Two thumbs up!

Even good eaters have picky spells, I've learned. However, I felt totally proud of myself for getting two thumbs up last night with my 5 and 3 year olds. I didn't even have to use bribery. It even had very apparent squash in it--and onions! What was this madness? Here're the tricks. I called it pizza. We made it ourselves. The kids helped assemble (which doesn't always work, but it does help a little). They were on little biscuits, so they were kid sized. They picked out the vegetables themselves at the farm market. This is the hugest secret to getting your kids (or Grandpa) to eat vegetables--keep trying. Seriously. 10 or 15 times before you expect them to say, "Oh! I like this! This is wonderful! Will you please make it at every meal?" Okay. Well maybe not that enthusiastic, but pretty close. That's my sage and oh-so-wise thoughts for today. I really was very excited, though. Hopefully, tonight goes as well as last night did. A girl can dream can't she?

nipples

I know what your thinking. Great title. It's really not what you think. Seriously. Monday is one of our ditch water days during the summer. Basically we just turn on the ditch water and flood the back yard. It makes for a really green backyard. Aidan and Breanna love to play in water. Any water. Dirty ditch water or not. Another of Breanna's favorite things to do is to be naked. Ditch water and naked is not necessarily a good combination. Eeewwww. I did put sunscreen on her little body, but I have yet to purchase bug spray for this year. Needless to say, she got a couple bug bites, one of which is on her knee. Bear with me here, but I'm going on another bunny trail. This will all come back together at somepoint. I wear a lot of hats--and by hats I mean I am involved in a lot of activities, volunteer and otherwise. One of the hats I wear is to be a La Leche League (LLL) leader. If you're not familiar with LLL, it is essentially a mother to mother breastfeeding support group. Among my duties are leading the monthly meetings and doing phone support for moms that need help. Obviously, when I am talking on the phone, it is not a secret as to what I am talking about. Words like nipples, latch on, breastmilk and the like are common words at my house. Do you see where I'm going with this yet? I'm almost there. So--Breanna. She gets this bug bite on her knee. It is eventually time to come in from the backyard and take a bath, so we can go out into public with out smelling yucky. Breanna is naked in the bathroom. This is how the conversation goes.
"Mommy, I have a nipple on me." Of course you do, I'm thinking. We all do.
"Okay," is my outloud response.
"I need a band-aid on my nipple," says Breanna.
"No, your nipple is fine," I say, looking at her nipples and seeing they are fine. Silly girl that Breanna is.
"No, Mommy. Right here. I have a nipple on my knee," she says as she points to the bug bite on her knee.
"Honey, that is not a nipple. That's a bug bite," as I bite my lip to keep from laughing at her very real to her anguish over this suddenly misplaced nipple.
"NO! It's a nipple!" Breanna says, in true, calm 3-year-old fashion. Some battles are not worth the fight, I have determined. (I just heard a new response that I am excited to try, "I love you too much to argue."But I haven't had the opportunity to try it out yet. I'll let you know how it goes.) So...we took our shower and I put a band-aid on her nipple, I mean, her bug bite. I figured, at least, it should keep her from scratching it, right? I share this episode with you because I keep getting reminded of it myself. Everytime that Breanna looks at the band-aid she tells me that she has a nipple on her knee. If you see her in the next few days, she will probably tell you, too. Consider yourself forewarned.

A new mind

Romans 12:1-2
Living Sacrifices

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Footnotes: 1 Or reasonable

That's our verse for this week. No, it's not Aidan's verse for Sunday School. It is my and Brad's verse for our small group. Interestingly enough, it's not the first time I've heard it this week. I've been reading (a lot lately!). I'm about to finish Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. Can we say, "VERY CONVICTING"? Anyway, that verse was in there, too. We are about to make some big changes. Now that we have our mortgage taken care of--in the sense that the payments are reasonable--we need to address our debt. By the grace of God, we don't have that much debt outside our car. The car...the silly, ridiculous payment car. We have to get rid of it. That's all there is to it. Brad actually brought it up, but I know it was from God. Brad, on his own, would not suggest it--Brad likes cars. Okay, I do, too. I guess it just boils down to this: it's just a thing; it's just stuff. Stuff can be replaced--by saving and paying cash later. We won't be completely carless, though. We have our old truck. It's paid for. It runs. It needs a little bit of work, but not the $20,000 plus interest that we owe on the Explorer. Peace of mind is a great thing. When you are in God's will--no matter what is happening around you--you have peace of mind. That is just how it seems to work for me. There is turmoil sometimes in finding God's will for me, but when I get there...aaahhhhhh. So now we are in the process of renewing our mind. We are learning not to think like the world does. Debt is not okay. As someone said, money makes a great slave, but a terrible master. Our master is the Lord with His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Genesis

