last thoughts on mam's trip - promise

I had a lovely time with mam. We fit a year of fun in a few days. Shopping,Making healthy meals together and shakes, lots of tea drinking, lots of mam rocking in the rocking chair. Some goodwill shopping where mam comes out with bags of 'treasures'. I said will the girls (my sisters) kill me when they see what you bring home? We exercised a few time with jillian from bigest loser and the p90x abb workout. That was funny let me tell ya! Our trip to dollywood where the first group we hear were irish?!? hello? we came to dollywood not for irish music. We did get to hear a few good groups and one of mam's favorites was sights and sounds from dolly (a dvd that she was also able to buy). We heard dolly's uncle sing. The one who brought her to nashville. Kinda cool. We heard a southern christian group who were very good. I went to dollywood with my friend laura's family 6 years ago and i said then that id love to bring mam there some day. I am so glad we got to go. We ate at TGI Fridays and we had a steak dinner during our outlet shopping day. Mam and Tina treat themselves to that every now and again so i was glad to jump on the band wagon. Mam and Erin went for a walk one of the nights and that really helped erin bond with granny. Erin was being very cold before that which was not very nice. But how do you tell a two year old - 'hey kid? This is your granny. Be sweet to her'?! It will come in time. Mam got to see how funny erin is. Erin has very funny ways that you have to see to believe. honestly. Conor was very sad to say goodbye to granny. He said 'this is a very sad day', to be exact'. ;)

O well. It's over... until next time!
I have a great life here. I really do. But I do miss my family... I told mam that God has been telling me that He gives us new family. The body of Christ is our family. I need to recieve them and quiet honestly - they need to recieve me. God wants us to reach out to those around us and help them to be like the Master. i told mam of people in her church in Ireland that need a mother and I think she would make a great one for them. I'm not there but those poor lonely girls are and they need a loving mother in their life. We do need people with skin on. I can chat to people on the phone but it is very dif when they are sitting in my kitchen. Think about it - who can you reach out to? Who needs to be a part of your family? Ask God to give you His eyes for life's situations. Conor told us that there are 5 people in our family. Mammy, Daddy, Conor, Erin and Hope. Let people in for however long/short God leads.
I have been a part of many families over the years. Thank you to all of the missionairies who helped mold and shape me to follow Christ. Thank you to all the people in my irish church who helped me. May I turn around and do likewise. Life is fun when it's not about me - But about Him. My Saviour. My King. My Friend. My Father - He is my true family.

Easter Sunday with Granny and Hope

We came back from Gatlinburg late Saturday night. We were glad that we set the table and had the dinner basically prepared before our trip. Even though we had our easter egg hunt, I bought The kids choc bunnies for easter. Not because i thought they needed them but because Conor told me everybody gets a choc bunny on easter! Thank you Mickey Mouse. It is scary the things they learn from the media (i'm serious!). So after our easter dinner we hid the eggs (again) and had another hunt. why not? same eggs, same candy. Then they got their choc bunny.
Our church service was very good and moving. Pastor Robert said let us remember easter all year long and the power of Christ's resurrection. Will we be diff this time next year? Will this easter change us and move us closer to the Lord? it should. Sunday night we watched the Passion. We did not make time for it during the week so it was appropriate for us to watch it and medititate on what God gave us in Jesus. 'Jesus payed it ALL'.
I had a lovley Easter. I hope you did too!

mam's 'happy birthday' cabin in gatlinburg

Me and mam were suppose to go to gatlinburg to have a break (from the kids ahem) and enjoy a birthday trip for mam. Well - james and the kids came so they could have fun at dollywood. We were glad they came because me and mam would have been afraid all alone in the cabin in the woods. It was beautiful and the lady put some happy birthday banners up in the cabin which was so sweet. We will go back and stay for longer next time!

