Fun at the dentist

I took the kids to the dentist after school today.  I've always kind of enjoyed going to the dentist, but apparently most people find it horrifying.  So, I'm very grateful our kids actually think it's FUN!

In fact, when the hygienist led us back to the sink for the kids to pick out new toothbrushes, Caeden told her he "felt weird" and his legs were all wobbly because he was excited.  We do have a great pediatric dentist's office, and they have always made it a super positive experience for the kids.

They all picked out their fun sunglasses to keep the bright light out of their eyes.

Today they all had X-rays.  They got fun toothpaste flavors--cotton candy, orange popsicle, and blue raspberry!  Sylvia's hygenist had some extra time and put sealants on her 6-year molars.  This made me realize neither Annah nor Caeden had sealants, so we will do that for them next time.  We asked Dr. Sara if Annah would need braces, and she said probably a year from now she will send her to Dr. Bowers, yes.  That was a bit unexpected, but we still had a good time at the dentist.  

Puzzling

Since the kids had a 4-day weekend, Sylvia got the Disney Villains puzzle out on Saturday night.  The kids have worked on it a few times before, but it always had to be put away before completion.  This time the girls were determined to finish it.  I helped a little bit, Annah did the majority of it, and we finished it this morning!

Good Friends

Last night, while the girls were at Ashley's birthday party, Caeden and Sammy had a fun evening at our house.  They ate lots of pizza, and watched the Lego Padawan Menace DVD that always makes us laugh.  

The boys went to bed at a decent time, and had the whole day to play together today.  They played with Legos, watched High School Musical 3 (They love the song, "The Boys Are Back!") and both the old and new versions of The Lorax.  

This evening when the Stambaughs brought the girls home, they were able to stay for supper with us.  The kids sat in the kitchen and the grown-ups ate in the living room.  It was a shorter visit, but so wonderful to have some time with them.  

We absolutely loved seeing them pretty much every day when they lived 3 houses down from us, and it's really pretty surprising how seldom we see them even though the only live 25 miles away from us now.  So, even short suppers together are a major blessing!  I'm so glad the girls have maintained their friendship, because it is a great reason for us to maintain ours!

Hats, help, hugs for a momma's heart

Since we told the kids about the Disney trip, they have been using everything Disney they have, creating art about Disney, and just generally finding every way possible they can think of to celebrate the thought of Disney.  Caeden has been wearing his Mickey ears hat around the house at all times.

Yesterday, I was having "one of those days" where I was just feeling really [the bad kind of] overwhelmed about all I needed to get done, how messy and dirty the house was, how I am not keeping up with life as well as I want to, and so on...  

I'd been at the school all afternoon, helping with the junior high choir and going to the assembly to see Sylvia awarded.  I took the kids right from school into town for their music lessons.  (I did have the presence of mind [Thank you, Jesus!] to take them to Wendy's for a quick Frosty for an after-school-snack, which was really fun.)  Then, I dropped them off at lessons and did some speed-shopping at Kroger, picked them up from lessons, drove home, unloaded all the groceries in the cold.  I was getting weepy by that point, and the kids were all wonderful and helped me unload and put groceries away.  

We ate fried chicken and potato chips I'd picked up at the store for supper. (Eek, how bad for us, I know!!)  The girls started in on homework and showers, and I had to, had to, had to sit down and practice music for a funeral that was today.  (That's another story, which includes my bad attitude and how God really wanted me to do something I didn't want to do.  Maybe I'll get to it later in the post...)  Anyway, as I was practicing, I decided to get up and make some hot tea.  When I walked into our filthy, messy kitchen, this is what I saw, and it brought me to tears...

