ruby is four

Ruby turned 4 this week!  And I'm in shock!  Seems like she was just born and our first impression of her was that she was loud and had a big mouth!!  And suddenly, she is four!  She is still loud and, frankly, has  a big mouth.  But suddenly, she's a little lady.  She has grown up so much in the past year.  She has had a great week reminding us that it's her birthday week.  She has been asking about her birthday ever since Charlie had his in July.  Hope it's been as enjoyable as she has been imagining it would be.  We had two parties for her... one with grandma 'Zwaags' and one with the Barkel side.  She wore her current favorite princess dress for both parties (as well as for Halloween!).  She had also requested a princess party, which just meant she wanted everything in either pink or purple, oh and lemonade cake.  And she had a long list of princess items that she wanted for presents... and her guests delivered!  She got a lot of very cute presents!

Ruby is FULL of personality... sometimes more than I know what to do with as she is a very strong-willed girl.  She just loves to be dramatic!  She always has a story to tell and she loves books.  She's still our little fashionista - loves clothes and loves to accessorize.  She gets ready in the bathroom multiple times a day.  And she gives me honest opinions about my own style (or lack of!).  She's very into her Polly Pockets and Barbies, we play with them everyday and I love to see how she interprets the interactions of adults around her.  It's so cute to listen to her barbies talk to each other. 

I've been meaning to document that this spring, at 3.5 years old, she learned how to ride a bike without training wheels.  She caught on very quickly and still enjoys whipping down the road.  She has also mastered the 'one eyebrow lift' and this fall, she has been practicing writing her name and she's getting close.  I try to do school with her now and then but most times, she would prefer to be the teacher.  She misses Natalie when she's away but she also enjoys our alone time during Charlie's naps.  She is such a joy.  I find myself being too hard on her at times for being such a free-spirit.  According to my mom, she is just like me when I was this age.  But I do not consider myself a free-spirit and many times, I am way too rigid.  So I'm hoping that she never loses that and continues to teach me how to have fun and be fun!

Currently her favorite book is her little pink Bible, her favorite TV show is 'My Little Pony', her favorite thing to wear is her red pajama skirt on top of the clothes that I make her wear, her favorite song is 'We Are Young' (it's kind of our family's song that we all belt out together), her favorite toy is either a favorite barbie or polly pocket, and she still loves her blankie which is getting rattier everyday.  She can't wait to go to school and loves church.  Sometimes I worry about her socially since she is so independant but she plays really well with other kids and doesn't seem to be bossy.  She is finally coming around to the idea of Jesus... up until this point, she's either been skeptical or stubborn, I'm not sure which.  She is very excited for our baby to come and prays for her often.

We love Ruby so much.  She is a rock, she is hilarious, she is beautiful, she is fierce, she is determined, she is sugar and spice.  She adds so much life and pizzaz to this family and I praise God for her!  Happy fourth birthday, Ruby Louise!!

celebrating mom

This fall, my sister, brother, and I put together a surprise party for my mom.  It was a housewarming party since she moved into a condo.  She has been through a lot but has had a great support system of family and friends through it all.  So we invited her closest friends and family for a night of celebration.  We had two couples take her out to dinner after work and us kids got in her house to set up for the party.  Her friends arrived and the guys chauffered them back and forth from a parking lot to avoid suspicion.  We anxiously waited in the dark living room and caught her off gaurd when we hollered 'surprise'.  It was so exciting.  We had planned for the party for about 6 weeks and hoped for it to be kept a secret.  We even went so far as to invite our very good friends from Florida who came in especially for her party.  Katie and I hung out with Brian and Dorothy for 2 days before mom even knew they were in town.  And the second part of the surprise was that they were going to stay with mom!  So after the initial surprise of the party, she was then surprised to find Brian and Dorothy knocking on the door with their suitcases in hand.  We had cake, punch, goodies, and great fellowship.  The guests at this party have been by her side through everything and Katie, Nick, and I are grateful for each one of them.

