Not My Children! Monday

A new version of "Not Me! Monday" for the record books (aka blog):

 - Miss Em is did NOT start surprising us with her presence after learning to climb out of the crib.  She is NOT now moved into a nice little toddler bed!

 - It WASN'T my son who I found at 6 am in the dining room eating the last of the chocolate silk pie straight out of the pie plate!  His response when I walked half-asleep into the room wasn't an excited, "Hey mom guess what?!  This chocolate cake is making my coughing ALL better!"  Nope, it WOULDN'T be my kid who would wake up when everyone else is still asleep, sneak out to the fridge and eat the last of that delicious pie!  And the tell-tale sign that woke me up?  It couldn't have been just the fact that I heard his very loud humidifer get just a notch louder when his door opened and it took me a few minutes to actually get myself out of bed to see what he was up to when I didn't hear him going to the bathroom.

 - Only about 45 minutes later it WASN'T my two children whom Daddy found munching on cold leftover piggie-in-a-blankets and donut holes and sitting in front of the television.  NOPE, our kids DON'T sometimes act like they own this place and can do whatever they want.  In fact, McGee HASN'T been overheard saying, "You know, God says we should do whatever we want to do."  Uh-uh, NOT my child!

 - Miss Em has NOT moved from her crib to a toddler bed and immediately exploited her freedom doing the above and going into her brother's room early in the morning to wake him.  What is this I've heard about kids who won't get out of bed until their mother comes to get them???  NOT here, and I seriously mean NOT here. :(  When I tried to tell her not to wake her brother up McGee's response to me WASN'T, "But mom, I like when she comes and wakes me up, I want her to do it!"

 - This image is NOT what I saw as I peeked in at Miss Em last night:

 - And yes, she has already fallen out of bed a couple of times, but it hasn't woken her yet. :)


 - Miss Em was NOT found hauling water in a plastic toy shovel from the bathroom outside.  There were NOT drips of water everywhere to the point that not a drop of water ever actually made it outside.  I WASN'T at least a tiny bit glad that at least she'd obeyed me when I said not to turn on the hose. 

 - My poor fair little Miss Em did NOT get a sunburn on her face thanks to her mommy forgetting to think about any sunscreen and having her spending a few hours out in the sun.  Mommy did NOT just think it was a red face from the heat of running around...and was super sad/guilty when the red face stuck around overnight. 

 - These are NOT a few of my new favorite images taken that day we had fun in the sun:

Good Day Sunshine

I posted today on my 365 blog about our foggy mornings and sunny afternoons.  Did you notice I now have a link on the right sidebar that will take you to my 365 blog?  

After coming home from preschool and having lunch, we enjoyed some racing and hide-n-seek in the backyard before moving inside and the kids decided to wad up old grocery ads and make a "fire" in the fireplace.  McGee has actually been quite intrigued lately with fire as he's been asking to take his friend Jared up to his Papa's so they can help him burn (he burns brush and such in the back property) and now he's building a fire in our house.  They were quite disappointed when Mommy refused to actually light their fire though.  I explained it would be pretty dangerous, especially considering we have never once had a fire in our fireplace in the 8 1/2 years we have lived here.  I think, in fact, that we have had a number of birds that live in our chimney as we hear random tweets now and then.

Guess who played in the sandbox at preschool today?

I'm trying to give McGee a day a week out of quiet time where we can have some one-on-one time while Miss Em naps.  I had a sink FULL of dishes I needed to do so he colored and drew a fabulous rocket and bow and arrow while I cleaned up the dishes (and took pictures) then we put together a small Lego set and finished by working on a dinosaur puzzle. 

My little ham!

I helped him start the puzzle with about 10 pieces then left him to finish it up (which he said he couldn't do) - boy was he proud when he called to me to come see he had finished the puzzle all by himself!

On a side note I just have to tell you, I LOVE the song "One More Day" by Diamond Rio.  I remember crying every time I heard it on the radio after 9/11 (unfortunately that was often on the 5 fwy on my way to work when we lived in Southern CA - had to do a little make-up touch-up before heading up to the office).  This song touches me as I think of the ones I love and the possibility of ever being separated from them.  If you haven't heard it before, I suggest to have some tissues handy.  Also this is the first time I've ever imbedded a video on my blog so hopefully it works.

Toddler Thoughts

I truly adore some of the conversations I have with my children.  Like this one tonight while I was putting Miss Em to bed:

Mommy to Miss Em as we were rocking in the glider: "What do you think you would like for Christmas?"
Miss Em, hemming and hawing with mischievious and hopeful grin: "A.....bike."  Big grin!
Mommy: "And what do you think you would like to give to others this Christmas?"
Miss Em: "A sword for McGee, because I broke his sword so I want to give him a new sword."
Mommy: "That's very sweet of you.  What else do you want to give to others?"
Miss Em: "I want to give Daddy a....a babydoll!  No, maybe I'll give Daddy a sword too so he can play with McGee.  Hey - did you know I'm Maid Marian?!"  (from Robin Hood)

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While outside today with Miss Em it started to rain.  I was holding her trying to get her in her car seat (which she wasn't interested in doing) and she says to me, "Hey mama, you need to put on your jacket."  I replied: "Mama doesn't have her jacket with me."  Then she took first one hand, and then the other and placed them on top of my head and said, "There, you're all better now Mommy," as though her hands were keeping me dry.  Then she leaned in and gave me a sweet, soft kiss on the nose and said, "I love you Mommy," and all was perfect with my world. :)

My last post was about sports and soccer and the athletic dreams we had for our children.

