Happy Halloween!

It was a rainy night this Halloween. Luckily, the storm passed by around 7, so the kids didn't get rained on all night. Brooke went to a couple houses and went to bed. Mia got dropped off shortly after, and she helped me pass-out candy while the older kids powered through for an additional 45 minutes. I think everyone had fun, including me! I got to use my creative side this year because all our costumes were mostly homemade. We only had to buy a handful of things. Face paint was key this year, and I had a lot of fun transforming the kids into their characters.

Dillon and Alyssa were invited to a Halloween party in the neighborhood on the 30th, so they got to dress up twice.

Dillon was a sniper this year.

Alyssa was a leopard.

Mia was the grumpy old troll from the cartoon "Dora the Explorer". If you aren't familiar, the character is on her shirt. (I drew that myself--I was quite proud of it since I am not an artist.) I was trying to push costumes we already had, but she was insistent. :)  She, also, had no interest in wearing a fake beard--hence, facepaint to the rescue!

Brooke was a zebra. The shoes she's wearing gave me the idea the day of Halloween. I wasn't too worried about her costume because she doesn't care yet, and we have a lot of hand-me-down costumes her size.

I went through an animal print phase about 10 years ago, and I kept all the stuff keeping Halloween in mind. Two of our costumes this year used my old shirts. Can you guess which ones? ;)

NC ZOO & 1st Day of Preschool

We went to the zoo this past Saturday and had a good time! We hadn't been since I was pregnant with Brooke, so it had been over a year since we were there.

It was Mia's first day of preschool today. You can tell by the look on her face that she's not quite sure about it!

On a completely random note, I've noticed that I've been avoiding any "deep thoughts" ;) posts lately--partially because of time and partially because I have just been writing in my old fashioned journal. I know that not every thought needs to be shared in cyberspace, so a lot I just keep between me and Tommy or me and God.

Life with four children has been wonderful for the most part. Of course, it has its moments, but life with one or none has that. One of the things I have been noticing lately is that because I have had four children (which was average only 50 years ago), it seems that my personal life is "up for grabs." People constantly ask if we are "done", are you preventing, were they all planned, etc.? Last I checked these were private matters. Unless you want me asking you those questions, you probably shouldn't be asking me. I'm just sayin' :)

I realize that in this day and age, four is a lot. If you were to tell me five years ago that I would have wanted four children, I would have laughed and told you you were crazy. Life is a journey, and we all aren't on the same path. Sometimes we have to meet people where they're at instead of dragging them up or pulling them down to where we are. No one has it all figured out, and I hope that everyday I get a little bit better at this game called life. In reality, I know that some days I take 5 steps back before I start moving forward again. I just trust that I am given all the tools necessary to make it to the final destination and hopefully help people do the same along the way.

Little Basketball Players

Only one more until we can have a team ;)

Cousin's Visit

Click on picture to see more :)

Tommy's sister had her baby a few weeks ago. Her husband is deployed, so she decided to come visit us for a few days before she goes back to work. The kids really enjoyed him, and so did Tommy and I. My neighbor said that I was enjoying him a little too much and that we might get some ideas having him here. ;) There's something so sweet and innocent about the newborn age that I enjoy more and more over time!

Who need's toys when you have a dishwasher?

I don't know if anyone else's kids love the dishwasher, but 4/4 Arboneaux toddlers love it!

Beach Trip

At the end of July we went to the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. We went with my parents, my brother, and his family. Everyone had a good time, and if you'd like to see more pictures of the beach click on the above picture. Most of the pictures are courtesy of my sister-in-law because I lost my camera (ugh) in June. I was hoping it'd turn up, but I think we're going to have to buy another one. :(

I read a book recently and the character in the book saw the ocean for the first time. She describes the ocean really well: "Never had I witnessed anything that pulsed with such beauty and imminent danger at the same moment. (Saving CeeCee Honeycut)" This is probably how my kids feel about the ocean. They are drawn to it but fear it at the same time!

We got back from the beach on a Saturday night and the older kids started school on that Monday. Alyssa is in 1st grade and Dillon is in 3rd grade--it's crazy how fast they are growing-up!

I hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of summer. :)

My Four on the Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July!

