Spiritual Friends

Our pastor had spoken a couple weeks ago about everyone needing a spiritual friend. Someone that can be honest with you and tell you the truth even when it hurts. And yet, someone that is sensitive and can extend grace when they know that what they are telling you hurts. Someone that you can confide in and be yourself with. Someone that helps you grow spiritually in your relationship with Jesus Christ. Since then, I have prayed that I would find my spiritual friend. I can't say for sure that I have yet. I don't know if it's something I'll know right away or if it's something that you grow into. However, I can say that I met the mom of Doc's speech friend. It was wonderful talking with her. K just moved here from the northwest about 5 months ago. She has done ministry work over in Asia. She works in youth ministries. K converted to Christianity. We discussed churches and where we each attend. She prefers the contemporary non-denominational churches like I do. We are more concerned with having a relationship with Jesus Christ than follows rituals of an organized religion. Please do not misunderstand me. I don't necessarily disagree with organized religion, it's just not right for me. I am more about living in Christ and for Christ than following a set of rituals. At any rate, she mentioned another church here. It's one that I hadn't heard of before. She said that they have a great children's ministry. It would be closer to our house. We haven't truly connected with anyone at the church we have been attending so we might give this other one a try. Is it crazy that we are thinking of trying a different church just because someone I just met thought we'd like it? We exchanged numbers and we have our standing "meeting time" during Doc and her daughter's speech therapy. I'm excited to see where God takes us.

After we spent the morning running errands (speech and getting the car fixed), we came home for lunch. Doc was telling me he needed to eat while we were at the dealer so he was excited to do just that when we got home.

GQ was pretty happy about eating too. My boys like to eat though they don't look like it. I swear I have no idea where they put all the food they eat.

After nap, GQ woke up and his hair was crazy curls. I just love the curls even though they are the very cute tight spirals.

What do you think? Is that cute or what?! Doc had some curls when he was a baby but after we cut them off with his first hair cut, they never came back. I really didn't expect GQ's to come back either but they did and now they are more curly than ever down here!

Speaking of GQ. He is trying so hard to be independent. This morning he decided to try to dress himself.

He was so proud of himself but he just didn't know where to go from there. He puts it on upside down too so that doesn't help. I grabbed the camera and GQ said "Cheese!" It's so funny how quickly they pick up on those kinds of things.

Anyways, I digress. After naptime, the kids wanted to head outside to play. Mr. X wanted to go see if his friend J could ride bikes so I went over with him to ask. Instead of riding bikes, Mr. X and Doc stayed at J's house to play inside for awhile. I talked to J's mom some and that was neat. I have found someone else here that I can connect with and so far WB seems to connect well with J's soon to be step-dad. I'm so glad that we are meeting people! We might go over and play cards with them sometimes. That thrills me because I grew up playing cards. It sure has been a whirlwind down here and I'm really looking forward to seeing where God will take us next. :)

Party!!!

Just a quick post tonight. The boys went over with WB to the neighbor's for a birthday party (I was working). They got to ride bikes with about 10 kids and had a blast. It was their first birthday party they got invited to down here and their first exposure to a pinata! GQ took a nap while the older two were at the party. Doc though got to stay up and play hard. And play hard they did!

Doc was a tired boy tonight. I'm thinking nap tomorrow. I'm so happy for them. I'm glad that they are making friends and playing with other kids. It has been so good for them. We also got some information from a couple of the other parents and we might be able to get Doc into preschool. YAY! I'm thinking we might need to have a birthday party for Doc in a few months. For GQ's birthday, I think we will just keep it small. He's young, and, while he would have fun, he doesn't really know better.

Wheels and Deals

Today was another fun-filled day in our household. We spent time working on bike-riding with Mr. X. Of course, we initially have to convince him that he can do it. I borrowed a card from my mom's book and touched his back as he rode. For some reason, it gives him security and he thinks I'm keeping him from falling.

He was really riding on his own. He just thinks he can't do it and is so scared he is going to fall. Sometimes I wonder if Doc was easier to teach because he was younger and thus less set in his ways. Then again, Doc is our resident daredevil so maybe not...

Like I said, he really can do it! He just needs to gain some confidence. Mr. X is definitely our most timid child.

