Status Updates

I'm quite glad that my boys are too young to "tweet". However, if they could, I think these would be their updates for today....

Philip: trying to keep Daniel out of my room...came up with the idea for a sign all by myself...got sidetracked...wrote "Madalyn, Anne, Stop, Daddy". Mom, who isn't smart, didn't get it...duh, it is a list of who can come in.

Daniel: took the first nap in my bed in over a week...feel like a new man...still miss Baba...surviving.

William: dialed 911 today...quite proud of myself...think the operator was concerned when she heard my brothers fighting in the background...thankfully Mom let her know there wasn't an emergency.

Hope your day has been as exciting as ours!

A Holy Lent

As I sat in church for Ash Wednesday services, I began thinking about what Lent means to me. I have always loved hearing these words at that service:

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us know kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

Those words are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. I like it because it gives me instruction for keeping a holy Lent...self-examination, repentance, prayer, fasting, self-denial, reading, and meditating.

I intend to do each of these. I'm sure all are accustom to the practice of "giving up something for Lent." I try this each year...sweets, caffeine, alcohol, even sarcasm. This year I am giving up sleep from 5-6 am. My children generally sleep until 6:00 and I typically get up with them. So for Lent, I am getting up at 5:00. I have been using this time in any fashion I choose...sometimes sewing, reading, or blogging!

As for reading and meditating, the boys and I have made a Lenten tree. The boys loved the advent wreath and the routine of lighting it every night at dinner. I found this idea on the internet and thought they would like it too.

We collected sticks in the back yard and then hung Bible verses on the branches. I used purple ribbon to hang the verses and to decorate the vase in order to remind them "purple's for preparation." It ties them back to Advent and our preparation for another great celebration in the church.

Each night at dinner we remove the Bible verse for the day and discuss it. I like the idea of teaching them to read and meditate on God's word too.

On Holy Saturday, the vase will be full of empty sticks. A bare reminder of the sacrifice that Christ made for us. Then, I plan to fill it with beautiful flowers on Easter morning to remind the boys of the beauty of the resurrection and the life we are given with Christ's gift.

Another idea I saw some where on the web is to get rid of 40 bags of stuff in your house. Doesn't matter how big the bags are...just the practice of cleaning out and making room. I'm taking these to Goodwill today.

That's about 8 bags. I also filled one up for the trash...31 to go! I realize that that is going to be a lot of purging, but there are so many other areas in this house that need organizing. I'm going to keep trying!!

I hope you'll join us in our trek through the wilderness of Lent!

Tuscaloosa

Our trip to Tuscaloosa last weekend started out interesting. It snowed in Mobile Friday morning for the first time since 1996. The boys got dressed and went out to play in it...

Philip loved it.

Daniel and William weren't too impressed.

All in all, I don't think they grasped how rare snow is in Mobile. As we drove up to Tuscaloosa, there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. Chris and I repeatedly commented on how beautiful it was and really the boys just seemed indifferent.

When we safely arrived in T-town, we were greeted by Meme and Neilson. They seemed genuinely happy to see us and happy that we were off the roads. After a great dinner and lots of loving by Meme, the boys were off to bed.

We ventured out into the cold on Saturday morning. We parked on campus and gave the boys a walking tour of the University. We stopped at the library...

Denny chimes...

the KD house...

and at the stadium...

and finally the Supe store to purchase new t-shirts! Everyone held up well, but like the snow it was clear that this was more fun for Mom and Dad.

After lunch, we returned to Meme and Neilson's house to put William down for his nap. Daniel looked at me and told me, "Mama, I bery tyrd. I take nap at Meme's?" I couldn't resist...love that he recognizes when he is sleepy and knows what he should do about it. I put William down and Meme put Daniel down.

So, Philip, Chris, and I headed out for the basketball game. We first stopped at the Bryant Museum. Philip later said that this was his favorite part. Here he is with the Bear....

and at the game with Daddy...

The game was fun. Philip did great until a little after halftime. He then asked if we could go! So we headed back to check on the boys. Another great dinner, bedtime stories with Meme...

and off to bed. It was a great trip. Chris and I loved being back in Tuscaloosa and reminiscing. I think the boys truly enjoyed just being with Meme. She is one of those people that is just dripping with love. It is in her every word, movement, action. The boys loved her; she gets on their level. She is constantly talking and singing to them...constantly reminding them how wonderful they are.

