Share the Love

Volunteering and serving demonstrate the heart of Jesus to the world. He laid down his life and we are to follow his example. Our church set the goal of serving the community of St. Louis 1000 hours in 3 weeks. Bryan Mowery gave a great talk on why we're doing this. Freely we've received, freely give. you can listen to it on the Jubilee Website.

I'm going to be cooking breakfast at a women's shelter on October 2. Who wants to join me?

The One Year Old and her feats of glory

Ok, so maybe the title is a little over-reaching, but I need to record for myself some of things Annalise is doing now. Since the poor child doesn't have a baby book (yet?), this is all I've got.

She takes one or two steps at a time, usually toward something like a remote control. She uses said remote control as a telephone (ahem, I'm not sure what this says about my phone time. I'll say it's her big sister because she likes to play phone. Right. That's better.) After talking and jibber jabbering for a moment she shows me her phone. Or anything she picks up really. "Here ya go, Mom. I found this for you."

Her other favorite things are shoes. Ah, that's my girl! She loves shoes and tries desperately to put shoes on her feet. And anything that she doesn't pretend is a phone, she uses a shoe. Sometimes the same thing. It's quite cute.

She also will give lots of love now. She'll kiss and hug you back and even give "ougga mougga" (rubbing noses).

Whenever there is music shes dances and tries to sing and clap her hands. Doesn't matter how bad everything else is going, that will always make me smile. She starts clapping her hands if anyone hums the tune "Clap our Hands".

Words she says:
mama
shuh=shoe
Chs=Chase (really any brother, but mostly Chase)

If you correct her, no matter how nice the voice, she bursts into tears. I pray her will continues to be this malleable! A mother can dream, right?

She lights up when her sister, brothers, dad, or me come into a room. Strangers, still not so sure of those, but she's getting better.

She's a dream!

Not Me! Monday

  

I DID NOT go to a party this week on the wrong day. Nope, I totally knew what day of the week it was. I also DID NOT go to the wrong house for the party. I would NEVER be that scatter-brained or unprepared.

I HAVE NOT been consumed by preparing for our Prague adventure. I DO NOT have 25 pages that are in a 3-ring binder for the AMAZING grandparents who are caring for our children. I AM NOT thanking the FLY Lady, my former Mary Kay director Amy Duncan, and my gifted ed teacher Mrs. Susie Zammar for teaching me how to organize, because I wasn't born that way!

I HAVE NOT watched the entire sixth and seventh seasons of the West Wing in the last 3 weeks. I DID NOT cry when Bartlet gave Charlie a copy of the constitution. Nope, I've NOT watched this series about 4 times and still get choked up. I HAVE NOT considered following people like Sam Seaborn or Josh Lyman on twitter. I DID NOT mention this in a tweet and get an @ response from Donna Lyman. I DID NOT get starstruck for just a moment. Nope, totally understand this is a fictional show of fictional characters. I AM NOT lame.

While making a trip to return a dress to Kohl's and then out to the Viviano's in Chesterfield, I DID NOT forget the dress. NOPE, I'm always prepared and remember what I'm doing.

I DID NOT get my 4-year-old to help me clean the house by playing "maids". I DID NOT write a note from "The Lady of the House". We DID NOT clean for an hour and half. I DID NOT leave a check from said lady, which my daughter cashed in her African Bank. It was NOT a great time pretending while cleaning.

 

Have a fabulous week!

Card, no, Snack-Carrying Soccer Mom

Even though Chase's game got canceled, Stuart's first game of the season was on! (It was my first game as an official Soccer Mom.)



They stretched, ran lines, and huddled up for a prayer and a pep talk.






The whole team played well. I was so impressed with their skills!
 

They "live and die as a team." Stuart and friends celebrated for teammate's goal with the enthusiasm of world cup footballers!




When he was the goalie, Stu had two great saves. He was not afraid to get in all the feet and grab the ball.



"Mom, I can't believe we won!" Winning your first soccer game 2-0 is a wonderful feeling!