Look at that sweet face! He so badly wanted his training wheels back on. We agreed to do so as long as he agrees to practice a little bit each day. I know it's harsh but Mr. X is a kid that needs to be pushed a little or he won't ever step outside his comfort zone. It's just the way he is. He's always been that way. I remember that he could stand up by himself for like a month before he finally realized that he could. We would give him something to hold in his hand and place him near the couch or the wall (because he use to hold on to the wall for support) and he would stand there for a few minutes. He was just holding something completely unattached in his hands. You see, this is his pattern. Anyways, so we put his training wheels back on...   

...but they were higher up than before. He is not falling over; he is leaning that far over to get the training wheel to touch. He is slowly trying to ride more upright with his training wheels on this way. He doesn't seem to mind it that they are higher up either. Maybe that's a step in the right direction.

Doc begged to stay up today instead of napping so I agreed as long as they played outside so GQ could rest. This is what they decided to do...

They have discovered water play and it's great to see them playing as brothers like that! We didn't get to do that as much where we lived before so this is a very nice change for our family.

After riding bikes again for a bit, Doc decided he was done and ready to go in because...

he got his first scrape from falling off his bike. This was not from the multiple times he face planted, catapulted over the handle bars, somersaulted off his bike, or any other number of ways he has fallen off. None of those hurt him (seriously! no scrapes or anything!) and this time he just fell sideways. His first "major" owie on the bike. You can see he was not too happy about it either. All of these falls really wouldn't happen if he would just watch where he's going instead of watching the neighbor kid ride his electric dirt bike that's just Doc's size. Speaking of which, we are in trouble with that thing. Anyone that knows Doc knows that his most favorite things in the world are "motorbikes", Batman, and fire trucks. Well, the neighbor kid has this electric dirt bike thing that Doc wants to ride on SOOOO bad. It is his size but there is no way he's riding on that thing if I can help it. Not for a long while anyways!

Here's Doc's big bad scrape. It really wasn't bad. I cleaned it up. Boy was he upset about that! GQ's nap was definitely over after that! I put on a bandage with some ointment. And what you see here was how it looked tonight after his bath. Not too bad at all....but he was bleeding don't ya know!

During all of this, WB was over at my brother's for the afternoon helping extend the patio. I sent him over there and told my brother that it was under the condition that we get to bring pizza so I could see him. :) So we had dinner at my brother's house before baths. It was nice.

Speaking of food, oatmeal is a big breakfast hit in our house for everyone except Mr. X. We add things to it to make it more appealing.

Today my oatmeal only had apple bits in it because I don't like raisins and the dried cranberries were gone. The boys like raisins and dried cranberries in theirs. They also love bananas in the oatmeal. It really is a good breakfast. It doesn't take long either. Mr. X refuses to touch oatmeal and I think it might be a texture issue. I like that we can mix in things we like and make it our own quite easily instead of buying th packets of flavored oatmeal. I really just love food! :) 

And with that, my weekend is over. See ya next week.

Learning and Growing

 It's crazy how quickly the kids grow up. And yet, we (as parents, educators, society) push them to grow up faster. Kids learn new things every day. Sometimes they catch on quickly, and other times it takes them awhile to get it. Every day my kids amaze me with the things they do and say. They definitely keep me on my toes! Today was another gorgeous day in the Sunshine State so we took advantage of it while learning new things!

Doc practiced taking pictures with Mommy's camera when she wasn't looking. He got this one of GQ. I thought he did a pretty good job!

Learning that playing in the water is fun on nice, warm days! It took me forever to find their swimsuits though.

Learning how to pull up water into the squirt gun. He couldn't quite get it on his own because he's too small.

Learning that the water is a bit cold when it's directly from the outside faucet! He wasn't so sure about that.

Learning to spray with the water gun. It was a lot of fun!

Learning how to catch big brother by surprise!

Getting water on their own. They learned how to do this from my mom. :)

Learning that a bucket of water is heavy.

This evening after Mr. X got home from school, we worked on riding bikes again. Now Mr. X is trying with no training wheels!

He's doing it! He did pretty well! Unfortunately, there was a small incident with the mailbox. After that, he didn't really want to try again so he didn't put much effort into it but he did get back on the bike. We put the training wheels back on so he could ride for a bit. Tomorrow we will try with no training wheels again.

