Monday, March 28, 2011

Recap

Not a lot of out of the ordinary stuff going on around here, I managed to update our Project 365 album. Humor me by glancing through it.

In other news, Sam is almost a walker. He's getting very brave taking several steps on his own in succession and has begun to master pausing to regain his balance. It's funny that I thought he would walk sooo much sooner than Jack because he seemed so interested in cruising at what seemed like a much earlier age than I recall Jack doing so. Anyway, looks like he's right on track to meet his brother's 14-month-milestone as a walker too. He's got about 3 more weeks to do it! No pressure, little guy!

Here's brother giving him a hand.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Is it Enough?

I read a great article a couple of weeks ago about how we all have a "home team." For most of us our "home team" consists of our immediate family and a few close friends. The kind of folks that you know would drop everything and just come, if you needed them. Also, the kind that you know what flavor milkshake they love and possibly you've even seen them without their make-up on . Anyway, the writer talked about how she struggled with letting her "home team" get a little too big. If you are trying to be everything to too many folks, they all suffer.

The article got me thinking seriously about the commitments that I accept and the activities that I participate in. How do these things affect my ability to minister and aid my "home team?" I can honestly say that I have gotten caught up at times in the myth that I can do it all since I don't have a real job. I think that many stay-at-home moms have fallen into the trap of believing that caring for their family, raising their children, tending to their households is not enough. Maybe part of it is our own fault, too. We feel like we need something else, something outside of our homes, to validate us as successful.

For most of the families that have stay-at-home mothers, there are sacrifices involved. Many of them are financial, others involved the lack of accolades or career-paths put on hold. And, I'd wager to say that most if not all of those decisions of sacrifice were made for the sake of their family, not the sake of the PTO or this board position or that volunteer shift. Now, don't get me wrong, I feel like I am in a unique position to be involved in a lot of opportunities that other moms might not have the luxury to participate in. I definitely think I should do my share, but I also want my time to be viewed as valuable too. I also want to be confident in my decision when I have to say no to things, that it's not so I can have more time to sit around with my feet up. Instead it's so I can devote more time to my family and my responsibilities at home, which I'm still continually figuring out how to balance.

So, I'm challenging myself to look at the tasks I do each day, the duties I fulfill, that often seem mundane as a ministry to my "home team." I definitely feel like this is where God has called me to be at this season in my life. And, because of that, it is enough.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Dialogue with a 3-year-old

As you might expect, dialogue with a 3-year-old can be interested and often times highly entertaining. Here are some funny exchanges from the last few months:

When praying at night, we've been talking about not just thanking God for all the fun/good stuff (which he's been doing for a long time), but also asking for forgiveness or saying sorry for our bad choices. Often he asks for help remembering what bad choices he might have made that day. One night I reminded him about the fact that he had whined several times that day. So, he prayed: "Dear God, I'm sorry I was whining, but I just wanted some juice..."

Our curious 3-year-old has gotten very interested in letters and what they spell. After Christmas, we were making some returns. He noticed my Ann Taylor LOFT shopping bag. He says, "L - O - F - T...bag."

And if you ever doubted if the things you tell them will be repeated, here's some proof. We talk a lot about choices, making good vs. bad. Last Friday night, I left Jack in the care of my mom as I was attending a MOPS event. I encouraged him to be good and behave while I was gone. As I left the room, he called out, "Make good choices, mommy!"

While talking to Josh the other day, Jack told him, "I love baby Sam, but I don't like it when he messes me up when I'm trying to watch something. But, when he doesn't, I love him."

Monday, March 21, 2011

Birthday Week

I should've posted this earlier, but we've spent the last week or so celebrating Josh's birthday. Yep, he's 34 years old this year. So glad to have someone older and wiser as my spouse, but mostly just older! Here's how we celebrated our favorite guy/daddy.

There had been a lot of build up about dad's approaching birthday. Jack knew his birthday was Wednesday. So, that morning I told him it was Wednesday. He yelled, "It's Daddy's Birthday!" Later, the boys and I picked Josh up at his office to take him to lunch. Jack promptly suggested, "Let's go to the jumpy place!" Since that's where all the best parties seem to take place. So, he reluctantly agreed to settle for the local mexican restaurant. Afterwards, we returned to his office where his coworkers had a cake waiting. When we left Jack gave Josh a hug and said somewhat disappointingly, "I had fun at...your...birthday party, daddy."