We also celebrated Dillon's 8th birthday this past Friday. We kept it simple, and I think all the kids had fun! Nothing says summer birthday like a slip-n-slide!

Happy Father's Day!

(If you click on the picture it becomes more clear.)

Happy Birthday, Brooke!

I can't believe Brooke is one today! We just celebrated with the immediate family at lunch.

That got me to thinking about how in my pre-parenting days, I would have thought it unfair to celebrate each child's first birthday differently. Now I realize, that is not the case. The thing is, if you celebrate your oldest child's first birthday with just the immediate family, it would be just the parents singing to the child. Since Brooke is the fourth child, she has a pretty large group singing to her! Here is what the other 3 looked like with their first birthday cake (Mia, Alyssa, Dillon).

In trying to remember each child's first birthday cake, I realized that each one was a little more homemade. Dillon's was store-bought, Alyssa's was a standard mix with canned frosting, Mia's was an organic mix with homemade frosting, and Brooke's whole thing was made from scratch. I guess the saying goes for baking, too--practice makes perfect--not that my baking is anywhere near perfect. It's just better. :)

Early Father's Day

As you probably know, Father's Day is coming up. Neither Tommy or my "love language" is gifts, so we don't usually make a huge deal out of these "Hallmark holidays." Technically, we have already gotten Tommy a Father's Day present. We needed a new grill (using the term, need, loosely), so Tommy picked one out and bought it. He does all of the grilling, so basically, his present was something that made him do work. :)

Tommy is the best partner I could have asked for in helping me raise the kids, so he deserves appreciation. Tommy has been on a business trip this week, so I decided to hide some of the septic tank covers for him by creating a flower bed. I know this is a random present, but those covers have been annoying Tommy since we moved here 9 years ago. Up until very recently, I have been a very lazy gardener, so a new flowerbed sounded like more work to me. Plus, I don't really notice stuff like that--I'm a pretty oblivious person.

Here are the results of my labor of love:

Before:

After:

My landscaping/gardening philosophy has been to wing it with the help of google and friendly people at Lowes and the Farmer's Market. Tommy will like the name of the climbing plants I bought for the arbor--Confederate Jasmine. I can't wait until they cover the whole thing. Eventually, I'd like to cover up that 3rd monstrosity, but it just wasn't in the budget for now.

The girls were very good for me while I spent three days on this project. Here's a picture of them in the sandbox while I worked.I have not read the above love language book, but I think my love language is words of praise, so hopefully Tommy will respond appropriately. ;)

I'm going to be Aunt Kristine!

Well, I already have 2 nieces and a nephew, but that is on my King side. They usually call me "Tita Kristine" which is the Filipino way to say it. Tommy's sister is going to have a baby boy soon, so this is the first nephew for me on the Arboneaux side. We celebrated the soon-to-be birth of the baby this past weekend. It was a fun family event at the expecting parents' home!

Stephanie is such a beautiful pregnant woman.
It's so exciting to think that the next time I see Tommy's sister and her husband, they will be parents. When I think back to myself before becoming a mother, I realize all the things I have learned through parenthood and wonder about all that is left to uncover. Congratulations Shawn and Stephanie!

HERE are more pictures from the baby shower. There are also a few pictures of the kids just hanging out at home.

Strawberries!

It's strawberry season down here in NC, so we took the kids pickin'! We didn't adopt a 5th child--we brought our neighbor. :)

The field is literally 5 minutes from our house. We all had fun picking and we, especially, enjoyed eating the fruit. The kids cooled off with smoothies while the adults had margaritas!

I never had fresh-picked strawberries growing up, but since I tasted them down here, I look forward to enjoying some every year. It's cheap and DE-LI-CIOUS! If you live close enough to a field or even see a road-side stand, I highly recommend getting some fruit.

Things I never thought I'd hear/say

"I can put my toe in my nose."
"Stop eating dog food."
"I like to eat boogars."
"Please, don't step on your sister's head."
"That water in the bowl is for the dog not you."
"Can you please stop pretending to shoot your sister?"
"Did they have TV when you were a kid?"
"We don't joke about machine guns in church."
"Did you wipe?" (The answer is usually, "No."--gross!)

Got any of your own to add?

