Mother's Day

In honor of Mother's Day I felt like writing.  I have had so many thoughts and realizations as mother's day has been on my mind this week.  We've added another precious little to our Blalock Bunch since my last post and they are all growing up so quickly.  So much has happened, so much has changed...  What has changed the most is Me.  I have learned so much throughout my journey of motherhood thus far but by far the most important lesson is, life isn't about me and my happiness.  Life isn't about my children or my husband and their happiness.  Life is about HIM.  Life is about my Lord and Savior and what I can do in this life to glorify Him.  God has shown me through this motherhood journey just how selfish I am and just how much I was living a life all about me.  I praise God for the lives He has entrusted to me and I thank Him for all He's taught me through them.  When Andrew arrived, I became the mother of four children 5 and under. Being a busy, exhausted mother can bring out the absolute worst in a mom.  Our sin nature is to want to be selfish and focus on our own desires and goals in life.  We want to be able to do what we want to do.  But the Bible teaches the complete opposite. John 15:13 says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."  And a few more verses, Philipians 2:3-4 "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.", Philipians 1:21 says, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."  Being a mother requires us to die to ourselves daily and serve our little ones and our husband.  What a wonderful refining tool and vessel along the process of sanctification motherhood can be if we let Christ work in us.  We aren't meant to walk the journey alone.  He wants us to lean on Him for every step of the way, seeking His guidance, direction and wisdom everyday.  If we seek Him and allow Him to, what wonderful blessings He bestows on our lives when we are in His will.

My Dear Children...

My Dear Children,

I want you to be children.  I will spend much more time knowing you as adults so right now and for many years to come, I want you to just be kids.  For as long as possible I will let you be children and I will protect your childhood with all that I am.  I will let you decide when you are ready to try new things and I vow to let you play for hours.  I will let you play for hours as often as possible!  I will help you discover who YOU really are and I will do my best to guide you in the path God has set before you before you are pushed out into this BIG wide world on your own.  I will let you explore, take your time, ask questions, dream, imagine, laugh, pretend, climb and run wild through the house. I will let you be children and never wish this precious time away.  It will happen all too soon and you will be grown up.  You will have real worries, fears and problems to face.  But for now, I want you to be a child and I will protect your childhood.

Love,
Mommy

"I will spend eternity knowing my children as adults.  But tonight, right here, right now, and for the next precious years, I have the rare privilege of knowing them as a child.  What a gift to experience the children in our lives as children!  For a brief moment during the journey of mortality, we get to watch them laugh, learn, experience and grow."

---Author Unknown

My New Classroom...

This summer we have enjoyed learning through several different hands on projects/experiments.  The girls have LOVED them and learned so much along the way!  We created a worm habitat and compost bucket and enjoyed feeding the worms, watching them build tunnels and learning about how worms are beneficial to the soil and ultimately us.  We have also been observing and learning from the mommy bird that laid her eggs in the girls' birdhouse they decorated.  It sits on our front porch right at the door so we get to watch her take worms and other goodies to her babies all day long.  She's a busy bird.  It often reminds me of how God instructs us to live.  We are not to worry and fret about tomorrow, instead we should rest assured that our Heavenly Father will take care of our needs as they arise just as the mommy bird provides for and protects her babes.  It is literally all she does.  I guess that's the lesson I've learned while the girls have been learning many other things about nature.  Our latest activity was making 'frozen sand'.  My intentions for this fun activity were just that, FUN.  Oh how it was so much more.  The mud lasted for several days of fun and once they had made several shapes and molds from it, Rachel decided she wanted to freeze the mud.  I quickly learned that when I told her we were making frozen mud, she thought of frozen as in temperature and it was Frozen mud as in the movie Frozen.  She invented a whole new activity which was much more fun!  They froze all the molds and would wait to see how long it took for them to to thaw.  We learned some new vocabulary words, defrost, thaw and a little about irregular verbs when we learned that it is correct to say frozen or freeze rather than frozed or freezed :)   We talked about WHY the mud freezes when you put it in the freezer and that it takes more than just 2 seconds for that process to complete.  Therefore they ultimately learned patience while they waited for what seemed like eternity to them.  The girls practiced sharing and divided all the mud in half so each would have their own mud.  They were very precise on the measurement of half.  Life must be fair at 4 and 2 years old.  It's always neat for me to watch how different Rachel and Sarah are.  They are pretty much opposites in every way.  When we do 'school' kinds of things it's interesting to see how they are completely different students.  At this point, Sarah seems very studious and serious about her work.  She is a very careful and attention to detail worker.  She will sit to paint a picture and stick with the same picture for a very long time (especially considering her age).  Rachel needs movement and hands on manipulation.  She is very creative and likes to invent and create things.  She doesn't like to color in the lines and stick to the original plan.  She likes to veer off course and create something new and exciting.  The verdict is still out about Hannah but I have my predictions :)  I'm so excited that this year my classroom will be my home. I'm going to truly enjoy teaching my girls and watching them grow.  Hopefully I will have time to blog a little along the way so that one day we can look back on these days and recall the days of adventure we had together. 

