Wednesday, July 31, 2013

KYLE'S KORNER- Being a SAHM is Sexy

Hi everyone, this is Kyle. I've had contributor privileges to this blog for a long time, but I don't think I've ever actually used it before. I've been thinking about this particular post for a while, though, and wanted to invade her blog and let everyone know the kind of woman I'm blessed to have married.

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On the rare occasions that you see a stay at home mom in movies, they're usually comedies. The wife is often standing in the middle of a room with a number of kids running around her, all of them acting like brats. The mom usually has something stuck in her hair, a baby in her arms screaming at the top of its lungs, while she just stands, defeated, questioning her life choices. And when the husband invariably comes home, she just glares at him. Where you don't see stay at home moms very often are in romance dramas. I guess that's not what people want to see in those kind of movies.
However, as someone married to one of these amazing women, I'll let you in on a little secret. Being a stay at home mom is sexy.
Sure, there are some days that she can barely find a break in the day to pee, much less take a shower. But even on those hectic days, when I walk in the door she's not angry at me for burdening her with all of these children. She comes up to me, and every day she wraps her arms around me and kisses me. Every day as soon as I come home. She smiles. She's excited. And during the day, she begs me to come home, but not so I can take over so she can go out and take a break. Could she use a break? Sure. But that's not what she's wanting. She misses me, and wants to see me.
The thing is, Wendy tells me all the time that she wants the relationship between us to come before the kids. She loves me more than the kids. And that's really saying something, because she adores those kids. She wants us to be solid first, because if that doesn't happen, we'll never be who we should be for our kids. Wendy loves me. She invests in me. She's passionate about me.
You see? Being a stay at home mom is sexy.
The great thing about having a woman like Wendy at home during the day, especially for someone as absentminded as I am, is that she can keep my head on straight. I don't know how many times I've forgotten to do something at work, only to have Wendy remind me. How does she know to do this? Well, after the hug and kiss when I get home, she always asks me what happened at work. This isn't an idle question. She really wants to know. She actually listens as I rattle on about whatever is going on at AMX, and she gives her thoughts and advice. She's my secretary, my advisor, and my confidant.
The thing about Wendy is that she is a biblical example of a serving wife. In these modern times, people have a different idea of what womanhood means, and not all of it is bad. Society is remembering again that women are strong and capable. That's biblical. Look at Proverbs 31. That talks about a wife buying fields and making good decisions for her family. That's not some wallflower. And that's Wendy. But she also puts me first, and submits to my leadership. And that all comes from her. It's nothing I laid down. It's something important to her. She consistently puts my desires, my wants, and my needs before her own. Let me tell you. That kind of attitude is really attractive.
Like I said. Being a stay at home mom is sexy.
Now, it's not just her attitude towards me. Do our kids act up and try to test their boundaries? Sure. They're four, two, and 10 months. Pushing past boundaries is what kids do, especially at those ages. But when our kids to act up, Wendy takes them into their room, punishes them, and then talks to them about their actions. She tells them that not only is acting like that disobedient to Mommy and Daddy (which makes us sad), it also is a sin before God. She tells the girls about sin, and models Christ's forgiveness by hugging and kissing them and reminding them that she'll always love them, no matter what they do.
I never worry about my kids growing up to be menaces to society. It's hard being away from them during the day, to have so little time with them during the week. However, I don't have to worry about what's being poured into them while I'm not there. I know Wendy's there, praying with them, playing with them, and investing in them just like she does with me. This lets me focus on work, and I can trust that Wendy is teaching them about the important things: beauty, goodness, and truth. Feeling secure on the home front is immeasurably important to success at work and at life.
It's also very sexy.
Of course, it's not all punishment at our house. In fact, Wendy makes life at our house a lot of fun. I could start listing examples, but really, just go back and look at the other posts on this blog. Can you imagine what life is like at this house? Our kids have it good! If we had absolutely nothing, our kids would still have a great childhood. Wendy would find a way. She's fun, crazy, goofy, imaginative, and full of laughter. No matter how tired she is, she always has a smile for our kids. When our kids are older, they won't remember a mom that was always tired or busy. They'll remember a mom who smiled when they walked into a room. They'll remember how much she loved them.
That's what it really all comes down to. Wendy is so full of love for our family. It comes through in every single second of her day. It drives all the little things and the big things that she does for our household. Without her, everything would break down.
Just see how things go for me and the kids when she leaves for a couple hours. On too rare occasions, Wendy gets to hang with a friend without kids in tow. I'll stay at home with the kids, and while I do try to keep things running and "do things," a lot of the time it's survival mode. I just try to make sure the kids are still alive and the house is still intact when she gets home. It takes every ounce of my effort to accomplish even this. Without Wendy, things don't last around here very long. And all of the work she does (and she works HARD) is because she loves us all so deeply.
And you know what? Love is sexy.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Cow Appreciation Day

 A couple of weeks ago was the annual Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a so I dressed my gang up and we took full advantage of free food. I have friends that have done this in years past, and I was always too embarrassed to go...but when you have 5 people in your family, you quickly get over any embarrassment and get your free food on! Kyle dressed up and went by himself for breakfast and lunch and the kiddos and I went for lunch, then we all went for supper.

