Kindergarten Field Trip

I had the opportunity to be one of the chaperones at the Kindergarten field trip to the Great Country Farms for the day and Ethan was super excited.  Thankfully this year they hired charter buses instead of using the school buses so we were able to get back much earlier and avoided the crazy traffic.  Other than getting "bus" sick on the way there and back (thanks to the heavy footed driver), we had a lot of fun!

 

 

Mining for gems - Ethan's favorite

 Bouncing pillow

 

  Tractor ride

Planting sunflower seeds

 p.s.  Big thanks to my hubby for taking the day off so I can go with Ethan!

On Being a Mamma

This is motherhood and getting to see & experience the fruit of my labor:

• After reminding Gavin for the emteenth times, the concept of please and thank yous FINALLY clicks and he says it on his own.
• Asking Gavin to knock on the door if he needed something instead of the usual "huffing and puffing and I'll blow the door down" and he complied.
• Having an entire pleasant week together without major tantrums and meltdowns.  I think we might be over the twos *crossing my fingers*

Sacred Marriage Conference

During year one of our marriage, I had picked up a book called "Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thomas because I was so intrigued by the concept of: what if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy.  I immediately applied what I've learned and got us on the right path early on in our marriage.  Fast forward almost 11 years later (while at BSF one Wednesday morning), I happened to see a flyer that Gary was coming into town for a Sacred Marriage conference and I just knew we had to go!  I've always wanted to go to a marriage conference, but for one reason or another, it had just never worked out until now.  So I got the book out to reread it, lined up the sitters and waited in excited anticipation for the day to come.

And let me tell you, the whole weekend was WONDERFUL!  Not only did God blessed us through the conference itself, but He also refreshed, renewed and reconnected our souls & our marriage in ways I haven't felt in a long time.  With a sitter already coming to the house, we decided to do a dinner date before the conference and then go out for drinks afterwards to talk about what we've learned.  The next day, we dropped the boys off at a friend's house and were able to come home between the sessions for a lunch date in a quiet house which rarely ever happens.

Anyway, my takeaway from the conference were:

• just because marriage (and especially parenthood) isn't easy, doesn't mean anything is wrong with it
• looking at God's relationship with the Israelites of great joy & celebration, seasons of frustration & anger, infidelity & apostasy and seasons of silence help us to appreciate ALL seasons of marriage -> especially during the season with small children
• need to persevere and work on building and rebuilding it to fit with where you're at now
• also remember to enjoy our children -> they are our eternal inheritance

• becoming a God-centered spouse vs. Spouse-centered spouse
• not responding to the way your spouse treats you
• but instead look unto the Lord and then respond how He would
• How do I love my spouse today like how he/she has never been loved?

All in all, we came away feeling super encouraged and ready to apply these things we've learned in order to be better at loving and serving each other.  I'm excited to find new and creative ways we can connect with each other more instead of being stuck in this survival mode.  I also picked up Gary's new book "A Lifelong Love" which gave some ideas on how to do that through season of small children and also through the empty nest years which won't be for a while.  I'll let you know what I think when I'm done reading it.

p.s. I highly recommend Sacred Parenting also by Gary Thomas.  It completely changed my whole perspective as parents! 

Social Media

A few reasons why I struggle with social media and why I haven't joined them yet:

#1. I see Instagram pictures and captions of people having a grand ol' time on their vacation.
Reality: Once they get home and I actually talked to them face to face about their vacation, they said it was "Ah, it was so so.  Not exactly all that great."

#2. Posting of said vacation and details of where they're at =
Reality: "We're not home so come rob us."

#3. People posting all their happenings on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. (without actually sharing in person) and then expecting other people to be concerned and asked about it.
Reality: Really?!  How about real life interactions since I'm not even on there.

#4. Looking over and seeing a group of family sitting at the restaurants all looking down...at their phones.
Reality: You might as well eat at home - alone.

On a happier note, Ethan told his teacher, Ms. Plaza that he doesn't have an iPAD at home and she responded, "That doesn't surprise me."

Noteworthy

Book Honor #7

"Ethan is still doing a great job being an awesome student at CES!  We are so proud of him and happy to have him in our class." - Ms. Plaza & Ms. Shankle

Here's a video of him.

