Dancin' in the room

One of our favorite things to do right now is to put on the song, "Life is a Highway" and dance around Braden's room. Braden loves to play air guitar and Emma Kate tries as best she can to dance (the girl has no rhythm.) Braden on the other hand has had rhythm since the day he was born. At least one of our children has a chance to have the Millard musical talent. I'm afraid Emma Kate has inherited the Kesler music genes, sorry girl!

7 years

John and I have been married seven years today. It seems so hard to believe, time has flown by. I can honestly say that I am married to my best friend, my companion. I am more in love with John today than I was 7 years ago.
To celebrate our anniversary we went out to eat Saturday to a restaurant on the lake. John had planned for us to take the boat but as we were leaving it started to rain buckets. He was really disappointed that his plan had been foiled, but I didn't mind. (I just love that my husband still likes to plan dates and surprise me.) We had a great time even though we had to drive the car to dinner.
I would have pictures but I forgot my camera ( I could have kicked myself!)

"Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away." -George Eliot

Throw up, tantrums, hands in the potty, and poop in the bathtub.

Okay, so this is going to be may too much information for a lot of you...I would advise you to just not read this post if you have a weak stomach.

The title pretty much sums up the evening. It all started after John left to go to soccer practice, of course! Braden was at the table struggling to eat his green beans when he started gagging on one. This boy has the worse gag reflex or maybe the best depending on how you look at it. I went to the kitchen to get him some water to help the green bean go down when he threw up (when will I ever learn my lesson?). I grabbed the nearest bowl I could find, but I was too late, he threw up again. At this point the throw up was spilling off the table onto the chair and the floor. I got Braden cleaned up and he promptly asked me if he could get down and play. As I was cleaning up the mess I was also having to keep Emma Kate away from the throw up which she had taken an interest in since it happened.
I finally got her distracted enough to finish cleaning the dining room and then moved on to cleaning up in the kitchen. While I was in the kitchen I noticed that the bathroom door was open. I walked in to find Emma Kate elbow deep in toilet water (with pee in it, of course). As I lunged to grab her, she promptly put her hand (that had been in the toilet) in her mouth! I washed her hands and tried not to think about her mouth and sent the kids on their way so that I could finish up the kitchen.
The kids then decided to get into a screaming contest and were screaming at each other on the top of their lungs, all while I was on the phone too. I firmly told them they needed to stop screaming immediately to which Emma Kate decided to throw one of her famous tantrums. I sent her to her room to calm down and decided it was definitely bath time.
It doesn't end here folks, I only wish it had. I get the bath going, Braden gets in while I get Emma Kate undressed. I then discover that she has a dirty diaper so I take her to her bedroom to get her cleaned up. Just as I'm about to put Emma Kate into the tub I see poop floating in around Braden. Braden had pooped in the tub! It was at this point that I just had to laugh, I couldn't believe that this all had actually happened. Braden's poop incident was an accident. He just started an antibiotic today which really messes with his system , so he did not get punished this time. Anyway, I let the water out, cleaned the tub, filled the tub again, and got them back into the bath.
That was it, my evening in a nutshell. Has anyone else had an evening like this ? Please share if you have, I'd love to hear it.

Here are some more pictures of the egg hunts. I think we were all tired of hunting eggs by the end of the weekend. We all decided to call them "Spring" egg hunts so as not to confuse the real reason and purpose for Easter. Sunday was a perfect day to be outside too. We all enjoyed a wonderful lunch cooked by my mother and a great cheesecake! (Can you say, "Stretch-pants!) It was a great day.

I hope everyone else had a blessed Easter!

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Eggs, eggs, and more eggs

Braden had an Easter Egg hunt at preschool and 2 more over the weekend (those pictures to come). You can tell that he was real happy about stopping the egg hunt to take a picture. We also dyed Easter eggs. Braden had a lot of fun. I'll be posting more pictures from the weekend.

The many looks of Emma Kate

Okay, so this is just two looks but she is always putting stuff on her head. It doesn't have to be a hat; blankets, pots, underwear (don't ask). The pigtails were all me, they lasted for about 2 seconds, long enough to take 2 pictures.

Trike-a-thon

A couple of weeks ago, Braden's preschool had a trike-a-thon in the gym. Braden had the best time and never stopped. The rode around the gym for about 45 minutes. While other kids were dropping like flies Braden kept on...I think he has inherited his father's love for bikes. We might have a future Lance Armstrong on our hands. For his birthday this summer he will be getting a big boy bike with training wheels. Yes, and that is a Dora the Explorer tricycle he is riding. We had to borrow it from our neighbors because John ran over Braden's tricycle.

Children Won't Wait

Children Won't Wait

There will be a time when there will be no slamming of doors,
no toys on the stairs, no childhood quarrels, no fingerprints on the wallpaper.
Then may I look back with joy and not regret.
.........................................................................................................

God, give me wisdom to see that today is my day with my children.
That there is no unimportant moment in their lives.
May I know that no other career is so precious,
No other work so rewarding,
No other task so urgent.
May I not defer it nor neglect it,
But by the Spirit accept it gladly, joyously,
and by Thy grace realize
that the time is short and my time is now,
for children won't wait.

-Helen M. Young


Even as I type this, Emma Kate is crying and pulling on my arm to pick her up. Children won't wait, but what a joy and blessing. I pray that I will never forget.