{My World Monday} Winter Play

First snowfall of many this year. Mommy can we play in it?!?

This was before we have the little bit of gear we do now.  But we layered them up and headed on out.  This day it was probably around 35.  So it wasn't frigid.

One very happy little girl.

Happy, but confused little boy.  Where my sandbox Mama?

First snow angel.  Before I could tell her you lay on your back to make the angel.  

Like the rest of the country it has been a cold, snowy winter.  It will be over soon.  It will be over soon.  I for one am thankful that it has been cold enough to kill all the allergens this winter.

What is your bright side of this cold, cold winter?

{My World Monday} Rolling with the Punches

It was another Christmas and new set of punches we needed to roll with.  We have not had a 'normal' Christmas since 2008.  2009 - 7 day old baby, 2010 - adjusting to the whole Christmas with more than just us, 2011 - 6 week old baby and now 2012 - far, far from normal.

I was updating pictures recently.  I was looking at the pictures from Christmas and said, "There is no way that any of these pictures will be seeing the light of day - at least the ones I am in."

Looking at these pictures I see - one tired mama.  Did I even put make-up on?  Did I even care?  Did I even want to be anywhere other than home?  For our Christmas celebrations I put on a game face and went about our day.  When we went home we put the kids to bed and crashed.    

But then I realized - when I got to the pictures of our Christmas morning - Little Miss and Little Mister will probably not remember this Christmas.  Little Mister doesn't even understand Santa.  Little Miss didn't get it that when she went to be Santa was supposed to come while she was sleeping.

Let's rewind just a little.

Christmas Eve Hubs and I were going on a date to a Christmas concert at our church.  I was feeling really yuck and debating not going.  He said, 'We need this, let's go and if we have to leave we will leave."  I get dressed, we drop the kids off at the in-laws and headed over to church.  Halfway through the concert I look at Hubs and say, "we need to go ... now."  We leave and head straight to the ER.

While at the ER I don't know which upset me more the fact that I was 'ruining' Christmas for our kids or that I was miscarrying our 3rd child.  None of our Christmas Eve traditions were happening.  Gifts weren't wrapped.  Nothing was ready for Christmas morning.  I still had hope that things would work out okay and I would get to go home.  Then I was told I had to stay overnight and I lost all hope.  Christmas was going to be ruined.  At least Hubs had gone home to put the kids to bed so they had something sort of normal.  Let's be honest, nothing was normal about that night.

Thank God that my bleeding had stopped enough and I was discharged at 9:30.  Now it was figuring out what were we going to do about Christmas morning.   I was not going to ruin Christmas for these two.

We came up with a plan on the way home.  I was going to go upstairs to wrap the gifts.  While I was up there Santa called and told Hubs that he had forgotten to pick up Eddie.  He asked if Hubs and Little Miss could put Eddie on the front stairs.  He would come and pick him up so Eddie the Elf could go home.  

To keep the kids busy Hubs kept them in the kitchen and let them have a cookie.  

I came down stairs to take a few pictures and Hubs moved them into the living room.  While in the living room Santa visited and picked up Eddie the Elf.  While he was there he left Little Miss and Little Mister's presents.

We decided to skip our big Christmas breakfast since it was so late.  We ate a small lunch and went down for nap - all 5 of us.

After nap we headed over to the in-laws for Christmas Dinner.  It was your typical holiday at the in-laws.  When we got home we all crashed.

I am thankful that we pulled together to get through.  The day after Christmas I told Hubs, this is my day to be sad and stay in bed.  I put on a strong enough front yesterday.  I let myself have that time to grieve.  Sure I still have my moments, but I am healing.  God is getting us through and for that I am thankful.  Next year I pray that Christmas is just 'normal'.

Little Mister is ONE!

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{My World Monday}

We have had some big changes happen at The Hickman Five house.  The biggest.  Daddy now works from home.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we tried having him work down in the living room near the main computer.  

So the kids and I escaped.  We went to play on Tuesday.  We went to our favorite indoor play area.

  

Tuesday we ran errands.  I was able to keep them out and about until lunch time, but this was quickly turning out to not be the best solution.  

Wednesday afternoon we moved an office space into our room.  We are now able to keep the schedule we had with him working outside of the house and he is able to get work done in a quiet setting.  Win-Win!

At the end of the week we had some drama that messed with Friday.  We took care of it and decided to escape as a family.  

The enemy was working overtime in our house this past week.  We took time to stop, reflect on what is really important and ask God for revelation.  These attacks from the enemy did one thing.  Confirmed that we are on God's path for us.  He wouldn't be attacking like this if we weren't.  

We are standing strong on the promise in Jeremiah 29:11- I have a plan for you to prosper declares the Lord.

The enemy will come and try to get us back in the boat.  We will not back down.  We will stand through this storm.  

What is going on in your world?  Anything we can pray for you about?  Let us know we - if you don't want your comment published, but want prayer just let me know you don't want it published.  (Yes, I moderate all comments.)

