What's Your Favorite Animal?

My typically shy around strangers three year old just walked into Ihop and asked the hosted what her favorite animal was! Then he asked the cashier what her favorite animal was and later if our waitress likes bats! His boldness completely took us by surprise!

Cavin's Cuteness

Cavin came out of his room this morning with his Angry Birds game asking Daddy to open it and play with him.  Later as we were getting things ready to leave, he asked me if he could take two of his angry birds to school with him, which I agreed to as long as they went in his backpack when his teacher asked him to put them away.

So he walks into the kitchen to tell Matt that I said he could take his angry birds to school. Then he continues with this story....

When I get to school I am going to throw the angry birds at Ms. Dana (his teacher) and they will hit her right in the middle of her forehead, and she will fall over... just like Goliath.
We about died laughing...if only you could have been there and seen him acting out with his hands what he was saying. The stuff this kid comes up with!

Priceless.

By the way, no angry birds were thrown at the teacher!

Rainy Day Nap!

Its the perfect day for a nap, all snuggled in a blanket...or two...or three!!

Welcome!

So I decided to turn our blog private and instead of posting things on Facebook, I will be updating or blog instead, which is hopefully more private! I also discovered a blogger app so I can update, even pictures, from my phone!

So, for my first post via my phone...this is a picture of Carden who recently discovered ice cream...we went to DQ while Grandpa Richards was here this last weekend. This is his "I demand more!!" face while pointing at what he wants! Patience sure isn't his thing!

Going Private!

I have decided to turn my blog into a private blog so I can update with more personal things without it being so public!

If you would like to continue to read our blog, please comment with your email address so I can add you!

Carden Turns One!

Carden on his first birthday, March 3, 2013. I felt terrible, his birthday fell on a Sunday which equals a stressful morning at church followed by a pastor's chat (where new families eat lunch with the pastor's and their families to get to know them better as well as learn more about the church), then Rance's basketball game. We had cancelled small group for the evening, so we grabbed a small store bought cake on our way home to celebrate.

He wasn't so sure at first, but once he got a few tastes of the icing he kept going back for more!

Enjoying himself!!

So not happy when mommy took it away!

Nothing a bath can't make all better! Carden loves his bath time!

Having fun during a bath with his cousin Josiah and Grandma. One of Carden's recently learned tricks was learning where his tongue is and being able to stick it out when asked. So glad I captured it on camera!

The weekend after Carden's birthday we celebrated with our family. Some came in Thursday evening, most on Friday, and a few just for the day on Saturday. I always love having all of our family together, but its always crazy!

Although there was still snow on the ground, Saturday was a beautiful day! The kiddos all loved being able to get out and play. Carden and Josiah even managed to sneak in a nap during a walk with Grandma!

Carden, 12 Months, Josiah, 15 Months

 Uncle Mitch and his girlfriend Chelsea came for the weekend as well, much to the boys' delight! They love their Uncle Mitch! My boys also love sidewalk chalk, and Cavin of course loves sharks. I believe its even more fun when they have someone around who can actually draw! Thanks Uncle Mitch!

I think Cavin thought it was pretty cool stuff that he was being eaten by a shark!!

Daddy and Carden with his first birthday cake! I had a hard time deciding on a theme. I randomly suggested doing a KU Jayhawk theme and of course Matt was all about that! I also couldn't decide on how I wanted to decorate the cake, but we are currently trying to cut out unnatural food and food colorings, so I knew I wanted to keep it simple. I decided to do the Junior Jayhawk since it was for his first birthday.

Carden loved opening presents!

These two cousins are a mess alone and even more so together!

Older Cousins!

I love this boy!

I still can't believe our Carden is one. This year has went by entirely to fast. While I miss my snuggly new born, I love seeing his personality come out more and more everyday! Carden loves food! He eats really well and would eat all day long if I would let him! He also loves getting into trouble! He spends way more time getting into things than he ever does playing with his toys! It definitely makes getting anything done much slower, I get one thing checked off my to do list to discover Carden has made a huge mess elsewhere. Thankfully he has the sweetest little ornery grin when he knows he is in trouble that melts my heart! Not sure how that will work out for me in the future!

Happy Birthday sweet Carden! You have brought us such great joy and much laughter! We love you always and forever!

Christmas 2012

I feel like Christmas came really fast this year and I was very unprepared. I love to be organized and ahead of the game, but this year I found myself very behind and not much in the Christmas spirit. I was somewhat disappointed with our own little family Christmas. I really wanted to start some new traditions, but I feel like my being behind on things really prevented any new traditions from happening. I feel guilty I didn't do more to make Christmas more special for my boys, it just kind of happened at our house. I don't know, it was just a weird Christmas for me.

