So, are you all wondering how Archie did taking care of the kids over the weekend? He did wonderful! He knows his children very well and how to meet their needs, and he doesn't like it if I suggest anything about the kids and how to take care of them when I go away. I did set out outfits for the boys for church, but not for Madison....just to help out a little bit. Knowing that Archie did not need any of my help, my weekend was very relaxed and I didn't even call him until I was on the way home from Chicago. I'll share about the retreat in a few days- there is SO much to still sift through and sink in.

But, I do want to share a little happening of ours that we had yesterday. LONG story cut really short-Madison lied. If you want to find out the details call me or email me, but most of you know I am not a person all that much into details when I tell stories. Anyway-Madison is not a girl who is characterized by lying, but she did not feel bad at all about what she did so I wanted to make sure that she knew how wrong lying was. I wanted to get to her heart. I tried looking at this situation as an opportunity to sit down with Madison and talk about what God says about telling the truth and how if she continues to lie, then people may not trust her. She has been told this and she knows that lying is wrong, but I opened up the Bible and I felt like we went deeper than we had in the past. As deep as a 4 1/2 year old can get. We memorized Psalm 34:13 which says, "Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies." We talked about what evil is and what lying is. I also told her how Mommy struggles with that and sometimes says mean "evil" things at times, but that I try hard not to because God wants us to be loving and kind to one another. We'll see if that works- if not, maybe the soap in her mouth did!

Here is a picture of what is happening right now in Naperville, Illinois. Just in case you don't know, it's snowing and it's BEAUTIFUL outside. I hope to take Madison sledding- maybe it will be a snow day tomorrow! I can hope!

My life lately

Last night, Wednesday, Madison and I went out into the cold to go sledding. It was 7:45 at night which is very late for us since her bed time is between 7:00-7:30, but I wanted to spend some extra special time with her so off we went. We had a blast! She loved going down the hill backwards and loved jumping onto her Mommy's back on the sled.
As you all know, discipline is my word for the year, and I will say that is has been difficult lately. This past week I have not been motivated at all. I have been going go bed later than I want, hardly exercising at all, and definitely been tempted to eat a lot of chocolate and Doritos. Weird. Oh well, I guess tomorrow is a new day! On the other hand, discipline has turned away from me and onto those boys. Yes, we are really working on "No" and how to "discipline" those boys when they do not obey. For some reason I am becoming a softy with all 3 children. Being a softy only spells one thing- TROUBLE. This is something that I need to change right away or my kids will be running the show, and we don't want that! Take a look at Caleb's face. He is looking mischieviously at a frame that he is not allowed to touch. Are these boys going to be the end of me?

Last weekend I had a wonderful time visiting with good "old" friends. My friend Karin was in from Virginia so we and two other friends (Jenny and Elizabeth)got together. At first our time together was with kids- 5 in all, and then we enjoyed a dinner together out WITHOUT kids! Yeah! I love spending time with "old" friends that really know me. We met at church in elementary school and have been through SO much together. They knew me and loved me back then and they still do! FYI-Some of you out there would not have liked me in my middle school and high school years! I love the fact that they knew me before Archie and the kids came along. They have grown with me. There are actually more people that are part of our "group," but since so many people live in different areas, it is hard for all of us to get together. What holds us all together besides our past, is our love for God. I am reminded of a song by Michael W. Smith called "Friends." "A friend is a friend forever, if the Lord is the Lord of them"......we have a special closeness that we share because of who God is and our experiences with Him. Here's to all of the Knox people out there- wherever you may be! And lastly- I will be on a women's retreat in downtown Chicago this whole weekend so I will not be blogging until sometime next week. I don't think that I have been on a women's retreat for 3-4 years so I am looking forward to it. This week has been challenging emotionally for me, so I am glad that I am getting away. I think that God gave me these twins- when Madison was 4 years old and only knew life as a singleton- because He wants to break this "perfectionistic" trait that I have somehow acquired. I'll save that topic for another day. Enjoy your weekend!

Thanks for commenting and sharing! Here are a few pics that some of you have asked for or a few that I just wanted to share. Enjoy!

Christian on the go! I know that this picture isn't that great, but you all can see how the boys are getting around. Christian loves to play and walk on his feet with this toy, but Caleb likes to walk on his knees with it. They're getting pretty fast!
Madison LOVES to pretend that she is getting married. She loves to hold the flowers in front of her and walk with her daddy. Check out her tights!

