Kidz Kamp and Jesus

The boys went to Kidz Kamp this week... as usual, they loved it.  If you're in the Jackson area, this is SUCH  an awesome church camp!   They have tons of different classes kids can choose from (They get assigned to 3 for the week).  Hudson did Clay Creations, Wearable Art, and Drivers Training.   Porter had CSI, Driver's Training and Wilderness Survival.   Hudson REALLY loved the Clay Creations class... and both loved Driver's Training.  I wish they had more of these throughout the summer... I'd sign them up for every one!  They have so much fun.

Wednesday night Porter said to me, out of the blue "Do you know I have Jesus living inside me? Pastor ____ told us that we can accept Jesus into our hearts to live in us, and if we haven't done that yet, he said we could go to him at camp and ask Jesus to forgive all of our sins.  I went up with some other kids and asked Jesus forgive my sins."  Oh my heart.  My heart just exploded and I almost cried.  I told him I was SO proud of him and SO excited for him... and that I remember when I was about his age asking Jesus into my heart, too.   Porter told me that Hudson didn't go up there and I said that was okay, that he could do that on his own time and you can ask Jesus to forgive your sins anytime you want.  And it was kind of like being baptized, and if he remembered watching baptisms at Westwinds.  That being baptized was asking Jesus to wipe your sins away and to vow to follow him and have him in your heart always.  He told me he wanted to be baptized at Westwinds.  I have prayed for my kids (and my husband) for the day they decide they want to be baptized and to follow Jesus.   And here, here is my sweet boy telling me he's ready.   I'm so so proud of him.

Westwinds November 24th

Unforgiveness kills you.   Its like a cancer in your heart.  It'll screw you over in every direction.  It'll make you miserable and the people around you miserable.   You forgive so that you can live free from the curse of your bitterness.

A mustard seed only reveals its full potency once its been cracked in half.   If its just put in the ground left to grow eventually it'll burst out of the pod.  When it bursts on its own thats when the explosive growth begins.  That's when its becomes its most impressive

But other things can crack it open too.... a bird, stepping on it, whatever.

The thing is.... its growth really accelerates when it is attacked.

And so it is with you.   Most of us don't like pain... suffering... hardship.  But whatever is hurting you now? That's when you can grow the most meaningfully and quickly.

Day 3 | I am thankful for Westwinds and Worship

I've written the starting sentence to this blog post about 4 times now... deleting each one.  I'm not sure what to say or how to say how much Westwinds means to me, and how thankful I am to have a church I can call home, that I don't feel judged, that I can learn and relate its preaching to my life.  I seriously have had mini panic attacks thinking... "Oh my gosh... what we don't give enough offerings to church and they have to shut down and there is no more Westwinds??"  I know, kind of silly but.... I really don't think I'll ever find another church like it. 

Every Sunday without a doubt I walk away from church with something that has touched me in some way or another.   It may be something Pastor McDonald said, or a verse from the bible, or a quote from a song we sang.  Nevertheless, I have something to hold onto that has changed me and will continue to change me little by little.  I'll never be perfect.  I'm forever flawed, but I know that with what I take away from church I can always be trying to change and do things right in God's eyes, and try to become the best person I can be.  

I have been known to take notes during church, write down things and later InstaQuote them so I can put them in my Project Life album and look back on these quotes/sayings.  Here are a few of my favorites recently:

Leprechauns in the Bible?

Hudson made this cute little dude at church this morning.   I asked him to tell me the story about him... who is it?  Why did they make these guys today?

He says... "He has leprechaun.  Jesus healed him."

HAHAHA!  Ry says "Poor guy... he's short and angry."

I always wonder exactly how the kids are interpreting things they learn.  You know that each and every one of them is forming some silly view of bible stories in some way or another.  Just the thought of Hudson thinking about the story of the man with leprosy is a man with leprechaun?  HAHA!  To be inside his head would be hilarious.  

And this... this is just a cute cat Hudson drew in the nursery with me. Adorbs.  

Awana Fun Night

Another year of Awanas come and gone.   The boys had awards last week.  Porter was like 3 verses away from finishing his book.   Hudson earned many patches this year.