Doc is totally independent now. He starts, rides, and stops. He likes to use the curb to stop but he's definitely getting there.

Practicing playing nice together. :) Sometimes they do this very well and other times not so much. That's just siblings I think.

They figured out how to hide together under the blocks bin. What they didn't realize is that Mommy could see all but their heads and shoulders. Goofy boys.

Doc has learned to go get the mail every morning. He thinks it's his job and he loves it.

I know he's not a kid.... WB tried his hand at fixing Doc's bike. It looks like before too much longer he will need a new bike to ride. This one is getting a bit small for him anyways.

Doc is learning how to drink out of the milk carton like a true bachelor. He was thirsty after all that outside play.

We had a great day. I can't believe how fast my kids are growing up. Even GQ was working on learning to ride a tricycle. He needs help with the pedaling though and I can't help him do that and take pictures at the same time.

One of our favorite snacks here is trail mix. We have tried a variety of store-bought brands in the past and none have been quite right for everyone. So now we make our own...

M&Ms, cashews, dried cranberries.... YUM. It's still missing something it seems but we don't know what, and it's hard finding something that all 5 of us will eat to add.

Mr. X doesn't really eat his trail mix as a mix though. He separates out all the components and eats them one kind at a time.

There are so many snack options out there but trail mix gives a good sweet and salty mix. It's not too terribly unhealthy though the M&Ms don't help the nutritional value any. It's a good one for us. We really need to find some other snack ideas though because we can blow through the trail mix.

And now I'll leave you with this just because it's so precious....

Another Sunny Day and Skype

Today it was time for new haircuts. WB, Doc, and I got our hair cut this morning after therapy. Doc is so handsome and looks like such a big kid when he gets his hair cut.

Don't you think he's handsome? Now his hair is too short to do "Batman" or "J-style" but he seems to like getting his hair cut.

This neighborhood is great because there are other kids to play with. The boys love it. 

Heading over to the culdesac behind our house to play. Mr. X was already over than and brothers couldn't wait to catch up. WB is carrying Doc's bike for him so he can run faster. :)

GQ decided that riding in the car took too long so he got out to push it. He ran to keep up with the other kids and pushed the car. It was rather funny.

Playing their own version of tag, totally unstructured of course. I love that Mr. X has another boy his age to play with.

Doc is also working very hard on his next accomplishment.

He is very close to riding a two-wheel bike with no training wheels! He can go but he can't get started on his own. He also needs to practice steering. He's a bit wobbly but he is getting there! I'm so proud of him.

We are having some issues with his speech therapy. The therapist doesn't let us stay for the sessions and Doc seems rather unlike himself when we drop him off. He's usually OK by the end. Last week he cried. This week he insisted on his blanket, I had to carry him in, and he would not look at the therapist. It makes it hard because I don't know what's going on or why he's acting like that. He's never been this way before with someone so it's very strange. Other than that, he seems to do OK with therapy. I hope it's just the adjustment and that it will get better. Overall, it was a good day.

We skyped a bit with my mom today. The kids love that. It's a struggle with the internet connections sometimes so we are trying to think of other ways to do something similar. We might even need to try a different video chat program other than Skype. While skyping, Mr. X found the emoticons. He thinks those are hilarious and spent much of his time talking with my mom sending her emoticons in the instant messaging. Silly kid. He can be so sweet though. He wrote her a letter today. Something he decided to do on his own. He then proceeded to read it to her and show it to her while on skype. We will be sending it out in the mail tomorrow. I thought he was going to keep it a surprise but he totally blew that!

It's suppose to be a nice weekend again so I'm sure we will spend some more time outside. Sunday I will be missing church since I have to work. I'm a bit bummed about that but it goes with the territory.

Grace

The sermon today was about God's grace and how too often we are focused on ourselves and our rights. Yes we have the right to be angry when we are wronged, but Jesus calls us to show grace to others as he shows grace to us. Grace is about going the extra mile, not just doing what we are required to do. Grace is about giving someone something that they don't deserve. Grace takes mercy another step farther. It was a good sermon and one that has had me thinking this afternoon. How can I extend God's grace to those around me? We choose daily to live in grace and to extend that grace to others. We need to remember the grace that God has shown us as we go about our lives.

