Life Goes On In the Frozen Tundra!

I have been living here in northwest Iowa for a year now, and I have learned that a little snowstorm and below freezing temps does not stop people here. I even went out in it yesterday. It was nuts, we got about 4 or 5 inches of snow, and everyone was still out. School wasn't delayed or cancelled, everyone just went on with their lives as if the snow was just sooo normal. Well, if they delayed or cancelled for the temps or snow, they probably would never go to school!! Unlike, Indiana that closes school for 2 or 3 inches of snow. I have learned too from last year to keep your vehicle running when you run in the grocery store or if you have to run any errands. I actually kept the van running while we were at the doctor's office. It was great to get into a nice warm vehicle. Since the high yesterday was about zero. I am looking forward to our next snowstorm tomorrow night. I think we are to get about 6 inches or more of snow. I am getting used to the fact that it snows here about every other day. It snowed on Sunday (that was the blizzard and high winds), we got about 3 inches, it snowed yesterday about 4 inches, and lets see it already snowed about 4 inches last week so that is a total of 11 inches so far folks! And it isn't even January yet! Oh, what a great winter we are in for!!!

Starry Nights

Every night before bed, Drew wants to see the stars and the moon. Well, unfortunately in the winter here we have snow like every other day (seriously), so it is always cloudy. Every night we look out the window and Drew says, "Mommy, see the stars." I always tell him that we can't see the stars since it is cloudy. It is so sad to see his little face so disappointed. He always says anyway, "Goodnight stars." Even if he can't see them. It is so sweet!! On Saturday I was finishing up my Christmas shopping and I saw a pack of the stars you stick on the ceiling and glow and I just had to get them for him. Last night Bill and I put them up for him as a surprise. It was so much fun to see his reaction. We both laid down on his bed and Bill turned off the light and Drew saw them and goes, "Wow, mommy look stars!!", and he started to giggle. It was priceless and Tyler chimed in too by saying, "Ooooh!!" Then we all laid on Drew's bed and looked at the stars. It was so much fun!

Winter Wonderland

It has finally come, our first storm of the winter season, first of many to come!! We got about 4 or 5 inches. I love watching it snow and how pretty it is when you wake up the next morning with all the nice fresh snow. Drew can't wait to go out and play in it. We will be heading out tomorrow once the winds die down and it warms up to the twenties. It should be fun to play in the snow and get them out in it. It will probably take me about an hour to get them ready and then we will only be out for a few minutes, but it will be worth it! Then we will come in and have some hot chocolate, my new love for this winter season! I bought some at the store the other day and I must say it has become my nap time delight! Once I put the boys down I go right to the kitchen and make some. I must say next time I will get the one with extra marshmallows, I really like the marshmallows. I even think I might add some whip cream to my new love. The extra calories probably aren't that good for me, but hey, it is winter, you are supposed to add 5 pounds so you stay warmer, besides you hide it with the big winter coats and sweatshirts! This is going to be a great winter!

The Vicks Vapor Rub Happening!

If you ever want a rub down with Vicks, come to my house and Drew will help you out! Yesterday was a wonderful day of playing with the boys and just relaxing and having fun. Bill is away on his hunting trip to Eldon with his dad, so I am alone with the boys all weekend. It has been nice, but I also miss having that second hand around, I could have used it yesterday!! All was well, the boys were napping and I was enjoying my girl movie I rented and it got over about 4:30, so I thought I would get Drew up. Well, as I approached the stairs I smelt this overwhelming odor of Vicks. I then started to run up the stairs. I opened the door quickly and found him rubbing his hands on his cheeks saying, "Mommy, I shaving, like daddy." He always says that when he rubs anything on his cheeks. He wants to be just like daddy. I then looked on the bed, he had wiped it all over his bed, the pillow, the rocking chair, the wall, the door, all over his toys! I said, "OH MY!!!" Then I asked him if he ate it, he said no. And I asked him over and over again and he kept saying no. I quickly threw him in the tub and washed him and I called my sister, Teri and my mom to see what I should do. I thought for sure Noah or one of us did this when we were little. But no one did, so I called Poison Control to see what I needed to do just in case he did ingest it. Praise the Lord it was the Baby Vicks Vapor Rub. The lady at Poison Control said it will just cause irritation in the mouth it is non-toxic. She said if it was the regular vapor rub it would cause seizures. So now, I don't have anything on the changing table, except wipes and diapers. I have learned something from this experience, don't trust little boys with anything they can smear all over themselves or the wall, because they will actually do it! What an adventure it is having two boys.