Now, I was not in tears over the filthy, messy kitchen (You would think!), but over the fact that Caeden was standing there by himself, singing, rinsing dishes, and loading the dishwasher!  He is such a stubborn boy, and complains all day long every day about every chore he is asked to do.  So, when I saw him happily doing something I didn't even ask him to do, doing it joyfully, doing it by himself, and doing it because he knew it would help his mommy...I was completely overcome with emotion.  I cried, thanked him and told him how much it was helping me, how much it meant to me, and that he is a good boy.  (I think he probably half-thought I was a bit nuts, but he is getting used to my bursting into tears at any random time.)  He just said, "You're welcome, Mommy.  Sylvia helped too.  I'm just in a good mood, so I am happy to help."  Ahhhh, such a blessing from the Lord that was!!

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So, today I had the honor of being the pianist for the funeral of a pastor on our district.  I had never met this pastor, but was asked by our District Superintendent, through my pastor, if I would accompany the ministers choir.  (All of the pastors on our district are required to be part of the funeral service of a fellow pastor by singing in the ministers choir--how awesome!) 

Honestly, my first reaction was two-fold: 1) I don't want to do this.  2) How do I get out of this?

My reaction was two-fold for at least two reasons: 1) The kids had today off school, and I was looking forward to spending the day home with them.  I didn't want to shove them off on someone else, namely the only friend I could think of who would be able to watch them--who was supposed to be enjoying her own kids' day off school.  2) I had never driven to the town where the funeral was, and it was over an hour away, and that petrifies me--often to the point of a physical anxiety attack.

Lame excuses, I know. But, I figured there ought to be at least a few others who actually knew this pastor, who would love the opportunity to play piano for his funeral service...Right?  Well, it turned out others were asked, and either no one wanted to play, or honestly no one else was available.  That part doesn't really matter...What matters is that it became very clear that even though I didn't want to play, God seemed to really want me there.  So, I resolved to change my attitude and I was honored to be part of the beautiful service celebrating and remembering this pastor's life.  

The drive there was actually quite easy, and I thank God for reassuring me with my iphone GPS.  (Seriously, it is amazing how much that helps my driving anxiety, and how many prayers of thanks I have offered for that tool!)  

The service was wonderful.  It was very powerful to worship with the pastors of our district and see them mourn their friend and celebrate this man's passing into heaven!  How glorious!  It really was a blessing to be part of it.  I am always blessed when I choose to obey the Lord.

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This afternoon, I picked the kids up from Dawn.  They were having so much fun, it took us about 2 hours to leave.  We headed home and did some quick picking up.  Then we loaded in the car to head to town.  I dropped the girls off at Ashley's house for her birthday slumber party.  Then Caeden and I headed over to pick up Samuel to come sleep over at our house.  

Caeden has been wearing this hat for a couple weeks (minus the recent days when he's substituted the Mickey ears).  He even sleeps with it on at night sometimes.  I love that he likes it so much.  I figured he was wearing it mostly because it is super soft, but when I asked him what made it his favorite hat, he said, "My Great Grandma made it for me!"  I love that.

Sylvia's 1st Assembly Honors

Today, Sylvia was honored for the first time at a school assembly!  I was so happy to be able to attend and watch her go forward to receive her certificate...

...shake hands with both of her 4th grade teachers...

...and stand as one of only two kids in her grade who received all A's for the last quarter.

Yep, very proud of this girl (who was actually the only student in her grade to get all A's for the entire first semester.)  She is very driven and responsible, and never do we have to remind her to do homework or study.  She loves school and loves learning, and we are so grateful for the gifts God has given her!!

Besides academics, she is blessed with a tender heart, empathy and concern for others, a deep love of Jesus and enjoyment of God's word, a sweet spirit, and an abundance of joy that spreads to everyone she is around.  She is absolutely precious, and we couldn't love her more!!

Love, love, love this Sylvia Claire!!!

We're going to Disney World!

When we went to Walt Disney World in September of 2009, we had a couple families of dear friends who helped us a ton in planning our trip.  Pretty much since that time, we've been talking with Dawn & Shannon about going together sometime.  At first it was just wishful thinking, but over the past year or so, we actually started planning it.  And last evening, we couldn't hold it in any longer...We announced to the kids that we will be going this July!

