Just take a min

New running shoes
Beautiful weather
Time to run downtown
By myself
A chance to breathe
My husband knew I needed it
It's hard to step out of the craziness
He had to push me out the door
He's pretty awesome

The Stairs

Do you have one area in your home that can make the whole house seem clean if it is clean or dirty if it is dirty? For me, it's our stairs.

Our home has this lovely light colored carpet on the stairs and upstairs. It is pretty--if it's clean. With small children who run in and out of the house and through the woods/leaves/dirt all day and a dog who likes to nap on the stairs, it's rarely clean.

After trying to convince myself and jay that polka-dot carpet is in style (because that's what the stains were starting to look like), I finally broke down and steam cleaned the crazy stairs this morning.

Much better now...and the whole house seems a little bit cleaner.

Hatten Family Day 2012

Each year, Jay and I pick a random day and declare that it is "Hatten Family Day." 

We do a fun activity with the family and spend the whole day together. Jay and I commit to not even check our phones or have other distractions :) The kids talk all year about what we are going to do for Hatten Family Day. We hope we are creating a really fun tradition that will continue until they're adults and establish some great family memories. We want them to know how much we treasure our family.

In previous years we have gone apple picking (2008), gone to a Reds baseball game and the aquarium in Atlanta (2009), hiked in the Cradle of Forestry (2010), and gone horseback riding (2011).

This year we went to Charlotte for the day and went to the Discovery Place.

The kids thought it was great to walk a few blocks in downtown Charlotte and see the skyscrapers.

While walking down the street, a family stopped us and said "Did you have 3 kids and then have twins??" Turns out that they had the exact same pattern. Their kids now range in age from 6-12 so they're past the baby stage of it all. It is encouraging for us to see people who have successfully made it past this stage when they're all little. 

We enjoyed pizzas at Brixx for lunch.

 Then we spent the afternoon in the Discovery Place. We investigated and learned about all kinds of things--bears, shells, fish, rainforests, and more.

We watched a 3D movie about lions

 The babies took naps off and on in their stroller. They were very good overall. It was a little tricky when it was time to fix them bottles because the bathroom didn't have hot water. I asked a lady who worked there if there was a sink somewhere with hot water. The next thing I knew, I was hanging out in the breakroom with all the people who work there while I fed the babies and changed diapers. Let's just say that there are some interesting people who work at the Discovery Place. (and I was a science teacher....)

 They really liked the aquarium section, especially the jellyfish.

 I have no idea what Catherine was doing in this part. I was in the break room. I think it was a chair lifted by air??

 Will really liked these drums he found.

 Overall it was a great day! A little hectic and we were all exhausted by the time we got home. Two days of travel, lack of naps and different schedules puts us at our limit. We spent today being very low key and recovering.

We were so thankful to have a fun day together and make great memories for Hatten Family Day!

Thanksgiving at the farm

We went to my family's for thanksgiving. This is the first time we have been there in 4 years. We have lunch at my aunts house--which used to be my grandfather's house and is directly across the road from my dads house. I loved growing up across the road from my grandparents.
With all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and a few people I had never seen before we had 60 people there for lunch. Thankfully it was very nice weather and we could keep the kids outside!
We had a great time and were very thankful for an afternoon with the family.

Pilgrims and Indians give thanks

Happy Thanksgiving! This is one of our favorite holidays: pretty low key with focus on thankfulness and family. And who doesn't love a few little Indians and Pilgrims? The kids had these really great costumes from their Thanksgiving skits at school. So fun!

This past year has been one of the most challenging of our lives, for sure. Last Thanksgiving we told the kids that we were having a baby. We didn't know yet that it was two babies! Jay's dad actually kept joking last Thanksgiving about us having twins and we told him to be quiet because he was worrying Jay. One year ago I had no idea what was in store for us.

This year I am extremely thankful for God's faithfulness to us. He has walked with us closely throughout our time of pregnancy and newborns. Not that He wasn't before then, but we have learned to trust Him more and how much we really do need Him. A lot of this year has been humbling to me, a breaking of my self-dependence and pride.