We are Blessed!

I am thankful to the Lord that we are really Blessed! Yes, I may not have that new couch I have been wanting since we got married, I may not have all the new clothes I want or the new decorations, but I have a roof over my head, my children have clothes to wear and we are fed. I was watching the news yesterday morning and this mother didn't have much money, she was on welfare and she said the foodstamps would go only so far, so she watered down her son's formula to make it last longer. I guess in doing that the baby almost died. I guess babies aren't supposed to have any added water in their diet until about 10 months of age. She said she was just trying to stretch the formula out as much as she could since she couldn't afford to buy what they baby needed. She said her husband had been out of work for six months or so and they were tight on cash. That really hit home for me, I thought what am I doing to help those in need. NOTHING! I told Bill that I wanted to go the store and buy some formula and donate it to the food bank here. I know that many people are starting to feel the affect of this economy and I want to be able to bless those that are less fortunate and help those in need. This verse in Proverbs 22:9 sums it all up,

"The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor."

Goodbye Fall....Hello Winter!

I am so sad to say that my wonderful fall is now at an end. The lakes are already starting to freeze and when we woke up this morning there was snow on the ground. Now it has already snowed, but that melted about a week or two ago. For some reason today, it just feels like this snow is going to stick around for awhile. This winter is going to be more fun than last year, atleast I hope. I don't think I was prepared last winter. Tyler was just a baby last winter and I was stuck inside all winter. My only was outing was to the grocery store. It was our first winter in the frozen tundra and I didn't know what to expect. We didn't even have the proper snow gear. We are so prepared this winter and I am looking forward to it. I have learned either you love it or hate it. Last year I hated it and this year I am going to try to love it! I am going to try to be as positive as I can this year. Now, when it gets to be about twenty to thirty below, that is ridiculous cold, so don't ask me then if I love it!

So today, we are going to decorate for Christmas! Or, I should say I am going to decorate for Christmas. Bill is deer hunting this morning and he is hoping to get one. He said it is perfect conditions for a deer kill today. Have funny honey!! I am going to stay nice and warm!!! I am so excited to get my Christmas things out. I probably won't go all out this year to decorate for one, we don't have much room, two, we don't have much room, and three, TYLER!! My cute, little destroyer!! He gets into everything!!! Plus, Drew now knows how to get anything he wants by getting a kitchen chair and climbing. So, now I can't keep anything away from these boys. There is never a dull moment in this house! Speaking of that, I must go get Drew off of Tyler again!!

Family Traditions!

Well, it is that time of year again to get our decorations out, start playing that wonderful Christmas music, and gain that fabulous 5 pounds of winter weight! This year is exciting because Drew is starting to understand Christmas this year. I am trying to teach him some Christmas songs to sing for everyone! It should be great!! This year we are going to celebrate our family Christmas the Saturday before we go to Indiana. We really want to start doing Maynard family traditions. I have heard of other people doing this too, celebrating Jesus' birthday by baking a cake together. We are going to do that this year and I am so excited to be able to start a tradition with our family. I want our children to understand the full meaning behind Christmas, the birth of our Lord Jesus! I want them to of course, enjoy getting gifts, but also giving too. I want them to be able to share the Love of Jesus with their friends and people they meet as they grow and get older. I hope they will never lose sight of the true joy of Christmas!

I am supposed to enjoy "EVERY" moment?!

I am glad to be a stay-at-home mom, you know to not miss any moment in their life. Well, poor Tyler has had diahrrea for like 4 days now and yesterday was a day that I could have missed! I feel bad he is sick, but he doesn't have a fever, if he is still has it tomorrow, I will take him to the doctor. Anyway, last night I decided to give Tyler a bath alone (thank goodness!), because he has a sore bum and I thought it would be a nice and calming before bed. Well everything was fine, he was all clean and I was letting him play, then all of a sudden he had that look of "I have to poop!", on his face and then it happened.....HE POOPED IN THE TUB!! I could not believe it. I was like you have got to be kidding me!!! It was the grossest things I had ever seen!! I quickly tried to get him out as he was trying to play with it! YUCK!!! I am just glad Drew wasn't in the tub too. So, I am now on a sanitizing kick!!! This was definitely a moment in his life I could have missed!

Fun Times at Home!

