Question Tuesday!

I ponder a lot and question myself a lot, do you? Especially in my role as mommy, I find myself always asking "could I have done this better?" or "why did I say that?" and so on. I believe in extending myself grace as the Lord does, as I am human, but I also believe in improving where I can. I know that it's no surprise to God when I mess up (nothing is a surprise to Him!) but it is a surprise to me!
One thing I really am trying to focus on with my son is actually focusing on my son. I'm usually found juggling about 12 things- my phone, (ooh, a text!), lunch, picking something up, AND talking to my little guy. Not often am I just looking him in the eye and talking to him. Did you know that that is one of the key ingredients in feeling included and part of a family? Sincere conversation and personal time spent. And yet, does he feel that when I'm texting and dusting and talking? I know it's not realistic to sit all day and look into his eyes while we converse, but do I do it much at all? This is what I'm working to improve.

Do you have anything you want to improve in your mommy-ing?

As We Wait

 

Tis the season of Advent. Waiting expectantly in our house sometimes ends up looking like a frenzied last minute rush to add some merriment and tradition to the season. I could see it now.

Husband: So what were your Christmas traditions?

Abigail: Well, Mom spent the holiday's frustrated, grouchy, and in a hurry.

Husband: What did you do?

Abigail: Rushed around alot.

OK, so maybe that isn't quite how it would go, but I'm telling you I could picture it and I didn't like it. (The Christmas planner I tried and advertised at our meeting bit the dust in the two-weeks of Birthday and Thanksgiving.)

I did what is becoming habit: read some blogs. Then I came up with a plan. And advent calendar that marks the days not with candies but with activities--

• watch a holiday movie (or four), 
• sing and dance Christmas carols, 
• make ornaments, 
• address and send Christmas cards, 
• read special stories, 
• give, give, give.

That's what we have. Lest you think more of me than you should, I will confess that the envelops weren't filled till the 3rd and the tree wasn't on the wall till the 5th and it still isn't straight. But, hey, I wasn't looking for perfection, just for tradition.

Now I can hear it.

Wife: So what did you do for Christmas in your family?

Simon: Well, Mom stuck a crocheted sting on the wall in the shape of a wounded Christmas tree and hung decorated envelops from it with things to do as we waited for Christmas. I think we should do that too. 

Well, maybe my imagination may be getting a little ahead of itself there. But I have my aspirations.

As an aside, I just bought a magazine, whole living, and read an entire article on embracing the chaos. There now I don't have to feel bad about ditching the Christmas planner.

Thankful!

These past few weeks, my husband and I have been sorting through stuff in our basement. I have truly saved every note, card and letter (and bill and bank statement) I've ever received, which makes for some intense sorting. I have felt the whole gambit of emotions: annoyed (why did I keep all of my bills from my first apartment?), amused (wow, did we pass some stupid notes folded in odd, football shapes in junior high!) disgusted (ewwww...why did I save the foot from my frog dissection in high school?). But most importantly, throwing all of these things away has given me a great chance to see what has happened in my life in the past 20 years. Many people have been born or died, many have married or divorced, many have grown up and many were at one time very prominent in my life but have gone our own ways since. Letters from my in-laws when we lost our baby, notes about our wedding, a newspaper clipping from a great weekend in Washington DC, letters from my aunt with whom I was so close. It's been both happy and sad.

When I saved these memories, I promised myself that I'd go through them and toss them by the time I was 40. And as I approach that milestone next summer, I'm doing as I said. But over the years that I saved them, I knew that I would have these very experiences. In 1994, as I tossed the baby baptism announcement about my niece into a box, I knew that someday I'd look on that and smile. That niece is 16 now, and I did! There is so much that the younger me knew the older me would cherish.

And so I realize today how thankful I am for the chance to see how cheap my bills were in my first apartment, I'm thankful to chuckle at junior high "problems", and even my frog's foot! I am thankful to the me who has persevered in saving, to my husband for moving these momentos 3 times in our time together, and to everyone who wrote to me over the years. The memories have been priceless!

Thank you, Lord, for building my life as you have. You planned me long ago, and I am grateful for the memories I have. Sometimes it's been hard to know where I'm going or why, but it is neat to look back and see it woven together.

"You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain." Psalm 139:1-6

Dinner table game...

At dinner last night we tried to play a game with the kids.

I am not sure the proper name of this game, but I know that all of us have played it before.

This is how it went...

I whispered "Gilbert is a silly black kitty" in Ethan's ear, then Ethan was suppose to whisper "Gilbert is a silly black kitty" in Brenna's ear and then Brenna do the same to Alex. The point of the game is to see if the message gets to the last person without any changes.

At first I didn't think that it would be much fun because we only have four people and one of them being four himself, well...

