November 5-- The best coffee date around

I feel like Caleb has been getting lost in the shuffle with busy work schedules, and now having two foster kids at home. This morning we had an extra three hours and decided to have a mommy and Caleb date. We went to a coffee shop, I had a beloved caffeinated drink, while my almost three year old had a hot chocolate. We talked. I worked. He colored. We split a scone. I helped him color. We talked. We laughed. We sang songs in the car.

It was beautiful. It was fun. I want to cherish times like this before he grows up too quickly.

On our way home, I asked him, "Can you be my baby forever?"

He responded: "Yep, forever and ever mommy."

Love that kid so much it hurts.

November 1- The Mouth Speaks

It's November!! One of my favorite months of the year.
-It's my birthday month
-It officially begins "the holiday season"
-It's my birthday month
-It's colder and big hoodies, sweaters and slippers are totally appropriate
-It's my birthday month
-It is a great time to practice the discipline of thankfulness
-It's my birthday month

What? You don't celebrate your birthday month. You totally should.

Each day of the month during November I will be posting at least one thing that I am thankful for.

Today: "The Mouth Speaks."

We have a cd in our car, Bible verses put to song. There is no question what Caleb's favorite song is...."The mouth speaks." He wants to listen to it on repeat. Forever. The verse is: "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" Matthew 12:34

Today I had a great conversation (as great as one can have with an almost three year old).

Caleb, do you know what this song means? 
Yep, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Right, but do you know what that means? If you have love in your heart, your words will speak love. If you have hate, anger, frustration, you will speak hate, anger frustration. 
Oh. 
Mommy is trying really hard to have the love of Jesus so that out of my mouth comes love.  What do you want to come out of your mouth? 
Jesus.
Do you remember what this song means? 
Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 
What do we want to flow out of our heart? 
Love. 
And what will come out of our mouth? 
I will just throw up out of my mouth.

I died.

And then I prayed that his little heart is filled with truth, love, grace and mercy and it flows right out of his heart.

"Mom, I have too much wotion?"

 Our 8 year old foster son is obsessed with putting lotion on his body. I assume that C will follow suit, not only because he looks up to 8 year old G, but because his skin is getting a bit dry and ashy.

I just didn't realize that he couldn't put lotion on himself. I heard him say, "Mom, I have too much wotion?" 

Because sometimes life calls for a best friend

And real best friends, well, they tell you when you are wearing a hideous shirt. 

Go, Fire Up Chips. 

The no good, terrible, bad, horrible day that I loved.

I was so proud of myself for being mom of the year. What 2 and half year old doesn't want to go see the REAL live Thomas? And not just see him, but get your picture taken with him? And if that wasn't enough, you could ACTUALLY ride the real Thomas. Someone pinch me, because this seems too good to be true. Mom of the year award coming up now.

We were gearing up for our Saturday morning Day Out with Thomas.

Until Friday night, when we were placed with newborn baby J. Friday night, I had about 30 minutes of sleep. I fell asleep at 6am. We were supposed to be out the door at 7:45. I woke up at 7:30a. We had nothing packed. We had baby J for less than 8 hours. We didn't know if we had enough diapers, formula, clothes etc. We literally threw tons of stuff in the car and ran out the door. Except you can'[t do that with a newborn. J started crying and needed to be fed. He ate till 8:15. Now we were late. Our train ride was at 10:30. It was a two hour drive, and you had to be there by 10. We might make it, if we sped.

And then we needed gas. Add 5 minutes to the trip. Can we make up five minutes? Maybe.

We call the ticket company and the park and get a hold of no one. I don't even know if it will be worth our time to make the drive. If we miss our 10 time, can we even get in?

And then..car sickness. If you know me, this is no surprise. I get very sick in cars, very quickly and very often. I will spare details. Because of this, we would be lucky if we got to the park at 11.

I was crying, I was feeling guilty, I was anxious.

My mom was driving to meet us. I was feeling so bad that she would have to make a 1 and half hour drive, just to turn around because we couldn't use our tickets.

I wanted to crawl in a hole  and cry. And sleep. And feel sorry for myself.

And then....we pulled into the park. We talked to the ticket counter, and they were SO GRACIOUS. That, or they were scared of my frantic tears and sob story. Either way, our tickets were moved and my boy LOVED meeting the Real Thomas.

With meema, waving at Thomas

This is the view from our car that we were riding in.

I never thought I would have such a good day meeting Thomas. The things that those kids do to a mom's heart. I loved seeing his face, and more so I love hearing him talk about that day now, a few weeks later. He loved it and had fun. That is all that matters.

And I proudly accept the "Mom of the Year Award."

Remember my last post about the rollercoaster? And Caleb being scared? And my feeling bad. Good.

On Saturday, after LOTS of cleaning, and house work we thought it would be a great idea to go get Jimmy John's for dinner (do you think if I mention their name enough on the blog, that I will get free meals? Because I REALLY LOVE JIMMY JOHNS. And free meals aren't bad either.) Jimmy Johns and a picnic in the park. Great summer night, right?

Until Caleb decided that he only like turkey in sandwiches. Not the cheese. Not the bread

Fine, you can feed your bread to the ducks.

And so he did. And he loved it.

Until the attack.

That's right folks. While Jon was giving Caleb bread, Caleb was throwing the bread into the water for the ducks, and I was being mom of the year taking pictures, we looked up and were surrounded by about 30 geese. 30 hissing geese.