off to Gatlinburg

After Conor's gandparent's program at school we headed off to Gatlinburg to enjoy some music and enjoy the cabin and shop :0)

easter festivities with granny

Granny bought this cute easter tree but when she put it in my window she thought it should live there. ok with me :) We decorated our eggs and had our egg hunt on thursday because we knew by sunday afternoon we would all be too tired and in need of naps! After the hunt and eating of some candy, James read the real meaning of easter - Christ Arose!! Praise the Lord! We sang the hymn 'He Arose!' It was a lovely ending to our night with the kids and it was beautiful to hear Conor tell me what easter was really about. It was nice for mam to be there and see our family love her God.

egg hunt

Coloring easter eggs with granny

Coloring easter eggs with granny

We thought we would join the americans and color some eggs. First time for the kiddos and let me just say erin was enjoying herself and annoying the rest of us... Because she was dipping her egg into all of the colors and we were afraid she was going to mess all the colors up. She didnt. we had fun - conor was awesome and loved it! Erin was awesome in her 2 yr old ways and she loved it :)

what we did with mam part 1 :0)

So I woke up Monday morning sooo very excited that my mam was coming to visit me that night! :) She ended up having ticket trouble and was not able to come until the next day (she got to stay a night in GA with my brother Kevin so she was fine - it was us that missed her!). We are very thankful to have mam visiting with us. So I picked her up on Tue and we headed straight to the stores - Kohls.... i love kohls :)bought a new dress for hawaii - yep, off to hawaii for my 30th birthday in june. We came home and enjoyed the night chatting and watching the kids interact with granny. Granny brought lots of goodies and she loved our house. This was her first time in the house and she loved the guest room. Wed we went to a few goodwill stores with the kids (which is never fun). that night we went to marshalls with just erin and it went alot better :) We enjoyed using the bbQ last week and eating dinner on the deck. Fun times! Oh - Conor woke up with a fever thursday morning... so he missed school and his gandparents day program was the next day?!! If you remember - he missed his christmas program bc he was sick. We prayed that he would be better for fri! Friday, we got up bright and early to get ready for the grandparents program as well as Gatlinburg :) :) Conor was so cute for his program (he was better). He went and sat by Elijah (his good buddy) He looked so nervous. Then up on stage he looked like he was going to cry. I felt bad for him but I also thought it was funny! Is that bad?! Mr Ragan and Mrs Jones are awesome so the child was in good hands. Conor was looking for us and couldnt find us. I dont know how he couldnt find us with loud erin shouting "CONOR....

CONOR????"

Very fun and so sweet that mam was there to see Conor sing on stage for the very first time and meet his first school teacher and see his classroom. You get the idea - we were very proud!

i know

I do know that I can't (am too lazy for spell check) spell. I also know that I use run on sentences. I think the kids will enjoy looking back on our memories.
They will know me and one day laugh at the things I choose to recall. I hope you all are writing down memories and things the Lord is teaching you for your family. I'm reading through the OT at the moment. I'm in Joshua. Hoping to focus on Easter this week with the kids and myself. It will be busy with mam here but I don't want to miss this special time and let the real meaning of Easter get away from me. The devil and flesh is sneaky like that. Check out 'A Holy Experience' blog for meaningful ways to celebrate Easter with your family. I am excited about this coming Friday. Conor's class is having grandparent's day and granny will be here for it :) I am also excited bc they are singing Easter Hymns. My 3 year old sharing the good news through song. Can this life get any better? I think not.

The kids are outside with their wellie boots on. Erin is sitting in the mud :/ I am so glad Conor does not like the same activity. I dont think I could handle it! Ok - I'm off now. Happy saturday!

It's been a good week

Today is Saturday and I can not believe it! Where did the week go?
Well, we went to church Sunday night and enjoyed the concert as a family. The songs were beautiful and ministered to me! We thought the kids were all better but we did not want to worry the nursery workers so we kept the two and three year olds with us :) Yes, we did bribe them and tell them if they sat still we would bring them to Brusters (ice cream)afterward. We were pleasently suprised and very proud when an older man told us our kids were the most well behaved kids he had ever seen - ha! Ice cream works. We headed for Ice cream where we heard the wonderful news that Hope had asked God to save her and she became a child of HIS. No longer an orphan but a child of the KING of KINGS. Praise the Lord! We are blessed at the moment to be helping hope along with the Warren King family. Hope is blessed with many people who love her and want to help her. We are thrilled to watch everything God is doing for her and we know that HE has great things in store for her and for all of us (you included!) as we trust and obey.

