Puppy Love

The boys had a great time making their own valentine's this year. We chose to opt out of the superhero cards you can get at the dollar store this year. Nelson went with semi-homemade cereal box valentine's and Henry with homemade cards. The cereal boxes were a spin on something I found on pinterest. Everything turned out really cute!

All of this valentine business has sparked a couple of conversations. Henry's ended with me saying, "I don't care how pretty she is, it is NOT okay for you to be one of her FOUR boyfriends!" Forget the fact that you aren't old enough anyway... I'm okay with a little puppy love at this age but really? Nelson's on the other hand was much better. It went something like this: "Mom, Jane (fake name to protect identity, lol) sent her friend to tell me she has a crush on me. I told her to tell Jane that I'd see her in 6th grade. Jane#2 also likes me." So glad he is going along with the whole you're not old enough thing. It's been a while since we've talked about that so I'm surprised. Funny thing is, we never put an age on it, just a generic you're too young. Apparently he thinks 6th grade is old enough! :)

Bullying

I WILL NOT TOLERATE BULLYING. Bullying done TO my kids or BY my kids. It's totally unacceptable in ANY form even if the intended recipient is unaware. My tender hearted one has always liked everyone to a fault - even if they are being mean to him he thinks they are still his friend and takes up for them. That gets under my skin so much and makes me more mad than it would if he understood that person was being mean and not a real friend. And by mad I mean MAD. Crazy MAD, not angry. I've explained and explained that my boys are not to play with people that mistreat them, even if they are nice the next minute. But they are also not to treat others that way. I was sorely dissapointed when recently one of them came to me, in a proud way, to tell me about something they were a part of. I won't go into great detail but involved purposely making another little boy that annoyed him and his friends to no end feel excluded. I was even more dissapointed, well shocked, that it was my son's idea. We had a long talk that ended with him in tears and deciding to apologize to the boy and tell his friends that they shouldn't continue this quiet bullying. I pray he remembers this lesson.... that no matter how much someone annoys you or how much you dislike someone, you need to
A. Love them anyway (which in little boy terms had to include no hugs and kisses, just being kind and treating them the way you want to be treated).
B. Let them know in a kind way that what they're doing is bothering you then walk away.
C. Check yourself. What is it about YOU that allows them to bother you so much?
D. Don't do things to impress your friends. I really feel like that was part of this.

Growing up is so hard! I want my sons to be leaders, to be kind, to be gentlemen, and to let God's light shine through them. The list is longer but I'll leave it at that for now.

Toddler Love

If you've raised a child through toddlerhood you know how that some days you are just trying to make it to bedtime without hurting someone....whether it be yourself, the toddler, or whoever has crossed the toddler sending him or her into tantrum city, meltdown mode, or whatever route of craziness your toddler takes. Mine isn't picky about which route he takes, when he takes it, or who all is watching.

Then there are other times like this morning that make me almost forget about those crazy moments. A quick trip to the Family Dollar to pick up dishwashing detergent after dropping the two big boys off at school ended with my heart bursting with love and joy to be the mommy of this toddler. I let him walk the store instead of riding in the buggy and you would have thought he had never seen anything on the shelves of the FD before. He was in awe. Looking at everything and his sweetest voice repeated, "Look Mommy!" at each thing we passed by. I wish I had a recording for you to listen too. It was precious! Look is drawn out and Mommy is high pitched.... full of excitement. Sweet. Joyous. All over the $6 shoes, batteries, cookie sheets, etc. that were on his level. He also saw a toy tool set that I could not resist buying for him. He told the cashier all about the tools he was going to "fix it" with.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go play with my toddler before he switches to crazy mode. ;)

Responsibility Charts

I've been struggling with keeping the boys on task with their responsibilities. Some of you may call these chores but that sounds negative to me and something they might expect to get paid for. There are some things we consider extra that our kids will be paid to do but no automatic allowance for existing or for doing your fair share.... Sorry, this is not suppose to be about my opinions on allowance and chores... But a craft project I did to help keep everyone on track!

I saw a project using a wooden door hanger and clothes pins with chores on pinterest. Then I saw a friend of mine using modpodge and scrapbook paper on clipboards. I then had an "ah ha!" moment. I kinda came up with someone, sort of almost on my own. Okay, so not really on my own but I did combine these to projects into one and made something that's totally cute and totally functional. And easy to use! Basic clipboards you can find at the dollar store, a bag of clothespins, scrapbook paper, stickers, and mod podge are all you need. Oh, and a marker. The clipboard is decorated. Responsibilities are written on the clothspins and clipped to one side under "to do" and as they are completed they move the pins to the other side. The pins that stay on the boards are things they are responsible for daily. Then on Mom's clipboard are things that are done weekly and they take turns. Whenever it's time for onen of them to be done, I add it to the board of whoever's turn it is. the clip on the clipboard will hold a bible verse that I print out each week that they will be responsible for memorizing. I haven't yet but I will be hanging these on the wall near their beds.

