Sweet Little Distractions!

Our routines have been extremely busy and steady lately. We haven't had a ton of folks coming and going... a few, but not that many to make it stressful. What has us both working overtime is some trips coming up next week and the week after. We have two trips back to back with our ASA (American Sailing Association) folks-- 14 people on one and 18 on the next. This is the largest trips we've done, and they are 4 days apart!

 

Dallas and Tanai are working hard to get all the boats finished and gear ready. I'm working hard on getting all the guests prepped and ready (which has been months of communicating), the menus, hotels, baking, packing and all that fun stuff together. Needless to say, I am constantly covering my hands over my face while shaking my head and saying, "Lord, this is in your hands!I can't do it... Your strength, Your power, Your time and energy are going to get me through. Help us trust you and not get overwhelmed!" Luckily Joss & Emit are totally oblivious to the chaos and stuff rattling around in our brains, so they are our sweet little distractions that keep us firmly planted in reality :)

This photo up here is to show you one of our constant struggles :) Lots of good times are had with these toys... LOTS AND LOTS, but there are a lot of arguments too. For instance see the Lightning McQueen cars in the front...well, the red ones are Emit's favorite toy, by far. BUT...there is a difference between the two. One of them has eyes that move back and forth, and the other doesn't (far right). The one that doesn't move is the first and original, and in demand the most even though there are two others that are perfectly fine. Another battle... the Maters up on the left side. Recently they found out that the blue one in the middle is nice and bumpy going down a ramp (made of a scrap piece of wood) so that one is now called the "Bumpy Mater" and they always want that one. The cool trucks in the back, the Monster Trucks, used to be a battle over the purple and yellow one because it was the "cool" one. But over the last couple days Joss has started liking the black one best because it has a "War Eagle" on it :)

This is for me, I know, but it is so funny (frustrating too) how they can not care about a toy until the other one has it and then that's the one they will cry over for the next 20 minutes until they get a turn with it, or the other one loses interest. I try to be fair, as best I can, but it is tough.

Another distraction for me, when I just need to think about something else, is my new found love with some wood and screws :) Joss & Emit benefited from this little project. They even helped me paint them.

Joss loves his train and "super letters" (from Super Why cartoon) on his chair and Emit loves his Lightning McQueen (at least that's what I was going for) on his.

He'll turn around to find it and then make his vroom sound he does for fast cars. I plan to sew some cushions for them when I get a chance... but for now some blankets are working to make them a little softer when they are relaxing in them.

Emit, Emit, Emit... man, this little guy amazes me everyday! Today he said "War Eagle" for the first time :) Of course, it was when we were playing with the Monster Truck that I mentioned early. Joss taught him how to say it!!!

Emit has started running up to me when he has a dirty diaper on saying "yuck....change" if I don't get to him fast enough. We're playing around with him running around without a diaper at the beach, so we're working on it already...Joss is helping him go pee pee like a big boy too and showing him the ropes :)

Joss has had some really good days lately. I know much of the peacefulness that has come lately on our days is my Quiet Times. I can tell a difference immediately if I don't get to have one first thing in the morning. Dallas is a good man and helping me with the boys first thing in the morning so I can wake up and do my bible study before I ever even get out of bed. If I don't say it enough... I love my husband! He's a wonderful man.

Joss notices when we're having good days too! He'll say things like "I such a good wistener (listener) mommy! Say, 'You're a good wistener, Jossy!' to me mom." I will of course tell him what he wants to hear, but then I usually bring to his attention that I'm in a better mood too because he's being such a good boy. And he usually says "Yeah! Now, let me give you a hug and kiss." :) Perfect little moments!!!

Joss has started his phone calls! The other day he called CC and talked (actually talked too) to her for 89 minutes!!!! He finally said, "Mommy, my hands are getting too sweaty, can you hold the phone?" but he still wanted to talk :) It's become almost a daily thing now to call my mom. He likes to call Poppy, Bev & Kevin too! LOL, I think we confused Kevin like crazy the other day when Joss called him, but hopefully he still liked the call :)

These shots turned out really cute I think, but it was way overexposed, but I like the effect for these particular ones :)

Playing with the timer above. Joss likes to look for the lens to close and make the funny sound. Emit didn't quite have the 10 second attention span needed at this moment :)

We broke out the inner-tube the other day for the first time behind the boat! The boys loved it!!!!!

Emit was not happy to be left out of the first ride, but he did so good helping Daddy drive the boat :)

In fact, I think he even liked it a bit :)

Emit's turn!! I promise, when we asked him if he wanted to go for a ride, he replied with a "Yes!" He started out looking a little uncertain like this one above, but then he was flying high...

and smiling the whole ride!

Mommy & Daddy got to take a spin too!!!

We had the Morton's from next door out with us and I think we were all enjoying some stress-free fun and down time to wrap up the weekend.

Daddy lettin' loose!

I wish Joss' eyes were open in this one below, but he was getting so excited when we were going and wiping out and all that fun stuff! They were our little cheering section and they were having a ball.

I love this photo of Dallas and Emit below...

I was going through some of the shots I had of Joss in this batch of photos and two stuck out at me as "hmmm, this reminds me of that other shot with him kind of like this". What do you think???

LOL, this is what play time outside looks like in our yard. We don't have grass...just dirt, so if things are really dry and dusty (most of the time) this is what it looks like.

(Notice his little buddy in the dirt above)

We had so much fun playing with our Monster Trucks on the porch and in the dirt... it was a sweet time for Mommy and her boys! Dallas said he could tell we were having a good time (he could hear us laughing across the yard).

The photo below makes me sad. Joss and Hagen are so close in a age and they want to play with each other all the time. They will take off running when they see each other to give each other a big hug. Almost every time we start playing with them, we have about a 10-15 minute window before someone is getting slapped or hit (usually Joss) or getting toys snatched away (usually Emit) or screaming and yelling and fighting (usually ALL of the boys). It turns into total chaos! I hope and pray they all grow out of it and can actually be good friends that get along and play nicely with each other. It drives me nuts!!!!

This final one of Emit was so precious! It was during the wonderful WASH DOWN after playing in the dirt. I had the rag and I kept pretending it was a cape on his back and I'd stick it on there and he would sit so still and get this look on his face like "I. AM. SO. COOL!" So I asked him to raise his arm and say "Super Emit!" and Dallas snapped the shot right when he was doing that :)

The fun continues....thank you for following all these long posts! I have to do what I can when I have time to do it... so it all comes at once, sorry :)