Friday Fun

I had a rare moment with JB today. I say rare because usually from 1-3 he naps and Miss M rests (usually for only about an hour). Today, however, Miss M slept for two hours and JB only dozed for about 45 minutes. I had seen this idea either on pinterest or in Family Fun magazine and thought it would be fun to try. This was the perfect opportunity, some one-on-one time with the boy doing something just for him.

Out came the cornmeal, a cookie sheet and an old bed sheet, to save the carpet. He picked out all his construction trucks and we played "digger". He LOVED it, I mean really, he was in his glory!! The mess was really minimal, noises coming out of his mouth were at the max...too cute!



Of course Miss M eventually woke up and she thought she should get in on the fun. I had actually figured this into the equation and knew it wouldn't work to have them both working in the same pan of fun. So I unloaded a bag of dried beans into another pan, gave her a bunch of kitchen tools and told her to have at it. Unfortunately that didn't tempt her much but JB was willing to trade so they took turns going from one tray to the other.

I made the mistake of getting up to go to the little girl's room...


Oh well, they had a blast for another 15 minutes making pies and soups with the mixture. When they were all done I cleaned it up in less than five minutes. It was definitely worth it for the fun and the memories :) C'mon, give it a try!!

BIG day, really BIG

On the way home from preschool today Miss M started asking me a ton of questions about heaven and Jesus. I would respond and she usually came back with "I don't really understand". I kept trying to give her answers she would understand. The conversation ended with "Mommy I want to pray and ask Jesus to live in my heart"...mind you I'm driving my car on the Newtown by-pass...I tried to get her to wait until we got home but she said, "no, I want to pray to Jesus right now". So all on her own, in her own little, sweet words, she invited Jesus to be her Savior! I know she's four and limited in her understanding, but she was confident enough to pray and express what she knew in her own words...it's a great beginning to what I pray will be a long and loving relationship between her and her Savior!

Best. Day. Ever.

My Version...

I saw this on pinterest and loved it...


So I tweeked it a little, to suit my likes, and made this...


It's for my "new office" :) It's Miss M's handprint, JB's footprint and a heart I painted all by myself (no applause necessary). My good friend Mary did the printing, I like her font!!

I like it so much I may make another one for home...

Library Day...it's a messy one :)

I'm not the biggest Dr. Seuss fan myself, but a few of his books are certainly on my list of must reads. This isn't actually one of my favorite stories, although it's a great lesson in learning to say 'I'm sorry', but I do love the activities that follow a lively reading...






And the recipe, for all of you brave enough to try it is: 2 cups cornstarch, 1 cup water, mix well. You can add food coloring for fun, we like to make ours green! When it starts to get a little dry from all the play, add a little more water, a tablespoon at a time.

You can have some pretty great discussions with older children about solids and liquids after making oobleck. It is firm and melty all at the same time. Miss M was fascinated by it, JB didn't really like the feel of it, he cried for the first few minutes, but finally warmed up to the mess at the end!

It makes a big mess but it is very easy clean-up, just soap and water, or a wet rag in most cases. It even dries in their hair and then flakes right off...just in case you were wondering :)

Just in case anyone wondered...

Well, yesterday was my debut (hee hee). I found it a bit overwhelming, I hope everyone else wasn't as sick of me as I was by the end of the morning! For those of you that read this and aren't a part of my church family, yesterday it was announced at my church that I am the new Co-Director of Children's Ministry :) Remember a few weeks back I posted about a top secret job opportunity...well that was it. I officially start next Tuesday, although I've already been to one staff meeting, had a few informal things, and today I'm having a meeting with my co-director. I'm really looking forward to jumping in and getting started.

I was thinking I'd tell a little bit of the story of how I got to this point. Stop reading now if you don't want to be bored with the details. You've been warned...

It's probably no secret that Prince Charming and I have struggled financially for a long time. Sometimes it's been because of poor choices we've made, and sometimes it's been "the cards we were dealt" as far as jobs, timing of children, etc. Since I've been home with the kids we've had some pretty low points, God has been very gracious with us, but it hasn't been easy. This past fall we came to the conclusion that this would be my "last year home" with the kids full-time. Miss M will go to Kindergarten next September and the thought was I could go back to teaching. We found two local private schools that I could teach at, if they would hire me, and the kids could attend free. This seemed like the best case scenario, I would be using my abilities, the kids would be taken care of as a benefit, and we would all be in a Christian school. The only problem was it made me physically sick to my stomach to think of going back to teaching while JB was still so young, I wanted more time with my little buddy!!! It was my dream to be mommy...could this really be what God wanted?!?!?!