I thought I would share some new pictures of the Maynard family and let you know what we have been up to. Some are of Tyler coloring for the first time, well he really just wanted to eat the crayons instead of coloring, but it is a good start. I think he might be left handed, he kept picking it up with his left hand. Of course, they say you can never tell this early, we will just have to see. We also have baked brownies, Drew's favorite thing to make! I think he just likes licking the spatula!! We also carved our first pumpkin. Actually, this was the first time I did it myself. I think it turned out pretty good! Oh, and the last are of Tyler in the bathroom. He has this fascination with the bathroom. I have to always keep the door closed. Well, this weekend I was drying my hair, in my own world, and I didn't notice he came in and unrolled the entire new roll of toilet paper!! He had fun!! Oh, and he loves sitting on Drew's potty. He cracks me up and goes in and gets it and sits right on it. I am thinking maybe I should start training him, he might be easier!! :)

My Attitude Stinks!

I am really missing my family and friends right now. This week has been hard since they boys have been sick and I am sick. Bill has even worked nights this week and it has been lonely in the evenings. I must say I don't know how single parents do it. I never really realized how much my husband does help out in the evenings until he was gone. This week I realized something that I don't like about myself. It is my attitude. Even though I don't have any family or friends around, that is no excuse for me to be so negative. I have noticed that I set the tone for the family. It is true what they say, "If momma ain't happy, nobody's happy!" Well, I don't like it and I must change it. I guess since the Lord has opened my eyes to this I must really try to work on it. Lord please help me to look for the good in every day and not the bad. Please help my attitude line up with Your Word and to only glorify You! I want to create a joyful and peaceful home in which You are the center! Amen!

You can learn a lot at Wal-Mart!

Well, we ventured out to Wal-Mart and yes it was accident free! And pertaining to my last post about venturing out to Wal-Mart with just my underwear on, was pertaining to Drew!! My brother-in-law pointed that statement out to me! Thanks Jess!! :)

Well, as I was shopping at Wal-Mart in my own little world, with Drew running down the aisles picking every box of food that he wanted out and trying to put it in the cart, this old lady was beside me and said, "Those were the good old days." I said, "I hope one day I can think that." She said, "Well, I think of it a lot now that I am old and alone." That really hit me, that I really need to start loving where I am at in life and not wishing it away so quickly. I sometimes tend to think about when they get older how much easier it will be, but they will be grown up and married before I know it. And then I thought too, that was a good opportunity for me to minister to her. I was not thinking about that at the moment, but I really need to start thinking more about Wal-Mart as my mission-field, since I am there about once a week. There are alot of people around me hurting and I am so oblivious at times. Lord open my eyes so that I can see other people around me. Help me not to be so consumed with myself and my own life. Amen!

An Accident Free Day!!

Yipppppeeeee! I am on cloud nine! We actually made it the whole day without an accident on the floor or in his pants! I am so proud of him, but we still have a long way to go! Tomorrow I am going to venture out to Wal-Mart with just underwear on. This will be a true test, but I am bringing a change of clothes, just in case! Also, another break-through, he wants to wear underwear now. When I tried to put a diaper on him, (I still use diapers at night, pull-ups don't work well, I've learned that!!) he screamed because he wanted his Thomas underwear on! Just a month ago he didn't want to wear underwear and I thought he would go the rest of his life either never wearing underwear or wearing diapers. I was praying for a miracle and the Lord has answered my prayers!

Pull-ups are Not for Potty Training!

Well, after about 2 1/2 months of potty training, I finally got smart! Pull-ups don't help with potty training! They worked for a while, but then he got to comfortable peeing in them just like a diaper. So, today is a day for re-training! We are going straight to underwear. And yes, some people don't do bribes for their children, but I am one who bribes. He can have all the candy he wants if he pees on the potty!! I am trying to get him to go on his own and not me asking all the time. I think pooping is going to be a hard one to tackle, but I am confident that he will do it. This is soooo much harder than what I thought. I had all these wonderful plans in my head on how potty-training would be so easy and great! Unfortunately, it has been just the opposite. Trying to reason with a two year old just doesn't work!! Who would have known I would have to deal with a strong willed child who throws tantrums. If only they had a potty-training camp where you send them and someone else trains them, I would be the first to sign up for that!! Well, I need all the prayers I can get. I will not be defeated by a two year old!!

Here we Go!

Well, I thought I would get up to the times with everyone! You know since I do have allll the time in the world to start something new!! I hope from this blog to be able to share what happens in our wonderful, yet sometimes crazy home! I am sure I will have plenty to write about. This will be fun!