Pizza Pool Party!!!!!

Will went to his first pool party!! It was on one of those almost 100 degree days that we had, so the pool temp. was around 90 degrees. Perfect for my sweet little guy. He stayed in the pool for almost an hour!
One of the best parts about living where we live is our neighbors. We have several great friends that all live within a mile of our house and we love spending time with all of them!

Christian had just found out he had swimmers ear, so he was sad that he couldn't go under the water. I kept reminding him that he should just be thankful that I even let him get in, because he wasn't supposed to be swimming at all!

So Christian was kind of bummed until Mr. Brian and Miss Angie told him the dinner plan! He got to make his own pizza. Oh my word, he thought this was the greatest thing ever!

He made a smiley face pizza. He even put tomato on it and actually ate it! He made a second pizza later in the evening. This activity was such a hit for him that we're planning on having the same thing for dinner later this week to celebrate Christian's born-again birthday!

McKenna was proud of her cheese pizza too!

Chowing down!

What a fun night of precious friends, great food and fellowship!

Brothers

Christian was so excited about having a shirt to match Will!!

These two seriously love each other! Will smiles so easily for Christian and Christian still loves hanging out with his little buddy. He has asked me several times if he and Will can share a room :)

He doesn't miss a thing....

Will's a curious little guy!

He will twist and turn himself around until he can see what's going on.

When he hears my voice he starts looking all around until he can find me (even if I'm across the room). The Christian and McKenna are so into him right now. They love to entertain him.

Today I heard Christian say; "Hey McKenna let's teach will how to play catch. You sit here and I'll sit over here and we can throw his baby ball back and forth and he can watch us."

And that's exactly what Will did...he watched that ball go back and forth.

Two Thumbs Up!

There was a lot of excitement when that last sticker #72 was put on the chart (Click HERE to read about the chart)! McKenna ran to the pantry to get our Car Mac & Cheese. We were saving it for the day we would go see Cars 2. So guess what we had for dinner?
This is supposed to be their excited faces. Whatever!

Even Will got in on the action by sporting his super cool Cars 2 t-shirt.

We cranked up a little "Life is a Highway" on the way to the theater!

So what did you guys think of the movie????

Two thumbs up!!!!

Truthfully, Christian loved it and McKenna kept asking to go to the bathroom because she was ridiculously bored and preferred to walk around and look at things. McKenna doesn't really watch movies, so as I suspected she kept asking if it was time to go home yet. Next time I've got to think of a reward that she would actually like.

What has surprised me the most is how proud they are of this chart.

For both of them this took some real thought and they had to change their behavior towards each other. Changing behavior is HARD, HARD, HARD!!! I really wish I had been more proactive about their attitudes towards each other when we first started to have problems. My excuse is that I was 8 months pregnant, but honestly if I had had a clue the bad habits they were getting into with the yelling and fighting I am certain I would have taken firmer action. Oh well...hindsight. We certainly don't have this all figured out, but we're a few steps closer.

This is called a "double hug" ....when McKenna's legs are wrapped around Christian and he's holding her up. It was "invented" by Christian and McKenna sometime during the last few weeks when we were working on our Fruit of the Spirit chart. I hope I see everyday :)

Double High-Fives All Around

We've been jumping up and down giving each other high-fives for the last few minutes!!!
We're going to see Cars 2 tonight!
You know what that means.....
we completed our fruit of the spirit chart!
WooHoo!

Christian's on the phone with daddy right now to tell him the good news!

A Big Day

It's been a big day for some of the sweetest members of our family. It's not my news to share, so you're just going to have to head on over HERE to see what's up! Grab a tissue first, I know I needed one!

I had such joy in my heart this morning as I heard the news and I couldn't help but rejoice in the faithfulness of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:9
"God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."

Wordless Wednesday!

I love my mom!!!!

She's got my big kids today!!!
Whew .... I needed a break from them.
I adore them.
But we've got a teething baby in this house that refuses to sleep
and they have no understanding of what the word "quiet" means.
So it's quiet and Will is sleeping and
I'M GETTING STUFF DONE.
Oh how I love being productive!!!

