All Over the Place

All the random things I can learn in one week:

Making double batches of cut-out sugar cookies twice in one month is definitely something I won't be doing again anytime soon. This picture represents an entire afternoon of working side-by-side with Aaron in the kitchen. His delight makes it all worth it. :) Pictured here is the airplane sugar cookie, since the tulip and cactus cookies look more like a devil with horns and a pitchfork. I'm not kidding! :)

Visiting my chiropractor on Monday morning was SUCH a good idea. I've been headache-free all week! I've decided that if I keep waking up with headaches, it's time to see my chiropractor and he makes those headaches go away. Once a month is about right.

Nothing makes me laugh like hearing Kaleb read the poem "Peter Piper." I wish you could hear him.

If my children leave their new Star Wars books at the church, I will swallow my pride and ask every staff member if they've seen our heathen books. :) How happy I was when I received the call that "the lost have been found." :)

Keeping up with my Tuesday morning Bible Study group is a non-negotiable in my life. This semester we're studying Beth Moore's series entitled, "Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman." I HIGHLY recommend this study. This week we're learning all about fear, and what to do with it.

To get the benefit of my .50 coupon, Kaleb needs to be okay with the fact that his only choices for toothpaste are Disney's princesses or fairies. And the toothpaste comes out pink, not blue. Thankfully he's beyond the fit-throwing stage. At least over toothpaste. :)

Never put Kaleb's poetry binder on top of the van. In my efforts to keep it out of Ginger's reach one evening, it ended up being permanently out of our reach. Lost along the road somewhere, never to be seen again. I'm so thankful for a teacher who is willing to print off new copies of all 60+ poems, and for Walmart where I can buy a new binder. :)

Kaleb's decided his new name is "Rock." He told his teacher and his friends to call him that on Wednesday. What's wrong with the name Kaleb?

Aaron never finishes his ice cream from Sonic. I always put it in the freezer and end up throwing it away 6 months later. This week instead of putting it in the freezer, I ate his leftovers. Wouldn't you know it, he asked for it the next day. I had to 'fess up. If you see me at Sonic later today, you will know why. :)

Finally, in my quest to become a better parent, I'm reading a book I stumbled upon last fall. It's called, "Preparing Him for the Other Woman: a mother's guide to raising her son to love a wife and lead a family." So many times I've been told by well-meaning people that as a mom of boys, I need to stand back and let them break away from me. They need to learn how to be a man from their dad. I've always hated that. Do I give birth to them and nurture them as babies, only to have to "give them up" just when things become fun? NO!!! I'm learning that while Derek can teach them how to be men, it's my job to teach them how a girl, and someday a wife, needs to be treated. This book is amazing--equipping me with tools to do just that. This week's lesson? Teaching him the art of affirmation. "The way I talk to my son will have a serious effect on the way he communicates with others--including his own wife someday." My role as their mom is NOT to sit back and watch. I see myself side-by-side with Derek on the front lines of parenting, all thanks to this book!

And that is my week...Happy Friday!!! :)

Eating Out

All day I've been thinking of things to write about. Then tonight happened.

I remember the moment when I could no longer feed my son parts of my meal at a restaurant. He needed his own kids meal. There went our bill--up. Then our second son needed a kids meal; then our third. Our bill went up and up again. Tonight I realized something else. Kids meals don't provide enough food for our growing boys anymore. At least our two older sons. They ordered off the adult menu. There went our bill again--skyrocketing up. 4 adult meals and one kids meal, and just like that--we're in a new phase. I imagine someday soon I'll be writing about each of my boys ordering two adult meals. Hopefully by then they'll have jobs to pay for their extra calories. :)

We toured our newspaper office with the Cub Scouts tonight, during suppertime, which is why we treated ourselves out for supper. The boys enjoyed watching the printing presses. It was pretty neat. Lots of activity and lots of paper and ink. I think if I didn't choose nursing as my career choice, and eventually motherhood, I would've liked to be a writer.

