M I A

So, it's been almost a month since my last post - which is soo not like me - I try to post weekly if I can. Several of our "faithful" followers :) have emailed or called to make sure everything is ok - so glad to know someone is actually reading this other then me and my mom :) The main reason in the lack of blogging has been my camera - the batteries died and I didn't have any on hand so it took me a while to remember to pick up more at the store - we've been busy bees around here but I have very few pictures. We had a Valentine's party with some of the boys closest friends - they LOVED it! They loved getting to make cards for all their friends and getting them as well. James still loves to pull out his bag of Valentine cards and have me read them to him - this boy loves mail! One of our local museums also recently had "Big Machine's Day" and the boys got to sit in all kinds of tractors, fire trucks, cranes and more - of course the camera died as soon as we got there so no pics of that either.
Here are a few pics I was able to grab in the last month:
I LOVE this little coat - she looks like such a snuggle baby! I'm so glad we're starting to get some warmer weather but I will miss putting my girl in this sweet coat every day - luckily I already have another one for next winter!

James wanted Daddy to play the guitar with him - then everyone else wanted to join in too -
An Allen family jam session - Gracie was our dancer - she LOVES to dance!
Gracie and James - it took me forever to get her to look at the camera because she was loving smiling at her big brother - sweet love!
Um, yes, they are sitting in our shoe bin - don't know why but all the kids love to play in this thing!
Walking?!? Sort of - she still won't walk on her own but she loves you to hold her hand and walk with her - How cute is this skirt!?! I love it!
Since she's not walking on her own I have to keep her in a walker when we go outside which she has mastered and I have to be careful or she'll be all the way down the drive way! She sooo badly wants to get down to the play ground with the boys - so much so that she will literally sit on her bottom and scoot all the way down to it! Once she figures out how much more freedom she can have when she starts walking she's going to be gone!
4 Generations! This past weekend my mom, Gracie and I went down south to visit my Aunt and Uncle and my grandma. We have a picture like this when I was a baby as well.

The Circus and The Fruits of Discipline

Last Sunday Jeremy and I had a fun date with our boys at the Circus! This year the Circus partnered with the library and if your child read 4 books they got a voucher for FREE Circus tickets. Then I found a code to get $5 off tickets for Jeremy and I so for a grand total of $14 we had a great night out :) Thankfully I was one thinking mommy and packed bags of popcorn and sippy cups for the boys or we would have spent $100 on snacks! And they work you good - snow cones, popcorn, cotton candy, drinks, light up thingies, you name it they were walking by us with it at every chance they got. Thankfully our boys didn't know what most of the stuff was but it still peaked their interest as it all walked by them - but they were too busy stuffing their mouths with popcorn to ask for anything:)
Overall it was a fun Circus. The boys loved the silly clowns and the elephants and tigers. I feel certain that last time we went they had lions as well so I had told the boys we would see some - which we did not - to which I kept being asked over and over "where are the lions mommy?" I should of known better :) I didn't take any pics of the actual Circus performance but here are a couple of the boys:

Ready for the show

Two of my handsome boys - I tried to get John-Mark in the pic but he wasn't having it -

This is a "reenactment" picture. At one point as one of the snow cone vendors was walking by I looked at John-Mark and he was wide eyed with is mouth open just staring, following as they went by. I tried to grab the camera and snag a pic but it took me too long so I asked him to make the face again - pretty close but a little over dramatic :)

The Fruits of Discipline

I wanted to post about an episode we had the other day that gave me encouragement that all our hard work is really paying off. I have blogged before about the difficult discipline of disciplining (if that makes sense)- It is not for the faint at heart!
Yesterday I was at the store checking out and the boys were opening and closing the ice freezers at the front of the store. I asked them several times to stop (haven't mastered first time obedience obviously :) We headed to the car and I really didn't think much about it - when I was putting the boys in their car seats James asked me if he was in trouble. I asked him why he thought he was in trouble - he responded "nothing". I asked if he had disobeyed me and he said yes. I really hadn't planned on disciplining for it because I had too many other things on my mind and had honestly not really thought about it. I think this is where the problem of my being consistent comes in. James KNEW what the rules were and that he had disobeyed. I asked him, "what happens when you disobey" to which he replied with the discipline that we have clearly stated to him. Over the last several months we have really worked on being consistent with our disciplining measures and making sure they are clearly explained to the boys -when you do this, this will happen, every time. When we got home I followed through with the consequent discipline for disobedience. After a few minutes James came out of his room and apologized for not obeying when I asked him to close the doors. We hugged and I told him how much I loved him and we talked about his heart and the need to obey what mommy and daddy tell him. I know every time won't work out like this one but I was encouraged that we're moving in the right direction :)