Taylor's Holes

Taylor has been asking since her 8th birthday to get her ears pierced. Chris and I talked about it, talked with her and decided that if she indeed would face her fear of pain and get it done then she could do it. This was a huge deal. Taylor is not adventurous. She plays everything safe. How did I know she was mature enough to have her ears pierced? She was willing to subject herself to unknown pain. Albeit with a little trepidation. So off we went to Peircing Pagoda two days before her 9th birthday!



Taylor what do you think about getting your ears pierced?!?!


Remember that excitement. It slowly fades.





And it's gone.


Let the freaking out begin...


I reminded her that I was not going to force her to do this. That this was something she wanted and she had to put herself in the chair.

However I told her that if she didn't do it today, I wouldn't bring her back for a couple years.



Ok so maybe I helped "keep" her in the chair just a little....



See I was praying, not forcing.

Here we go 1,2...




First words out of her mouth... "that didn't hurt at all!!"

Oh the drama.



Not sure I, I mean Taylor, could've made it without our support system!


Thanks for coming friends! It was super helpful. Grandma Daukas we were sorry you weren't able to make it. You would've made us laugh for sure :)





My beautiful girl. She chose emerald flowers for her birthday month and I couldn't be more happy with her choice!


After the drama, I mean fun, we went to dinner with this guy :)


Ah these girls have been such a blessing in Taylor's life! Serious answer to prayer!




Thanks Aunt Danae for taking so many of these pictures. We love you Taylor!

Alexie- 7 Months

It's been a little crazy around here. Well I guess when is it not huh? Alexie's 7 month mark just passed and I realized I never posted a six month update. So it's past time. She has grown leaps and bounds this month. She began the army crawl at six months and perfected it over month six. She is now up on all fours and gets faster by the day. The past two weeks her main interest is pulling up to standing. Today I heard her talking in her crib and came in to find her standing in her crib. My oh my she is keeping me on my toes. Definitely following the Trevor path for her physical development, who was walking by 9 months! Who can blame her when she spends large portions of her day watching her siblings move and dance around her.

I'm also happy to report that her funny seal like sounds and shrieks have turn into full on babbling. Lots of "mamama", "dadada" and an occasional "nanana" talk happening. I'm relived to know she isn't going to sound like a seal for the rest of the year.

Last but not least she loves her mama. She KNOWS without a doubt when I'm in the room and if there is a person holding her and I walk by, she gets all excited waving her hands and little legs around until I take her. There are times when she just cries with someone till I take her, then stops when in my arms. I don't mind too much. It's always nice to lay your life down for someone daily and be noticed :) Although I'm working on making sure she's not to spoiled.

There's a little Lexie update for you. We love you little peanut.

Grandma & Taylor

My brother found this picture today. Thanks Ryan! Brings a smile to my face remembering this trip. I'm not sure who had more fun Grandma Jojo or Taylor.

Goodbye Grandma

My Grandma's health has been failing slowly over the year and it became increasingly apparent this week that her time was coming to an end. She was rushed to the hospital again on Thursday morning only to awake and ask that no more intervention be done. Grandma was done. She was transferred to Hospice care and passed away this morning with two of her three sons by her side. My dad being one of them. I am grateful that the Lord gave us a few more days, as I was given a chance to write a goodbye letter to her on Thursday. I so wish I could have been there and told her in person but it wasn't the Lord's will. I'm am certain she got to read it and my dad read it to her again last night.

My Grandma was a reader of my blog and I feel like in sharing this letter, one will get a small glimpse into the wonderful lady she was. Truly to know her was to be impacted by her. I miss her already.