I got a new Bible for Brad. I should say I picked it up--I ordered it in February. It's really cool. It is the One Year Chronological Bible. What that means is that it is broken up into small sections to read everyday and then within a year you will have read through the whole Bible. The neat thing about this one is that it is written in the order that things happened, hence the Chronological part. So we are starting at the January reading --as opposed to starting with June and coming full circle. I asked Brad to read it to me aloud. It came to me while reading "Redeeming Love". After much convincing on my part, he did read out loud to me. What does he happen to read to me? Genesis 3:16. Not a verse I had memorized. One other thing I forgot to mention about this new Bible: it is the New Living Translation. We are used to using the New International Version, which is good, too. In case you don't have your Bible handy, here is what Genesis 3:16 says in the NLT,

" And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”

Ouch. If you go back and read the whole passage, you will realize this phrase was spoken to Eve, by God when he was cursing Adam and Eve for disobeying and eating from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Even though I know that my husband is supposed to be the head of our household, I'll admit that I don't always let him be the head. Not only that, but, if I'm being totally honest here, I DO desire to control my husband. No, I don't physically force him into doing things my way, but I do use other tactics. Guilt trips, manipulation, the look...we won't go into more detail than that. Not the way God intended. Ouch, again.

I did enjoy having Brad read to me, though. He wouldn't do a repeat performance last night, though. I had to read for myself. If you can convince your hubby to do it, have him do it. I thought it was really romantic for him to read out loud to me from the Bible. Something about God's truth coming from the mouth of your husband, who should be the head of your household...Just knowing that he is learning to be in submission to God...It was just really wonderful.

A momentus day

It's a momentus day at our house. Aidan is officially not a little boy anymore. It's over. No, I'm not talking about kindergarten this fall--although, I'm not quite ready for that yet either. This day's item of interest is 2 loose teeth. Not just one, but two! He didn't notice them himself--which is actually amazing since he has been checking for loose teeth for the last several months. He was having a 5-year-old's attitude problem, so I asked him to come sit on my lap and talk. In the middle of talking to him, I noticed his tooth had a bigger space than usual next to it. Imagine my surprise as I touched it and realized it is about to fall out. Craziness! Then I touched the one next to it and it was loose, too! Super craziness. I am just not ready for these kids to grow up. It's just happening too fast! I know, I know. That's life, but it's just happening too fast, darn it! I am super proud of both Aidan and Breanna. They are just so sweet. Aidan is actually learning to read. He is getting really good at spelling. He loves writing words and mixing up letters to see if they make a word. He is just going to love kindergarten next year. That boy just loves to learn. I am just having some guilty feelings for giving up on the whole homeschooling thing. I know in my mind that if things are going badly, I can just pull him out of school. I just think that homeschooling is so wonderful! I know SO many people that are doing it successfully that I just wonder what my problem is that I can't get it together enough to do a little bit of school everyday. I don't know. I just want to do it all, but I know I can't. Once again, life goes on. He'll be fine. It will be good for him, right? I'm worried about it, but at the same time, I am also at peace about it. He's in the Lord's hands. Aidan and Bre sing that to me all the time. He's got the whole world in His hands--Aidan and Breanna included.

Here is today's Aidan-ism:
*Can I have a beagle? My response: No we are not getting another dog right now. Translation: Can I have a bagel? You know, those little round breads that look like a donut, Mom.

Overheard at light's out in Breanna's bed:
*Thank you God for nini's. Amen.
Isn't that cute? That's what she prays for most every night. In case you were wondering, nini's is our name for nursing.

