Looking through old blog posts I came across one carnival I joined up with where you had to share random facts about yourself. Some of the old ones didn’t really apply anymore, so I decided to start a new list. Here are 15 random things you may or may not know about me.

1. I own a pair of pink cowboy boots that my aunt wore in a movie with Whoopi Goldberg.
2. I used to be a puppeteer and even competed. It was a children’s ministry I was a part of in Atlanta.
3. I can cross my pinky toe over my other toe, but only on my right foot. I don’t want to post a picture of my gross feet so here is a drawing I found online. 

4. I learned the Greek alphabet in the 6th grade and I still remember it. Of all the things I have forgotten, that one stuck.

5. I used to be allergic to shrimp and bee stings. I am no longer allergic to shrimp because one time I accidentally had some dip made with shellfish and I did not react. The jury is still out on the bee stings because I haven’t been stung since I was  young girl.

6. I tried  hair extensions one time

I know that’s probably not what you were expecting to see, but my hair was really short at the time.

Also, this was 2005. Emo was the thing and chunky extreme layers were in style, plus I was 22.

7. My husband has a niece and a nephew that are older than me, and no they do not call me Aunt Natalie.

8. I ate cow tongue once.

9. I prefer falling asleep on my back in the “criss cross applesauce” position.

10. I haven’t drank soda since high school

11. I used to be a big time couponer. In 2009 I got $1,000 worth of free products and was questioned by the police for trying to find coupons in a recycling bin.

12. I am Natalie and my husband’s name is Jeremy. My brother’s name is also Jeremy and his wife is also named Natalie. We each have 2 boys and 2 girls. Between the two of us they are ages 9, 7 (in a month), 6, 5, 4, 3 (in a couple weeks), 1, and 10 months. 

13. I used to work on a farm and milk goats; this goat is a buck which I did NOT milk. 

14. We have lived in 5 different homes in the last 5 years: three different states, 4 different houses, and one apartment. 

15. My favorite kind of book is memoirs. I don’t know how many I’ve read, but definitely over 50. I am currently reading “The God I Love” by Joni Eareckson Tada. 

Over the summer I worked with my 8 year old and his best friend doing reading and writing projects. This was a way to bridge the summer gap and start off 3rd grade ready to learn.

With this assignment they even made a few bucks. I wanted them to know that writing is beneficial in all areas of life and can help you make money too. Without further ado here is a guest blog post by L. Pikachu (not his real name)

In this experiment you’ll get all the information on how to make slime.  You can make slime, but when you don’t add food coloring it will be white. Slime is a very squishable thing. You need lots of stuff to make it.

Here is What you need:

1. 3/4 cup of cold water

2. 1 cup of glue

3. food coloring

4. 1 teaspoon of borax

5. 1/2 cup hot water

Instructions :

Step 1: In bowl mix together cold water, glue, and food coloring.

Step two: In another bowl mix together the cold water glue and borax until the borax is completely dissolved

Step 3: Slowly add glue mixture to borax mixture. Mix well. Pour off the excess water.

The Way Slime Works:

Slime is a liquid plymer. Molecules in the glue are in strands like a chain. When you add borax it connects all the chains.

My favorite part is that I can play with it. The slime is very fun.

Fun fact. Actually, cancel that. It’s not really fun. Everyday I have a to-do list of 10 things that I want to accomplish that day. I have done it this way for YEARS. In fact when SJ was diagnosed in 2012 I had “SJ’s ENT appointment” as #8 on my to do list that day. I will never forget it. It was supposed to be so simple. 1 of 10 things to do that day. Who knew that number eight would dramatically change my life forever. For a while I even stopped making lists because it haunted me. I couldn’t keep the habit at bay for long though before I was back to my to-do lists. If you are a list person you understand. We get each other.

In the spirit of my daily to do lists here is a master list for the year.

1.Devotions with kids

This year we kept it simple for advent by doing a daily scripture reading and devotion ending with a prayer. While the fights over who got to put the sticker on the advent tree could be brutal, the kids have already missed this daily time focusing on Jesus a family. So yesterday we started Fruits of the Spirit. We aren’t going to be doing one every day, but maybe weekly or bi-weekly. Whatever rhythm we end up with, I hope to make to do at least 10 lessons, because it’s been so great for all of us.