Dillon's First Communion

click picture for more

Dillon received his First Communion this past weekend--another milestone in his Christian life. He seems quite young to fully understand the seriousness of the sacrament, but he apparently has reached the "age of reason." He definitely knows right from wrong, so with God's grace he can be nourished by this special food.

Splinter

My middle girls, especially Alyssa, love to run around barefoot. I don't mind, but I do warn them that if they hurt their feet, I don't want to hear whining. Most of the time nothing happens, but today Alyssa got a splinter. I reiterated my above warning, and told her that I would need to get it out. This wasn't her first splinter, so she knew that this would involve pain. However, she was willing to get it out because she also knew it would make her foot feel better.

I pulled out my tweezers and was able to get it out after a few tries. Alyssa did cry and scream a bit. I hugged her and told her it would feel better soon, and now just minutes later, what was painful is hardly even noticeable to her.

As random as it seems, this got me thinking about the whole sanctification process. The problem of pain and suffering can be a stumbling block to believers, doubters, and non-believers alike. Sometimes our sin is like a splinter that hurts us. Ridding ourselves of it is often painful and challenging--it can take multiple tries that seem futile. Occasionally, we'd rather live with the splinter hoping it will go away on its own. However, once we do remove it, the pain we went through is a forgotten memory.

Spring Fun!

We just celebrated Mia's birthday and I had to share this picture. Only a 3 year-old would be this happy about her name spelled in M&M's. It would be nice to have the wisdom of an 80 year-old, but the innocence of a small child!

Also, here is a picture of a small Easter egg hunt we did with some friends.

One last thing--remember my table manners post? The following picture and video is evidence of why they exist. Try eating soup without a bowl or a spoon and here's what you get:

From Love

My immediate family took a professional portrait a few weeks ago since we haven' t done that since my wedding. With the children my brother and I have had over the years, there were thirteen of us in the photo. That got me thinking about how this large group came out of the love of just two people. From these two people:

came this:

then this:

That is only going plus or minus one generation from me--crazy! Families are the physical evidence of how our love grows. Enjoy more family pictures HERE if you want.

Table Manners--What's the Point?

As a parent, one of my jobs is to teach my children table manners. Some of the rules of etiquette are quite easy to understand

because they keep us safe. For example, sitting straight, facing the table keeps us from falling out of our chair. However, others are really just things that have developed over time and seem to have no real point except to not seem barbaric.

Having a son, it is a constant battle to get him to use silverware and eat like a human being. However, today when I was all alone, a light bulb went off. My older 2 were in school, and my younger 2 were down for a nap. I was cleaning-up from lunch and I decided to polish-off my infant's mac-n-cheese. I began shoveling the bits into my mouth with her tiny plastic fork, and I decided it was too slow. Therefore, I began grabbing the food with my hand to be more efficient; all this done while standing in front of the sink. It's a nice mental picture, huh? I basically broke every rule on American table manners in less than a minute.

Why? Because I was all alone. So that got me to thinking--what's the point? I know that since we live in a society, we have to abide by certain arbitrary rules...blah, blah, blah. All this table manner stuff seems to be for the benifit of others and not necessarily the most efficient. Just to get the above picture of the place setting for this post, all sorts of sites popped-up for how to propery set your table. Why do we care so much? I think the next time I have people over for dinner we are just going to sit in front of the food with no silverware or plates. Then we will grab at whatever food we want and shove it into our mouths. Picture the mess. Maybe the rules aren't so arbitrary after all.

Amazed.

At church in front of St. Andrew's statue after Dillon's First Reconciliation

A friend and I were discussing the things that surprised us about becoming parents. She was surprised by how much she loved her child. Although, the love between mother and child is special, I was not surprised by it, rather, I was and am amazed.

You may remember seeing those John 3:16 shirts, but not all of us have actually looked up what the verse says. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life." What does this have to do with my children? Would I give one of them up to save humanity? I have four to choose from and my answer would be, "NO!!"

God gave His ONLY Son for me and the whole world--even those that don't love him back. The verse does not say, "he gave up His Son for only those who love Him"; it says "the world". What does that say about His love? It is far greater than my measly love for my kids, and far bigger than I can comprehend on this side.

However, I do know that God has given me abounding grace to love the children I do have. Rather than the love for my first born being divided after having more children, my love seems to grow exponentially with each additional child. It even grows so much that I seem to love other people's children more than I could imagine--even strangers' children I see on the street. How is this possible? I sit here amazed.

