scared silly

Being a parent can be pretty scary sometimes. I'm sure every parent has their share of scary things their kids did. Here are some of our scary stories:

Natalie came out with an adjustable curtain rod, one day, with her dog hog-tied to the pole with ribbon.... She was on her way to make a fire and put him over it, "like in the movies," she said.

While the girls were wrestling with me, Ruby suddenly covers my mouth and nose (as best she could with one small hand) and says over and over, "shhh, don't say anything."

Charlie scared us when Jordan found him with a (butter)knife in his hand at the top of the stairs one night.

I came upon one of Ruby's small Polly Pocket dolls dangling from the piano bench by a yarn noose.

Currently, Ruby's favorite baby (who's name is Sister) has pink yarn wrapped around her neck over and over again. We're not sure if she's doing one of those tribal things where the people elongate the neck...? Whatever is meant by it, it's eerie!

After a bath one day, I found a nude Charlie reading the book, 'Tea for Ruby' with Ruby's beads on. That was scary enough but after I shot a picture, I noticed Bear in the background. And he looks like a creeper! Seriously, this was not staged. Jordan and I roared over this picture!

So there are some of our scary stories that have come with being a parent :)

february..?

This has been the strangest winter ever- weather-wise anyway. It has been mostly in the high 30s and sometimes even the 40s. We haven't even been able to go sledding with the kids. There have only been a couple of big snow falls but if we get another one, we will have to get out to a sledding hill no matter what! It's the middle of February and the ground is mostly bare. Today, it rained! I can't remember a winter like this one in my 20-some years!

It's been good running weather. Jordan and I just purchased some new shoes again. Running has been going very well for Jordan. I'm having a tougher time of it though... feeling kind of discouraged. We've been trying to eat healthier over here and Jordan has only had one can of pop in almost two weeks. He quit pop cold turkey. He. Quit. Pop. Cold. Turkey.... Not sure those words fit together in any other language! Jordan also just purchased a weight lifting bench+bars+weights. Yup, he's going to get ripped! Er, even more ripped ;)

This month, Jordan had 2 weeks off, so we attacked the house. In a good way. We tore out floors, put new in, sanded, painted, and so much more! I'll have more on the house in a later post where I'll include some pictures as well. We also moved the 90 gallon fish tank out and moved a serger (big industrial sewing machine) in! I subcontract to a company called Freedom Innovations and make bags that are sold with the product. I'm already getting much more done with having this operation set up in our own home. Maybe someday this baby will be my business in more ways than just this one! The massage business has been picking up as well. I've been doing this for 4 years now and it has proved to be consistently slower in January with business picking up in the spring. But, it feels like spring out there and business is picking up a little earlier than usual. I absolutely LOVE doing massage still. I'm anxious to see if there is more in store for this area of my life as well!

Lastly, but not least, this February marked our 6th wedding anniversary. We celebrated it by getting some Chinese food and shopping. We came home and dozed off on the couch. Just another anniversary :) But that's not the way to look at it every other day of the year. All too often, the sacred becomes mundane. I take Jordan for granted way too often. And sometimes it's just the simple things that remind me of how blessed I am to be his wife: he wakes up early {almost!} every morning to go to work for us, he hugs me everyday, he loves our kids so much, he's such an amazing dad, he still flirts with me after 9 years of being together, he loves Jesus, he gives me 'the light end' when we are moving things around and up and down, he empowers me, he encourages me, he eats the food I make for him even if it's not always the tastiest, he's {sometimes painfully!} honest with me for my well-being, he loves me unconditionally. And when I consider just these few things about him, I feel like the luckiest girl alive.

And that's what we did this February.

(I realize that there are still 8 days left of February but I intend for us to be lazy the rest of this month!)