2. Pinned it Spinned it

I blogged about this yesterday. I am hoping to participate in Pinned it Spinned it a couple times a month, like those rare times I am actually out of the house.

3. Get Ezie in Preschool

Ezie will be turning 5 in 2017 (Gasp. That sounds so grown up.). That’s not until October though, so he still has another year before he starts kindergarten. However unlike public school, preschool isn’t free. In fact it’s really expensive.  I could skip it, but I think at age 5 he would really benefit from the structured environment that would prime him for when he does go to school the next year. Lots to think about it.

4. Eye doctors, ear doctors, and dentists OH MY!

I am bad about keeping up with all the regular exams. When you have a family of 6 with at least 3 doctors each (except for Ezie who only goes to the pediatrician, but needs to start seeing the dentist) you end up with over 40 doctor visits a year. I hate going and dragging along all the younger kids along for the ride. But everyone is due for all kinds of regular checkups so I am going to make that a priority. Bleh.

5. Clean up old blog posts

I have a lot of old blog posts that either need to be deleted or revamped. What this means, along with #6 below is that I won’t be writing new stuff on the blog as often as I usually do. I’ll be around though.

6. Get a book deal

I know this sounds ambitious and it is. This is my number one focus for the year. Even if the deal is with myself. I am ready to move forward with the book I have been working on.

7. Four Fabulous Dates

Year after year my goal has been to go on one date a month with my husband. It never happens. NEVER. This year I’ll make it realistic and aim for quarterly dates and hope to make them really  special.

8. Relaunch my email list

I am so sorry, I have failed big time when it comes to my email subscribers and I am hoping to change that.

9. Soak up every last drop of school for SJ.

This is it. We’ve spent the last 5 years of our life primarily focused on giving SJ the gift of communication. She started at OVV when she was two years old. She is about to be 7! She won’t graduate until summer of  2018, but she starts 2nd grade in the fall and it will be her final year. We’ve had so many memories and traditions that are now coming to a close. There will be lots of emotions going on. There are also practical matters as far as transitioning her into a main stream school. So that’s going to be a big focus for the second half of 2017.

10. Get Elle hearing aids

Elle gets hearing aids in January. Hearing aids were a nightmare with SJ, but they were not benefiting her because her hearing loss was so profound whereas Elle’s will make a notable difference. I was told to be prepared to struggle for a few days or weeks even. After that hopefully it will be smooth sailing.

 I am looking forward to the new year, and I wish you all the best as well. Cheers.

*This post was originally posted on MessyMom.com two years ago and never transferred over when I switched to Word Press. I wanted to reshare it though because I am going to be doing it Pinned It Spinned It again this year.* 

I recently saw something on instagram called “Pinned It Spinned It”. I thought the idea was to pick any pin you want from your “fashion board”  and try to recreate it.  But, it turns out that is not how it works. The outfits for the week are preselected and if you want to follow along you can view the pin for that day and then put your own spin on it.

Get it?

At first I didn’t think I would like that because I would rather pick outfits that I pinned personally, but in the end I really enjoyed doing it this way. It forced me think outside of the box and make different combinations using what I already own in my closet. I don’t dress up everyday  hardly ever, so I only partially participated. I still had so much fun with the three that I did do.

SCARF: The Limited (although I bought it used)

DRESS: Target (my friend tried it, but it didn’t work for her so she gave it to me)

TIGHTS: Target girls department

SHOES: Yard Sale

 This dress is made of soft, stretchy tshirt material that isn’t even hemmed, so it’s super casual and comfy. Also, the neckline is low and stretchy enough to breastfeed in a dress. I just have to keep the score kind of middle of the road because it’s always tricky to chase little ones in these boots.

I still love them though!

JEWELRY: The necklace used to belong to a friend, but she was getting rid of it so I scooped it up. Over the weekend I wore it long,

but this pin inspired me to double loop it to make it shorter.

The bracelets were a gift from my brother from Africa.