So, of course, Erin puked again sunday night and we were very glad that we did not put her in the nursery. The doc said that this virus would come and go. The great news is that it has gone for good now! I mean it this time :) Conor is forever washing his hands now bc he does not want to get sick again (a good thing of course!) I saw him eating a flower the other day and I was able to say "Do you want to get sick again?" He said "no no no no!" I said "well, let's not eat the flowers ok?" That was the end of eating flowers! He knows how sick he was and he does not want that to happen again.

Monday brought a wonderful suprise. My big brother Kevin stopped by :) He was on his way from up north heading home to GA and he was able to stop in and see my new house and my family. What a blessing and a beautiful suprise.

We had our first 'marriage' small group Monday night. I just finished the Captivating study with some girl friends from church. Afterward we decided to do the Love and War couple's study by the same authors. It was nice to be back with my girl friends. It was really awesome to have our hubbies with us and we were joined by some new friends. The night was refreshing and James and I feel blessed to be a part of these marriages - we get to pray along side them for growth.

Conor got to go back to school this week. It was neat for him to hear of so many that were praying for him and he felt very special that his teacher and friends missed him. He has been taking swimming lessons and he hates how cold the water is but he is listening to the instructor and by the next set of lessons he will be able to swim all by himself. Crazy! It is amazing to watch your baby grow - a mazing!

This week Conor said to me "mom, i love the smile you had on your wedding day." aweee :0) There is a pic of James and I in the living room and he noticed how happy I was with daddy. We were at the park and he was telling the other kids that I was his mom and he was so proud! James said he did the same thing to him at the children's museum this week. We are cool at the moment. I am sure the day will quickly come when we 'lose our coolness'. But until then - I'm a rock star! It's a blessing to raise these kids. Conor was talking about his future brother. God knows who he will be but we do not. Lord, please protect our kids from danger and please help all of our kids know how much you love them. We hope to foster/adopt in the years to come. Conor knows that and he looks forward to having more family :)

Erin likes to turn on the hose outside and make a mud pit. I really should snap a pic but I am too busy giving her a lecture.
I saw Conor run from inside the house to the back yard and he looked like he needed to use to loo. "Emmmmm Conor??" We don't go to the bathroom behind the tree when we can easily use the 3 bathrooms mere steps away! I couldnt believe he ran from inside to outside to pee! What kind of kids am I raising?!?!

We had some other happenings but I have told you enough about the week. We have had a few financial mishaps (as ya do). Trip to the ER, 150 dollar medicine, broken lawn mower, ants that will not go away, a few more things... which led me to think about couponing once again. I'm going to give it a try this week and I will write about my findings in the weeks to come.

We are all very very excited here today because my mother is coming to visit from across the sea - Ireland. Granny is coming monday night and we cannot wait. I am already sad that she will only be here a week. I know. I need to happy she is here and not sad she is leaving. I'm working on it. Really.

That was our week. Busy, fun, mostly puke free, inspirational... Trust in the Lord with ALL of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In ALL of your ways acknowledge HIM. And HE will direct your paths. Prov 3:5,6

Erin's 2 yr pic

We went to get Erin's picture taken last saturday. We went in the morning time and she cried and would not let us take her picture. Very strange behavior for Erin. We came home, had a nap and tried again that evening. We were happy with the picture:0)
Then we headed to chick fil a and play area in the mall to celebrate! God had a plan for us at Chick fil a. We met a young lady that God wanted us to encourage and we are enjoying watching this miracle unfold before our eyes. God is amazing and I love living with/for Him.
Well - when we got home that night, Erin started to throw up and ended up being sick all week and sharing her sickness with Conor and myself. It has been a sick sick week (on many levels!) But I am glad to announce - no one puked last night!
We also got to see our good friends from Michigan this week. They came to visit us as a part of their spring break trip. We had fun playing cards. Spoons was awesome! Taylor ended the game in such a perfect way - couldnt of been any funnier! Its good to laugh after such a pukey week! Thanks for coming Kananby fam!

