Whatnot Wednesday

*We have had a more relaxed summer, that is for sure, but we are still busy, really busy.  Some weeks are worse than others, this week and next I have 4 doctor's appointments, 4 speech therapy sessions, 2 gymnastic classes, 2 home groups, a play date or two, in addition to the normal activities that fill up the lives of a family of five.  Why am I telling you this, so that you will see just how stupid I am to have begun potty training Jack on Saturday.  It was an accident really, he used the potty a couple of times so I said let's give this a try, not realizing that it would mean that during the first 14 days of potty training we would be gone most of the time and have our accidents in a number of embarrassing places.  Note to self: when potty training Chloe check calendar first :).

*This is all I know about potty training, just go for it, do not use pull-ups (if it can be helped), pray, remind yourself that it only seems to take forever while you're in the middle of it, buy extra laundry detergent, bribe, pray.

*We're in the dog days of spring around here folks, that's right, don't forget it is still officially spring, and when was the last time you saw a temp lower than 100.  I know, I know, I love summer, I have to remind myself of this often while we're out running our errands.

Notice the yogurt he's eating and the cute summer haircut

*Did you know that they make dairy free, soy free yogurt, I just knew that they must and I drove on over to the College Station grocery stores (we live in Bryan which the grocery stores have decided are filled with people too poor to want any of those neat options) and I found it.  It's made with coconut milk and the brand is SO Delicious.  I finally understand why some people drive to a big city every so often to get certain groceries, it's hard to get speciality stuff in this town and it's expensive when you find it!

*Jack had his teeth cleaned for the first time today, I was totally worried about it.  He did great, no problems whatsoever, shows what I know.

*The kids are loving gymnastics and normally I would be loving watching them loving gymnastics.  The only problem is 2 out of the 3 times we've been the air conditioner in the viewing room was out, it is out of control hot, today the thermostat in there said 95!

*Kylynn has decided she made a new best friend in gymnastics, she has no idea what the girl's name is, I guess when you're five you skip over the small talk and get right into deep discussions bonding you for life.

*I had a soda with dinner tonight (we ate out), I gave up caffeine about a year ago, so this was a very bad decision on my part, I will be up till about 2 o'clock tonight.

Back to the Basics

One of my goals this summer was to get back into the routine of a daily "quiet time."  This is an area of my life that I have always struggled, I get into a good routine, something happens, a new baby for example, and I get off track for much longer than it takes to adjust to the new baby.  I finally get back into a good routine and the whole process repeats itself all over again.  I have never crossed over into it being a habit, you know something you do without thinking, every, single, day, like brushing your teeth.

This summer our church is going through the Essentials Bible study* that some of our pastors have put together and I am really enjoying it.  The Bible study has been offered many times during my years at our church but I have always passed, thinking that it would be boring and really only useful for a new believer, I was wrong.

The Essentials study deals with the core beliefs of Christianity, such as the Trinity, the deity of Christ, how to be saved, assurance of salvation, the Holy Spirit, and so on.  Although I'm at a place in my walk where most of the information we are covering is not new to me, let's face it as humans we grasp very little of the God we serve. It is always good to go over the basics again, to learn them more, for our own knowledge, in order to better share with non-believers, and to remind us of the reasons to praise Him.

Our home group has decided this summer to read Mere Christianity as a supplement to the Essentials being preached on Sunday morning.  C.S Lewis' radio talks from the 1940's are collected together to form this book, where he is arguing the truth of Christianity.  This truth transformed him from an atheist to one of the most respected Christian authors of our time.  I have enjoyed his book more than I ever would have imagined.  He is surprisingly non-divisive, not to mention brilliant and funny at the same time.

My hope this summer is that I take the time to put my own ideas aside, to learn who God really is, who He reveals himself to be in His word.  Not who I think He is, not who various denominations have told us He is, but God as He actually is.  The more I study His word, the more I realize that what He wants from His followers is so much different than what most of us are willing to give.  I am challenged by His word, I am learning that he would rather have me feeding the hungry than attending another Bible study, loving the lonely rather than planning another family activity, and fighting for the oppressed rather than arguing with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

*If you're interested in doing this study it is available, along with any other bible study our church offers, online to be downloaded for free here.