SHIRT: Gap outlet and the white tank is Forever 21

PANTS: H&M

SHOES: Lucky Brand. Also a reject item. I don’t like that word! Regift? Recylce? Eh, whatever. They were my sister in laws, but she was giving them away so I took them. Anyone else starting to see a pattern here?

The only reason it’s not a 5 star for moms is the jewelry. Shiny jewelry with my children is just no the best combo. This outfit is still very practical, although for the record I changed to boots before I left the house because it’s freezing cold and I am not walking through ice and snow in flats!

So that’s it for my first ever pinned it spinned it.

If you want to joint in on the pin it spin it weekly challenge you can follow the pinterest board and follow Amy and Jamie on instagram. And if you don’t already follow me, but you want to connect on social networks then by all means follow me at instagram.com/messymom or pinterest.com/the messymom, or twitter/themessymom.

One more link and then I’ll leave you alone. Check out What I Wore Wednesday at the Pleated Poppy for more inspiring outfit ideas.

Have a great day everyone!

Christmas has been so incredibly great this year. This year’s card was finished up and sent out by the first of December and we’ve gotten some really precious cards in return.

We had our family photo taken on the beach this past July thanks to my best friend in Michigan pushing the button on my camera.

I briefly toyed with the idea of different wintery themed photos and card, but it was short lived. I didn’t want to add any extra stress this year. I slapped a “Merry Christmas” on the inner tube and voilá. Done.

Only 5 days left until Christmas. I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday weekend!

Z got a hair cut yesterday, which gives me an excuse to post a pic of his sweet face and brag on him. He is the most responsible 9 year old I have ever met. He makes eggs, he can make coffee in the french press (and grind the beans), he gives me the daily weather report and keeps track of the time for me. He lays out his clothes the night before and is up before I am everyday. His motto is “If you aren’t early you’re late” HA! He definitely doesn’t get that from me or Jeremy. I believe God gave him this trait to go along with the big world-changing projects he will oversee in the future. Go get ’em buddy!

I shared this on Facebook today and I wanted to expound on it here on the blog.

Although Z’s teacher called him the model student in our last conference it hasn’t always been that way. Oh, and side note every child person has strengths and weaknesses. We are all imperfect and that certainly includes my oldest son, but I choose not to embarrass him or air out his 9 year old dirty laundry on the internet. We are focusing on the good here. You can keep that in mind incase you are tempted to think that other people have perfect children. Anyway, back to my point.

Z was the precious treasure that made me a mom. He was a perfect angel and no one could convince me otherwise. I remember seeing a little boy tell his mother no in a defiant toddler tone and I gasped. I remember thinking I don’t know what I would do if my little baby every talked to me that way. Fast forward a couple years and I got to see all that the toddler and preschool years had to offer. I was exhausted and really at a loss for how to handle him.

I remember one day at a church event he was being his typical strong willed self, running away from me and not listening. Then a man from church scooped him up, sat him down in a chair and barked “Now, you stay here and you listen to your mother!” (which I didn’t appreciate, but that’s another story). He would act out and get in trouble for biting in the nursery and the comments would be “it’s always the pastor’s son”. Then there was one of the times he was screaming at the top of this lungs in the grocery store and I overheard an elderly woman grumble a hurtful comment. Her voice still haunts me. Not to mention when he escaped at 2 years old and I had to call 911!

Z had big emotions, big ideas, and lots of energy. He was really smart, which made me even more frustrated that he would pee his pants right after I sat him on the toilet and made him try to go potty. He would bang his head against the hardwood floor when he was throwing a temper tantrum. I searched Google for the signs of behavioral disorders, because I was genuinely concerned. I would get so upset and ask God for strength. One time I questioned God, telling him that maybe there was a mistake and I wasn’t cut out for this job. This child was more than I could handle.

Now on the other side of things I can see that Z was a strong willed toddler, but he was also just a toddler. The second, third, and fourth time around I have let similar behavior roll off my back. In fact sometimes I get annoyed at that label- Strong Willed. Every single one of my 4 children have been identified at some point as strong willed. Even the baby. It was one of her first newborn checkups and she was crying so hard she would hold her breath. Oh, a breath holder. Yeah, that means she’s strong willed. The Doctor said. Just like that my 4th child was diagnosed with strong willedisitus at the age of 2 weeks.

