the barbershop

Ok, so I know I'm really bad about keeping my son's hair cut.
I spend too much time debating on whether I should try to cut it myself, or let Dave buzz it, or take him to get it done.
And while I'm doing all this debating it just keeps getting longer and longer.
Dave doesn't like it when it gets long at all.
This boy is gonna have a hard time dealing with his daddy if the longer, shaggy look is 'cool' when he gets bigger.
I always feel especially bad and a little embarrassed when others comment that he needs a haircut.

Dave was off work because of rain one day and he needed a haircut himself, so we decided to take Mason to the barbershop too.

It was hilarious.
He waited patiently in line while watching a western movie.
And kept rubbing the guys arm beside him - which made me feel a little awkward.
I couldn't tell if the guy minded this little 2 year old sitting by him or not.
He wanted Daddy to go first, and he watched very intently.

And then it was his turn.
I was so glad I had my phone there to take pictures since I didn't think to take my camera.

He sat there PERFECTLY the entire time - kind of in a trance.
I didn't realize how long his hair really had gotten until I saw the length that was getting cut off.
He looks much better now.
And we may just have to go see Wayne the Barber again.

sticking with the letter theme

This letter will have nothing to do with preschool.

But I had a bunch of pictures and they all fit the letter T.

T is for Turning 30.

Nope, not me, thank goodness - YET.

Kendall was up first.

Our fun day started off with a Turkey Trot - I was the only one that didn't run.

I decided to be the holder of things, and picture taker.

After the race, they were serving brats - what a great snack after running.

All but one of these girls are just faking that they are eating a brat.

Only the strong of heart can take on a brat after a 2 mile run.

Can you guess who?

We spent the whole day together - shopping, spa, coffee (or cider for me), ice cream, Panera, and just an all-together awesome time with girlfriends! 

T is for tree.

Another fun painting project we did.

I painted Taylor's arm and hand brown.

Mason wanted NOTHING to do with this.

So Taylor did a hand/arm print on her paper and Mason's.

Then they added leaves with yellow, orange, red and brown paint.

T is for tutu.

And for TOTALLY dead. Because that's what I'll be when Dave sees I posted this picture.

The funny thing is that this wasn't just a one time thing.

He insisted on wearing this for a week.

One day he insisted on wearing it during nap.

Dave finally hid it.

The long shaggy hair doesn't help make this any better!

T is for tracks.

A new favorite activity at our house.

We zoom cars down the hallway, and even down the stairs.

We make jumps for them and the kids try to race them to the end and catch them.

Daddy even made a tunnel for them to go through.

Taylor decided the tunnel needed decorations.

T is for timeout.

A place this little guy has been spending a lot of time in.

Hopefully he will learn soon that he can't demand his way around here.

But through all our daily struggles with him - he still melts our hearts, says the cutest things, and can be so cute, fun and happy when he wants to be.

And we are thankful that things are getting better, we've made some progress.

And no matter what - we are THANKFUL for our strong-willed child.

It just means that Mommy and Daddy have TONS to learn, and our mistakes and own weaknesses are being exposed way more than with our first child.

And it means that we are learning with our 2nd child, that this is not a job we can do alone.

I think our pride got in the way with our first.

She was easy, she was easily corrected, she didn't push our buttons (well, she sometimes does, but nothing terrible), she has a tender heart, and has been pretty easy to train so far.

I think we got caught taking the credit for that.  And we found ourselves caught up in some pretty prideful assumptions.

We were doing something right.

 We were doing a good job with her. 

This parenting thing is pretty easy. 

We can do this alone.

But what we are learning is that God does not want us to do this alone.

And sometimes he has to break us down to remind us of things.

Our children are GIFTS from him.

He chose us to raise them for Him.

It's not a job to be prideful about and to take credit for.

And when things are easy - isn't that what we do sometimes?

It is only by His grace that we are entrusted with them.

We are learning that our children are a constant reminder of His grace and love.

And I have found these words from this post, to be very humbling and encouraging as I try so hard, but fail all the time...to be the mother I am suppossed to be to each of my two precious ones.  As draining as that can be sometimes.

