Frye Fam Happenings

Eli, Eli, Eli, What can we say?? You are hilarious, adorable, and have a mop head of hair (our fault, I know.) You whine about everything and throw a minimum of 10 tantrums a day, but your smile and laugh can light up a room. You are such a great talker, and you love playing with your big brother, Justus. There is not a day that goes by that you and Titus do not get into a fight, but I have a feeling the two of you will be partners in crime as you get older. You love to have your shoes or rain boots on in the house, but when we go outside you prefer to be barefoot. You love water, but do not like taking baths. You love playing in the dirt, but protest quite loudly when it is time to clean that dirt off. As you can see, at two years old, you are keeping us on our toes. I cannot wait to see how the Lord is going to use your sense of humor, your sweet, loving touch, and that precious smile to draw people to Himself. Lord, touch this little boy's life and heart at an early age. May he ...

Justus is getting so big, so smart, and so funny. Sometimes, he is the funniest when he doesn't even try to be. I tell myself at least twice a day, "I should write that one down." This conversation occurred at lunch today: Justus: "Mom, what does (whispering the word) stupid mean?" Me: "Well, it means 'not smart.'" J: "Not smart?" M: "Yep. Justus, you know there are some words Daddy and I don't want you and your brothers to say, because they are just not nice words. There isn't really such a thing as a 'bad' word. The word 'stupid' is even in the Bible. Sometimes, adults can use words like that, because we know the correct time to use it." J: "So what can I say if someone isn't smart?" M: "Well, you don't really need to say anything about it if someone isn't smart. You should always speak kindly and with love." J: "Well, if someone isn't smart, I can just tell...

If I could write a wish list for each and every one for all of my four children, yes, each and every son. Transformers, games, and gadgets cars and trucks and blue airplanes, I would certainly change these things. Each list - too much contains! My list would be quite simple I wouldn't ask for much our toys and clothes and all that junk? Can go to such and such. What I truly want for them, they cannot touch or see but, oh, how they will know the joy if they will just believe. I want my children to know the Lord, in a personal kind of way. Oh, dear Lord, save their souls Be real to them, I pray. All I ever want for Christmas, I'll ask again each year, Become their Lord and Savior. I know my "wish" You'll hear!

...but don't tell me it's unsolicited advice, because you don't HAVE to be reading this :) We all dislike that kind of mothering advice, don't we?! If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you might remember this post. Well, a year later, we have added another child to our family. Things have changed a bit for us, and I have gained more experience and advice in this mothering adventure that I wanted to share. Do you have something you can add to the list? I would love to hear from you and glean from your wisdom as well! 1. While the baby (or babies) still sleep in cribs or other confined bedding, do not go to them when they first wake up from a nap or wake in the morning. This, apparently, causes those children to be early risers (ahem, our firstborn.) The 3 children we have left alone in bed for a little while all either sleep in most every morning or at least will play in their beds for awhile by themselves. It is a blessing, to say the least. 2. Keep the baby i...

Do you see the resemblance? **sorry about the other picture earlier!! haha I obviously didn't look at it too closely before posting it. Just did a quick search for Ace Ventura with that hair slicked up and chose the first picture :) Eli often wakes up with that hairdo, and I always think of Ace Ventura :)

Doesn't Eli remind you of someone?? Can you guess who I'm thinking of? Tune in tomorrow for the answer :)

I'm going to share something out of a dark closet today... except, it's not really a big secret if you are a mom. We all go through this on an almost weekly basis. I want to share with you what I lovingly like to call accurately have dubbed "Catch up on laundry day" What you see here is the exact reason behind my "one load of laundry a day" rule. Except sometimes, that one load of laundry doesn't happen, and (over time) THIS massacre takes over our playroom. I used to have a "laundry day" that occurred once a week. I would drag our laundry baskets into the laundry room, wash and dry everything in as many loads as were necessary, and fold and stack each person's clean clothes in birth order on top of the couch. (Derek's, mine, Justus', and Titus') See how I stopped at Titus' name? That's because once we had a fifth person in our family, I quickly realized doing laundry once a week was not a good idea. It was overwhelming...

Poor little Eli was sick today, throwing up and sneezing a ridiculous amount of times in a row (with the snotty nose to prove it, I might add!!) In an effort to make this day as easy as I could, I put up the baby gate and confined him to the kitchen and garage. The irony of it all? The kids had a blast, because it was such a change from our typical routine. Playing in the garage He's cute even when he's sick :) Notice the apple and "sick juice" (Pedialyte) in the cup holders behind him? I had him on the b.r.a.t. diet all day!! (side note: See the shirt Titus is wearing? We went clothes shopping for Justus the other day, and apparently Titus , wanting to be included in the affair, took matters into his own hands by tossing this one into the cart after I told everyone that we were JUST shopping for Justus. Don't worry, I did pay for the shirt...just didn't know I had bought it until we got home and emptied the bags!) Painting (Titus being a rebel very creative...

tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick... It takes... 1 minute to *** 5 minutes to take a really quick shower before my kids notice I am missing and decide to come looking for me 10 minutes to clip 80 nails on the fingers and toes of my freshly bathed little boys 15 minutes to whip up a quick lunch for 3 kids (probably less than that if I'm really in a hurry and children are crying at my feet) 20 minutes to get to Bible study on Tuesdays and MOPS on Fridays. (Two of my favorite destinations of the week!!) 25 minutes total a day to start a load of laundry in the washer, switch it to the dryer, fold and put it away when it is dry. This is when I actually KEEP to my "one load of laundry a day" policy!! I very much prefer this method as opposed to having a "laundry day" like I used to. THAT took me about 5 hours when all said and done. 30 minutes to eat my own lunch, clean up the kitchen from the boys' lunch, check my email/facebook/blogs I follo...

Call me a hypocrite if you must...the boys were all superheroes, and every superhero must have a Supermom and a Superdad, right? The boys were so excited about tonight. We played games, visited with friends, ate popcorn, candy, and cotton candy at a Fall Festival, and then went trick or treating. What a fun, imaginative night for kids!! The boys dress up in these costumes (which we simply pulled out of our dress up box) all the time at home, but there was apparently something very exciting about getting to wear them out in public. They loved seeing everyone dressed up in different costumes, and oh the excitement when they saw someone else dressed up in the same costume they had on themselves. Justus was Optimus Prime Titus was Iron Man Eli was Spiderman Josiah was Batman And Titus' monkey even got to dress up for part of the night :)