Amazing Changes

Rebecca has grown so much this school year I can hardly believe she is the same girl! She began the school year quiet and withdrawn, afraid to eat in the lunch room and never raised her hand. Fast forward several months and here we find a happy, confident girl who is willing to not only eat in the lunch room but buy her lunch. She encourages others to work through their fears and is talkative and reads books in front of her class. Rebecca is smart and intentional about every thing that she does. When she sets her mind to a project she works at it until she gets it and she usually gets it fast. She learned to ride her bike in two days and by the end of a week a girl who could not swim was jumping into the deep end and swimming to the edge alone. She amazes me and makes me believe that the things I have been to afraid to try are actually within my reach if I but take the first step. A few days back I posted about courage, well here are the photos to show that Rebecca was indeed courageous and it paid off big!

Memorial Day

First of all a big Thank You to all the men and women who serve and have served in our military. I am always amazed at how much those families give up to defend our freedom. In honor of our military my two American Heritage Girls got to march with their troop in the Memorial Day Parade. We were toward the end of the parade so we got to see a bunch of it. Ryan was so excited to throw candy and be in the parade too. It was great fun!





All the badges on their uniforms they earned this year. The medallion hanging under the troop number was for a eight week religion class they took, did homework for and memorized the Lord' Prayer and the Ten Commandments. They worked very hard this year we are really proud of them!

Courage

Next time I give one of my children a lecture, I think I will be prepared to learn the lesson myself. This morning Rebecca was upset because they have started swimming at school. One of the tasks is to just jump into the pool toward the person standing there. For most of us that is not a big deal, but to my first grader who cannot swim, it's huge to jump into water over her head toward a stranger. So this morning I told her that before she jumps to ask Jesus to give her courage and trust that He will keep her safe and then plug her nose and jump! I also mentioned that no one was going to let her drown because Mommy could be a scary person if someone hurts her babies!! So off to school she goes. In walks Ron and says, "there is a blood drive at my store today, want to go with me and give blood?" UMMM...no? However, not wanting to appear less awesome than he, I say sure I'd love to. It took forever in the little bus and then it happened someone was about to get started and like an accident I couldn't look away. Then she pulled out the needle. Instant tears as it looked much more like a rod or skewer for ka-bobs or something. Of course I am standing there with some of Ron's co-workers so I went with the Las Vegas slogan...What happens on the bus, stays on the bus! As far as they are concerned I was the picture of courage. Then my little conversation with Rebecca popped into my head and I had to laugh at how funny God thinks He is. So I took my own advice and prayed for courage and laid on the table. Clearly I lived and it wasn't as bad as I thought. It's clear now that I cannot blame Ron any longer for the drama that goes on with our kids...they do in fact get it from me...Darn it!

Cake Walk

I volunteered to donate two cakes to our school's cake walk for Family Fun night. I figured the best way to entice children to walk for cakes was to cover them with candy. So while the cakes baked Ryan and I spent 20 minutes separating mini M&M's into different colored bowls. It was actually fun spending that time with him. He is very good at sorting. The end result was a mosaic looking picture that was super fun to make. Hopefully it will be the cake of the night. I, however, will not know because we are not going. I am sorry to say that the thunderstorms are rolling in already. Hopefully they have a plan B for all of the outside games. Here are my masterpieces:

After working so hard on these, Ryan has it in his mind that we must make another for when his grandparents come on Sunday. The white one has chocolate cake and the Chocolate one has...yep....white cake. Pretty sneaky, huh?!

Stuck

So I met some new friends last Friday that have children the same age as ours. In fact they even have the girl, girl, boy order. The time at the park was wonderfully fun. We had a picnic lunch and all of the kids played so well together. Because I am me and I have a daughter just like me, we always seem to be able to make the event memorable. Yes, there is a story here...

Reagan and her new friend Emily were messing around on the baby swings. Since we were initially the only ones at the park no one cared. As any good mother would, I cautioned my eldest to NOT put her legs in the holes as she will most certainly get stuck. I refuse to divulge how I know that. Anyway, Emily is very petite and she accidentally put her legs in the holes but was easily able to get her legs back out. A few minutes later my dear Reagan has this very same accident with a minor exception...she got stuck. I am not suggesting a let me help you out of there kind of stuck, it was more of a "are we going to have to call the fire department" kind of stuck. So my friend, Michelle and I are trying our best, after laughing and taking pictures, to get Reagan out. No luck. Have you ever tried to lift someone as tall as you out of something and over your head?? It's VERY hard. Anyway, soon a gracious man comes over and asks if we need help. We, all three, worked on trying to get her out for at least 20 minutes if not longer. As I looked at everyone I was mortified at the thought of calling the fire department to CUT MY 10 YEAR OLD OUT FROM THE BABY SWING!! Reagan was equally embarrassed by that thought and insisted that she could get out. Finally we tipped her backward and with the strange man tugging on her, Michelle and I were able to get the swing in position and pretty much dump her out with much shaking and tugging. This was unpleasant for Reagan so say the least. Finally out she comes. We go in the bathroom to check out the damage. Her legs look scraped and starting to bruise and then she bursts into tears. Poor thing. So I ask if she is hurt or embarrassed and she sobs, "both." So we dry her tears do a final check to make sure all is working well and dig out some ice packs from the picnic lunch. Our new friends will not forget their time with us...that's for sure!

Reagan insists that now she will listen to me more often as it is crystal clear that I am not just trying to prevent her from having fun but actually know what I am talking about...sometimes! Oh and she as a healthy aversion to baby swings too!

Rebecca and Elizabeth were across the park...I think they were pretending they didn't know us!!

I will be back!!

I know it's been awhile since I have posted anything. I have been busy with a bunch of stuff around here. I will get back to posting on a more regular basis. Here are a few highlights:

I quit my job and will be done working next week.
I submitted my book to a publisher and it's not what they are looking for right now.
I redecorated my bedroom and bathroom.
I am busy concentrating on myself for a bit so I can be my best self

Kids are great. Ron is awesome. Snow is almost gone. Dog is on my last nerve but we have moments of greatness that leaves me encouraged that he will live past puppy-hood!

Lastly, Ryan was completely irritated and disgusted the other day that I had the nerve to put "nuts" in his orange...

Oh and today he shoved something up his nose and we had to do the blow it out trick and use tweezers to finish the job. I love this boy~!

The Funny Paper

Today was super cool because I took my coupons out of the Sunday paper and Reagan spied the funnies. I gave each kid a section of it and they laid on the floor and read them. I had flashbacks to when my sister and I used to do the same thing. What was even more entertaining was the fact that they thought because they looked like cartoons that they would be funny to them. I also remember as a child waiting to read them and then not finding them funny at all. Today I tried it again as I saw some of the same comics I used to read as a kid. Much to my surprise they are VERY funny now. I get it. Adult humor. The best one reminded me of my husband and his sister as they had a comic about two kids sitting in the back seat arguing about how they "weren't touching each other." Ron used to hold his finger a millimeter away from Michelle and say, "I'm not touching you." He still does that from time to time to me and I make sure he pays for aggravating Michelle all those years!! LOL