George

My sweet little Breanna...she has mommy's talent for making up her own words for songs when she can't quite remember them or understand them. Here are the lyrics as they are supposed to be:

We are AWANA cubbies.
We're happy all day long.
We know that Jesus loves us.
That's why we sing this song.
We hop because we're happy.
We jump and shout for joy!
Jesus is a friend to us.
He loves each girl and boy.

Now Breanna's version:

We are AWANA cubbies.
We're happy all day long.
We know that Jesus loves us.
That's why we sing this song.
We hop and look for George.
Jesus is a friend to us.
He loves each girl and boy.

Who is George? I am not sure, but we are apparently looking for him. I love kids.

Never Say Never

As so many things in life change around us, there was one thing my sweet husband clung to...he would NEVER own a minivan. Life is often beyond our control. Sometimes we just need to submit to God's will and run with it. Does that really include a minivan? It seems to in our life. Sorry, honey. You see, we sold our truck that I was whining about a couple months ago. We have been driving our truck. I got over the whole ego thing. I drove the old truck. I even got a little self-righteous about it. (Was your shiny new vehicle completely paid for?) So just to keep me humble, God provided a minivan for us at a price we could afford. It's reliable. It's been taken care of. We can all safely fit in it, plus friends. I was a little sad about selling the truck. We have had it for 13 years. That is even longer than we have been married. Bye, Bessie. (That was her name.) I was glad to sell her to a cute teenage girl. It's her 1st car. She was super excited. She paid cash. Somehow our driveway seems a little empty. We are down to our minivan and Brad's work van now. It's all good. Never say never.

This is NOT a Suggestion

You need to go see the movie "Fireproof". That's it. If you are married or in a relationship or know people that are, you need to go see this movie. I think that covers everyone. I'm not going to ramble on about it today. Just go see it. If you have already seen it, or if you go see it in the next few days (which you will, of course, because I told you to), I would love to have your feedback and/or comments about it. Post them in the comments section of my blog. Now go see it.

Cleaning with Joy

Yesterday morning Breanna did not want to wash her hands after she went to the bathroom. Eeeww! I finally convinced her that she needed to do so because it is just gross not to. She decided to wash her hands in the kitchen. Good. There is soap there. There is water there. There is a towel there. Good. In the process of washing her hands, she managed to spill a big glob of soap on the counter. It happens. She's 3. I then instructed her to get the dishcloth wet, squeeze it out, then wipe up the spilled soap. Again, we are good. She is learning to clean up after herself. I then went into the living room because I don't need to supervise this whole thing (see untying the apron strings from a while back). Next thing I know, I am sitting on the couch talking to Brad and we hear Breanna singing in the kitchen.
"Cleaning the counters...cleaning the counters...cleaning the counters..." Think big singing here, not just a little tune. She was really getting into it. It was so cute! She was truly enjoying cleaning the counters! Then she came out of the kitchen and proudly announced that she had cleaned all of the counters. What a great example of how I should be doing my daily tasks. I thought I was the mommy who was supposed to be doing the teaching here. So much for that idea.

Sweet Music

When Aidan started kindergarten this year, I told myself that I would not be one of those moms that took their kid to school in their pajamas. That lasted all of two weeks, I think. I do put on sweat pants or exercise pants or something on the bottom, but it is usually my pajama top under my jacket. Oh well. But every other Friday, I make myself get going and I get dressed and ready before school because I go to volunteer in Aidan's class. Oh my gosh, it is soooooo cute! First of all, Aidan is so funny when he is with his friends. One time when they were doing "centers" in the afternoon, Aidan chose the art station. This station gives them the ability to chat more while they are coloring or cutting or taping or pasting. I don't remember how it came up, but they were comparing "war" stories...
"One time I got a spanking for..."
"One time I got a spanking with the belt for...! Man, it hurt!" laugh, laugh, laugh.
You get the point. It was just funny. Last week was a special week, though. Aidan was the Star Student of the week which means he gets to bring show and tell on Friday. Since Mommy was there on this day, he chose to bring something a little bit bigger because I could keep it in the car until show and tell time. He brought his marine (aka camouflage) guitar that he got for his birthday last year. I figured he would bring it to show, maybe strum it a couple times, and then let the other kids touch it, but just in case, I asked him during recess before show and tell what song he was going to sing. I expected him to say, "Oh, Mom. I'm not going to play a song in front of my friends." He didn't. He told me exactly what song he was going to sing. At this point I have to tell you that Aidan has not had any formal guitar lessons yet. He just puts on his guitar and walks around the house "playing" and singing to it. Occasionally, he will play it with the radio with rock being his genre of choice (thank you, Daddy).

Right before show and tell, I go get his guitar and bring it in. A few of the kids see it and get excited about it, so Aidan's teacher puts it behind his desk while the kids go out to recess one more time for the day. Next, they come in and sit down for show and tell. Aidan gets his guitar out of the box, puts the strap on, and sits down in the chair in front of his peers. His teacher then asks him if he is going to play a song for the class and he nods his head. I just smile because he is so cute just sitting there holding it! Next thing I know, he is strumming and singing! Oh my gosh it was precious!!! He got about half way through the song, stopped suddenly and said he forgot the rest of the words. Who cares? The kids all clapped and were very impressed with what he had done. I wanted to cry, tears of joy, of course. I know that I would not have been able to do that at his age. I was just so proud of him. It took a lot of courage to get up in front of his peers and do that. Maybe we have a future American Idol on our hands...;)