The first two rounds were good. Messages were delivered correctly. Then Alex started the third round and tried to get "the hippopotamus likes to where purple in the dark" through two sets of little ears. He had to tell Brenna twice, which I'm not sure is aloud in the "official" rule book. He then tried to get around something about a bat hanging upside down eating jello pudding? I cannot remember this morning what I heard about the hippo, or the bat, but what I do remember is lots and lots and lots of laughter!

I love moments when we make time for each other. I love moments when the TV is OFF. Cell phones are OFF. Computers are OFF. The only sounds I hear are the sounds of family.

Change things up!

Mommy & Me Thursday!


I was VERY happy when Jen asked me to do this Blog and the first thing that came to mind was how many different things I love to do with my kids and the different traditions we have!!

We do our best to make sure they do EVERYTHING possible that they can!! We always take *Free* into consideration when we do things.

We LOVE to take them to Jumonville, Nemacolin Woodland's Zoo (you basically drive around the resort and can get out and look at the many different types of animals they have!) ,CoopersRock, and Freindship Hill Mansion!! Just a few ideas of unique things we can all do with our children!

We all know that some of the traditions for holidays are really silly. So this year, I've decided that I was going to do everything to make sure the kids knew that there are alternatives to the the more "worldy" traditions of Halloween.
For example: We have decided to carve pumpkins but put sayings instead of faces like :"Shine for Jesus", "Smile God loves you", "Jesus is the way!", and "Faith" with a cross!!
We also are handing out our church's cards (we attend Cherry Tree Alliance) along with candy to our trick or treaters! We do wear costumes but not anything scary.
I just try to include the word and God's message in all that we do so that my kids will be able to pass the word too!:)

Also to those of you who attend Cherry Tree, I just wanted to add how GREAT it is to teach your children and how AMAZING the children really are!!Sometimes I think they teach me quite a few things!!I feel like its a priviledge to get to work with them and I'm very pleased at the growth of some of them!!I would also like to say I'm very happy for the little ones who have decided to have the Lord in their hearts!!;)

~this post was written by Telina Piper! Telina attends our Cherry Tree MOPS group and is the mother of three children!
(Edited by Jen G.)

Thankful Friday!

Trains... trains, trains, trains, trains.....

Did you know that there are steam trains, electric trains, and diesel trains (which are technically "diesel and electric" trains) and they all have different whistle sounds? And there are 4 major freight train lines in the U.S.: CSX, Burlington Northern (Santa Fe), Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, also one national passenger train line called Amtrak. When a train is long and there are engines at the end, those engines are called "kickers" and they help add power for heavy trains up steep hills. In addition, there are so many different kinds of freight cars- passenger, hopper, coal, vehicle, tanker, log haulers- shall I keep going? Because I can...

Tuesday, I had the pleasure of taking my son to the Waterfront in Pittsburgh following a doctor's appointment and we watched trains. We saw 7, which was a record for us. We put a dime, a nickel and a quarter on the track and gleefully picked them back up post-squashing. Every time a train came, it was like the first time my son had ever seen one. The joy and delight that came over his face as the headlight approached, the gates dropped and the whistle blew (ears covered, of course!) made it feel like Christmas morning!

Before we had him, I knew nothing about trains. Steam whistles sound different than diesel whistles? Who knew? And certainly, trains at the Waterfront were a nuisance. Likely when I was there, I'd shopped for hours, had a yummy meal which was anesthetizing and wanted to get home when invariably, a train came and delayed my exit. My thought used to be: "Man, I just missed my chance to get out!" Definitely not: "Wow, a CSX!!"

What happened? Someone I love so much loving something so much happened. My son lives, breathes and eats trains, and I love them with him. I think I am almost as thrilled when one comes as he! His first precious prayers that he has spoken to the Lord have included thanking him for trains. And so, Lord, I thank you for trains, too.

I am so grateful that I can enjoy something with him that he loves. What a great time we had on Tuesday! I am so blessed to be able to enjoy this sweet, innocent time in his life, and the changes he has brought. And when this obsession with trains has passed him by like an 87 car-long Norfolk Southern with 5 engines, and 2 kickers, I know I'll always acknowledge train's presence much more happily than I did way back when.

Falling

 It is fall, which I recently learned is technically different that autumn, though currently it is autumn as well. Fall refers to the time in autumn when leaves fall to the ground.

So what can we do with all of this amazing color laying at our feet?

• There is always walking through the leaves creating a kid made tornado of color.
• One can also rake them into a pile and jump into all the crunchy color-ness while howling with laughter. (It works best if you howl too. No giggling, only howling.)

Don't forget leaf rubbings. Abigail has especially enjoyed these this year.