Back to our supper. While we ate our meal, two elderly ladies came and sat at the table beside us. Seeing our boys in uniform, they talked on and on about their boys' Cub Scouting days. One son is 68 years old now, and her "baby" son is 62. Both of her sons were Cub Scouts, and eventually Boy Scouts. She asked Braylen about each and every badge on his shirt. She asked him which one was the hardest to earn, which one was his favorite, and so on. She took such delight in my boys. I think she could probably see her sons' faces on my sons tonight. She talked of the importance of scouting. Of teaching a boy how to present himself, be respectful of others, and eventually--how to get a job. After raising her boys in a small town, where everyone knows everyone, her 68 year old son now lives in Washington, D.C. In her words, he's the head of the press department at the White House. She's enjoyed Christmas dinner at the White House for the past two years. And what does she attribute a lot of her son's successes to? Boy Scouts.

Truthfully, Cub Scouts is more irritating to me than anything else. The boys are rowdy, loud, and obnoxious. Kaleb's learned a lot about the food pyramid and recycling, but couldn't he learn that in school? Derek tells me to hang in there--it will get better as they get older. The camp outs will be so beneficial for them. The ones who are serious about scouting will remain, while the obnoxious ones will drop out. (crossing my fingers for that day) I needed to hear what this lady had to say tonight. I needed to hear that our investments with scouting will pay off some day. And maybe this lady needed to see our Cub Scout sons tonight. Her eyes sure lit up while we talked. I love to see how God intersects our lives with others. Some people might call it a coincidence, but I call it a divine appointment. :)

All those other things I was going to blog about? I guess they'll have to wait until next time!

Pluto's Announcement

If our parakeet's noise level is a reliable indicator of spring's arrival, then spring must be just around the corner. My word, is Pluto loud! Yesterday he's sweetly tweeting and chirping to himself, and this morning he's screeching his little lungs out. I couldn't stand it. Especially with a headache. So I carried his cage to his owner's bedroom--Kaleb's room--and shut the door. He's back in the living room tonight, and he's behaving himself. :) His outdoor bird friends must be asleep. Hooray for the nearness of spring, even if it means a loud parakeet!

We have new neighbors in "Jean's" house now. It's still strange for me to see them coming and going, and not Jean. They don't have any children, but they have a 4 month old lab puppy. He can be Ginger's fence friend. :) I used to think of Jean's husband, Dale, as our very own Mr. Wilson. (from Dennis the Menace) How fitting that our new neighbors named their dog--ready for this--Wilson. :)

Right now I'm right in the middle of the most peaceful 30 minutes of my week, Braylen's piano lesson. Our teacher comes to our house while Derek takes the other boys to the church for his praise team practice. I can just feel myself relax along with the quiet plinking on the piano. What a wonderful feeling. Especially since I've driven in and out of my garage 12 times today. Lots of ins and outs. Bless our piano teacher for coming to our house. It saves me from making yet another trip.

Aaron and I played "Memory" today. He beat me by one match! He calls it "Membery." A cross between memory and remember. I love it. :)

While the winter Olympics aren't as exciting for me as the summer Olympics, we've still enjoyed watching them. I can watch ice skating by myself, but my boys are all about watching snowboarding with me. Braylen's even doing a report in school on his favorite Olympian, snowboarder Shaun White. Braylen idolizes athletes of all kinds--football, basketball, snowboarding...Derek does not. He enjoys outdoor activities, but does not share Braylen's love for sports. Braylen compares his throwing stance to Brett Favre's. He's a walking encyclopedia of stats and scores. The only thing I can compare that to is if we'd had a daughter who loved to scrapbook, sew, and dance. Anyone who knows me knows I don't scrapbook or sew, and I'm definitely not a dancer. So how do father and son find any common ground when their interests are so different? They go hunting. :) Derek's already talking about turkey season opening in April. Braylen's getting excited too. Kaleb's waiting in the wings. He should be strong enough to shoot the shotgun next spring. Oh dear. Or should I say, Oh turkey. :)

I Heart Them

Three valentines for our three valentines. :)

This year I made my valentine some cookies. He loves every crumb. :) Our boys received new books, and I've been finding "coupons" from Derek all over the house. We enjoyed an evening out with 3 other couples--a simple valentine's day but a good one. It felt good to laugh with friends.

