bloggerizing

Dear Blogger B's,

Today I'm sitting down to write a post I've really wanted to write for awhile. 

It's real, it's honest, and it's probably going to be much longer than most of my other posts...

(Just a guess)

This post is going to answer a FAQ about my blogging... The #1 question I get asked when people come across my blog who know me in "real life"....
Why do you have a blog?

It's not a simple answer, really, because there are about a million answers to that question

and there is a different one, depending on when you ask
I actually began this blog back in a time when the "Justin and Laurie Story" was going through
"a rough season."
Justin and Laurie were going strong together, but life around them was......chaotic (to put it mildly)
and so. I needed.  a place.  to write and express things.
thus began the blog, but it was a mysterious one that no one knew about.
blogging was therapeautic and at this time I was mostly a blog reader
(check out HERE and HERE and HERE for blogs I read during that time and still read today for inspiration, encouragement, and LOL's.)



Caleb enjoys reading "Scaredy Squirrel" books. 
Up close.

in the fall of last year I decided to give blogging a real try, in hopes to bring some enlightenment to people when they checked out my blog
as I had been by being a blog reader myself
so I went and erased all my previous posts that were just a little too real for the public eye,
and started what I called a "Blogging Experiment,"  (click HERE to see original post)
my faithful blog reading sister-in-law, Becky, being my original and faithful reader.....
and I had no idea what was to become of it, really
At that time my wonderful hubby was in the midst of a 3rd shift job and that meant some pretty quiet
um...lonely....nights for me at home. 
perfect blogging set up and it was a great outlet for me.
I worked hard to get my blog "out there" and read by people,
and I dove into some pretty crafty endeavors
to match things that I was seeing out in blogland
And I learned pretty quickly that I do not, actually, enjoy the process of crafting....
L to the O to the capitol L
I really admire artsy things and I really enjoy some aspects of the craft world
but I got so caught up in trying to be a crafter that I lost sight of the fact that
it's not really me.
hmph.  maybe someday. 
(for now I'll just have to spend wisely on etsy and let others 'get their craft on' for me!)
but I discovered I do enjoy sharing my recipes with you all....
and the unexpected thrill of rocking the crock
as I now have a hubby who gets in the door @ 6PM every night....
AND--
what I've realized most recently is that I do enjoy blogging
and I plan on continuing it for a long time.  I think.
I'm a busy mommy
and I wish my blog could reflect the deep thoughts that go on in my heart and mind
but the truth is I'm lucky to have more than 15 moments to myself on most days
at the end of the day, this blog is about my family and for my family--
it's to give them a glimpse into the everyday life we have
because it's a good one, and a blessed one



Jon plays a "Minute-To-Win-It" game
at his 8th birthday party

 it's to share with you that Jesus is a part of our everyday life
whether I include a Bible verse in the post or not (but really I'd like to get better at that!)
and I'm really glad you read my posts.  (please don't stop!)
it's also a place for me to record precious family memories
that I'd otherwise lose track of in the midst of the everyday life
I'm portraying on this blog
It truly amazes me how I can go back and read a blog post from november
and honestly say, "I forgot about that!"
that's a gift from blogging that was unexpected and I'm grateful for
(perfect reason to begin to blog, anyone?!)
blogging has also allowed me to meet some amazing women I only know through blogland
my fav encourager online is HERE and she writes some great posts
about faith and family:   a constant source of encouragement and spurring on for me...
and I've also discovered that I love to write comments on peoples blogs.
I love encouraging people when they share their heart and what's important to them
sometimes I even discover an unexpected gift (check it out HERE)


Matthias always asks that I tuck him in at rest time
and this is how he likes the covers.  snug.

 so there you have it. 
I love to say, "I don't take myself or my blog too seriously."

but thanks for checking out my blog
I really do enjoy hearing from friends that they "secretly" check out my blog
(and I have no idea until they confess tell me!)
I enjoy when people leave me comments letting me know they've stopped by
but, if you noticed, I took off the button that said "comments fuel this blog"
because, ultimately, they don't.....

so have you thought about blogging, my blogger b's who are not yet bloggerized?!

