Summer 2014 in Pictures

Get ready for a lot of pictures. It's been a while since I wrote on the blog, and every once in a while a good photo dump is needed. At least it helps me feel like I've somewhat documented what our family has been up to since I am years behind in printing pictures.

This is my yard! I love where we live! Also, for Mother's Day, my handy husband built me a 7'2" fence around my garden (that is at the bottom of the picture), so all of my veggies won't get eaten by the resident deer population. So far so good. I am so excited about my garden this year! Today I froze 2 gallons worth of green beans and then went out and picked more. After feeding the deer last summer, I am so thrilled to see the garden thrive this year!

T-ball cheering section! Really, the girls were only there for the suckers I promised them!

Tate's first year of T-ball was a success. By success I mean that he enjoyed it and wants to do it again next year! At this age, as long as they have fun that's all that matters!

On the Fourth of July we went to the parade in Spicer and the kids got lots of candy....that we are still eating, and it's August 16th.

Waiting for more candy....

Anja digging into her candy. When you are a 2 year old, who needs to get more candy when you've got lots in your bag to eat right now???

Since there were lots of people at the cabin for the weekend, not enough beds for everyone and a lot of noise, we skipped nap time so our kids would sleep well in the tent at night. However, both days Anja ended up sleeping outside in her swim suit in someone's arms. I don't think Grandma cared, though.

Tate and Norah at the park near the cabin. A must-visit at least once a year while we are there.

We love it when Auntie Kristen comes to visit!

Apparently this is how you sleep when you're really exhausted. 

A fun morning at the splash pad and park with good friends!

Tate loves to do projects and make things, so I got brave one day and let him do some paper mache. He really did love it and it wasn't THAT messy. 

We went to the county fair to watch our friend Talia show her horse and my no-fear-child got to sit on the horse with her! Thanks, Tal!

Kids in the giant adirondack chair at the county fair!

Norah being silly on our drive to Chicago! 

We got to spend the day with relatives in Illinois. These are all of the 2nd cousins, and I know you can't really see Noelle's face, but this one is my favorite, because the kids are shaped like a heart. Cheesy, I know, but isn't it cute? I'm pretty sure that wasn't planned when we threw all the kids in the chairs and started acting crazy behind the cameras to get all the kids to look.

More water park pictures:

While we were in Illinois, we got to meet our new nephew/cousin. Norah loves babies and was eager to hold him.

Backyard fun and Grandma and Grandpa's house!

On the first night of our trip to Chicago, we discovered that we forgot Anja's bag of clothes at home. Thankfully, my mom had some 1980's keepsakes stashed in a drawer, and Auntie Cassie had some girl clothes in her stash. I am pretty sure Anja didn't notice or care that none of the clothes she wore for a week were hers.

A little baby lovin' time:

Norah has some beautiful long blond hair that begs to be brushed and braided, but she does not ever want me to comb it much less braid it. But, when an Auntie wanted to braid her hair, she was all for it! 

Aunt Cassie even did her hair to match!

Just chillin' in the car with my shades on. Thanks Grandma Sharon! They've been a hit!

Daddy finished the tree house!!!

We spent several days of our vacation at the cabin, and had gorgeous weather. The kids did a lot of swimming and playing in the sand. And everyone caught a fish or two off the dock!

Tate made it his own challenge to make it across the beach without touching the sand. He persevered and tried over and over again until he finally made it. It was fun to see him just keep on trying without getting frustrated, but being determined to get it.

A boy and his tackle box.

It wouldn't be vacation without a trip to DQ, right?

It's Okay

This year was our first official year of homeschooling, and I found myself saying to my son, "It's okay to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them," quite often. He would get frustrated when he got a math problem wrong, or couldn't quite sound out that new word on the page. I didn't want him to get discouraged and give up.

Fast forward a couple of months, and I was talking to a friend who said that they had "messed up their kid." It got me thinking about the statement I frequently made to my son. We parents make mistakes in our parenting all the time. Like when we fed our son chicken nuggets and tater tots 5 nights of the week because it was a meal he could eat with his dairy allergy (and frankly, we wanted to eat dairy, so we just made him his own meal). Getting him to eat more variety has been a long road. Maybe he's picky, or maybe it was this parenting blunder. Maybe both. Or when I unnecessarily yell at my kids, or when I don't give enough time and attention to them because I'm busy doing my own thing, or when, or when.... I have wondered many times what my kids will say about our parenting when they are adults. What will they intentionally do differently as parents because they really disliked the way we did something? I know that I am not perfect, but I really do hope and pray that they will look back on their childhood and our family and have good memories, know that they were loved, and know that they are loved even more by the King of kings. What I really want them to say is, "My mom was perfect! We had the perfect family I want to do everything just like my parents did," but let's be honest, that's unrealistic!

So what do we do when we know we've made a mistake?

Be humble. Acknowledging our mistakes to our kids (and spouse, or anyone else for that matter) speaks volumes and brings healing. There have been times when I realized my parenting failures and gone to my kids to say, "I'm sorry for ________." Often, they've already forgotten, but the apology was not lost. Humility in our mistakes models for them how to be repentant of their own sins.

