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Birthday Celebration!

Published by Aubrey

On February 8 Mr. Barela celebrated his 31st birthday. We had a great weekend celebrating his special day. We had babysitters for Saturday night and we hit our town of Chico in style. We went to Brian’s favorite local restaurant, 5th Street Steakhouse, and then to see Slumdog Millionaire. The dinner was great as it always is there and the movie was excellent as well. We both really really liked it. A must see in my opinion. The best part of the night though was just being with Brian and the uninterrupted conversation. We got more talking in that night than we have in the past 2 weeks. I love hearing what he has been thinking about, what he is learning, his random thoughts throughout the days. Just to connect on a deeper level than “Hey, how was your day?” or “Will you pick up that sippy cup?” is so very much needed and valued. Here are some pics from the weekend. Happy Birthday Brian!

Getting ready to dig into his free birthday dessert..banana cheesecake!

Just the 2 of us!

Per request every year. White cake with rainbow chips with white confetti icing.

Made with love by me and the Little Mister.

Nice look Birthday Boy :)

Feeling better!

Published by Aubrey

We have almost 4 days of healthy kids around here. There has been no screaming, crying for long periods of time, no yucky stuff coming from eyes or nose, no puffy eyes, ear aches or fevers. It has been just delightful! Now that this is past us (hopefully) I had to post a pic of the sad state our girls were in for so long. Too cute and so pitiful :(

Feeling fruity

Published by Aubrey

The last couple weeks I’ve been talking with The Little Mister about the fruits of the Spirit. Both him and I could grow in several of these. I would like to eventually go through all 9 but we’ve been camping out on the first one, LOVE, with it being Valentine’s Day and all. We talk about the verse often through out the day and different ways we can show “love” to our friends, sisters etc. This week we did a craft day at a friends house. Driving over we talked about different ways we could show love to our friends who would be there. Ex. “I like your shirt”  “You are a nice friend” ” I like your toys” Nice little conversation. Once we got there I kinda forgot about it. Out time was good, we decorated cookies for Valentine’s Day. Near the end the Little Mister had a complete meltdown over a play hammer and tape measure. Not a pretty sight. On the way home we were talking about the choices he made and how not sharing with his friend was not a loving thing to do. He was quiet the whole time and then he said “But mom I told “Kate” I liked her cookie”.  I just thought this was cute because even though he threw this big fit, and yelled and screamed he wanted to point out to me that he had remembered showing love to his friend by saying a simple “I like your cookie”.

I’m forgetting Someone

Published by Aubrey

Recently, I feel as if my kids have “kicked it up a notch” for good old mom. They are still my sweet kids but are ever growing in their independence and testing their limits and ME! It’s been a challenge to say the least. We now frequently deal with trantums and talking back and whining. I don’t think they are abnormal or doing anything unexpected but the fact that all 3 are in a new “fun” phase at the same time is what is hard. This is what is stretching me. Going from one little person who can’t express what she wants so throwing her head back and falling to the floor, screaming is the answer and the next minute trying to reason with a very smart 3 yr.old who know exactly what what he wants and will go at lenghts to get it. I am being stretched to new limits and brought to the question “Oh my gosh, what do I do?” My first answer was to take what I know and try that. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Then I went to some trusted friends who have great mom experience. Everyone gives different answers. All good in my opinion but how do I know what works? I went to friend to friend to friend. Then I realized, why have I not gone to the One who know me and my kids the best? I forgot to go to God. I think I forget that He wants to help me and knows fully well about my everyday problems. He knows my children because He created them, he knew all their days before even before the first one began. He even loves them more than me. Yes He is a big God and He can help me through this, show me the answers, give me the wisdom and patience I need day in and day out. I am all for seeking out counsel from my friends. But I want to be proactive and seek Him first and foremost.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving,

considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

James 3:17

Proud Sister

Published by Aubrey

This past Thursday my brother Brent was inducted into the first class of Perry High School Hall of Fame. He was a wrestler in high school. All 4 years he did very well but his junior year he was the Ohio State Champ. Seeing him win that title 10 years ago is one of my best memories. I still get chills thinking about it. It was a great honor for him to be inducted in to the Hall of Fame and especially the first class in the history of our high school. I wish I could have been there to see him make his acceptance speech. I know he did great. Now Brent has many more accomplishments to add to his list like being an amazing coach that his wrestlers not just look up to for wrestling advice but also as a person, he has started and kept going his own business that is thriving and he is a good husband and father to two little boys and another on the way! I’m proud of the man that my brother has become.