My Dear Sweet Grandma,
Well I have heard that you have decided “no more needles” Can’t say I blame you. You have suffered so much recently, needles, surgeries, and constant dialysis. I am grateful for how long you have fought to live but it seems as if I may not be able to see you again here on this earth and I still have a few things I want to say. I would call you but I fear I would be a crying fool and you probably wouldn’t have any of it. And heck you might just get fed up with my rambling and turn your hearing aid off. I don’t want to take that risk ☺
I wanted to tell you how much I love you. Hopefully there is no doubt but you have always been one of my favorite people here on this earth. Your smile lights up the room, your contagious laugh and upbeat positive attitude have always encouraged me. You are also one of the funniest people I know. I LOVE your sense of humor. Grandma you have always put others needs in front of your own. I am SO thankful that you came to my high school graduation and were there on my wedding day. Who in their right mind would ask their grandma to come to AZ in the middle of the summer to watch them get married. Wow. That’s a sacrifice ☺ I will forever be grateful that you were there to witness and celebrate one of the biggest days of my life.

I know you haven’t had it easy. Now a mom of four, my respect for you has only increased. I don’t know how you raised three kids, boys nonetheless, all on your own. What an amazing job you did too. Your boys are wonderful, caring men! My dad is also one of my favorite people here on this earth and I know his character reflects the hard work you put into raising him. I can’t imagine how hard it was for you to drop him off the curb so he could hitch-hike to AZ at 18. As a mom, I can’t imagine how hard that was for you! I am grateful for that hard decision as God’s hand was on my dad’s life. I know I would not be here had he not come to AZ let alone my precious children. God has known and seen all along the sacrifices you made for your boys. They will not be forgotten! I am eager for you to hear “Well done my good and faithful servant” from the Lord when he greets you in Heaven. And what a wonderful day it will be for you to be face to face before the Lord, knowing that you can only come into heaven because of the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross for your sins, ALL of our sins. I often think back on my life and think of things I could’ve done better, things I wish I had done better and I am reminded that God loves me, not because I do good things, but because he sent his son to die for my sins. That is where my hope is placed. So fight off any doubts you might have Grandma! When God is your savior he will bring you home to him in his perfect timing. I already await the day where I can be reunited with you. I am so thankful that, for Christians, there is no permanent goodbye. I would be in utter despair if that was the case.
So Grandma I am praying for you. Praying you would not suffer much that God would give you peace and joy in Christ. Everyone in our church is praying for you. So MANY are praying for you. I love you with all of my heart Grandma Jones. Thank you for all the love and support you have given me all of my life. Oh how I will miss you but I’ll take good, good care of your great grandchildren and they will always know what a wonderful Grandma you are! And don’t worry our “spiked” tea party as a child will always be our secret ☺
Hoping in God,
Tara


"Think, Christian believer, of seeing your Savior, and beholding your King in His beauty. Faith will be at last swallowed up in sight and hope in certainty. Think of the many loved ones gone before you and of the happy meeting between you and them. You are not going to a foreign country; you are going home. You are not going to dwell amongst strangers, but amongst friends. You will find them all safe, all well, all ready to greet you, all prepared to join in one unbroken song of praise. Then let us take comfort and persevere. With such prospects before us, we may well cry, “It is worth while to be a Christian!” JC Ryle

Parenting

Read this article today on the Gospel Coalition blog. I felt like Kevin stepped into our home and shared a real life example straight from a conversation with one of my kids. It made me laugh out loud. I really appreciated these words:


"I just know that the longer I parent the more I want to focus on doing a few things really well, and not get too passionate about all the rest. I want to spend time with my kids, teach them the Bible, take them to church, laugh with them, cry with them, discipline them when they disobey, say sorry when I mess up, and pray like crazy."

I couldn't agree more. I can read and study up on parenting methods/models but at the end of the day I want my kids to remember that their daddy & mommy loved Jesus with all their heart, not perfectly by any means, and that they deeply wanted their children to know and love Jesus too.

Check it out.

My Easter Babes

I think I said something like, "Welcome restful April" in my last blog post. HAHAHA! Now that was a funny joke. Man life is crazy busy around here. But I'm busy with good things. Schooling the kids, participating in Grace Church life, making new meals, going on dates with my husband, occasionally attempting to restore some order and cleanliness back into our home. In all of this, I wouldn't change a thing. Especially my four little ones. Man I love them. I have enjoyed seeing how Alexie has changed the dynamics of our family. It has brought out such strength and new dynamics in each of their personalities. We are having a BLAST with her!

