A Safe Place to Land

I had an awesome conversation with a good friend of mine this morning over some smoothies....(I love how the Lord can even be in the midst of the crazy Lifetime cafe!).

We talked about that we wanted our house to be a safe place to land... a place at the end of the crazy day that is refuge and respite. And to be quite honest, we both said, we're not sure if it is right now... Especially as my kids get ready to navigate the world of elementary school, where the playground can sometimes get rough, there's lots of instructions and demands, and LOTS of stimuli. When they get home, I pray that there is space to be calm, to reflect on their day, to be listened to, and to feel loved and accepted. Many times, these days, my house looks far from it. It looks like arguing, some nagging thrown in, and some hands up in the air with a "why would you do that?" thrown in... Don't get me wrong...this will also be a place of responsibility and chores and discipline. But, I want this to be their safe place to land. Their "home base"...the place where when you are being chased down, you've got a place to call "safe!".

This led my friend and I to wonder if this was truly our husband's safe place to land? I thought of Marley and Me, where Owen Wilson sits outside in his car for a few minutes before getting up enough courage to head into his house where a tired wife and screaming kids are waiting. I have no doubt that Sean has needed to do the same, especially when there were 3 kids under 2 waiting for him. And he was always ready...walked in the door, grabbed whoever needed holding and soothed my nerves simultaneously. All without breaking a sweat... Times are different now... not as much crisis mode...more living mode... So, does he have a space when he comes home to be encouraged, to be calm, and to just feel warmth? To feel like he has left his pressure world and gets a little respite? I pray that this is so, and if it's not, that it becomes so.

I thought of Psalm 23:6...Surely lovingkindness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever...

There's no safer place to land....

Christmas

I am not going to comment on how long it's been or that I will be better about this now... but I do have a laptop..so here's hoping!

Our first Christmas in Colorado was a blast... literally, a snowy blast. We had a serious snowstorm that left us barely even able to get to Mimi and Grampy's and they leave 3 streets away!

Darn those hills!

But, it was magical. Jack got his guitar, Collin got his drums, Caroline got her dollhouse... all are happy! And the house is loud... We had so many people here for Christmas dinner and loved every minute. Back to routine now, but here are some pictures.

The Sandbox

Or beach as we call it around here! We had a lovely pond in our backyard when we bought the house. Two big reasons to get rid of the pond.. 1.) Caroline was always trying to jump in it and 2.) the dogs were getting sick from drinking out of it.

So, my mom, who always has the brilliant ideas, thought to put a sandbox over the pond.

We found some amazing landscapers who did just that! They wheeled mountains and mountains of sand in with a wheelbarrow down the steep steps into the backyard, bless their hearts!

It is literally 8 feet by 12 feet! Giant! And worth every penny...

My kids literally play in it for at least 2 hours a day. On 4th of July we had about 12 kiddos in there comfortably with room to spare and having a ball!

There is sand all over my house, but completely and totally worth it!

A couple pictures of our beach and one of our amazing view from the backyard!

Don't have a heart attack..

but I am actually posting again.. I won't make promises like my last post (2 years ago..) that said I was going to do this more regularly.. but I will try!!

My kids look a little different than in our last post.. (just a tad!)

Oh, and yes, we moved to Denver!

I truly, honestly, love it here. It's beautiful, it's cool, our neighborhood is amazing.. there is so much to do. It's really wonderful! I am always a Texas girl at heart, but I love the idea of raising my children here.

Our summer has been awesome and we never take for granted that we can sit out on our back deck at 6:00 and always feel a cool breeze... still a shock to us!

Our summer has consisted of swim and gym...the kids have swim team lessons every morning at the neighborhood pool (just a good ol' fashioned one) and then we head to Lifetime fitness where mommy works out and those wonderful people watch the kiddos!

Here are a few pictures of our summer so far!

So ready for spring!

Let's see.. February was the month of sickness at our house. Can't say that I was sorry to see it come to an end. Just for a little rundown for whoever is keeping tally, our house endured pink eye galore, stomach bug galore, pneumonia (with an ER visit!!), bronchitis, ear infections, coughs, runny noses, and probably some strep thrown in for good measure (not diagnosed but who cares? we were on mega antibiotics anyways!).

Craziness!!

Soooooo incredibly happy to have some warm weather and on our way to healthiness!

Sean and I did manage to sneak away for one night to San Antonio thanks to Mimi and Grampy and have a great dinner and just some down time. I even slept in and ordered room service! Very nice! And we apologize for then inflicting our illness on those sweet people!

Kiddo updates:

Caroline is talking up a storm!! Can't ever get her to be quiet (that's how I knew she was sick.. not talking). She pretty much just narrates her whole day for whoever is listening!

She loves the park and still loves her brothers.. turning into a little mom.. makes sure they have their sippy cups and other necessities. She's their little slave girl and very happy to do so!

The boys are in store for some big changes soon I think... About to turn 3 and soon to move to big boy beds.. Yep, that's right.. still in cribs! they have never tried to get out and this tired mom and dad felt no need to rock the boat. But, it's probably time. I figure CPS might come out if they are still in cribs at 5?? We are going to have to strip down the room to ensure that two curious little boys don't get into anything!

And.. I think we might be on the verge of potty training.. Collin is not wanting to wear wet or poopy diapers and they are starting to get interested. Oh Lord help me!! I will be ecstatic to have someone out of diapers, but honestly dreading the process!

Jack has informed us that we are having a fire truck birthday party so mom needs to do some checking on that and I think a swingset for the backyard is in their future.

Here's to more sunshine around here!! Thank you God!!

And P.S. I know I don't have many pictures of Collin on here, but man, that kid is hard to get a picture of! Never stops moving!!

Doing better at blogging..

It hasn't been 3 months this time! We have had some good times at the Scanlan household.. My mom and Barry were here for a visit, we had some beautiful snow, and Sean and I got to get away for a night to San Antonio (thank you Mimi and Grampy!). We also had a little setback with some sickness, but I think we are on the mend now! And I pretty much think we got everything at once, so hopefully we are done (think pink eye, bronchitis, ear infections, coughs, snotty noses, stomach bug, you name it!)

Here are some pics from our trip to the Dallas Children's Museum.. loved the place and kids had the best time!

yes, it's been 3 months

So, apparently when I said I would catch up with my blogging, I lied. Let's see, what have we done since Nov. 22??

Awesome Christmas (white and everything) with the Owen clan.. the boys are now officially Claire and Katie's biggest fans. Did not make it to midnight on New Year's Eve again for the at least 4th year in a row! Boys were very happy to go back to school, as was their mama. Sean and I got a new mattess which appears to have alleviated any backaches for me.. thank goodness!

Miss Caroline is still torturing her brothers endlessly.. she was also dedicated at church and is talking up a storm. The other morning she told me "I need shoes" 16 months and using sentences still floors me! Girls...

Here's a few pictures just so we can remember what they still look like!