AsK, SeeK, and KnocK

Family Time this week focused on the letter K. The verse was:

Matthew 7:7. "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find,
Knock and the door will be opened to you." (the last part was the actual verse)

After our dance and verse memorization we played a version of hot & cold. In this version, one person has a blind-fold on and needs to perform a simple task that is unknown to them at the beginning. (Kind of like God's plan for our life that we only have limited knowledge of right now.) As the blind-folded person slowly feels their way around they can "ask" yes or no questions. (Kind of like prayer, how God affirms or convicts us as we proceed in life.) Each person who was blind-folded eventually decided to ask about which direction he/she should proceed. Once movement in that direction had begun it was time to "seek" the task. Finally, the object was found that the person must use to perform the task. (Kind of like the door in the verse.) I find it interesting that after the door is open in the verse Jesus does not say, "the door will be opened and I will shove you through it." God always leaves an opportunity for our choice. In the game, the object found was all that the blind-folded person needed to understand the next step. Josiah found the rocking zebra and knew right away that he needed to climb on and rock. Michelle found the basketball and knew she needed to make a basket. Alayna found a hat and knew right away that she needed to put it on her head. I found the teeny teeter-totter and...well...thanks to my wife you can see what happened next. How many times have I "asked" which way to go, "sought" the place where God had a task for me, only to shy away from the obvious conclusion that required some initiative on my part? Too many. I pray that my children will, by God's grace, step in through the doors where I retreated in fear.

Did I mention Seth makes us laugh??

I will blog all about Family Time a little later, but I wanted to share a funny moment that happened last night. It was one of those moments when you REALLY wish you would have had the video camera rolling. We were in the basement talking about our activity for Family Time. It involved a blind fold (more details later), anyway, Seth saw the blindfold and REALLY wanted to wear it. Dan put it on him and we figured he'd pull it right off...nope...not being able to see at all, he ran like a crazy chicken laughing and then ran smack into the wall and fell on his butt. The poor child, we were all rolling, it was hilarious! Josiah shouted, "We should have had that on video and sent it to Funniest Home Videos"...I think he's right, we would have been at least finalists! :) Anyway, funny family moment...gotta love 'em!

Funny Moment

This actually happened 2 weekends ago, but I came across the picture when I was organizing my pictures from my camera and remembered how funny it was in the moment. Two weekends ago we watched my brothers kids while they had a weekend away, so we had 6 kids plus Dan and I sitting around the table having lunch. We were all almost done when Seth decided he was done. He took his spoon and was going to put it on the table, but because he was farther back than normal he ended up throwing it...as you can tell, it was a perfect throw and ended up right in our water pitcher!! It was hilarious...however, we couldn't laugh because throwing anything at the table is inappropriate...try getting 5 other kids not to laugh when you yourself are trying not to laugh!! It was a funny moment and we were able to maintain control and still tell Seth "no, no" to throwing things at the dinner table. We may have a basketball star in our midst though!!

Simple Pleasures...

We are fortunate to live VERY close to a great grocery store. I LOVE it! Anyway, Seth absolutely adores the car carts. He and A sit in there packed in like sardines (especially when you include winter coats) and have a great time driving. After we purchased our items, A got out and walked next to me to go put the cart away. It was so cute...Seth was spinning that wheel and 'driving' like a maniac once he had room to move a little. He was sooo happy to be in the car cart and driving. It actually makes grocery shopping enjoyable...ok maybe not that far, but it's definitely not a chore. :) It's even better that the car carts are nice...you don't break a sweat just trying to steer them. Anyway, it's a simple pleasure from today that made me thankful. What simple pleasure are you thankful for today?

I LOVE to read!

For those of you who know me well, you know I'm a sucker for a good book. I love Contemporary Christian Fiction. J and A also love to read (so does Seth, but his favorite so far is his touch and feel book or his farm animal book). I decided to start reading them the Chronicles of Narnia Series a week ago. I went into thinking that it might be too much for them...no pictures, me just reading, maybe over their head...I didn't know. I have only read "The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe", if you know about the series it starts with "The Magicians Nephew". We began reading it last week and the kids both LOVE IT! Last night we finished a chapter (which is usually when I stop) and they were so into it (even Alayna) that they asked if we could please keep reading to find out what happens next. The cutest part was that as I was sitting on J's bed reading to them, he and A were laying on his trundle next to each other curled up under her blankie looking at the ceiling listening very intently. I love this!! I have looked forward to reading long chapter books to my kids for a LONG time and I can't wait to keep reading! I'm glad my kids have my love for books!