With some help from Nana I got the kids special outfits for Easter this year. Matching ones for Rylee & Alexie. Rylee was quite thrilled! I felt we were past due for some pictures of all the kids so I took them out the night before Easter for a mini photo session.







She was in rare form this night!



















I had the brilliant idea of suggesting Trevor & Rylee getting a picture together. That didn't go so well. Rare form I tell you. I should have known better.


Trevor embraced the idea so sweetly. Rylee, not so much. "His hands are dirty!" He'll ruin my pretty dress!" Oh man. But what followed is some of the sweetest pictures.





Taylor comforted the big crocodile tears off of his face in such motherly fashion.
As we went to leave Rylee came around and asked Trevor if she could take a picture with him now. I did not pose these, just stood back and watched.







I'm so blessed to be a mother to these four sweet babies!

Smelling for Bats

Somehow in the midst of this crazy season we find time to do school! Occasionally I take pictures just to have proof. ha.

Before pictures let me tell you about this new resource I'm using. Back in December I switched Math curriculum for Taylor. Yes mid- year. It was that good and the results have proved to be the right call. Singapore continued to be a challenge for me to keep up with and math seemed to be source of frustration for us every day. A friend led me to Teaching Textbooks. Everything is taught and instructed on the computer. She has a workbook with all the printed problems but they also show up on the screen. Greatest thing is it has automated grading. Also, if she misses a problem she can click a "see solution" button and it works it out right there for her. In addition it has a teacher's gradebook where I can she what she missed on each lesson, if she viewed the solution or not and her final grade. I was encouraged when I gave her the placement test that she scored a grade higher then her "official" grade level. After a hard year it was great to see I had actually taught her something :) She is loving this new program! Math is her new favorite subject. Never thought I'd hear those words come out of her mouth! On top of it all she's flying through the with full comprehension and a solid "A"!

Ok on to picture proof. Taylor has been working through a bat science unit. Last week she learned that Bats find their baby bats, "cubs" by scent. Each cub has it's own unique scent. Out of millions of cubs mama's can sniff their way through them all to find the one that's theirs. Crazy sense of smell huh?! So to drive this point home we took cotton balls, put about 15 different scents on each one and each kid picked one cotton ball to be their cub. Each one took their turn trying to smell their way to their cub while blindfolded. Ah fun times :)









How kind of you to think that I made this up all on my own... this came straight of our Apologia Science book :)

Teething Much?

It's in full force around here :)

Pigtails

This little girl is growing by leaps and bounds. Not so much in the weight category. She remains my little peanut. But she has fully mastered rolling, beginning to sit and continues to strengthen her "push up on all fours throw herself forward" move. Not quite crawling but on her way. She is such a joy. I am enjoying every last minute. Poor girl had a hard month. We began rice cereal and after a day or two she developed a rash. I didn't think much of it. I stopped the cereal as I wasn't sure if it was that or the antibiotic she was on for her ear infection. After it cleared I started again. On the second day a small rash came back and then I gave her a full feeding on the third and she awoke a couple hours after I put her to bed completely covered in throw up. It was so sad and scary. I gave her a bath and when I got her out she began throwing up again :( This began another cold virus and many sleepless nights. After fighting off the cold I thought I'd give a different cereal a try. Maybe rice just wasn't for her. I tried oats and sure enough a couple hours after bedtime I woke up to her crying and covered in throw up. Needless to say I am waiting for her six month appointment before I try anything else. We will see. This is a first for a daukas baby.

Aunt Danae suggested today that I throw her hair in pigtails! Good call Auntie. I think it helps control the craziness. It also makes her look older which I'm not sure I'm ready for.

35.

