All posts by Only Hsuman

I'm wife to a fabulous husband Ryan, mom of three sweeties, Ella Kate, Joseph and Davis, worship leader at Reynolda Church, and follower of Jesus. Shine on.
mommyhood, random thoughts, things toddlers say

Things Toddlers Say

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Hey y’all! Happy Tuesday 🙂 I hope you’ve been having a great time with parties, decorations, shopping and celebrating the season! I know that we are having a great time experiencing the magic of Christmas with our young sets of eyes! Here are this week’s funnies! 

 EK, getting in push up position: 22, Mom?

EK: I wanna hold your hand!
Me: Okay! I love holding hands!
EK: Your hand is like, comfy, Mom!
Me: Aw thanks! That makes me feel good.
EK: It makes your heart happy? And heart sing?

EK, holding a phone: I’m checking my a-mail!

J, very tired at dinner: I need you carry me now.
Hubby: Do you want to get in your jammies?
J: Yeah. And panties. I want da panties now.
He thinks since his sister wears them, he can too.

We’ve put responsibility on EK to be a good example for her brothers. So now, every time J does something wrong, she says, “I need to teach him not to _____.” And if she does something wrong, she says, “Joseph’s teaching me to do that!” This includes but is not limited to the following:
Spitting (at the table or anywhere)
Screaming (at the table or anywhere)
Sticking tongue out
Biting
Pushing
Not eating one’s meal

J, giggling in D’s face: You so funny, Davis!

The scariest thing my daughter has ever said to me happened the other morning while I was still in the bed…
EK: Mom, look! I painted my nails!
Me: Where?! WHERE IS IT?! WHERE ELSE IS IT?!?!

The kids have been obsessed with Inside Out. The main character Riley plays hockey, and EK has been begging to go skating. Imagine her surprise when I was putting her to bed Friday night, and telling her we would see Disney on Ice the next day…

Me: Well, tomorrow we are going to see Elsa and Anna ice skate!
EK: REALLY?!
Me: Yes! We’re going to go see lots of princesses go skating together! (Grasping at straws for how to explain something like that to a kid who’s never seen it before)
EK: Yay! What about Ariel and Cinderella?
Me (hoping it’s true): Yes, them too!

J, every time I open the car door to get him out of his seat: You scared me!

J, jumping out from behind literally everything: Boo Mommy! Boo Daddy! Boo Ella Kate! Boo Davis!

And then this happened…  J: Boo guys!
Me: Be careful, and sit down.
J: Yeah! Careful chair! (Sits down, then gets back up.)
Me: Sit down or get off the chair.
J: (runs away)
Me: Well, that’s decided.

So there you have it… our silly kids! What are you kiddos saying? What’s so funny about them?

crafts/diy, holidays, home, mommyhood, random thoughts

Currently

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Happy Monday! Christmas is in full swing around here. I’ve even wrapped two presents! Okay, fine. Those were for a Dirty Santa swap we did with our small group last night, but still. It counts! I’ve been spending time doing a little extra baking than usual, making holiday plans, coordinating who gets to attend which parties (why are so many of them on the same day?!) and still trying to find time for little things with just my five family members. It’s surprisingly tough. Anyway, I’m linking up today with Becky at Choose Happy and the other wonderful bloggers to talk about what we’ve been up to currently. Link up, comment, and join us!

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Wearing || all my favorite sweaters! It’s finally cold enough to wear a sweater without getting hot during the day, so I’ve busted out my favorites…

Crafting || with peppermints! I’ll post about this later when we’ve done it, but my plan is to melt peppermints (hard candy ones) inside metal cookie cutters to make ornaments! A friend had posted pictures of their (successful!) attempt at it, and I thought it looked like a cute and easy way to let the kids do a fun craft. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Playing || Heads Up! We’ve always loved this as a party game, but last night with our small group buddies, we played for over an hour! We really like it, and the fact that you can get new decks when you start repeating (and there are always updates) is really handy. It kills your cell phone battery, but it’s just so fun! We had a great time with the Act It Out category last night.  