"Twittering" on Blog

Gavin has a fever of 105 and looking super lethargic.  Praying that his fever comes down soon!

Great is Thy Faithfulness

It's hard to believe we've been in our new house for a year now and all the work/repairs we've done.  As I looked back on the craziness of the break in, the deep cleaning and the moving in, I'm so glad that I wrote it all down so I could remember God's faithfulness to our family every step of the way.       

Word Gifts & YES Day

I recently went to MOPS and had a speaker talked about "Word Gift."  Word Gift are obviously a gift through your words that include:

-general comments
-observations
-thank yous
-spoken & written
-the intentional gift

and can be given on a daily basis but also on birthday and special occasions. As a wife and mother, we have the ability to give life or take away life (through our words) like no one else could.  What a concept I've never heard of before and as I examined my own life, I feel like I've failed big time.  How often do I carelessly spew words out at my children because of my emotions and how I've unintentionally hurt them in the process. 

One night while putting Ethan to bed, I laughed at something he did and he looked at me surprised.
I asked him, "What does mommy not laugh very often?" 
and he said "No."
I asked him, "What am I usually then?"
He responded "Cranky."

Ouch!  He spoke the truth and that one really hurts.  I went to bed that night thinking that when I died, all my kids are going to remember about me is that I'm cranky.  And that is what's going to be on my obituary.  How awful is that!  Yes, it has been hard being the main disciplinary person in this house since Brian has been working a lot.  And that is also something I've always struggle with since becoming a mom: discipline vs love because I usually tend to lean more on the discipline side of it.  Not only do I need to find balance, but my words and my attitudes towards my children are going to have to change because I truly have the gift to give life or take away life.  And of course I want them to see more smiles and more joy coming from me.

-------------------------------------------
 

To celebrate family time and showing more love towards our kids, I've decided to have a YES Day experiment.  The rule: Whatever the kids asked for, the answer is going to be Yes (within reason).   

-So the day started off with going to Ethan's book fair.  He bought one book with his own money and asked if I could buy him one book.  The answer: Yes. 

-Then we headed to a new park to play.  The answer: Yes.  

-Next they asked if we could go to McDonald's for lunch?  Eww, yuck I hate McDonald's!  The answer: Well, how about we go eat somewhere else that's healthier?  Or if you really want it, we can swing by to get cheeseburgers and then eat at home.  But they wanted to eat there AND play there.  The answer: No, we just came from the park.  Then Ethan's said, "Mommy, why are you saying no if it's a yes day?"  Good point.  New answer: Yes (with hesitation).  So to McDonald's we went - to eat AND play.  Brian scarfed down some yucky fish sandwich because he was starving and I held out until I got home.  I turned to Brian on the way home and said, "I'm not sure about this Yes Day thing because essentially I just subjected myself to doing on a weekend what Gavin and I usually do on a weekday anyway." (Well minus the McDonald's thing).

-After dinner, we headed to Sweet Frog from some FroYo surprise and were they super happy.  Afterwards, Ethan said, "This is the best day ever!" and how so very loved they both felt!

Side note: Unfortunately, I do have the tendency to say "No" to them before saying "Yes" partly because I don't want them to be spoiled.  But I guess I could lighten up a bit.

"Twittering" on Blog

After four very long and grueling months, Brian finally got his big project out.  *Big sigh*  Then he took off from work for a four day weekend.  It was much needed for everyone!  Now he goes from being "super busy" to "busy" and we'll take it!

Spring Break Fun

Honestly, I was not looking forward to Spring Break this past week because of more time off from school (on top of all the snow days/delays we've already had).  But it turned out to be a great week with the boys after all.

Monday: Monkey Joes with friends

Tuesday: the gym, grocery and then $1.31/scoop at Baskin Robins for a pre lunch treat.  The best surprise of all came that evening when the boys found out that we were going to the airport to pick up Nana.

 Wednesday: park near our house

Thursday: lunch with Daddy at his office and then Clemyjontri Park

Friday: the gym and good Friday service

Saturday: a lazy morning in our pajamas followed by an Easter egg hunt at Gavin's new preschool in the afternoon

Sunday: Easter at church, followed by surprise Easter baskets and dinner with Ryan at Sweet Water

Monday (teacher's workday): met Whitney and Laney at Frying Pan Farm