He helps bring me to my knees. Being a mom is one of the most challenging yet amazing jobs I have ever had. And there is nothing like a child to cause you to fall on your knees at the feet of our Heavenly Father pleading for help. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with my responsibility as a mom. It is a job that no matter how good my intentions, or how hard I try, I can’t do on my own. I will get tired. I will get frustrated. I will mess up. I need the help of my Heavenly Father. And I need it everyday.

I lift my eyes to the hills–

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

Our children are an incredible gift, entrusted to us by the Lord. Will you seek His help today for whatever challenges you are facing with your little ones? And as Ashley reminded us a few weeks ago, don’t forget to celebrate the everyday mundane moments.

(from the heart of Jess Mac - a wise and dear friend who is always an encouragement and reminder to me to seek God is all I do).

Seek His help for whatever challenges I am facing with my little ones.

One of the best lessons I can learn as a mother.

And from the mouth of another friend...

"Mason is no longer up for adoption"

:-)

enter his gates with thanksgiving

How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.

Psalm 31:19

We began a new tradition last night - a special dinner for just the 4 of us.

It was a lot of work. But maybe because I didn't prepare anything in advance (not even the grocery shopping). I was in the kitchen for over 3 hours, add the Walmart trip on top of that - it was nearly a 5 hour project. Ending with a really fast shower so I was presentable for our special night.

Our Mom2Mom group at church has been focusing on the theme of the "aroma of your family".

We have been focusing on ways that we can show our family our love using all of the senses.

Sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste all unite together to bring my kids and husband a certain aroma within the walls of our house.

And it's my duty to make sure that that aroma is one they love.  One that will make home their favorite place to be, and a place where they will ultimately see Christ's love modeled to them in many many ways.

So last night I incorporated all the senses into our very own Family Thanks Dinner.

Sight  - well, you can SEE in the pictures.  And for a 2 and 4 year old, this sight when they walked into the house from being gone for the day was INCREDIBLE!  They are definitely not used to the table being set like this. The first 20 minutes they were home, I got to answer lots of questions over and over again about what we were doing.

"Do we really get to use those glass cups?"

"Can we drink that same drink as you and daddy?"

"When will the restaurant open?" (as Dave and I were finishing up showers and getting dressed before dinner)

"What's this?" (referring to the napkin and napkin ring)

"Will we eat these pumpkins?"

Smell - I had been cooking for 3 hours - so there were lots of smells going on.

Sound - Christmas music in the background, plus the sharing together of what we are thankful for.

Taylor was thankful for her Bitty Baby, her bed, and her family

Mason was thankful for his blanket and monkey.

And then there was the sound of praying....which was interrupted by a certain 2 year old saying "say Amen!"

Here we were trying to make sure we really let God know what we were thankful for - and I guess Mason thought the prayer was too long. 

Touch - oops, I think I forgot about this one.

Taste - Pioneer Woman's Ribeye in Whiskey Cream Sauce and Creamy Rosemary Potatoes, spinach salad, rolls and sparkling grape juice.

It was a perfect dinner for my steak-loving family.

I found so much joy in working my tail off for my family like I did today.

It was kind of exhausting.  But totally worth it.

The kids loved it. And Dave said thank you many times throughout the evening.

It was perfect.

There were no spills, no fighting, no fussing.

Even though our prayer got interrupted, and a dump truck made it's way to the fancy table - even those little details were just perfect.

Definitely a tradition I think we'll hold onto!

**********************************************

After dinner, we continued celebrating Thanksgiving at a Thanksgiving Celebration Service at our church.

I always need that time to just sit and take in all that God wants to reveal to me, when sometimes everything around me can seem so busy and rushed.

God has been revealing a lot to me lately about His desire for unity with me, His desires to walk hand in hand in an intimate relationship with me.

Something that is so hard to grasp sometimes.

So at this time of thanksgiving, I want to be most thankful that He pursues me even when I am not pursuing Him. I am thankful that He wants to know me, that He wants to provide everything I need, and that He loves me more than I can even possibly begin to understand.

