the coffee shop
i like starbucks. okay, i love starbucks. i am not a coffee drinker. i know, tisk, tisk. but, i do enjoy chai. and starbucks, of course, has the best.
i tend to frequent their drive-thru’s vs. dragging 2 or 3 kids in with me. last week when going through the drive-thru, wilbur asked, “do they have food in there?”
me-”yes.”
wilbur-”what kind?”
me-”well, they have cookies and cakes and breads and bagels and doughnuts. sometimes they have sandwiches.”
wilbur-”how do you get it?”
me-”you order it.”
wilbur-”do you have to go in there to get it?”
me-”no, everything they have inside, you can order outside and they will pass it through the window.”
wilbur-”oh, okay.”
me-”would you like to go in there with me sometime so you can see everything that’s in there?”
wilbur-”yes.”
so yesterday morning, we did it. we went into starbucks. we took amelia to school and had mommy and sons time at the coffee shop. i brought along some juice for the boys and ordered doughnuts for them and a chai for me. we picked a table. they picked their seats, and mine too. we said a prayer. they ate. i drank. we all enjoyed.
this is wilbur imitating josh’s ‘one raised eyebrow’ face.
oh, and this morning,the boys were playing with their mcdonald’s playset. wilbur had the headset on and i overheard him say, “you’ll have a grande chai? will that be all?”
mmmmmm….starbucks.
Filed under children, for fun, parenting | Comments (3)no more meds
amelia had her last dose just before bed tonight. we are very much praying that all goes well. we won’t know for a few days probably. please pray with us.
Filed under children, Jesus, parenting | Comments (2)video games
the kids ask josh, at least a million times a day, if they can play video games. he gets asked so much because they love to play, but mostly because when they ask me i say, “that’s a daddy thing to do with you.” so as soon as he walks in the door after work, usually orville, is saying, “can we play video games daddy?” and on the weekends, as soon as we are out of bed, orville is usually asking, “can we play video games daddy?”
this morning was no different. and josh said no. we had all just gotten up. we were getting breakfast started. orville needed to wait for video games. so he did. until we started eating breakfast. then he asked again after breakfast, while he was still seated at the table. josh said, “look. it’s still early. we just finished eating. we’re not playing video games now.” “when i get down?”, orville asked. “no”, josh said, “not for a long time.” orville replied, “well, you can’t leave me here forever. i can’t stay here all day because when it gets dark, i have to go to sleep.”
Filed under children, family, parenting | Comment (1)snowy saturday
today started like any other. josh being goofy. the kids being crazy.
orville went for a ride in the hamper.
shelby tried to figure out how the kids got here and when they were finally leaving.
orville gave her some love to make her feel better about the fact that the kids aren’t going anywhere.
the kids sat on the couch.
and watched josh play video games. ”pretend like your watching a cartoon,” he tells them.
we got the kids ready to play in the snow.
and amelia talked to grammy about her sleepover with them tonight.
everyone is excited and ready to go outside.
even though their snow pants are too short.
they anxiously wait for josh to shovel the stairs so they can safely make their way down.
it takes a couple minutes. the snow is really deep.
“ah, fresh snow,” i heard one of them say.
they were thrilled to play in the snow, and to mess up my pretty yard.
shelby decided she wanted in on the action.
she was excited to see amelia’s friend, our neighbor, stop by to play a little.
josh wasn’t so thrilled with all of the shoveling. when his parents came to get amelia, they also brought their snowblower.
Filed under children, family, parenting | Comment (0)a little piece of pineapple
sometimes the littlest things can get under my skin in big ways. this morning at breakfast wilbur told me he was having a hard time chewing and felt like he needed to cough. i told him to swallow his food and then go ahead and cough. he couldn’t seem to do that.
he said he was chewing some pineapple. some of it went down. some of it couldn’t. i told him to take a drink. he did, then kept chewing. i told him to take another drink and swallow the pineapple and the drink together. he took another drink, then kept chewing. i sent him into another room to finish chewing and swallowing because the chewing was starting to drive me crazy. after a minute or two i asked if he was still chewing. he was. i told him to come back to the table to get another drink and to try again to swallow the drink and the pineapple together. he took another drink, and kept chewing. i sent him back to the other room.
i called josh. got his voicemail.
i called my friend erin, and while i was dialing her number i thought, “really kirsten? you can’t figure this out on your own?”
i was annoyed. i was frustrated.
erin and i talked it through. i had given wilbur a few pieces of pineapple. he had eaten them all with no problem. but this one little piece was becoming a big problem. at least to me. do let him spit it out? do i make him sit until he swallows it? i told erin my verse from my devotional today was
“i can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” philippians 4:13
did i really need the strength of the Lord to deal with a piece of pineapple? erin and i got off the phone. i went in to wilbur. he was still chewing. i asked him to show me the piece of pineapple. it was so small he could barely find it in his own mouth!
i had him come back to the table. i had him take a bite of toast. i told him to chew the toast and pineapple together and then to swallow them together. he did. it went down. the pineapple was finally gone.
i called erin. “the Lord did give you His strength”, she said, “and He gave you wisdom.”
