Piggyback Prayers

This morning I made an effort to say a prayer (by myself!!!) in my quiet place without kids. I knelt down and begun then quickly heard the door open and little footsteps get closer. Then Bentley climbed up onto my back and stayed there throughout the duration of my prayer. I smile because it's funny and I know God is smiling too. Piggyback prayers will too quickly pass. Perhaps it will be then that I will climb on Bentley's back when he says his prayers. ;)

Crossroads

I remember several years back during General Conference one of the apostles or possibly President Hinckley spoke about being home, as a mother, at the "crossroads" for your kids. This came to mind as I was praying tonight. That's been the desire of my heart all along & I often lose sight of that. No matter the struggle, I am doing it. I am doing what's most important to me.

A special blessing this week has been Kensington talking to me. She got in the car yesterday with notes written (on her hand, of course) down that she wanted to tell me about. Random things about her day that she didn't want to forget. One thing was about how her teacher teases her for liking the Cowboys. Tonight she came downstairs to talk to me about a phone call she made. It's a new development and means so much & makes me quite happy. :D

Miraculous

Finances are my biggest stress. August was ridiculous to say the least with getting four kids ready to go back to school. My main source of income comes to me two times a month and August I only got paid one of the two. Seriously looking back over the last three weeks makes my stomach sick with how much pressure was on me. I just want to document how miraculous it is that my checking account did not go in the negative. Seriously, miraculous. I am amazed at how Heavenly Father is in the smallest details in my life. On my own I make a real mess out of things. It is by grace that all is well with me and with us. I know it. I see it in my daily life. The miracles did not occur in big flashes of splendor but they came as very small measures that kept my account in the black and they kept occurring. I can't believe that I made it through that and in wild hope I hope I never have to go through anything like it again. But I'm sure I will. I think it comes with the territory. I know God is with me. I am so thankful He is. 

I felt inspired last week through a dream and through my sister the following day to "look at the big picture". Since that day I see it everywhere... "look at the big picture". I am trying to be obedient and do the things I should be doing with raising my babies. I truly wish I could provide a little better and easier so the pressure would ease but it's almost out of my control. For now I will try to remember the things that matter most each day. 

Sweetness

I know I post a lot about the boy but two is going by too fast! I want to write it all down so we can look back and remember.

Bentley has a new obsession with getting "snacks" on my arms. He starts off by pretending to eat a snack. He will tell us it's a cookie, or brownie, or ice cream. It is all well and good until he bites down and leaves a bruise.

He has been sleeping in my bed lately. Like every night. I never thought I'd be one of those parents who would let my child sleep with me but I got kind of addicted after the first couple times. I LOVE cuddling with him to fall asleep. We sing lots of songs. He is learning the words to those songs while we sing at night. It's very sweet. Out of the blue the other night he rolled over and told me "I love you momma". I loved it. He often will tell me after we talk "ok momma". It is so sweet. Tonight he was talking about the sky and said "airplanes, copters, bright, glasses" all in one sentence. It was so sweet. He tells me during the day that it's so bright and I will hand him some sunglasses. He is so smart.

Today we were dropping off some bags of clothes to Goodwill and the guy came out to help me and looked at my Cowboys sticker and made a comment about it like everyone does. I got back in my car and Bentley had over heard our convo bc he said...

B: "like Cowboys"
me: "yea, we like the Cowboys"
B: "daddy like the Cowboys"
me: "does daddy like the Cowboys"
B: "Bentley likes the Cowboys"
me: "aww yea Bentley and mommy like the Cowboys"
B: "Bentley likes cows"

haha hahaha interesting evolution of conversation!!! :D

He makes my heart happy. My girls make my heart happy.

The girls are doing well with the transition to school. It is so busy, but good. I finally got all the school supply shopping done today (about a week and a half into school). ugh. and yay!

A Facebook Post

Being a single mom is so hard! It is mind-boggling to me how to make x amount of dollars stretch to cover a+b. It is kind of like childbirth. It seems there is no way a watermelon can squeeze through an orange. It eventually does, it's just painful! This is just like that!

Bentley wishes he was at the 1st Day of School!

These were taken on the girls first day of school.

He cried on the 2nd and 3rd day of school.

When Bella leaves.

And when Ken & Cali leave.

And when we leave Bella after eating lunch with her.

:(

He would cry when Brae leaves but she leaves at 5:45am.

Bentley

Bentley fell asleep going to get Braelyn. He actually stayed asleep from the transfer into the house. :) I love moments like this. I have one of  him sleeping on me at like 5 months and it's really special. I had Brae snap this shot so we could remember. 

Cali re-enacted for us how she is a "wallflower" at school and does this against the wall when walking down the halls with all the kids! Then Bentley wanted to join in the re-enactment! 

Bentley loves his "girls"