Narcissistic?

That word has been thrown around a lot in our culture. From the way it was used, I could guess what it meant, but one day I decided I'd find out what it actually meant. Dictionary.com defines narcissism as inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.

In the cyber -world that we live in, it seems like all of us have become a little more obsessed with ourselves while communicating with others. We can Tweet every thought that comes to mind, change our status in Facebook to tell all our 'friends' what we are doing, and we can write a blog to have our own personal 'soap box.'

I have both Facebook and a blog, and I enjoy them both. Yet, at times I am guilty of thinking the world wants to know my opinion on everything. Let's face it, they don't. I will not cure world hunger or bring world peace especially while writing this blog.

What is a blog? The word is a blend of web log. In a sense, this is my internet journal. Sometimes it just has simple information about what is going on in my family, but other times it has "Deep Thoughts" by Kristine. ;) I know that most people don't read it, and that's fine with me. I don't expect people to lean on the edge of their seats to find out what I have to say. I write it mainly because I enjoy writing which is almost an oxymoron coming from a former engineer.

Is that narcissistic? Maybe.

Taking the Plunge....

The kids watching TV in a hotel room last summer

...into no cable TV. Actually we had satellite, but it's the same concept. :) It's funny how things that aren't necessities start to feel like you need them. We just decided that 80 bucks a month was a bit ridiculous to spend when we only watch television 1 or 2 hours a day. We now use Netflix through the Wii. It's pretty amazing--you just click on a movie or show and you get to watch it immediately and it's only $8 a month! It's so easy and convenient, I hope it doesn't make us watch more TV!

Who Needs a Gym?

Exercising with Tia Gabby in 2007

Well, recently, Tommy and I decided to cancel our gym membership because neither of us were going often enough to justify the cost. We both enjoyed going when we went, but with the pregnancy and arrival of a newborn we found ourselves rarely going.

I've, also, been trying to be less lazy. How does cancelling my gym membership make me less lazy? I found the gym becoming another way to have "alone time." Alone time is great, and everyone needs some, but my kids need my time more than I do right now. I know that the day will come where they will not want me to be with them, let alone, play with them, so I've made a conscious effort to play with them more. Things need to be done around the house, but my first job is to mold these little souls and lead them on the right path. How can I do that if, "Mommy is busy."? Also, there have been times where I had a good hard work-out at the gym, and then I'm too tired to play hard with the kids--I don't want to do that.

I've come up with ways that I can kill two (or even three) birds with one stone--play with the kids, take care of the house, and/or exercise.

1. Lunges -- Bend over and push a toddler on her tricycle. Don't stop until they are ready, too, which will be a long time. :)
2. Stair-Stepping -- Carry an older child up the stairs piggy back.
3. Ab Exercises -- Make home made pasta and let the kids help. Rolling it out really works your stomach. Kneading bread also works your stomach. :)
4. Cardio -- Play tag, soccer, hide-n-seek, etc. with the kids. Also, vacuuming and mopping fast works.
5. Resistance Training -- Lift your little ones up over your head.

I don't do these things all the time, but I aim to do at least one a day. I'm hoping it will be better for me and my family. :)

Surrounded by Pink!

Happy Valentine's Day! Tommy's mom got the girls those cute outfits, so I had to try and get a picture of the four of them for Valentine's Day. This picture was the best we could do. With four kids, I should really use photo shop, but I figure that wouldn't be real life! :)

We don't really do anything too special besides eat too much candy and cookies which is good enough for me. ;) Have a great Valentine's Day!

3's a Charm

Yes, I know I have four kids, and I love them all dearly. However, I keep thinking about how Tommy and I have enjoyed each baby more and more. Our true enjoyment started with Mia. Of course, we enjoyed Dillon and Alyssa, but not in the same way. With Dillon, we were always looking forward to the next milestone. With Alyssa, we were getting used to juggling our time and attention. With Mia, we just were.

That is really how you can enjoy someone, isn't it? You're not looking forward to the next change, but you are just enjoying them right where they are. With Brooke, we want time to slow down. Where did the past 7 months go? Obviously, time won't slow down, so we will just enjoy every moment as it comes.