well.....this far surpasses my 15 moments of the day.
it's time to fill a sippy cup with milk for Charity
text my friend back
change a diaper
dust the tv stand
figure out what's for dinner
switch a load of laundry
and all the many things we do without even realizing it
cause that's just what we do, right?!

have a SUPER day doing what God has created you to do!

love, laurie for the fam

GIVEAWAY WEDNESDAY

Val Day, '11

James fam style



Charity is her Daddy's Little Valentine



We had a fun (slightly hurried) breakfast of Pull-Aparts

Recipe here

p.s. I did not let my sons drink Crush soda at breakfast

seriously.

but since I gave them out I was asked a couple million times

if they could be consumed (before lunch)

not the brightest idea ever

but Mom Points for the cool soda in glass bottles, right?!

Happy 1st Valentine's Day, Charity

I'm so glad you're a part of our family this year!

(however last year I remember being able to eat all the chocolate I wanted...)

These two guys were so stoked about the 4K Valentines

they didn't wait to unjacket themselves to start tearing into the treasures
Caleb wasn't sure why he went to 4K in the first place--

It was VALENTINES day, after all

Justin got me some chocolates....he knows that's my love language

well, that and emptying (and loading) the dishwasher

The cherry flav hearts were for him--he likes those fruity chewy things. 

wow, I really made those sound yummy, huh

I just figure when there's chocolate around, why bother with anything else?!

but that's just me and you gotta know your Valentine

did I mention I also got him a Packers Superbowl shirt? 

he was all about that

and he bought me something else, too....but that's just between us
G-rated blog, people!

are you tired of seeing pics of Justin & Laurie

come on, now....

here we are at Applebee's for dinner

sans. kiddos.

a big thank you to Justin's rents for that

we also movied it up budget style.  ahhh, I love the budget cinema

hilarious couple 2 rows behind us, 3 seats to the left

she couldn't see well and he couldn't hear well

it made for interesting (loud) conversations that (thankfully)

Justin and I found to be entertaining

sometimes even more than the movie itself

Remember the Cake Balls? 
 Well, these are sugar cookie balls and they are yummy
I kept Val Day '11 going a little longer
by not finishing them up until Feb 15th
awww...
 1 more day to celebrate love
tune in tomorrow for the RECIPE (only 4 ingredients!)
when I do Tutorial Tuesday on Thursday, k?
Rule.  Breaker.  yep.  that's me

What?!  It's GIVEAWAY WEDNESDAY?! 

the encouraging words and sweet designs

on these DaySpring cards

will brighten someone's day--will it be you?!

All 4 of these cards will go to the WINNER of GIVEAWAY WEDNESDAY

here are the rules (ready?!)

Leave a comment telling me one thing that brightened your day TODAY

Be specific--I love a good "day brightener"story

And just for the fun of it...

Leave ANOTHER comment (for another chance to WIN!)

answering this question:

How many muscles do you think it takes to kiss?

(it's more than you'd think,

so I'm going to start counting every one as a workout)

any answer counts as an entry

Come on, Blogger Buddies! 

Join me in GIVEAWAY WEDNESDAY

You know you want to brighten my day!

Have a super day, All!

Love, Laurie for the fam

2 words: Aaron. Rodgers.



celebration



and that pretty much sums it up



buzz



"Matthias, will you please hold your head up for the picture?" 

(I love how literal kids are!)



before the James boy buzz

after the James boy buzz

snow day = haircuts for the boyz of the house
(even Justin participated but I failed to snap pics of his before and after)

This pretty girl and I did not participate in the buzz cuts. 

Charity is so close to crawling

and it's going to happen any. day. now. 

Her world and mine is about to drastically change.

Mercy.

Happy (Snow-filled) Thursday, All!

p.s. I'd like to direct you on over to this pretty blog here.  Abbi is so sweet to speak kind words on my blog yesterday.  I enjoy seeing all the precious pics of her little ones.....and I enjoy the ever-changing look of her blog!  Thanks, Abbi.  I don't know how we found each other either, but thanks for being my blogger buddy!

have you entered Lisa's giveaway yet?!