Tomorrow will be 4 years since my grandma went to Heaven. She died with a smile on her face, a smile that was rare in her last years. She knew where she was going and her faith in the Lord ran deep. Today in church we sang "How Great Thou Art", one of her favorite songs. In fact, it was sang at her funeral. I felt it was fitting that we sang that the day before the anniversary of her death. Every time I hear that song, I think of her. She was a good lady.

After church, we went back to the park. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time! I had an awful time getting pictures of GQ because he didn't want to slow down and look at the camera.

This was our one attempt at a picture of all 3. Mr X is content to pose for the camera. Doc is looking up at the jets that he hears flying overhead. GQ is eager to get down.

Doc has no fear. I stood right next to him the whole time and he had no issues crossing this. 

"I did it!!"

This is a chime set or something. The boys had fun with this for a few minutes.

And of course, we had to spend some time swinging. GQ loves the swings. My boys just warm my heart. We had a wonderful weekend together as a family. It was refreshing and just what I needed before heading into the work week.

Beautiful Day

It was a gorgeous day today so we made the most of it. I can't get over how nice it is and it's only February. I  guess it hasn't fully sunk in that I am no longer in MI. This morning the boys just played inside while we waited for it to warm up. Then the boys had a picnic lunch outside and loved it.

After lunch, Doc and GQ take naps. If we don't do naps, we have cranky kids which makes for cranky Momma. This is what I found when I went in to get GQ from his nap. He was awake but still sleepy...

...until WB came in the room. Then he was ready to go.

Do you need any more proof that he's all about Dad? Doc wasn't awake yet so we headed outside for a bit without him. GQ found some ants to inspect.

Mr. X pulled out his bike for awhile. All the kids love riding bikes.

Do you notice the training wheels? I keep trying to figure out how I'm going to get him riding without training wheels and he wants no part of it. You suggest it and he has a cow.

GQ thought riding bikes was a good idea. He tried so hard to make the bike go.....

I pulled out the Power Wheels for GQ since if the older boys are on it, he doesn't get to ride. GQ loves it though (and yes I realize he doesn't have a helmet.....we're working on that).

Mr. X wanted to go for a bike ride and we were trying to wait for Doc to wake up. WB decided to go anyways so he took GQ with him in the Burley. I love that thing.

We went inside to get Doc and he had slept so hard he wet the bed. GQ pulled out these blocks to play with while we got everything cleaned up. The other kids didn't care for these blocks but GQ seems to like them.

I've posted at least one picture before of the kids with their towels. I love hooded towels for the kiddos. After using them, I won't go back to standard towels until they ask me to.....probably when they get into their pre-teen years.

We decided to pack up a picnic dinner and head out to the park. In the meantime, the kids wanted to go back outside. I followed them out but GQ was quicker. This is what I found him doing.

I didn't realize he knew how to drive it. We will be keeping a close eye on that for sure! I don't trust him with it. I put it away and the boys pulled out the bikes. Doc does great with his. He might be ready to get rid of the training wheels soon but I don't want to rush him into it too fast.

I love that we live on a culdesac. We don't get a lot of traffic so the kids can ride without worry so much about the cars. Of course, it's not allowed when we aren't outside with them.

This is the park we went to for our picnic dinner. It reminds me of a park back home. The kids had a blast and didn't want to leave. As you can see in the pictures, it was close to dusk.

We might try to head back to this park tomorrow. The kids sure seem to like it. You'll notice Doc wore a sweatshirt and Mr. X wore a long-sleeve shirt. It was close to 80* today. I tried to tell them it was warm and they didn't need the long shirts but they insisted. One day they will figure out that it's warm enough to wear short-sleeved shirts.

Another thing I like about where we are is the proximity to some military bases. On a daily bases we can hear and see fighter jets flying over. I love it. I hear/see them and I feel such gratitude towards the men and women serving in our military. It fills me with a certain level of pride and honor. The sacrifices that the service men and women make for our country fills me with awe. It's just really neat to hear the jets on a regular basis. Other people would find it a nuisance but I really don't mind it.