My theory is that MOST young children are strong willed to varying degrees. They are learning to test boundaries and that is the healthiest thing they can do at that age so that they know where boundaries are. So if you have a strong willed child, good for you. What you probably have is a regular kid. If you have a passive compliant child you are in the minority. They are a rare breed that I am sure comes with many gifts, but also challenges of it’s own, except I wouldn’t know.

I say all this as an encouragement for mothers of littles struggling through those preschool years. I love hearing encouraging stories from other moms that have been there done that, like this one from Kristen Welch. Or the mom whose son was a holy terror, but grew up to be the CEO of his own company and spends his spare time building wells in Africa. That one I made up, but just to hear of children like mine that turned out okay is comforting enough.

Every child has their own free will and everyone’s story is different, but we hold onto the promise that you train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. I am only half way to the 18 year mark with my son and I am certain we have ups and downs ahead of us. So I am not saying I’ve arrived or that I am success story, but I am saying that I am so proud of the young man my strong willed boy is becoming. He no longer pees in his pants and eventually your son or daughter won’t either.

J made a Spotify playlist with over 24 hours worth of Christmas music. That’ll do I thought when I saw the compilation on my iMac. Jingle Bells was blaring through the speakers as we assembled our old plastic Christmas tree. It’s hard to believe we’ve had this fake tree longer than our kids.

I unpack boxes of decorations as each child starts spreading the wired branches that have been bunched up in storage since last Christmas. We call this practice “fluffing the tree”.

This demonstration of spreading the branches would later serve as an illustration for the Jesse tree advent.

In a less spiritually symbolic moment Z starts stringing Mardi gras beads like garland. This has been a tradition for several years now. I think I was at a yard sale that was giving away the colorful beads. Maybe. I know it sounds horrible to say “I don’t remember how I ended up with all of these Mardi gras beads”, but that’s the truth and I thought they would look nice cut up and strung on the tree.

As we collecticely add the stash of ornaments I spot Ezie putting a 5th candy cane on the same droopy branch. I ask him if he has enough and he says nope. I record the whole moment on my phone wanting to cherish the imperfections.

SJ pulls out one of my favorite penguin ornaments and I hijack the delicate bulb before there is an accident. Especially with her fractured wrist she isn’t too graceful and I don’t trust her with glass.

Ah, and then there is Elle. It’s her first time to really experience Christmas. Last year she was a newborn and slept through everything.

This year she is running around like a little elf getting into everything. No really, she does remind me so much of an elf the way she wrinkles her nose and has this chuckle that sounds like a chipmunk. She’s too cute.

I want to remember all of this, but as I go to hang a silver cross ornament on the tree I realize I don’t remember where half of these decorations came from. I used to think I would make a notebook documenting the origin of each ornament. Some were wedding gifts, others souvenirs, others handmade and so on. There is no shortage of variety, that’s for sure. I am like my mom in that we both like the look of an eclectic tree. The problem is I never made that notebook and there are so many stories that I’ve forgotten. In my quest to cherish every little thing I start to get discouraged.

Then there is that subtle prompting from my heavenly father telling me to step back. So I do. Then I look at the tree. It’s not fancy, but I love it. With the cluster of candy canes, the penguin ornaments, the lights, and the scandoulous beads. All of these components make it a Christmas tree.

Sometimes I am guilty of overthinking. Too often I get focused on the details and miss the big picture. I really felt like the Christmas tree was God’s way of reminding me to step back and take it in from a  different perspective. To zoom out if you will. I’m a photographer so that’s how I view it. You can zoom in and focus on one thing and sometimes that’s the right thing to do, but there are other times if your lens is too long you can’t get the whole shot.

It was a special moment that brought me back to the simple joy of Christmas. I don’t remember every little story behind every little ornament, but that’s okay because there is a bigger story here. The story keeps on going and the ornaments keep on coming, and we’ll probably need a bigger tree down the road to hold all of it and that thought makes me happy.

This Christmas I am going to step back more and just take in the whole scene in all of its glorious, twinkling, mismatched imperfections.