And my mom is the most amazing woman I will ever personally know.  Through it all, she has remained faithful to the Lord and has cried out to him for deliverance.  With all that she went through, those that knew the circumstances would not have blamed her if she were bitter and chose not to ever forgive or move on.  But that is not who she is.  She is this beautiful, courageous, inspiring woman.  The greatest example of a wife, mother, and God-fearing woman that a daughter could ever ask for.  She has always been a living example of her faith.  That characteristic of hers was ever present in my own life and has drastically shaped my own relationship with Christ.  I have seen first-hand the miracle of redemption, the freeing power of forgiveness, the joy that is possible even in the darkest of times.  I hope to not ever experience the depth of despair that she has experienced but I know that my Savior will carry me through those times if I look to Him.  I am so blessed to be a daughter of the God of this universe, who cares so deeply for His children.  And I am so grateful for His great love, guidance, and provision in my mom's life.

And that is why we had to celebrate :)

the baby is coming

T minus 6 days.  I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy has flown by.  I think people even forget that I'm pregnant... until they look at me.  I am ginormous! 

My goal for this pregnancy was to stay somewhat in shape.  I had worked so hard to get the weight off after Charlie was born and then to keep it off.  I was training for the 25k when I first found out I was pregnant.  So I kept up the running until the race was over.  Running turned to walking.  Walking fizzled away with the sizzling summer heat.  And now the most exercise I get is wrestling with my two year old.  I've got a lot of work ahead of me to get this weight off and during the holidays, besides :(

I have been trying to enjoy this {presumably} last pregnancy of mine.  I haven't ever minded being pregnant and especially during the second trimester, I have enjoyed it every time.  But at this time, I am ready to not be pregnant anymore.  I'm so much more exhausted... probably due to chasing Charlie around all the time.  I don't think I've even 'nested' with this one.  I'd just rather nap!  I've been searching for the nostalgia in these last days of being pregnant but instead of finding it, I think I am just trying to create it myself!  I just want this little baby girl out!

I can't wait to meet her!  I finally have things prepared for her arrival and it seems surreal that soon she will be sleeping in her little bassinet and wearing those little outfits hanging in the closet.  I feel so incredibly blessed.  The kids are super excited for her to get here too.  Natalie and Charlie have especially appreciated the pregnancy; Natalie keeps coming up to me and lifting up my tummy and Charlie has been enjoying seeing and feeling her move.  Ruby will just be thrilled once she's finally here. 

The baby has been so active throughout the pregnancy.  I don't know if it's because of how stretched everything is for her but she has tumbling all over the place even up to this 9th month.  With the other 3, I could see them tumbling all over but usually it would subside quite a bit by the third pregnancy as they got bigger.  But with this child, I can still pinpoint her feet and her little bum moving from one side to the other.

I love her so much already and am so grateful that God chose this for us.  Although I still don't know how I'm going to manage 4 kids! 

Come little girl, we are ready for you!

First time doing some preggo pics!

jordan is a marathoner

Jordan completed his first marathon today!  That's 26.2 MILES!  I'm so proud of him.  A spectator lady asked me if it's actually 26 miles or if it's "just a 26 K or something".  I assured her that it was definately an accurate 26.2 MILES... silly lady!  This spring, Jordan signed up for the Grand Rapids Marathon and got his friend Jeremy to commit, too.  He has been running long distance steadily since January when we started the 25k training.  He has mostly stuck to the training and he has remained injury-free.  I believe he was as readily prepared for the race today as he could be and he did great!!

Mom and Dad Barkel went with me and the kids to cheer him on.  We got our first glimpse of him at mile 18.    We laughed because all of a sudden, Jeremy was right in front of mom's face throwing his shirt at her!  She had no idea what was going on!!  Jordan came by just a few seconds later and I gave him some more energy beans.  He looked exhausted but was flying by.  We hardly even got a chance to cheer him on.  And actually, we were lucky that we caught that glimpse of him because he and Jeremy were running at about a 9 minute/mile pace which was faster than what Jordan and I had estimated.  So we were figuring on watching at that marker for 15 minutes or so before the earliest possible time that we would see the guys.  And there they were ahead of schedule!  We got back to the car and drove over to the finish line.  The emotion is always thick there.  While some runners are blitzing by, others are clearly struggling.  But everyone finishes and I think I give a greater applause to the ones that struggled.  It was a longer and harder race for them and they overcame something much greater in themselves.  I was so proud and relieved to see Jordan at that 26 mile-marker.  He appeared to be in good shape although he said he didn't feel that way.