I'm so glad we switched churches/Awanas programs.  Bethel's Awanas program is so much more organized (though it is across town instead of just down the road), and has many more activities for the kids.  They earn their patches and jewels in a more timely manner as they complete verses and sections in their books.   Each week they have a different theme for kids to participate in (such as- wear your favorite cartoon character, nerd night, bring something you can fit in your pocket, and dress like a present for Jesus).

We almost didn't attend the fun night as Hudson was invited to a birthday party and Porter had baseball.  However, we let them decide what they wanted to do and they chose Awanas.

This was also Hudson's last year of Cubbies.  So sad!  Next year he'll be in Sparks with Porter.

The cubbies did stations for their fun night.... they had a bounce house, balloon man, make a cement stepping stone, face painting and shaving cream toy hunt.   I was really impressed with how much time and effort was put into the activities!    Porter's group did some kind of stations as well, with different carnival type games as well as a craft station and ice cream sundaes and popcorn.

1500

Can you believe it?  1500 blog posts! (and this is my 2nd blog.... 2005-2007 can be found here!)  I wish I could think of something awesome to do to celebrate but.... I'm low on brain cells today.  SO. Tired.

A little recap of our week:

It was Spirit Week for the boys this week.  Monday was Dress Crazy Day and Ry, Porter and I had fun putting together a wacky outfit.  He was a little nervous going to school (and I was slightly nervous for him as I dropped him off in the morning and saw lots of normal-dressed kids walking in.....) but when I picked him up he was all smiles.  He said some kids laughed at him but I told him he should have laughed at them because they were the ones dressed wrong!

My friend Kiley told me she overheard her daughter, Tatum, telling her big brother "Boys with freckles and mohawks are frickin' hot!"  Oh. My. Word.  Kiley says "Did she really just say that??" HAHAHAH!  Cracks me up.  I can only imagine what the playground supervisors overhear!  Apparently Porter is Tatum's boyfriend.  So cute.  I about died when Porter brought home a little mini-wallet picture of Tatum's school pictures.  I had to tease him a little (and hilarious- he totally kept staring at her picture. Looks like we're going to have to watch out for these two!!)

Hudson is loving school.  I'm so proud of his newfound independence   He is usually pretty clingy to me, and so shy in new situations.  After the first week of school something just clicked and he is so bummed on Monday when Porter gets to go to school and he has to wait until Tuesday.   I did start doing some preschool work with him at home, and he was pretty proud of himself.  We did some rainbow writing, an A for Alligator and practiced tracing different line patterns.  

Porter is doing great at school as well.  As much trouble as he gives us at home I am so so so thankful he is a great student and is doing so well academically.  He is reading Level 17-18 books right now and to exit 1st grade students ideally should be at a Level 16.  (although this really doesn't matter for the long run.... in my experience in 1st grade he'll probably plateau around Level 20/21 and level out with the rest of the kids in 2nd grade... but still.  He rocks at reading.  SO proud of him!)

Both boys are doing their "All About Me" stuff this week and next.  On Wednesday, Hudson got to bring home the "Knee Bag" (errr.. "Me Bag" though he calls it the Knee Bag!).  He had to pick out something special to put in the bag and write 3 clues about it in the notebook.  He chose his green monkey.  He was so so so excited to be Helper that day and to pull his monkey out of the bag to show everyone.

Porter is the Star Student next week, though he already has his all about me poster done- finished it the day he brought it home.  He was so excited to do it!

Wednesday the boys started Awanas at a new church.  It is actually the church where I attended Awanas as a kid!  Kind of neat.  There are still familiar faces there and actually a lot of families from Bean Elementary were there.  It was nice to see some of my old students, though a little bittersweet.  Made me realize how much I miss the kids at school!

Since the boys have an hour and 45 minutes at Awanas, Ry and I decided to have a little date night at Outback.   Have you used the Outback Tablemates perks yet?  YOU MUST!  So awesome.   Ry signed up so we had a $5 reward to use, plus our monthly perk was 'buy 2 entrees get an appetizer and dessert for free'.  We each had an entree, two sodas, an appetizer and a dessert and it cost us $28.15!!