Later at church, a precious friend brought a delicious homemade cake complete with candles for Josh. Jack was terribly excited. Then, after a slight delay, Josh arrived home from choir practice to find Jack and I waiting up with a birthday card and gift, both hand selected by Jack.

We continued our celebration on Saturday with Josh's family. We enjoyed a great early dinner at Maggiano's, complete with tiramasu, creme brulee and a homemade birthday cake. It was a dessert smorgasbord!

I regret I didn't make the time to post on your actual birthday, Josh, but we hope you had a great one and hope you know how special you are! We love you so much, and are so blessed and grateful to have you as my hubby and our daddy!

Love, Laura, Jack & Sam

Monday, March 14, 2011

Let's Play...

Role play is quickly becoming a staple of entertainment at our house as Jack's imagination is beginning to soar. You can pretty much count on his choice being one of three things: Buzz Lightyear vs. Zurg; Buzz vs. Darth Vader*; and David vs. Goliath. The other day, I managed to capture some snapshots of Josh, Jack & Sam playing David vs. Goliath.

Meet the mean giant, GOLIATH!

He laughs at David and his God! Uh-oh!


Here comes the little boy named David...
 
And that giant came tumbling down!


Then they switch...here is the big mean giant!

And here's David with his sling..."you better not laugh at God!"

Goliath, unafraid, continues to laugh at God, but not for long! He is HIT!

"Hooray! Thank you God for helping me!"

So, there's a quick recap of what's going on around here these days. I've also managed to update the Project 365 album. In case you care to see what else we've been up to.

*yes, he's obsessed with Darth Vader, and in our pursuit to satisfy his curiosity I stumbled on this clip, which created the aforementioned role play scenario. You might be surprised at how well Buzz and Luke Skywalker can be interchanged.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Singing to Soothe

One thing that Jack has learned in the last year is that babies cry. Although Sam is a pretty pleasant little guy and doesn't cry much, he has his moments. Usually these days it has to do with taking a tumble after getting braver than his body will allow or something similar. Lately in times like these, Jack has made soothing his little brother his main objective. He started by asking me or Josh to sing a song to Sam...usually "Three Little Birds." But he calls it "Don't Worry song." Josh and I began to encourage him that he could soothe his brother by singing himself. So, naturally he picks the first song that pops into his head..."the ABCs!"

And you know what? Most days, it works!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Greatest Show on Earth

Sunday we ventured down to the circus for a day of family fun. And a day of fun it was! I'm pretty sure Josh and I had more fun than the boys did. It was such a treasure to be making such sweet memories with our boys by our side. It's very likely Jack won't ever recall this trip to the circus, and I know Sam won't, but I'm sure I will for many years to come. It was simply a day of carefree fun.

We started with breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, where Jack inhaled almost an entire pancake...which is pretty impressive since he rarely eats anything. I'm sure the syrup didn't hurt. Sam put a pretty good hurting on the yogurt parfait. Speaking of Sam, at his one-year well check last week, he was in just the 20th percentile for weight, but the 70th for height. Tall and skinny, I guess?

We made our way to the arena where Jack and I wandered down to the floor to see the clowns and a painting pachyderm. With popcorn in hand and settled in our seats, we prepared for the show to begin. Jack watched pretty intently, pointing and asking questions. Sam was a bit restless since he'd been awakened from his nap to join the fun. Despite his best efforts sometime after the intermission, he finally gave it up and fell asleep. 

Our next stop was the mall for a little browsing and bouncing. Finally, we enjoyed dinner and the Borders sale before heading back home. Both boys fell asleep in the car, which made me worry if they'd be able to fall back asleep at home. Afterall, it was only 6:45. After baths and a little fun time, they were ready to hit the hay again. I'm not sure it was the Greatest Show on Earth, but I'd wager to say it was one of the greatest days we'd had in a while just getting to enjoy our family. For that, I'm thankful.