The Letter "J"

For obvious reasons, this is Josiah's favorite letter in the alphabet and so he has been wanting to do the letter "J" for a long time...well, last night was the night. :) Our verse this week was...

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me." Matthew 19:14

This week we did Family Time in the basement, I don't know why we didn't think of this sooner, but it worked a lot better. More room to dance and run, more toys for Seth to play with when he's not sitting with us...overall, a better 'location'. Anyway, we started out dancing...one of these days I'll sacrifice myself and record the rest of my family dancing because a few of you have asked about that. Someone has to be willing to sit out, and though I have AMAZING dance moves, I'm willing volunteer to be the one to record. :)

After dancing we memorized our verse together, some of our favorite ways to say it are...with our noses plugged, like robots, like cowboys/cowgirls and having one person point and we each say a word until we've said the whole verse.

Time for the activity...we decided to play a game called 'Jesus, Satan' (you may know it as 'Red light, Green light'). Josiah runs too fast now so after a couple rounds, he had to crab walk! :) After playing the game a number of rounds we talked about it. Jesus said "Let the little children come to Me"...when we said that, they ran....Satan desires for us to come to him too though...yet, when we said Satan they stopped. It's a choice we have to make everyday, do we run to Jesus or Satan? Do we 'STOP' when we are being tempted by Satan? We talked about what running to Jesus looks like and what things Satan does to try to tempt us. Overall, it was a fun night and we realized the kids understood when Josiah said, "Mom, I think instead of stopping when we hear Satan, we should run the other direction." Excellent point!

The Biting Bandit!

Seth is probably our funniest baby...he makes us laugh ALL the time! However, most of you who read my blog know that for the last couple months we have been dealing with him being a biter. He doesn't usually bite when he's angry, he bites when we're playing around and he gets REALLY excited or after he gives a hug, it's his version of a kiss. J and A never had this issue and if they did, it was a couple bites to Dan and I only...we told them "NO!" and it was never an issue again.

At home it has not been a huge issue...I trust that as we keep telling him "NO!" and "to be gentle" he will grow out of it, plus we know how to avoid having it happen to us...it's when he's in the nursery that I struggle.

Here is the list of things we had tried up until Monday of this week:
1. tell him "NO biting!"
2. putting him on the step after telling him "NO biting!"
3. flicking his cheek
3. pinching his cheek
4. if we're holding him...we put him down and tell him "NO biting!"
5. after we tell him "NO biting!" we also tell him to "be gentle" and I've taught him to slide his hand down our face gently or to rub hair gently to show him how to be gentle.

When he's in the nursery at MOPS, the workers there are amazing. Not only do they TRULY care about him, they totally understand that it's a phase and they help by also telling him "No!" and "to be gentle." It's Sunday mornings that I struggle. It's different parents each week and I'm sure many think we are HORRIBLE parents because Seth bites...I try not to focus on what other mom/parents think, but as moms...we do... Anyway, after sending out an email asking for advice from mom friends....I received a lot of encouragement agreeing that he would grow out of it and other tips to use to try to stop this habit. I have come to terms that he is only allowed to hug...no kisses for him. Hopefully as he gets older and we've moved past this, he can learn how to give nice kisses. For now my adorable, biting, pal will get vinegar in his mouth when he bites. It seems to be working...it's not nipped in the bud yet, but I have seen improvement.

Thank you to my wonderful mom, mother in law and great mom friends for the encouragement and tips...you are GREAT!

Tagged....

A friend of mine, Shannon, tagged me with this fun little game.

Here are the rules:

1. Go to the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.
2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the photo.
4. Tag 4 fellow bloggers to join in the fun

This photo was taken near our old house at Lindenwood Park in 2005. Alayna was only about 6 months old (how is it possible she just turned 4!?!?!) and Josiah had just turned 3 (wow!).

The 4 Bloggers I am going to tag are....
1. Lindsay E.
2. Lindsay Y.
3. Angel
4. Angie

Family Time

If you read my blog regularly...you already know the Family Time routine. Dance, share the verse, recite the verse in various ways, begin the activity that goes along with the verse, pray and dance again to end. If you don't know what I'm talking about...look at other postings about Family Time. :)

Our verse for the letter "I" brought us to the beginning of the bible.
'In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth. Gen. 1:1'

The activity we chose involved reading a bit more into the chapter, reading about everything else that God created too. J was given the odd days (great practice for him to remember his even and odd numbers) and A had the even days. As we read the verses they each had to listen to what was created on their day. After we read the verses they each used play-doh to 'create' the things that were created on day 1,2,3,4,5 and 6. It was a lot of fun! We had a great time playing with play-doh and talking about all the things that God has created that we get to enjoy. One key part of this activity that we thought of....we totally forgot and left out. The kids still understood all that God created, but we were going to tell them to make their 'things' come to life. They would right away know that they couldn't do that, but we wanted them to realize the power that God has...he spoke things into existence. We can't do that! Regardless of our mistake...we all had a lot of fun! Here are our play-doh creations from last night. Enjoy!