                                                     decorating the wallpaper for the worms :)

                                                The worm home....

                                                                        Our baby birds

                                  the first step was to make the biggest mess possible with a roll of toilet paper

                                              Next, they got to grate the bar of soap

                                                 Mix it all with blue colored water and dig in the mud

It's Been a While...

It's been a while since I've blogged.  It's been a while since I've sat in silence long enough to blog.  It's been a while since I've slowed down enough to sit in silence and blog.  Life is busy these days.  Busy in a great way for the most part.  Busy is fine when it's cooking and feeding my family because they are healthy and hungry.  Busy is fine when it's doing the laundry because my family is healthy and active.  Busy is fine when it's changing diapers, chasing kids, wiping noses, playing games together, giving baths, brushing teeth, reading stories, and just spending time doing the little mommy things that I do every day.  But lately it's been more than that.  Lately it's been on the go all the time and rushing from place to place.  My girls are little.  Since when did children 3 and 4 years of age need to be involved in multiple activities and sports??  When I was young I don't even think such activities as gymnastics, t-ball, soccer, music lessons, and cheerleading were options for children so young.  Now mothers feel pressure to have their children involved in several of these all at the same time.  Really?  What is it that our children need most?  Us.  Home.  Children want nothing more than time with Mom and Dad.  Time to be a kid and enjoy free play.  They don't want us spending hundreds of dollars on activities and hours of time in the car traveling from place to place.  They want us to slow down and take the time to enjoy family time and just be present.  I feel the need to SLOW down, enjoy my family, enjoy my babies (while they're still babies) and stop trying to squeeze a lifetime of experiences in before the age of 10.

This was short and sweet.  I have so much more to say on the topic but this is a good place to start after months away from blogging.

Out of the Mouths of Babes...

Lately, while the littlest ones nap, Rachel and I have been reading, writing and doing crafts.  It is hard to find time for one on one time with each girl but it is so important for them.  Somehow, every day, I manage to squeeze in a few minutes (sometimes more) to give just one at a time my undivided attention.  Last Friday (January 10th) Rachel decided she wanted the two of us to write a story together.  I asked her what kind of story she wanted to write and her response was, "a story about Jesus."  Of course I agreed to this great idea and we began our story.  With just a few, "and then what happened, Rachel" prompts from me, here is the story Rachel wrote... She was the writer; I was the scribe...


                                                      Jesus Died on the Cross
"Christmas was Jesus' birthday.  Jesus was born from his mommy, Mary.  God put Jesus in her tummy.  He was born in the stable because there was no homes left.  There were 3 wise men who bringed him presents.  I can't remember what.  He lived until he was the same age as my daddy.  Then he died on the cross.  That's my favorite part.  It's really not sad because he came back alive.  God was holding him while he was in the tomb.  After 3 days he was alive and went to Heaven.  Jesus had to die on the cross to forgive our sins.  We have to say we are sorry and ask forgiveness for sins.  He wants us to ask him to live in our hearts.  He loves us so much he died for us.  One day he is going to come back to Earth for all the people who are forgiven and saved.  We get to live in Heaven for a thousand years and years and years and years and years." 

You are so proud, as you should be!

Rachel, you did a great job writing the date at the top, signing your autograph at the bottom and decorating with a cross and hearts.

What a wonderful story this is Rachel.  I'm so happy you chose to write about the greatest story of all!  I'm so happy you love to talk about and sing about Jesus.  Your most favorite song is Amazing Grace.  We listen to it in the car ALL THE TIME and you ask me to sing it to you almost every night.  I pray that you will always have this love and curiosity for our Savior.  I pray every day that you will one day except Jesus Christ as your savior.  I started praying this prayer for you and your sisters the day I found out each of you were growing in my belly.  There's nothing you could ever do to make me any happier than giving your life to Christ.  I pray that you choose to live your life for Him.  Always remember, I love you but He loves you more than any person has the ability to love. 

Life with Sarah...