5 years ... 5 years! {My World Monday}

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated our 5 year anniversary.  With a big ... fat nothing.  Okay, well it wasn't nothing - but we definitely did not plan for the events of this year very well.

We ended up spending some special time with Little Miss.  She is very interested in tennis.  Hubs found out about a tournament that his friend was playing in.  He wanted to check it out, so we took Little Miss with us.

Hubs was excited to see what the courts were like at the Western Southern.  For any tennis fans out there this is where the Cincinnati US Open Series is played.  He is playing in this tournament next year, and it is giving him a great goal to shoot for. 

Someone else was excited too.  All the way there, "We're gonna watch some tennis!"  We walked up to center court when we got there.  "Hey, do you want to see where Serina plays?"  "YEAH!"  There was a match taking place so we didn't stick around because she couldn't stay quiet yet.

Little Miss had been asking for a picnic a lot lately, so since his friend was playing at 12 we took lunch with us. 

So Hubs' friend won his match by forfeit and we didn't get to watch him play.  Then he said to Hubs, "Do you want to play a quick game?"  Even though he didn't have his racket with him he looked at me with that 'I really want to do you mind' look on his face.  I told him we planned to be here, might as well.

Mama was prepared for Little Miss to get bored.  Yep, crayons, coloring book, cookies and you can see it, but she has the iPod in her hand to listen to "Go Go's"  She watched some, picked flowers, played bounce, colored and basically had a great time.

After the tournament we went to pick up Little Mister (who was being watched by Uncle and Aunt) we went to Lakota Fall Fest with them.

There were several businesses there.  We check them out, played little games and somewhere got this crazy hat.

There was a barrel train that took them around the festival.  The people running it must have thought she was younger than she was because they wanted to make sure she would be okay to ride the train without us.  She did fine.  Plus her cousin was right behind her.  She had a blast!

So the day that I had wanted to be just Hubs and I, a get away from the kids all together and out of town.  Ended up being a fun family day.  I am okay with that too. 

{My World Monday} - The Time Has Come

Does it seem like I have just not been around?  It sure feels that way for me.

It's because I have been going crazy.  Okay not really.  However, when things get really stressful I get all flightly and lose whatever focus I had and it all just kinda goes who knows where.

I haven't been super secretive about it, but our finances are all sorts of out of whack right now.  Our monthly in does not cover our monthly out.  So, when this happens the enemy knows that this is a great place to swoop in and get me all sorts of off my path.

When this starts to happen I need to recognize it and realize what is going on.  That is when I need to call on the Lord, not after the fact.

Not only have things just been off track, I was pretty sick last week.

It is seriously time for the Hickman Five to buckle down.  We keep talking it, but we aren't walking it.  If we are not walking it we won't walk it out and be refined by the fire.

We have learned a lot about goal setting over the years.  I have started things over and over again.  God will see us through.  I know that putting this out there is just inviting the enemy in to keep us from it.  Seeing that I am already expecting a battle I am ready to fight this time.

We are done.

We have been praying for God to make things clear about what we are supposed to do.  I believe that he has done just that.  Especially when things come to you when your Pastor is talking about finding you place to do God's work in HIS kingdom.

As a pastor friend of mine said, "When the past comes calling don't answer.  Send it straight to voicemail!" 

This year is going to end differently than it has been all year.  That is it.

{Hickman Five Adventures} Free Style

Here at The Hickman Five we really do love us some free fun.  

Seeing that the weather broke we were able to enjoy us some park time.  

Now, this was last weekend and I think doing it again soon would be a great idea.  But I love seeing the interaction between Little Miss and "friends".  

Although I didn't take pictures - Little Miss started playing with a little boy, E.  E and Lil Miss would help each other up the structure to the slides then would race down, saying set go! at the top.  

They would run over to the ducks and ride the ducks - even though they are so stiff neither of their little bodies would make it work.  

They said bye to each other when it was time to leave.  It was really, really cute.  

Two weeks ago now we were able to get into the aquarium for free.  - Hubs had a work event at their that evening. 

So here is a review in pictures.  

We even won two door prizes.  One of which was $50 gift card to the grocery store! Score.  I got our week's worth of groceries for $25!

Just Be

I have found that sometimes you just need to be ... 

awake to enjoy breakfast with Daddy/Hubs.  The lovelies have been getting up early. - like 5/6 early.  So we get up and do our morning thing.  We come down and eat breakfast with Daddy before he goes to work. (Which I am not going to lie, is nice to start my day with him.) 

Sometimes you just need to be ... laid back.  Our mornings are when we are most laid back.  We play and watch some tv.  I clean up the kitchen, check email, and do some social media stuff.  Around 9 we head outside.  Yes, at 9 in the morning we are going outside to play.  Why?  Because we can and the sun has not made it to our back yard so the temperature has been tolerable in the mornings.  We play outside until 10 or 1030 and Alex needs to nap.  I wish I could bottle these relaxed mornings and turn them into our afternoons.  

