Life

I had to ask a complete stranger if the Transformer lunch box I was holding had the Auto bots or the Deceptecon's (no, I don't know how to spell it)emblem on the front of it...rest assured, I picked the good guys!

I have taught O to point to his "crazy eye". He points to it and says "My crazy eye no sees good"...he then shows me his good eye and tells me that it "sees great". Yes, I'm a terrible mother that has her son calling his eye crazy. I'm certain his therapy bills will be extensive when he's older.

I was CONVINCED the other day that O had taken up cursing. I was close to grounding grandma from seeing the boy! He was telling me: "I itch it"....it sounded JUST like "I SH**"! I kept making him say it over and over until I figured it out!

M told S the other day: "You scared the DAYLIGHTS and the NIGHTLIGHTS" out of me! I loved it!

S was mistaken for a 10 year old the other day! Someone driving by (that we knew), thought that we had a friend over playing. He's getting so big!

I am shocked and dismayed at how quickly the summer has gone by. I have caved and bought a few school supplies with each pay. I was sickened to see them out the first week of July and swore I wouldn't buy ANY until mid or late August - but the deals have been to good to pass up - Transformers backpack & lunch box - $14!! Crayons - Crayola even for $0.19, notebooks for a nickel...can't beat those prices!

S would not stop whining about his undies not fitting. After tossing him countless pairs and NONE of them fitting right, he put back on his other pair. I went to the dryer to find him a new pair - yes, I had to go to the dryer to find a clean pair. I threw him a pair and he gave me the pair to check...sure enough, they would have been to big - they were a pair of his daddy's undies! How that happened, I'll never know!

I actually picked up and WORE clothes off of my bedroom floor today. Yes, I wore clothes off of my floor. I can't remember the last time I did that - college maybe?!?!

Things My Children DID NOT DO:

This week, my children DID NOT do the following:

Stay up past 10 for a week straight - even though it was VBS week and we were at the church late each night. We always go to bed early.

O certainly did NOT strip down to his BARE BOTTOM in the church during a dinner. My children are always fully clothed and on their best behavior.

O also did not bite our friends son this weekend! Our children are perfectly behaved and non violent.

S certainly didn't pick a CD player instead of a $50 gift card when his name was chosen in a drawing...after all, he already has an MP3 player and knows that $50 would be a great thing!

Just a few fun tidbits from our week!

Sweet Boy

We had VBS at church this week. It's always a fun time, but it's a crazy busy week! The kids are up late each night and up and going early the next morning. Clothes go unwashed, toys remain on the floor and dinner may or may not consist of cereal or fast food!

This year, our sweet S, decided that he wanted to ask Christ into his heart. Matt and I have been very cautious in this area with our children. Our desire is for them to make a genuine and well thought out decision to follow Christ. We want nothing more for our sons than to have them love and serve the Lord with their whole being. I pray daily that they will grow to become great men of God.

We've been cautious in our approach and have carefully worded our conversations with him. We don't want our children to make the decision based on fear or guilt like many of us and people we know and have encountered have. We want the decision to be theirs, true and heart felt. One that results from their desire to become like Christ and serve Him, because of what He has done for us.

That being said...one night, S went forward during his lesson and stated that he would like to accept Christ as his savior. A friend of our led him through and she later told Matt and I that he seemed to understand everything that was said and answered all the questions. We didn't press the issue and S didn't say anything about it.

The next night, S went forward again and said that he wanted to be saved. Another dear friend of ours led him and fielded questions from other children who also had come forward to get saved. Our "worry wart" was ultra concerned about "going to hell where there is fire and it's really bad". Matt assured him that he would not go there if he was one of God's children and quickly asked him what made him go forward again to be saved.

His answer, in typical S fashion, did not surprise me. The poor boy is such a worrier. He over analyzes everything - just like his mamma. He told Matt that he knew that Jesus said "yes", the first time he went forward and asked him into his heart. He said he went forward to ask again, because he was worried Jesus might say "no" if he asked again. He just wanted to be sure. Daddy talked with him about it a bit and that was the end of the conversation.