Playoff Packers Pizza

Packers in the Playoffs = Excitement in Wisconsin
Packers in the Playoffs = Excitement in the James house!
Sorry Charity, we need to buy you some Packer clothes
(As if your closet isn't overflowing.....!)

Course, I don't have anything Packerish to wear either.

Thanks, Hon, for the shirt.

The boys were stoked for the game

so they could play in front of the tv

There were some tense moments where the guys had to stand close to the tv.

I think it intimidates the refs into making the right calls or something.

Papa John's Pizza delivered? A playoff tradition! Jon was eager to try "John's Favorite" pizza.

The verdict? It was good pizza.

But anyone who's anyone knows that Papa John's Pizza is really all about the garlic butter.

It was worth every 22 of the minutes they were late in delivering the pizza.

And the 22 times I had to explain to my 4 year old why we didn't have our pizza yet.

Charity was a little upset by the end of the game. It's okay, Sweetie. They WON.

Oh. It was just time for bottle and bed.

I'm going to miss these snuggly days when they pass (sniff, sniff)

Let's just put this day on REPEAT. It was a good one!

A good day to be a Packer fan.....GO PACK GO

+2 = 10 down, 490 to go

merry CHRISTmas

MERRY CHRIST MAS from the James fam to yours!

Kids. One at a Time.

4 kids 7 years and under is.....a blessing. But it can be intense.
Sometimes just the logistics of day to day life is a pretty amusing reality.
How do I know this?
People watch us.
At the mall food court. At Wal-mart. At school functions.
And they make comments.
"Wow you have your hands full"
"So your oldest is...(guessing)... 10?!" (Jon's tall like his Daddy)
"Ahh...you got your girl after 3 boys, huh?"
"Are you done?!" (why hi there stranger...let's discuss our personal lives, shall we?)

The James fam has no intentions of becoming the next Duggar family nor do we plan on having our own reality show
(though some days I think we could provide some pretty entertaining episodes for TLC)....
but really Justin and I spend all our patience on our kids and have none left for cameras in our face!

One thing Justin and I are passionate about in our parenting is that our kids feel loved by us INDIVIDUALLY. That can be a challenge in the day-to-day activities. To make sure we connect with each child-- not as "1 of 4" but as their own special self....amazingly so unique and different from their siblings.
How does that happen when we're talking exactly the same gene pool?
I love how God designed even the family unit to have such diversity!

So....here's one way we accomplish this goal:
Errands
You know those annoying errands you need to run where you need like...
4 things from here, 2 from there, and that sacred "bargain you can't pass up" at yet another place?!

Well--those become special trips with one parent and just one kiddo of the James fam.
Sometimes (like today) Justin will run to Pick N' Save to grab Jiffy mix and Diet Coke (Justin's "must-have" drink).
He took Matthias and it was just the two of them sharing time together.....and it always involves a treat (duh). This time it was bite-size donuts.
Last night I realized my ALDI needs were growing... and since we had nowhere to go (YAY), I got out of the house with just Caleb and we pumped out the grocery list in record time. Of course, we added sour gummy worms to the cart....and the bonus was, it was a lot easier than some of my ALDI trips!
Jonathan got his time with just Dad earlier in the week when he needed some new snow pants for recess. I'm pretty sure ice cream was involved somehow....

They (whoever "they" is....) say kids really remember the everyday things.
I want my kids to have good everyday memories.

So this year for Christmas each of our kiddos will be opening up a small package with a coupon inside that says something like this:

I'm thinking they will like the idea.

Even though we'll probably be helping Caleb and Matt understand

"delayed gratification" until their scheduled date!
shhhhhhhhh

Speaking of Matt....

I grabbed him for a photo opp

I was going to link up to Anderson Family Crew's "Embrace the Camera."

But I forgot.

I still love this pic of us where I told him to

"show his big, brown eyes."

I have no idea where he gets the big eyes from.

