Mommy's Arms

(I am still struggling to keep my blog going but I wanted to note this...)

This past Friday night I took Piper and Cohen to a local park for a benefit for a local woman who is battling cancer. I do not know this woman but she is close with several of my friends so I feel like I know her and wanted to donate food, time, etc. to the cause. It was a hugely successful event with hundreds of people and it ended up raising well over $25,000!

All that being said, I sat a watched my 2 older kids play and interact with the variety of other childeren that came and went and I was so impressed with them (I cannot always say that whenwehave been out in public!). They were kind and took turns and didn't even argue with each other!

But once there were about 10 kids on the "merry-go-round," you know that spinning contraption where a bunch of kids get on and one runs and spins it around as fast as humanly possible. Well, both my kids were on it and an older boy, maybe 10 years old, was spinning it so fast that Cohen went flying off the side. But instead of running to help my child, this older boy screams, "What's wrong with you FREAK?" I was sitting there very close to the accident and knew Cohen was not really physically hurt but his feelings definitely took a hit! Cohen looked up at me and tears welled up in his eyes and then it happened, in front of all those other kids, he climbed up into my lap to seek comfort for his wounded heart.

He cried for just a minute but he sat with me much longer before he was ready to brave the crowd again. I am not sure why it hit me like it did, but I realized that at his age *I* can still make it all better and he can still seek comfort in Mommy's arms. I know there will be a day when I am "old news" and "don't understand" according to my kids but right now I am Mommy, fixer of all things broken!

I should also mention that the older, name-calling kid looked very ashamed upon noticing his victim's mother watched the incident unfold and heard every word. I gave him the motherly glare but said nothing. He knew!

The Idol

My kids provide me with a hefty dose of humor every day! Just listening to them interact and seeing their actions causes quite a bit of laughter around here. Earlier this week there was a particularly funny exchange between Piper and Abe. Thinking about it now still makes me laugh.

To preface, we read a chapter from the Bible everyday during our school time. This week, reading from Exodus, we went through the 10 Commandments. The kids always ask tons of questions and asked what an 'idol' was (from the commandment requiring we worship no idols). I explained to them how an idol could be a small statue or trophy-looking item or more present day, it could be money, fame, etc. anything that replaces God in our hearts.

Well, later on that afternoon, I was helping the kids clean their rooms. I was in Cohen's room and Piper was in her's (their rooms adjoin). Piper called out to me, "Mom, I've made an idol." (Which turned out to be an animal made from mega-blocks.)

I just said, "OK" (because what else can you say to a statement like that!).

What she said must have intrigued Abe, because he took off to her room. As soon as she saw him coming through her doorway she threw out her hands as if to stop him and stated very matter-of-factly, "I've made an idol, Abe. Do not worship it!"

I'm not sure what part makes me laugh more, the fact that she made the statement to a 22 month old or the fact that she was truly concerned for Abe's spiritual well-being if he were to 'worship the idol.'

It's always a good-time with kids around!

Snaggletooth

Cohen is officially a snaggletooth (that's what my dad used to called us)! Within about two days his tooth became loose and fell right out. Within the few hours following these pictures, he lost the other bottom, front tooth! I need to get more pictures, but I never dreamed the other would fall out so quickly. The "Mommy Fairy" left some cash under his pillow so he was pretty proud.

On another note, we have tons of snow here. I should have gone out of the house yesterday to get some pics, but the older I get the more repulsed I am by the cold! I would guess we have 9 inches give or take a little. Chad and Cohen played a little outdoors and Abe ventured out in his PJ's. He walked a few feet from the front porch and began screaming when he realized how cold his feet were! He would not move. Chad had to run over and scoop him up and once inside, he cried to me and pointed at his cold feet. I changed his clothes and gave him some warm socks; he was happy again!

It has been life as usual around here lately.