   

Eating || Breakfast with Santa! EK was the only one that got to go (boys were at the doctor that morning) but she had a great time with her grandparents and cousins! She told Santa she just wanted candy canes. Ha! 

 Watching || Disney on Ice! We went with our sweet friends (who have kids almost the exact same ages as our three) to Greensboro to see it, and I’m so glad we did! It was almost too long… J got a little antsy towards the end, but we all made it through, and they were enthralled! 

    
 

Well, there is our family update. What’s been going on with you and yours?

faith, holidays, home, mommyhood, random thoughts

Slow Down.

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Y’all. Time is flying. Weather is cooling, decorations are twinkling, and the days go by so quickly! That could have a little bit to do with the fact that the sun is only up for ten hours, but eh… who is paying attention to that?

This season of waiting, of already and not yet has even more meaning this year. Not only are we celebrating the coming of Christ as a helpless babe, but we are also celebrating Christmas… a first christmas for D, a second for J (and likely his first in memory) and a fourth for EK (and she is all about the traditions since she remembers some things from last year). 

We also have parties, church services and gigs to plan for. This is all in addition to leaving town all of next weekend, and leaving the kids with my parents. Hubby’s cousin is getting married, and I am turning 30. It just seemed like the right time. But what will we be missing when we go?

EK remembers our advent calendar each day, and understands when we tell her something special is happening. For instance, tomorrow we have breakfast with Santa with Hubby’s family, followed by Disney on Ice with some dear friends. It makes for a busy day, but a wonderful time  for our kids. I am just as excited as they are! 

But there is some trepidation there. With our littles, it’s proven to be hard to get anywhere, much less on time. It’s hard to pack everything we need, feed everyone on time, and let everyone get their rest when they need it. I know this is a season, and a short one in the grand scheme, but I am lost in the details. 

I am struggling to not lose sight of the important things, as I cross off my to-do list, see my gift-buying list get shorter, and attend more events than I ever thought possible. How did I get so busy? Didn’t I decide to stay home so that life could be more simple? It just seems more hectic as we get closer to Christmas. 

I know I’m not the only one feeling this way… I can’t be. Others have full plates or young children or both. All parents balance their work and home lives, and try to make Christmas magical for the children. But as life gets crazier, I find myself pining for morning pajama dance parties, pb&j lunches and movie-watching evenings. I just want to relax and read Christmas stories with my family, and there doesn’t seem to be time. 

So here, in the eleventh hour, I choose to slow down. I’m not adding anything else to my full calendar, or looking for any other happenings. I want to watch Christmas movies more evenings than not. I want to drink hot chocolate. I want to drive around our neighborhood, looking for lights. I’ll unplug, bake cookies, take naps, and read those Christmas books over and over. My kids will love it, because they love slow time with us. They’re not begging to travel or go to events. They’re not asking for fancy toys and huge presents (yet, anyway). I will slow down and enjoy this magical time of twinkly lights, sugary treats, family and friends, and the baby Jesus’ birth. We all need it. We all need love and grace and hope that even in a busy, and sometimes scary world, there are good things. 

mommyhood, siblings, things toddlers say

Things Toddlers Say

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Hey y’all! And happy Tuesday! Hope you’ve had a great week so far – I had a case of the Mondays yesterday, and drank copious amounts of coffee. Here are this week’s funnies!

EK, randomly, brings three plastic balls to my mom: Do you know how to juggle?
Necie: No, I’m not coordinated enough to juggle.
EK, a few minutes later: *sigh* I love hear balls.
Later still…
EK: Monkeys can juggle, right?

During Thanksgiving lunch…
EK: I have to poop.
Me: Okay. You go, and let me know when you’re finished.
EK: Can you come with me?
Me: No. No. No, I can’t.

J, putting his arm around my neck: My best frien’.
Me: He just said I’m his best friend! Who’s your best friend, Joseph?
J: Finley! Finley! Best friends! Best friends!

Christmas misnomers:
Candy canes=candy cones
Ornaments=arnamitts
Jingle bells=jiggle bells

Seeing the Festival of Lights…
EK, every 30 seconds: Isn’t this great, Mom?!