I say had because those were our dreams before having children and now that we are  parents we care much more about our children finding their interests, their strengths and their place in this world more than having them live up to our expectations of them.

In fact, it's quite fun seeing their personalities emerging, growing and changing and making guesses at what their possible professions will be.  They both are very musical - will they become musicians, dancers or singers?  McGee is very mechanical and analytical - will he become an engineer or inventor?  Miss Em loves to be goofy and make people laugh - is their life as a stand-up comedian or entertainer in her future?  McGee is extremely caring and nurturing and loves to take care of people - will he be a doctor or nurse?  Miss Em is drawn to animals and mothering - will she become a veterinarian?

We have no idea what their futures hold (and it's probably better that way), but here are some of the expectations and hopes we DO wish for our children:

- accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, loving and serving Him with their whole hearts

- loving others and living by the Golden Rule (you know, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."?)

- finding a career they enjoy and can work hard at while glorifying God

- marrying a Bible-believing husband/wife that will cherish and adore them, with a marriage that will weather the ups and downs of life as a testament to their faith and love

- having respect for authority and honesty in their words and deeds

- respecting and obeying their parents (us!) and building us a lovely retirement home in their backyard (just kidding....sort of). :)

I'm sure there are other more, but those are just the few that are tumbling out of my mind at the moment.  What hopes or expectations do you have for your children?  Were there expectations your parents had for you?  Do you think they were good or bad and did you live up to them?  I'm interested and would love to hear about it in the comments.

Soccer In the Blood!

I will admit it, I was a big-time tomboy.  Soccer (starting at age 4). Check.  Baseball Farm League (only girl). Check.  Basketball. Check.  Tennis. Check.  I was the only girl on my junior high all-star winter league soccer team as well as Varsity soccer team in high school (we didn't have a girl team until a year or so after I graduated).

Daddy was a big athlete too - playing baseball, basketball and football all through high school.  Needless to say we had dreams of our children following in our footsteps toward athletic endeavors.  Whether they will or not is yet to be seen, but this week we had fun playing soccer together. 

McGee

Miss Em

McGee had been up coughing most of the night with allergies so he was pretty tired, but still enjoyed it for a little bit.

Miss Em had a little more energy and I love these two shots. Her first header and I can see her tenacity as she tucks her arms and her lips in trying to kick the ball.

I love playing soccer and hope my children will too!

Sharing Means Caring

I'm so thankful to have my children only 2 years apart.  So close in age they are instant playmates and I hope will always be good friends and dear to one another's hearts.  However, at 2 and 4 years old, much of our time seems to be spent refereeing between the two and their idea of "sharing" leaves much to be desired. 

On some lovely days, they can color next to one another peacefully, play outside in the sandbox or with the hose in pure childhood abandon and have a tickle fight filled with giggles and laughter.  Yet other days seem to be filled with endless battles that may include screeching, whining, a hit or two, maybe even a bite (Miss Em has quite sharp teeth and poor McGee is usually the recipient).

An example of a lovely day...

It would be easy to blame all of the scuffles on Miss Em's immature 2-yr. old understanding of "sharing" - which is her taking whatever she wants and saying "Mine!".  But this would be too simple. 

Despite being 2 years older in age and somewhat in maturity as well, McGee can still sometimes be a bit possessive himself, desiring whatever it is his sister wants or has.  Their sharing troubles are a two-way street we are trying to navigate as best we can.  I'm realizing more and more what different personalities my babies  have and the challenge we have as parents taking their unique characters into consideration while parenting.

Then this week while at the farmer's market, my sweet little sunshines showed us they really do understand about sharing.  Our youngest started it by giving her last little bite of cookie to her brother.  Not only did she give it to him, she said, "Here Myles" and popped it in his mouth.  Can you say, "Awwww?"  Daddy and I did.

A few minutes later McGee and I came back to Daddy and Em after procuring our blueberries and he only had one left from his two sample berries he was given.  I thought for sure he had gobbled it up, but instead he went over to Em and said, "Do you want a blueberry Em?  I saved it for you."   Again, "Awwww."

It's just so nice when they "get it".  When they care about one another and share what they have because they know it will make the other person happy.

Then it's moment's like this photo, where I can see the love between the two of them and I know that our world is just as it should be:

Wishing you a very blessed Sunday!