No ordinary man

Today we get to celebrate Chris' birthday!  It's such a fun day to celebrate the wonderful and selfless husband and father God gave to our family!  He is a treasure, even though he doesn't get told it enough by me or the kids.  He does what he does without much thanks or recognition, but he does what he does because he is not seeking man's approval, but God's.
Take, for example, Chris' career. Teaching is not what he set out to do. In fact, he went to a pretty prestigious engineering college and got a degree in Chemical Engineering. But somewhere during his junior year, he felt the nudge from God to pursue teaching instead. And I think I can honestly say that Chris has found his niche. Obviously I haven't been in one of his classes, but to just see the dedication he has and hard work he puts in and the way he interacts with and gets to know the students, it's amazing.  Teaching isn't a job where you get a lot of praise, in fact most of the feedback he gets is negative, both from the students and the parents.  To persevere when it doesn't seem like it's worth it shows a lot of passion, I'm so proud of him!

When we got married, I wouldn't say either of us had a really, really close relationship with God.  We were both Christians and we went through the motions and gave off the appearance, but we weren't walking closely with God.  However, even in that time, Chris was still obedient to God, submitting to His will for Chris' career and our family.  I believe that God's faithfulness drew us closer to Himself over the years. All this to say, I am proud to be married to a man who seeks God and follows Him no matter the cost.  It hasn't always been easy and Chris especially has faced a lot of criticism, but having a husband like him makes my submission as a wife so much easier.
What an amazing father I married, and I didn't even know at the time.  I can't imagine the pressure of being the head of the household and a father, but he leads and guides our family, specifically our children, with love and with much grace, using God as His example.  Our children are so blessed to have a father like him, even though they might not fully realize it for many more years.  I'm blessed to be on a "team" as a parent with him, we compliment each other even in ways that would make you laugh!

I say all this not to try to "one-up" anyone else's husband, but just to celebrate the 32 years of life of the man I married.  Life isn't always easy, but it's been easiER with Chris by my side.  I love you sweetie.....HAPPY BIRHTDAY!

DS fun

The boys received a Nintendo 3DS as a gift from Chris' parents for Christmas.  Their favorite game to play lately has been Mario World (or whatever it's called).  But they have one tiny problem.  They aren't always the best at not dying on the levels.  (I really don't have room to talk though, they are way better than me - not kidding!)  They rush or are too risky and they die, often.  Then they run out of men and have to restart.  Not a big deal, just a nuisance to them.  So, every once in a while, Chris will get on and win a bunch of extra men for them.  And he might just enjoy it just a tad in the process - wink!  What a sweet daddy!

Books and baby dolls

Ashten is becoming such a little girl lately.  It's so fun to watch her practice being a mommy with her babies.  She has about a million 10 baby dolls and she will play with each of them throughout the day.  She has her favorites for sleeping with, and feeding and reading to and cuddling, it's really cute.  And she LOVES books.  If I could read to her all day, she wouldn't complain.  Her favorite books right now are princess books and Elmo. She especially likes interactive books like "lift-the-flap" or something.  And any book with a princess or horse or duck or baby in it, she will love it!

Belmar Buddy

One cool thing that Brayden's teacher does is select one child each week to be Belmar Buddy.  That child gets to do some fun stuff to tell the class a little bit more about themselves.  Brayden waited so long to be Belmar Buddy as he didn't get picked all first semester and it wasn't till the 2nd or 3rd week of second semester that his name was chosen.  He asked me on a Thursday to pray that he would get chosen that week and then on Friday after school he got in the car and said "mom! God answered your prayer! I got Belmar Buddy!".  It was so cool to see God come through for him like that!

So Brayden had to make a timeline of his life:

Show something he's proud of (building a big lego guy all by himself):

Show his favorite toy (lightsaber):

His favorite shirt:

And make a "guess how many" jar (he cut up straws into 127 pieces):

It was fun to see Brayden's answers to this little exercise, like a little glimpse into his world. 

My little superhero

I'm so lucky that while Chris is at work and the the older 2 boys are away at school all day, I have such a strong and mighty superhero to protect me!

Dressing up and dressing down

Dressing up.....

or down......

Dominoes and hot cocoa

These are the times that make it easy to love being a mom.  The times I really love having the two older boys home from school.  The times when I think I could have 4 more kids!!  Just kidding on that last one......

Playing a game nicely, sharing without fighting, being patient with Ashten who wants to play with ALL the extra dominoes, drinking hot cocoa after helping me clean up the Christmas stuff.....I love times like these!

Enjoying their gifts

Logan made a stone from a kit he got from Christmas

Ashten loves her new kitchen!

The other two, Brayden and Preston, are loving their new presents as well, I just haven't gotten a picutre of them as they usually don't sit still long enough.

Big helpers with the big snow

The week before Christmas, we got a huge snowstorm.  10+ inches.  It was great because 1) the kids were already out of school so I didn't have to drive in it to take them to school, 2) Chris got a day at home instead of having to go to basketball practice and 3) the boys went outside for 2 hours and shoveled our driveway and the neighbor lady's, thus burning off all some of their energy!!

 

Ashten spent maybe 5 minutes outside, but then got cold and came in.  But she wanted to keep her snow gear on, silly girl!

3 Christmases

After an (unintentional) blogging break, I'm ready to get back to it.  It was nice to just spend some time together as a family and not worry about documenting it.  But, if you know me very well, you know that not keeping up with my blog is driving me nuts, so pardon me while I "catch up" with the posts.

We had a 3-day, Christmas celebrating extravaganza!  It was a lot of fun, but exhausting.  Christmas Eve we spent together at home as a family.  It was relaxing and just what we needed - some down time as a family!

 

On Christmas morning we took some pictures of the kids in their church clothes by the tree.  We were going to put the boys in their suits and Ashten in her Christmas dress, but someone (not naming names!) refused to wear her Christmas dress, she wanted the pink one.  Oh well, I just decided to let it slide, we've gotta pick our battles with that one!



Not sure what's so funny in this one, but it's cute!

 

AFter the picture-taking fun, we went to church and then headed to my parent's house for some lunch and opening presents fun. The day after Christmas, we spent the day with Chris' family, getting pictures taken, going to lunch, opening presents and eating dinner. Phew! 

It was a really great Christmas (x3) and we are very blessed to be able to spend time with both of our families around the holidays, but it definitely makes for some tiring days.  We spent the next few days just chillin' at home and resting after all our celebrating.