K3 with Mrs Jones and lovin' it!

So in the previous post I went on an on about how much I love Mrs Jones and what a wonderful teacher she is and then I lost the post somehow... I said how sad I am that the year is coming to an end and cant blieve Im acting so emotional about pre k?!?! I used to say to james' mom "don't be sad its over, be happy it happened." (from dr suess) its alot harder to do when you're the mom... never the less, I am very thankful for this wonderful year. Our family is blessed to have such wonderful people help us out on this journey of parenting. Thanks RVCS and Mrs Jones!

Mrs Jones gave this mail box to Conor for learning his address. She had one for each of her students and inside the mailbox she put candy. Everytime they said their address she would give them a piece from the mail box. We keep his on top of the fridge and use it to review. Conor loves getting a treat from the mail box.

K3 with Mrs Jones and lovin' it!

My Favorite Children's BIble

My friend Dayna told me about this Bible and I love love love it! It is called "The Children's Illustarted Bible". Stories retold by Selina Hastings. Illustarted by Eric Thomas.

I have been reading (in my big girl Bible) in the Old Testament this year and am currently in Deut. Im not goona lie, I have enjoyed reading the kids Bible with them to fill in some of the blanks. I'm kinda slow! The children's Bible shares alot of detail and puts more detail and historical info on the side of the pages for the older kids.
If your family is in need of a new Bible, this one is my fav. I don't know about your house but our family devotion time tries to turn into a time of distraction and annoyance. We try to make our times in the Bible fun and stress free. I think the enemy shows up to get on our nerves. Don't give up and pray to ask God to give you grace and patience. That's my plan. They are small so dont keep them sitting for too long. Last night the kids were acting up during our time int the Bible and James and I laughed and said "so this is what is was like for our parents?!." :0) Keep going, friends. It may not be easy but it is def worth it.

Growth

Conor and I were sitting at the kitchen table on thursday and he says to me - "mom, tomorrow is a tricky day". He siad Mrs Jones (his k3 teacher) told him all about April Fools Day and that it was a day for playing tricks on people. I found this conversation humorous because the child is 3! :)
He said his trick was going to be when I told him to pick up his toys he was going to say NO! and that was going to be his trick :) I did go on to explain that April Fools is not a day to disobey but to make people laugh. He really wanted to play a trick on Mrs Jones but he didnt have school on fri - I think we will save one for class on Tuesday :) We did think about going over to her house and putting shaving cream on her car and tying balloons to it but Conor only wanted to do it if we could make the car float away and that would be a funny trick. What a little sinner!
He had show and tell on thursday and brought his two buzz lightyear toys. He wore his Buzz shirt and was very excited to share with his friends. This has been the first month that he has really been happy to stand up and share about his toy. The first time he refused, the second time he stood up and said nothing. He forgot to bring his toy for a good few months and on thursday he was ready for the next step. We didnt think it would be a big deal for him to stand up and talk because we think he enjoys attention. We were suprised, but once again - kids suprise ya! It is such a beautiful thing to watch your child grow in all areas. Emotionally, spiritually and physically. At the beginning of the year he said he was afraid to participate in show and tell. Here we are nearing the end of K3 and he is no longer afraid. He has learned it is a safe place. Beautiful! He told me Mrs Jones thanked all those helpers who talked about their toy. When we were sitting on the couch thursday night he said "Mommy, what will I bring to the next show and tell?" We talked about a few options and came up with a good plan. He said "Mom, lets dream about that every night ok?" I said ok (even though when my head hits the pillow im out and dont remember a thing til i hear a kid in the morning). I was happy for him though becasue he is happy and excited about sharing next month. He has grown! Im proud of him and love watching him grow.