Pinterest Gold

I've already mentioned how much I love Pinterest, so I won't rehash it (seriously, I LOVE it:) but I had to share my most recent pin put in action.

Let me start by saying the past few weeks have been rough. Isaiah woke up on New Years day complaining that his tooth hurt, I knew he had cavities on each side of his mouth and had even made an appointment to have them checked, but it was obvious he wasn't going to be able to wait until the 18th to be seen. This started a whirlwind of events ranging from emergency appointments with a new dentist, long waits at a pharmacy, unprofessional receptionists, stress over how to pay for it all, and lots of pain/outburst for Z, that had both of our emotions high. After the first week I felt like a rubber band pulled so tight I was about to snap, it was no fun. Isaiah who happens to be way too much like me is a pretty sensitive little man, so sweet and tender, it's one of the things I absolutely love about him but it's also what the thing that can make him difficult to deal with if he is under a lot of stress (I blogged about this once upon a time here), he simply has a difficult time controlling himself leading to random outburst and frustrations over the smallest of things. It can be taxing to say the least. He also is developing  his mother's a habit of expressing himself through words, which isn't always a bad thing but when you are a 6 year old with a limited vocabulary and no outlet it isn't always the best option. Needless to say all of the above situations combined to create the perfect storm of strife between my eldest and me. I didn't care for it, I'll tell you that, and it left me somewhat trepedacious for the teen years.
Enter Pinterest....At some point pinned a link to woman's blog talking about how she and her daughter kept a "Mama & Me" journal where they basically wrote letters, notes back and forth to each other in this notebook. For whatever reason (I'm guessing spiritual reminding:) while at Fred Meyer with my boys I remembered this pin and grabbed a notebook while meandering the store. I thought that perhaps Z would benefit, as I often do, from putting his thoughts/ideas down on paper and this gave the added bonus of opening a new avenue of communication for he and I, particularly when things were tough going. Not to exclude Joshua, who cannot write all on his own yet, I made the journal to be for both of them. I told Josh if he wanted he could either communicate through his brother or simply draw me pictures, I told Z not to worry about the spelling and we decided when we replied we would hide the journal somewhere for the other to find it. My friends, it is the coolest thing I think I have done with my kids to date and someday it will be a treasure worth far more than gold, as my children are already growing up too fast for this momma. I thought I would share Z's first few entries with you (unedited) because they are just too sweet, and posted to my blog ensures their safety if something were to happen to the book. I just love my kids....


1/11/13
Dear Mom, 
I had a fun Christmas. Thake you for all my prasens. Me and Josh are traning are sellves. Do you now if the lego table dun yet? Are the books in the tv (room) for the librarye thingy you wer taking about? I love you mommy. 2012 was fun right? 2013 will be fun! Wen wer you born? Wer you born in 1983? My krafts I made you? (he laughed when he realized he forgot to say "do you like")
Love Isaiah


1/12/13
Dear Mommy, 
What was you forite Christmas prasent? Just like you are so proud of me for tringe stake I am as proud of myself! After whatever your going to do next want to play Mario Party or make paper snowflakes? Josh says he loves you. Who is your favrite super hero?
Love Isaiah 

Here's our journal, I think I spent $2.50 on it, already got my money's worth :). 

Could those be any cuter? Adding to the fun is his excitement at finding/reading my responses and at watching me hunt for where he's hidden it (because he can't stand to wait for me to find it myself...another thing he gets from me:). I told you it was the best idea! 

PS. Things are settled down here, Isaiah's seen the dentist, and is feeling a lot better, which makes it a lot easier for him to express emotion/frustration without outbursts. I have spent much needed time in prayer, surrendering all frustration/fear (financial mainly) and guilt to the Lord, replacing it with peace. 

2012

Well, another year has come and gone, I swear the older I get the faster it is going! 2012 was a good year for us and I will be thankful for the memories, no matter how quickly they flew by. Here are a few snapshots from our year...

January

David & I got away a time or two to watch some Aces hockey! You can tell how much David hates it ;-)

February

I wasn't really sure what we did in February but I know this, we got TONS of snow all winter long. Here's a shot taken from my back patio, the trees are buckling under the weight!

March

March 5th marked Isaiah's 6th birthday, we celebrated with a super fun weekend with our Kenai friends. Here are my boys with Koen, the son of my high school bf. We had a great time, as always packing in as much as we could in three short days together!

March is also David's birthday month, we celebrated together, just the four of us. 

We also made our first trip to Hawaii in March! It.was.a.BLAST. We spent 10 lovely days with David's folks snorkeling...

Playing in the sand...

Enjoying some family time (I love him!).

April

Easter Sunday! We had a great afternoon with family, here are some munchkins waiting to start the egg hunt!

May

Hahahaha, this is probably my favorite photo of the year! May 8th Joshy hit the big 04 and we partied pirate style. 

Isaiah graduated from kindergarten!

We hiked the Butte with friends on a WINDY day (can you tell?)

We got a yard! And a play structure, the boys have dubbed it "Petty park".

This year we planted our first garden, here is Josh with a strawberry plant.

June

Family Camp! Always a wonderful time with friends, family & lots of laughter. 

We spent a lovely few days with our Pettit family on Pitchfork Ranch. The weather was beautiful, the company fun and the surroundings always my favorite. We love Pitchfork Ranch & Pettits!