Give yourself grace. It's so easy to beat yourself up over mistakes you've made and think it's impossible to fix them. Or if all of your kids are grown and you realize the things you might have done wrong while they were growing, it's easy to dwell on those things and get depressed and discouraged. (This might be a good time to go back up to the "Be humble" point and talk to your kids about the mistakes you made. I'm pretty sure good things will come of a discussion like that) None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes and honestly, you never (at least I hope not) intentionally hurt your children. You are trying your best as a parent, and trying to make decisions for them that are God honoring.

I recently listened to a talk given by an author named Elyse Fitzpatrick called "Dazzling your kids with the love Jesus." She talked about a paradigm shift in parenting that is based on seeing your child as righteous before God if they've committed their lives to Him. This helped me realize that if my kids are counted as righteous before God even in their sins, then when I sin, I too am counted as righteous in God's eyes. This realization brought me to tears. I've been a Christ follower for nearly my entire life, and it took me nearly my entire life to fully grasp what God has done for me. I am so undeserving, because my sins are many, but the Holy God of the universe sees me as righteous because of the blood of His son shed on my behalf. We will make mistakes. We will sin in our parenting, but we are still righteous in the eyes of God. I stand in AWE!

Give others grace. Perhaps you are reading this as a grown child of parents who made mistakes. Join the club. I do not want to downplay the grievous wounds that some parents have intentionally, or unintentionally inflicted on their children. There are many people whose parents were not trying to do what God wanted for their children, but for those of you who were raised in homes where Christ was followed, remember that your parents were doing the best that they could do at that point in their lives. And they were trying to honor God in the process. Did they make mistakes? Sure. Do they regret the mistakes they made? Probably. Cut them some slack. The hard feelings don't do anyone any good.

Learn from your mistakes. My husband is one of the best examples in my life of seeking God's refinement. He is often asking the question, "What is God teaching me right now?" If we see our mistakes in this way, we can learn and grow. We have a couple of different options when we make mistakes. We can throw in the towel and give up, or we can ask God what He wants us to learn through it. I pray that it will be the latter in my life.

Along the way, we'll make mistakes, and it's okay. Some problems in life are hard, and the words on the page are hard to decipher. Remember that God is in charge. He knows the beginning from the end, and He loves your kids even more than you do. We can all learn from our mistakes and grow more like Christ in the process.

I've Got No Clever Title For This One

Life has been pretty normal around here lately. Nothing big (unless you count a snowstorm yesterday that my kids were pretty bummed about). We've been playing a lot, homeschooling, and the kids and I took a trip down to stay at my parents' house for a few days. This has been a very loooong winter (we had our first snow in the middle of October) and we are all very anxious to get outside again!

 

Here are a few pictures from the Herzog house the past couple of months:

The boy loves Legos!

 "There's nothing like a better day than looking at Lego sets." Tate, age 5 1/2. I HAD to write that one down, because even though I think I'll remember it years from now, I won't.

 Tate was so excited about the tie-dye shirt that he made at Kids' Club! Of course, Norah wanted something tie-dye too, so I looked in her closet and found this dress (thank you Auntie for hand-me-downs). Lookin' up to big brother!

 And this is Grandpa Jim on his shoulder. Enough said.


 

 Sibling love.


 

 We took a trip down to my parents' house - far enough south that all the snow was melted, so we got to play outside! It was such a needed change of scenery for all of us! We had lots of cousin time too, which is always a highlight for the kids.
 

 Norah and Auntie Heather dying eggs!



 

 She likes to be creative with her wardrobe. And this one, ladies and gentlemen, was worn grocery shopping. I had an inner battle. Do I let her be her unique self, or do I make her change before we leave? Maybe she'll thank me for it later, and maybe she'll be humiliated that I let her leave the house like this, but the most important part is that I got a picture of it!



 

 It is April 17th, and the ruler on our deck measured a little over 9 inches of snow that fell yesterday. We took this chance for one last time (here's to hoping) to play outside. A milestone for the day was that this was the first time that Anja played outside in the snow. It's either been too cold, or I've been too lazy to go out with her, but today I sucked it up and let her be Minnesotan.
 

  The kids have not watched the movie Frozen (gasp) yet, but they went outside and wanted to play "Frozen," which is why Norah is wearing her princess crown.
 

 What's wrong with this picture? I'll give you a minute............ something's not quite right. Do you see it yet? Someone is missing her boot (well, mittens too, but we'll ignore that one. She kept pulling them off). Not sure how long she'd been walking around in her sock before I noticed. Mother of the year, right here!
 

 Big brother to the rescue! Found in a snowbank. This was especially funny for him, because just a couple of weeks ago, his boot fell off in a snowbank and we could not find it until the snow melted last week. He was a happy boy when it reappeared!
 

 Winter would not be complete until you've eaten some snow!

 

 

 

Can you spy the cat? (Do you see an "I Spy" theme here?) In November we had 3 cats, and now we're down to this little guy, Dado (named by a 3 year old). I guess that's how it goes when you have outdoor cats, huh? For all you philanthropic types, we are perfectly fine with only one cat, so don't feel the need to find us any more!


 We'll wait a few days for the snow to melt and we'll head back out to play in the mud! Happy Spring!