Its getting easier!

We have had a food eating issue with the kids for a while. I am glad to say that we are making quite the head way now. Don't get me wrong we still have our days, but the kids understand the consequences of their choices now. Jaycee is at a wonderful age because you can now somewhat reason with her. You can lay it out for her and she can process it and then make her choice accordingly. Most of the time she will make the choice to eat which in some cases helps with Jackson. If he sees his sister eating the food and not complaining then he will follow her lead. Our main eating meal around here is lunch. Byron is able to come home every day for lunch so we consider this our big family sit down meal. If the kids eat their lunch then they usually get a small snack during the afternoon. If they choose not to eat at lunch they go down for a nap and then are not allowed a snack for the rest of the day regardless if they eat their lunch later and also dinner. We do make exceptions at times, but for the most part this is the rule and the kids know it now. If they do well eating throughout the whole day they are rewarded really well at night.

Here is a list of things that the kids enjoy eating now. I know that some of you will be amazed that our kids are just now eating these things, but at least they are now. I have forgiven myself finally of not doing better when the kids were younger to make them eat things. I really made myself feel guilty over that, but I now take it as a learning tool and we are all doing much better with the food issues now.

oatmeal, turkey sausage, scrambled eggs, turkey and cheese sandwiches, pizza, spaghetti, many different types of casseroles, hot dogs, peas, corn, strawberries, grapes, cantaloupe, pears, bananas, a variety of nuts, yogurt, pudding, chicken nuggets, chicken fried steaks, grilled cheeses, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chicken noodle soup, potato soup, burritos, protein bars, granola bars, and Jaycee now likes hamburgers. We haven't won Jackson over to the beloved hamburger, but I am sure by this summer it will become a favorite. Cooking has become so much easier too, b/c I am less of a short order cook now!

What a Day!

Yesterday that is! A couple of nights ago I woke up and heard this alarm going off. I went through the house trying to see if one of the clocks had gotten set that was causing this obnoxious beeping sound. I had no luck the sound was not inside our house. I looked out our kitchen window and saw a truck over in one of the local oil field yards doing some work. I thought okay the noise must be coming from there. I was a little annoyed by the fact that they would have an alarm making that much noise going off at 5:00 in the morning. Around 5:30 a.m. this alarm is still going off. So I check once again on the truck and it was no longer in the oil field yard. The alarm was actually coming from our back yard. Oops! I had to ask for forgiveness for being annoyed and for blaming it on someone else. We have an aerobic system set up on our septic tank and the alarm was sounding to let us know that something wasn't right with our pump. Anyways, Byron was able to at least silence the alarm. After lunch that day he put in a call to the number on our pump to ask them questions. They said they would be out in a day or so to take a look at it. For the next 2 nights Byron had to go out to turn the alarm off again!

Now, you are caught up to yesterday. The people showed up around 8:30 in the morning. They began to check things over. Well, they told us not only was the air compressor blown on the pump, but that we also needed to have our septic pumped. Do to the high levels of nastiness, it had caused the air compressor to break. They repaired our air compressor, but we knew we needed to get the septic pumped because we didn't want to have to repair the air compressor again. After paying the people $260 to repair the air compressor, the person told us it would cost around $400-$500 to have our septic pump. So obviously not the way you want your day to start out knowing that you could possibly shell out over $750 in a day to something that you had not expected to be dealing with that day. Well, Byron put in some phone calls and our good friends Brad and Allison have a vacuum truck business. They do a lot work in the oil field helping haul water and then cleaning up messes and so forth. They also will pump septic tanks for people, too. Byron told Brad that if it was something that he didn't want to do just let us know, Brad said not at all they would do it. They came over yesterday afternoon and pumped our septic tank. The best news of all is how God blessed us through our friends. Brad didn't charge us a thing!!! Byron kept offering and Brad wouldn't accept it. Byron told him we would take them out for lunch or dinner soon and Brad said that worked! I know in the morning Byron and I wasn't thrilled with the news, but we both turned it over to God. Knowing that God cares for us and that He provides. We knew that even if we had to pay over $750 that God would work things for our good. God blew us away by using our friends to bless us in a remarkable way! God is so good!!! We are also thankful that we found out this way instead of our septic backing up into the house. With the events of yesterday we also learned how the aerobic system works and how to maintain things better to keep it working well. We are praising God for His provisions over our life and bringing us through a stressful day.

Is it really March?????

Wow, February flew by quickly!!! I am so glad to see March's arrival. Hopefully, that means that this crazy winter weather is long behind us. At this point the local weather man is delivering that for us. The week looks like each day we will be climbing up in the 60s with lots of sunshine! HOORAY!!! We have a few chances for showers later on this week, but the numbers are slim on that happening! It finally looks like Spring is upon us.