Sarah, you are such a little girl these days rather than my snuggly baby.  Don't get me wrong, you still love to snuggle, hug, and be held.  Your favorite place right now seems to be Mommy and Daddy's bed.  You love to come to us when you first wake up and snuggle between us, under the covers, stick your thumb in your mouth and watch Dora.  You've become quite obsessed with Dora and Boots.  You never paid any attention to the television until about a month ago when you discovered Dora the Explorer ('Dora tha Explora' in Sarah lingo).
Speaking of Sarah lingo, I sure do love to hear you talk.  You can carry on a conversation about anything and every word is understood.  You are very articulate and use such fancy words for a 2 year old.  One of my favorite words to hear you say, is 'actually'.  You like to preface many phrases with this sophisticated word.  You love to talk but only around us.  You are very quiet in a crowd.
Your favorite person to hang out with is by far your big sister.  You love to take care of her and make her happy.  You are so thoughtful of her and never want to see her upset.  You do find it quite amusing to push her buttons occasionally by taking things from her but when you see her sad you will always give her whatever it is you think will make her happy.
You also adore your Hannah.  You love her so much you want to roll around on her, squeeze her, shower her with toys and 'stuff' and kiss her all over.  You are learning how to take care of her and you love to practice being a little mommy using her and all your baby dolls.
You always have a baby with you.  Most of the time you have a bottle and any other belongings your baby might need.  You feed your baby,  hug her, kiss her, bathe her, lay her down for naps and my most favorite thing to watch is when you read to your baby.  I love to read to my babies and I'm so happy to see you share this same love for books and babies.
You love cheese.  Your favorite breakfast is eggs and cheese or cheese grits.  Your favorite lunch is grilled cheese and your favorite dinner is mac-n-cheese or cheese quesadilla.  You love to snack on string cheese, cheese and crackers and Cheez-its.  No, I don't allow you to eat these cheesy favorites every day but you sure would love to!  You come by it honest.  I do love cheese!  Your favorite fruit is an orange.  You love broccoli.  You love boiled peanuts (gold peanuts as you would say) and cashews.  Your favorite drink is water!
You continue to be our shy, reserved and calm little one.  I admire this about you so much because these are traits I do not have.  In these ways, you are like your Daddy.  I love that you are soft-spoken and that you listen more than you speak when out of your comfort zone.  I love that you have a calm, peaceful nature. 
My most favorite thing about you, my dear, is your laughter.  You have such a cute little sense of humor and you love to joke and make us laugh.  Your laughter is such a joyful sound that melts all my cares and stresses away while bringing a smile to my face.  No matter what's going on, seeing you smile and hearing you laugh makes my day.  I love being your Mommy and I'm so thankful to have you as part of our family, Sarah Grace.

Sarah's says....
favorite food:  cheez-its
favorite color:  orange
Daddy's name:  JoshuA Andrew
Mommy's name:  Tiffany
favorite thing to play:  basketball
favorite toy:  Hannah
favorite animal: hippo
favorite place to go:  park
best friend:  Dora

On the Move...

Hannah, you are getting around now.  You've been studying your sisters and watching their every move for the past 5.5 months of your life and now you have them figured out.  You quit sleeping at night about 2 weeks ago as you set out on your journey to learn to crawl.  You would wake every hour and I could hear you on the monitor up on your knees, rocking back and forth.  You wouldn't let anyone hold you for more than 5 minutes at a time because you wanted down to practice your new moves.  I'm really not ready for this but, ready or not, you are mobile.
We are also beginning to experiment with bananas, sweet potatoes and oatmeal.  You are not very interested at the moment but you don't seem to be too against these additions to your diet.  You are just like your sister Sarah when it comes to spoon feeding.  You must control the spoon.  You clench your gums and purse your lips until I allow you to hold the spoon.  As one can imagine, this makes quite a mess but you will have it no other way.
You love to smile and I love that dimple on your left cheek!
You love to giggle and I love to watch your sisters light up when they hear this joyful sound.
Your favorite thing to crawl to is one of your furry friends, Bo or Elle.  They are both so patient and calm with you.  Bo loves to kiss you and you love the slobbery licks!  You are much more pleasant to ride with these days and thankfully you no longer turn into a grump every evening.  3.5 months of that was plenty!
You prefer to drink milk from a sippy cup for Nanny while Mommy is away but you have started to give the bottle a chance.  Your sister, Sarah, would never drink from a bottle.
You are beginning to develop a bit of separation anxiety.  You don't like Mommy to leave your sight.  When you hear my voice but can't see me, it makes you so sad.
One thing that hasn't changed much about you is that you are so unpredictable and love to learn new things.  I never know when you will nap or for how long.  If there is ANYTHING going on, you are not going to miss it!   You don't stop until you have mastered what you are trying to do.  This is so much like your biggest sister, Rachel.  I'm having so much fun watching you grow and learn Hannah Kate.