As you can see in this video, the announcement came completely unexpected at the end of his prayer, and the kids didn't believe it at first...

We had a super fun evening together as we let the news sink in for the kids.  Shannon and Dawn had collected several great videos for us to watch about the parks, the place where we'll be staying, and the new Fantasyland.  

Dawn made each of the kids (and us mommas) a planning folder, including places for them to write down things they'd like to do while we're there, and a countdown page for each of them.  I think they barely slept last night; they were so excited!  For now, it's about all they can think and talk about!

It's going to be an exciting 6 months of anticipation!  We are already grateful to get to share this process with dear friends, and are really looking forward to the trip!

Weekend Fun

Last night both of the girls had a friend spend the night.  Ashley came to stay with Annah, and I didn't even get a single picture of them together!  Shame on me!  

Sylvia's friend Isabella and her family moved to China last summer, but came "home" for the holidays.  The girls were so excited to have some time together!!  Isabella really wanted to play in the snow, as she won't have any opportunity to do that in Shanghai.

The girls decided to make a miniature snow fort, with tunnels and bridges.

They used icicles and chunks of ice for a "flag" and other parts of the structure, 

and named it "Fort Friendship."

Caed was honestly a bit bummed that he didn't get to have a friend over, but did pretty well leaving the girls alone to play with their friends.  Later in the day, they did tease him about not leaving them alone and jokingly "made" him wear "the hat of shame."  They all cracked up about it--including Caeden.

Daddy and Caeden got in some living room wrestling time today...

Love these boys!!

This evening, Jeremy took the girls with him when he took Ashley back home then went to setup at church.  So, Caeden and I got some time together at home.  We played Epic Mickey 2, and some Wii Fit.

And we hung out with Skippyjon Jones and one of his books when it was time for bed.

“The little things? The little moments? They aren't little.” - Jon Kabat-Zinn

Caeden's Turn

For most of his life, Caeden has watched his sisters play their violins.  He has endured hour upon hour of miserable waiting while they take their lessons.  He really hates that.  We haven't felt he was really ready to put in the practice time to learn an instrument himself until this school year, when it became apparent he needed something to be responsible for regularly.  Legos are good, but not really an outlet for his musical interests...

For the past several months, Caeden has finally been asking [in a serious way] to learn to play guitar or drums. I'd been telling him he needs to learn to read music, and should do it with piano first. He had almost agreed to start lessons with me. 

 Then one day, while waiting during the girls' violin lessons, I noticed that groups of little kids with little guitars were going into the big lesson room. I asked the studio manager what kind of class it was, and she got all excited telling me it was Childbloom. We chatted more about it, and she gave me the teacher's card. Childbloom is classical guitar in a small group setting. The kids learn to read music, count, play with good technique, learn to play in an ensemble right from the start, and more. 

Jeremy was able to meet with the teacher to get Caeden's guitar for Christmas without Caeden knowing.  Today was his first class!

 He was *slightly* excited!

It just so happens that the class is at the exact same time and place as the girls' violin lessons!  It was kind of strange (but very cool) today, seeing them all three with their instruments going in to lessons!

Of course, the first thing to learn was how to sit and hold the instrument properly.

There were two other boys in the class today, who are at least a few weeks ahead of Caeden, but about the same age.

After the class, Caeden said, "It was awesome!!" and that he loved it!

Dolly Girl

My little dolly girl and her dolls were hanging out in the living room today.

Snow!

We got a bit of snow yesterday!  It's not much--only a couple inches.  But, Sylvia was ready to get outside and play in it this morning!  She asked Daddy to if he would go out and play with her, and Annah and Caeden joined too.  When I got ready to take pictures of them, they were nowhere to be seen.  It turns out, they were having a big snowball fight behind the garage!

Their cheeks were cute and rosy when they came inside for hot chocolate.