“i call on the Lord in my distress, and He answers me” psalm 120:1
throw up
all of our kids have thrown up now. amelia for the first time when she was newly 5. wilbur for the first time just last week. at mcdonald’s. yes, at mcdonald’s. and orville for the first time just last night.
it was around 10:45pm. josh and i were sitting in the living room talking about his job and various issues there. we heard orville call out, “something is wrong with my tummy.” josh went flying up the stairs to get him. well, he didn’t actually fly, but he did run very, very fast. he grabbed orville out of bed and took him into the bathroom. his shirt was covered with the stuff. the throw up that is.
i went in to check his bed. it was everywhere. josh cleaned up orville and put him in clean jammies. i stripped the bed and got everything rinsed out and into the washing machine. josh held orville on the couch for awhile. it reminded us of when the kids first came home and orville had a hard time sleeping. josh would take him to the couch and rest with him for awhile and then put him back in his bed. josh tried to talk to orville about it, but orville didn’t understand. josh said, “when you first came home, you were a little guy. well, not really little. you were like a big baby. and daddy would hold you when you couldn’t sleep.” orville said, “no, i not a big baby.”
after josh held him awhile last night, orville wanted to come to me. while i held him, i sang. before i became a mom, that was always one of my dreams, to sing to my baby. orville sang with me here and there, to twinkle twinkle little star, my God is so big, Jesus loves me, go tell it on the mountain, you are my sunshine. josh put clean bedding on orville’s bed, i put him back in it.
josh and i settled into the same places we were before orville called out to us. i was so happy we were here to help him. but i was also sad that when amelia was orville’s age, we didn’t get to help her. and then i started to question if we have handled her the right way when she’s been sick. when she was sick the first time, she was crying loudly and we kept having to tell her to quiet down so she wouldn’t wake her brothers. she had a hard time following instructions as we’d try to change her into clean clothes, clean up her bed, clean up her floor, etc. she seemed to always end up in the spot we were trying to clean. i would get mad, easily, and feel so guilty.
josh reminded me that we can’t change any of that. we did the best we could. we are doing the best we can. because we missed out on amelia’s early years, we can do better now. he told me he makes it a point every night when he tucks her in to tell her how much he loves her, how special she is, and how proud he is of her.
and i struggle, almost daily, wondering if we are doing things right. do i hug them enough? do i kiss them enough? do i smile at them enough? do i talk to them enough? do i engage them enough? am i teaching them the right things? do i point them to God enough? do i let them watch too much TV? do i read to them enough? the list can, and sometimes does, go on and on.
here is the word the Lord sent me this morning in my devotional:
“for I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” jeremiah 29:11
Filed under children, family, Jesus, music, parenting | Comments (2)“do you ever feel like you’re not doing enough for your children? the recording in your head begins playing, “you’re a bad mother.” i hear that same recording. sometimes it plays nonstop. i worry that i am not providing my children with the opportunities that will bring success. what if they don’t make the middle school soccer team because i didn’t sign them up for summer soccer camp? what if they miss out on academic scholarships because i didn’t spend enough time reading with them when they were little? what if? what if? what if? you know, God doesn’t want us dwelling in the land of “what if?”. He wants us to trust Him with our children. He wants us to quit “what-if-ing!” God has a plan for their lives-better than you could ever imagine. so, relax. you’re not a bad mother because you missed soccer camp sign-ups. if you’ve given your children to God, you’ve given them the best chance to succeed that you could ever give them!”
“Lord, i give my children to You. thank You, God, for Your plans. Amen.”
crayons
i love crayons. especially new ones. especially crayola ones. i asked for some for Christmas, from my sister-in-law art teacher. she liked my choice of gifts. she bought them for me. the 120 count box. remember when 64 count was the biggest?
because i love my crayons, i want them to be taken care of. i will not share them. not with my husband. not with my children. i explained this to the kids when i opened my crayons on Christmas. ”these are mommy’s crayons. they are for mommy only. you have your crayons. you use your crayons. you cannot use my crayons. ever.”
last night i sat down with my crayons. i dumped them, gently, on the table. i picked a picture out of a coloring book. i started to color. it was fun!
we have a rule for the kids that they can’t dump crayons all over the table. their crayons are in a basket and they can reach in and get out the color they need, then put it back. before the kids went up to get ready for bed, they saw my “mess” of crayons. josh said, “do you know what you’re teaching the kids?” thinking we were going to hear about how it’s not fair that mom can make a mess and the kids can’t, wilbur chimed in, ”you’re teaching us we don’t have to share.”
yeah.
yikes.
my test paper.
my finished product.
my favorite part, the stockings.
colors used:
- for the holly and holly berries: pine green, maroon
- for the stockings: wild blue yonder, olive green, blush
- for the mantel and fireplace surround: beaver
- for the hearth and firebox: antique brass
- for the logs: sepia and desert sand
- for the fire: brick red, sunset orange, macaroni and cheese
- for the log grate: gray
- for the dog: desert sand and mauvelous
- for the rug: wild blue yonder, olive green, blush
- for the gift: wild blue yonder, olive green, wisteria