30 years young

We've been celebrating Brad's birthday all month long- 32 days long to be exact. Brad's mom and I decided to carry on the tradition of doing 30 gifts leading up to the 30th birthday. Only we got a bit carried away and had a few extra gifts so we started August 29th - a month beforehand.

Brad is not an attention seeking type of guy but he has had way too much fun this month.

There were 5 of us that pitched in - he got candy (much to the boys excitement), books, coffee, vitamins, shirts, a tie, Wii game, IPOD armband, nails for his casket, among other things. Not bad eh? And I will shamlessly admit that many of his gifts were either free, garage sale finds, or thrift store treasures. (Not all- but lots! ;)
One of his biggest gifts was a kayaking day. We borrowed (see... free!) some kayaks from a friend and sent Shawn and Brad out for the day- as in the ENTIRE day ;-) They had a wet, smelly, manly time and can't wait to do it again!
Happy 30th, Brad!

The Way

Anybody else have an "ought to" list?

I ought to be getting to bed earlier.

I ought to floss.
I ought to introduce myself to my neighbors.
I ought to not eat that third piece of cake.

One of my "ought to"s is family devotions. Not as in being ridged about it but at least attempting to be more intentional about making them more consistent.
In my mind as I prepare for the devo time I picture my children swarming around my lap with wide-eyed wonder as if to say " Oh, Mama...PLEASE read us that 24 verse section again so we can soak it into our little beings and seek to live it out in our playtime for now and evermore. Amen."
Yeah well, it doesn't ...uh EVER look like that (and frankly I think I'd be a bit freaked out if it did). It usually takes more thought and preparation to put it together than the actual playing out of it.
Lasts night was fun.
The object: Jaedon and Seth had to get to the top of the Dawn Treader- up to where Daddy was- but they were not allowed to touch the wood.
Jaedon, stinker, found a separate piece of wood and used it as a ladder so we had to modify the rules again slightly ;0 . But then a light dawned (with a subtle bit of hinting). Was there anything Daddy could do to help them?
Jaedon:"Ahhh...I know! Daddy, how 'bout you lay down on the wood so we can walk on top of you."
well, strike one- Brad isn't tall enough to cover the entire thing but their minds were churning.
Then Seth pipes up.
"Daddy can give me a giggy-gack ride!"
Sure enough.
And after the Giggy-gack ride Jaedon read:
"I am THE way, THE truth and THE life- No man can come to the Father except thru me."

RSVP

Why is it that our "RSVP" stands for a phrase in French? Responde, sil vous plat. Ok, I know I really butchered that spelling - feel free to correct me, Richelle ;-)
Anyway- I'm looking for some responses here.
The question at hand is this:
What would you say are the top 3 challenges in marriage.

For some odd reason God has given me a passion for newly marrieds. I know that sounds a bit silly since we've only been married for 8 years ourselves. I don't know how else to describe it other than it's something from God and I am seeking to be obedient to do something about it.
So we're going to be facilitating a new - kinda marriage basics- class for newly married couples in our church beginning - uh well, in 4 weeks! Talk about feeling completely inadequate for a job - let me tell you- the enemy has used that line on me countless times as I've been exploring this. But I've also come to realize that God doesn't want me to feel adequate- he just wants me to be a "willing (albeit ill-equipped) vessel."
So... help us out here a bit- give us some feedback (goofy or not).
And don't worry- I won't use your names in the class ;-)

ABC

Since Jaedon has returned to school Seth and I have enjoyed "doing school" together lately. He was fairly convinced though that "B" said "ah...yike A A Adam."
We're working on it.

Family Dates

I'm know I'm not original in this assessment of life- but we're busy. Because of this and largely due to the inspiration of my (supremely brilliant ;-) sister in law- we have instituted a Friday Family Fun Nite. (I'm all about alliteration- it annoys Brad ;)
2 weeks ago was our kickoff. We went to a nearby park to play disc golf. Well, we went to a nearby park and walked thru the disc golf course. Brad was the only one who actually kept score. Jaedon had fun using the different discs and rescuing all of my (very badly) thrown ones from the ditch, waterbed, bushes etc... Seth and Owen just held on to their own frisbee and had a off-road, all-terrain stroller ride. There was a fun play area there too so the boys wore themselves out playing there (Brad too) . Owen discovered that if he can get to the stairs and climb to the very highest place, turn on his belly that this really cool curvy thing will dump you on the ground. Then he would giggle with delight (probably more from hearing my "Where's Owen..Oh! Brad...Owen he's at the top...or bottom... *ahhh" yeah...
So last night was Jaedon's turn to pick an outing. Being Mister Original that he is he decided he wanted to "go play disc golf again cuz it was just a whole lotta fun, Mom." Being in a city we're fortunate to have several different parks that have courses on them. He thought it would be "ok" if we went to a different park last night. (he also requested Pizza to eat which is fairly standard Friday fare) So we picked up some pizza, picnicked at the park and played our game. To Owens delight there were lots of geese and ducks on the all the ponds which inevitably meant there were lots of geese and duck deposits all over as well. Fabulous.
Jaedon and I were walking back to go play at the playarea and he said "I really like this."
"What's that? This park?"
"No. I mean, yes I like this park but I like this, ya know, Friday Family night thing." (he picked up on the alliteration...that's m' boy! ;)
I told him it's kindof like a date night for our family.
"Oh...like when you and Daddy go out for a date and we stay with Grandma Jan? Only this is better because we get to do it together."
My thoughts exactly.