We went to Christmas Eve service at our church and then grabbed a quick bite to eat at Cavin's favorite place to eat! He is just too cute sometimes and I couldn't say no even though we had planned to go elsewhere! Afterwards we drove through the city light display. Matt and I didn't think it was all that good but the boys had fun so that is what matters most! It was fun watching the boys open their gifts on Christmas morning, I just wish there was a way it wasn't over so quickly! We buy each of our kiddos a bigger gift then a couple smaller things so opening gifts goes rather quickly even if we open one at a time!

We finished off our Christmas travels with spending almost a week at my parents. We really enjoyed our week there. The kiddos loved playing with their cousins and Matt and I were able to enjoy a lot of time playing games with my parents and siblings. The last couple of days we were there it snowed a good 6 to 8 inches. I love snow and so do my boys! I am so thankful we were still there and the boys were able to get out and play in the snow and go sledding! It snowed our entire drive home, but sadly there wasn't hardly any snow on the ground at home.

I will say I am not ready to return to our normal chaotic schedule this week. It has been nice to have so much family time. I wish we could ease back into everything instead of it all starting at once, but instead we will start full force tomorrow. Here's to hoping we all get to bed early tonight!

Advent

I love Christmas. I have always loved the Christmas season. Not only are we able to celebrate and remember the one event that set into motion the restoration of God's people, for me, it is a season filled with warm memories of time spent with family and friends.  

Until I was in middle school my family attended a Lutheran church, where advent was celebrated, but I believe I was too young to really understand and remember advent. It wasn't until we moved to Vienna that I really experienced Advent for the first time. Austria is a Catholic nation, so Advent is a huge part of their Christmas season. 

As a side note, the 2 Christmas' we lived in Vienna are two of my favorite memories. Christmas in Vienna was wondrous, magical, exciting, and filled with our family of friends and students.  If you don't believe me, just google Vienna at Christmas! The regal lights in the streets downtown, the Christmas markets and the environments they created...topped off with the amazing family of friends, students and their families. Very sweet memories indeed.

So every year I look forward to Advent. This year I am doing an Advent devotional study through an app on my phone. I have really enjoyed it so far. I love the Old Testament, especially all of the prophecy, and a lot of the Advent readings are filled with the prophecies of Christ. This is one of my favorites from Isaiah, and just happened to be part of my reading today.

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this."

                                                                                        Isaiah 9:2-7

I love this whole passage and the image it creates of the coming Christ, but I particularly love the the last sentence of verse 7. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Webster defines zeal as: eagerness and ardent pursuit of something. Free dictionary defines zeal as enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal and tireless diligence in its furtherance. 

I think of everything God had already accomplished for His people up to this point, and I think of everything God accomplished after this prophecy in order to bring about the fulfillment of these words in Isaiah 9. The stories that my three year old loves, David and Goliath, Jonah and the Big Fish, Daniel and the Lion's Den. They are so much more than words or stories, they are God's ardent pursuit of ME, of Us, they are His tireless diligence to bring us Salvation through the birth, life, death and resurrection of HIs son. 

I think of the zeal of the Lord, I think of his enthusiastic devotion to loving my sinful heart, and I am humbled. 

The last few months have been difficult for me. I have been struggling with the feeling of not doing enough, coupled with finding my place in serving in His kingdom. I know God's greatest calling on my life right now is to be a mom to the three boys he has entrusted to us, but I felt like I was to be doing more than that. I mean, God sent His only Son to earth, to live a perfect life, to be the perfect sacrifice, so that I could have eternal life. 

And what have I been doing? Feeding a baby, changing diapers, Cleaning house, doing laundry, packing lunches, helping with homework, disciplining my children, just the day to day life of a stay at home mom. Important? Of course, but I didn't feel like I was doing enough for His kingdom.I feel like God placed this struggle on my heart, as He had more for me to do, that I was not seeking out. I believe he placed this feeling of dis-contentedness on my heart so I would begin to seek out His will more fervently.

The past 3 weeks have been pretty amazing for Matt and I as God has revealed His calling to my heart. I am so excited to share with you how God has been moving in our lives, making His will crystal clear. Soon, I will share.

When I read this passage today as part of my devotion, it just confirmed in my heart all that God is calling Matt and I too. When I read the last sentence, the ZEAL of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this, it calmed the fears in my heart, for I know this is also true for the calling God is laying on our hearts right now.