At a friend’s birthday party last week, the kids get to hit a piñata. Whenever it wasn’t her turn to hit, EK was cheering for the other kids…
EK: Go Styles! Go Riley! Go Joseph! Go George! Go Finley! Good job, everyone! Woooooo!

At a restaurant, EK points to the lemon on my water that I haven’t used.
EK: Can I have that lemon?
Me: Here you go!
EK, dropping it in her water: I want to make my water toolicious!

Eating lunch…


J: Hey Davis! Hey Davis! Hey Davis! Hey Davis! (et cetera)

Watching Hubby cut carrots…
J: Why you cutting? Why you cutting? Why you cutting? Why you cutting carrots?

Eating homemade ramen one night, and using chopsticks (obviously), EK was using her chopsticks to make letters (brilliant, by the way) and J was watching her in awe. He kept saying, “That’s funny, Ella Kate!” He loves her.

Putting J to bed in his “big boy bed” has been a chore some nights. Other nights, he flings his arms around my (or Hubby’s) neck and says, “I wanna ‘nuggle!” Heart melting.

Is there anything cute that your kids are saying these days?

food, food, holidays, home, mommyhood

Currently: Thankful

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Hey everyone! Look at me getting this out on a Monday! It’s like all my kids are napping at the same time, or something… I hope everyone had as wonderful a Thanksgiving as we did. I’m linking up with Becky at Choose Happy again this week, so join us and let us know what you’re up to currently!

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Thankful for || my family. Y’all, Thanksgiving was great. It wasn’t busy, and it wasn’t the most exciting one we’ve ever had. But it was great. My parents were here for most of the week, and my brother and his girlfriend were here for a day and a night. We really loved having them in town, and a low-key Thanksgiving was just what we needed.

  
Anticipating || Christmas. As I’ve mentioned before, advent is my favorite time of year, and I’ll probably say it again. The idea of already and not yet is the beauty of the Gospel. Jesus has already come and saved us from our sins, but he’s going to come again! The opportunity to celebrate this again and again every year is exciting to me, and I would “do Christmas” every day of the year!


 Listening to || Glory in the Heights. It’s a song written by the friend of a friend, and we incorporate it in our Christmas worship services at my church. Here’s the YouTube of the story behind it. You can download it on Noisetrade! It’s SO GOOD.

Baking || sugar cut out cookies! My kids love them, and love making them. The recipe I have (I’ll try to post it this week!) is okay to freeze, so we are going to make a double batch, and freeze some dough in small chunks so we can make a few cookies fairly often. It’s hard for us to finish a whole batch of something before they’re stale, so I love to use recipes I can either half or freeze.

  

Cleaning || all of the things! I had a really productive day today, folding a lot of laundry, several loads of dishes (we were really lazy after dinner last night), cleaning the floor and counters in the kitchen, and changing sheets on every bed in the house, I was feeling like superwoman. There was a lot of coffee involved.

So now, tell me… what are you up to currently?

faith, holidays, home, mommyhood, My Big Jesus

Trimming the Tree: Thought Processes of Preschoolers

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This post also appeared on My Big Jesus!

I was so excited this year to get my Christmas decorations out and spend an evening with my family trimming the tree. Advent is my favorite time of the year and I love starting the season with music and lights and family.

I got box after box of carefully wrapped decorations from the attic, as visions of sugar plums danced in my head, and as my mother forcibly held my almost 2 year old son back from climbing the ladder after me. My 3 1/2 year old daughter, well-acquainted with the magic of Christmas, danced around the room, alternately shouting about how excited she was about the artaments and shouting at her brother to not break them.

We unwrapped the shiny, sparkly goodies and helped the first round of them get on the tree. I put the most fragile as high as I could, and let the kids do what they could reach. J quickly lost interest upon learning that actually putting the string around a branch was difficult, and resorted to pushing all the buttons on the ones that made noise (cue the off-key renditions of Disney songs and light shows that could cause seizures).

