Post(s)

There are three new posts below.  Be sure to scroll through all of them.  I was too lazy to make each one elaborate, but didn’t want to have them hanging over me anymore.

Walk Around the Lagoon

The month of October has been exceptionally beautiful.  Hardly and rain, and lots of sunny, warm days.  On Sunday, we headed out for a walk around the lagoon near Veteran’s Park in Milwaukee.  It was beautiful.

They drug those big, tree limbs with them the whole time.  Sorry to the other people out for a walk that may have had a brush with a weeping willow branch.

Sundae Store

This was a very successful FHE we did this week.  It is not my idea originally, so I can’t take the credit for it.

Ever since my boys have become friends with little boy a few doors down, Sunday’s have been a fight.  Every Sunday morning begins with me waking up the boys, and then them lamenting Sunday’s and saying, “Sunday?!  I hate Sunday!”  They know this means going to church and being reverent for 3 hours, and then no playing with friends.  So, introduce Sally Sunday, owner of the Sundae Store.

The point is to set up a sundae store where the kids can come in and order their sundae’s.  I had two groups of toppings.  One group that was appropriate for a sundae and the others that are also toppings, but not for ice cream.  i.e.:  ketchup, pepperoni, ranch dressing.  I chose all toppings that my boys like, and then began assembling their sundae’s while choosing from the second group.  On cue they would shriek, “Ketchup!  Not on a sundae!”  After we finished this and everyone had the sundae of their dreams we made a list of things that are not for Sunday’s and ones that are.  They loved it, and called me Sally Sunday all night.

For Two Hours…

For two hours every day, while the boys are tucked safely inside the elementary school, Josie and I get to do this.  Can you tell when my favorite time of the day is?

Mother Heart

I'm pretty sure when Sis. Beck was talking about developing a "mother heart" a while ago (I'd find the reference, but it's too early for that kind of thinking) that she meant to include that you will recognize that you have arrived, or are at least making some good ground when your child comes up to you with a panic stricken face and says, "I think I need some water..." and then the next thing you know a waterfall of stomach contents comes crashing down on your hands, legs, and feet (not to mention your brand new rug) and all you can think while your feet squish in the yuck is, "Oh, poor baby. I'm so sorry you don't feel well."
That is a mother heart! Am I right, ladies? :)

*I've been lucky to have had two opportunities to strengthen my mother heart this week. The above mentioned, and another having to do with a lot of bedding and a completely different child*

Update: Only Not Really

It's been a while since I've posted, and I'm not sure why the post famine, except life is busy. Much busier now that the boys are back in school. That may seem backward, but it's true. Isaac only goes half day and I have to take him, so we have the hour of frenzy getting Will out the door in the morning and on the bus. Clean house, clean mommy, then it's time to frantically get Isaac out the door. We load up, drop him off, and maybe run a couple of errands while they are both gone. It's amazing how fast 2 hours goes by. Then it's time to get them--and then that is when the day really gets nuts. I'm sure other moms can back me up on this. Those couple of hours after school when kids are whiny and tired and hungry, and dinner has to be made and homework complete are pretty much ridiculous. So, there it is, an update. That's what we've been doing. More to come, when life settles down.

Isaac and Jo on a beautiful late summer day

Josie has been working on a little sitting up action. Pretty good, cutie pie.

Healthy Eating

Ever since Will started school, he has been very cautious about eating healthy foods. Instead of chips with his sandwich he'll ask for carrot sticks and grapes. Isaac is completely opposite. All junk. All the time. He has no interest in healthy foods. If you ask him his favorite food, he proudly replies, "junk." As you can see in the pictures that follow, he was started early on this diet, and he has really clung to it.

Will often asks if something is healthy before he eats it, or which is the healthiest of two options. The other night they were eating pancakes for dinner, and I asked Will if he wanted syrup or sugar (don't scrunch your nose at the idea of sugar on pancakes, it is delicious). Will asked which is healthier. Toughy. Umm...well.... I started to say. But before I could answer Will piped in and said, "I'll have syrup. It comes from trees so maybe that makes it kind of like a vegetable." Boy is he going to be confused when he learns that sugar comes from plants, but that is neither here nor there. I laughed to myself and gave him syrup.

This morning after breakfast, while Isaac eagerly awaited the time to pass so that we could get to school, Isaac told me that now that he is in school he will only have syrup on his pancakes, so he too could be healthier. It's important to be healthy for learning. Only syrup.

Baby steps.