Today, during the service, they were talking about the children that accepted Christ during the week. S, leaned over to his grandma and said: "I was one of those kids who got saved this week". I was THRILLED to hear that he shared that with someone. I hope and pray that S continues in his walk with the Lord and grows to be a man of God!

We then did a drawing for several prizes - one of which was a $50 gift card to Toys R Us. One girls name was drawn and she chose the FM radio - why we were giving away a radio is beyond me....anyway... Sam's name was drawn next. I was CERTAIN he'd pick the gift card....WRONG!!! He not only didn't choose the gift card, he choose the CD player - despite the fact that he received an MP3 player last week for his birthday! Although I was shocked, I wasn't totally dismayed. The fact of $50 more dollars worth the toys in our house made me quite unhappy. I was also certain that I would NEVER get away with using the money for backpacks and school supplies.

Once he had realized what he had chosen, he wanted to trade. I assured him that noone would trade and that his prize was a good one. We told him to be grateful for what he won or that we'd give it to a child who would be grateful. The entire evening he played CDS and listened to music!

Similar

The man behind the magazine is my husband. He was tired of me snapping photos of him like I was the paparazzi, and he was Brad Pitt...or George Clooney, or perhaps....

Matt and I have many similarites. The most obvious being how much we look alike. We could quite easily, be mistaken for brother and sister - more so than my own brother and I. We both have dark curly hair and big eyes. We both have a cleft in our chin - mine has since disappeared under the double and triple chin I now have! Our baby and toddler pictures often look similar - and NO we are not related, we are certain of that - although both of us have a native american background. Thankfully, we are from different tribes, in fact, I think our family tribes didn't get along!

Our parents both have the same anniversary. No lie. We tried to get married on that day, but would have had to wait several MORE years to get married and we were certainly NOT doing that! His parents have been married longer than mine - almost 37 years and my parents almost 31! It's a good act to follow!

What also strikes me as odd, is our parents addresses. I know it sounds dumb, but my parents address is 22111...his parents is 11177. Oddly similar and easy to memorize!

My sister in law and I both have moms named Nancy and the same family last name...her maiden name was my grandmother's maiden name. Again, no relation, just a SUPER common last name!

Just a few interesting, yet odd facts!

I have a SEVEN year old!

Today, I have a seven year old. How did I get a seven year old....when did seven years go by? Where was I at?? Was I here? Did I get abducted by aliens when I wasn't paying attention?!?!

I swear - well, I don't swear, but I promise, it feels like only yesterday that I was writhing in pain, begging for someone to just "cut this thing out of me". It seems like only a moment ago, I was holding my sweet newborn in my arms and mumbling sweet nothings and some sort of drug induced nonsense. Those 42 hours of "labor and delivery" were quickly forgotten...well, maybe not forgotten, but overshadowed, when I held my 8lb 15ounce - 15 inch head and chested, moose. He looked rough - but not worse than I!

He rolled over in the hospital - the doctors and nurses assured me this was a new born reflex action...I wasn't convinced - which was a good thing. He continued to roll over from birth. Within our first week home, he was pushing up on his arms and lifting his head high to look around. He was nosey then and he's nosey now! Grandma chose to refer to it as inquisitive!

The boy fought sleep like no other - he still can fight sleep, but when he's out, he's out! He was a champ of a sleeper at night. He slept through the night before he was 10 days old! He kept up that trend, sleeping 12 hours at a time before he was 3 weeks old. He slept with his hands "folded" in prayer all the time. He loved to keep one are straight up in the air too..he used to make us laugh!

He didn't smile until late and babbled even later. He sat up by 3.5 months, crawled by 6 and walked at a year. He excelled in anything that involved motor skills. He was slow to speak, but when he did, he spoke in sentences. He did the same thing when he learned to walk. He wouldn't let you help him at all...no walking with fingers, no push toys - he literally stood and walked across the room one day and never looked back.