He finished in 4:27:57!!  He said he definately hit the wall at mile 20 which was the furthest he had ever run.  He didn't drink a whole lot during the race because it made him have to pee immediately so he was very thirsty afterwards.  And he had a headache throughout the race.  But his body was in mostly good form... it wasn't until he stretched afterward that his legs started to cramp up but not as bad as in previous races.  So I consider it to be a great success.  He wouldn't give an answer on if he would do it again until one week after the marathon.  So we'll see....  But I think he will ;)

Here's my marathon man:

And the kids with the signs we made:

Not sure the signs served their purpose today.



Natalie came up with this phrase




And I just thought it'd be funny to get one of dad with Charlie's sign since it just doesn't make any sense!



the . foyer

Ok...we totally do not have a foyer.  It is just the typical front entry that you would find in any other 1950's ranch.  This is what it currently looks like but (as with every other room in the house) it is subject to change.

Here is the before when we moved in.

Here's an embarassing in-between!

So as you'll see in my previous post, we tore up the tile and vinyl flooring and laid down the wood flooring which we then sanded and painted.  A few years previous to this, Jordan knocked out a wall and framed a doorway that now connects the front entry to the laundry room.  And I put up the board and batton.  It was a first for me in the carpentry department but pretty simple.  The hardest and most time consuming part was actually deciding on the space between the boards.  And something that we have to work around with our house is the radiant heat.  You probably noticed the box on the wall...we have yet to figure out a camouflage.  I would love a great light fixture as well but our ceilings are just not tall enough.  Oh well!  I am grateful for the change in this room.

laundry . room

Another post on what our home currently looks like.  I'm still taking it just one post at a time and this time I'm concentrating on the laundry room.  Our laundry room has changed pretty drastically in the 6.5 years we've owned our home.

This is what it looks like now.

This is what it looked like when we moved in... white marble flooring, a horrible layout, and old appliances.

Luckily we haven't had to live with the 'before' image of the laundry room for long.  A few years ago, we changed the layout when we were forced to get a new washer and dryer.  In January of this year, Jordan and his dad, uncle, and friends took out the flooring down to the sub floor.  That included tearing up vinyl and tile.  The kitchen and front entryway floors were also torn up at this same time.  It took a couple months for the dust to settle!  This was on a Saturday.  The next day, we picked up the new wood flooring we had ordered and began to lay it on Monday.  Jordan's work was slow so he had the week off which was what prompted us to finally get started on this daunting remodel.  So we laid the new wood floor over Monday and Wednesday throughout the three rooms (Jordan had to work on Tuesday).  On Thursday, we moved all of the furniture into the girls' bedroom and tore off all of the shoe molding.  We were preparing for sanding the floors throughout the whole house which is what we did on Friday.  All the while, our kids would play with their toys or watch movies as we worked.  The day we sanded everything, they hung out downstairs.  They had been sleeping down there the whole week and thought it was pretty cool that they could pretty much do anything they wanted down there while we worked.  They were actually pretty responsible!  On Friday morning, we picked up the sanders.  Then we actually had to move this huge industrial serger for my sub-contracting business downstairs.  We finally got started sanding around 10 am and didn't quit until dinnertime.  It was another night of take-out which is pretty rare for us!  Then right away on Saturday morning, we began painting the floors.  We painted until early afternoon.  The last area to get painted was the landing by the basement stairs.  There was no place to go except down.  The paint took a couple hours to dry to the point of being able to walk on so we stayed in the basement and all of us napped - even the dog.  And then we started the second coat which went much faster.  We were done by the end of the night.  What a week...we were exhausted but so glad to have it all done.  And it completely changed the look of the house!