• If you want to get really creative mix your media. First do the leaf rubbings with a crayon (only a crayon will work for this particular activity). After the leaves are rubbed get out the water colors (again only water colors will work for this particular activity) and paint over your leaf rubbings. Since water and oil don't mix, the rubbings will stand out and the watercolors will fill in the empty spaces. You can get all science-y with this one--art and science what could be better.
• Tonight, for family art night,we are going to use our leaves to create pictures. We will be using colored pencils as I think it will be easier to draw over the rubbings this way. The nasturtium leaf rubbings will be the beginning of a pond of lily pads if we don't forget the frogs. And the yellow poplar leaves will make great cat faces with the addition of a face and whiskers. I am thinking of thumbprint fairies with leaf rubbing wings.

Last year I got ambitious and we waxed leaves. I have thought about it this year, but think I am going to pass. There are a couple of methods.

• The first uses an iron and waxed paper. Sandwich your leaves between two sheets of waxed paper. Put a towel over the sandwich and iron till the paper melts together preserving your leaf. Cut out the leaves. This is safe and fun, but the leaves aren't as pretty.
• The other uses hot wax melted on your stove and poured into a shallow tray. Last year, I used Gulf wax and shallow disposable aluminum pans. Cover your table with newspapers and waxed paper (so the leaves let go) and dip leaves into the hot wax. Let them dry. You can see how this may have been overly-ambitious with a three-year-old, and why with Simon so very mobile we will be skipping it this year. But the leaves are so beautiful!

There is also stenciling, where the leaf shape comes into relief.
Cut the leaf shapes from construction paper (or use the waxed ones) and string together for a garland.

So what are you waiting for this autumn, celebrate fall!

***Don't forget, today is the last day to RSVP to the Harvest Festival on Saturday! 

We do need to know one way or another.***

Fun!

" 'round the world baseball!"

I have two children.

You can play almost any outside game with three people. What outside game can you play with only two? One of the two being four years old, full of energy and pure boy. The other being 32, out of shape = no energy, and maybe 3/8 tomboy.

I asked my pure boy this past Tuesday (MOPS Day!) what game he would like to play. "Baseball mommy!"

We go get some pieces of wood to make the bases, home plate, first base, second base and third. We begin to play. I soon realize this is not going to work well. He doesn't have a teammate and I don't have help in the outfield. He is going to have to hit a homerun each time for this to work. As good as my son is, he cannot do that.

We stop and think. We come up with a plan. We invent our own version of baseball. We call it " 'round the world baseball."

Here are the rules:

Set your bases up. Just as you do in regular basebal.
The youngest goes first, of course.

Since there are only two of you, you are on opposite teams. So one team is pitching and outfield, the other is hitting and running bases trying to score.

Two strikes = 1 out.
A foul ball = 1 out.
3 outs ends an inning.
There are six innings or a score to eleven (which ever comes first) to win/end the game.

The tricky part...
If you get a hit and are able to make it to a base, say 2nd, then the pitcher pitches to you at 2nd base. You get another hit but only make it to third, the pitcher pitches again to you at third, until the runner reaches home for a score.

That is why we called it " 'round the world baseball!" You are literally spending most of the game in rotation from base to base!

If there are no outs, but the current batter's score reaches 5 then it is the other persons turn to bat.

We had alot of fun playing this.
I have to tell you ladies that I was sweating by the end of our game.

So for those of you who may find yourself with only one child at home on a warm fall, summer, spring day...consider trying Ethan and his Mommy's " 'round the world baseball," or invent a game of your own!!!

If we can do it so can you!!!!

Happy New Year

Six days late. My resolutions still linger in my mind, scattered words scratched in notebooks and journal. Still marinating in the process of planned change. Really how much change can I plan. Maybe that is the point of marinating in the ideas--praying, writing, waiting for God's plans to come to words, to express themselves in ways a mortal can understand.

I have some ideas about relationship and including and new life and completed tasks and this week I choose to finish things and to find a routine and rhythm to our lives. Like the gift of sunrise and sunset, of breathing in and breathing out, routine holds the promise of newness in each new task.

What about you? Did you make any resolutions? How are you doing six days in?

I've been reading Holy Experience as I think and plan and process.

Commentary

Do you ever feel like

you're a sports player
daily life is the playing field
and
the child is the play by play announcer?

Me:

I'm a Steeler
Target is my home field
and
Abigail is Myron Cope.
(For those not fortunate enough to grow up in Steeler territory, here's a taste of Myron Cope.)

My Commentary

Heard from the dressing room in head full of mucus volume--I see you naked, Mommy.

Weekend Plans

What does everyone have planned for a possibly soggy weekend?
Tomorrow we're going to the Cars, Crafts, and Kids Festival at the American Legion. It runs from 11-4ish with the kid's activities from 1-3.
Anything else interesting going on in the area?