The Heavens Proclaim His Glory

I happened to catch the sun setting a few days ago and I just HAD to go grab my camera!  It took my breath away!  I had dinner cooking, kids ambling about the house, Noah starting to get a bit fussy playing on the floor, and dinner on the stove....but I knew I had to go see this sunset!

 

I grabbed Matthew because he was the only one that was game, and we sat on the front porch and took these pictures.  He kept pointing out the colors in the sunset and I kept telling him how beautiful it was!

I think as I get a little older I start appreciating and looking for small ways that God revels His glory to us.  Whether it is  fall leaves, a beautiful sunset of purple, blue, gold, and yellow, or as simple as a gummy baby smile or the boys' laughter; I count it all joy.

I know life's not all about perfect days with kids with perfect behavior, and no laundry stacked up or dishes to be washed, but maybe just maybe, God wants to show you He's still got His hand in everything...even something as routine as the sun going down the "sunsetting place"!

How to get your kids to eat broccoli...seriously!

I decided to roast some brocolli in the oven last week.  It had been years since I'd made it this way so I figured I would try again since I pretty much hate vegetables and don't really make them that often (bad, I know!).  I threw some olive oil and salt and pepper on them and put them in the oven for a bit.  After they were done I put some fresh lemon juice on them and then grated some fresh ginger on the top of them.  I could NOT believe how good it was.  And me, hating brocolli!  It was so yummy so I thought I'd buy a bit more at the store this week and make it again!

This time around I used my handy little hand shredder and shredded some fresh parmesan on the top and also put a bit more fresh lemon juice on it.  Also, don't ask why I have fresh ginger and lots of lemons sitting around, I've been juicing lately with our new juicer so I've got a ton of new and different stuff sitting around....blog post to follow on that soon!

What surprised us the most was how much Matthew ate.  JM of course won't touch it, but Matthew shoveled this baked brocolli in like candy.  Jordan and I actually only got a few bites because he wanted more and more.  How could I refuse him fresh broccoli?!

Yes, it smells up your house, but I was just surprised at how good it was and wanted to share with everyone!

We'll definitely be eating more broccoli around here for sure!

Celery, Who Knew?!

Who knew...

celery could be so beautiful and crafty at the same time?!

We had so much fun with celery stamping and it made the most beautiful artwork!

6 Months!

 

I can scarcely even type the words....six months.  Goodness.  How did time fly by so quickly?  As usual, it's just flying right on by since we started having kids.  I'm not sure if it will ever feel like it's slowing down.  Some days I wish I could slow things down and savor whatever we've got going on, other days I'm not sure I can even handle what all we've got going on and all of their needs at once!  It seems like just last month he looked like this:

So, at 6 whole months old Noah is roughly 22 pounds.

To say that he is smiley would be an understatement!  I just love how happy and sweet he is.  Unless he's hungry or tired...he's just like this!  Noah likes to jump in his jumperoo and he's getting really good at holding objects and he really tries to stretch to get a certain toy that he has in mind! Sleeping was a bit iffy there for a bit, but he's been doing a pretty good job lately; only getting up once or twice and going down nicely!

He's starting to want me to hold him a lot and he's starting to prefer me a bit too!  I don't mind!  I think he's gradually beginning to understand when his brothers take something from him.  I'm sure it won't be long until he starts to get really upset when that happens!  Right before Christmas he started sitting up by himself perfectly!  He'll lie on the floor and sort of twist around, but no crawling and while he can roll, he just doesn't like to very much.

He's constantly sounding like a grumbly baby dinosaur!  Raaaahhh, Raaaaahh, Raaaaaaaah is what he sounds like and it's always with a smile!

We've been comparing his hair to the other boys a lot lately.  It's totally different from his brother's hair!  We think it might be blond like JM's, but it sticks up and is a little more coarse and it tends to grow straight forward toward his forehead.  None of our other boys have had hair this texture!  I love how they are all different and unique!

Lately, Noah has been able to be more a part of what all is going on around the house.  He's been eating most baby foods for a few weeks now and he likes to sit at the big table with brothers!  He's also working on using his sippy cup.  He seems to prefer the take 'n toss cups!

He also had his second cold and his first double ear infection this past week.  He's so much better and I'm glad he's on the mend. My baby is growing by leaps and bounds.  Sadness and joy as well!

And just for fun....here's all 3 boys at 6 months!  Precious!

Thank You, Pinterest

I've recently become totally and absolutely obsessed with Pinterest!  I have loved finding random recipes, awesome crafts for the boys, ideas for the playroom that we're working on, and ideas for decorating my den.  I'm a little obsessed!  Recently all 3 boys had this runny nose/cough respiratory ickyness so we've been in the house for close to 2 weeks in a row.  I kinda thought I'd lose my mind, but alas...I have Pinterest!

The boys loved this idea using pipe cleaners and a colander and they played with it off and on for a few days.  As with anything new and fun, I leave it out for a bit then put it up and bring out back out another day!  It makes the toy/craft seem brand new!

 

Matthew was the most excited about it.  JM played with it too, but I don't have any pictures of him for some reason.

And by the way, doesn't Matthew look so darn cute in his little man shirt?!

I found him later on with this on his head...eating an apple.  He cracks me up!

I ended up using a ton of my Pinterest/Snow Day activities that I had planned to use to save my sanity this winter! Here are a few things that we did while we were home for nearly 2 WEEKS in a row!!  Ahhh!  I'm so glad they're on the mend now!

I got a mini muffin pan for Christmas, so I put it to good use with these little pizza poppers served with pizza sauce! Yum!

We built forts...

I made these AWESOME cinnamon roll pancakes. I knew my boys would love them so I knew I had to make them.  They are so wonderful.  The boys have been requesting them most mornings and I have to explain that these yummies are only an occasional treat; and treat they are!

 

We made homemade flubber...

They really weren't all that excited about it for some reason.

I thought it was fun and it turned out pretty neat!

Next, out of sheer boredom we moved on to moving ice from one bowl to the next. I threw in some yellow food coloring just for fun.  We did this one last winter too.  I'm always surprised at how long they will do this activity!

Fun and good for motor skills!

And last but not least, we made a raceway for our cars!  I got a huge bag of these blocks at my favorite thrift store for $2!!!!  They have loved stacking them and making forts and raceways with them!

I guess I can't complain too badly about being stuck in the house.  My kids always bounce back and they are very healthy.  I have a lot to be thankful for.  Oh yeah, and God must have heard my prayers because we haven't had any big ice/snow storms YET!!  yay!  You'll remember this from last year:

I definitely can't complain!