The Summer of the Hideout

My boys have found the best boy place ever to play.

They call it "The Hide Out".

In the mind of boring adults, it's a dirt pit.

They have been excavating and digging the entire summer

Offering Car Washes

The full service is they will cover your car with dirt for you, then wash your car.

Job security or racketeering?

And leaving pieces behind, but never a moment without fun

Labor Day Weekend

Soccer with Dad
 


Wanting to play along



Determined scootering



Roasting giant marshmallows in the grill (after we tried roasting mini marshmallows!)

Luggage Tags

My kids can loose a bag while they're holding it in their hands. They are definitely my children! When I was a young, my girl scout leader would say she'd always find "little bits of Jennifer" around. I fear this has been passed on to my kids.
To prepare for that, I've made luggage tags for their soccer and dance bags.

But I'm cheap, so I turned to the Microsoft Word business card template. Did a little adjusting...



...I cut them, took a quick trip to FedExKinkos to laminate them for $2.12 and voila!







(Sorry the pictures are blurry! I'm not a photographer at all!)

I'm sure these will come in handy very soon!

Routines

I'm not naturally a routine person. I would rather just see what happens and play it by ear. But when I started teaching, the reality of children and routines smacked me in the face! Children function better with predictability and routine. And why wouldn't they? They don't have the life experience to help them anticipate what's next.

Routines also are a huge help to discipline. Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. As a parent, one of my goals is to raise self-controlled and self-disciplined children. I don't want to follow my children around, reminding them to brush their teeth and follow directions for the next 20 years; I want to teach them to do it themselves. Giving kids practice making their own decisions in small ways breeds a healthy self-respect. Children begin to realize they can accomplish tasks for themselves. Which is the kind of independence they'll need when they leave my house!

Routines also leave room for you to make important decisions. The mundane, yet necessary tasks have been decided when I established routines in advance. I can talk with one child about the day while the other is working on their next step of the routine. It's a lot easier to have an important conversation when you're not bickering in the morning over what clothes to wear.

Writing down and posting routines is huge part of using routines. When we write down routines, goals, lists, the space in our mind is freed to be creative and go on to the next step. Posting routines is the visual reminder of what we do everyday. Children need that cue: "This is what's normal for me today." 

I recently made up some new routines for the new school year. I am by no means artistic or a decorator, but I'm really happy these are finished and usable! I know they can be cuter, but these have the lovely quality of being completed.

For my preschooler, I made a flip chart routine that I put the routine into an inexpensive photo brag book from Target. Here a few pages from her routine.

Sabrina is awesome about grabbing her routine chart and going through it morning and night.


For my boys I've posted it in their room. I still need to put it in a frame behind glass to use it as a dry erase check list.




I also made a list of what goes into their bags for soccer and dance. When I was telling my first grader what to put in his dance bag, he politely said, "Mom, you don't have to tell me. I'll just follow my list." Mmm, smart kid!



Our family is so much more peaceful when we post our routines. There is so much less nagging and the responsibility falls to the child. I can just ask, "What's next on your routine?" rather than repeat directions.

Even though my natural bent is different, I've seen the great benefit of routines in our family!

House Projects

I know I've been a terrible blogger this summer. Now that the kids are in school, I can record some of the things we've done recently!

We've painted our living room, hall, and kitchen.




I don't have exciting pictures, but we have an official guest room! With actual curtains, furniture, and its own bathroom!

The boys' room got some window treatments.


I also madly painted Sabrina's room while she was in school, rearranged the furniture, and got her some new lovely hooks.




Ballet Slipper Pink and Garden Shed Green
What should go on this wall?I'm thinking an ABC wall or a word wall...






And I've finally cleaned out the junk room and loosely organized the shelves. But I'm loving our new cubbies!




It's all starting to make us feel a lot more like home.

We have steps...

We've been waiting for what seems like months. Our littlest girl has been standing on her own for a good two months. Last night, while waiting during Stuart's dance class, Annalise took two big steps! I know it's not official walking, but I'm so excited that walking (instead of crawling) is in our near future!