Having only broken a couple of ornaments so far, I felt like it was going well. The next day, however, as I admired our handiwork, I noticed a few things. This is what my preschoolers must’ve thought:

First of all, ornaments look best on the bottom of the tree. Either that or they didn’t bother to reach above their waistlines. Clusters of ornaments hang at my knee level and below, mostly including the “fun ones” or ones that my daughter made.

Secondly, once a kid got hooked on one branch, it had to have at least four ornaments before moving on to the next one. Branches are weighed down so heavily that I’ve moved several ornaments off to relieve pressure.

Third, similar ornaments must be hung together. If they came in a set together, they were meant to be hung near each other. Why spread them out evenly? (Close proximity of polka dot hats and silver garlic blubs – thanks Hubby for pointing that shape out.)

Lastly, the tree is not the only place for ornaments. The kitchen table, nightstands, and the middle of the floor are all acceptable places for tree ornaments to be residing. Note: if they make noise, they’re in a kid’s hand all the time.

All in all, I kinda dig it. I can have a tree worthy of Southern Living when I’m an empty-nester.

faith, holidays, mommyhood, random thoughts

What I’m Thankful For This Year

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I try to be thankful every day. As I’m sure you know, some days it’s easier than others. I spent the last couple of weeks trying to do small kindnesses, just paying a little love forward. It was wonderful to see the way it changed someone’s attitude sometimes, and the times I didn’t see it, it was good to know that someone would be blessed by what I had done. We are blessed to be a blessing!

This year, I’ve posted pictures in my Instagram every day of things that in thankful for, and they’ve often just been spur of the moment things, however I was feeling right then. But here’s a list for you, of a few things that are gratefully heavy on my heart today.

 My family. I mean the ones that brought me into this world and raised me. I have incredibly hardworking and loving parents, an awesome brother who I am glad to say I’m friends with, a sweet, sweet grandmother (and three other grandparents in heaven who I miss). I have aunts and uncles and cousins galore, all who I wish I saw more often, but they’re all truly wonderful. Family is awesome, y’all.

My family. NOW I’m talking about the family I’ve started… Starting with the most wonderful husband in the world, who loves me so well each and every day, even when I’m grumpy. I also have three healthy and happy children, all of whom we are able to feed, clothe, teach and treasure. Nothing is better than that.

My home. We live in a big house that keeps us dry and warm. That’s an incredible blessing. Not to mention, it’s also a safe place for our family and friends, and we have already, in our five years in it, made wonderful memories here.

My education. My parents worked hard to get me the best education available where we lived, and then send me on to college. This is a privilege and I am so thankful for it.

My town. Y’all, Winston-Salem is the coolest. It’s a great community full of innovative and excited people and I love living here.

My church. Reynolda has changed my life in so many ways, and I will always be grateful. The people there are nothing short of fantastic, loving, and grace-filled. They are my people. 

Those are just a few things… just a start. What are you thankful for this holiday?

mommyhood, siblings, things toddlers say

Things Toddlers Say 

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Hey y’all! Happy Tuesday – before Thanksgiving! I hope you all get a few days respite and time with your family this week!

I’ve noticed that what I’m writing each week is getting a little more conversational. Even J is getting to be a big boy (and did you see he’s in his big boy bed now?!) with the way he talks. It’s getting good, folks. Enjoy!

Me: It’s raining today, so let’s put your boots on.
J: No, I don’t wan’ wear ma boops!
Me: Okay, well let’s just get dressed.
(Puts all the other clothes on.)
J: Mom! I wan’ wear ma boops!
Just act like it was his idea.

For J, when he gets in trouble, he sits in time out. And apparently I’ve been speaking too harshly, or else he knows just how to dramatize it. Sometimes, randomly, he’ll shout, “Time out!” and point to the hallway (where our time out spot is) and not crack a single smile. I don’t necessarily feel like I shout it, or say it without explanation, but he gets the point.

Overheard from the other room…
EK: Hop in there, Joe Joe!
J: Okay!
EK: We’ve got to get to home!
J: Okay!
EK: Come on, Bing Bong!
Hubby, coming into the room: Do you know what they’re doing? It took me a while to figure out… They’re playing “Inside Out”.
Me: And of course, J is Bing Bong (the imaginary cotton candy-elephant-cat).