God has also really shown us how it looks and works for a community of believers to help one another. Like the Pilgrims and Indians (at least the nice, friendly ones we teach the kids about) we have things to offer one another and ways to help each other. I can't name all the ways that others have helped us this year, and I'm thankful that I'm now getting back on my feet enough to be able to help others as well. Helping with meals, chores at home, children, phone calls, cards, and more--It has been so encouraging and refreshing to see how God provides through his people.

We hope you have a happy Thanksgiving, filled with gratitude to the One who is the giver of all good gifts and is always faithful to us.

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100: 4-5

"Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great Kind above all gods." Psalm 95: 1-3

"God our Father, God our Father, we thank you, we thank you. For our many blessings, for our many blessings, Amen, Amen" (Anna's favorite blessing--because it says "thank you" even when she refused to say thank you for 6 months)

Laundry from 1986

For a few years now, I've been doing laundry from 1986.

That's when our house was built and that's what year our laundry room still looked like.

I know it's just a laundry room and probably not that noteworthy, but I am in there a lot. 

A whole lot.

After the babies were born and I went through my "postpartum nesting" phase, the laundry room had to change. I really didn't want to spend much money on it. It is just a laundry room, so I tried to think creatively about how to brighten and improve the space.

We were having the exterior trim of the house painted, so while the painter was here I figured I could get him to take down the glorious iridescent wallpaper and repair the hole in the sheetrock a plumber left us a year or so ago. I had a gallon of leftover paint from our bathroom and I had our painter mix a little white into it to lighten it up and create the color for the walls.  We were also having new carpet put into our master bedroom (another postpartum thing that was driving me crazy) so I found an inexpensive linoleum remnant to have installed as well. I  had a shelf installed from wall to wall above the dryer (a simple wood board painted white) and added a few fun baskets for cleaning rags and buttons/safety pins, as well as some artwork. Viola! My laundry mood is much improved.

Here's the before:

Not a huge laundry room, but functional. I'm actually glad it's not a huge room. That forces me to deal with the laundry instead of letting it pile up.

 The wallpaper: blue and purple iridescent design. It shimmered in the light. seriously

 the floor: really stained and old linoleum

 Here's the after:
Much brighter and fresher!

It's nothing overly fancy, but I enjoy it so much more. I am in there multiple times per day, so I wanted to enjoy my time there.

And what is the laundry strategy when you have five small children? You do laundry pretty much every time you walk by the laundry room. Put the next load in the washer or the dryer, fold something, take something to be put away. On average I do 2  loads of laundry a day, and once or twice a week I may have a focused laundry day of 4-5 loads and I make sure I get everything folded and put away.

It's a never-ending job for sure. But I am thankful that we have clothes to wear and people to wear them. (And I'm thankful that the ugly wallpaper is gone. Seriously....it doesn't matter what year it was. That was never attractive.)

Indian mommy

Catherine's class studied the pilgrims and Indians. They each then made a pilgrim or Indian and were supposed to write a paragraph about what they learned. Catherine made this beautiful Indian and her whole paragraph is basically about how they take care of their babies and what they wear. She has a sweet mommy heart already and it shows in what she does so easily.

It's cold outside

In the 30s here this morning. It's like winter! Bundle up and snuggle up!

The Great School Debate

Long before Jay and I had children, we discussed/debated/argued about what we would do for school. We both grew up attending public schools (although there weren't really other options in either of our hometowns). I taught in a private school and enjoyed a lot of the advantages that had to offer though. I also feel more of the need to shelter and protect and keep them close, while Jay is more open to worldly exposure and failures so that we can teach and guide them through that while they are still home with us. I think both sides of this argument have very legitimate concerns and issues and we both kept arguing for our side for years. 

Catherine attended a private church-based preschool and we did keep her there for kindergarten. After exploring many options for "big school" and lots of prayer, we felt like God was confirming that we should enroll her in our public school. She is adjusting well. It was a little overwhelming to go from a small preschool to a large school of 800+ students. And this is a new experience for our family, so we're figuring it out as we go. I think Catherine gets frustrated if we don't know how certain things work at school because a lot of kids in her class have older siblings there and already know the routine. But she's our oldest and gets to be our guinea pig :) By the time James and Elizabeth get there, we'll have this all figured out!

