From a thankful heart

Its that time of year. Pondering all of the things I'm thankful for. And I can think of a ton of random things... like...

Pizza Friday at school

Naptime

"Kohls cash"

Pandora.com

My crockpot

Starbucks Gingerbread lattes

Kids big enough to brush their own teeth

Kroger fuel points

Chalkboard paint

Disinfectant wipes

The calculator on my phone
A picture where everyone is looking at the camera

My bleach pen

Tums

... ya know. This is all good stuff. :) But this year I'm just mostly grateful for the "big things". Family. Friends. For these things, I find myself stopping to say "Lord, thank you!" So in no particular order, I'm thankful for:

~Good friends. Like, REALLY good friends. The ones that let me vent and don't judge me. The ones that keep me accountable. The ones that love me even though I'm quirky. The girlfriends that meet me for a late night meal after we've put our kids to bed and we're still wearing sweat pants and diaper bags... just so that we can connect. The "couples" friends that come over for dinner, prayer and a board game. The "support group" friends that I rarely talk to but we totally pick up where we left off when we need to relate to someone about Down Syndrome, adoption or both. I can't even imagine life with out each of these different friends.

~My husband. I love him. After nearly 10 years and 6 kids, I still think he's so cute. He's one incredible dad. An awesome pastor. I love the little dance he does while making himself a sandwich in the kitchen at night. I love that he cried during his sisters recent wedding. I love the way he laughs. I love that he's so patient with the 6 first and second graders he drives to school every day for the carpool. I love the way he smiles and watches Micah out of the corner of his eye at the dinner table while Micah is trying to imitate him. I love the way he holds his hands out and says "Beautiful!" after he's changed Mabry into her nightgown. I love the way he loves me.

~My kids. Ashley was just baptized last week and I could not be more proud of that kid. Emily is too cute for words with those huge green eyes, raspy voice and always inquisitive spirit. At school, Micah is making friends and is being invited to birthday parties. Abby is hitting all of her IEP goals and we had to write new ones. Mabry is talking a ton and knows almost all of her letters. Kate just cut her first tooth and has the cutest giggle you've ever heard. Can my heart be any more full?

~My house. It makes me wonder how on earth we survived in that tiny house before. The space. Is. Amazing. What an incredible blessing and we are so grateful for it. An open floorplan, huge living room, huge kitchen, enormous playroom, lots of bedrooms, a bonus room for the girls, killer master suite... not to mention the fenced in backyard, great neighbors and a culdesac full of kids!

Thank you Lord. I recognize that these blessings are from You, and give You alone the glory for them! Thank you.

"Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights..." James 1:16-17

Thats my girl

I've become quite Pinterest obsessed recently. How can you not? Its amazing. Not only can you collect all of the things you love from all over the internet (instead of having a bzillion bookmarks and favorites) to see in one place, but the ideas, tips, recipes and tricks are endless! Its got me making my own Febreze, pulled pork with Pepsi, roses out of magazine pages, wall art out of toilet paper tubes, amazing french braids in the girls' hair, and much much more.

Its kind of like crack for crafty people. There. I said it.


Apparently I reference it often because in the car the other day Ashley asked me, "Mom, do you think Pinterest will be around when I'm a grown up?"

:)

"I don't know Ashley, why?"

"Because I want to use it to decorate my house."

Beloved child after my own heart. :)

5

Happy Birthday to my big FIVE year old girl, Abby Grace!!! What a beautiful, funny, happy, loving little girl you have become.

Has it really been five years? Five years since my world took an unexpected turn down an unfamiliar road. Five years since I joined an unexpected "family" of travelers down this same path. Five years since I learned that God is in control and I am absolutely not. Five years that I've been in Holland. I used to say that with a lump in my throat. Now I can't help but smile. :) My baby girl was born with an extra copy of the 21st chromosome in every cell of her little body. And God says she was fearfully and wonderfully made!

Five years of love. Therapy. Intervention. Struggle. Tears. Hope. Success. Joy. Amazement. And more love.

Fearfully and wonderfully.

Happy Birthday Abigail Grace. My heart bursts with love for you!


*Her birthday was today, this video was taken yesterday. AND she was about ready for a nap :)*

Adventures in Motherhood: diary entry #7695

Today's adventures included getting six kids ready for church: dressed, hair fixed, shoes on, coats on, diapers packed, sippy cups labeled, etc, etc, etc... and into the car. That process in and of its self would make for a pretty funny video on Youtube. (For those unaware, my husband is the youth pastor at our church so I'm kind of a single mom on Sundays.) 

Upon arrival at church, I got them all out of the car, little ones into the stroller... and then Mabry proceeded to throw up everywhere. All over herself, the stroller and the parking lot. I kid you not. I stripped down my puke covered 2 year old in chilly October weather and "washed" her with baby wipes. Some nice man saw us and ran back to his truck to get us a couple of towels he had. I sheepishly asked him if I could wash them and give them back. He looked at the large splat of vomit on the ground and back at me and said, "No its, okay, you can keep them." I cleaned up the best I could and loaded everyone back into the Suburban and headed home. So much for that.

Once home, I get my keys out of the ignition walk to the door and realized- I don't have my house key. Its not on my key chain, its in my coat pocket. But my coat is in the house. So I open the garage door but the door from the garage to the house is locked too. I'm locked out. Awesome.

THEN I realize, my phone is in the house. I can't even call anyone to tell them that I'm locked out of the house with 5 kids plus a puker.

I tell myself, "C'mon Amy, you can do this. Figure this out." So I head over to my grandparents house. I didn't want to take the kids in for fear that I would get my grandparents sick, so I just asked for some grocery bags (incase she thew up again) and asked Papaw to email and text Jake letting him know to meet me at Sonic after church was over. It was the best plan I could come up with.