Sometimes you just need to be ... intentional.  Once lunch happens the time just flies right on by.  Before I look at the clock it is time to get up from naps and make dinner.  Where did my afternoon go? It is time to be intentional with how I am spending my time.  

 Sometimes you just need to be ... Mommy.  That's my favorite thing to be.

Hickman Five Adventure: Columbus Zoo

Wow, am I this far behind or do we just have that much going on?  I do hope it is the later.

Time for a Hickman Five Adventure!  (sorry this took place back in MAY)

One Friday night we are sitting at the dinner table.  "Let's go to the Columbus Zoo tomorrow."  That would be from Hickman #1.  My response, "Really?" "Sure, why not?"  So, I go online and see how much it would cost and all the "fun" stuff.

I find that it is only $15 per adult and $9 for children over 2.  I also find that you can bring in coolers.  Sweet! Picnic it is.

That night I get us all packed up, picnic lunch, diaper bag with changes of clothes, extra socks and diapers.  We are ready to go.  We drop Hickman #5 off at my in-laws for a slumber party with his friends.

Saturday we load up and drive north-east for about 2 hours and end up at the zoo.  It was not a HOT day, but it was a warm one.

This zoo is huge!  Everything is spread out, the animal enclosures are large, so you are not tripping over people trying to catch a glimpse.  Now that I have kids I noticed that they had kids stuff spread out all over the zoo.

We had some great encounters.  The Tiger decided he was going to give Kaitlyn a close up view.

Got some great profile pics of my beautiful baby girl.  Looking at the camera is not acceptable at the zoo, you might miss something!

The flamingos were having a bad day and fighting.  But stunning in color!

The part that stuck out most to Kaitlyn was this ... 

while we were watching the baby was playing.  It was feeding time and a bunch of lettuce fell.  The baby got scared and ran to his Mommy to hide.  We were told about this for a week, and still told about it when she sees the pictures.  

The kangaroo enclosure was stunning - in the fact that there basically wasn't one!  You just entered this area and there they were.  

We didn't see it all, but we saw the important things ... Tigers, Elephants and Flamingos.  We came home with George the polar bear and an alligator for Alex.  We had a great time and if you are ever in Columbus, Ohio you should go to the zoo.

Mission Organization: Mail Attack

What do you do about mail?  It seems to be a never ending pile sitting right inside my front door.  I didn't take a before picture.  Mainly because I was so sick of looking at it all that I got it all cleaned up and then said, oh I should blog about this.  

So I ask - how do you conquer the mess that is mail?

I need to be diligent about sorting it out when it comes.  Junk, bills, and "fun".  Wow, that fun category is the smallest isn't it.  That is the category for magazine subscriptions, invitations and cards.  Here is what I did.  

I took a basket I had laying around and labeled it "Action" - this means that if the mail is in this basket something needs to get done with it.  Either it needs to get paid, filed, responded too, something needs to happen to it.  Although this is a great idea, it is a little too all encompassing.  I am going to pick up a few new baskets.  I would like a basket for "file", "pay" and "respond".  I also want a larger basket for other things like ... store flyers for the week, magazines and catalogs.  

This system is working for right now, but it needs to get tweeked.  We are on a grand adventure here at The Hickman household.  We are preparing to purchase our first home, so finances is something that we need to get a better hold of.  Mail falls into that because that is how most of the bills come to the house.  

Hickman Five Adventures: Memorial Day Parade

Hubs and I have always said that life is an adventure.  Our first few years of dating this was our motto.  Well, I am bringing it back!

So here is one of our Hickman Five Adventures, most adventures will not be featuring Hickman #5.  He usually has to stay home.  (For new readers Hickman #5 is our dog.)

Keith's cousin is a city council member in a local town.  She knows that we are on a huge adventure.  That adventure is the journey to lose 200 pounds collectively.  I know huge undertaking, but it is needed.  She invited us to walk in the NCH Memorial Day Parade.  We said, "Of Course!"  

We had the cutest waver.  

The most adorable rider, who kept himself on schedule by taking his nap in the stroller.

The handsome hubs

And look my picture has even made it to the blog.  I was on the front side of the camera for once.

It was hot, but it was fun.  Next year she said we need to decorate the stroller with balloons and streamers.  During the parade I suggested a fund raiser of a local beauty pageant.  Her response, "You want to take care of that for us?" Ummm of course!

Pop Pop Pop

Bubbles bubbles float on top ... Bubbles bubbles, pop, pop, POP!

What child does not love bubbles?  This particular bubble set is amazing.  When you blow through the wand it makes tons of small bubbles.  But you can also wave it through the air and make large bubbles.  When you can't figure out how to blow softly because you are two, this waving makes things WAY easier.  

I am loving the mostly mild spring and summer we are having.  We get to spend lots of time outside without melting.  It is WONDERFUL!