One thing that has been helpful is the Learning Community classroom. There is a 1st-5th grade group of classes that can move the students for math and reading based on the skill level. They evaluate this for different units and at different times of the year based on teacher observation and testing. Catherine is currently in the 2nd grade reading class and that has brought an extra challenge for her that is encouraging. Her first grade teacher is also fantastic and allows the children a lot of flexibility and opportunities for learning based on their individual styles and personalities.

The sweet child's least favorite subject is P.E. She is her mama's child. She cries most Weds nights and Thurs mornings because she is terrified her PE teacher will give her a test and she might not be able to catch the ball or something. It's her greatest area of weakness at school. Hey, you can't be good at everything, right?

I still have moments (or days) when I want to keep her home, shelter her more. It's hard for me every time I drop her off to watch her walk into school. That's our little girl, and she seems vulnerable to walk into that big building by herself. But I have to be careful not to project my fears and insecurities onto her. To keep her here would ultimately be because of my needs, not necessarily what is best for her. I it's a little step of letting go and trusting God. She is his daughter more than mine and I have to trust that He knows what is best for her. I'm also trusting in Jay's leadership in this area and I respect his decisions and wisdom immensely. 

Here are a few cute pics from the school carnival. It was about a month ago but I forgot to post them.

Her anticipation of the carnival night was intense. About like waiting for Christmas morning.

It's exciting to watch her grow up and learn new things. We are very proud of Catherine!

One less

One less baby tooth
She's growing up so fast
That's both good exciting and a little sad
Is it normal to feel nostalgic about every single tooth??

Voting

This is the first year any of our children have really been aware about elections and the voting process. They asked some pretty good questions about how it all works and were excited to pick who they would vote for. Catherine said she would vote for Obama because "even though he hasn't done a good job we should give him a second chance". Will said he would vote for Romney because "we need somebody different and they need to take turns with who is in charge". I think that pretty much sums it all up.

I won't get into much about political views on here. It's not my cup of tea. I will say that our elected leaders usually represent and follow the views of the culture; the leaders don't make decisions that change the culture's morals or values (usually). I think America's values are changing and that's more and more obvious. People don't feel the need to be good moralists and we have an ever increasing selfish society. I think that is being reflected in our elections. That's all I'm going to say about that.

We spent our Election Day by going to Camp Cothran and playing. Our big kids played outside in the freezing cold and we kept babies and little ones inside. Then we all enjoyed some hot chocolate and fresh baked bread. Thanks Jill!

It's finally time

It's finally time to start potty training Anna. We've been working on "potty awareness" for a while--you know, discussing the issue, and how big girls use the potty, and whatnot. Anna is so stubborn though that I haven't wanted to push the issue because I know she'll refuse to do it. (We are just now slowly coming out of her 6 month refusal to say please and thank you!!)

A week or so ago Anna decided that she wanted to sit on the potty and wear pull ups. So we are letting her try it on her own initiative. She has had a few successes, which she rewarded herself for with stickers on her face this morning. I think if I don't push the issue that she may potty train herself. Wouldn't that be nice??

Don't be scared

Don't be scared, but we have a few dinosaurs living in our kitchen!

Trick or treat

We had lots of fun trick or treating last night. Our neighborhood is pretty quiet so we always go trick or treating with some of our best friends. We eat pizza and fruit in the driveway and then do some serious trick or treating.

This year Catherine wore a fancy purple dress and fur coat. I'm not sure if she was a princess or just wanted to be fancy. Will was a pirate (who didn't want to have his picture taken). Anna wore a princess dress to her school Halloween party and was a pink (warm) poodle last night. The babies both wore Halloween onesies and pumpkin hats my mom made. It was so cold though that I bundled them up in warm little snow suits. They were all so cute!

We hope you enjoyed lots of treats, and not tricks!