New favorites

I didn't blog yesterday. I have really enjoyed this thinking outloud-on paper thing. The reason I missed yesterday was because I have a new favorite book. I had to finish it. Brad was laughing at me. It's not very often you find a book that you just can't put down. You become engrossed in the characters. They almost seem like real people in your mind. So what is this new favorite book, you ask? Some of you know because you suggested it to me and even loaned me a copy. The book is "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers. It was just beautiful. To summarize, and yet not give away too much, it was basically the story of the Old Testament prophet Hosea and his wife, Gomer, who was a prostitute. I don't know about you, but that story was not one that I recall hearing or reading as a small child going to Sunday school. God tells Hosea to marry this prostitute. This story is actually set in the 1850's in California. It's is just beautiful. It is about what God has in mind for marriage and love and...so much more. I just don't want to say too much. To be desired like that... To be hurt like that... God is good. It's not just smooshy stuff. Men can read it too. I know I'm talking about a book and this is not necessarily a book review blog, but I just loved it. Enough already. I'll sign off for now. Now you go read it.

The best garage sale ever!

I am not a huge fan of garage sales. Really. My mother-in-law (and my husband--it must be genetic) have a talent for finding really nice stuff--seriously--at garage sales. Me? Not so much. For example, a few weeks ago, we went yard sale shopping as a fun family event. We came home with totally gorgeous, like new living room furniture. My husband found it. We got a STEAL of a deal. The sales I wanted to go to? We bought nothing. Even more than not finding anything, I HATE putting them on. However, I am way too cheap to just donate ALL my stuff, so I have tried my hand at having yard sales. I usually make about 50 cents an hour, on average--and I'm not exaggerating. So I can't even begin to fathom why I would agree to (okay, suggest) having a yard sale at my friend Jen's house. It turned out to be the best yard sale ever! Not monetarily speaking, of course. I only made $15 bucks yesterday from the stuff I sold, but we had so much fun! There ended up being 5 of us with all our stuff to sell and all our kids running around for 5 hours unsupervised. So now I know. Do yard sales with your friends. You attract more buyers because there is more junk, er, stuff to sell and your kids aren't on top of you all day wondering why you are selling their toys to strangers. So there it is. Today's wisdom. Enjoy! I have to sign off now to go back for day 2 of the best garage sale ever.

Giggles, roses and isms.

I love little kid giggles. Not just the little everyday giggles, but hearty, belly laugh giggles. We love summer at my house. Summer means so many things. Shorts. Tank tops. Swimsuits. Green grass. Growing things. AND farmer's market at the park! Yeah! We went this morning. It's just fun to walk around. Today Aidan picked out bok choy to try. I very proud of my kids. They really do eat vegetables--not everything, but most things. They also know they have to try whatever is on their plate, at every meal. I think it helps them try new things when they get to pick it out, so I let Aidan do the picking today. We're going to have it for dinner tonight (with Grandma & Grandpa, too), so I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. We also got some garlic scapes (?) to go with it. The garlic things just looked cool. They're kind of curly. It should be good. Anyway, back to the giggles. We picked out our bok choy. We walked around. We looked. We got our bee pollen (YEAH!). We went to the fountain. It's so funny how something so simple as squirting water can bring out the big giggles--and serious ones at that. It's so cute! Aidan has a completely different squirt style than Breanna. Aidan would climb in the fountain, if I let him. He sticks his whole hand in the water stream and deflects it all over himself. That boy LOVES to get wet. He also does the fast-as-flash-karate-chopping on the water, so as not to get wet (we pretend he doesn't get wet, anyway). Breanna, on the other hand, puts two fingers in the shooting stream, jumps back and runs away giggling as hard as she can, and then goes back for more. It is just so fun to watch them.