God's Word in our Home

with 4 small children I crave time in God's Word all by myself in a quiet house. Last night I had 30+ minutes of time reading the Bible and praying with absolutely NO interruptions of any kind.
What?! I don't even know exactly how long it lasted except it went til I was content...
And of course it included coffee with sugar&spice creamer {yum} Such a lovely moment.
And that's about me and my time with God but now I'd like to give you a glimpse into the James fam bedtime routine with our boys, because around here:

Bedtime = Bibletime

(Almost) every night we read to the boys from their Bible before bed. We've tried some other kids' Bibles in the past, but we keep coming back to this one. We've probably read through this Bible 4-5 times from cover to cover since our oldest, Jonathan, was just a toddler. As you can see, it's pretty well "loved" We really like how it makes the Bible so understandable for kids. There are questions at the end which usually lead to more questions and sometimes even deeper conversations about Jesus, and God, and the Bible, and heaven...

(they're curious...and well, it's bedtime, you know!)

One son's "delay bedtime" question of last night:
"Mom, did you pray for us to be your kids or did you just all of a sudden have us?"

(prayer, son, YES. lots and lots of prayer...)

I love how my kids are at different points in their faith and understanding of God

• Jon is very focused on sharing the love of Jesus and what that means in his second grade world. He really can't understand why anyone wouldn't love Jesus.....what's there not to love? Jesus is love and died for us so we can be with Him one day. Case closed for this 7 year old!
• Caleb is all about heaven. In his 4 year old mind He knows Jesus is there listening to all His prayers and is convinced the house Jesus is making for him in heaven is green because that's his favorite color. Today he added that he's sure Lucky Charms are going to be in his house because (duh) that's his favorite cereal. And Jesus knows!
• Matthias is all about praying. He wants to pray first and he wants to pray longest and he'd really like it if we'd all just give him our undivided attention as he talks to God. His main concern is that Jesus understands that he wants to see his Papa and Nana and Epa and Ema (grandparents) every. single. day. Hey, he's 3.

Do those kids look ready to sleep the night away or what?!

Saturday Recap

On Saturday,

Justin was rockin the homefront with these 3 crazy-fun guys


and this absolute cutie pie

(do you just want to squeeze those cheeks or what)

while I was here...in Chicago...with The Girls:

my sis-in-law, Penny, sister Holly, and my Mom (taking the pic)

We found some really great deals at the Old Navy on State Street and Holly had a 30% off coupon. Who can resist that?! Sales tax of 10.25%?! MERCY.

My mom wanted a picture of me in front of the Macy's store window because my purple coat matched the decor, and, she added, "You could put the pic on your blog." So there you have it.

Laurie and the Macy's Window 2010

Here we are at The Walnut Room where we had brunch.

So fancy, and how 'bout that tree?!

At The Walnut Room a Fairy Princess comes around and sprinkles you with fairy dust. No kidding. This Fairy Princess was for real and she was as syrupy sweet as you could possibly imagine. I'm all about bringing on the (awkward) moments such as these....

My mom took this picture of the GAP store windows. I'm not exactly sure why GAP is embracing that year but 1969 was the year my parents were married. awwwww

And here you have my mom giving some love to the clarinet player who was bringing us some great jazz music as we waited to cross the street. He totally deserved it. This posed pic is inside the department store where we were checking out perfumes that cost more than I could sell my entire fall wardrobe for. Beautiful Christmas decorations, though!

We got some special treats while we were in the big city: Frango mints, Garrett's popcorn...but we ended the day with a trip to Ghiradelli Chocolate Shop and I got this:

Salted Caramel White Chocolate Mocha

There are no words.

Except maybe WOW.

It was a full day in Chicago and I had a blast...I LOVE Chicago.

Justin had everything totally under control when I got home:

The boys were already in bed and Charity was all pj'ed up and ready to lay down... AND the house was all picked up. Amazing, right?

Well....it doesn't stop there. I'm getting another Girl's Day in Chicago (well, Schaumberg) this weekend with some friends.

How did I manage that?! I posed the question to one of my friends who also has 4 small kids: "I have no idea" was her response. haha.

But seriously.....it's because I have a great husband who even encouraged me to do both days away.

how blessed am I?! 

Hope you're enjoying great day, too!