Whatnot Wednesday

* Your tax dollars at work: The IRS is investigating the legitimacy of our right to claim the adoption credit, two months later we still do not have our tax refund (and yes we definitely qualify for the adoption tax credit).  Today we got two envelopes from the IRS, both addressed to Kyle and myself, inside each envelope was a letter stating that they had received the paperwork we sent them AND another identical letter.  That's right we received two envelopes containing four letters each saying the exact same pointless statement of, we got your mail.

*The snack experiment got off to a bad start.  Less than 24 hours in Kylynn stole a piece of a brownie, now mind you it was a tiny little piece but still.  Now that the newness of it all has worn off I've yet to see her eat anything out of her snack bin and the fruit and veggies are hardly touched.

* Since Chloe came home I've been doing my grocery shopping at night time.  By the time we get the kids to bed and I get all my stuff together I'm getting to the store around 9 o'clock at night, it's amazing to me that I manage to buy the right things and stay awake to drive home.  Last week I got home from the store and began putting everything away, I was so tired that it took me about 15 minutes before I noticed this.

Yes, there are onions hanging in my pantry.  Kyle had taken up some of the ones from our garden and had hung them up to dry while I was out.  Speaking of my pantry want to see the rest of it, well since you asked and all.

*My summer goals are coming along.  The teacher's pet in me now feels like I'm going to be graded since I let the whole world 12 people who read this blog in on my goals.  I've begun reading Bringing Up Girls by Dr. Dobson.  I am really enjoying it and at the same time terrified to ever let Kylynn or Chloe leave my sight again :)

*Kylynn is so excited about gymnastics that she keeps asking how many more days.  Yesterday afternoon she asked if it was tomorrow yet (because I had told her that morning that gymnastics was tomorrow).  I told her that it is never tomorrow it is always today.  This made me laugh to myself thinking how much my "deep thought" would be over her head, instead of being confused she said, "I knoooow that mooom, but when is it going to be time for gymnastics."  So much for teaching her something this summer.

*Speaking of Kylynn did I tell you she's got some weird fascination lately with coloring on things that she knows she is NOT allowed to color on, the couch, or the carpet for example.  By the way, anyone know how to get crayon out of your carpet or how to get your five your old to obey?

*Now for some links I've been meaning to share (the titles are mine, theirs are more normal):
      From It's Almost Naptime, Vitamin D is speed
      From Russell Moore, Adoption talk from Kung Fu Panda 2
      Also from It's Almost Naptime, 30,000 dollars for their adoption, paid in full by God
      From Sit a Spell, This post had Kyle and I asking hard questions and praying big prayers

The snack experiment

We've been having a little problem around here for the past six months or so with Kylynn, she has been sneaking candy.  The girl has a sweet tooth and while sweets are far from forbidden around here I tend to keep candy as a special occasion treat.

But there is candy stashed away in the pantry and in a jar in their bathroom (for potty training) and she knows it.  Unfortunately this has happened repeatedly and while we've been able to deal with the lying associated with the candy stealing, she now will admit it when asked, we've yet to stop the sneaking of the candy.

I don't know about y'all but my kids have robbed me of half of my brain cells, so I am not creative when it comes to discipline, it's a constant part of my job and I get in a major rut.  Whenever this happens I turn to Kyle, thankfully he still can think outside the box, his idea: give her unlimited access to healthy snacks.  Foods that she can count on being there and that she is allowed to go and grab without our permission.  When we told her of the idea she was ecstatic, I'm pretty sure the words "without our permission" are her favorite words to hear.

So I spent the afternoon preparing a bowl of food for her, in it I put yogurt cups, cheese sticks, apple slices, blackberries, carrot sticks, broccoli, and celery slices.  Used my new handy dandy labeler (which I need in case that dream of professional organizer ever comes true) to print a "Kylynn" label for it and put in on the bottom shelve of the fridge where she can reach it.

When I brought her in to show it to her the first thing she did was grab a yogurt cup, which she ate half of.  After dinner, after saying she was full, she walked up to me munching on a cheese stick, and I managed to not say anything.  I'm excited to see how this works, to see if giving her more freedom actually helps her to obey the rules.  I'm not sure if she can resist the forbidden fruit in favor of the real thing, but it's worth a shot.