Saturday was a perfect day in my opinion. It was bright with sunshine around the mid 60s in temperature and the trees were still. We spent the day at my sister's. Byron and the kids hadn't seen Amy, Michael, and the girls since Christmas. They had an open weekend so we took advantage of it. We got down there a little before lunch. Michael made hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. They were delicious!!! The kids played indoors for a while and then went to the backyard to play on the trampoline. Later that evening we ate at a Mexican restaurant close to the Ft.Worth Stockyards. We played several games of Twister which was lots of fun. I hope that my sis doesn't post on Facebook all the pictures of us playing Twister, though. I guess since I don't have an account anymore I shouldn't be too concerned, huh?!?!?! It was a really great time just relaxing, laughing, and visiting together. The kids were exhausted by the time we left that night.

March is looking pretty busy at this point. We have several birthdays to celebrate this month, including Jackson's 3rd birthday. I am still debating on what we should do for his birthday. For the next 2 weekends the state tournament for Oklahoma basketball is taking place. So I am sure we will be making frequent trips to Oklahoma City to take in all the basketball games. Which we are really looking forward to seeing some great games and great teams play!!! I LOVE MARCH MADNESS!!!

Hopefully, through the busyness I can find time to blog. I really do think of blogging more often, but I just never seem to get that done. Maybe I will get better about that, but I guess only time will tell.

Other news, Jackson is doing super great with going potty. I think I can claim he is fully potty-trained! He woke up Sunday morning and first thing he said when he came into our room was "Mom, I need to go poop"! HA!HA! I took him into the bathroom and he did just what he said he had to do. He has now moved into wearing his underwear everywhere we go. Before I only allowed him to wear them at our house and at my parent's. Also, the past few mornings his pull-ups have been dry. I think the light bulb has finally come on in his head! HOORAY!!!

Jaycee is just so precious! She is really growing up. Its so nice to be able to talk and reason things out with her. We have had no problems with her toys anymore. She will have her bedroom in utter chaos everyday, but she cleans every single bit of it up most of the time without us saying a word. She is just a happy content little girl. She amazes me too for her passion to know more about God. She sings songs about God all the time. She actually "writes" her own songs. She will sit at the table with a piece of paper, scribble down "words" as she thinks of things to sing about. Then she will come to me with paper in hand and sing her songs! They bless my heart so much. It humbles me in my walk with the Lord, because it brings me back to having a child-like faith. That I don't need to worry about the things of this world or how I try to figure out in my own mind what God might do, but all I need is to have faith and trust that God will work everything out for not only my good, but for my family's good! How precious our children are and what a blessing they truly are from our Heavenly Father.

2 weeks since

my last post. So very sorry! Not that we have been super busy or anything I guess I just haven't been in the mood for blogging. Last week I wasn't feeling up to par so that was some of it I am sure. I got a cold almost 2 weeks ago. I really thought I was over it in like 2 days. The 3rd day after the first signs of getting sick it hit me pretty good. My throat felt awful and it caused me to loose my voice. So for about 2 1/2 days my voice would go in and out of whisper sounds. Jackson kept asking me where my voice was at. I am almost back to normal. I still have moments of it cracking and thankfully I don't need to be cheering loudly for any sports games or anything or I might loose it again!

The weather has still been nasty for the most part. Over the weekend we got several inches of rain and yesterday we woke up to the ground covered in snow. The sun is finally out today, but its cold and extremely wet so it looks like another day inside. I think we have chances of snow again by the end of the week. I think I am going to research to see if I can find a bounce house or something fun to take the kids to next week. Being inside all the time is no fun at all. We have all done really well, but its getting old.

Update on the potty situation with Jackson, we are finally having success with going #2. WOOHOO!!! We decided to get more aggressive about our approach instead of backing off. I started to be more aware of when I thought Jackson might need to take care of business and then would talk to him about it. I would remind him that big boys go on the toilet and that we didn't want to mess in our pants. I would continue to repeat that. At first, it wasn't sinking in, but it finally started. The first few times of having some success on the toilet he was actually in the act of going and I would rush him to the potty and let him finish. Now, he will go off by himself and then I will trail behind reminding him that big boys go in the potty. He will then say yeah I need to go on the potty. Also, another change is that I don't stay with him anymore. At first, I was trying to read books to him and things like that, but that was way too distracting for him. He wouldn't focus on the task at hand. So now I tell him I will give him privacy and he can let me know when he needs me. He will now stay until the task is completed. I am not saying he is fully potty trained yet, we have had a few minor accidents due to him not totally understanding the urgency of getting to the toilet. I do believe we are well on our way of being fully potty trained, though!