We really just couldn't see another way, it made no sense to get a meaningless job at The Gap (sorry if that's your lifes dream, just isn't mine), get payed very little and have to find full-time childcare for the boy. So we started to pray and prepare ourselves mentally for the process of searching, interviewing and hopefully getting a job at one of these schools.

I warned you...stop reading now if you don't want your eyes to roll in the back of your head...

All of the sudden, completely out of the blue, I was approached one Sunday morning with the news that the church was looking for a Children's Ministry person, part-time, NOW! Wait, what? I've considered this 'position' two other times, in other forms, and God never gave me peace about it. Prince Charming and I could hardly wait to get in the car and figure out if this was an option. We decided it could be, so I threw my name in the mix with the thought "I don't know why I shouldn't at least apply". Well, thankfully the process took a few months, we needed that time to really pray through this, see if it was financially helpful to us, figure out childcare, and most importantly, see if God was giving me a burden for the children, and their families, at BFC. I had multiple interviews, which could be whole different post but I will spare you, and many conversations with various church staff members and my Mom (chief babysitter). God just kept opening the doors, and we kept walking through. This has been HIS journey for me right from the start!

Through the process, not only were we thrilled to learn that this would make a substantial difference to us financially, we saw God really open our hearts and get my "teacher" juices flowing. I am thrilled to be using my training and my gifts to serve families at BFC. The thought of being part of any child coming to know Jesus, being encouraged to live their life for him and possibly sharing that with their family or friends is priceless! We feel like God has blessed us with the best of both worlds. I can contribute to my family, I can use gifts and abilities that I love using, my Mom can help with the kids and I can still be home the majority of their waking hours :) Wow, I am a child of a GREAT, BIG GOD...He provided this and I can't wait to see what He is going to do now...

Finally...but I'm done!

When we asked Miss M what she wanted for her birthday a few days ago she answered, "a snow storm". And she meant a literal, God-controlled, blizzard...pretty please with sugar on top. We have been very nervous about the fall-out from our complete inability to grant her this wish. But God has been listening and he answered our prayers...and I must say, we were pretty happy with the details in which he answered with!

I am NOT a snow person, don't like to be cold, don't like to be stuck home while my husband is working on people's snowy roofs, don't like to wear all the gear for five minutes and then come inside, don't like to drive in it...you get the idea. There are really only two instances I can think of that I like snow. First, when I was teaching I did LOVE snow days (I was pretty famous for leading snow dances in the faculty lounge to encourage the flakes and for getting the kids all wound up about wearing their pjs inside out). Second, my kids love to play in it. This second reason is the only reason I tolerate it without much complaining these days. This snow was great, just enough to go outside and have fun, but not enough to last for weeks at a time. A little wetter might have been nice for snowman building, but overall, still a good storm for us!

As you can see from the picture above, we dress our kids in the latest snow bunny fashions. Yeah, right!!! All of those items were either bought at consignment shops, thrift stores or handed down from someone else. All except JB's hat, that is mine, given to me by a Jr. High youth group girl a million years ago. Yes, his head is big enough to wear my hat! Keep your comments to yourself about that please!!

So Lord, thanks for finally bringing us some winter white! The kids had a blast and it lent itself to a nice fun, lazy family day! Now Lord, don't fell compelled to bring us anymore, we're happy and content with what you've provided.

Now I can birthday shop somewhere other than on my knees, Bible in hand...

Totally random

*In my continuing efforts to be mother-of-the-year, I gave the kids a lollipop at 8:30 this morning, on the way to preschool. Miss M got one at Cubbies last night and was enraged that she couldn't eat it before bed...sadly, I didn't hide it well enough and she found it this morning. I couldn't give her one and not JB...so...

*On the way home from preschool I was following a little yellow car with advertisements printed all over it that read 'the MAIDS'. It was all I could do, when we stopped at a red light, not to hop out of my car and BEG them to follow me home and clean my house for ANY price!

*We have been eating leftovers since Monday...if I don't cook a real meal tonight my entire family may revolt!

*The nebulizer got pulled out today, hasn't been out since Thanksgiving. It's a much better winter than last year, so far. Of course this post probably guarantees I will use it from now until April non-stop!

*I'm not pregnant, but I do have news...you'll have to wait until Monday for me to post about it ;) (and the reality of this is that both of you who read this regularly already know the news, so...)