Speaking of friends, some friends of ours invited us over to play with their German Shepherd PUPPIES! It was hard to say no to bringing one home, but we stood firm in our decision that one dog is enough for our family. Sigh. Sometimes being an adult is no fun at all. Still, Ginger has stolen our hearts and will always be top dog around here.

Braylen decided to compete in the Awana Bible Quiz again this year. This time we enjoyed having Derek home to join us! He might have wished to be back in Jacksonville...hee hee. This year Braylen didn't have a teammate. :( Derek and I explained the scoring system to Braylen, making sure he knew he was at a disadvantage without a teammate. He still wanted to go, and we were so proud of him for that. I know I would've never done something like that alone! God smiled upon Braylen for his efforts, and we hope this material he learned will stay with him always. I also pray that he will remain bold in his witness for Christ.

Brothers

Aaron's become obsessed with playing Star Wars on the Wii. Obsessed. He unlocks characters, advances through levels, and collects coins which allow him to keep progressing through the game. Star Wars Wii met real life tonight. After purchasing a song through iTunes, Derek played it for Aaron.

"Daddy, you bought this song? You had enough money? Did you have to smash things for money like on Star Wars Wii?"

If only we could purchase music as easily as Aaron advances through his video game. :)

Everyday Love

"Can't get enough of this everyday love." A song by Rascal Flatts comes to mind as I think about this time of year. With the holidays far behind us and spring a ways off yet, we're left with a bunch of everyday moments.

The 100th day of school has come and gone, and the boys are busily working on their valentine boxes. Aaron cut his valentines out of his magazine all by himself, and his printing is looking very nice. We found the last box of Transformer valentines for Kaleb--whew. I almost had to make good on my threat to buy him a box of glittery princess valentines. :) Braylen and valentine's day go together like chrome and leather, according to his Harley Davidson cards. Derek and I sure enjoyed parent-teacher conferences tonight. All I'll say here is we are very proud of our school boys--in their academics AND their characters. Kaleb brings much laughter to his teacher, while Braylen keeps his teacher on her toes--in a good way. One thing we're really enjoying this quarter is "One School, One Book." Our entire school is reading "Mr. Popper's Penguins," with a reading schedule to follow at home each week. Tonight we read chapter 7, and at school tomorrow they'll discuss it with trivia, writing prompts, or other activities. Reading this book out loud and hearing the boys belly-laugh...at times I can barely finish the sentence! What fun!

Like his brothers, Aaron loves to play cars. I love to watch and listen. Little boys make the best car sounds. He hardly stays still, so this is an "action shot." :) Notice the General Lee parked there in the carpet? We really like "The Dukes of Hazzard." The original one.



Ginger's found her favorite place--by my kitchen sink. I think it's because there's a heat vent right behind her back. I can barely squeeze next to her to do my dishes. But that's okay, since she keeps my feet warm! We all got the giggles the other day. Braylen's knee bumped a musical magnetic toy stuck to the fridge, and Ginger could not figure it out! She'd investigate it, change her mind and back away, turn her head to the side, and then go right back up to it. Such easy entertainment. Such an everyday moment. :)

My mom made a child's Bible for my first baby, and gave it to me at one of my baby showers. All the boys have enjoyed it, but it's become Aaron's Bible. He never had to pass it down! One time, she told me I didn't pay much attention to it when I opened the gift at the shower. After all of her hard work. I felt horrible when she told me that! Well Mom, all those gifts I was excited about at my shower--the stroller, diaper genie, cute little outfits...none of those are in use anymore. But the Bible? Last night I found Aaron sleeping on it. Thank you for such a timeless gift. :)