 

I could have driven the 30 minutes back out to the church to get Jake's key... but we go to sort of a mega church with hundreds of people so it isn't like I could just pull up and leave all of the kids in the car to run in. And for obvious reasons I couldn't take them IN to get his key. On top of that, Jake would have already been in the middle of his message... can you just see Jake stopping, mid-sentence, looking over the high schoolers to the back of the room and seeing his children- all lined up and bundled in coats, and me: jumping and waving at him, with a naked 2 year old on my hip, trying to sign that I need his key? Ummm, no. 

A miserable day at Sonic it is. 

I ordered our usual 8 corndogs and 4 tots. It was only 10am mind you, but a time-of-day-appropriate meal was the least of my concerns. The kids ate (minus Mabry) while I nursed Kate in the front seat. Then the kids played on the gated playground while Mabry watched "Letter Factory" in the back seat.... over and over and over.

Around the time that Kate needed to nap, we drove around for a little while to get her to sleep. Then came back to Sonic for more playing... and more tots. Desperate times call for desperate measures, don't judge me.

Around 1:30pm Jake pulled up. I'm not sure if it was out of love for me or out of fear of the look on my face, but he didn't even give me the "why aren't you organized enough to leave the house with a house key and your phone" speech. 

But he would have been right. And I'm fully aware that I bring these problems on myself.

~~~

People ask me if I'm organized because I have so many children or if I have so many children because I'm organized. To which I answer "I'm sorry, I'm Amy, have we met?" 

Random thoughts about hand rails

*Random warning. Random post ahead.*

Why don't builders ever install child-height hand rails going up stairs? Don't most 3+ bedroom homes contain children? I mean, whats the thinking there? I understand not doing say, child size toilets, because kids grow fast and won't use them long. But this is a safety feature. How many kids fall down the stairs a year? Probably a ton. (I'm sure lots of kids fall in the toilet every year too, but thats not dangerous. Just emotionally scarring.) And how helpful is it to hold on to a railing thats higher than your head? It isn't helpful at all, actually. I make my kids hold onto the rail, but when they slip, they're just dangling like they're on monkey bars. Its almost more dangerous. You're already installing a hand rail- for safety- why not install one for kids too? 

Once when I was a kid, I tripped on the top step and fell down a whole flight of stairs. Mom said I stuck out my arms and legs in effort to stop myself, but ended up doing a perfect cartwheel down the stairs instead. I'm pretty sure I even landed on my feet.... Anyway this is not the piont....

So I've decided we definitely need to install a child-height handrail going up our stairs. It would get lots of use, for years to come.

I'm with the band

I need to list another "side" on my Many Sides of Amy categories. The drummer's sister.

Have I ever mentioned here that my brother is kinda famous? He is. Google Colby Buckler. He's an amazing drummer. He plays with TwoFresh, Eliot Lipp and some other bands. He tours all over the country, playing in clubs and at festivals. TwoFresh was Relix Magazine's #1 "Up and coming artists you should know about" in October of last year. The genre is kind of like... electronic Hip Hop Jazz with computers and a live drummer- Colby. He is "one of the strongest drummers in the live electronic music scene today". And I'm only pretty sure I know what that means. ;)

Colby with TwoFresh

He's the tall one on the left. ;)

Wowing the fans

It was really irritating as a kid- the drums are not an instrument you want to hear you sibling practice daily. Nor do the neighbors... But since he was two, that's what he's been doing. But last night I got to witness (from an elite back-stage vantage) a whole venue full of fans shouting for him. I'm not gonna lie- it was weird.

He's playing in a different city almost every night. Mom's been to see him several times- anytime he plays close. But its been hard for me over the years to get out to his shows. But this weekend he was in Nashville, so we went together.

And going to see him was further confirmation to me that I'm getting old. He went on stage at 11... pm... which I'm told is unusually early. Seriously? I was leaving my house at the same time I'd normally be going to bed. And ya know, Starbucks isn't even open that late, so we had to settle for gas station coffee. 'Cause there was no WAY I was gonna make it through the evening (or is it morning at that point?) without some coffee. And once there, all of these uber-cool Nashvillian young adults at Mercy Lounge were surrounding me trying to show some ID, pay, and get a stamp on their hand. Meanwhile, I, with my coffee in hand and diaper bag on my shoulder (because I was too tired to find a cute purse) waited for them to find our names on "the list". I couldn't help but giggle a little as I would watch girls walk in painfully over-aware of themselves, trying to be sure they looked cute from every angle. I remember feeling that way in high school. It was miserable and I don't miss it.

Being the drummer's sister is a different hat for me. One I don't wear often. But I was so proud. Mom and I were shamelessly taking pics and videos with our phones while crazy looking people were dancing and bouncing all around us. Cheering for Colby. And I know mom was thinking the same thing I was. "That's MY Colby." Not that fame is everything; its really nothing and even Colby would tell you that. But it was hard to stand there and not be so proud of my little brother. He's worked his whole life to be an accomplished drummer. And he is.

I can say with confidence that Colby doesn't read my blog. So I don't mind telling you :) that on the other side of this whole thing, I'd love to see him settle down someday. Because I know this is a hard lifestyle. But for now he's doing what he loves and he's happy. So I'm happy for him. Did I mention how much I love my brother? Well I do. :)

These two were taken with my phone, so they're a little sketchy. And the video's didn't really turn out. :( You'll have to check him out on YouTube to see him really play.

 The one of mom with Colby was before the show. Below is me with Colby after the show, hence his sweaty shirt!

There you have it. I'm with the band. I'm the drummer's sister.