On this glorious Sunday...

We skipped church today.   I got to bed late and was exhausted... the boys woke me up at 6am to come snuggle and continuously toss and turn and chit chat.  By 7:30 I sent them to the guest room to wake Ryan up.  Yes, Ryan is sleeping in the guest room.  His constant roaring snoring combined with my constant waking up to pee is not a good combo for this preggo.  We are sleeping separate.  It works.  Don't judge.  Ry got up with the boys and I slept in until 11am.  Folks, I don't remember the last time I slept in that late!  WOO it felt nice.

The boys in this house are over at Ry's dad's picking up some stuff to do yard work today.  The girls in this house (that'd be me and belly ninja) are getting ready to BS my way through this final case study on the last day of my grad class.  So happy its the last day but also a little stressed I have a lot of work to do.  Which is kind of my fault because last night we went to dinner and to see the Hunger Games with the Dawson's and the Huffs.  Had a great time, got back late (that was a loooong, but good, movie!) and thus, slept in late.

And as I sit at the computer, the windows are open and the birds are chirping and the sun is shining and the last thing I want to be doing is working on some case study for an ESL student.  Ahh reminds me of this quote:

 

And, well, the pretty picture reminds me of the outdoors today.  Soooo beautiful.  Not hot weather, mid 60's.  Perfect.  All this weather has made me want to just sit home and enjoy my family.  We skipped Awanas the past 2 Sundays because the boys were dirty from playing all day in the yard and the last thing I wanted to do was stop their fun in the yard, clean them up and ship them off to sit in church from 5-7.  I'm rethinking Awana, well... I love that we have a program so close but when I was a kid we went on Wednesday nights.  Perfect. This Sunday Awanas... kind of cramps my weekends.  We spend the morning at Westwinds (though on weekends I don't work in the 3/4's room at 11am we go to the early church), and then we have a few hours to spend in the yard, and then the boys have Awanas from 5-7.  Ick.

A few questions for you this Sunday:

• Have you seen the Hunger Games?
• Did you read the book first?  (I didn't)
• I liked the movie.  Did you? 
• Did you think it was accurate to the book?
• Did you feel dizzy throughout the beginning of the movie with the camera movement or was that just me?   We sat halfway back in the theater and I still felt like I was way too close.  Couldn't focus.  Too much movement.  Especially in the beginning it seemed... though maybe I just got used to it and it didn't seem too terrible toward the middle/end.
• I totally thought Peeta's name was "Peter" until the end when Katniss started yelling "Peeta!" in the woods... and I thought "Did she suddenly adopt an English accent?!"  HAHA!   (thank you jane!  LOL!)

Don't mind us...

I didn't sleep well last night and woke up wishing I could just lay in bed allll day.  However, I had missed last weeks service at church b/c I was working in Hudson's class so I really wanted to go today.  I decided we'd throw on some clothes and grunge it for a day.

Unfortunately, my new yoga pants were in the laundry so I wore my old black ones- which I found out too late that they had a hole in the knee (just a small pencil eraser sized hole but STILL!!).  Old black yoga pants + chocolate brown Uggs + black maternity peacoat.  Niiiice.

And we got to church and realized none of us had brushed our teeth (EWWWW) and once Porter took his hat off I noticed the terrible bed head he had going on.  I'm talking frizzed up, matted, spikey mess in the back.  EEEEK!

I DID manage, however, to wet down and brush out Hudson's bed head before leaving the house.  I may or may not have used a dog brush because I was too lazy to go upstairs, but even if I did... it was purchased at Target in the people section.  And I cleaned it out first.  That counts, right?

So yes, we were a mess at church.  Good thing God doesn't judge!  And good thing Westwinds is about as laid back as it can get and its pretty dark in the auditorium for service.

Next week I'll try to look presentable, mmmkay?