Instead of asking for eggs like he normally does, J has started calling them eggies. A little throwback, perhaps?

EK: Mama! Here’s your bootiful bracelet!

Hartley: They have really good collard greens here.
Me: Are they spicy?
J: Are you spicy?
Me: Hahahaha!

Me: Hey, where did you put the cream cheese?
EK: On the counter, next to the knife block and the coffee maker.   Me: Very astute. You also just used several words I didn’t know you knew.

Annie, upon giving EK a Lindor truffle: Did that taste really good?
EK:Yeah!
Annie: What did it taste like?
EK: A bird in my mouth!

J: Mom! Look!
Me: What is it?
J: A that!
Me: A what?
J: A fire truck!
It was a yellow car.

Driving home from the store, we had a case of wine in the back seat…
(Loud clinking)
EK: Be quiet, wines!

Are your kids funny, too? I want to hear what they say!

faith, home, mommyhood, My Big Jesus

He Is Secure, Even If I’m Not

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This post also appeared on My Big Jesus!  

 This weekend, unbeknownst to me, Hubby transitioned my little tiny baby J into his big boy bed.

Okay, so he’s not so tiny. But he’s still a baby, right?!

J won’t be two till just after Christmas, and even though he has an actually tiny baby brother, he himself is still a baby. A toddler, maybe, but in many ways still a baby. He needs snuggles and has warm milk at nap time and won’t use the potty and should still be contained in his crib. 

But while I was out on Saturday, Christmas shopping with my sisters-in-law and my mother-in-law, Hubby put J down for a nap in the queen-sized bed (that’s already in his room for lack of another place to put it). We had been talking about moving him into it, and letting J get used to the idea, but hadn’t made any real plan for when it would happen.

With EK, we tried to move her to a big girl bed too early. We were preparing for J’s arrival, and just couldn’t get her to stay in her big girl room, so she slept in his nursery even after he was a couple of weeks old. She wasn’t ready, and she was not going to sleep there until she decided it was time.

Now on Saturday (with no warning, may I add), I just received a picture text from Hubby of the video monitor, pointed at the bed, with a tiny spot of J somewhere near the headboard. I couldn’t believe it! Tears came to my eyes when I thought of my little baby boy, asleep in that giant bed, without me snuggling next to him. Surely he can’t be ready! He must feel so scared alone in that huge bed!

But he wasn’t scared or sad. He was ready. I was the one who wasn’t.

Upon further conversation, I learned that he didn’t go immediately to sleep, but he slept soundly once he was. He has even spent two nights and another nap in the bed, only escaping the room a couple of times before drifting off.

He isn’t even my last baby, but I’m not ready to lose the crib. What if he misses it? What if he asks to sleep there? But it’s my security blanket, not his. I’m the one that wants to hold him back. But he knows that his needs will be met, his fears will be stilled, and he can be brave because he is loved and taken care of. He is secure.

food, holidays, home, mommyhood, random thoughts

Currently

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I just can’t get my updates out on Mondays anymore. Sheesh! I guess not much has happened since my update on Thursday, but here goes anyway! I’ll link up with Becky as usual! Here’s what I’m currently doing…IMG_0614

Eating || fried eggs. Why I’ve just rediscovered their deliciousness, I’m not sure. But I cannot get enough of them! I’ve always loved eggs in basically any form, but right now, frying them (over medium) is my jam.   

  Listening || to Christmas music! Not all day, every day yet, but the local radio station has switched over, and I’m also planning my advent music at church, so it’s just been a nice transition. 

Enjoying || the lovely weather right now! We’ve had clear skies and cool (but not cold) afternoons. It’s perfect, and we’ve all enjoyed some time outside! 
Thankful for || this season of preparing our hearts for Christmas. I’d always loved advent, and just before it gets started is a great time to set our hearts in a posture of gratitude. I am blessed immensely, and I choose to be grateful for the people and things in my life. 

What are you thankful for? What are you up to currently?