Precious.

Not too sure this post needs too many words. 
Why do I find the back of this little boy's head so so sweet?

Ben is almost a year old and is very tiny. 
He is still wearing 3-6 month clothes.
I worry a little, but our doctor says everything is okay.  He is meeting all his milestones, eating well, and healthy, I shouldn't worry.

So, doctor's orders. . .I have just been enjoying this sweet-tiny-almost-a-year-old boy as much as I can, because I know one day soon he won't be this small.

Or this precious.

Pansies

Good Morning!  We had a marvelous long weekend, I hope you did too.  Almost everyone is feeling better and those who are not are almost there!  Thank goodness.

We had beautiful weather this weekend, we actually spent most of the days outside.  Trip was home and I was happy!  It always make for a good day when daddy is home. . .a little help always lifts a stay-at-home mom's spirits!

Do you see these pansies?  Aren't they beautiful?

Let me tell you a little something about myself.  I grew up outside. . . no really!  When my brother and I were little my mom would send us outside all the time.  In fact {gasp} most of the time she and my dad were not out there with us, oh back in the day.  My brother and I would spend hours upon hours outside. 
One thing I remember about my many days outside is the beautiful yard my parents had when we were in Florida.  I remember my dad's garden and blueberry bushes.  I remember the beautiful trees we tried to climb and the big healthy bushes we made club houses in.  I know that my parents spent lots of time working in the yard, but until now I did not realize what a time consuming thing having a beautiful yard is.

Since we have moved to this house we have not been able to do things in the yard that we would like to do.  But one thing I have been able to keep up with (most of the time) is our deck off the kitchen.  I can easily put some seasonal flowers in the pots and enjoy looking at them while I eat my breakfast.

My pansies have gone nuts!  I have always heard that you should pull off the spent blooms. . .well what do you know!  Its true! 
Friday I went through and pulled off all the blooms that were dead. . .there were a lot. . .and all these beautiful pansies are what I woke up to this morning.  It is amazing how beautiful they are. 

By the way, I need to let you know that pansies are expensive.  Any seasonal plant in general is expensive, but I have discovered the sale rack at Lowe's and Walmart is a great place to get these seasonal plants for a great price.  These pansies had a few yellow leaves on them which got them put in the sale rack and I quickly snatched up 8 pots for $2 a piece instead of $8 a piece.  Before I planted them I pulled off the yellow leaves a ta-da beautiful pansies.  Easy.

A little hard work and not having a baby on your hip thanks to daddy being home makes such a wonderful difference!  Have you dead headed your pansies lately?

Reading.

Trip and I love to read.  I know, I know.  How in the world do we have time to read with all the craziness of life right now?  Well, the truth is we don't.  Every once in a while we steal a moment to ourselves and read, but lets be honest,  we don't even have time to read the newspaper let alone have some devotion time to ourselves. . .but the time is coming when we will be buried in books again, I can feel it.

  Little Miss Kate is starting to read!
Does that excited anyone like it excites me??  I am just beside myself with excitement. 

I taught Kindergarten for a few years and got to witness lots of kids starting to read and it is my absolute favorite thing.  (Maybe that is why I choose Kindergarten.) It opens up a whole new world for them. 

Kate's very first word that she read was "God"!  Don't you know that God looked down and smiled when that happened.

Kate is beginning to sit and "read" for longer periods of time.  Is she actually "reading" them, no.  But she is learning how to be a reader by looking at the pictures and the words and figuring out what the story is about.  Trip and Mac and I also spend a good amount of time reading to her.  I know it won't be long and she will be reading to Ben just like Mac reads to her!
                               
One way I like to help my kids with the reading process is by having things to read everywhere.  If you have ever been to my house you know that we have shelves and shelves full of books.  We also have drawers and cabinets full of paper, pens, pencils, crayons, and stickers to "promote" writing as well.

Books can be expensive I know, but two of my favorite places to get cheap, nice books are the library book sale and Scholastic Books.

How do you help your kids with learning to read and write?
Any new ideas out there?

After taking these pictures and posting them on the blog I actually looked at what Kate was reading. . .not sure exactly, but I believe it is one of Mac's National Geographic magazines.  Whatever it takes, right?

Door.

It has been a while since I have posted. . .we have been. . .sick!  Yuck.  There is nothing worse than having all your kids sick.  And I have quickly discovered that holding three kids on your lap is a little bit harder than two, but it can be done.  {smile}

Since the kids have been sick we have spent lots of time at home which has given me time to work on a few things around the house.

Now, this door below was white just like all our other doors, but it just wasn't working for me.  At Christmas time I went on the Tour of Homes here in our town and one of the houses had all black doors.  They were beautiful.  I thought I might try one of our doors to see how it would look.  Here is how the conversation went with Trip.

Me:  Don't you think that door would look great if I painted it black?  I have seen a house with black doors and it is beautiful and very Charleston.

Trip:  No.

Me:  Well, maybe I could just paint the front black and if we don't like it I will paint it right back.

Trip:  No.

Me:  Now lets not make a decision now.  Lets think about it.

Trip:  {Silence}

I am pretty sure while we were having this conversation Trip was checking his email and not really paying attention to how wonderful the door would look black.  So. . .with much nervousness. . .I painted it!  The whole time I was painting I was trying to remember if we had any white paint to paint it back if Trip totally flipped out.  He came home that night late, after the kids were in bed and did not flip out. . .in fact it took him a while to notice. 

Trip:  You painted the door black.