All together we consumed nearly $60 in free food. Worth it!! Besides, dignity and pride kind of go out the window...you know, once you've been peed/pooped/vomited on, struggled to breast feed in public, threatened your child with their life in the middle of the store, or sang Wheels on the Bus 15 times loudly and animated in the grocery store.

Finley very matter of factly told me that she was not "Finley," but "Finley Cow" for the day. And of course that meant that the rest of us were "Rowynn Cow, Baby Cow, Mommy Cow, and Daddy Cow." Only my kiddos can call me "Mommy Cow" repeatedly, and only when I'm actually dressed as a cow.


My hubby is such a good sport!

My little cows!

Rowynn "mooing"



 




 

Thursday, July 25, 2013

The 4th

We had a fun few days celebrating the 4th of July this year. The week before the girls and I made several patriotic crafts, we talked about our country, flag, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance several times. On the 4th we made Patriotic Cupcakes and joined some friends at a Freedom Festival that featured food trucks, games, bounce houses, a band, splash area and of course fireworks! We enjoyed walking around and cooled off with some Kona Ice Sno Cones. It was actually a nice night, not hot at all. We found a spot on the hill and the kids ran around playing with their glow sticks and later we all enjoyed the beautiful fireworks.

The girls loved decorating cupcakes!

The flags they made.

Straw painting!

Stamping Stars


Festive!
Ready to go enjoy the Freedom Festival!

My cute little guy!

My bestie Maile with her boys and step dad!

My crew...one day they will all look the same direction!

My lovey bug & me!



 

 

The next day, Friday, the family loaded up and we drove to Louisiana to spend the weekend at my parents house. That night we celebrated several family birthdays, my sisters, her hubby, and his brother and grandma. My grandparents, Aunt, Uncle, Cousins, and brother-in-law's family all joined us for hot dogs, hamburgers, and lots of yummy goodness. The kids splashed in their small pool, we all rode the golf cart, and did fireworks. Super fun night!

Riding on Mimi & Papaw's golf cart! Super fun!

My parents got the kids a little pool!

A rare picture! My honey & me!

Fireworks

Blowing the candles! We were celebrating 4 birthdays!

Rowynn & her best bud Millie :)


The next day we all went out on the lake in the family pontoon boat. Such fun! I grew up going to the lake every Sunday and we still go out every fourth! I love traditions!

My handsome fellas!

So relaxing!

Fried chicken and the lake go hand-in-hand!

Rowynn catching some sun with Aunt Sissy.

Yes that is my Daddy jumping off the top of the boat! Love his kid like spirit!

My beautiful sis!

My sweet sunshine :)

Haha, love this pic! My hot mess girl!

The lake wore this little guy out!

Feeding the ducks that live across the street from my parents!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Butterflies...another tradition!

Every year for the past three years I've ordered caterpillars and we've enjoyed watching them turn into beautiful butterflies. Such a neat experience for the kids and a great learning activity! We always order from Insect Lore and have been super pleased with everything. You get a cup of about 5 caterpillars complete with food for them. After a few days the caterpillars make their way to the top of the lid and form chrysalises. After a couple of days you tape the paper holding the chrysalises to the inside of the butterfly habitat. Did you know that the cocoons will shake if the feel threatened? It's their way to protect themselves in nature. Pretty cool. Anyway, a few days later they emerge as butterflies. We feed our butterflies sugar water (use the included dropper and place water on fresh flower petals), and orange slices. After about 4 days we release our butterflies.


Here they are as chrysalises

Beautiful butterfly!

The girls posing with the butterflies.

Emerson did not want to take a picture. Oh well!


Our (nonfiction) butterfly/bug books. And of course we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Our sequence cards had a butterfly set that the girls enjoyed putting in order.
Our props to tell the story of how a caterpillar changes. The girls loved this!
 
Putting the caterpillar in the cocoon.

 

Finley pointing to the picture of the caterpillar egg. Love this book.

Drawing her caterpillar with "lots of legs."

Rowynn's book.

Finley's book.



Love her butterfly drawing.

Their butterfly books with the butterflies.
The life cycle of a caterpillar using rice and pasta!
 
Getting ready to say goodbye :)

Watching the butterflies fly away.