No good, very bad day

Today has not been a good day.  I am tired, grumpy, frustrated and need a shower.  I do not like my hair, it needs to be cut, I haven't had a hair cut in over a year!  I do not like my clothes, nothing fits.  My house is a mess and my 2 year old threw a HUGE fit today at the the grocery store.  My calendar is totally over scheduled, my husband and I never get any time alone.  There is no money in the bank account and lots of month left.    Nothing seems to be going right and I just want to cry, and as I was just writing this, the batteries in my keyboard went dead!  Are you flippin kidding me??  Why am I blogging about this, just being real folks.  But God is bigger than all of this, He is enough.

He is all I need.
He is all I need.
He is all I need.

Maybe if I keep repeating it, it will sink in, and I can get out of this horrible funk.

Road Trip

At the beginning of the month we decided to take a road trip to KC just for fun.  February was a brutal month for us, we went through some serious sickness  and we ALL were desperately needing some fun in our lives!  We got the kids up that morning, let Noah skip school and headed out but did not tell them where we were going.  Our first stop was Crown Center and we went to this great restaurant called Fritz's.   This place is the coolest!  Trains deliver you your food on tracks that run all over the restaurant.  Benjamin was in heaven!

It was a great lunch and the kids all had a wonderful time!

Next, we walked around Crown Center and then drove down to City Market, it was a gorgeous day and so nice to be outside!

Benjamin at the Crayola Store

Christmas Trees at the Hallmark Museum

Benjamin making his bow at Hallmark

A really big paddle wheel.

The Melting Pot.  Where Chad proposed to me.  Its been 5 years and 2 kids later.

Ella at Brio on the Plaza.  They give the kids pizza dough to shape and then they bake it, Ella's never made it into the oven.  Apparently we starve her.

Benjamin and Noah with their dough.

All in all, it was a fantastic day.  I wish we could do it more often!

Snow forts are a lot of work.

Yesterday I helped my son build a snow fort.  Scratch that.  Yesterday I built a snow fort while my son and his friend watched, and my hubby took pics.

It was actually a lot of fun and really good exercise.  The boys had fun after it was all done.  Even though Benjamin wasn't out there for any of the building, every time he sees it he says, "Look mama, there's MY snow port!"  My kids crack me up!

By the way, I am done with winter.  Enough is enough, we've sledded, built snow men, snow forts, had plenty of snow ball fights.  We're good.  Bring on the sunshine.  Mother Nature, are you listening????

Things I learned today.......

They say you learn something new everyday, here are a few of mine for the day.

1. Discovering a new local pizzeria makes me happy.
2. Getting a fore mentioned pizza half off makes me very very happy.
3. Shopping at Walmart while there is a blizzard outside and a gazillion people in said Walmart makes me super grumpy.
4. Making a special trip to Dillons to get strawberries that are on sale, only to discover that they are out due to a problem with the strawberry crop makes me really super duper grumpy.
5. Making crepes for 4 hungry kids and 2 hungry adults takes a long time.
6. Crepes don't go very far when feeding 6 people.
7. Frozen strawberries work just as good as fresh when eating crepes.
8. Nutella is AMAZING.  I think I am in love.  (How sad is it that I am 34 and never tried this wonderful creation, and I call my self a foodie??)
9. When driving in the snow I need my wipers when headed east, but no wipers when headed north.  Weird.
10. Hobby Lobby's home decorating fabric is always 30% off.  How did I not know this??
11. Feeding your kids crepes for dinner at 5:30pm, means that you will be giving them pretzels, cheese, oranges, and a bowl of cereal at 8pm. 

Well, I learned a lot today.  Tomorrow should be interesting.  Here's a picture of my baby just for fun.

Sickness, soup, and a sweet sister.

I'm sick.  Really sick.  The kind of sick where I can't move, can't breathe, can't think.  Today its better, a little.  Yesterday I couldn't even get out of bed to care for my children.  It was bad, I called my husband to see if he could home to feed the kids some breakfast.  At this point Noah was eating girl scout cookies and had given his brother a package of fruit treats.  The baby had a tippy cup of milk.  I was not only feeling like crap, but realizing that my nomination for mother of the year was heading down the toilet.  Then, my sweet man called and said that my darling, amazing, selfless sister in law was coming over to help.  I just want to thank the Lord real quick for blessing me with such an amazing sis in my life!  She came, didn't even flinch at the mess of my house, she changed diapers, wiped noses, made lunch and loved on my babies like they were her own, all while I slept in my fever induced delirium.  I can't even begin to tell her how much I appreciate what she did, it is bad enough being sick, but being so sick you can't even care for your own kids is a whole other level. 

Today I was able to make sure my kids were dressed and diapers changed, but that was about it.  My hubby came home and fed them lunch, which was a huge help.  My sweet friend Josie called me today, with a question, only to discover my lowly state.  She offered to bring my family a meal, which was lovely, since I was not even capable of thinking about dinner.  She made us a delicious potato soup and some out of this world, scrumptious scones, that were still warm.  Wowza, they were yummy!  I just wish I felt better, because I would have eaten more!  Thank you so much Josie, you are super sweet for blessing my family with such a delicious meal.  There is nothing more comforting to me when I'm sick than someone nourishing my family. 

All this to say, that God is so good in how He provides.  He revealed Himself today through soup and some super sweet ladies! 

Princess Ella

On December 29th, 2008, my sweet princess, Ella Noelle Graber was born.  We were scheduled to go into the hospital at 4:00 pm for a c-section.  Little did we know Ella had other plans.  True to her personality, she wanted to do things her way, and at 4 AM, that morning, my water broke and I soon began having contractions!  We headed to the hospital and just a couple hours later, Ella was born.  She was beautiful and I was thrilled to have a little girl!

Now, a year has past, way too quickly for my liking.  Here is my sweet, mischievous, and darling princess!

Happy Birthday you sweet baby.  Mama loves you more than you know.

My first born

Noah celebrated his 8th birthday in December. I can't believe he is 8 years old already, it scares me how fast time has gone by. This year due to many reasons we decided against a big birthday party and took Noah and his friend Hunter to dinner and a movie. We let Noah pick the restaurant and he picked a local hibachi grill. It was delicious and the boys had fun, they even caught the shrimp that the cook tossed them.


The boys had a great time! Happy Birthday bub, we love you so much!