School is going so well right now. We are currently sqeezing our schoolwork in during Abe's 12pm nap. He usually sleeps 2-3 hours, so often we are still finishing up Math when he wakes up. Piper has started reading (FINALLY!). She seemed to have this mental block and when asked to "sound a word out" she would simply reply, "I can't read." Sadly, I think she heard me talking here ahd there about the struggles we were having with reading, so she decided instead of trying she would go ahead a give up. Anyway, I pulled out this old reading book that I had in First Grade and she is flying through it, getting better everyday!! Experiencing this with her, seeing her progress so quickly all of the sudden has encouraged both of us.

As far as exercise, I completed the 2nd 90-day cycle of P90X on January 3rd and started Insanity on the 4th. It is crazy-hard cardio but I love it! After just the warm-up I have sweat pouring off my face! It is very different from P90X so I am thinking about combining the two programs to create a better balance of cardio and strength training when I complete the Insanity 60 day program. That should carry me on into the summer. Marathon training crossed my mind too, but I don't know that I have the time to run that much/often with the kids, etc.

And on another exercise note, I am totally addicted to my Bodybugg! Chad has been wanting to use it too, but I cannot seem to let go of it. I love knowing what I burn everyday and comparing that to what I consume, I always was a numbers person!

I guess I will get the day started with some laundry folding, wohoo!

Ski School

My cousin and I took our girls (and one extra) to ski school on MLK Day. We left our house at 5:20am and did not return until after 8pm! It was a long day but the girls had a blast skiing. Piper has been to ski school before but she progressed to the point of jumping on the chairlift by herself and skiing down the mountain a few times (without even crashing!). I think we are going to forgo skiing instruction for them next time and just let them go up and down the mountain at their leisure, maybe I will even try my hand at skiing again with them :)

Here is Piper in the school room waiting to get started:

Here are all three girls right before they headed to the slopes:

Piper striking a pose on the slopes:

And lastly, in motion down the slope:

Our own chickens

We (particularly Piper) have wanted laying hens for several years and we finally got them. A lifeguard at the YMCA randomly asked Chad if we would be interested in some chickens. He immediately said, "Yes!" and we started preparations for their arrival. Chad and the kids cleaned out this old corn crib in the pasture and installed a fence around it to contain the birds.Here are some of our first few eggs! It's amazing how self-sufficient a single egg makes you feel!

Here are Isaiah and Amy. Of course the kids have named each chicken! Isaiah is the only rooster and he is "married" to Amy. She will eventually sit and create more birds if we want.

This is Gloria:

And Sonic (the man who gave us the chickens said we could name them all except this one, her name was already Sonic!):

There are two chickens that are paler in color like this one. Piper has named the Fatty and Florette although I cannot tell them apart.

We are learning so much about laying hens and roosters, things I guess you just don't know unless you have been around them. Like I had no idea hens would lay without a rooster! If you have a rooster, he can fertilize the eggs and as long as the hen will sit you will get more birds. Our older 4 chickens (Gloria, Sonic, Fatty and Florette) will not sit, so there eggs are ours to eat. This makes for an educational experience for all of us!

A Few Christmas Memories

Christmas is long past at his point, but here are some pictures to remember it by. I snapped this right after Piper got up Christmas morning. We had been so busy Christmas Eve, the kids slept in until 9am!

Piper helping Abe with his stocking. He would get out one item and say "Woooooooow" and play with it until Piper showed him there were mire ad more items inside.

Abe enjoying some M&M's. Per usual at our house, the kids had candy for Christmas breakfast. I could have cooked but they would not have wanted it anyway!

Cohen and his cousin Elijah at Grandmommie's house Christmas night. We had lunch at my Papa's house and dinner at Chad's mom's, a lot of good food for one day.

Ashley and Steve lounging after a big meal at our house on Christmas Eve.

And Caroline and Aaron at Papa's house Christmas day. They had come over to our house Christmas Eve after the Love Feast and we had such a great time chatting and laughing until almost midnight! And that's really late for us!