Oh rainy days!

 When I finally jumped on the bandwagon and joined Pintrest, I promised myself that I would actually try somethings that I pinned.

 I not only wanted to share one of my kids favorite activities, but I wanted to share the reality of it too :)  

 On Pintrest, there's this great picture of a young boy with bright vibrant colors, where his mom says "he played with this for hours one day while it was raining."  Here's my experience   Yes, my children would play with this for hours - but be prepared!  Go to Sam's club, buy the $6 13lb bag of baking soda, and get the $3 jug of vinegar at walmart, so inexpensive for so much fun!  

What I found, was that almost immediately my older children mixed the colors and just had a bunch of browns after just a few moments.  Cecilia and Jude loved it, but I had to fill the medicine dropper for them and still they just squirted it really fast.  After a bit, the older kids' pan was used up and they were getting restless with the idea - so we progressed to "mini" volcano's.  The first time, I just grabbed a used paper towel ring and cut it up.  But then I made salt clay volcano's so we could use them over and over again.  I mean really, what's more fun than watching that!! :0

Here's the "recipe" if you will:

baking soda

vinegar (for colors just drop a little bit of food coloring in little containers)

medicine droppers (I couldn't find a package to purchase, so the pharmacy at Walmart gave me 4!)

any pan

Have fun

Salt Dough (for any fun occasion, like crown of thorns, homemade ornaments, volcano's)

2cups flour

1/2cup salt

warm water (mix it in a little at time)

bake at 350 for 1hr

Happy rainy days!

A Lenten reflection

I'm going to change gears for a minute from my usual family updates to something a little closer to my heart.  I would like to share with you a bit about our Lent in the Maddox house, or maybe more about me :)  It's ok to have a few things about me..right?   

 This year, I've had the chance to start a new group at our Church with a friend of mine, Mandy Flurry.   We started studying a new book called "Style, Sex, and Substance" edited by Hallie Lord.  You should Check her blog out!  www.moxiewife.com

 Anyways, through this study, and my own prayers and reading the same theme continues to cross my path..... "He must increase, but I must decrease" John 3:30.   I know, I know - duh!  I mean that is what Lent is about isn't it?  This great opportunity to die to ourselves, deny some simple pleasure in such a way that we grow in holiness.   It's not enough to say, I'm going to give up sweets and then just do that.  We are called to truly grow in the ability to die to our daily immediate desires, not so that we can be miserable and never happy - but just the opposite, so that we can experience a truely amazing happiness, one that only God can show us!

 Why would I not want this joy and happiness, why would I not want that for my marriage and my family? This Lent God is giving me this great chance to dig deeper and allow Him to increase in my life - but only if I will allow myself to decrease!  

I hope you all have an amazing Lent!  And I want to know about your Lent, leave a comment and let us know how God is calling you this year!  

Two year old twins.....I don't believe it!

 Yesterday I woke up, and all of a sudden I had two, two year olds!  Are you kidding me?  How did this happen?  Well it did, and here is a semi - quick overview of the last two years via pictures.

 Alan and I are embarking on new territory here, ok let's be honest, ever since having Cecilia and Jude we've been in all sorts of new territory when it comes to children.  But this time, for the first time, we have two year olds........ and I'm not holding a new born in my arms.  

 I checked out my blog from the twins birth and it is so amazing to look at Stephen and Abby.  They were so young, Abby was two weeks shy of 2 herself!  Wow!  God is Amazing isn't He!  

 These past two years have been full of laughter, joy, some tears, extreme amount of patience (moments of lost patience) and a level of learning and growth that I'm not sure Alan and I knew was possible in two years.  

 So here we are, a very spirited joyful 5 1/2 year old, a beautiful almost 4yr old, and two amazingly different 2 yr olds.  So what's next?

 Well, that's up to God!

 I digress. 

 These have been some of the greatest years and memories of my life.

 And I am sure any mother would say the same!  

   Thank you for joining us on this journey, and supporting us in so many ways!  I can't even begin to express to our families and friends who have been there for us when we needed an extra hand! Thank you!!

Happy birthday Cecilia and Jude!

You have brought so much joy and life into our lives! I can't wait to see what God has in store for us next! :)

Hey Jude!

 So, little Jude got a little sick the other day - and well, I really wanted to work on getting a good picture in poor lighting.... so look who got to be my subject.  Really, it was an almost perfect scenario (other than the fact that the little guy wasn't feeling good of course).  But around here, we don't have a lot of moments where someone stays completely still and you can use a bit of a slower shutter speed

 Don't worry, he bounced back beautifully the next morning!  It also brings up another question.... is it bad to think your child is super cute when their sick?  I couldn't help but melt inside when he followed me into his room, begged for his puppy and blankie and then headed back to the couch.  He wasn't moaning or anything, just very gentle and loving......what a guy!

 I have noticed though that I haven't taken to many pictures these days, so I am trying very hard to keep my camera near and get on the ball around here

 Jude was not thrilled with the idea

 Cecilia tried to comfort him....

 He thought he was fooling me (but I saw that smile)

ahhhh, and 2 mins later Jude gave me the shot of the day!

Happy Fat Tuesday!  The Maddox house is busy, busy, eating all the cookies we can get our hands on and then talking up a storm about Lent and Ash Wednesday.  Once everyone wakes up from their naps we are going to make "bury the Alleluia" signs. I found a great, fun activity at Catholic Icing.  You should head over for some fun ideas!

May you all have a peaceful and prayerful Lent!  

Why not?

So 2013 has put a little perspective in my life - to say the least!  We've had a few bumps and tears, but in the end God is control and I know all will be ok!

Last week, I needed to run to my parents to pick up Alan's suit and as I was getting everyone together I thought to myself "why not check Stephen out of school for this?"  Ever since he started school, he doesn't see my parent's as often as before, and that's just not right!  I also knew that if I grabbed him out of school, we would have more time with my parents and not feel the need to rush back to MS so I could be home for the bus.

 Off we went, Stephen's surprised face was priceless (mainly b/c he thought I was checking him out to go to the dentist! haha)

We had a carefree afternoon, trying to find wind in my parents backyard and just enjoying each other.  Isn't that what being a child is supposed to be about?  Isn't that why we wanted to stay close to our family and not move to TX when we had the chance last year? 

 At the end of the day family is so important!  We don't know what tomorrow holds, so this family is going to step back and make more time for all those we love!