Both Breanna and Aidan like to help me with the growing things around our house. They like to help pull weeds and the occasional baby bell pepper plant, blow on dandelion fluffies (but only toward the neighbor's yard), and help me tend the rose bushes. I was so fortunate that last year my friend Cori's mom, Linda, was building a new house on their same property and had to uproot all the rose bushes or trample them. We dug up 3 different rose bushes and transplanted them to our house. I wasn't sure they would make it because I have never grown rose bushes before. We did get several pretty blooms last year, but THIS year was fabulous! Of course, Aidan claimed one rose bush for each of us (except Daddy, sorry honey). The climbing mini pink bush with the super pokers is mommy's. The almost red ones are Aidan's. The mini dark pink ones are Breanna's. Whenever they start to bloom we have to run out and check them everyday to see if there are more blooms. I was really proud of myself. I remembered to take pictures of the blooming bushes with the kids next to them. They are so proud of their roses! It is just so amazing to watch the kids be so interested in simple flowers in our yard, and they have to show anyone that comes over, too.

I just wanted to share some of my favorite Breanna-isms and Aidan-isms. I hate to correct little kids when they speak (unless, of course, it is just bad grammar--that darn english major in me won't let it slide). Here are some of the latest and the translations to "grown-up speak."

Breanna:
*Mommy, I have a booby. Translation: Mommy, I have a boo-boo. (I have tried to correct this one, but it is still really funny.)
*That's spices me. Translation: That burns. (As in, cleaning a boo-boo.)

Aidan:
*I yust... Translation: I just... He speaks so well and really has a great vocabulary for a 5 year old, but he just doesn't get the "j" sound on that one. It's okay, though. He'll get it soon enough.

I am so used to their isms now that I am having trouble recalling them off the top of my head. As I remember more of them, I will try to put them down. I really want to remember them forever. They are just so cute!

Something to chew on

I mentioned before that I am a child of God. THE GOD. NOT god, but God! So as a Christian, we attend church regularly to get fed, spiritually speaking, of course. This last couple weeks, the sermons have given me lots to chew on during the week. If you are interested in what I have been chewing on, check it our for yourself at www.efreechurch.org and click on the Sunday Morning Messages button. I am really excited that I figured out how to download them onto my new MP3 player, so now I can chew on them further--I know, enough already with the chewing thing. That's it for today. I know that some of you were there the first time, too, but repetition is definitely a good thing for me. Enjoy the messages!

Darn Taco Bell

So I'm new to this blogging thing, obviously. I hit one wrong button and erased my whole entry. Now, granted, it wasn't my most profound or fabulous entry, but still... Suffice it to say, I'm not going into the whole story again, but if I ever suggest eating at Taco Bell, just slap me up the side of the head. That's really the long and short of it. Well, now I'm out of time. I really need to go exercise for today and get ready to go paint. Enjoy your day!

OH! And thank you to my hubby for mowing the grass this morning. I was going to let it grow tall and go to seed to fill in the bare spots. AND thank you to my fabulous mother-in-law for riding to Denver with me on Saturday, so I didn't have to drive by myself. I know I am blessed with that one. I know a lot of people that can't say their mother-in-law is fabulous. Thank you, God!

He Provides Again

The Lord is so amazing. While I am faithful to love the Lord, I am not the best about reading His word everyday. Yet He still provides for us--in huge ways. That's what He tells us He will do. When Brad didn't have a job earlier this year (for a couple months), we didn't starve. Friends and unknowns sent us gift cards and gift certificates. People gave us food. While it was a ginormous pain in the butt, our mortgage got all messed up and we didn't have to make a payment for several months. On that note, yesterday afternoon I received the new terms of our mortgage (we had to apply for a loan modification to get it all straightened out). The Lord provided again. He is so faithful! The terms were reasonable and pretty much what we were asking for. This is the second time we went through this process, and in the mean time, they were starting foreclosure on our home. Let me tell you, we are SO thankful for prayer. We are so thankful for our friends and family who have been so faithfully praying for our mortgage and for us. I cannot even begin to tell you how thankful I am for our small group. You all have been a sanity saver through your prayers for us and by just let us complain and talk about what was going on. THANK YOU!!! We love all of you!