Carnival at a Senior Housing complex! I have to say, we had a BLAST and it was all free. Definitely going back this year!

Wedding time! It was a great time watching my childhood friend marry his love, we always enjoy time with the Coffeys. 

Family shot at the wedding, I just love this picture. 

The boys and I rode along with my folks to spend three nights in Homer with the Coffey clan. Here I am, with Samantha, my close dear friend since we were very young....like 3?

Spent the rest of the week we were on the Penninsula with the Paces and enjoyed a BBQ with old high school friends. Too bad we didn't think to get a group shot until only Bess, Kenya & I remained :)

July

Family camping excursion to Denali National Park, aside from the INSANE bugs we had a wonderful time together. Here we all are, note the beautiful scene behind us!

David & I tried to have a fun family weekend in Seward (here are the boys at the SeaLife Center) but we got rained out and came home a day early. 

Every summer I try to spend plenty of time in Hatcher's Pass.

August

In August we had family pictures done by my very talented friend, Hanna. Check out more of her stuff (including more of our shots, here...she.is.amazing!)

On the 12th David & I celebrated our 12th anniversary. We had a great weekend together, which included a hike in Hatchers Pass :).

Isaiah started the first grade in a new (great!) school and by a total surprise he is in class with his great friends. It was (is) such a blessing and we love his new teacher as well! 

The State Fair! 

September

September brought my best friend to visit in a TOTAL SURPRISE! I can't believe she got me again, we had such a great visit AND  I got to meet her newest little man. Such.a.blessing. 

My cousin Sarah & I have birthdays one day apart and this year we had a slumber party (middle school style:) with some of our favorite ladies. It was a HOOT.

I got to spend my actual birthday having coffee and lunch with some of my very closest, life-long friends. 

September also brought three Petty brothers together for the first time in (too) many years. They enjoyed spending time together, including taking a nice long float trip on a remote (unnamed:) river. 

October

October brought a big scare from my Uncle David (that sounds so weird, my aunt is young and more like a sister:) who was rushed to Seattle with a spinal infection, he is still there (plz continue to pray for him) but doing better. While my aunt was away with him we got to spend lots of time with their son Josiah, a super silly, spunky & fun two year old who LOVES his cousin Joshy. They had such a great time together. 

Pettit/Petty fun!! These cousins just have too much fun together, this sleep over included pumpkin carving & moose watching.

Speaking of moose, we saw SO MANY in October. They loved our grass and it wasn't uncommon to spot one, two, three (& more!) roaming around our back yard. Here's just one of many shots I took! If you would like to see more check these out. 

November

In November my dad decided to scare us all with an emergency room visit (& ICU stay) for vomiting blood. Many of you know he has a genetic disease (diagnosed last year) which has left his liver 1/4 normal size, eventually (without supernatural intervention) he will need a transplant. Ruptured blood vessels are a risk of his current condition and that is what happened in this incident. I am SO blessed by my friends and Leslie was sweet to come sit with me at the hospital for several hours, keeping me distracted and smiling. I love her!

Our annual family thanksgiving lunch, held at our church because we are getting too big for anyone to host us. It is always a great time of catching up, especially since life seems to move to quickly and we don't see each other enough!

December

The boys got their first picture with Santa (I know, I know), Josh was less than enthusiastic. Pretty sure he wouldn't have gotten near Santa at all if they hadn't been offering candy canes ;-). 

Isaiah's first Christmas concert (he was too freaked last year), he LOVED it & was quite entertaining. 

Have I mentioned I have the greatest friends? I seriously could not be more blessed by my girlfriends, near & far. These super tubular ladies were willing to go out in public rocking ugly Christmas sweaters in rad 80s fashion. We had SUCH a great night!
PS. I cannot tell you how I longed to fix my hair straight up like it is in the picture back in my middle school days. I don't know what I was thinking hahaha. 

Sleep over with our favorite Pettit girls! They each got a new pair of jammies and we watched a fun movie all together. The kids in my life rock my world. 

Christmas Eve sledding, brother in law Mike, little bro Steve & David. I love this shot of them.

Merry Christmas!! Thank you Toys-R-Us for your epic lego sale that made it so we could afford to get them what they wanted. Seriously, who would ever pay the full price they ask for legos these days? Ridiculous!

Family ice fishing! It was windy, we didn't catch anything and our youngest decided to melt down. Still, we enjoyed the time together, being out in the fresh air and the beauty Alaska offers. Here David and I are pretending we don't hear the 4 yr old in hysterics behind us ;-)

One of the best days of my life as a mom, my oldest getting baptized. He accepted Christ early in 2012, he had been asking to be baptized for a little while and we spent time talking about what it all means. David & I are 100% convinced his little heart understands what it means to love Jesus and want to serve him. We were both in tears as he made it known to all his heart's desire.

So there you have it, our year in a nutshell. Of course these snapshots do not cover all the highs & lows, laughter & tears, our growing & learning, but it does give a glimpse. I am learning, the older I get, how important it is to remember the details of our lives, the blessings, the lessons, the joys and even the sorrows, to cherish every moment and give thanks to the Lord for them. I am overwhelmingly blessed with so much, when I take the time to remember that I can't help but have a joyful heart. God is good. May he show himself to you in new & exciting ways in 2013. I know I am looking forward to new adventures, new memories, new growth. Many blessings to you my friends.