Summer Goals

I love summer and I live in Texas, I'm weird like that.  I accept that beginning in April and ending in October I will be sweaty and gross and a little smelly, I stop fighting it and try to enjoy the heat, and you know what it works.  There are so many things I love about summer, even if it does mean two showers a day.  I love more time outdoors, grilling dinner, beach trips, summer dresses, tans!, sunlight, and days that seem to go on and on (in a good way).

I also love summer in that way that High school students love summer, months stretched before you to take a break and do nothing.  The days of doing nothing left me so long ago I actually don't remember what that feels like, but I look forward to the slower pace of summers all the same.  I have less things on my calendar, less is expected of me, so I always have big dreams of all I'm going to accomplish each summer.  Dreams that are crushed come September when I realize I let the days get away from me and haven't accomplished a single thing.

No more, my friends.  This summer I made goals, and I wrote them down, AND I'm going to write them down here in public to hopefully spur me on to accomplish something these next few months.  Got any goals for the summer, I'd love to hear them, comment some of your goals or better yet write your own post and leave the link in the comments.

2011 Summer Goals:

1. Read five of the non-fiction books I have been meaning to read forever.  I am currently reading Mere Christianity (more on that soon) the other four will come from the following list I've got going.  Radical, No Biking in the House w/o a helmet, Organized Simplicity, Year of Plenty, One Thousand Gifts, Shepherding a Child's Heart, Bringing up Boys, Bringing up Girls.

2. Read four books for fun.  Got any ideas, lay em on me!

3. Get my computer time under control, set up a plan/schedule of rules for healthy computer usage.

4. Greatly related to #3, get back into the routine and then habit of spending time DAILY in God's word as well as continued prayer throughout the day.

5. Get together with several friends I haven't seen in the past few months.

6. Finish organizing our study, and set up a workable work area for me.

7. Hang the various wall hangings throughout the house that have been bought in the past six months.

8. Complete my sewing projects.  (That is the funniest sentence I've ever typed, but I'm serious, really, kind of, no I have to get it done!)

9. Goals for teaching Jack:
*Potty trained.  This has to happen this summer or I suddenly become a homeschooler and need to add some more goals and books to my summer :)
*Begin to write his name
*Work on counting to 10

10. Goals for teaching Kylynn:
*Know all letters and the sounds they make
*Count to 20, write numbers 1-10
*be able to swim

So what about you any summer goals?

A weekend to remember

We had one of those weekends.  The good kind, the kind you catch yourself saying, make a memory, hold onto this moment and remember it next time you feel like nothing is going your way.  I felt blessed to have grown enough to notice the gifts that were given to me, to stop and listen to the laughter that was filling my house and just listen, to realize that time spent with the people you love is important, really important.

It was Kylynn's fifth birthday and we began the party on Thursday and kept on all weekend long.  She awoke bright and early on her special day and put on the fancy outfit she had deemed appropiate and was rewarded with her first present before I was even out of bed.  She spent the next hour bouncing on her new swing and seeing if her friends were home so she could show it off.

That evening we gave her the gifts from us.  Roller skates (ice skates she calls them), a baby seat for her bike, some summer dresses and googles.  We marveled at her grown up responses to her gifts, "what I've always wanted, forever...it's so beautiful...oh my word, and wondered if it was possible to love a girl more.

The next day my sister was there, I had reinforcements and I took full advantage.  She took Kylynn off for a little date while I took just two kids to speech therapy.  Aunt Jessie took Kylynn for her first manicure and I'm pretty sure she will have gotten more manicures than me by the time she's 12, but I didn't have an aunt Jessie.  Kyle and I snuck off for our first date in 8 weeks! with Chloe in tow (having just a one year old still counts as a date in my book).  We went to an estate sale at the oldest house in Bryan and just got to enjoy the view because the prices were laughably high.  We ended up finding a rug for our study and sneaking off for a lunch out.

