interesting conversations today....

The things that you hear here at Butterfly Boutique when the kids are out of school and hanging here for the day....


Nathaniel & Brianna talking by the computer:
B: Look Nat, let's watch how babies are made.
N: Oh that looks fun, can I try?


Faline (also by computer):
The last three times I have tried to mate it hasn't worked.... wonder why?

a little latter:
Faline: Maybe I should try mating with Sully, maybe that will work.....
Nat: Oh cool!!!! It worked... we are getting more babies by the minute!!!


Faline: Nat, do you want to come train?
Nat: No. I like making babies better than training....


Latter:
Nat: Oh man the eggs are moving!!! Someone stop them... they are moving!!
Jo: Eggs are NOT supposed to move... they lay there until there are fertilized!!
Nat: Well someone forgot to tell these eggs that!



Josie (who thinks it's nap time at BB with 4 kids)
Jo: Hey everyone let's play the quiet game. Starting NOW. Ready. Set. Quite.
a few minutes latter: You all LOST. The point of quiet time is to be QUITE!!!! Now can we try again?
a few minutes after that: Hey, is anyone listening to me??? It's QUIET time!!!
Me: Josie, you are being awful loud about it being quiet time.


Nat: Me and Aunta just made another egg!!! Cool, we are going to have more babies together!!!
Bri & Jo together: That is so WRONG Nathaniel!!! It's a good think no one is listening to this conversation!


Brianna: Audrey, don't spend all of my coins!!!
Audrey: Then can I spend all your dollars???

Nathaniel: I am tired of wearing this shirt... I am taking my shirt off now.
Josie: Why Nat?
Nathaniel: Because it's getting hot in here.
a few minutes latter:
Brianna: WHY is Nathaniel witting there without his shirt on???
A bunch of us: Why not???

Faline: Can we BLOW the nose instead of sniffing the green goo back in??
Nat: No. Green goo is recyclable.


Brianna to Audrey: could you please put some clothes on her before you go to the mall?
Audrey: None of them are pretty enough. She is better with her swim suit on.
Brianna: It's winter though... and you are going to the mall!!!
Audrey: giggles madly!


Brianna is getting ready to leave to hang out with some of her friends. I tell her:
G: "Don't do anything we wouldn't do."
F: "Don't do anything we DID do at your age!"
Bri: "But if you did it why can't I?"
F & G together really loud: "Because!!!"
J: "Sounds like you shouldn't do ANYTHING!!!"


F: Nathaniel!!! WHAT are you doing????
N: I am buying you a star fish. It will be pretty.
G: Oh, how sweet.
F: But Nathaniel that cost REAL money!
N: It's ok. I charged it.
F: Cancel, cancel, cancel!
a few seconds latter...
F: Dude, Nathaniel you used 30 shakes of fish food!!
N: I know.... all the fish are fat. Isn't that weird???
F: Oh yea. So weird. Ugh.

So my head is TOTALLY spinning after listening to this all day!!! Is it time for them to go back to school yet???

And the explanation/disclosure is that the kids and Faline were playing some Fish game on Facebook where you breed fish, make babies and then feed them. I so didn't know this for the longest time so I was so confused!

life with Spina Bifida can be..... a roller coaster!!!

Life is interesting, yet at times I forget how fast it can spin out of control with a child with Spina Bifida!!!

The morning started off sweet enough. I had a hard time deciding if I was waking these angels for church. She was sleeping so sweetly, and so was her brother.


I actually think that she was a bit lonely. Or at least that is what I thought when I saw her surrounded by so many friends in bed with her. I had a hard time finding the child through all of the animals!!

But I did decide to wake them up and head to church. I usually really need the corporate worship time. Worship was good. But the kids were interesting. Half way through service Audrey came running into church telling Me "Nat needs you, his penis is bleeding." Yes, that is JUST what I needed her telling me in her REGULAR voice in the middle of message, Geesh!

So off to check on Nat I go. Sure enough, he is cloudy and crying about his ears hurting too. After being up all night giving him breathing treatments I decided it was time to take him in. It seemed like too many of his systems were going downhill fast. So off to our favorite hospital we headed.

I thought it would be fine to take Audrey with me. I am TRYING to do this independent single mom thing, so although I usually leave Audrey with someone else when we go to the hospital I decided to take her with us today. Yea, not such a smart move!!! See they look cute enough here. But within a few minutes they went downhill fast!

Nathaniel goes into full obsessive mode at the hospital. Especially with ears, bladder, back AND croup bothering him! Audrey goes into full control mode when Nat gets that way. So t his sends mommy into full UGH mode!!! So I decided to distract them....

I told Audrey to assist Nathaniel with his stretches and yoga.