I am thankful that even as undeserving as I am, He offers me grace.

And I am thankful that His grace is all that I need.

So as thankful as I am during this season for my husband, my kids, the rest of my family, my home, my friends, my church, my security...

I pray that if it were all taken away, I would still be thankful.

For I would still have his grace.

And His grace is enough.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

I pray that each of you know the gift of God's grace - and truly understand that without it, we would have nothing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

feasting with friends

I think I've told you that I LOVE our preschool group.

I especially love it because we get to benefit from some AMAZING creativity that some of my friends have.

Olivia suggested we do a Thanksgiving feast.

She and her sister did ALL the work - we just showed up and ate and played.

It was so fun, and they did an amazing job, and made us feel so special with the way they hosted us and our kids.  But if you know them, this is no surprise to you, this is SOOO them!

Some of the best hostessess I've ever met!

They had the kids' table set so cute!

Before lunch, the kids all got to make pilgrim hats and collars,

and Indian vests.

Taylor hurt her lip the day before, so she was being a little dramatic with her smile.

Every last detail was so creative - down to the food on the kids' plates - turkey sandwiches, corn and pumpkin jigglers.

This would be the point that Mason was sitting in another room in a corner - because he was throwing a fit about wanting the princess chair. It took him awhile to pull it together and join his friends.

And if they hadn't gone to enough work already,

they also prepared an amazing lunch just for us moms!

And then for desert...

Our preschool group...

And we got to go home with these cute Mayflowers...

Thanks Leah and Olivia - you ladies put on a FABULOUS feast - we enjoyed it soooo much!

We decided we may have a Valentine's Party too - hopefully some of the rest of us can come up with some creative ideas so we can give Leah and Olivia a break!

P is for Pumpkin

We've been doing lots of preschool activites around here.
Our preschool group just swapped for the 2nd time - for 6 more weeks of activities! 

Some of these are old...but we had a great time learning the letter P and PUMPKINS.
And I figured I better share these now - since starting next week no one will be interested in pumpkin activities anymore.

These awesome ideas are all from Olivia - she was assigned the pumpkin theme...

A candy pumpkin....orange slice candy with a green jelly bean and frosting!
10 seconds after I took this, we walked away from the table and the dog ate both of the kids' pumpkins.
They were not happy.

 Then we made scented pumpkins...

 We cut out a pumpkin and glued on a green piece for the stem.

 We mixed Elmer's glue and water (half and half I think), and then added pumpkin pie spice.
And painted all over the pumpkins.
When they dried, they smelled yummy!

 And of course anything that we can EAT is always a hit...

 Mini-Pumpkin Pies

 Small Graham Cracker Crusts

1-2 T pumpkin pie mix

1 T cool whip

1 c. vanilla pudding

Mix the pumpkin pie mix, cool whip and vanilla pudding together, pour into crust, top with a dollup of cool whip!  Enjoy!

My kids go crazy over cool whip!  Mason snuck probably 20 licks from either the container, the spoon or what I put on the pies.

These got me in the mood for REAL pumpkin pie - can't wait!

I hate when I get behind on holidays and then post about them a month afterwards.  SO, to keep things a little bit more in calendar order - I back-posted our Halloween pictures.  No one cares to see cute Halloween costumes anymore anyway!   But just in case...here you go.

where did October go?

And not only where did October go?

But how in the world is next week already Thanksgiving?

This doesn't even seem possible.

So even though all the pumpkin patches are now closed, here's some fun we had at a local pumpkin patch, weeks ago.

Our first trip to Papa's Pumpking Patch was with the family after church one Sunday.

 Then we went again with the moms and kids that we are doing our preschool group with.

 I just love all the moms and cameras in this picture.

We love this pumpkin patch because it's FREE!

So when it's kind of rainy and we have to rush through our "fieldtrip" in an hour and take shelter for our snack, it's not that big of a deal. 

We are planning a fun Thanksgiving Feast for our kiddos next!