One Week

I can't believe it has already been a week since we welcomed Carden into our family. Time truly goes by entirely too fast!

We were able to come home from the hospital Monday evening. We were discharged later because we were waiting on some of Carden's test results. It was so nice to come home and have my family all together. Rance and Cavin are such proud and excited big brothers! It is so sweet to hear them talk about Carden and to watch them interact with him!

I am feeling great, thanks to an easy delivery. Will have to share that story someday soon. Its nice to be able to be up and around and to help out with the boys instead of being down and out on the couch in pain. Wednesday we even ventured to the chiropractor, dinner at Chik-fil-A and then to Community Worship at church. The kids choir, which Rance is part of, sang a song during the worship, and he did great!

Carden is a great baby. He eats, sleeps, and is awake some, but not near enough for either of his big brother's liking! We are still working on getting an eating pattern established. With him being a preemie and the pediatrician worried about weight gain, I have been letting him eat on demand. Not so bad during the day, but it makes for long nights. Thankfully he is starting to sleep better in the night instead of staying awake from 12-2!

Rance and Cavin have been begging to go to my parent's house. Cavin loves the farm, all of the animals, but especially the chicken's and cows. Rance likes the farm, but he isn't so fond of the animals. Although I am pretty sure he has figured out the rules are softer with Grandma and Papa and he definitely enjoys that. My brother and his three older kiddos were going up this weekend, so we let our boys go home with my parents as well. The weather couldn't be better, so I am sure they will spend a lot of time outside playing and will come home with cherished memories of time spent with grandparents and cousins.

Matt and I have enjoyed the downtime, the ability to nap whenever Carden is sleeping to help get rested up, and lots of peanut butter! Our house is definitely much quieter without our two older boys!

Legacy

Just 2 days after we returned from Ukraine with Rance, we attended the funeral of my Great Uncle Walter. We debated on whether or not we should go, if it would be too much for Rance to handle, but in the end, the fact that it was my Great Uncle won out, and we went. We tried to explain to Rance in our limited Ukrainian and English what he would see and what it was, not sure how much he understood with the small amount of English he knew at the time.

For many people, a Great Uncle is a man they see every now and then at family reunions, or for some, they may not even know their names. This was not the case for the Tuley family. My Grandpa and his brothers were firm believers in the importance of family and putting family first. As a result, I not only knew all of my great uncles by name, but I saw them often, was greeted with hugs and kisses, and was hugged and kissed good bye. I was close with my Great Uncle Walter, and I knew I couldn't miss his funeral.

During the funeral, some of his grandkids got up to speak. I smiled and laughed at their stories, with tears in my eyes, because many of the memories of their grandpa were identical to the memories I have of mine. It struck me while sitting at the funeral how much my Grandpa and his brothers were alike. How much they loved God, loved their families, loved other people, were hard workers, and their love of teasing, especially the girls. I realized all of these characteristics of the Tuley brothers were a result of lives lived intentionally. Lives intentionally lived so they could leave a legacy to their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There truly are no words to describe the gift they gave to us in the legacy they left behind. Their legacy has shaped so much of who I am, my faith, my love for family and the importance of putting family first, my value of hard work, my love for helping others, and so much more.

When we found out we were having another baby boy, we thought we had a name already picked out. But the more I pondered it in my heart, the more I knew it wasn't the right name for this child. I wanted to choose a name that would represent the legacy left behind by the Tuley brothers. There is only one Tuley brother still alive, my Great Uncle Franklin Carden Tuley. The more I thought about the legacy the Tuley brothers have passed on to me, the more I knew Carden was the name I wanted to pass on. It is my way of telling them thank you, thank you for being great men who left, or will leave, behind a legacy that has forever touched my life.

We already had the middle name picked out, William, after Matt's Grandpa, Donald William Clapham. I have seen so many times in Matt's life the legacy his Grandpa passed on to him. Many of the things I love most about Matt I also saw in his Grandpa. Like me, the legacy Matt's Grandpa passed on to him, shaped so much of who Matt is today.

We are both so blessed to have men in our lives who worked hard to pass on a legacy of faith, family, friends and hard work. Legacies that have changed and shaped lives. Legacies that we hope to pass on to all of our boys.

So we welcome Carden William Richards into our family. Born on March 3, 2012 at 8:24 in the morning, weighing in at 6 pounds 11 ounces and 19 and 1/2 inches long! So far he is doing perfect for being a week premature!