That afternoon my sister and I took the kids to the pool and had such a blast.  It was Chloe's first time to go to the pool and the girl LOVED it, I'm talking wanted nothing to do with me, never cried when she fell in, and wanted to be able to walk right on into the deep in.  We ate up a bag full of oreos and apples but still manage to eat the yummy lasagna waiting for us when we got home (yes my handyman can cook too!)

Saturday the rest of my family was here and it was time to celebrate the five year old again.  We headed out to the Hullabaloo diner because it had made it's way onto the Food Network and the food is amazing, it was the perfect place to take guests.  When we got there there was a long wait so they sent us around to the patio to wait.  We get back there and they have live music, actually good, live music and strangely enough the first thing he says is I have an extra mic if anyone wants to join me.  Well, now that you mention it we are the proud owners of a musician in our family (my brother in law).  So we spent the next couple of hours listening to them sing for us, eating amazing food, and enjoying the beautiful day.  It was by far the most fun I've had in ages, it was magical, I kept wanting to stop time and live in that moment a little longer.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching Kylynn open every Barbie/Princess item they sell in the stores and eating an amazing cake.  As I'm sure you are all aware, I did not make this cake, nope that would be crafty and I am nothing if not the opposite of crafty.  My sweet friend, Crystal, has begun her own cake business and I was blown away by what she came up with when I asked for a strawberry shortcake cake.  I have never seen anything like this in real life, she made the strawberry cake by grinding up real strawberries, wow!  If you need a cake, cupcakes, cake pops, cookies, you get the idea I'll put you in touch with her, anything you can dream up she can do.

When they left Saturday evening I was so full of joy.  It was hard to see them leave but I felt blessed have taken the time to live in the moments of this weekend, not to mention there was still two days left of it to enjoy!

Whatnot Wednesday

*School is out and we are claiming this the summer of "there's no hurry."  I want my children to not have to "hurry up" this summer the way they have the past four months.  I want them to stay in their pajamas as long as they want.  Better yet I want to have at least one a day a week where we all go straight from jamas to bathing suits to jamas.  I want us all to rest, to be restored, to get to know each other again, to allow Chloe the time to find her place, and learn that she won't always have to spend so much time in a car seat.

*Have I told you guys the doctor things Jack is lactose intolerant.  I can't remember if I have, but I believe he's correct and so far we're seeing less symptoms he was having before we removed dairy from his diet.  He misses cheetos, a lot.

*My baby turns 5, as in five years old, as in it's been five whole years since I laid in that hospital bed and found out I had a girl, a girl!  Five just sounds so old.  Have I mentioned she's going to kindergarten next year, which means tomorrow she'll be 16 and next week she'll have her own children.  Sigh...

*I signed the kids up for gymnastics, we are all super excited!  When I was standing there watching the girls practice, I couldn't help but remember how that used to be my dream.  I was passionate about gymnastics, I would tape the competitions on TV and watch them over and over and try to learn how to do their routines.  The one small problem was I was not a gymnast, so when I was 15, I decided that since I loved gymnastics so much I should take some gymnastic classes (duh!).  I called around and found a place that offered beginning classes to older kids.  I had a blast.  Yesterday I tried to teach Kylynn to do a cart wheel, which involved me doing a cart wheel, A. wow! I felt brave doing a cart wheel, I mean you are hurling yourself at the ground, and B. ouch, who knew how many muscles it takes to do a cartwheel.

*Last night for dinner I made my own ChickFila salads, copied them to a T and can I tell you, they were amazing!  This might also have to be the summer of the ChickFila chicken strip salad.

*Speaking of ChickFila I decided that I wanted a peach milkshake like they offered a few summers ago. I had bought the peaches and cream ice cream from Bluebell, so I knew it would be amazing.  I asked Kyle if he would make it for me because sometimes I just get sick of preparing food (I do it all day long!) and he said sure.  When he gave me my milkshake, it tasted, well, bad.  I couldn't figure out what had gone wrong, until I realized there was something in it I had to chew.  He told me very proudly that he had put graham crackers in it, because he went the other day and ordered a shake and he paid very close attention to how to make it.  My sweet husband had order a banana pudding milkshake and had confused that with a peach milkshake, also we realized they were most likely putting vanilla wafers in it, not graham crackers!