So far I folded laundry
Painted a wall in my foyer/stairwell
(this wall has needed to be painted for months. all the other walls are done, but this one required some very tricky maneuvers while perched on top a ladder to get it done. I couldn't exactly do that while pregnant or after a c-section. but IT'S DONE!!)
I touched up paint in the hallway
I ate Oreos for lunch :)
and now I'm off to tackle the playroom.
You just can't get rid of toys when your kids are around.
You know how it is...
everything becomes their absolute favorite thing on earth as soon as they see it, despite the fact they never ever play with it.

ta-ta for now!!!

P.S. Would you join me in praying for a precious little baby named Wren? I've been praying for her all morning. She was born yesterday and is having a really rough time. She's in the NICU and is having a hard time breathing and with her kidneys. She needs a special touch from Jesus right now!

Soccer Camp

Our church hosted a soccer camp this summer! Christian had a blast kicking up his soccer skills with all his church friends.

He was one of the youngest kids there, but that didn't stop him.


I think the main thing he learned or improved upon was the "fear factor." He played with kids and adults who weren't messing around and he LOVED it! He had no fear of the ball coming right at him!

Now he's all ready for soccer this fall!

McKenna loved soccer camp too! They gave her a t-shirt and she felt so big! She couldn't stop talking about how she wanted to wear pink socks and play soccer like those big girls. See how McKenna's friend Natalie has her shirt tied at her waist?? Well, McKenna has to do that now everytime she wears her soccer shirt. I tell you what, McKenna's got this whole sports/fashion thing figured out!

What a season!!!

I'm telling you what...I love t-ball!

I'm a little surprised myself, but it was such a fun season.

I just loved cheering on my boy!

The Extra Innings team.

This was their last game.

One little guy cried his eyes out because he didn't want it to be over.

I was right there with him, okay ... not really crying, but it was sad.

McKenna thought t-ball was pretty great. Her favorite parts were when Christian was up to bat and when the game was over and she could run in the dirt.

Will was such a good sport about it all. He just hung out in his carseat.

Christian was serious about the game and we all could see great improvement in his skills as the season progressed.

We were thankful for so many great coaches and dads who made the season a success.

Oh how proud he was to get his trophy at the end of the season.

He just couldn't get over the fact that it was gold. He tells everyone that he has a gold trophy!

Way to go team!!!

Almost there

It started just after Christmas. The arguing. Fighting over toys. Tattling. Some call it sibling rivalry. God calls it sin.

Christian & McKenna are hard these days. Like really hard. Christian picks, McKenna screams. The other day Christian ran over McKenna with his bike on purpose. He even told me he did it on purpose. McKenna bit Will's hand the other day. Really?? You have got to be kidding. She bit the baby. Lord help me! Not fun!

Whenever I talk to other moms about the lack of peace in our home I would usually hear things like "Oh my kids hate each other too" or "Yeah that's what our house is like all the time too." It's like everyone has just resigned themselves to the fact that kids act like that and it's no big deal.

Well, it is a big deal. A really big deal. It's just a hard daily battle to fight. God gave my kids each other so that they would learn how to get along with other people. So they would learn to be compassionate and so that would learn how to handle their disappointment when they don't get what they want. So I wanted to (and want to continue to) work on this area of their lives with them.

I'd love to hear how you settle sibling disputes in your house. I need some creative ideas. I know it's going to be a long road and an issue that we will continually be tackling.

I did come up with a decent idea a few weeks ago that seems to be working for the time being. We created the chart you see above. It has 72 spots on it for stickers and the only way you get a sticker is by demonstrating the Fruit of the Spirit to your brother/sister. They don't get stickers for doing chores or for obedience. They only get a sticker if they show kindness and love to each other on their own. No reminders or prodding from me. When the chart is full I'm taking them to see Cars 2. Most of their friends have already seen it and it's killing them to hear that other kids have already gotten to watch it and they haven't. I thought Christian was going to keel over and pass out when he saw just how many stickers he was going to have to get on that chart.