3 times...

in one winter season we have gotten SNOW!!! This has to be some sort of record. We had the Christmas snow blizzard. Two weeks ago today we had an ice storm that was followed by snow. As of Tuesday this week some local towns were just getting their electricity back on. Now, today we are having more snow. I don't think its going to turn too nasty though. The temperature is suppose to rise well above freezing and the snow will be turning to rain. Not that we need anymore of that. I can't tell you last time we were able to get outside and enjoy the nice weather. We really need Spring to come. So all you Pacific Northwest people that read our blog, please quit hogging all the Global Warming/Climate Change weather! Us Mid-westerners would gladly change places with you! We aren't handling this yucky nasty overcast weather very well! Thankfully, our family is coping a little better with this weather than others, but still we would like for it to go away!!!!

Oh, no I am now...

a minivan drivin' momma!!! Yes, get your laughs out now! No, we didn't stumble and fall and bump our heads. Honestly, I wished we would have made this decision a long time again. I haven't really been a fan of minivans, but once we looked at the needs for our family and also the practical uses of a vehicle for us this became a no brainer(sp). Yes, we have gone through a fair share of vehicles, but I know this is by far our best choice yet that fits our needs. No it might not be the coolest vehicle on the road, but it gets the job done very nicely.(It is the coolest minivan though!) After we moved back to Oklahoma we got rid of our Suburban and have been driving a Chevy HHR. I loved it! It was super easy to get around and run little errands in. Living in rural Oklahoma it makes a family have to drive anywhere and everywhere to do things. At the time of our purchase of the HHR gas prices were close to $4.00. Driving a big SUV that got around 16 mpg was not fitting real well into our budget! The HHR was a great little family car. Thankfully, we were able to borrow either my parents or grandparents' suburban when friends or family came in to visit. At the same time, you get to the point of not wanting to ask to borrow anymore. Not that either of them minded, but we do go lots of places when we have visitors. We have been blessed not to have any accidents, but you always feel better when you are in your own vehicle if something was to happen. As Byron and I began the research of vehicles that had the capability of carrying 7 passengers and still have room for luggage, the choice basically came down to a minivan or a suburban. Suburbans are extremely expensive, difficult to maneuver in tight areas, and the MPG on those babies aren't too good, especially when it's the only family vehicle. The minivan has all the room we need and more, its easy to drive and to get into parking spots, and the MPG is around 5 MPG less than the HHR. It might not be the most stylish car on the road, the fastest, or the coolest, but it fits the needs of our family and I absolutely love it!

The details of the minivan: 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan with only 16,000 miles. Its color is a Sun-burnt orange leaning more towards a rustic orange. Its a unique, but great color. I can find it in any parking lot and it also wears dirt quite well. The interior is gray with bucket seats in front and the middle row with a bench for 3rd row seating. It has a touch screen stereo system. Also it has the reverse back up camera. Which for me is extremely nice! We are super thrilled with our new family vehicle: THE MINIVAN!!!!!!!

Parenting!

I am so thankful that I have a good size laundry room. It contains my washer, dryer, extra refrigerator, shoe storage, and vacuum cleaner. On several other occasions it holds confiscated toys. Most of the time, those would be Jackson's toys! Several months ago we had to take Jaycee's toys away for her lack of wanting to clean up her room. We moved her entire toy box with every toy that we could manage to fit in it to our bedroom and then others into the laundry room. She was without her toys for at least 2 weeks if not longer. When she finally got them back she was thrilled and to this day we have not had a problem with her cleaning up. Most of the time, she cleans up her room without us saying a word to her. Now, Jackson on the other hand seems to be loosing toys everyday. Last week we had taken the majority of his toys away. We gave them back this past Saturday because we were having people over for a Super Bowl Party and thought the kids would need toys to play with. Jackson was very excited to have his toys back and spent most of that day in his room playing. For the most part he did a good job picking up his toys. Unfortunately, his efforts have already turned sour. Last night he refused once again to clean up his room. This time we have removed every car he has. Those are really his prized possessions. I went through every inch of his bedroom gathering every car in every size and removed it from his room. Now, my laundry room once again has containers of confiscated cars. Hopefully, Jackson will grasp the fact that he needs to clean up when we ask him. If he doesn't come to understand this I am not sure what we will need to do. Maybe just clean out his entire room leaving nothing but a blanket and pillow on the floor for him to sleep on. I think the terrible two's are hitting him late and that its going to be more like the terrible 3's. He is just testing his boundaries and seeing what he can get away with. Unlike his sister, he doesn't enjoy "growing up". He would prefer to be a baby forever. Jaycee we have to remind her that she is 4 not 18. The joys of parenthood. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with two precious amazing adventurous and lively children. Even though at times I would love to pull my hair out, scream at the top of my lungs, and throw my hands up in surrender, I still wouldn't trade these moments for anything in the world. The hugs, kisses, and the laughter make it all worth it! Not to mention, to see them grow in their love for God and to see them over the years become the person that the Lord is calling them to be. As a parent, I don't think there is a greater accomplishment, for a lack of better word, then to see your child become all God created them to be. Parenthood is the most challenging and most rewarding "job" out there.