To Make You Smile...

(Here's the reply the teacher received the following day)

Dear
Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer.

I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot.

From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Smith

Pink Eye...it isn't pretty!

This past weekend Pink Eye hit our home...I vaguely remember having pink eye once as a kid..J and A have never had it...my first child to receive pink eye is Seth. So sad!! He's a trooper though! He doesn't whine about having 'yucky eyes' as we call them, he only complains when we put the drops in his eyes. As you can see the pictures, it's not pretty. So far it has not spread to any of the other kids or to Dan and I...I pray it stays that way!! Beware, the pictures you are about to see are NOT pretty! His eyes are looking MUCH better today...thank goodness!

The Princess Goes to the Ball

Last night was a VERY exciting night at our house. Daddy and Alayna went to a Daddy-Daughter Dance! Alayna had been looking forward to going on this very special date all week. She got all dressed and we put curls in her hair...daddy even got dressed up for this special night!

Alayna waiting so patiently while I fixed her hair...

So pretty and soooo excited to go get her dress on! Last night was the first time I've ever really seen my little girl truly act like a 'girl'. She even told her dad that with her hair so pretty and curly she couldn't wrestle him!

They had a lot of fun and shared many dances together. Alayna was on Cloud 9 all day and all night...she had a great time! Her favorite dance was the "Chicken Dance"...she even demonstrated the moves when they got home. I pray she always remembers these special times with daddy and won't ever settle for less than a guy that treats her like her dad.

Nicer Weather....

When it gets in the 20's after a cold winter like we've had so far...everyone is OUTSIDE!! When Josiah got home from school yesterday we all got bundled up and headed outside to play.

Seth is actually happy to be outside...even though it doesn't look like it in this picture. He had a lot of fun running up and down our sidewalk.
It's wonderful to be able to have the kids wear off energy outside!

He was hard at work chopping the ice off our driveway...he was on a mission and got a lot of it cleared off. Definitely a perk of him being older...he's very helpful!

He Cares For You 1 Peter 5:7

This was our verse for the week. There are a variety of ways we could have talked about the verse, but after dancing (which Seth really enjoyed last night), reciting the verse, and talking about how God cares for us, we chose to focus on how we can care for those in our family.

Over Christmas we focused on how we can care for people outside our home, but last night we focused on showing how God cares for us through people within our family. We made a family list...the kids shared how we (mom and dad) can show them that we care for them, how they can show us (mom and dad) and then how they can show each other. Before they went to bed they had to choose one thing off the list to 'do for someone' to show that they care for them.

Organizing For A Good Cause

In January I scheduled a time for our MOPS Leadership Team to go to the YWCA and help organize their donation room (it was a need that was mentioned when I called). I was warned before hand that it was in DIRE need of help and when we got there...her words were confirmed...it was bad. For those of you who know what this means...think Bethel Rummage Sale...times 3!! We spent a few hours organizing that night and when we left the room looked MUCH better than when we got there, but there was still A LOT more work to do. I talked to one of the groups I'm in for MOPS to see if they'd be interested in going back there with me to organize again and they were very excited about going! Well, since this was my 2nd time going...I felt a little more prepared because I was able to visualize different ways to arrange and organize the room....it still needs more work and I hope to go back again soon, but here are some pictures from our fun times last night!

Yes, organizing to me is FUN!!!!

Our group minus 3 who needed to leave or weren't able to make it last night

Mary (our mentor mom) and Trista

Below are pictures of what the room looks like after...I wish I had before pictures...oh, well!

Cabin Fun!

We went to my sister and brother in law's cabin this weekend. My brothers family, our family and my sisters family all got together for a great time. We had a lot of fun and the weather could not have been nicer! Here are a few pics of the fun....

Getting ready to go outside....

All bundled up and ready for fun...

J got to reel in a fish and was very excited!

3 snow mobiles...1 large sled...2 small sleds...and 15 people...we were a long train going for a slow trail ride. Seth LOVED it!! He was so relaxed Dan kept making sure he hadn't fallen asleep!

Ready for a ride in the big sled

No...we didn't let them drive, but they enjoyed pretending!