But you know what???

I've seen them hug each other quite frequently.

And Christian now automatically opens the car door for McKenna to get in on her side.

And McKenna is constantly picking up Christian's shoes and putting them in his shoe bucket.

They just needed some positive reinforcement.

Things aren't perfect, but things are better.

We've talked A LOT about serving one another and we've been using the word "honor" and yeah, I'm bribing them to do it right now, but I am praying that in the process they'll form some habits and realize that it does bring them JOY to show kindness and compassion to one another.

Over the last few days there has been a lot of excitement and over and over I've heard "we're almost there."

The chart is almost full and we will be going to see CARS 2.

What they don't know is that another chart with 72 more empty spaces will be making it's appearance rather soon :)

Jesus would be proud

Christian has a BFF named Carter!
He lives a mile down the road.
He goes to our church
and next year they'll be riding the bus together!!

I've heard them have silly conversations about how annoyed they get with their sisters
and I've heard them talk about having Jesus in their hearts.
Earlier this week I heard them lamenting about how they wished they were brothers.

We can have Carter come over to our house for five hours and I might get to actually see him for five minutes. They just go off and play and completely entertain themselves!
Priceless I tell you!!!

Today Christian went swimming with Carter and he got one of his headaches.
By the time he got home it was BAD.
Poor guy was throwing up and miserable.

When he was finally feeling better around bedtime Christian said,
"I think Jesus is proud of Carter."
I asked him why he thought that and Christian said,
"Because when I was feeling sick and thought I was going to throw up in his car (I know, I know aren't you so glad he wasn't in your car!) Carter told me that he wished he was me. And I think he said that because he wanted to be sick so I wouldn't have to be."

Wow!
Christian got that one right for sure!
Jesus would be proud.

A Quick Update!

Why on earth is summertime so busy??
I mean seriously!
I feel like I'm running from one thing to the next.
We've had a lot of over night guest lately.
Ryan's college buddies this past weekend.
Some ladies from Europe this week.
Then there's the never ending swim lessons.
Coupon classes.
Play dates.
Oh and we have a baby around here.
And a boy who all the sudden want to be a golfer and I have to watch his every swing.
And a girl who changes her clothes 10x's a day, thus making lots of laundry.

All good things (well, except the laundry), just a lot.
I'll get caught up with blogging one of these days.
I know you all are just dying to see Christian's t-ball trophy that he got back in June.
Seriously with topics like "t-ball trophies" and "swim lessons" and the ever creative titles like "A Quick Update" I wonder why anyone even reads this blog other than my mom! (Hi Mom!!)

I'll leave you with this shocking stat about one of my favorite people:
I went shopping tonight to buy Will some 12 MONTH summer clothes. 12 MONTHS people!! He's only 4 months old!! Sheesh!

The end!

The Swing

My parents had this amazing swing at their old house (my childhood home). My brother made it for them as a gift and it was hands-down one of the highlights of our visits to their house. Do you see how long that rope is?? You pretty much felt like you were flying. And if you asked Christian what he misses the most about PopPop and Grandmom's old house, he would tell you "the swing."

The week of Christian's birthday we were at VBS one evening and when we came home PopPop was just getting ready to leave our house. I asked him what he had been doing and he said "working on the swing." Christian was puzzled and ran over to the swing set to see what it was PopPop had been fixing, but he couldn't find anything. Then PopPop pointed to a tree over on the other side of the yard. Christian went running and there he found a new red (his favorite color) swing! He loves that swing, especially when someone pushes him so he can go really high. And I love that swing too. It's a little piece of home.

It wasn't all bad....

Actually, yesterday was pretty great despite the speeding ticket! Will had his 4 month check up and it was all good news! He weighs 17lbs 15oz and is in 92% for everything! He can start eating solids anytime now, but I think we're going to hold off for a couple more weeks. He's got a tiny hemangioma birth mark, but it's nothing to be concerned about. His eczema is under control thanks to some great Aveeno products. We are blessed to have a healthy precious boy!