Forgiveness

Last month I attended a Script class/workshop/conference/group meeting at Westwinds with my sister and her friend.  It was really inspirational to get so much information and advice and insight to something that is so difficult and so often struggled with.  Forgiveness.  I took notes, of course, and before I lose the notebook or it gets too full/overused, I want to make sure I get them journaled somewhere they won't get lost.  The information given by Becky was invaluable, and though my notes are pretty vague, they definitely give you something to think about.

Why is it hard to forgive? 

• trusting again
• acceptance
• revenge
• pride
• lack of trust
• no completion
• denial
• don't want to deal with emotions
• want to be right
• humility
• confrontation
• negativity is easy, forgiving isn't
• want to heal before forgiving

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God"

You love much when you've forgiven much.  

What does it mean to love?
What does it mean to be forgiving?

**When you understand what you have been forgiven for, you begin to forgive differently.

When we forgive:

1) We realize they are not monsters, they are people like us.  When we reduce people to an action it is dehumanizing.

2) We relinquish our right to get even.   

Romans 12 17-19  "¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord."

When you forgive, you have chosen not to get even.  

3) You begin to want to bless that person.  

-Forgiveness does not remove your right to hurt or feel the pain.

-Forgiveness doesn't mean the act or offense was okay.

-Forgiveness does not mean punishment is not necessary. 

-Forgiveness does not mean inviting the offender to hurt us again.  It does not mean reconciliation.  It does not mean you have to trust them.  

We forgive because:

1) We are commanded to forgive

2) It gives us a future of hope

3) It is good for our health. 

Who we forgive:

1) Only the people who hurt us

2) You know for a fact they did it on purpose

3) Those that don't ask for it

4) Ourselves

How do we forgive?

1) Recognizing we hurt

2) We acknowledge what has been done to you, how it has affected you

3) What was the exact action.  Call it by name.  "Lord, I forgive ____ for ____."

4) Don't wait too long- it will destroy you if you do. 

5) We don't stop forgiving.  We lose count if we keep score.  

Matthew 18 21-35 ¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 

²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.   

²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold^[was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.   

²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.  

²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.  He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.    

²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’   

³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.   

³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.    

³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

6) Journal.  Be still.  Pray.  Contemplate.  Write it down... steps 1-5.  Then burn it. 

The Sunday Wrap

FLAG FOOTBALL

Porter's flag football is going well.  He seems to really like it.  This past Saturday they split off into teams. Lucky Porter, he ended up on the Green team (his favorite color!).  They're called the Packers.   

Now, being the opinionated Mama I am, I did find myself quite annoyed at this most recent practice.  Let me explain.  The kids were split off into 6 different color teams.  There is one "main" coach (I'm assuming the High School Football Coach) and he oversees all 6 teams.  And each team is coached by about 6-8 high school football players.  Kudos to them for stepping in and spending their Saturday mornings teaching all these little rugrats.  HOWEVER... I was kind of annoyed at how so many kids seemed to get "lost" in the HS coaches playful banter against their buddies.

For example...in the beginning of practice Porter was the kid who started with the ball (Ryan tells me this is the Center).  He tosses the ball to Big Boy, and Big Boy passes it to Runner Boy.  And then the little squad of 5 or so kids run at the other teams squad of 5 or so kids.  Now, after Ball Tosser (Porter) passes the ball, everyone else runs and chases the kid with the ball (or tries to grab a flag or whatever)... and what is my kid doing?  Standing there.  In the middle of the field.  Dinking with his flag.  Okay.  Maybe he didn't pay attention.  But this happened FOUR plays in a row.  FOUR.   I don't know a thing about football but I'm pretty sure I've never seen a high school, college or pro game where the Ball Tosser just stands on the field while everyone else does their thing.  Why did these HS coaches... all 6 or 7 of them... not notice and give him direction?

And then... they'd just place kids in spots, and the HS coaches would go gather in their little huddle (okay there were two HS coaches on P's team that actually dispersed throughout the little kids to keep them on task).  I kept thinking... "Why don't they each choose a kid or two and follow that kid throughout the practice to explain what is going on as it is happening... while they're waiting ect.?"  Instead, they ball would get played, half the kids followed the ball (as did ALL of the HS coaches) while the other half of the kids ended up across the field tackling each other (none of which had the ball).  So... essentially, half the kids didn't have a clue what was going on at any given time. 