At this point, I thought we should get out of there. Jon confirmed it with, "Get Caleb in the car now, they are attacking!"

Seriously.

Nature is better through a window friends.

The time I let my child ride a coaster.

A few weeks ago, a nearby town had their annual Hot Air Balloon Festival. It is so fun to watch 30+ balloons (depending on the year) fly up in the air. Caleb loved watching them. At one point, Jon taught him to say, "Take me with you" when a balloon would fly directly over our heads.

Before the balloons took off, we took a walk around and ate some really fatty, delicious fair food, and even asked Caleb if he wanted to ride a few rides. He's two, that's practically a teenager, right? Bring on the rides!

"What have I got myself into?" 

See the car with no head? That's Caleb! 

The ride passed us, and he said, "Can I stop?" 

It wasn't until I looked the pictures that I realized, how incredibly small my baby was as he was flying all over the place on that alligator rollercoaster.

 And his face, his poor precious, scared for his life, questioning why his mommy and daddy would ever allow him to do this...oh, that face. It makes me so sad, and makes me giggle at the same time.

But there were tractors....and tractors make everything better. Tractors and trains.

Two is hard. On Monday, I heard Jon say to Caleb, "We know you have a switch, just tell us what makes it go off, and we can avoid it." I chuckled, because that question sums up all that we have been feeling and experiencing the last few months. Two is so hard. 

 Except when you see smiles like this. Then two is really fun. And hilarious. And special and sweet. 

 Until you have a toy thrown at you. Or food. Or both. At the same time. Then two is so not fun. 

 Except when it is. Like when he says, "I just wanna snuggle mamma." Then I melt. Those times, I think, "Man, I love two. It is so fun. Can he be two forever?" 

 Until I hear a crashing noise in his room and realize that he has thrown a porcelain piggy bank and it has shattered. Then I hate two. When will it be over? I can't do this anymore. 

 And then he crawls up on my lap, gives me big kisses, and says, "Mamma, how's your day? How we doing? How's your family?" And then I laugh out loud and can't believe how funny he is, wonder where he has heard this before and then become very aware that everything I say, he hears and repeats. 

 Excuse me while I go clean up the plate of food that was just thrown across the room. 

Does this post seem a little bi-polar? Emotional? From one extreme to another? 

You're welcome. 

You officially know what it's like in my house EVERY DAY. 

I like two. 

Except when I hate it. 

It's Summer Time!

We are loving summer. 

It has been great already. Busy, perhaps more busy than the school year, but so good. 

We have put in a patio in the back yard, Jon built a swing set, I did a lot of planting, and want to continue to beautify my yard. My front yard is still a miserable disgrace, but the back is turning into a place of refuge. Still have few more projects that I want to do. 

We have been playing in the sandbox, taking walks, and having outside fun. 

Caleb and I took a trip to Pittsburgh, for the Regional Staff Conference for InterVarsity. 

We have been having parties and bbq's.  

Our house has been messy and sandy. Mmmmm. Not sure why? 

We have to bathe Caleb CONSTANTLY! No one told me summer time + 2 year old boy = 12 baths a day. Seriously. GROSS! 

And....we are working on potty training. And by "We are working" I mean I am trying to coax, bride, plead, at whatever cost to get him to start potty training. IT IS NOT WORKING. I'll save this for another blog post. 

Still to come this summer: 

-Seeing family from California 

-more weekends at the lake 

-Fundraising and planning for InterVarsity 

-possible foster child in our house 

-lots of photography business 

Also, and exciting weekend ahead: 

-We are heading to Mackinac for a friend's wedding. I get to be the photographer, we get to go to Mackinac and have a weekend without Caleb.I can't wait! Pictures overload, beware!

From THAT to THIS- swingset edition

I am hoping that this series will give you a before an after peek the projects we are working on. This past weekend, my lovely hubs put together a swingset for Caleb. It was hot, he was tired, and it took A L L weekend. But it looks great, and Caleb loves it. 

Please excuse my lack of editing these photos. I kind of feel naked, but I am up to my knees in things that need to get done, and editing swing set photos didn't make the cut. 

FROM THAT...

TO THIS!

Sticks and Stones

 Sticks and stones, may break my bones, 

 but words will never hurt me. 

 Whoever coined that phrase was either a coward or not honest with himself. 

So let's just gather in, take a step back and be honest. 

Words hurt. 

Sometimes more than sticks. Much more than sticks. 

I would be doing my son a huge disservice if I let him believe that. 

I don't want him to throw words around aimlessly, like a wrecking ball. 

Words that hurt. 

Words that scar. 

Words that cause wounds. 

I don't want him to cause unnecessary brokenness in relationships. 

I want him to be a man that thinks carefully before he speaks. ( A lesson that he could teach his hard headed, stubborn, opinionated mamma.) 

I want him to choose words that build others up, even when he wants to tear them down. 

Words that give people and dignity. 

Words that speak truth. 

Words that encourage. 

Words that heal. 

.... It's your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season..... 

 Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.

Matthew 12:34-37 (The Message) 

"I Do Cheerios"

We are definitely in the idependent, "I can do all by myself, CAY-YUB, do it" stage. 

Even eating cereal. 

It makes mommy a little on the crazy side. 

A Snowy Day

SNOW DAY! SNOW DAY! SNOW DAY!!!!!!

What? A snow day doesn't mean I get to eat extra treats? 

This is what I got when I said, "SMILE"