A new season...

We are leaving. Tomorrow the packers will come and pack our things and the movers will put them on the truck and take them away. The house will be empty and another chapter in our lives will be over. I am sad. Part of me is very excited about moving back to the mainland and being closer to family, getting away from the bugs and having a Target, but tonight I am only thinking about what we will be missing. As we walked in our summer clothes today, I looked up at the blue sky, felt the warm sun and took in the beautiful green palm trees. I said good-bye to my next door neighbor and packed winter clothes for the children. We have been so blessed to be stationed here in paradise. Wearing flip flops, going outside whenever we want and enjoying good health have been such gifts. There is a playground in our backyard and wonderful Christian neighbors next door, we have a wonderful church and good friends. Now we have to start over...settle into a new house, find our way around a new town, church hunt, build new relationships and wear winter coats. Please pray for us as we make this transition.

Good-bye to paradise.

Daddy's home!!!!

Dan returned from a 2 month deployment yesterday. We are thrilled to have him back. The children and I went to the pier to meet the ship and bring him home. Homecomings are so much fun. All the women are dressed up for their hubbies and the children all look nice and as you walk past the crowd you hear the word "daddy" from all over. As the ship is pulling in we all look to find our man up there on the deck. We spotted Dan and my 3 little men were waving and yelling to their daddy. You can hear the shouts as each family spots their sailor. It's just so fun. The hardest part is waiting. Once the ship docks it seems to take hours before they are able to come off of the ship. We wait and wait and finally we see sailors heading down the bridge. Then finally Dan is off and we have to keep the kids from attacking him in their excitement.

We are so thankful to have him home.

2 year olds

After several incidents with my 2 year old son I have decided to make a shirt. It will read...
Pray for me...I have a 2 year old boy.

My Landon is just adorable, but he's as curious and michevious as he is cute. This combination can be dangerous! Take for instance a normal thursday...
Landon's doing great wearing undies. No accidents! Our mother's helper comes over and takes the littles to the park for an hour. She constantly asks Landon if he needs to use the potty. Immdiately after she asks (for the 10th time) he poops in his pants. Lindsay brings him into me. We manage to get poop everywhere...ugh. A bath and change of clothes later we're ready to go. Now to after naptime...
We're outside playing until dark in our beautiful weather. When we get back in the 2 year old is hungry so in the time it takes me to shut the door he's pushed a chair to the stove, uncovered the foil on diiner and is grabbing for it. I get him just in time and my neighbor comes to the door. In the time it takes me to answer the door Landon has gotten ahold of my pin cushion and is throwing pins at Q!! I run over to see pins all over the kitchen floor. As I'm cleaning up the pins Landon climbs on the counter and is about to eat an apple which is in his reach ONLY because he had pulled down my produce hanger the day before. The hook even came out of the ceiling!

Fast forward a couple of days. We're at the BK playland. I smell poop. Great...poop has busted out of the sides of his diaper and is on his shorts, shirt, leg and shoes....not to mention all down the big purple slide. We get cleaned up and somehow make it home.
After naptime....
Landon fills up a little pot with dirt and dumps it out on Thea's head while she's sitting in her stroller. I frantically brush the dirt away from her eyes. Thea smiles at Landon....

Pray for me...I have a 2 year old boy.

And the winner is....

Yogurt! Thea's bum looks to be 98% healed. The yogurt side was healed yesterday and the coconut oil side healed today. I'm going to continue with the yogurt for the next 2 weeks to make sure it is completely kicked. What a relief for poor Thea!
I also got a little tiny spray bottle from the health food's store and mixed water, a T of distilled white vinegar and 1-2 drops TTO in it. I sprayed that on her at each diaper change. I also quit using disposable wipes which can feed yeast. All that mixed with Thea and I both taking acidophilus supplements cured her. Hooray!

She's crawling!

Today was the day for T to get mobile. She's been going backwards for a couple of weeks and even forward for a second, but not like today. She's getting from one end of the rug to another with no problem. I'm wondering how soon it will be before I have to gate off my kitchen again.

Home-maker's Science

Thea has a terrible yeast diaper rash. It looked so painful. I got rid of the last one with a tea tree oil(TTO)/olive oil combo. This time it just seemed to irritate it more. I even broke down and put nystatin on it. Also made it much, much worse. I let her go without a diaper all day (for the most part) and it looked a tiny bit better, but still a huge red raised welt looking rash. So I did some scientific research for another option. I decided to try organic coconut oil and organic plain yogurt. To determine which works best, I'm putting one on each side of her bum. We started last night and she is already looking better. I think possibly that the yogurt is winning. It looks less dried out than the coconut oil side.
Another thing that might be complicating matters is that I was using pampers baby dry diapers at night and I think she may be allergic to those. So I am using only my cloth diapers. I used the nystatin overnight with a pampers dipe so that may have been why it seemed to make it worse. Now that I think of it, when I used the TTO was right before bed and using the pampers. hmmm...However, I hate to use chemicals and even a topical anti-biotic so I'm happy to find an alternate way to treat yeast. It's a new thing to me. None of the boys ever had yeast rashes (yes, boys get them, too) so I'm learning.

uhhh...

I just wanted to drop in and mention how many areas of the house are little messy/clutter spots. Right now I'm sitting at the computer and I can see...
4 areas on my desk
1 shelf on the entertainment center
1 corner with diapers askew
the top of the pantry

that all need to be straitened...I have really let this go too long. Well, Thea is 8 months now...it's about time I get back into the swing of things.

Picking up and cleaning out

Our move is quickly sneaking up on us and I really need to clear out. Today I did the toys and stuffed animals. It was a little difficult due to my small children taking everything I put into the goodwill box OUT. They all of the sudden found ways to play with the long forgotten/broken toys. Here's how it went...Me -"put that back in the box!" Child,"can i look at it mama?" Me-"ok, but put it in the box when you're done." Child, "Can I put this in my room?" Me-"No!"

I am also trying to get back into the habit of picking up. When I only had 2 children my house was clean and tidy. Lately, I've just kind of given up. There are little toys in corners and behind things and often there is a mess of papers on the counter. After reading The Preacher's Daughter, by Beverly Lewis, I got motivated again. The book was about an Amish family and they often talk of "redding up" (cleaning up) and I got to thinking how little I do that. My house is not a mess or dirty (most of the time), but it's just not neat and tidy as it should be! I've pretty much been taking 5 minute blocks of time and tidying an area that needs it. Such as...the laundry room, my dresser, the living room floor, etc. Little areas and corners that I've put off forever are looking much better and making the house look better in general. I want the house to look simple, not cluttered.

Maybe this will lead to a motivation to get the laundry put away more quickly and the dinner planned before 6pm...

A fun day

We had so much fun on Ashton's birthday. Although it wasn't as planned out as I would have liked, he still had a great time. Here are some pictures...baking the cake...the cake...our friends and Ashton's "A" sign.

Ashton is 4!!!!

I cannot believe how fast the time is going by. As I put him to bed tonight, I told Ashton that tomorrow it would not be his birthday anymore, but he would still be 4. He was so excited. Then I told him he would never be 3 again. Words to bring tears to a mama's eyes, but more excitment to a little boy's. We had a great day. A special lunch and dinner, a birthday sign, presents and our dear neighbors over for cake and ice cream. The only thing more we could have asked for would have been for Daddy to be here.

I love that little man so much.