She did pretty well until the doctor came in. Then she told the doctor, "No, I am being the doctor, you can go away!" Umm... NO! So, the doctor did a quick exam and determined that Nathaniel has a DOUBLE ear infection, a UTI/kidney infection AND his croup is acting up again. Geesh... this kid just has to melt in all directions at once. That is how it is with his Spina Bifida, when one of his systems goes down many others follow quickly. I hope that we caught all of this soon enough and are able to get him healthy before we leave for Disneyland in a week!

While we were at the hospital Audrey started obsessing on her sister Taylor, so when I went to the pharmacy to fill his prescriptions I picked up some flowers for Audrey to take to Taylor and we headed to the cemetery.

Audrey knows the drill, and loves taking flowers to Taylor. She has her own little routine. First we inspect the flowers to make sure they are all "so beautiful". Then she gets the grave vase ready and puts the flowers in. And finally she does a little song and dance for the presentation.

Here she is singing to Taylor.

And have you ever noticed that my Audrey has a unique fashion sense?? So did you check out this outfit??? Crazy Audrey :)

So after all of this we went home and spent the rest of the day in bed watching movies and snuggling. Man I am SO TIRED from it all!

Giggle Therapy!

I decided we needed some giggle therapy around here...

and Audrey was happy to oblige!

She is just so silly!! And I could listen to her giggle forever :)

What money can't buy

So many times in life the best things don't cost any money but the cost the heart. You can fill your home with the best of everything that money can buy, yet still be so unhappy. But you can be as poor as a field mouse and yet so filled with joy, love and peace.

I can think of so many examples.

The love of Jesus, it's free to all who believe and follow His ways, but once your heart is filled with it you can't imagine another way of life.

The love and devotion of our children, it's freely given, but is absolutely priceless.

Good friends, NOTHING can hold a flame to having dear, true friends in our life.

Having someone believe in you and encourage you, just another person putting their faith in you and telling you that they believe is such an honor.

And this years Christmas gifts are no different. I adore the items that my dear nieces and SIL made me, an THRILLED with my new Magic Bullet, and happy with so many other of my gifts, yet the two that stole my heart and brought me to my knees in tears didn't cost much at all. But they were made by the loving hands of my children.

This is the cover of a folder that Nathaniel made me. And inside it read:

I am not sure if you can see it on the Blog picture so I will retype it here for you.

My Mom
By Nathaniel

My Mom is a great person. She has short brown hair. She is respectful to others. She has a good heart. She is tall and loving. Her eyes are blackish, grayish and greenish. She is a good mom.

My mom is fun. Mom plays ball with me. We play 2 0n 2 basketball. She is good at sewing. Mom makes us macaroni and cheese. My mom is playful.

My mom is special. She cooks us lots of yummy things. She takes care of Audrey and me. She has her own store. I am proud of my mom.

Out of the mouths of babes. I was so humbled and happy with how my precious 9 year old son chose to describe me. So many of the things that he said are things that I strive to make important in my life, yet have come under attack recently about. But you know what? Children see things without the vision of hatred, prejudice and malice. My heart was humbled and I was thankful that the qualities my son sees in my are the IMPORTANT ones. Nothing touched me deeper today than reading this.

Then from Audrey I got: A beautiful handmade picture frame and picture of her. Now if you read often then you probably realize this is the art project that Faline and I recently did with Audrey's class. But here's the thing, we did NOT tell the kids who to give their gift to. They were allowed to choose all on their own. And my dear child has such a sweet heart that she often gives things to others, not me. Which I am totally ok with, because after all I have HER! She was making a BIG deal about giving the frame to someone "special" and she was so excited. I was a little bitter happy. Happy that she is so generous and thoughtful, bitter because I seldom get her special projects. Then she showed me the card.... she was giving it to ME!!! I asked "I am the someone special this is for?" and she answered "Of course Mommy, you are the most special Mommy EVER!" See? Didn't I tell you she was a sweetheart???

I hope that your heart and life were touched today with "true" gifts, ones directly from the heart!

Christmas Morning

Christmas 2009!!

This year has been tough on my family, as many of you know. My husband, the father of my darling children, has chosen his addiction over his family. He has turned his life over to the enemy, choosing to surround himself with enablers and evil people instead of God, goodness and healing. For that reason he is no longer with the children and I. But this is all more than my 6 and 9 year old can understand. They just know that daddy is "sick" and needs time and space to get better. So they were understandably sad that Mark was not with us today. This is them sharing their Christmas excitement in hopes that their father sees it. So excuse the LONG post with tons of pictures, but I am trying to help my kids learn to share their heart in a safe way!

I have scrimped and saved, and Faline and my BIG present to the kids this year is that we are taking ALL FOUR of them to Disneyland next week!!!! Nathaniel and Audrey have never even been. The picture above is Audrey when she figured out where we are going! Such pure joy on that angels face!

We had matching jackets made for all of the kids that have their names on them, and included a note telling them that 2010 will be a year of family fun, and that we leave for our first trip next weekend... and then there is a picture of Disneyland. I'd say Josie is a little excited reading that note, don't you think?