He made a great "monster face" that would crack up a room full of adults!

He is still our "inquisitive" boy. I can't tell you how many times he's reminded to "mind your business". He now tells me, "I know...mind my business". He's a bright boy whose inquisitive nature has paid off in many ways.

We now see that he struggles with anxiety like his momma and has a touch of what the "professionals" feel is OCD - like mother like son. We also know that this age is a prime age for lots of anxiety and worry so we help him work through it and keep an eye on him!

He finished first grade at the top of his class and continues to excel. He often surprises me with the things he knows...and the things he comes up with! He has an extensive vocabulary, but can still be overheard saying things like: "floorhead" instead of forehead...and I just don't have the heart to correct him!

He struggles with anger, but will protect his brothers. He loves his cat George and his cousins. He is a great friend and has many of them! He loves football, soccer, racing...anything "manly". The boy can pray like nobodies business! His prayers are so heartfelt and genuine. He makes me proud and often makes me want to applaud at the end of his prayers - but I know that isn't quite an appropriate response, so I muster a hearty amen and smile at my boy.

He LOVES music. Any type of music. His latest craze is Toby Mac. We are particular about what we allow him to watch and listen to, and Mr. Mac, seems to be right up his "rocker/rapper", alley - I like it too!

There isn't much in the form of music that he doesn't like and you can often see him, in the rear view mirror, jamming on his air guitar and singing his little heart out. He feels the music and has since he was a little boy. He's had rhythm like you wouldn't believe since he was a toddler! In fact, as I type this blog, he is sitting on the couch across from me, belting out some Chris Tomlin - thank you Aunt Sissy for the new MP3 player!!

He was my much prayed for baby. We begged God for a child, a son in fact. He heard and answered our prayers - which is why his name is Samuel - meaning "God has heard". I look at him and often have a difficult time fathoming just where the time went. I feel like I blinked and he was potty trained, I blinked again and he started school, I'm afraid to blink again for fear that he'll be leaving for college and getting married and then...oh my, bringing over grandchildren for me to babysit!! Thankfully, I'm getting a bit a head of myself, but in reality that time will be here before I know it!

He is my baby, my first born. Matt and I had so many fears and concerns. We weren't sure what we were doing. It was an odd feeling - leaving for the hospital with just the two of us and coming home, FIVE days later, with another life. A human being. They let us leave the hospital with a HUMAN!! It seemed so odd and foreign.

Matt walked him around the house that day, showing him all the rooms and telling him about our house. He was/is such a hands on daddy. He fed and changed our sweet boy and encouraged me on days when I felt like a horrid mommy. He still does all these things!

Sweet S...oh that boy. He makes me proud and frustrates me, often in the same two minute time period. He is passionate and kind. He loves to have company and play with friends. He's my first born son. I asked God for him and He answered me...far beyond what I could have asked...or even dreamt of!

Not Me Monday

This week, I did not -

*Drive with the window open, with my head sticking out, in order to let my hair dry some on the way to church. I am not a dog, and I certainly am always ready in plenty of time to leave for service.

*Allow our child to swim in the kiddie pool that we thought he only "peed" in, to discover several "floating objects", that looked quite a bit like what we had for dinner the night before. I am always sanitary and vigilent with my children.

*Not do laudry for three days. I stay on top of things around here. We always have clean clothes waiting for us in our drawers.

*Get halfway to a photo shoot on Friday, only to have the mother have to cancle due to a car breakdown...when this didn't happen, I did not stop briefly, to attempt to come up with something else to do while my inlaws had the kiddies. I always want to rush right home to see my little ones!

*Have the police department show up at my house when a friend set off a "firework", that sounded like a crater should have resulted by the blast! We would never allow anyone to do that at my house! We are responsile and law abiding citizens.

*Sit for ten minutes trying to "transform" a Transformer, only to give up and say: "Your going to have to ask your Uncle Joe later today to figure this one out...he's good at playing with toys". I never give up and pass these type of responsibilities to innocent relatives...even if they really do like to play with toys!