An Upside to going to the Doc

Published by Aubrey

Today we made yet another trip to the Doc for Miss K. This makes #5 I think in 2 weeks. But who’s counting right? Miss K continues to cry, have fevers and pull at her ears. I thought we had turned the corner but I guess I jumped the gun. Doc said she isn’t any worse after being on an antibiotice for a week but not any better. So we now have ear drops for pain and discomfort. Tell me how is one supposed to keep a 15 month old still enough to put drops in a ear and then keep them still, on their side while the drops settle in? This sounds like Mission Impossible to me and I didn’t even attempt it tonight because I was flying solo here and she wasn’t fussing too much. I’ll keep you posted on that one.

I was feeling pretty bummed about returning to the Doc again today but my spirit was lifted when I saw one of my closest friends there with her 18 month old triplets. We used to be at the same campus but now Dave and Kyra are directing at UC Davis.  We don’t get to see each other nearly as much as we would like so when we do it is a JOY! ***Side note and shameless promo for Kyra, she just started her own adventure in blogging at Chatterbox Corner Check it out, they also have some fun stories from their household of multiples.*** We ended up having an impromptu lunch at out place and it was just what I needed. Some good girl time with my friend. We get each other with having similar lives of ministry and multiples. In the midst of feeding 6 kids and ourselves and Michael Jackson blaring in the background we actually had a decent amount of quality conversation. Here are some fun pics of everyone hanging out in the Little Mister’s room.

All 6 Kiddos. Miss P is hiding behind her brother.

Umm Mr. C are you feeling outnumbered by the girls or what?

OMG! Miss K is actually smiling! Had to get a pic of this because it rarely happens these days! Just kidding K, we know you’re sick:(

The Little Mister leading the dance party.

Miss E watching The Little Mister dance. She’s not too sure about those moves.

Thank you Goffeneys for making our day!

Ears

Published by Aubrey

We are recovering from our third round of back to back to back ear infections. I say WE but it’s really just been the girls. They’ve been the ones sick, but WE,as a family have been the ones dealing with it. The lucky Little Mister has escaped with only one ear infection and is now doing fine. There have been multiple trips to the doc,  shots, poking and probing and anitbiotics galore but as of right now I think we have turned the corner! If you think of if it can you please pray for a healthy Barela Family. We would appreciate it. Hope to be back soon with continued good health and something more fun to talk about!

Sweet Miss K…

Published by Aubrey

Last night was a doozy of a night. We had students over till after 10, the Little Mister was still awake at this time and once everyone left Bri still needed to pack for his trip this week. Then the girls decided they wanted to wake up and join the party! At one point all 3 were screaming in their beds. It was quite the symphony of cries. About 12:30 AM I went into the girls room for like the third time and held Miss K. I held her tight and rocked her so she could see my face. Sometimes I would look up to see what Miss T was doing and each time I looked away Miss K would reach her little hand up and turn my face back to hers so we were looking eye to eye. I was so tired, and the patience was long gone at this point but when she started doing this it just melted my heart. She wanted to fall asleep looking into her Mama’s eyes. Awww, so precious. Thanks Miss K for this sweet memory.

Black and White

Published by Aubrey

Why must I learn lessons again and again, over and over? Am I that stubborn? Do I have short term memory loss? Am I hoping that reality will change? Well maybe a little bit of all of those. Once again I am learning what my true priorities are and what a difference it makes when those priorites are in place. Also, I’m relearning that I don’t “deserve” anything, although my attitude is often with that mentality. i.e. I deserve an easy day, I deserve a break, I deserve a thank you and a well done. Yes all those things would be nice but I don’t deserve it.

I’m thinking all these things tonight because of the extreme opposites of our last 2 nights as a family. It is black and white. Last night I was full of ME ME ME attitude: anger, impatience, hopelessness and frustration. Some of that is understood after listening to crying (screaming) for 95% of the day, which has been going on for the last 2 weeks. But it just wasn’t about last night and the kids driving me bonkers. I was consumed by all that I wasn’t getting and all the negatives I was getting. I crashed and burned hard. Tonight was very different. The day was still trying with 3 sick kids but my heart was in a better place. I put the kids first, rather than complaining in my mind (or aloud) about what I wasn’t getting done or all that I was doing but didn’t want to be doing . In the midst of Miss T’s crying tonight, and The Little Mister banging on his drum to blaring music in his room, Brian and I had an enjoyable dinner. We had fun as a family and we just went with the night, wherever it took us. I ended the evening with peace instead of tears of frustration.

I am so thankful that God doesn’t get frustrated with me for the lessons He continues to show me over and over again. I’m reminded of His grace and unconditional love for me. He doesn’t tire, complain or give up. He’s always there to graciously show me again His love. Oh, if I could only grasp this just a little, what a difference it would make.