Josie checking out her personalized jacket.

Me and my angels.... I am so blessed to have the most wonderful children. I love them with all of my heart! I wish I could spare them the current pain and suffering, but I am thankful that we are blessed to be surrounded by so many that love us and encourage us on in the way of the Lord. Thank you God for these dear ones!

My grandparents have had a REALLY tough year with their health. We are so blessed that they were able to be here with us for this holiday. This is Nathaniel and Audrey with their GREAT Grandparents... known as GGmama and GGpapap to the kids.

And here are all four kids with GGmama and GGpapap

And add my mom, Sharon, and I to the mix...

The next few shots are of Nathaniel opening presents:

The amazing thing to me this year was that Nathaniel was INTO his presents. In the past he has gotten over stimulated and TOTALLY shut down at present time. Not this year, he was engaged and excited the whole time. Made my heart so happy that he was able to enjoy things this year.

Look at that smile!!!

And Jesus (or his servants anyways!) Blessed us with GREEN Vans for Nathaniel. Have I ever mentioned that he is TOTALLY into green right now?

And a new carry case for his new mini laptop!

Then there is Audrey....

And her shoe fetish!!

Yup... more shoes (from Jesus also!)

Audrey is at that age where she totally loves to pose with EVERY present she opens... it was funny!

But who could resist the shot when she is so darned cute!!!

Josie was really cute and animated this year too. Actually I think NONE of the kids broke down at all this year.... amazing!!

Josie and her Velveteen Rabbit (like as in the show she was in a few weeks ago..)

And PURPLE Duct Tape... very cool!

Such excitement!

Faline thinks the coin/credit card purse I made her was funny... I think it was SMART! That girl needs to STOP putting her debit card in her pocket... she keeps loosing them!!!

Grady and his yearly "pig" present (don't ask..)

Gramie Sharon and the sweater we picked out for her.

Gramie with the ornament that Bri and Jo made her. Very pretty!

More Grady.... it's so hard to get a picture of that boy!

Bri was hard to get pictures of for me this year... she was sitting too close to me and in front of a window... but here are the few I got..

Pink Duct Tape for her!

Stainless water bottles all around. Very cool find on clearance at Old Navy!

Over all we had a very blessed morning and lots of fun.... how was Christmas with your family?

it's beginning to look.....

A LOT like Christmas around here!

Have you noticed?

My MAGNIFICENT Blog designer gave me an early Christmas present and made over my blog. Isn't it cute?? I think so! (And if you view it on Facebook, you have to pop on over HERE and check out the REAL cute blog :) ) So Carla darling got me a little in the Christmas mood... and then I have been working HARD to make that mood bloom!

It's been difficult, with life being the roller coaster that it is recently, but we have been trying to focus on the good!

When we had a special visitor last week we put up Christmas lights on the outside of the house. This was especially for Nathaniel who LOVES Christmas lights. It's simple, but I think Nat is enjoying it :)

And tonight we finished decorating inside the house. I have TONS of Christmas decorations.... totes and totes of them, but this year I went for simple. And ones that I like, not ones that have memories tied to them. I am not sure I can deal with the memories right now.

I recently took the TV out of the entertainment center, so we built our Christmas village in there this year. And of course I had to put out my angel collection, and Nathaniel's snow globes. The top shelf seemed safest for those.

For our tree we went with simple blue and silver. No ornaments, just lights, ribbon, snowflake garland and of course Audrey's angel :) It's simple, but pretty.


This was the "cute" decorations according to the kids :)


And of course I have lots of Christmas pillows.... me the pillow queen. Of course.


I am working hard to make good memories and new traditions this year. I want a PEACEFUL Christmas :) What type of traditions do you and your family have?

And if you need to treat yourself to a blog makeover for the year make sure you click on the button on my side bar, and tell her Gretchen sent you :)

NOT for the faint of tummy!!

You know how sometimes things are just the PERFECT metaphor for life? Well my son provided it tonight.....

He ate and ate and ate and ate turkey tonight. Every time I turned around I was taking more away from him. I kept telling him "Don't EAT ANY MORE!!! I are going to make yourself sick!"

And make himself sick he did.... (seriously, if you have a faint tummy like me skip the pictures!!)

All over the place....
All over the bed....

On the Penguin, his sister's Ugg boots, the CLEAN blankets I just washed today!!

Even on his computer!!!

UGG!!!
Like I didn't have ENOUGH to do.
Like I am not stressed enough.
Like I clean up vomit so well.

Not to all of the above!

But it is a perfect metaphor for my day. Because I feel like life just vomited up all over me today! I feel like that poor penguin, of the bed, of even the floor that gets walked on AND puked on! So I am hoping that as I cleaned this all up I also cleaned out the crap left over from today! And now I get to get up and shampoo the carpets in the morning before the company gets here! Sounds fun hu?

Hope your evening was better than mine!