When we pulled into our driveway, Daniel cried. He asked to go back to Meme's. That's saying a lot of for my little homebody!

Thanks Meme and Neilson for opening up your home to our wild and crazy family of five. You are such gracious hosts and such wonderful people. We are truly blessed to have the strong bond of family between us. We hope you'll visit us in Mobile soon!

APB

We have an APB out for our special friend...Baba. Baba is a blue dog lovee...blanket part is blue with white dots...one ear is torn from too much rubbing. Here's a picture of him with his owner...

There is a reward...one very happy boy.

Baba is Daniel's special friend that goes pretty much everywhere with him. He sleeps with him, takes him to school, and basically asks for him whenever he is sleepy or in need of reassurance.

Well, yesterday, Baba disappeared. We were playing outside and honestly have no idea what happened to him. Daniel is notorious for leaving him in strange places, but we have looked everywhere. Chris wonders if he picked him up, put him on top of the car, and then drove off. I actually got in the car at 8:30 last night and drove around looking for him on the streets.

Daniel is taking it well. We don't talk about it, but if he askes I simply say that he is missing and encourage him to get "Lola" his stuffed dog.

I'm not taking it so well. I knew that one day we would outgrow Baba, but I love seeing Daniel with him. Daniel is growing up to fast and the sight of him sucking his thumb and rubbing Baba's ear reminds me that he is still a baby. I also don't like thinking about Baba outside on the streets in the cold rain.

Maybe he'll show up...maybe not. If you see him, please call!

Happy Mardi Gras

Let the good times roll! It's Mardi Gras time here in Mobile! To be honest, we don't do a whole lot of Mardi Gras'ing in this house, but here's our recap of the season...

I took the boys to the Ashland Place Preschool parade last week. Daniel was timid at first but soon realized that these paraders were his size. They loved seeing their friends parading!

Last Friday, Chris and I went to the Dragon's. I wondered what the boys would think of Daddy in his costume. Philip said he looked like a "dragon"...ever the realist. Daniel said that he looked "cool." No comment on that...

We had a good time at the ball. Susan, Rob, Norman, and Louisa went as our guests and it was fun to have some adult time with both couples!

Saturday night we took the boys to a parade in Fairhope. The parades there are great because there are simply less people. We also like it because we have HA's Fairhope office to go inside for bathroom breaks. We caught the parade twice...once at Susan's Fairhope office and once at HA's office. Great since Daniel is still scared of the parades. Chris and Philip watched...Philip loved it! I don't have any pictures...we were running late and had our hands full with all three boys...no room for a camera!!

In the meantime around the house, we've been doing a little celebrating too. We made lots of different masks which the boys loved. We used different templates and then either painted or glued our cutting practice scraps to it. When we finished I hung them from our dining room chandelier.

We had several parades of our own...some outside and some from the top landing of our staircase...


We even learned a little...we sorted beads by color, counted how many we had of each color, and made a graph using single beads...


We did a little cooking too...a king cake...actually, two of them...one for us and one to add to our Mardi Gras package we sent to our cousins up north....

Daniel helped...

Also, have to add a picture of the shirt I made for Philip. It turned out so cute except that the "Philip" leans a little...oh well...I'll do better next year!!

We are headed downtown again today with Aunt Elizabeth for the Floral Parade. I will try to catch a few shots to share. Tomorrow is actually Mardi Gras day, but we will be staying at home. We are all trying to recover from a trip to Tuscaloosa...more on that later!

Our New Obsession

Have I told you about our obsession with Legos???

It all began when Philip turned 2. Dee (his paternal grandmother) gave him this box of Duplos for his birthday.I still contend that this may be the best gift he has ever received. We loved (and still love) that set of Duplos. We have built all sorts of things with them...however, Duplos are just a little limiting. They are big, bulky and well, just a little limited in their building capabilities...still perfect for the early pre-schooler!