My little guy can't read so I need to add pictures to his somehow. I'm thinking a cookie sheet modpodged with pictures of his bed, toys, and teeth with magnetic check marks would have been a better way to go with him but for now we'll just do clipboard and I'll help. :)

If you're wondering what responsibilities I have for each of them, here is the list:
Make Bed, Pick up toys, brush teeth, bible verse - those are for all ages. The two oldest also have straighten desk and daily devotional. One of the oldest is in charge of keeping the trash taken out and the other takes care of the dog. The extra things I'll add once a week include one or more of the following (the oldest 2 only): Mow, pick up yard, clean boys bathroom, sweep, dust. All ages also put up their own laundry, and sometimes fold it, as needed but there is no clothespin for that. :)

Toddler Moments

We are at that stage with CrackerJack where we aren't sure if it's worth going in public or not. You know... when your kids are at the age when they are testing their limits and figured out that really, the don't HAVE to do what you say. When your kid acts like that one you sat next to at Taco Bell 10 years before you had kids of your own and swore you'd never tolerate. Most days are really pretty good. Today... today was mostly good but we had "that" moment once.

The older boys were on a field trip to Chuck E Cheese with the church so I decided to make a playdate with friends for me and the littles at Chick Fil A. Cracker was really well behaved and ate his food well (as did his friend). He got to do a lot of playing in the play area. Then it was time to go. Thankfully my friend was there. She held my little Kashew while I tried in vain to put Cracker's socks and shoes back on. We took a break and went to the rest room for a good "talking to" and tried again. Back arched, stiff body and screaming he slid out of the chair and well, made it very difficult. I decided to pretend I was going to leave him there (he refuses to be away from me most of the time so I thought this would work). I grabbed Kash from my friend so she could round up her little one and told Cracker good bye. As I walked away, it turned in to violent kicking and screaming on the floor. A kind lady offered to help me but I reassured her that it wasn't necessary. I only made it about 5 steps before I went back to him and took him in to the play place where I felt it was okay to be loud. I gave Kash back to my friend and wrestled Cracker's socks and shoes on while he screamed and did the alligator roll. He still refused to follow me out so my friend carried him while her little one followed along so nicely. As we are walking towards the door, out of the blue her little one turned her drink upside down and poured it on the floor. Then threw the cup down and requested a refill. I couldn't help but laugh. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one with toddler moments... moments that are unavoidable no matter how good a parent you are.

Rooftop Adventure

Adventurous is one word I've always been able to use to describe Henry also known as Duck Feather (his own creation). He is never afraid to explore the unknown...even if the unknown is a 20ft high rooftop. He and Hotshot were watching tv while I cooked supper and James and another fireman were hanging gutters on our newly purchased antique house. The next thing I know, James is carrying DuckFeather in to the kitchen. James is white as a ghost and DuckFeather is full of excitement. Apparently he had let himelf out of a livingroom window, found the ladder unattended and climbed right up! Like 20+ feet up! James was on the ground on the other side of the houseand the other man was on the roof. He spotted DuckFeather halfway up and called out for James. Knowing that he would just move faster if he thought someone was in pursuit, James just ran around to the ladder and caled out to him casually. Well that didn't work. DuckFeather sped up and was making thr transition from ladder to rooftop. James was quickly at his heels and the other man scooped him up as he RAN ACROSS THE ROOF! At his daddy's expense, he was having the time of his life. He told me all about it in the kitchen. "Momma! Up! Roof! Again?" Boys and their adventures...

Growing Up

Normally for halloween we have friends over and cookout and make a quick stop at our church festival before going back home to scare all the trick or treaters. Our huge porch gets closed in and transformed into the haunted porch. It's a huge hit and our two oldest love it. Well this year we didn't get around to getting things done in time so we spent some time at the church festival then went home to pass out candy and eat with some friends. We were bombarded with trick or treaters before we even got out of the van. I have to say, I'm dissapointed in the way some people let their kids behave (seriously, we were getting attacked!), and even more dissapointed that even some of the parents were pushy and rude. It's candy people. Relax. Anyway, the boys were really dissapointed that we didn't have the haunted porch but they all (even the littles) had fun at the church. Our oldest, Nelson aka HotShot, is starting to change though..... grow up I suppose. He was suddenly embarrassed by his costume when we unloaded from the van at church. He and Henry were both ninja's with slightly different costumes. I'm not sure if he felt the costume wasn't good enough, babyish, or if he suddenly didn't like matching Henry. Either way it's a sign that he's growing up and I don't like it! There are positives to him growing up but man.... I wish I could keep them all little forever.

What are some signs your kids have showed that they are growing up? Did it make you a little bit sad, too?