I know.. I know... I'm one of "those" mom's.  "I can do it better."   No.  I 100% admit I don't know a thing about football... but I do know they aren't reaching each of these kids or holding their attention and I feel there are better strategies they could be implementing.  And I also know that the HS coaches seemed much more interested in the banter with their buddies who were coaching the opposing team.... whose "team" won yards etc... rather than keeping the kids focused on what was really going on in the play.  

WHEW!  What a post.   I know.  I know.  My wise FIL made a very good point on Saturday.  He said... "These kids aren't going to be won this year.  They aren't going to be sold on this game this year, or fully invested.  You can't guarantee they will love football and want to play in 5-10 years.  BUT... you CAN lose them.  This is a critical time... those coaches aren't going to win the kids over this year... but they can easily lose them."   So. So. True.  

So I'm hoping that maybe as practices go on the HS coaches will gain a little insight or skill to teaching the sport that I know they love and know all about.  I hope that they do their best to reach all these little kids who are looking up to them and to instill in them the love of this game and not just the winning little scrimmages against their buddies. 

MASTERS CLASS

My class starts tomorrow and its safe to say I'm already dreading it.  Not to mention already behind.  I think we have an assignment due tomorrow.  I'm not in the mood or mental state to even deal with a class right now but I'm not sure if I should drop it and wait until next semester to take it.  

AWANAS

The boys started Awanas tonight.  It actually is the 3rd week but we didn't realize it had already started.  Hudson is in Cubbies- this is his first year.  Porter is in Sparks, and seems an old pro at going- confident and sure of himself.  Hudson kept telling us he "Hated Cubbies" and after talking to him about it he admitted that he was actually just really nervous about going.  I told Porter this and he ran downstairs to Hudson and said 'Hudson, you're going to have a lot of fun!  And if you don't know what to do, then you ask your teacher if you can come get me and I'll help you.  My room is right next door to yours!"  It was the sweetest thing.  They both did great at drop-off.  Hudson requested 4 hugs and 4 kisses (this has become his ritual... not sure the significance of the number 4?). 

Ryan and I had 2 hours alone!  We've declared Sunday our date night.  YAY!  This week we went to the Dawson's to pick up a smaller dog crate we are borrowing for Cooper (details on him soon!).  We hung out with them for a bit then went and got flurries at TJ Freeze.  

When we picked the boys up Porter wasn't even worried about seeing us... he said "hi" and smiled and turned right to Hudson's room and waited for him to come out.  When he came out he hugged him and was so excited to talk to him.  It was adorable.  I love seeing little tidbits of the boys like this.  There are so many hours full of fighting and bickering, but moments like this make up for it!

ISO PHOTOS

Oh I've been such a slacker on the website that was pretty much my idea.  Go figure I get all gung ho on an idea, ask Michelle to help start and run this thing and then I totally slack off.  Thank GOODNESS for Michelle, who has solely taken over my slackerness and been doing more than just her share of ISO.  

I did have an image to participate in this weeks challenge: Silhouette.   Its not new (boo) but it is from our recent trip to Mackinaw. We all went up to the Soo Locks to watch the ships come through.  It was really neat.  The ships (barges??) were HUGE!  I think this one in the picture was 800ft long.  

July Fly By

I absolutely can NOT believe today is the LAST day of July.  WHERE did it go?  WHERE is summer going?   I have not been very good at updating our recent events.  Boo!  I have meant to blog but everytime I get on the computer it seems I get sucked into something else (ahem... Facebook...ahemmmm... pinterest.... ahemmmm....).  I need someone to block those sites for me and maybe I'll be more productive?

So lately... let's see.

My mom and Mike came to visit for a week.  We really didn't see too much of my mom while she was here... we did have a big family cookout on that Saturday (the... uh... 16th?) and that was so nice to see our extended family. Sadly, I took oh about 2 pictures.  EEEP!  Ok, I did take more than that but not much variety.  We took a boat ride on Wednesday when they got into town and then I took a whopping ONE picture on the Saturday we had a cookout.  