An End of an Era

THIS is truly the day every mother dreads: the day there are no more naps. I have officially made the conscious decision to not put Breanna down for naps anymore. She just doesn't sleep well at night if she has a nap now. I guess I feel fortunate. Aidan stopped taking naps just after he turned 2. Ouch! So at least I got an extra year out of Breanna. However, quiet time is still REQUIRED--every day. My friend Debbie calls it "sanity hour" at her house. Mommy is just a nicer person when she has a little bit of quiet time each day. We have rules for quiet time at our house. No tv. No laundry. No house cleaning. We CAN read. We can lay down and stare at the ceiling or out a window. We can have one toy and play with it on our bed. (That rule is for the kids.) I actually try to not have any appliances running, too. Not too long ago, I read "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. Not the best book, spiritually & theologically speaking, but a decent read none the less. One of the things she talks about in the book is taking time to be quiet, really quiet. Just sit there and be alone with your thoughts and God with no noise distractions. It's actually kind of difficult. Even living in a quiet, small town there is still noise everywhere. I think sometimes it's easy to let the noise of life distract us. I know it's kind of a cliche, but it really is true. Try it sometime. Turn off everything and just sit. Don't sleep. Just sit. I have an expression that I will *eventually* put on my wall that says "The memory of God comes to a quiet mind." So here is my challenge to myself (and anyone else that might happen to read this): quiet your mind; listen to God. He actually talks to us all the time. Now I just need to listen.

T-ball Wisdom

Last night was Aidan's first t-ball scrimmage. Oh my gosh, was is ever cute! As far as I could tell, they all ran the right direction around the bases--though, some with more gusto than others. My favorite was when there were 3 or 4 kids on one base, and they didn't want to leave. Then there was the sit down and chat Sam, which if you know Sam at all you would not be surprised by that one. He is a very social kid. Aidan is really into team work. He had hit the ball and was now on second. The next batter hit and it came right to Aidan. So what does my little team-player do? He bends over and picks it up and throws it to the "pitcher." THEN he continued his run to 3rd and home. lol! Seriously, though. What if in life, we all took the time to go out of our way and help someone? Wouldn't this be a nicer world? I guess that's one reason we live in a small town. People do help each other out, for the most part. For example, we have some friends that are having some serious marriage trouble. I know statistically speaking it was bound to happen to some of our friends sooner or later, but I just didn't realize how much I would hurt for them, personally. Anyway, Brad has been talking to the man about ways to help and what not. I've been trying to talk to the woman because she's my friend. I thought she was avoiding me. However, I ran into her at church and asked her why should would be doing that. She told me that her husband needed friends, too. I pointed out to her that we could be friends with both of them, though maybe not simultaneously. Silly girl. I love both my kids, don't I? Even when they are fighting with each other. My heart just aches for them both. I know that I can't fix everything and everyone--in my mind, I know that. I just have this tendancy to try. We have to try, right? Maybe not fix, but at least help. That's what being and having friends is for.

Growing

Why do babies have to grow up? I know, in my mind, they HAVE to, but I just don't feel ready sometimes--yet, at the same exact time, I am so excited for it. I'm sure this is the quandry of mothers since the beginning of time. Breanna has decided that she likes going to the "big kid" Sunday school class. I'm sure part of her excitement is that she gets to go with Bubba (aka Aidan), but she doesn't fuss and just runs on in. Yeah! Now can I have a tissue to blot my eyes? She's my BABY for crying out loud! I think we got this sleep thing figured out for the most part, too. Pretty soon, she's not going to want to nurse it all--even though I was convinced that she was on the 18 year nursing plan. So I am sure that part of this is my current guilt over not feeling like the best mother in the world (see Amanda's blog from yesterday--she completely nailed that one on the head, so no need for me to reiterate). I know I'm not perfect. I just feel like there have been more raised voices lately than needs to be. With the Lord's help, I'm working on that one. Honestly, I need to take my own advice. So okay, Jennille, here goes. Children are NOT little adults. They honestly don't understand everything you ask of them. Children are NOT little robots. They don't unquestioningly obey. Children ARE little computers--what goes in must come out. So I can't be surprised if they yell at each other if I yell at them what seems like all day long. Children do have a different and individual personality of their own, so as much as they may look like Daddy and have similar traits, they are different and unique. That's all for today's rant. It's time to go eat pancakes.