Christian had a big appointment yesterday with a Pediatric Opthamologist. I was pretty worried going into this visit. He has been having really bad migraines multiple times a week since last fall. I just hate it for him. And he also has some other quirky habits that have given me pause over the last several years (like he watches TV out of the corner of his eye instead of looking straight at it). I just recently became aware of the fact that some kids can have perfect vision but they can have eye development issues that cause their two eyes to not work as a team. Long story short...I was worried. We made it to the eye doctor appointment a half an hour late but they were so sweet about it since I had called them and told them about all the drama it took me to get there. Within the first 10 minutes they ruled out any major vision problems and 3o minutes later the doctor assured me that Christian's vision was perfect, he did not have any eye development issues and that they didn't need to see him again!

I'm definitely giving all the praise to the Lord for such a great check-up for Christian! I am so, so thankful that we don't have anything to be worried about with his eyes! God is good! We still need to figure out what is going on with his headaches, although both his pediatrician and the opthamologist said that sometimes heachaches can just be hereditary and unfortunately Ryan gets really bad headaches. ((sigh))

So that's the full story! Sure the speeding ticket was super annoying, but I'll take that any day as long as my sweet boys are healthy! We are so blessed and thankful!

Psalm 40:4
"Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust..."

A few lessons learned today:

1. Crying to get out of a speeding ticket only works when you're in your 20's, skinny and blonde. It doesn't turn out nearly as well with you're a 33 year old mom with carseats in the back seat. You'll just get a lecure about how you should be more careful when your kids are in the car. Got it! Lesson learned.

2. If there's an accident and the highway is shut down and you sit at a stand still for 35 minutes straight and your baby is screaming and you're going to be impossibly late for an appointment with a specialist that will take months to reschedule, just call them. They might be nice and tell you it's not a big deal that you're going to completely miss your appointment time. Just don't speed (see lesson #1).

3. When your six year old comments about how you're driving as fast as Lightning McQueen, take a hint (see lesson #1 &#2).

4. The fine (+ the extra $100 worth of fees) isn't nearly as bad as the points. Oh dear!

This is huge

Huge people. I mean really, really huge!!!!!

I've spent the last month hearing McKenna say "Don't let go of me" over and over again. She's been in the pool with my dad, my mom and me and she's been tense and nervous the entire time. On Wednesday I let go of her for a minute and she didn't even notice because her puddle jumper life jacket does such a good job of keeping her afloat. So I decided to point out to her the fact that no one was holding her. She hyperventilated for a minute, then started to giggle and now all I hear is "Don't hold me. Let go of me."

I'm smiling! This makes me very, very happy. And now I'm down to just one kid that needs to be held in the pool!

Eat More Chikin

Can you tell that I told them to say "moo."
We headed to good old Chick-fil-a today for their customer appreciation day!
If you dressed like a cow, you got a free meal.

We met the rest of our herd there.

And "yes" even the mommies wanted their free meal, so we dressed up too. I'm so thankful I've got at least one crazy friend willing to do this with me year after year!

Oh gracious. Don"t even ask!!

A magical night

This little girl loves her Grandmom and PopPop's pool! It's so cute to see her take off across the yard as she heads to the pool!

My parents always manage to pick the most beautiful places to live. My childhood home was a priceless haven in which to grow up and my parent's current home has the most majestic mountain views. There's nothing like swimming in their pool at dusk watching the sun set behind the mountains.

Pictures don't even remotely do it justice.

Even the kids stopped their splashing long enough to notice how beautiful the sky was on this particular night.

Sidenote that has nothing to do with this post:

Nate is sooooo precious. When he came to visit this last time he brought his old baby blanket with him. He wanted to give it to Will. And Will seems to like it...he's chewing on it right now.

McKenna sticks close to her PopPop when she's in the pool.

These two crazy guys love to pose for pictures!

Will and Grandmom watched all the wildness from the safety of the deck.