• Our lawn mower blew up a few weeks ago.  Or maybe a few months ago... I'm not sure.  Anyhow, we've been push mowing our lawn ALL summer.  Our lawn isn't huge but it still takes a good 2 hours to push mow.  GAH!  Ryan got a surprise bonus from work that was quite a bit more than their normal piddly bonuses so he bought a new riding lawnmower.  It is a beast!  He loves it.  He mowed our lawn today and it so did not even need to be mowed.  I think he told me about 15 times today that he loves his new mower :) 
• The boys had a sleepover at my mom's (err... grandpa's) the Sunday before she went back to NC.  Aubri and Addi stayed the night as well.  The boys were SO excited to go!

• A couple weeks ago I took the boys to ride Lacey.  This has become a summer tradition for us (2009 and 2010) and I wish wish wish I would be more diligent in taking them more often.   After we rode we spent some time in Barbie's pool, Porter got to watch Cole shoot his gun, the boys played on the trampoline, ate ice cream and Barbie and I got to catch up and chat for a bit!

• We have had TERRIBLE luck with our monarchs this summer.  In May and early June we had 3 caterpillars.  1 escaped out of our loose screen and the other 2 formed chrysalids.  1 "hatched' and was deformed or something and died... the other never hatched.  We then found 2 caterpillars at Barbies house the day we went riding.  Hudson squished them a bit but they seemed okay and lived for a few more days and then both died.  We THEN found a little egg, which hatched and then the little caterpillar died the next day.... never began eating.  What the hell!  So right now we have one large caterpillar (that was found as about a 1/2" caterpillar on our neighbors milkweed), 1 teensy tiny just hatched caterpillar and one egg (that is darkening and looks ready to hatch).  I'm HOPING they will all make it to butterflies! 
• The boys went to Vacation Bible School at the church where Porter attends Awanas.  Last year Hudson really wanted to go to Cubbies with Porter but he was too young.  This was Hudson's first class/activity type thing he had done on his own without Ryan or I being there.  I wasn't sure how it'd go but he did great!  I stayed for about 20 minutes to make sure he got settled and then snuck out.  Oddly, Porter seemed to have a harder time with staying on his own than Hudson. When I picked them up they were both so excited and had had so much fun.  Unfortunately we only attended 2 nights of VBS (it was actually 5 days) as I hadn't found out about it until the end of the week.  I feel good about sending Hudson to Cubbies this fall (errr... in a few weeks!).  He will finally be old enough for Awanas and wil be in Cubbies.  Porter will move up and be in Sparks.  Ryan and I will get a 2 hour weekly date night on Sunday!  WOO HOO! 
  
  
  
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• We have really been enjoying our bikes.   We rode quite a bit the first few weeks after I got my bike and Hudson got his little kiddy seat.  Then we had a streak of HOT weather... like "real feel" temp of over 100*.  Ouch.  So we kind of hoarded up inside and didn't take any rides.  Bummer.  However, it has cooled down a bit and we have been riding a bit more.  The boys and I rode up to the gas station last week and got donuts and OJ and then took it to the boat dock to watch (and feed) the ducks.  We have also rode up to DQ (YUMM and so addicting!) as well :)

What else have we been doing this month?  We used our new art easel (which I had purchased about 3 years ago... just never took it out of the box!).  So far it has found a home in the dining room and that might just be where it stays.  

I've been doing TONS of laundry.  Ugh.  I swear to goodness it breeds in our closets and in the basement.  WHERE does all the laundry come from?!?  Hudson helps me out by driving the wet laundry out to the clothes line with the gator.  That gator sure comes in handy!

One of our "rainy day" activities was to build a marble run out of a pool noodle.  Cut it in half and voila!  It kept the boys entertained for a bit and it even turned into a great learning tool.  Porter discovered that heavier marbles go faster down the track.  This boy... he's so observant and is always trying to figure out how things work, and he is always thinking of things to invent.  The other day he found one of those plastic hooks that are on socks when you buy them at the store.  He brought it to me with a length of string and asked me to tie it to the string so he could make a fishing pole. 