Me: Yes.  (end of conversation)

That was it!  Oh, boy. 
Obviously, he thought it looked great and was glad I made the decision to paint it. . .couldn't you tell!  I know that probably painting the door black even though he said no was not a good choice, but I believe that there are some choices that are OK to override our sweet husbands on and there are some that are not OK.  He is the head of our household and we make major decisions together, but this by no means was a major decision.  Money spent, child rearing, and the such are major decisions that are only made together, but door painting. . .no.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.  Do you like the cute wreath on there too?  Oh, and the cute sick girl too.  Did you know that when you are sick wearing a tutu makes you feel better faster. . .might want to try it next time you are sick.

Here is a picture of the black door with the door knob back on.  Didn't take too long to do and I think it turned out pretty good.  Maybe I will try to do another one. . .

I was also able to get those curtains up while all were home sick.  I will post those pictures real soon.

Little Helpers

Last week I had a post titled "Little Helper" also. . .I liked that post because it let you all see what life is really like here in the Chocolate House.  I love my little helpers, but sometimes things would go a lot faster, smoother, and cleaner without them.  But really, what fun would that be? 
I wanted to show you all these great new "fake" curtains that I "made" for our den.  I had the white fabric all laid out with all the curtain making equipment ready. . .and then my helpers came.

I got the idea for these curtains from a blog I follow called The Nester. 

Now, I like a nice pair of lined panels flanking my shuttered windows as much as the next girl, but sometimes that is just not in the budget.  And The Nester tells us, on a budget girls, how to make some fabulous "mistreatments". 

But again. . .here my "mistreatments" sit.

 
And here my helper sits.. . on my curtains.  I thought that I might try to work with his help since these are by no means professional curtains.  No sewing, no measuring, just cutting and clipping.

However, my first helper called in his sister helper and then I knew all was lost.  Maybe I should ask The Nester if she has "mistreatment" instructions for mamas with helpers.

I know what you are thinking. . .she won't have those helpers one day and she will be sad.  You are right, I will, but good heavens, my dear windows in the den. . .they need some curtains desperately.
(As you can tell my picture taking was being assisted at this point.  I don't normally make it a habit of putting pictures of myself on the blog. . .just the children!) 

There they sit.  Rods up (thanks to the previous owners) naked windows!  I promise when these curtains get up. . .and they will, I will post a picture of them in all their marvel.  I may even get a picture of my helpers!

Should I worry?

We have never lived in a house with stairs before so we have never really had baby gates. . .but I am thinking that I might actually need to go out and get some.  Seems little Ben has discovered our stairs.

This little man is going to give me a run for my money.  I have never really "baby proofed" before either.  Mac and Kate were never curious about what was behind closed door and drawers, however, Ben is a little more curious!  Oh, well.  Keeps this mama on her toes.

I might need to call in some help!

Skype

Do you Skype?




We do.
We (or should I say Kate and Me) would love to Skype with you. 
Let us know your Skype name and we will give you a call. 
Kate will have to show you lots of things. . .be ready. 
The other day we called Grandmama and Popa and Kate showed them a book, a piece of pizza, her pants, and Ben.
We love to Skype!

Home

We are in a busy time of life right now.  Can I get an AMEN!  If you are the mother of small children you know that sleep is something of the past and time alone, truly alone, is something we only dream about.  Our little family at the Chocolate House is busy, busy, busy.   Some days I don't know how we are possibly going to get it all done and then one of my sweet children puts life into perspective.

Kate is our social butterfly.  She loves to go to school, loves to have friends over and loves to be busy. 
She is much like her daddy.  She has never met a stranger.
When she gets home from school she, Ben and I have lunch and while we are eating lunch our conversation usually turns to her day at school.  Her favorite thing is for me to ask her questions about her day, which usually are, what was your favorite part, worst part, silliest part. . .you get the idea. 
Today I asked her what her favorite part of school was and she told me that coming home was her favorite part!  Wow!  I was not expecting that!  She usually tells me of some wonderful thing they did at school or the marvelous snack they had, but coming home, goodness.  This got me thinking.

My job as the mama of this house is to provide a place of refuge for my family.  Do I always do that?  No.  I cannot possibly do it all the time.  I have spent time making sure our house is furnished and decorated nicely.  I make sure there is lots good healthy food in the house.  I get everyone ready, everyday.  I take care of everyone when they are sick, but I also get sick.  I get cranky and mad.  I fuss and I get tired.  But I also pray.
I pray that I will be the mama my kids need and the wife Trip needs.  I pray my children will come to know the Lord.  I pray that my family will feel relaxed at home.  I pray they will feel they can come home and be loved and safe and take refuge in our home.  The Lord answers my prayers and today I got to see that from Kate.  Her favorite part of the day was when she got to come home. . .there is no better compliment to a mama than that.

And then this is the look of the sweet girl who made my day. . .telling me enough with the pictures mama!

Little Helper

One thing that I am never lacking is a "helper".  

Veggie stir fry was on the menu tonight.  I cut up most all the veggies, but Kate covered the mushroom cutting.  Precise cutting.

Here is the final product before the cooking, please notice the precious mushrooms in the stir fry.  Don't your know that I truly enjoyed every bite of this veggie stir fry, especially the bites with mushrooms.

 

We served our stir fry over brown rice.  I hope that you all are eating brown rice instead of white rice.  Did you know that brown rice is so much better for you than white rice?  White rice starts out as brown rice then the outer husk is removed which in turn removes most all of the nutrients that rice provides.  Granted I know brown rice takes a little longer to cook than white, but the health benefits far out way the time spent.  Every nutrient you can get into your little ones is worth their (and your) health in the long run.