March was an insanely busy month. I knew back in December when I said yes to two fairly big commitments that I was in for quite the month. As always, I ask for input from Chris before I say yes to anything. He helped me process the decisions and I said yes. I began the month shooting my first wedding! That's right FIRST wedding. What possessed me to say yes I'm not sure. I think it was the desire for experience mixed with them knowing it was indeed my first time shooting a wedding on my own. The anxiety leading up to the wedding kept me up at night and on my knees. Ha. At times I questioned my sanity in saying yes to such a task. But low and behold the day came. I think I rocked the wedding and had SO MUCH FUN! Serious fun. Then I slept for a day :) I'll post a link here once I get a preview up on my blog. I then had a week to recover from the wedding and then came the second commitment. Leading three worship sessions for a Woman's conference being held at our old church in Gilbert. This one produced a lot less anxiety as I feel like I've played piano and sang my entire life. Still, it took a good chunk of administrative work on my part. Honestly though, once I had decided on songs, playing and meditating on them feed my soul this month. I truly worshiped as I prepared. Then I worshiped as I lead worship this weekend. Ah, it too was so much fun! It also gave me a little insight into my husband's world. I was so exhausted emotionally and physically when I got home!

What often kept me going this month, other than the sheer grace of God, was a special date I had on the calendar. A date I had been planning, to celebrate this guy.



I love him. He had his 35 birthday last week and after what an amazing support he was to me this month, I couldn't wait to celebrate him. His life, how much he has grown in the Lord and the amazing husband and father he is. I couldn't wait to celebrate all of this! I had done some research trying to find a new place to take him. We haven't had many opportunities to explore the west side where date nights are concerned. So with some help from my neighbor friends we seriously scored on an awesome new restaurant. It was a bit of a drive from our home and by the time we got there it was PERFECT! Atmosphere, food, we felt far from home but not to far to be able to drive back. We sat on the patio as the sun set and the weather was perfect.

What he didn't know was that, what I was working hard for this month was in part to buy him this:


He was so surprised! It was awesome and it brought me great joy to bless him with this unexpected gift. But apparently everyone in America wants one of these right now, so he has to wait a few weeks for it to ship.

Goodbye March. You were unbelievably exhausting but fun. Welcome restful April :)

Kind of a big deal.

It's true.

Alexie- 5 months

Lexie you have brought your family more joy than I even knew existed. You are growing up way to fast. I love seeing the wonder and curiosity in your eyes as you take in new things. I know you are going to be smart like your brother & sisters. I love the way you laugh and laugh when you are tickled and it seems the more overtired you are, the funnier everything seems to be. I love how you can take in new faces quite seriously but just a glimpse of one of us and you are all smiles. You have become quite the explorer, rolling every which way these past few weeks. I am anticipating your crawling in the very near future as I observe you pushing up to your hands and knees. We can't take you anywhere without someone commenting on all the beautiful hair you have. After your bath your big sister Taylor has taken the role of "styling" your hair just right then your mommy loves to smell and kiss your precious head. It is hard to believe that half a year with you is just right around a corner.

Alexie Jane you are our little peanut and we love you to pieces.

Trevor is 6

I'm really behind on this post. A day after Trevor's birthday, February 16th, I went downhill fast. Highest fever I've had in years. Aches, chills, sweats, horrible headache. Ugh! I was miserable. Unfortunately the miserableness made it's way through the entire household. I think and PRAY that we are all almost through this nasty flu bug and can resume normal life next week.

Back to my boy Trevor.




My baby boy is not so little anymore :(


Last week Trevor turned SIX!


He is such an amazing little boy. Smart, caring, funny, handsome, athletic, imaginative, talkative. Trevor has taken a real interest in knowing God's word this year. It's been encouraging to hear him talk and get excited about things of the Lord.

I love this kid! Alexie loves him too. She adores Trevor and finds him quite entertaining. Just a few weeks ago Trevor was the first person, other than myself, to make Lexie laugh. Trevor has always had a way with the little ones and it's warmed my heart to see him use his gift on his littlest sister.





This has been the year of football for Trevor. Turning six, for him, meant Dad & Mom would sign him up for flag football. Here he is showing me some moves :)







I don't know much about football but I think he's got "star quarterback" all over his face :)


Buddy your mommy loves you so, so, much. I pray that God would save you. I pray that we can take all that passion, energy and leadership capabilities you have and train you how to use it all for God's glory and His kingdom!

Happy Birthday!