Bottoms up

Why is bathwater so alluring to drink?
bleh!

What to read

I'm a reader wanna be.
I read. I like to read. I really enjoy reading.
But I need a book that keeps my interest. Good character development, good plot, surprises. I don't like being able to predict what happens within the first few pages of a book. I've recently discovered that since I don't have hours on end to spend reading like I would love to be able to do I have become even more selective in what I am choosing to read.
A few months ago I read a small and huge book called the "Treasure Principle" (Randy Alcorn). Small in text (less than 100 pages) Huge in application. If you haven't read it - do.
Then I read "Have a New Kid by Friday" (Dr. Kevin Leman). I love fresh perspective and practical parenting advice. Two thumbs up.
Last week I started reading "Walking with God" (John Eldredge) I'm loving it. It's basically a journal he kept over the course of a year that documents how he maintains his daily walk with Christ. It's like sitting down to coffee with someone you want to learn from. It has it's own surprises and I think it's really worth the time spent reading it.

So although I'm not typically a "non-fiction" reader- I think I'm becoming one...or at least a non-fiction reader wannabe!
There is a lot of greatness out there- with or without a plot.
And I'd have to say I am enjoying the character development - my own character that is.

More Seth-ese

I just love the way my three year old talks. and talks. ... and ... talks.
Most of the time it's pretty understandable and kudos to Jaedon for being his ULTIMATE translator. Here are some of my recent favorites.

"Gugglebum Gugglebum yin a yish. Hmm ... ceeces....mmmm...yish? Me first!" (his version of Bubblegum, Bubblegum in a dish)

"Yook, Mom. When eyes put mine foots hereah and mine udder foots hereah den eyes can (grunting) cyimb up hereah. (Hoist unsuccesful) Or not."

"Mom, yous can come yipe mine bobbom."

"Deean, wets be good guys dight now and pwetend dat wez bad guys."

Oh- there is so much more but here's a few to generate a smile for now.

Progress and Promises

I'm an extremist, pessimist, doomsdayer, worst-case-scenario type of person.
Pleasant huh?
I tend to see the "what could be" and work my derndest to make it ... not be.
What can I say- I'm a work in progress.
So my extremism lately is about Jaedon.
He and I are a lot alike. (except for the whole he's way smart thing ;) I feel like I can see inside of him at times- I KNOW what he's thinking and feeling because I remember thinking and feeling the same way. He also tends to be a "follower" - rather than a leader- which is fine because that is how God made us...I mean him ;-) but it does lead to my area of "ahhh" lately.
School started. Anyone else get that memo?
So here I am Day 2 and I'm already extremistizing about the school year.
Namely there are 2 other boys in his every day life that are...uh...challenging his view of authority, rules and behavior.
He came home today and told me he "made it" into this club that they had in K-garden in which one of these said boys was the "leader". It appears that being "in" just means to hang around at recess - probably doing whatever the leader wants you to be. (great, my 1st grader is in a gang!)
Hmm...Jaedon, follower...yep. Sounds 'bout right. Personally, I was totally ok with him NOT being "in" the club last year. *sigh* whatever.
So as I am gently trying to pry any sort of information out of him without seeming too alarmed I'm also trying to gently speak to him and remind him that he is responsible for his own choices and he had BETTER BE MAKING GOOD CHOICES OR ELSE I'LL... oh wait... no. I didn't do that. Today. ;)
For whatever reason I felt as if I had a pit in my stomach.
I left the house to go work out, turned off the radio on my drive and just prayed.
"God, please bring a child of good influence into Jaedon's life."
"God, Please give me wisdom to know how and what to say."
"God PLEASE give me discernment to know what NOT to say."
I kept praying and the pit got smaller. Scripture came to mind about turning our worries into prayers; our minds will be peaceful when we focus on the Prince of Peace; making our requests known to God.
The pit disappeared. Not only that but I got a second reminder:
Now, you may be thinking that the rainbow in the sky is just because of moisture and refracting sunlight...but I know better. God sent it just for me today to tell me 1. He loves Jaedon more than I do and has great things planned for him and 2. He is promise keeping God.
What kindness.

P.S. Brad thinks my newest playlist song is hokey but it managed to keep me teary eyed for a bit. What do you think?

First day of First grade

A whole new world...

Ok you seasoned moms of older kids- I need some suggestions.
How do you handle neighborhood buddies?
This is a new world to us as Jaedon gets older. It's fun but challenging! So here's a few questions for you-
1. How do I set boundaries with the other kids (most of whom are about 3-5 years older than Jaedon) w/o being the ultra controlling mom?
2. There is one boy who is quite nice (altho he has some pretty serious behavior issues at home and school every now and then) but he has broken or lost several of our toys (including a sprinkler). It doesn't really bother me (most of our toys are $1 store finds anyway) but what am I supposed to do about that? (if anything)
3. What are some of the other "rules" of playing at the other kids houses that I should be keeping in mind as get into this world of "unsupervised" play?
It seems like there are a million other things that I can't think of right now- I'm just looking for some "Been there. Done that. This is what did/didn't work" advice! Thanks!