Madison and Caleb snuggling. Caleb is ALWAYS on the go, so it was very sweet when he cuddled and watched Scooby Doo with Madison for 20 minutes. I know, Scooby Doo- where is the education in that? I think they actually were talking about Greek mythology-maybe!

Madison decided to see if she can fit into Aunt Julie's suitcase that she got for Christmas. Do you think that we can fit her into our luggage when we go to Texas in April?

Of course, the boys like to do what their big sister does.

I guess some of you are scared of a little word since NOBODY has sent me a comment about it! Not my dad, Marsha, my sisters, my mom, my in-laws, my friends! Why are you all hiding?

Anyways- we took down ALL of our Christmas decorations and even the snowmen decorations this past weekend. I was going to keep up the snowmen decorations since it is still winter and hopefully it will still snow, but I thought that that would be more work so I decided not to. Who needs more work, especially with 3 kids running around. Actually, the boys are all over the place! They can really move even though they are crawling! I think that both of them may be walking by their 1st bday in early March. We'll have to see, but they are both starting to walk along the furniture.

Taking down the decorations made both Madison and I sad. We both LOVE the Christmas holiday. We love singing all the Christmas music in the car, outside the car, in the mall. ...wherever. We put away the Christmas music right away but had to take it out again to pack all the decorations up. The 2 songs we listened to over and over again were "Mary Did You Know" and "Joy to the World." Those were Madison's 2 favorite songs this year. I think we also threw in some High School Musical to the mix. Besisdes loving songs, Madison and I also LOVE Christmas lights. Just her and I would drive around different neighborhoods at night to see them. Pathetic or sweet? I think sweet. Now, since the icicle lights are out of her room, she has asked if she can have the light up snowman in her room. Of course I said yes. The sweet pleasures of life.

Oh discipline. . . it's late- goodnight!

A little Word

Instead of having a new year resolution, one of my friends decided to challenge others to focus on ONE specific word and adapt that word to all areas of their lives. I was hesitant to follow the crowd, but I went ahead and chose the word discipline. According to answers.com, discipline is "training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement." That sounds like a challenge, doesn't it? I know that I can focus on this word often during my day-with eating, with HOW I spend my time, with the kids, with money, with going to bed early; it encompasses many things that I would like to work on.

What I like about this little word, is that it helps me to focus and think about things that I would like to improve upon in my life, but it doesn't create a specific goal that I would like to accomplish. Some of you may think that I am taking the easy way out, but I don't think that I am. I think that many people set up new year resolutions that don't get accomplished and then they feel like a failure. Nobody likes to feel like a failure. Instead, when I feel like I have not been very disciplined, I don't get all down and annoyed but I remember that "discipline" is a concept that I am working on. It is actually very positive. So far, I have been getting to the gym MUCH more than I did before this little word came along. I have also gone to bed a little earlier and have thought more about HOW I was spending our money. I think this little word really isn't that little.

Any of you out there up for a challenge to focus on a little word?

Happy New Year!

Right atter I finished my last blog- Archie's actual birthday- Madison woke up because she had a nightmare about a monster. So, we decided to wake up Daddy and wish him an EARLY happy birthday! He was definitely surprised!

During the day on New Years Eve, Archie was helping my mom out, so Madison and I went outside and had some fun in the snow! We made snow angels and even a snowman. Madison learned how to take a little ball of snow and roll it into a really large one, but she easily gave up because she didn't think that she was a good "snow roller." I ended up doing most of the rolling but she picked out the snowman's eyes and his clothing! We had a lot of fun together!
Our actual time spent on New Years Eve and at midnight entering into the new year was wonderful. We always spend it with a variety of friends at a party, but for the past few years our good friends Todd and Becky have always been there. So, last year when we had people over at our house for New Years Eve, I decided that we needed a little more room to play games and hang out- and have room for kids to sleep since we were expecting our twin boys in March and two other couples there were also expecting. Anyways- we all decided that we were going to spend New Years Eve 2007 at Todd and Becky's new house. And we did. The Coleman 5 had a sleep over and it was a very fun and relaxing time. It was wonderful to meet new fun people and also because we prayed together after the new year started. We praised God for all that He let us experience in 2007 and asked Him for guidance in our new experiences for 2008. It was a wonderful way to ring in the new year.

We all hope that you are having a wonderful new year and wanted to say thank you for encouraging and loving us in 2007. It was definitely a busy year and a big year for transition and you all made it so much easier. If it was making a meal, babysitting, or saying kind and encouraging words- we appreciate it and wanted to say thank you! Here's to a new year full of new experiences in 2008!