Speaking of Porter... this boy cracks me up.  In the winter he'll run outside in a t-shirt with no worries of being cold.  In the summer?  Well, of COURSE he's running around in jeans (literally... ALL SUMMER he has worn jeans!) and long sleeve shirts.  This day in particular?  He found this sweater and thought it was new... so why not wear it on an 85* day? 

We also made rock candy this month.  Holy sugar overload!  To make this amount of rock candy (which was quite a bit more than planned)... took 5 cups of sugar!  Ick!

And just a few randoms......
Porter vacuuming.  He loves this job. 

Hudson and I.  Love this kid.

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Hap Hap Happenings

I hope this doesn't continue to become a pattern in my blogging.... stockpiling daily happenings for the week and then cramming them all into one post.  This week it will have to do, but I'm going to try to make myself blog more often rather than one lump post.

This past week has been full of exciting events both big and little.

• My mom was here to visit for 10 days.  I love when she comes to visit.  So do the boys!  I love having her home and nearby and being able to see her in person.  And the boys love love love spending time with her.  We were all sad to see her go but we will be seeing her SOON for 10 days oceanfront at Holden Beach, NC!
  
  The boys and I got to spend a lot of one-on-one time with my mom on my Fridays off and on the weekend.  I love that my Friday "Mommy and Boys" day turns into "Mommy and Boys and Grandma" day (or Grammie as Porter has taken to calling my mom HAHA!)
  
  Some highlights of her visit were:
  -Lunch at the Jaxon Pizza Factory, then Gramer's Chocolates.... just like old times!
  -Trying to rearrange the living room and move our ancient 853lb tv
  
  
  
  
  
  
  -Watching movies with Mom after the kids are in bed... and falling asleep 10 minutes in!
  -Multiple trips to the Apple store
  
   
  -Sunny afternoon walk at Cascades with the boys
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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• Porter had his Awana Grand Prix Car Race.  If you're not familiar with Awana, it is a weekly children's ministry program for kids from preschool through high school (I believe?).  I went to Awana as a child and although as a teen I rebelled against going, I have lots of great memories there!  I think one of my favorites was the Grand Prix Race.... creating your own little race car from a block of wood and racing against the other kids' cars.  I remember my dad sanding and painting and helping me make it.  Cubbies (the class Porter is in) doesn't make their own cars but they bring in HotWheels.  They had a great time racing their cars and all of the kids were great sports about it.  Next year Porter will be in Sparks and Hudson will be in Cubbies.  I'm looking forward to a 2 hour chunk of time each Sunday for Ryan and I to maybe sneak off for dinner at Los Tres Amigos down the road from Awana!  :)
  
  If you haven't heard of Awana and want more information check out their website and search for an Awana near you!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I finally switched over from PC to Mac.  I love the change so far... there have been numerous quirks and oddities that I'm still getting used to but for the most part it seems to have a much smoother workflow for me.  I don't foresee going back to PC anytime in the near.  I'm loving my Mac!
  
• This past weekend we did a lot of deep cleaning for spring.  Okay, not a LOT, but some.  I washed all of the downstairs windows.... like REALLY washed them inside and out and all the crevices.  Yuck.  They look so nice though!
  
  
  
• Porter has been reading a lot lately.  I brought home some early reader books from school and he's been doing SO well with tackling words.  We've been working on using different strategies to figure out harder words, but he's also built up a good little base of sight words he can read.  I'm so proud of him! His favorite book is Dan Ran, which he's already pretty much memorized.  He still gets a little frustrated at times but I think he's finding out that reading and spelling words and sounding them out is fun and is often trying to spell and write words down.  He brought me the word "BEG" the other day and said "Mom, I wrote "BIG!"  Close... close!  He also wrote "cat" and I found some papers in his room with a string of letters on them.  He told me the "word" starting with H was Heaven and the "word" staring with C was Cadence.  I love finding these little treasures laying around!