And here are some of the finishing touches.

tantrums

Tonight, Jordan and I went on a date (yay!).  It always seems like it's been too long.  We thoroughly enjoy getting out and away from the kids :)  We ventured to the mall.  And as we were driving under the parking garage, a lady driving towards us began to turn into a spot.  We slowed to a stop and as she was turning, she looked at us and was viciously shaking her head and clearly yelling at us.  We first just stared at her, then I turned around to look behind to see if there was a car behind us she was yelling at - nope.  So we asked each other, 'was she yelling at us?!'  And we just laughed about it because we had no clue what was going on!  We parked as well, just a few spots away.  And we knew we were going to see this lady again.  So as we're all walking towards the mall, Jordan very politely (seriously, I'm not being sarcastic here!) asks her, 'why are you upset with us?'  And she flips out again!  What we caught from her yelling was something about us flashing our lights at her.  I quickly stated to her that our lights go on automatically and must have come on when we got in the dark.  But she had some rebutle to that statement and wasn't going to drop it so we just walked on.  There was another lady with her, both of them middle-aged (perhaps menopausal?!) and she just had this big smile on her face through it all.  And I think we did too!

At first, this fiasco reminded me of our kids.  I'm pretty sure that everyday since Natalie started school, there has been one little meltdown.  Not that she didn't have those before but they are more frequent now and more 'mature meltdowns' as if she were already a teenager.  She'll just get so upset over nothing and out of nowhere, she starts accusing me or another family member of something we did that offended her but we're all clueless as to what it was.  And she always makes an announcement to everyone that goes something like, 'Ok... [states problem], I guess no one wants to be my friend, I'm just going to go in my room and never, ever come out.'  And she leaves and we all just look at each other in confusion.  Even Charlie will say in so many words, 'what's wrong with NayNay?'  Natalie tries to give us a guilt-trip!

Ruby takes a similar approach to her tantrums.  She gets upset over having to change her clothes.  Lately, she always wants to wear the same skirt over and over again.  At least it's over pants so when we just stay at home for the day, I let her get away with it.  But after days of this or if we're going out and I tell her to take it off, she begins to argue.  She cannot understand why Rapunzel and The Chipmunks don't have to change their clothes.  And the arguement sometimes leads to a tantrum when I have to remove the skirt myself.  And we go from unhappy Ruby to enraged, won't be calmed down, Ruby.  The face of the menopause lady.  Ruby just gets MAD!

And then there's Charlie.  He is so busy and into everything!  So we've been having our bouts.  Lately, he has tantrums over having to give me something that he shouldn't play with... a fork or knife, daddy's chalk line, a sharp scissors....  I usually have to wrestle it away from him and then he incorporates a scream into his tantrum.  So far I haven't had to deal with a tantrum in the store but we've all seen that kid in the store that just lets out a scream and his mom doesn't know what to do.  Oh I hope I don't have to deal with a Charlie tantrum in the store!!

Back to the screaming lady....  Part of me took pity on her.  If we had flashed our lights at her purposely, she'd have reason to be a little annoyed since it probably didn't make sense to her why we would do that.  And I realized that I pitied her because I also see myself in certain situations where I'm so sure of what I saw and so angry but there is absolutely no reason for me to be upset!  And a lot of times, after the fact, I realize how childish I acted or felt.  And it doesn't hurt the other person (or it shouldn't when they had nothing to do with it) but it only brings my own attitude down.

It's all part of our human nature and sometimes, it's hard to break free from that.  It feels good to have that pity-party or to throw that occassional tantrum.  But we gain nothing.  And we just look stupid!!  There are different times when I catch myself getting into that mentality of 'poor me...' and it does nothing at all for me or anyone else!

So thank you, crazy-angry-lady for reminding me that jumping to conclusions and formulating judgements and throwing pity parties do nothing for the betterment of any of the people involved!