle and talk their way to sleep. Not so much. We heard the pounding of little feet and had to go get them back in bed... about 5 times. Then, the giggling would grow louder than a quiet giggle... the whole house heard full on laughter. Laughter IS cute, but when it gets to be 11:00PM... not so much. Ha ha ha

Aaron went in and did the scary dad, "IT IS TIME FOR SLEEP NOW!" move and we fully expected sleep to soon follow. Again, not so much. Finally, at midnight, I decided to go to sleep. This was Jackson's first sleep over anywhere, so I had wanted to stay awake until I knew he was asleep and comfortable. As I tiredly made my way up the stairs at midnight, I STILL heard giggling from Joe's room! Crazy boys!

Much to my dismay, Matthew still woke up at 6:30... Joe woke up at 7:20 (in a MOOD I might add)... and Jackson slept till 9!!! Joe had a hard time learning how to see what his friend wanted to do, instead of demanding his friend comes to do what HE wants to do. It's normal for the age, but it's tough for the Mama! lol  Here are some pictures from their first sleepover!! (I should add, the two little brothers were SO SAD they couldn't have a sleep over!)

 

I told them to show me what it will look like when they are sleeping. ;)



Playing Computer games in the Morning.

Divine Justice

I was standing in the kitchen, working on cleaning up the dishes from the night before as Matthew sat on the couch to watch a show that he liked. He had asked me for his typical morning chocolate milk, so I took a second to make it. As I was walking away, I mentioned something about a show and he, with a grouchy rude face, made some comment back to me like, "No, you're Wrong." Now, I could have corrected that little attitude, but a moment of "Divine Justice" (that's what I'm calling it) came about. Just after he tried to be so cool and rude with his quick remark back, he brought his cup up to his mouth to try to take a drink... and it slipped and fell into his lap. I, never having gotten upset, said, "Ohhhh, Good one Slick."... And we both laughed. Now that I'm typing that out, it doesn't sound so funny... But, you had to see his face with such attitude and the way he just thought he was Mr Big Man... and the drop of a cup was a humbling blow...especially to a boy who is typically nice anyway and was just testing out the attitude moves!  Anyway, I enjoyed it and I'll enjoy the memory when I read this again in my blog book! ha ha ha

Credit Card Death...

The moments where Joe sounds like a tiny guy are becoming very seldom, so when it happens... It makes my heart smile. He's watching some cartoons, listening to the rain, and a commercial for debt consolidation comes on (why they have CC commercials for my kids, I don't know and don't like)...  He yells out to me, "Mama, they just said they'd help us with Credit Card Death!"

Ha ha ha... I love it.

Matthew has been very affected by TV Ads lately too. There is one in particular where, if you buy the big cupcake baking pan, they will give you some cookies cutters "For Free!"... Matthew runs up to me and said, "Mama, they said those are FREE...would you tell them I want it?" .... Now, do you know how many commercials offer something "For Free???" ha ha ha

Something I Wrote...

I was just doing some "cleaning out" on my laptop and came across some things I wrote. This one that I'm going to share, brought me to tears in re-reading it and feeling the emotions I felt when I wrote it... I always struggle with self condemnation and not feeling good enough or beating myself up for my weaknesses (which tend to just make me fall more into my weaknesses)... Anyway, I thought I would share:

Nicole 4/23/10

Thoughts

If I never felt like a failure, could I ever truly be a success?

If I never felt disappointment, could I understand victory?

Why, though, is it the thing I want the greatest success in; I feel like the greatest failure?

How do I learn to push aside myself to be able to grasp victory?

Will I ever learn?

How can I be expected to teach that which I have not accomplished?

Is there ALWAYS grace?...?

Can I feel defeated every day and continue to try?

Can I have success even though I feel like a failure?

Does trying and failing give me points towards the goal?

If I fail in the same way every day, does that make me a failure?

Can I remember today that I’m human?

What does a “sound mind” really look like?

Are too many questions about failure a sign to me?

Overcomer… Passionate… Joyful… Strong, can those describe ME?

Have I passed the point of my human breaking point to jump into His arms?

Has He ever… I mean EVER let me down?... “selah”

What HAS washed away my sins?

What HAS made me whole within?

Can I truly come to Him with anything… everything?

Nothing scares Him?

Nothing makes Him want to run away from me?

Ever?

Knowing He knew I’d struggle, He knew I’d feel my pain of failure, He knew I could never truly accomplish the greatness I wish I could because I’m human and He loved me enough to create me and desire me… Can that be enough for me?

Yes.

Period.

The End.

Our MUD Day!!

It was 30 minutes before time to pick up Joe. I could tell Matthew had some energy to burn, and Joe ALWAYS has energy to burn. Aaron is helping someone today and will not be home until their bedtime or after. So, I know it was either burn them out or get burnt out by the end of the night! ha ha ha

The only problem is, it's raining. So, my instant thought was, "The park is out." Adding to that, I am not spending any money this month on fast food playground adventures. So, I ponder, what to do, what to do? Then it hit me, is the park REALLY out?

I went upstairs to get clothes on that I wasn't concerned about getting dirty. I got Matthew a pair of sweats to put over the long sleeved long legged jammies he was already wearing. I grabbed Joe's rain boots, and Matthews oldest shoes. Got Joe some sweatpants and grabbed an armful of towels.

When we picked up Joe, he couldn't imagine why I was telling him to take his shoes and his pants off! Matthew was giggling because he knew the surprise!  Finally, as Joe was putting his rain boots on, it hit him, "We're going to get WET!" Matthew couldn't handle it anymore, "Joe we are going to the PARK!" I giggled at this point, sensing their excitement. Joe was still a bit confused as the rain drizzled on the windshield (We did all this in the school parking lot).

We get to the park, I get myself out, with my camera in the bag and ready for some action. I open their door and ask them to get out. Joe's still a little baffled. I said, "Ok boys, you are allowed to get as dirty as you'd like!" Joe's face lit up (I should have had the camera ready for THAT!). I took over 100 pictures, but here are just a few from our adventure today!

Joe made a big splash right at the start, that got Matthew all covered in mud!

Their fingers were starting to get frozen, and the rain was starting to come down harder... so we headed home. Luckily, there was no battle because they both needed to go potty! ha ha ha

I got them stripped down to underpants in the back of my van, in their seats and home. Once we got home... a nice long shower for the two of them gave me some more minutes of peace! I feel proud... I burnt them out and I had fun doing it!

Joe couldn't find a "C"

I noticed Joe studying the fridge and all of the magnets. He really wanted to spell Rock, but couldn't find the C. I walked by a while later and saw this. SO CUTE! I love the way he thinks sometimes.