At Philip's 4th birthday party, he receieved his first set of Legos.It has directions for a fire station and fire truck. It also has pictures for a house on fire, another fire truck, and a fire boat.

I was thrilled that he had moved on to the big stuff. First, understand that I loved Legos as a child. I vividly remember one birthday receiving a set and being so excited. I spent the day building all sorts of things. Philip's came at a cost though.

Daniel immediately wanted in on the action. Daniel, being 2, does two things with the legos...destroying anything that has been put together and playing with the people...taking their heads, chests, legs, hats, etc. apart and putting them back together again.

Philip and I can spend hours building all sorts of things while the younger boys sleep. Daniel wakes up, tears up what we have spent hours building, and then the frustration begins. Funny that the frustration came from me, not Philip. Philip never seemed to mind...probably because that meant he could sucker me into more one on one time building.

We reached a compromise after Christmas. See, Christmas brought three more sets...a construction trucks set, an RV, and a fire rescue helicopter/vehicle. I told the boys the Legos were going upstairs to Philip's room. I used William as the excuse. Everybody can play, but they have to stay there.

When Philip was 2, he got a train table for Christmas. It turned out to be entirely too small for the train sets that he and his father liked to build. Conveniently, it came with panels for Duplos and Legos. It is the perfect Lego table because of the panels and the lip around the edge so pieces don't fall off. It now sits in Philip's room and the boys love to play in there.

In fact, our "play porch" is quite lonely.

I think Legos are a great toy. They encourage sorting skills, following directions, and most importantly creativity. They have many sets for around $10...perfect gifts for birthday parties. They also have more expensive sets, like this one...

Philip saw it at Target this week and practically drooled over it. He knows better than to ask for it...I don't randomly buy toys for them...only birthdays and Christmas. It's a good thing he didn't ask, though, because I was secretly thinking about how much fun it would be to put together!

A Crafty Day

Still dark outside...Chris at work...babies in bed...coffee hot! A fabulous start to a busy day!

I thought I would share a few gems from our crafty day at home yesterday. We generally go to the library every Thursday for storytime. I wasn't really feeling it yesterday, but I didn't want to let the boys down. So I gave them the choice...library or a day in their pjs. Here's how the conversation went...

Me: "Boys, would y'all rather go to the library or stay home today in your pajamas?"

Philip: "I don't know. Daniel, what do you want to do?"

Daniel: "Um, Pullup, stay home in my jamas. What do you want to do, Pullup?"

Philip: "Stay home in our pajamas."

Love how they consulted each other. Some mornings I wake up and know the karma isn't there. I can tell the boys are going to fuss at each other most of the day. Those days call for some getting out of the house time. Yesterday, though, I could tell they would get along.

We started with some housework. While I changed sheets and started laundry, the boys played Legos. Have you read about our obsession with these??

While William napped, we made cookie dough and then worked on some crafts projects...

We began with cutting practice. I learned this trick from the COGS atrium...draw vertical and horizontal lines on a sheet of paper.

Give a beginning cutter one strip with small lines. Help them hold the scissors in place over each small line and teach them..."open, close". I did this with Daniel...

With Philip, I simply give him a block with horizontal and vertical lines and have him cut. The point is he can cut like us...successive open and close. Those first learning should do one snip at a time.



Then we used the scraps to make some Valentine's hearts for someone special...(you may notice the scraps are actually Mardi Gras colors, not Valentines...more on that in another post!)

About the time we finished up, William was awake and the boys were in desperate need of this...

After naps, we headed back to the kitchen to decorate (and eat) our cookies...



William did not like that he didn't get a cookie. I tried giving him some puffs for a treat, but he decided to go for the sprinkles instead.

When I took the sprinkles away, Daniel, who is always so willing to share, broke off a bite of his cookie and gave it to William. Although he's only nine months old, I couldn't take it away when his sweet brother gave it to him!

and we finished up our birthday card for someone special (hope you're not reading, Aunt Elizabeth)...

The cookies have been eaten and delivered to grandparents and aunts and uncles!

The day was fun but truly wore me out! When Chris got home, I was on the verge of meltdown until I saw he brought me this...


The man knows the way to my heart! Busy weekend ahead...a Mardi Gras post coming soon!