Relationships that leave you feeling drained

I am SURE we all have them. Probably most of us have several. I am talking about relationships that leave you feeling EXHAUSTED and emotionally drained. It could be a friendship that is totally one-sided, a neighbor who drives you nuts, a family member who is especially challenging, a friend who only talks AT you and never listens. We all know people who fit these roles in our life. And I have to say, I am STRUGGLING with what to do with them right now. I often wonder what Christ would do with these folks. Is it awful to wonder what Jesus did with really ANNOYING people? Ha! I know we should be open and honest with them, but frankly, sometimes that doesn't seem to make any difference! Some of these relationships have been strained for decades, and I find myself giving up hope that they will ever change. I still pray for them, but what I often need is patience! Patience when I have to interact with them. Kindness in my heart. When do we just let go of these relationships? And how do we manage the ones we truly have to continue with? And where is the line between being HONEST and being unkind? If I completely disagree with EVERYTHING you are saying or feel like you are just blowing smoke, how do I say this in a nice way? How do I tell a person kindly that they never listen to anyone else and a conversation with them is an auditory assault? (Pretty sure that is not what I should say!) Any thoughts anyone? :-)

Time it is a-flyin'!

Wow, yesterday we celebrated my Mom's 63rd birthday! I am sure she can't believe she has been on this earth for 63 years. Since I had children I see time moving faster and faster every day. Last night when I went to lay down with Isaac (in his now queen-sized bed) I was struck with just how big he has grown. In another year I will be able to wear his shoes! He has grown from a chunky little baby to a tall, lanky boy! And Eden has already outgrown her crib and sleeps in a twin bed. Where have my babies gone?
One thing I know is that you never get one single minute back, once those milestones come they have passed forever. I have been so blessed to be at home with my kids. I would not trade that time for anything, and it is passing way too quickly! So, I am making an effort to live more "in the moment" with my kids. Often I find myself hopping online to "escape" via internet, and just reading crap that doesn't even matter! Then later complaining about how I don't have time to work-out, or get chores done bc I am so busy with the kids. So, I am hoping to make my internet time more purposeful, try blogging more often and surfing much less. And cutting my internet time down drastically, so I can do the things I really care about, like spending time with God, and playing (really playing) with my children, and taking care of my body instead of sitting on my butt!

HA!

A few cute little things the kids have said lately:
Isaac-
"Mommy, if there was a race to see who was slowest I would surely be the winner!"
-so true :-) He is much like his Mommy and can't be rushed!

Eden-
Upon being placed into time-out by Jason (sitting in the chair with fingers her pointed at him angrily)
"TWO MINUTES!!! Be Cai-Yet (quiet)! PEANUT!" (Peanut is a mean name she learned from Isaac...ha!!

What my little elves are up to this season

Wow these babies are growing up so fast and I am not even keeping up with their developmental leaps. So...I thought I would blog about a few of the latest developments with the kiddios.
Isaac is talking and expressing himself more and more every day. We have full-fledged interesting conversations now. He is asking "why" about everything and totally into pretend play. He is still not really into writing just yet, but I imagine once he turns 4 he will start getting more into that stuff. He is also dressing himself, though sometimes things go on backwards and / or inside out! He is REALLY excited about Christmas and Santa this year. He is a lot of help with Eden. He brings her toys and most anything I ask him to help with. He is loving Mom's morning out this year.
Eden has 4 teeth, 2 on top, two on bottom. And about to get her 5th one! She is still such an easy, happy baby. She sleeps better than her brother!! She has been crawling since about Halloween, mostly scooting and dragging herself around but she is working on the "real crawl". She can get anywhere she wants to go for sure! She is waving and clapping her hands now, started that on Wed before Thanksgiving. She can say Da-Da and knows what it means, she can say Mama, but only accidentally! She loves watching her brother more than anything else. She has been eating real food for a while now, and is pretty much over the bottle, though I guess I have to keep giving it to her for a few more months!

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Funny things Isaac says

Isaac's words:
Amimals (Animals)
Lellow (Yellow)
Crown (Crayon)

"I promise I won't do that for ever again!"

Sometimes when he is standing to pee at the toilet, a fart slips out and he slaps his butt and yells "No poo poo! It's NOT YOUR TURN!!"

~ I am sure there will be more to add later

I Love Halloween

We pulled out our scary skeleton and put him on the door today and he was losing some body parts. I re-attached one hand, and 2 legs with fishing line. Isaac was totally into it, mostly because he got to use the scissors. So this evening I was at Bi-lo, returning a movie (Year One, which was awesome by the way), and they had their pumpkins on sale. There is my way-cool pumpkin, isn't he scary and awesome? Can't wait to show him to Isaac tomorrow. I think I will always love Halloween. I don't have too many warm and fuzzy memories with both of my parents together, but we definitely always had a blast on Halloween. My parents always took us trick or treating and my dad was an awesome face-painter / costume designer. He would give us a HUGE trash bag to put all of our candy in, but then send us up to the houses with tiny little empty bags to trick-or treat in, so the people at the doors would feel sorry for us and think we had hardly any candy. We would make our little sad urchin faces and get tons of sympathy candy and dump our tiny bags into the giant trash bag when we got back to the car. Yup I am TOTALLY passing that tradition on. :-) Trick or Treat!!